Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the two franchises, only how the story goes. The characters of the Land Before Time belongs to Universal and the theme music of the Justice League belongs to DC and Warner Bros. I apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: And in this chapter we approach an uneasy issue. But I plan to do mine differently than others.

\_|_/

Chapter Eight: Issues to Resolve

Narrator: So the group of twelve set off for the Great Valley. There had never been such a herd before…

Littlefoot and Clark took the lead while Ducky continued to sit on Littlefoot's tail to coax Spike into following with the Sweet Bubble branch. Petrie sat on Littlefoot's head and held the rolled up tree star in his grasp. Jonn and Wally walked on both sides of the Spiketail while Bruce, Diana and John walked behind them. Shayera and Cera brought up the rear of the group while they all walked beside a river.

Narrator: A Longneck, a Threehorn, a Big Mouth, a Flier, a Spiketail, a Kryptonian, an Amazon, a Green Lantern, a Martian, a Thanagarian, and two humans, all together,

Ducky laughed when Spike tried to come and take a bite, but missed when she pulled up on the stick. As they walked, the Justice League kids continued to tell tales of their heroics back home. Ducky looked to Jonn and asked, "You are the last of your people."

"Unfortunately, yes." Jonn said, always feeling the heartache for his people and his family. But then he smiled as he said, "But I have found a place amongst my friends and my new home."

All the members, even though one no longer counts themselves as one, smiled.

Narrator: All knowing that if they lost their way, they would starve and be stranded, or find themselves in Mordred's sight and Sharptooth's shadow.

They came up to a small waterfall and it started to make them think. Littlefoot then said, "Tree stars grow where there's lots of water."

"So there could be a food source nearby." Jonn added. The group started to look about for some food for the dinosaurs of the group. Littlefoot then got an idea and looked to the small stream, "If we follow this water…"

He bent down to see if he could smell something. Petrie climbed down, but he looked about and said, "Hmm. No green foods here…" Both he and Ducky looked sad to this as he woefully said, "and I still hungry."

"There must be some nearby." Jonn said as he continued to look about. Cera then suggested, "Why don't the fliers in your group go into the air and look?"

"How come none of us had thought of that?" Wally asked as they looked amongst themselves. Clark, Dian, John, Jonn and Shayera all floated up into the air and began looking about for any signs of green. Those who could not fly looked about on foot. Littlefoot looked down to the stream again and Ducky said, "I'm still hungry too."

Littlefoot moved his head and it caused Ducky to fall into Petrie and both of them fell into the small stream with a gasp. His tree star fell to the ground as well while he moved down stream. Ducky resurfaced and she was lifted up when Petrie rose out of the water too. Littlefoot started to sniff the air to try and see if he could find something. Littlefoot looked back and asked, "Can you smell something?"

Petrie sniffed the air to see if he could smell something, but all he could really smell was the swimmer on his head. Then he tried to say, "I… I… I smell... I smell…" He moved his head and it caused Ducky to jump into the air as he tried to get a good reading on what he was smelling, "I smell…" Then he found that it was her as he looked up and said, "Hmm. Ducky."

"You smell me?" Ducky asked as she fell into the water. She rose up and giggled at how silly it was. Bruce looked back to them and said, "Come on. We need to keep looking."

Littlefoot and Spike had moved to where the water fell over the side of a crevice and obviously stated, "I smell water."

"Well, you are standing above a stream." Shayera said as she flew overhead. Littlefoot looked to her with a quirked brow before sniffing again. Then he took a whiff of air and actually smelled something, "I smell…" He gasped in delight as he said, "Tree stars!

"Oh, look!" He shouted to the others. Everyone ran up to him as he moved to an opening and they all looked down to see a small grove of trees. Ducky shouted in excitement, "Green food!"

"The Great Valley!" Cera shouted, thinking that they had found it at last. Littlefoot and Bruce yelled for her to stop. Everyone looked down to her with looks as she shouted, "I found it!" Then in a sing-song voice, "I found it!"

"This isn't the Great Valley." Clark shouted as he looked about. He pointed out, "There aren't any mountains that form a ring around the trees, and I'd think that the Great Valley would have a greater supply of food than that."

The sound of rumbling caused future bickering to never come and they all looked behind them. Bruce then said, "Quickly! We need to get out of the way!"

"Another earthshake?!" Ducky asked. Everyone, hero and dinosaur children quickly scrambled over the rocky opening and ducked down as best as they could. Spike seemed to lag behind as both Ducky and Wally helped to push him through. The next instant, a herd of large Longnecked dinosaurs came running down towards the opening. Trying to get him through, Ducky shouted, "Spike, hurry up!"

