SaurusRock625: Everyone okay now? Littlefoot, are you feeling well enough to start the story?
Littlefoot: *SNIFF* I'll be fine. Let's just… let's just get this over with.
SaurusRock625: Okay, we'll have this chapter over as soon as possible, but fair warning little one, it's going to be a long one. Gwen, would you mind doing the disclaimer before we begin?
Gwen: Sure, I can handle it. SaurusRock625 doesn't own The Land Before Time, and he doesn't own Ben 10 either! But if he did, Littlefoot's mother would have lived past the Sharptooth attack, and our show wouldn't have gotten such a badly animated reboot! Not dissing it or anything, just stating an honest opinion.
Ben: ...Why didn't you swear? I know you wanted to.
Gwen: We're only ten years old in this story, Doofus. If anyone's going to be swearing and dropping F-Bombs in this story, it's going to be the grown-ups.
Ben: Dweeb!
*Speech Key*
"It's hero time!" = Normal Speech
'A new alien?' = Thoughts
"Lemme tell you somethin', Kevin E. Levin!" = Someone Yelling
Attack of the Serial Killer Sharptooth!
Our story begins in a quaint little town out in the more rural countryside. It's still as advanced as any city, having the more common amenities such as indoor plumbing, electricity, and electronics such as computers, televisions, and video game consoles. However, as this town is smaller, the people here don't suffer from things like pollution, lack of jobs, and tabloid news reporters. Here, people are free to be whoever they are. There's no racial discrimination, and children can go about their days of play in safety, without the fear of being snatched up by an abundance of criminals.
Although, the town itself is constructed to look like one of those older cities that were built in the times of early Japan, back when warriors like Samurai and Ninjas were plentiful, and the Japanese blade was a weapon of honor instead of a simple decoration that people considered a piece of art.
This town is simply known as the Great Valley. And life in the Great Valley was always good. Especially for a young boy, who just turned ten.
"Littlefoot! Littlefoot! It's time to come home!" called a woman.
The child in question, a ten year old boy, looked towards the entrance to the park where he and his friends were playing. He has shoulder length dark pink hair tied into a warrior's wolf tail that started off as a very bright pink, but has slowly been darkening as he grew older. His eyes are blue, and his skin is a dark tan. His choice in clothing included a bright golden T-shirt that had a cobalt blue number ten in the center inside of a white circle, a pair of black cargo pants, and a pair of white and black sneakers.
"That's my mom calling. I've got to go now." He said as he waved goodbye to the group of four children that are his friends.
"See you tomorrow, Littlefoot." said a blonde girl wearing mostly yellow.
"Bye!" waved another girl with a green stripe on her hair.
The young lad, now known as Littlefoot, ran up to the woman at the entrance of the park. The woman in question wore casual clothes consisting of a baggy black shirt, a pair of jeans, and red slipper-like shoes. On her left wrist is a golden wrist watch. She has the same dark tan skin as her son, but her eyes are brown and her hair is black, showing that Littlefoot most likely got his hair and eyes from his father's side of the family.
Littlefoot jumped into his mother's awaiting arms, smiling brightly as she practically hugged the life out of him. She was his guiding light. The one who made his life worth living every day. Sure, Littlefoot has his grandma and grandpa, and he has his friends and loves them all dearly, but he's always loved his mother the best. Some would call him a Mama's Boy, but he's just very emotionally attached to his mother.
If something bad were to ever happen to her, he doesn't know what he'd do.
"Hi, Mom!" greeted Littlefoot.
"Hello, Littlefoot. Did you have fun with your friends today?" his mother asked in return.
Although, she already knows the answer. Her son always has a good time when playing with his friends. They always have such grand adventures and have very active imaginations. She's just glad that Littlefoot and his friends put their extra energy to good use by playing outside, or helping the grown-ups with their work.
She's seen Cera helping out her dad when he's on the job as a construction worker. Mostly through moving around extra materials or smashing stuff with a mallet. Ducky helps her mother with her swimming classes as a Lifeguard in training. But we'll get to that later.
"Yup! We had lots of fun playing soccer!" Littlefoot said excitedly, still feeling the rush of adrenaline from the earlier game.
"Well I'm glad you had fun, but it's almost dinner time. Let's head home for the day." said Littlefoot's mother.
"Okay. I'm hungry." Littlefoot acknowledged in agreement.
The two began to walk home, glad that their house was only a short distance from the park, so they could get there very easily. But unknown to either of them, they were being shadowed by something that would change the lives of the people of the Great Valley forever. A person who has made it his personal mission to murder and mutilate as much as he can.
Later that night, Littlefoot and his mother were sitting at the kitchen table after having just finished their dinner. Since everyone in their family are vegetarians, they enjoyed a nice big salad with lots of hearty veggies. And now, Littlefoot was waiting for his mother to come back with a special surprise she mentioned.
"Can I look yet, mom?" he asked impatiently.
She had him close and cover his eyes as she had gone back to the kitchen to get his surprise. And much like all children his age, he was growing ever more impatient the more he had to wait for his surprise. Maybe his grandma and grandpa were visiting, or maybe he had some sort of long lost older brother who couldn't come home because he was a secret agent. Or a pirate! Or a ninja! Or a secret pirate ninja!
