CHAPTER TWELVE: PTERO MEETS LITTLEFOOT
Ptero woke up. It had been quite a night. Still, he had slept well here. It was more peaceful here than in the Mysterious Beyond. That was for sure! He'd woken up because he'd heard noise near him.
He looked down and saw five young Leaf Eaters. Rage filled him. These were the type that killed his father. Though he had pity on mammals and fish, he would have no pity on a Leaf Eater. He really disliked when his mother had given him hatchlings of other kinds, as he felt that the kids should be left alone. However, he felt no pity for the hatchlings of Leaf Eaters. They had shown no mercy on his father and he would treat them the same way.
"Flatteeth! Evil creatures!" he whispered. He focused on Ducky. His stomach growled. It had digested the poor Tickly Fuzzy he'd gotten last night and was hoping to get something else in it. And he had something to put into it too. A certain Leaf Eater was going to be his breakfast! "Time to make Mother proud!" Ptero went to a nearby rock and started sharpening his talons on it, ready to use them to slay one of the Flatteeth. Littlefoot and his friends didn't see Ptero.
Below him, Petrie said to Ducky "We sure glad to get away from your aunt!" Ducky replied to him "She sure does talk a lot. Yep, yep, yep she does." Ptero surmised that they were alone, unguarded, perfect prey for him.
"Say bye bye Flattooth! Time for some breakfast!" whispered Ptero savagely. He licked his lips. He liked the taste of Swimmer. His mother often gave him Swimmer hatchlings to eat.
Littlefoot and his friends spotted a winding stream, moving downhill like a water slide. "Let's go!" he said. They dove onto it.
"Oh, think you can get away Flatteeth? I am quite a good flyer." snarled Ptero quietly, ready to attack.
He flew out at Ducky, his talons outstretched, aiming to kill. His red eyes glared at her with hatred. The others didn't notice him, as they were ahead of Ducky. Ducky was moved under by the current, luckily for her, and Ptero missed her. She soon came back up. However, as Ptero turned to correct his course, he flew into a rock. "Ooooof!" said Ptero as he hit the rock. Littlefoot and the others, meanwhile, had gotten out of the stream at the bottom of the hill. Ptero sprawled through the air, dazed, and hit the ground, landing in mud, splattering it all over himself.
Though the others hadn't spotted Ptero before, they heard him hit the rock. They ran closer and saw him sprawled on the ground.
"Are you ok?" Littlefoot asked. Ptero was still dazed. "What?" he asked. "I said, are you ok?" Littlefoot said again. Ptero looked up to see Littlefoot and realized that he was talking to him.
Littlefoot thought Ptero was a strange-looking Flyer. However, Littlefoot was not one to judge by appearance. He was concerned about Ptero. Ptero was all covered in mud and was stirring feebly. Littlefoot prodded him. Ptero jumped up, still slightly dazed.
Ptero began to shake with fright. Surely this would be the end for him. He would die without mercy. His mother would never even be able to find his body. He trembled, pleading, hoping against hope to be able to appeal to their better natures. "Please don't hurt me! I'm just a kid!" he pleaded.
"Talk about paranoid!" said Cera, shaking her head. "We are not going to hurt you. Oh no, no, no we are not." said Ducky. I just tried to kill you and you aren't going to hurt me?! Ptero thought in shock.
"So, who are you?" Cera asked. "Ptero." responded Ptero. "I don't recall seeing you around here before Ptero." said Littlefoot. "I'm from out there." said Pero timidly, pointing into the Mysterious Beyond. He figured that the longer he talked, the longer they might let him live.
"You live in the Mysterious Beyond? It is dangerous out there! It is! It is! There are Sharpteeth everywhere!" said Ducky. No kidding! thought Ptero.
"What is the Mysterious Beyond?" asked the half Sharp Beak.
"It the land outside of the Great Valley." said Petrie.
"The Great Valley?" Ptero asked.
"It is where we are silly!" answered Ducky.
"So, who lives in this Great Valley?" Ptero asked.