"Can't really yell at him!" Wally said as he pushed, "He's still a newborn babe."

"Ducky, Spike, Wally, get out of there!" Littlefoot shouted while the two gave Spike an annoyed look. They were able to get him over and they ducked down with the others as the Longneck herd broke through the rocks and made for the grove of trees. Clark looked to the faces of these Longnecks and saw that they had a look of desperation. When the herd had completely passed over them, Littlefoot, Clark, Bruce, Ducky, Spike, Shayera, Wally, Cera, Petrie, John, Jonn and Wally peered over and around the destroyed rocks to see what was happening.

The herd was quickly devouring the green food at an alarming rate. An annoyed Cera then said, "They're eating our food!" She looked to her friends and shook her head as she was mad, "Look, look what they're doing! They're so greedy!" She got up in their faces as she said, "What about me? I'm still hungry!"

"Everyone out here is hungry." Bruce sternly said. This caused Cera's rant to stop and they looked to him. He looked to the yellow Threehorn and said, "Out here, the majority of herds are believing that it is every one of them for themselves." Looking down to the herd as they continued to eat away he said, "Even I can tell that they've become truly desperate during these times."

Bruce glanced to her again and said, "So how about you cut them some slack?"

Though while she was a little confused, Cera huffed as she slightly thought about his words. She walked away but remained close by. Petrie looked down to the grove and despairingly said, "Now we at the Great Valley and still got no green foods."

Most of them looked to the little flier as he placed a hand over his eyes and said, "We be hungry forevers."

Petrie dropped down onto his belly and started to sob. Littlefoot shook his head as he assured him, "No, Petrie. Cera was wrong."

"Way wrong." Wally added as he looked about. Littlefoot then said, "This isn't the Great Valley."

"Far from being great or a valley." John said as he looked around. Then he noted, "The Great Valley's more than likely way greener plus bigger. Everything else but those trees were probably bare for a long time."

"Green food must becoming scarce in a lot of places." Diana deduced. Clark then said, "You're probably right." Looking between the dinosaurs he said, "Which is why we need to get to the Great Valley as soon as possible."

They all looked down to the grove and saw that the herd was starting to leave. Shayera then said, "Let's go and see if there's anything left."

No one argued with her as both dinosaur and hero child alike followed her down the slope.

\_|_/

The sun was a few hours from going down, but that didn't matter to Sharptooth as he made his way through the forest. With his newfound power he was able to go right through trees, trampled roots and rocks as he went by. He didn't even care about the nearby creatures as they scurried off. No, his eye was on a much bigger prize. Wanting to get to his quarry as soon as possible, Sharptooth put more effort into his stride. He only stopped to see if he could pick up their trail. Near a pond, a mixture of scents came to his nostrils and he bent down to take a better look.

His eyes narrowed as he could tell by the scents that most of the scents he knew where now joined by others. Sharptooth somewhat felt even more pleased that the number of victims had grown for him. He knew that he would enjoy making the Longneck and his friends watch as he ended their new friends first before finishing them off. With a deep breath, Sharptooth let loose a roar that shook the Earth.

\_|_/

The group walked amongst the bare trees of the grove to see if they could find something for the dinosaurs to eat. Every tree that they passed by had been derived of its luscious leaves. The Longneck herd devoured practically every leaf in sight, all but save for one small tree. There were leaves near the top and around the middle. Seeing as how this could be an opportunity for him, Littlefoot asked, "Petrie, could you fly up there and-"

"No!" Petrie quickly said. This caused Shayera and Jonn to look to the little flier and the latter asks, "What's the matter?"

"Poor Petrie here is afraid of flying." Diana explained. Wally then looked to the member with real wings and asked, "Think you could show him how?"

"Maybe." Shayera shrugged but then pointed out, "But this is really more of something Petrie's mother should have done."

"Petrie, do not feel sad." Ducky said to encourage him. Then she listed what couldn't fly, "Many thing cannot fly; rocks, trees, sticks, Spike."

That last one caused Wally and her to chuckle a little. They all stood before the tree and looked up to the tree stars up high. Clark was a little startled when he heard Jonn's voice inside his head, You have not told them about a certain issue. One that I fear will come to light very soon.

I know, Clark thought as he knew that the issue was sensitive. He just hoped that they would be understanding. Littlefoot then asked, "So how do we wanna do this?"

"Diana and I could shake the tree to where the leaves will fall." Clark suggested. Wally then thought, "Maybe if I control my speed, I can make a small tor-"

"Nope." John was quick to say. Wally slumped his shoulders since his idea was shot down. Jonn then said, "Perhaps myself, Clark, Diana, John and Shayera can fly up and carefully pick the leaves."