Littefoot's mother simply chuckled at her son's question. He's exactly like her husband used to be when they were both kids. Before he was killed by enemy soldiers during a routine deployment to Saudi Arabia.
"Alright, little one. You can look now."
Opening his eyes, Littlefoot gasped with happiness as he saw what was placed before him. A large cake with the words Happy Birthday written in purple icing, and ten lit birthday candles sticking out of the top.
"Happy birthday, Littlefoot!" his mother said with a happy smile.
In response, Littlefoot got out of his chair and ran up to hug his mother with all the strength a ten year old can muster, making her laugh and hug him back. She was glad that her child was able to grow up in peace like he is right now. Even more so that he can actually celebrate his birthday without the fear of crime lords breaking into his home or crazy people trying to snatch him up off the street.
"Thank you, Mother!"
"Oh, you're welcome, my son. Now, go ahead and blow out the candles and make a wish."
Nodding enthusiastically, Littlefoot moved close enough to the cake so that he was able to blow out the candles. Closing his eyes, Littlefoot took a deep breath and blew the little flames out in one go. Littlefoot's mother knelt down so she was eye level with her son.
"What did you wish for, little one?" she asked.
"I can't tell you. Otherwise it won't come true." Littlefoot replied.
He hugged his mother once again, almost knocking her over due to the suddenly burst of speed. He's quite the hugger, isn't he?
As mother and son simply stood there in the warmth of their familial embrace, their world seemed just perfect. Even though Littlefoot didn't get the chance to grow up with the love and guidance of a father.
But it was at this moment that their world just seemed to collapse around them.
A faint whistling sound began to resonate through the house and steadily grew louder and louder. It was only thanks to her combat training from when she was a police officer that Littlefoot's mother managed to dodge in time, rolling to the side and bringing her son with her.
A deep, sadistic laugh made the two look to the shadows of their home. And in the process, it made Littlefoot's mother remove the family honor blade from the wall. She removed the weapon from its sheath, ready to defend her son.
"Who's there?! Show yourself!" she demanded.
"As you wish." said the owner of the mysterious voice.
Walking out of those shadows was a man with hulking big muscles like someone who took a lot of steroids, only they seemed natural. It made him look like Frieza when he powered up to full power in his fight against Goku on Namek when the Saiyan became a Super Saiyan. He's not wearing a shirt, but he has camo green pants on, a pair of black combat boots, two brown belts crossed over his chest in an 'X' formation, red eyes, and he has teeth that look like they've been sharpened to look like those of a predator. He also has dozens upon dozens of bladed weapons holstered around his body. Things like knives, swords, throwing stars, and other assorted bladed weaponry.
"So, you dodged my preemptive strike." he said in a guttural voice. "Good! I'd hate for my hunt to end so quickly because of incompetent prey!"
"Sharptooth! The serial killer wanted dead or alive for twelve murders of men, women, children, the elderly, and infants alike!" growled Littlefoot's mother.
Sharptooth just laughed sinisterly as he removed a large axe from his back.
"You mean the twelve kills you KNOW about!"
This made Littlefoot's mother narrow her eyes in anger, as this psycho had just admitted to killing so many more innocent people during his reign of terror. And it was clear to her that he wants to kill both her and her child as his newest kills. And she knows why. She and her son are descendants of an ancient tribe that is closely connected to the sauropod dinosaur species known as Apatosaurus, and this guy is a survivor of the supposedly extinct Tyrannosaurus Rex tribe.
The two tribes are mortal enemies, so naturally, one would assume that they would fight one another if given the chance. And fight each other, they will. One to defend her child, the other because he likes to kill for sport.
"Littlefoot, run! Run as fast as you can, and get to your grandparents! Tell them what's happening here!" she ordered.
"But what about you?" Littlefoot asked, worried for his mother's safety.
"Don't worry about me! Just go! I'll hold him off as long as I can!" she replied in a tone of voice that told Littlefoot not to argue.
And fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint, the child listened to his mother's words and ran out the back door to try and get to his grandparents before it was too late. Surprisingly, Sharptooth made no move to go after him. Perhaps he just likes the thrill of the chase.
"Ah, so you send your little runt to find safety so you can take me on all on your own? How gutless!" mocked Sharptooth.
"And how is caring for my son's well-being gutless?" Littlefoot's mother asked in return.
Sharptooth grasped the handle of his axe with both hands, grunting slightly as he hefted the heavy weapon over his shoulder.
"Because… suicide is the coward's way out!"
With a roar, Sharptooth leapt forward towards Littlefoot's mother, who easily blocked his blade with her own. Although she was struggling to hold him back due to a combination of being out of practice, and the difference in physical strength. She deflected his blade and attempted to cut him, but to her shock, her blade didn't even scratch the surface of his skin!
Her eyes widened in shock. No way could a human have skin as thick as that! Not even someone from the T-Rex tribe!
