Hello my friends! The next chapter of the story is now up. And I think this is also a good time to address something. I may have already spoken about it in an earlier chapter, but I do feel the need to reiterate it now, given my last two reviews.
There will be no graphic or sexual material in this fic. None. Is there romance? Absolutely. But do keep in mind that this is a kid's movie/series and while there are adult themes in this story, they aren't going to be risqué or explicit. I also personally feel that it would be disrespectful to the series in general to make it sexual. Any physical changes they experience will be ones closely related to their physiology i.e. Spike growing plates on his back, Cera's horns, Littlefoot's size and weight, along with a few that are attributed to humans aka voice dropping, mood swings, hormonal instability, and romantic feelings.
I thank everyone who has reviewed and shown their support, to the point where some would consider it 'almost canon'. That means a great deal to me. Rest assured, I will not be departing from my original formula in writing this story.
Thank you AllegroGiocosco, Rhombus, and the Guest reviewers for your continued feedback. Also, thank you to those who have favorited and followed.
Now then, on with the story! Enjoy:)
Chapter 7. Blooming in the Valley
A few days later
It was midafternoon in the Great Valley and Littlefoot had decided to go on a solitary walk. In years past, he never would have been allowed to do so, but times had changed. He was now old enough, and big enough to go without the oversight of his grandparents if he chose.
He was enjoying these walks more and more each time he decided to go on one. There was so much about this place that he loved, and yet had never truly appreciated while amongst his friends playing "sharptooth attack." The sound of wind against the trees, blowing softly and gently, almost as if they were whispering to him. Colorful evening skies of orange, crimson, and gold. A fiery canvass painted by the bright circle, its energy a wellspring to the life of the valley. Crystal clear waters, cool to the touch, refreshing to thirsty mouths. Grasslands and meadows of flowers contrasting below with the brown, rocky peaks of the mountains that surrounded their valley on high. A solid wall constructed by the ever shifting earth that kept their enemies and ill-wishers out. The beauty was staggering.
Littlefoot could remember his early years living outside of the valley with his mother.
He had never starved, but the landscape wasn't exactly fertile. Sometimes it would take them hours, even days, to find food. The threat of predators was constant, and one in particular had caused the death of his mother.
He shook his head as he felt a shiver run down his neck. That memory still haunted his dreams and though they rarely openly showed it, it haunted his grandparents as well.
It was all the more reason to be thankful for the place that had been his home for over 10 years. Growing up offered something he had never known before: perspective. He was old enough to have it now.
CRACK
The sound caught his attention. He quickly turned towards the trees on his right to determine the source. Peering over with his neck, he tried to discern just what had made the sound. The forest was quite thick however, not easily pierced without the aid of direct sunlight. Littlefoot shrugged, figuring it was a rodent of some sort and continued on his way.
He knew of many trails and paths throughout the valley, his days of exploration as a kid had proven to be quite useful in this regard. The one he was currently using for his little stroll was a favorite of his. It was winding, but led him through some of the most peaceful, secluded spots in the valley, and finished directly into the plains. Looking down below, he could see spiketails grazing as they usually did (to eat was as synonymous as breathing with them). But he could also detect a few scattered trees.
Perhaps I can get a small snack before dinner tonight, he mused.
Just then another crack rang out within the trees, and this time Littlefoot caught a dark shape moving among the vegetation. Something was definitely there, something large, and it was tracking him.
He started to move more cautiously, lifting his tail in case he needed to use it. He peered around, hoping to catch another glimpse of whatever seemed to be following his movements. All remained quiet, no noise except the rustling of leaves and the buzzing of insects.
Maybe it's just my imagina-
He never managed to finish the thought, because suddenly a figure rushed out of the shadows with a mighty roar.
"ARGH!"
Littlefoot yelled in fear, the shock nearly throwing him and his body off balance and onto the ground. That is until he saw who it was that frightened him.
"Haha! Got ya!"
Regaining his composure, his face turned into a bored frown.
"Very funny, Cera. I must say your resemblance to a sharptooth is uncanny."
The yellow three horn simply smirked at him.
"You're just mad because I scared you."
"An ability you've had since I've known you, for more than a few reasons."
"And I'll never apologize for it. Seeing you jump like that is just too good to pass up."
Littlefoot grinned.
"All this time, you haven't changed a bit, Cera."
"Neither have you. You're still a giant dork."
"And I'll never apologize for that either," he said giving her an affectionate nudge with his tail.
She returned the favor with a nudge of her own.