They kept tossing ideas around that they did not know of Spike coming closer. Littlefoot was standing underneath the tree and had both Ducky and Petrie standing on his head. Spike put himself underneath Littlefoot and stood up. Littlefoot, Ducky and Petrie all cried out as he pushed them higher, "Aah!"

Cera and the heroes looked to the scene before them as Ducky and Petrie on Littlefoot's head reached the branches that had green on them. Petrie looked down to the ground and thought that they were incredibly high up. He began to whimper in fear and clung to Ducky, startling her. Cera laughed at how they looked as she sat underneath another tree. She looked to them as Spike stood at the base, Littlefoot sat on Spike's back, Ducky sat on Littlefoot's head and Petrie sat on her shoulders and said, "You four look so ridiculous."

"At least their doing something." John told her as he glanced back. He turned to her and said, "And what are you doing? Just sitting there."

"At least Spike had the sense to do something." Bruce said as the four still worked together. Littlefoot moved his feet to where he could stand on Spike's shoulders, wrapped his forelegs around the trunk and moved his head closer to the bushel of leaves. Both Littlefoot and Ducky pushed Petrie closer and he closed his eyes as he began to pull leaves off the branches. Clark looked to some of the memories of the team and said, "Come on, let's give them a hand."

He, Diana, John, Jonn and Shayera all lifted off the ground to get around the upper leaves. Petrie quickly pulled off leaves in order to get it over with. But as the leaves continued to fall, Spike noticed the green food and started to eat whatever leaves fell closest to his mouth. He was so content of eating, that he lowered himself from his standing position and left Littlefoot and the others up in the tree. Bruce looked to the Spiketail and said, "Spike!"

But Spike just kept on eating and looked up to the Dark Knight. Littlefoot tried to keep his grip on the tree, but ended up sliding down and falling onto Spike's head. The two backed up as Littlefoot looked into the tree and Petrie let out a distressed wail. Littlefoot called up, "Ducky, Petrie, Clark, John, Diana, Jonn and Shayera, come down here! We have plenty of green food!"

Ducky kissed Petrie on the cheek before she let go and fell back down to Earth. She landed in the pile of leaves and looked up to shout, "Fly, Petrie!"

Petrie clung to the branch and soon felt a presence next to him. Looking over his shoulder he saw Shayera hovering next to him. She had a smile as she said, "You just need to relax, Petrie. Open your wings and let the wind help you. To stay in the air you need steady flaps of your wings. Like so." She demonstrated by gently flapping her wings, "Come on, you try."

Petrie took a deep breath as he took Shayera's words to heart and was about to let go when the branch he clung to snapped. Instantly forgetting what he was told, Petrie frantically flapped his wings as he fell. Clark landed next to Littlefoot and they both blew in the air below Petrie's wings to keep him in the air. But it didn't help, and Clark's breath, though while it didn't freeze Petrie all the way, it made him incredibly cold. Diana saw that the flier's teeth were starting to chatter and quickly moved over to Clark and said, "Stop! It's not helping."

Clark looked to Petrie and saw that she was right. Petrie continued to drift down to the ground and was caught by Wally. Wally noticed how cold Petrie was looking and offered, "Here, little buddy, I've got just the thing."

Placing one hand over his friend's back, Wally began to gently rub while using a little super speed to warm Petrie up. Petrie instantly felt a little warmer and sighed in relief. When Wally stopped, Petrie stood up and asked, "I flied?"

Most of their faces fell and Ducky shook her head. This caused Petrie's shoulders to slump in disappointment. But it didn't last long as he, Ducky and Spike looked down to their bounty in joy. While the other hero children watched over them, Clark and Littlefoot moved over to where Cera was and the latter said, "Come on, Cera! We've got green food."

"Yeah, there's plenty for everyone." Clark added. Cera looked up to them with a slight glare and stubbornly said, "I can get my own green food."

Both Littlefoot and Clark shook their heads as she got up and looked up to the tree in front of her. She prepared to charge at the tree and ran at it. Her head clashed with it and caused its trunk to shake a little. From where she stood, Shayera then called out, "Come on, Cera. There's no shame in sharing with others."

"I'd rather do this the Threehorn way." Cera said before she ran at the tree again. Again the trunk shook, but no leaves fell. Becoming frustrated, Cera repeatedly banged her head against the tree. Littlefoot and Clark looked to each other before Littlefoot went over to the bounty of green food and took a large bundle of leaves into his mouth. Cera ran at the tree once again, but this one caused her to stumble backwards. Walking back over, he saw that Cera was preparing another charge, and when she hit the tree he let the leaves loose. The leaves fell around the little yellow Threehorn, she smiled at her 'handy-work' and she began to eat. When she nearly finished that mouthful, she smugly said up to the two boys as they sighed, "See? I can take care of myself…" Then she turned and added, "All by myself."