"Just Leaf Eaters like us." replied Cera.
Ptero was confused as to why they thought that he was a Leaf Eater. But he wasn't going to bother to enlighten them. That seemed as dumb to him as poking a sleeping Sail-backed Sharptooth in the eye. Ptero found that they weren't trying to kill him. Maybe they were too young to know better as to what he was. Maybe he had a hope of living through today.
"Can I ask who you are?" said Ptero. He wanted to know more about these five Flatteeth.
"I am Littlefoot." said Littlefoot.
"I am Cera. I'm really strong and you shouldn't mess with me!" said Cera.
We'll see about that, Cera! Ptero thought.
"Me Petrie." said Petrie. Ptero noticed that Petrie was a Flyer like himself. Ptero saw that Petrie, for some odd reason, referred to himself in third person.
"I am Ducky." said Ducky. Ptero thought that she seemed really sweet and felt a tinge of guilt for wanting to kill her. "And this is Spike. He doesn't talk much." said Ducky, indicating Spike. Spike smiled at Ptero.
"Hello guys, glad to meet you." lied Ptero.
RURRRRG! Ptero's stomach growled.
"Your tummy is making rumbly sounds." said Ducky.
"Yes, well, I lost my breakfast. It got away!" said Ptero. He groaned. That was a dumb thing to say! What if they guessed what he had tried to do? They might not know yet. But if they did, he'd probably be ripped to shreds by them. "Yes, my Tree Stars blew away in the wind." he lied quickly.
"We have many Tree Stars in the Great Valley." said Littlefoot.
"You do?" said Ptero in shock.
"Yes. All over the place." said Cera.
"And can I please have some? I promise I won't take too many." said Ptero. He hoped to get them. He really hated having to hunt. Tree Stars didn't have a pulse after all. They didn't look you in the eyes with a "Don't kill me!" look that made you feel like an evil monster.
"Well, maybe a few. You can't have too many or else there won't be enough for me." said Cera.
"Cera!" Littlefoot rebuked her. "You can have as much as you like." said Littlefoot to Ptero.
"I don't know where they are." said Ptero.
"Follow me." said Littlefoot.
Ptero followed the Longneck. He had a desire to try and throttle one of these Leaf Eaters when they weren't looking. After all, Leaf Eaters had stolen his beloved father from him, and that seemed unforgivable. Yet, these ones didn't seem very wicked. Maybe it was because they were young. An idea came to him. Maybe he could teach them to not be savages and so could save other Sharpteeth like his father from dying. He agreed to spare these Flatteeth…for now.
The others were talking, but Ptero was silent. He didn't know what to say to Flatteeth. As far as he was concerned, they were his enemies. The others noticed his silence.
"You sure are quiet Ptero." Littlefoot commented. Ptero didn't reply.
"Maybe he shy." suggested Petrie. Petrie looked at Ptero. He noticed he had red eyes, which seemed odd. He'd never seen a Flyer with red eyes before. Most of the Flyers he'd seen had blue, green, brown, or black eyes. Two he'd met had had yellow eyes. One was Sierra, an evil sociopathic Cierradactylus. The other was Ichy, the Ichythornis who had tried to eat him on several occasions. Petrie still had some bad Sleep Stories about his encounters with that Sharp Beak.
Truthfully, Petrie knew of only one group of dinosaurs having red eyes: Sharpteeth. Though he knew all Sharpteeth weren't bad, there was Chomper after all, his experience with Sharpteeth hadn't been pleasant. However, Petrie wasn't very judgmental, indeed, he was about as judgmental as Ducky. He decided that Ptero was just different and would leave it at that.
Ptero, meanwhile, was starved. He saw the Tree Stars. There were more than he'd ever seen in his life! He quickly flew up to them, grabbed them, and hungrily started to eat them. "You sure are hungry!" remarked Littlefoot.
"Yeah, I could eat a whole duckbill!" he replied without thinking. Oops. Ptero thought. "That was a joke." Ptero said quickly. The others laughed.