"So any particular reason why you're here other than to give me a heart attack?"
"What? I can't say hi to my best friend?"
"That would have been preferable to the near death experience I suffered moments ago."
Cera rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, quit with the fake dramatic act. I can smell it from a smile away."
"Didn't know threehorns were known for their sense of smell."
They began walking as they traded barbs, laughing all the along the way. Despite the initial scare, Littlefoot was very happy to see her and sensed she felt the same. There was just a little too much fluttering in his heart for comfort. He tried to ignore that feeling as they talked.
"I haven't seen enough you lately," Cera said, the conversation getting a bit more serious.
"Yeah same," Littlefoot agreed. "I've been spending a lot of time with my grandparents. They're teaching me a lot of different tricks and abilities about being a longneck. They say it's all a part of the Great Change."
"Humph. At least your grandparents care enough to talk to you about it. The only 'change' my dad cares about is whether or not I get married. All this talk about responsibility, leading the herd and what not."
"Funnily enough, mine have been saying the same thing," Littlefoot said. "They said a lot of stuff about being a leader and the herd and basically everything you just mentioned."
"It's annoying. Do they really care about us? Or whether or not we live up to their own legacies?"
Littlefoot thought about that for a split second, but shook his head.
"You know as well as I do they care. Sometimes they just get too caught up in trying to ensure everything goes perfectly. The problem is, their idea of perfect isn't always our idea of perfect."
"You can say that again," Cera muttered.
"Why is your dad so concerned about you getting married anyway? You're nowhere that age yet."
The female threehorn sighed.
"It's the way things work among threehorns. You get married young in order to ensure the continuation in the next line of leadership. My dad's the current head of our clan, so when he passes on, I'll become the next one. But I can't do that unless I'm with another threehorn."
"That seems kind of unfair," Littlefoot observed. "Your dad was unmarried for years before he got with Tria. How come he was allowed to remain leader?"
"He had already been married once and produced an heir. Plus, you know how my dad is…no one was going to challenge him for the alpha spot."
Littlefoot snickered at this.
"I wouldn't challenge your dad if you offered me all the tree stars in the world."
"Wouldn't matter anyway, since you're not a threehorn. He wouldn't hold you in high enough regard."
"He seems to hold that attitude towards anyone who's not a threehorn."
Cera shrugged.
"It's pride. We have a lot of it. Never let your guard down or let anyone know what's going on within the clan. We take care of our own and no one else."
"Seems counter-intuitive to me," said Littlefoot. "We're all better off together, sharing our good times and bad times as a group. We're all part of the great circle of life."
"Yeah well try telling him that," said Cera. "In any case it's what I can expect out of my life for the foreseeable future. I guess I'm just trying to enjoy whatever time I got left before having to be fought over by a bunch of obnoxious bulls. Did I mention that part? The males will often fight to the death for mates."
"You really don't like male threehorns do you?"
"It's not that. I love my dad. I want to make him happy and I take pride in being who I am. But I know myself and the others of my kind. It's one thing to be who you are, but I don't want to marry someone with those traits. It'd be too much to handle."
Littlefoot simply nodded, his interest increasing. Cera almost never opened up like this to anyone. The fact that she was admitting this was significant.
But apparently she didn't want to continue the conversation because she changed the topic abruptly.
"So what about you? What have your grandparents been trying to ram down your throat?"
He paused for a moment.
"They're not really ramming anything down my throat, more like…pushing it towards me while suggesting I eat it."
Cera laughed, one that Littlefoot shared with her.
"That really highlights just how differently we were raised."
"No kidding. But yeah, my grandma seems to be keen on the idea that I'm destined to become the leader of my own group of longnecks. Almost as if she was so sure it's going to happen she would do anything to keep that destiny from being jeopardized."
"Weird. Your grandparents aren't usually one to scrutinize you like that."
"Yeah, it's really out of character for them."
"Did you get the marriage speech too?"
"No, but I'm sure I will at some point."
"Hope yours is a little less awkward than mine was," Cera said.
"I would ask what your dad said, but then I'd be afraid of incurring your wrath."
"Smart move, longneck," she said giving him a joking evil eye.
They walked in silence for a time, moving into the grasslands. Realizing they were quite hungry, Littlefoot started pulling tree stars from the trees, while Cera found some of the yellow flowers she liked. As they ate, a thought popped into her head.
"Hey, Littlefoot."
"Yeah?" he said through a mouth full of treestars.
"If you become the leader of your own herd, does that mean you'll leave the Great Valley?"