Turning back to their bounty, Littlefoot and Clark rejoined the others. Littlefoot immediately noticed that none of the hero children were partaking in the feast. He sat down between Petrie and Spike and asked, "Aren't you guys going to eat?"

The seven looked a bit uncomfortable as he then added, "There's more than plenty for all of us."

Even Wally, who wouldn't have turned down a meal, looked a bit uncomfortable at how to break this to them. Clark looked to Littlefoot and said, "Littlefoot, there's something that we need to tell you guys…"

"What is it?" Littlefoot asked, really feeling that something was going on. Clark looked to each of the League, but they all had looks of unease about them. Ducky then said, "You can tell us. You can, you can, you can. We are your friends."

Both Petrie and Spike nodded in agreement. Even Cera came up to hear what they had to say. Clark then asked, "I know you say that we're friends, but we ask you to trust us when we say that this isn't an easy subject."

"What is?" Ducky asked, her and the others feeling something wrong. Diana looked about them and said, "We didn't exactly know how to tell you this but…"

"There's a little something that you should about us." John said, feeling that they might think differently of them. Wally then said, "We can't exactly eat green food like this," He gestured to leaves, "like you guys can."

"What do you mean?" Cera asked as she began to suspect something. Even Bruce looked as if he didn't want to say, "Let's just say that our needs of food are a bit of mixture of both worlds."

"Both worlds?" Petrie said. Shayera sighed before saying, "We kind of need to have a little meat in our diet in order to survive."

All five of the dinosaurs gasped to the news. Jonn was quick to say, "But we promise that we would never harm any of you. You have our word."

"And we did promise to look after you." Clark added. He looked the Longneck in the eyes and asked, "Haven't we already proven that you can count on us."

Littlefoot started to think about when he first met the four. Cera thought of when she met Shayera and Ducky thought about when Jonn saved her from falling. Cera then asked with a slight glare, "How do we know that you won't turn on us and try to eat any of us?"

"I thin we can trust them." Littlefoot stood up for them. Looking to Cera he said, "Six of them helped to defend us from Sharptooth's attack. No one asked them to do that for us, and they've stuck by our side. I even trust Jonn."

The Martian smiled in appreciation to this. Cera huffed before saying, "Fine. I'll trust all of you." She turned away and said, "For now."

The League wasn't sure what to say about that, but they would take the dinosaur's trust in full. Ducky, Petrie and Spike looked to one another before the Big Mouth Swimmer said, "We trust you all. We do, we do. Yep, yep, yep."

This made Wally really happy enough to scoop the little swimmer into his arms and he said, "Aw, thank you."

"Yes." Diana said with a smile, "Thank you, sister."

"Huh?" Ducky said in confusion, "You are not one of my sisters."

"I count every woman or female as one of my sisters." Diana proudly stated. John then said, "The seven us will go to the stream and see if we can find anything. We'll be sure to stay within earshot of you guys."

"Okay." Littlefoot nodded. Petrie looked to Jonn and asked, "Jonn, what powers you have?"

"I can shapeshift, fly, have great strength, and…" He paused before looking to Petrie with a small smile, "I have the ability to read minds."

"Really?" Petrie asked in wonder. Then he asked, "What Petrie thinking?"

"I try not to read the minds of my friends." Jonn told him before turning to join the others. He assured the flier, "You're thoughts are safe my friend."

Petrie looked to him before turning back to the feast of green food. Littlefoot, Ducky and Spike also joined in as well. After taking in a mouthful of green food, Littlefoot raised his head to see if he could still see the Justice League.

It was a few minutes later when the hero children returned. The day was giving way into night as the sun started to set. They had taken great care to clean themselves up after finding a few good fish for themselves. Every one of them had agreed not to speak of it as they rejoined the others. Even though Cera asked, "Feeling any better?"

The heroes just looked to her but didn't say a word. Cera then just stuck her nose in the air and turned away. Everyone watched as she walked off and walked underneath a slightly fallen and rotten tree. The yellow Threehorn walked up to a ledge, turned about on it and turned to them as she laid down. Wally then shouted to her, "If you sleep over here, you won't be alone."

"I'm not afraid to be alone!" Cera shouted from her spot. Then she smugly said, "I know my way to go," Then she threw out there for good measure, "and I'm not afraid of Sharptooth!"