ERRRRRRRP! Ptero let out a loud belch.
"Ecccch! You are nasty! Didn't your parents teach you table manners?" asked Cera in disgust.
"Well, I was raised by Sharpteeth." Ptero retorted. Ptero instantly felt dumb for saying this. What if they guessed what he was?
The others started laughing hard. "That's pretty funny Ptero." laughed Littlefoot.
"You have great sense of humor." laughed Petrie. Ptero sighed in relief that they hadn't realized what he was after his faux pas.
"Yes, I actually do have a great sense of humor. Glad somebody appreciates it." said Ptero quickly.
Ducky's aunt came across them. "There you are. You had me worried sick. Why I searched by the Thundering Falls and you were not there. I feared that you might have fallen into the Sinking Sands, but luckily you hadn't. I checked near the Smoking Mountains and you weren't there. I checked…" she chided, rambling.
"Well, you finded us now. You did. You did. We are safe now." said Ducky, trying to act innocent so that she and the others wouldn't get punished for sneaking off to avoid her rambling.
"Don't wander off again." chided Ducky's aunt.
"Sorry." said the kids.
"Who's that?" she asked, eyeing Ptero, whom she had just noticed at that moment.
Ptero felt nervous. A full-grown Flattooth. He was safe in the trees. Could he get away in time if they came after him?
"His name is Ptero. He appears to be some sort of Flyer. He's from the Mysterious Beyond." said Littlefoot.
"Hello Ptero. How do you like the Great Valley? I tend to find that it is the best place for a gal to live. Why, when I first came here, I found it much better than the Mysterious Beyond." said Ducky's aunt.
"How long have you been here?" asked Ptero. He was curious to know more about these Flatteeth and about this mysterious Great Valley.
"Oh, about six cold times. Not quite six yet. We came after a horrible Earthshake. We thought we'd lost poor Ducky. But she made it. Goodness, she went across the Mysterious Beyond, chased by a hungry Sharptooth." said Ducky's aunt.
"Yes, Sharpteeth are dangerous. Learned that last night." said Ptero.
Ducky's aunt gasped. "Goodness boy! You only learned that now?! We have known that since we were very small." she said.
"So, how are Sharpteeth kept out of here?" asked Ptero.
"The Great Wall. Works like a charm. Only been breached a few times. But we chased the brutes out. They didn't stand a chance. Why I can recall the first time it happened. It was about…" began Ducky's aunt.
"Aunt Leslie, I do not know if Ptero wants to know all of that." interrupted Ducky, who didn't want her blabbering aunt to irk her new friend Ptero.
"No, er, actually, I'd like to know more." said Ptero. However, before Leslie could talk again, Mama Flyer arrived.
"Glad you found them Leslie!" Mama Flyer said to Ducky's aunt.
"Don't worry Phyra, I searched high and low and I found them. I was in the middle of a very remarkable tale when they left. I don't know what got into them. I was talking about how I nearly fell into Flowing Fire when I realized that they weren't there. I thought that they…." rambled Leslie.
"Petrie! Petrie! You had us worried." scolded Mama Flyer. She approached her son. She noticed Ptero. She stared at the young half-Sharp Beak. "Who is your Flyer friend?" she asked Petrie. She came up to Ptero in the trees. Ptero shuddered. "His name Ptero. He friendly and shy." said Petrie.
I'm not friendly. I'm a Sharptooth for goodness sake! thought Ptero. But he had to play along with Petrie. If he told them what he was, he'd be killed faster than Yellow Bellies going through a berry bush.
"And so I had to go looking for them. They gave me quite a scare. I'm so glad that I found them. They mentioned something about Sharp Beaks. I forgot what." Leslie continued on, unaware that nobody was paying attention to her.
"I'm Ptero. I'm a Flyer. I'm like you." Ptero lied to Phyra.
"Hello Ptero. We'd all like to meet you. We don't get visitors every day." said Mama Flyer. Ptero made a face like Chomper had had when his parents had told him that they viewed any friends of his as dessert. Now what? Ptero thought.