Littlefoot pondered this for a moment.
"I don't know, it depends. It's certainly possible. I asked the same question when talking with my grandma the other day. I could join my dad and his herd or Ali and hers, since the Old one is getting up there in age. A lot of longnecks migrate around but others settle in places like ours. Some are wanderers like Doc, although you gotta be pretty tough to do what he does."
"Thinking of becoming the next 'Lone Dinosaur'?" Cera smirked at him.
Littlefoot laughed.
"As tempting as that used to sound, I'm definitely not cut out for that kind of life. I prefer to be among a herd and the dynamic that comes with that. Plus, I couldn't be away from my family and friends."
"Littlefoot are you saying you'd miss me?" Cera asked rather girlishly, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
"Well yeah, I guess I would," said Littlefoot knowing full well that Cera was teasing him.
Or was she?
"How 'bout you? Would you miss me? You never told me that one time I asked you."
"Don't know. Don't think I've made up my mind yet."
"Even after 10 years you haven't made up your mind?"
"That's right."
"I think I deserve a better answer than that."
"Do you, now?"
"Yup."
She looked at him now in a manner that was, dare he say it, flirtatious. She began to walk away from him, back turned.
"Well I guess if you want your answer you'll just have to catch me first!"
And she took off running. Littlefoot was all too happy to oblige her.
"Oh no you don't!"
It was quite a sight to behold. A longneck and a threehorn laughing and chasing each other. They were making a quite a ruckus, as they were no longer mere hatchlings. However, it was late in the day and most of the spiketails had already left. They were alone in their merriment. Among the shadows of the valley and the dinosaur world, something was blooming.
"Ha! Got you, Cera. Now you gotta tell me!"
The Longneck had managed to pin the threehorn beneath his massive body. As strong as she herself was, she wouldn't be able escape.
"Alright you got me," Cera said in mock surrender. "But before anything else, I need to tell you something."
"Yeah?"
"Come closer," she motioned.
Littlefoot, slightly taken aback, nevertheless complied with her request. He leaned his head in, taking in the sight of her eyes which seemed to gaze into his very soul.
Those beautiful green eyes, I'm getting lost in them…
His head grew ever closer towards her, her lips becoming perilously close.
"Littlefoot…"
"Yeah?"
She said in barely more than a whisper.
"Never shift too far forward when you have someone pinned."
At that moment, he realized his mistake. He had put too much of his weight on his forepaws at the expense of his overall body position. With that, Cera sprang her back legs upward, flipping her bigger opponent on his back, while landing on top of him. The tables had turned.
"Ha! Still can't beat the master," she said proudly. "I'm starting to think you'll never be able to pin me properly."
"Apparently I'm still learning the basics," Littlefoot quipped.
She giggled at this remark, and now it was her turn to peer into the face of the handsome Longneck she had known since childhood. A face that she considered her best friend, but now was on the verge of something further…
"Uh, Cera. Do you mind getting off me?"
"Wha-? Oh yeah, sorry."
They quickly got on their feet, both turning bright red at what had just transpired, unsure of what to say or do next.
It was Littlefoot who broke the awkward silence with a loud false cough.
"Um well I uh…probably should get going. Don't want to worry the grandparents."
"Yeah, my dad will be wondering where I am too."
They started to go their separate ways, though they didn't live too far from one another. Just then, the teenage Apatosaurus turned around and said.
"I had fun tonight. We should do this again sometime."
Cera smiled in response.
"Yeah me too. I'm up for it."
His stomach did a back flip at this.
"Say, you also wanna get the gang together tomorrow and have some fun?"
"Duh, it's about time we did something as a group."
Grinning and satisfied, Littlefoot turned to go home, but then she called his name one more time.
"Littlefoot?"
"Yeah?"
She took a slow breath and then said softly, "I'd miss you too."
If anything could have made his night, it was those words. Happiness radiated from the longneck like he had never felt before.
"Thank you. Good night, Cera"
"Night, Littlefoot."
Walking towards her nest the female triceratops couldn't help but wonder.
Oh Cera, what have you gotten yourself into?
Likewise, Littlefoot had similar thoughts. Deep within his heart, he knew something more was going on here. It was a great blessing to know he had someone like Cera in his life.
But it was also turning into a problem.
Well isn't that something. A longneck and a threehorn showing some interesting feelings! This could open a whole new can of worms. What's to come from this? Find out soon in the next chapter of 'This Is Growing Up'.
Please review! Rock on!
~Punkrocka23