She grunted as she was forced to quickly dodge another axe strike before using the sheath of her katana to block a broadsword that he drew with his free hand. One thing is certain, one of them is not going to make it out of this fight alive. Be it her, or Sharptooth, Littlefoot's mother doesn't know yet. But she's fighting for a cause. So long as her son… her precious light in the dark lives to see another day, then it doesn't matter to her if she dies.
Later that night, the fight was finally over. The police had come to either arrest Sharptooth and finally put him away for his crimes, but unfortunately, it looks like they're here to find survivors instead. Because the fight between the two warriors literally brought the house down right on top of them!
"MOOOTHEEERR!" called Littlefoot.
He, along with a couple of policemen were sifting through the rubble, moving anything they could to try and find and dig out any survivors. Mainly Littlefoot's mother, who had been unable to get out of the house before it completely collapsed.
"MOOOTHEEERR! WHERE ARE YOU?!" he called again.
Upon hearing a small groan from under some wood and bricks, Littlefoot turned to where the chimney to their house used to be. And sticking out of a pile of bricks was a familiar hand holding a broken, yet very familiar sword.
"Mother!" Littlefoot yelped.
Clambering over the rubble in a valiant effort to get to his mother before it's too late, Littlefoot reached the broken fireplace. He began to furiously throw away broken bricks and wooden boards, desperate to find his mother alive among the wreckage. Upon moving the last of the debris, Littlefoot gasped as he found his mother in the worst state he's ever seen her in.
Her eyes were closed and her breathing was quick and shallow. Her body was littered with lacerations and bruises from her fight with Sharptooth, and blood was flowing from her head. Likely that last injury was caused by the debris falling on top of her.
"Please get up!" Littlefoot quietly begged.
As Littlefoot's mother struggled in vain to sit up, she groaned as she felt the many broken bones and ruptured organs within her. The bones in her arms were surprisingly undamaged, but the muscle damage was even worse.
"I'm… not sure if I can, little one…" groaned Littlefoot's mother.
"Yes you can…! Get up!" Littlefoot urged desperately.
Slowly but surely, his mother managed to sit up… but grunted as she lost all remaining strength in her arms and fell back to the ground. Littlefoot was immediately by her side, tears beginning to fall from his eyes as a heavy rain began to pour. It was as if the very heavens were crying at how a family was about to be separated in the worst way possible.
Opening her tired eyes, showing the light within them beginning to fade, Littlefoot's mother used the last of her strength to place the broken blade of her family into her son's smaller hands.
"Dear sweet Littlefoot," she began to speak in a raspy voice. "Do you remember… my friend, Maxwell Tennyson in Bellwood… and how he's coming to take you on an adventure for the summer?"
Littlefoot sniffled as he could sense his mother's imminent death, but was highly reluctant to accept it. He just couldn't believe it. She's the strongest woman he knows. She can't just die! Not like this!
"I guess so." Littlefoot replied. "But why do I have to know?! You're gonna be with me!"
Littlefoot's mother didn't say anything at that moment. She just weakly pulled her son into what might be the last hug they'll ever share… for a long time.
"I'll always be with you… Even if you can't see me…" she breathed.
"What do you mean I can't see you? I can always see you."
As the light began to fade from her eyes for good, Littlefoot's mother began to close her eyes as they felt heavier than they ever have in all of her life. Perhaps this is what the touch of death felt like. Just being really sleepy, and knowing you'll never wake up if you close your eyes.
"Remember… let your heart guide you." she instructed. "It whispers. So listen closely…"
All was silent except for the low rumble of thunder as the storm seemed to grow a little worse. Littlefoot could tell. Something's wrong. His mother… she feels cold. There's none of the warmth that he could always feel from her.
"Mother? MOTHER?!"
But she didn't answer. The matriarch of the Apatosaurus Tribe and Littlefoot's mother… has passed on from the world of the living.
*To Be Continued…*
SaurusRock625: "Wow, this was hard for me to write. I just couldn't stop crying as I wrote that scene between Littlefoot and his mother. Now, the lad is currently being comforted by his grandparents and his friends, so I'm just going to let you know that the poll for Littlefoot's starting aliens is still active. Although, I might decide to just go with the original ten aliens just to simplify things. But for now, I have a few questions for you.
1.) What color do you guys want Littlefoot's Omnitrix to be? Blue, Mint Green, Orange, Purple, Gray, Red? (Color will decide on which type of Omnitrix I give to Littlefoot. I.E., the Hero Watch (Ben 23), the Power Watch (Mad Ben), Benzarro's Omnitrix, Bad Ben's Omnitrix, etcetera.)
2.) Should Littlefoot eventually meet up with Sharptooth again and avenge his mother's death? (Whether or not he kills Sharptooth in combat is still to be determined.)
3.) Who do you want Littlefoot to eventually be paired with in a later story? And before you ask, yes, there will be a sequel. (Primarily focusing on Ben 10 girls in this story.)
4.) And finally, what sort of powers/weapons do you want me to give Ben and Gwen in this story?
Thanks a bunch for reading everyone! Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a great day, and remember to leave LONG reviews!