CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Mimus leads Littlefoot and Topps to a nice patch of green after a bit of looking for it.
"Take a look at that, it grows here too. I was hoping it did. This here is one of my all time favorite meals. Not only that, I often used it to hide from sharpteeth. Touch it, then sniff your self... uh, in a, clean minded way." he said. Littlefooot touches the plant, then sniffs himself. The plant has left a scented oil on him that smells sweet and spicy.
Mimus said "Now you know why I don't have egg eater breath." Mimus goes ahead and eats some of it, it doesn't fill him up very easily but though its not an egg salad, at least a regular salad helps. He then goes ahead and takes a patch back to the nest.
Meanwhile, a Swimmer walks up to Auro but doesn't get too close.
"Hey Auro, mind if I ask you something real quick, I was just wondering..."
"What do you want?" snapped Auro.
The Swimmer said "Just wondering, um, why are you so mean? Isn't a leader suppose to prevent casualties instead of cause them?"
"I'm in charge. I know what's best. I help bring progress to this herd. And sometimes that requires sacrifices. As for those kids, at this point, what difference does it make? The kids are no doubt eaten. Now let's go." said Auro unfeelingly. The swimmer just shuts up and follows Auro.
Another Swimmer mutters "Wish we lived in the Great Valley!"
A third swimmer asks "The what?"
"It's a great place, where all the adults get to make decsions governing us instead of just one leader." the Swimmer replied.
"Why would you want to go to such an uncivilized place? They'll come to ruin in no time. No, it's best to stay with me." said Auro.
"Hey Auro, I'm back!" said the boy Swimmer kid that Chomper had saved.
"Rolpho, I told you to go ward off the Sharpteeth. Send him off again." said Auro.
Rolpho's mother tries to fight Auro, aiming a punch at him. "Bad move. Send her with the brats." said Auro coldly.
"I've had enough of this. I'm going to act." Chomper whispered to Tiny.
A Swimmer says to Auro "I'd take living with leaches over living with you as a leader. For me life is all about wondering when your going to feed me to Sharpteeth next."
Chomper, still out of sight, says "Hey, Auro, your time is up. You've bullied your herd long enough."
Auro asks "What fool dares to say that?"
Chomper steps into view "I did!" he replies.
"It's a Sharptooth!" gasp several in the herd.
"And it can talk!" gasp several others.
A Swimmer asks Chomper "Hey Sharptooth, I always wanted to ask, do you ever accidentally bite your tongue? If so, does it get infected?"
"Yes, I have bitten it before. It hasn't gotten infected though. The worse that happens is that it will drip red water." Chomper replies.
Auro grabs the two Swimmer children and holds them out in front of Chomper. "Here, eat these and leave us alone!"
The children's mother says to Auro "Those are my children, why don't you offer your self, you weigh what, 2340 pounds? You can hold off up to three Sharpteeth, and I can continue on with no regrets."
Chomper moves to attack Auro. Several Swimmers, Auro's lackeys, move to join Auro in fighting off Chomper.
The rest of the Swimmers begin to leave. Moving more quickly then ever away from the rest of the herd.
"Tell you what Auro, you and your minions can get your tushes out of the herd and never dark it again and I won't lift a claw against you." Chomper said to Auro. "As for the rest of you. You should know that the evil Sharptooth known as Shredder is coming. I came to warn you and saw Auro's merciless act against children and could not just look away. You need to leave, but first, we need to warn the Spiketail herd." said Chomper.
"Spiketails? We don't talk to Spiketails." a Swimmer declared.
Another Swimmer remarks "I'm not getting near those things, they might spike me with their tail if they decide they aren't interested in trespassers."
"So, are you going to leave or not?" Chomper asks Auro.
Auro throws a stick at Chomper, which conks him in the eye. "Get the Sharptooth!" he yells. His minions rush Chomper and try and knock him over.
Meanwhile, Shredder heads toward the Spiketail herd. Two children are grazing away from the herd, not aware that they are being watched. Shredder smirks. The kids hear his thundering footsteps. They up look. "Sharptooth!" they cry. They take off. Shredder laughs at their fear of him. He has, since Littlefoot and his friends nearly drowned him 20 years earlier, picked up the Flattooth language. Some of it by observation and guessing and some of it by torture (not that it did the Flatteeth any good to help him learn as they still ended up in his stomach in the end anyway.). He took off after the two kids. He was going to enjoy this chase. His maw dripped saliva. He laughed coldly.
"Keep running or it's going to kill us!" one of the kids yelled to the other. The two continued to run as fast as they could. Behind them, Shredder knocked over trees in his way, chasing after them.
Meanwhile Chomper aims a kick at the villains, killing them with his foot claws. Auro is among those killed. After a brief fight, the enemies are dead. "Well, you're free now. Now hurry up, we've got to save the Clubtails." said Chomper. The Flatteeth, glad that Auro's reign is over, cheer. Tiny, Phyco, and Rusty come by and eat the fallen Flatteeth. Chomper eats the dead Auro.
"So, you do like Flatteeth?" Tiny asks him.
"Bad ones, as long as they taste great." Chomper replies.
"I guess he couldn't hold off a Sharptooth after all." remarks a Swimmer.
A Swimmer shouts to Chomper "Thank you for freeing us from that jerk. It says a lot when even our natural predator does not like seeing us in such horrific living conditions. Now perhaps our herd can try democracy, to see if we have better results in leadership."
The Swimmers depart, heading off to a forest far from there.