She then teasingly said with a smile, "I hope that he doesn't eat any of you."

"Don't worry." Littlefoot said as he looked between all of his friends. He glanced to Cera with narrowed eyes and added, "There isn't any Sharptooth."

It didn't make them feel better as Ducky looked about in fear and whisper, "Sharptooth!"

"Do not worry, Ducky." Jonn said as he looked over the horizon, "I don't sense anything else close by."

It still didn't dispel her fears as she moved to Spike and said, "Spike." Then with a gesture of her head she said, "Ahem."

Both she and Spike moved away from their spot. Everyone settled down for the night as Littlefoot moved to a large footprint in the ground. Bruce, Clark, Diana, John, Jonn, Shayera and Wally all walked over to it as well. Bruce looked to Jonn and said, "Mind keeping a watchful eye as we all sleep."

Jonn nodded, knowing that anything could try to sneak up on them during the night. They all looked to see the other four moving to Cera's ledge. Spike, Ducky and Petrie all moved over to where Cera lay. Spike pushed the startled Threehorn aside and got comfortable. She looked at him with annoyed expression while he yawned. She settled down as Ducky laid down against the Spiketail's side. Petrie hopped up on Spike's shoulder and moved to where he fit between it and Spike's head.

Littlefoot and the others looked a little disappointed that they chose to sleep there. But they all moved into the footprint and laid down. Littlefoot then mumbled, "There isn't any Sharptooth."

"Maybe." Clark said as he leaned against the wall of the footprint. But then he added, "But like the fear of not finding food, the fear of a hungry predator sometimes still claims the mind."

"I feel that's something I would say." Bruce said as he laid on the other side. Wally, Jonn and John all laid on their sides next or behind Littlefoot. Diana stayed close to Bruce while Shayera laid down next to Wally and John. Littlefoot could not fall asleep as his mind began to wondering and questioning if he were right. He sighed as he didn't know what to think. From where he lay, Jonn did not delve into Littlefoot's mind, but could feel that the Longneck was greatly troubled. Jonn then tried to comfort, "It is alright to feel worried, Littlefoot."

Though he was startled, Littlefoot then remembered that Jonn can feel the things of the mind. Jonn then said, "Sometimes your troubles can go away with the help of good friends."

Littlefoot pondered on his friend's words as he continued to try to sleep.

Over with the group of four, Petrie had moved on top of Spike's head while the Spiketail, himself and Cera were snoring away. The loud sounds caused Ducky to open her eyes and look to each of them with annoyed looks. She tried covering her ears with her hands, but it didn't work. Then she stuck her head under Spike's belly, but the vibrations of the snoring didn't make it any better for her. Ducky pulled her head out and sleepily walked over to where the others lay. She stumbled as she walked as she was tired from the day. But eventually she managed to reach the footprint and climbed in. Hopping down on a stone and then stepping onto the ground, Ducky moved between Littlefoot and Wally and laid against the fastest boy alive. Wally slightly chuckled to this and Littlefoot smiled to have at least another friend with him.

The next thing anyone knew, Petrie sleepily came walking over and placed himself next to one of Shayera's wings. The Thanagarian looked to the small flier and slightly smiled before closing her eyes again. A loud thud caused everyone's eyes to open as Spike made his way over John and in between Littlefoot and Wally. Wally groaned at having to move over a little and Spike nestled himself in between them.

Cera was shivering badly as she hadn't noticed the lack of friends around her. She tried to feel for Spike but when opened her eyes and gasped at seeing that they were gone. The Threehorn looked to see where they had gone and when she looked over to the footprint and everyone inside, she began to feel alone and sad. She shivered at how cold and alone. Cera perked up when she heard Shayera's voice, "Come on, Cera."

Slowly getting up, Cera made her way over to the others. Clark, Shayera and Spike kept an eye opened as they saw her coming. Rocks tumbled as she came closer and she slid in between Bruce and Diana. Although slight startled, both heroes let it go as Cera made herself comfortable against Littlefoot's side. Wally grunted at the feel of having a Triceratops on his back, but soon got over it as it didn't really hurt. Clark and Shayera moved to lay against Spike's side and Diana and Bruce moved to lay against Cera's. Cera didn't fight it as they all moved in close. John moved closer to Shayera and Jonn morphed into a large serpent to keep everyone warm. All twelve friends had a smile on their faces as they slept through the night.

\_|_/

Author's Note: I made the whole 'they eat meat' situation different because other's did it there way before. I believe that true friends would accept everything about others, even uncomfortable issues, to a degree. Especially if the friends have already proved that they have your back. Things will be getting intense in the next chapter. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See you next time.