Man this Chapter was freaking long, I couldn't find a good spot to cut off for the next chapter XD. Oh well, hopefully it'll at least make for a good read.
I'll try and get the next chapter up soon, I hope you all enjoy the chapter until then:D:D:D
When Robin started to come back into consciousness, she felt something rubbing over her head in slow, comforting strokes, and a gentle voice humming a tune every now and then between them.
Robin figured that her Grandmother must have come into her room, she'd always hum and rub her head when she was having a nightmare. She then let out a sigh of relief, "Oh good, it was all just a crazy dream…" she murmured, keeping her eyes closed and leaning into her pillow as she her Grandmother continue to stroke her hair. "Is supper ready Gramma? I wanna tell you and Granpa about it."
"I'm sorry little one, but I think you may be confusing me for someone else."
Robin's eyes shot open at the strangers voice and she sat up with a sharp gasp, looking forward and seeing that she still wasn't in her room, but in a grassy clearing.
She looked back down to see what she had been laying on that she somehow confused for her pillow, seeing a large gray skinned tail. Her heart pounded in her chest as she followed along it to find out what it was attached too, and her jaw dropped when she saw a towering Apatosaurus staring down at her, female this time.
"Don't be frightened," the Apatosaurus said in a soft tone. "I won't harm you."
Robin just gave a scream that had been stuck in her throat, and she pushed herself up with her right leg and jumped over the large creatures' tail with a good distance. But as soon as her weight fell on her left foot, she gave a shriek and instantly crumpled to the ground when a white hot pain erupted in her leg; it was even worse in her ankle.
"Owww!" she moaned, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she clutched her ankle.
"Oh my," she heard a voice say in worry. And she looked up just in time to see the face of the female Apatosaurus inches away from her.
Robin hurt too much to try and move away and she could only flinched when the dinosaur gently bit down on the folds on the back of her soccer jersey. Before she knew, she was picked up and placed back where she had been lying before.
Robin only sat there in stunned silence for a short time before she hesitantly looked up at the Apatosaurus as she offered her a kind smile.
"Please, try to rest." She said. "You've got a good sprain in your leg, so it's best to not to put too much weight on it for a day or two."
"Grandma!" a young voice yelled making Robin duck down and hide behind the elder Dinosaurs tail before peeking over it to see the five little ones from before running towards them.
"Grandpa's gathering the other grownups." The little Apatosaurus told her before an eager look spread across his features. "Is it awake yet?"
"Who cares if it's awake, I just wanna know what it is already!" the Triceratops said, rather rudely "it has to be the weirdest looking thing I've ever seen in my life."
"Cera!" The small Apatosaurus said with a stern look.
"Geeze, who ever knew that Dinosaurs could be so rude!" Robin snapped, hearing them give a gasp as she rose to her knees and showed herself. She had a hard frown and her hands where placed on her hips. "If you seriously can't tell, I'm a girl!"
But her anger was squashed by surprise when something suddenly jumped on top of the tail in front of Robin, and she looked into the big blue eyes of the Saurolophus. "But you really are very strange, you are, you are." She said in a cute little voice. "What kind of girl are you?"
"What do you mean?" Robin asked, confused by her question.
"Well, you do not look like a swimmer like me," she said. "No, no, no."
"You got no wings, so you not flyer." He said flying around her and looking her over before he suddenly flew up close to her face and poke her nose with a spiny finger. "Too squishy." He commented. "You not Threehorn either."
"Pff, that's for sure!" the Triceratops scoffed.
"I'm… I'm a human." Robin said, calming down a bit. "You all act as if you've never seen one, aren't there others like me around somewhere?"
"No." Came the adult Dinosaurs reply. "I myself have been around for many seasons, and it isn't until this very moment that I have ever seen anyone quite like you."
Robin looked down at the ground, they'd never seen anyone like her before? She couldn't understand how that would be possible, but it was. And as she looked around, she was absolutely positive that she was still on Earth.
If the Valley they were in had a few buildings, a road and all the giant lizards were taken away, she'd feel like she was home…
"Well, My names Littlefoot." The small Apatosaurus introduced, changing the subject.
"I'm Ducky, and this is my little brother Spike." The Saurolophus said with a smile as she patted the front leg of the Stegosaurs. Spike didn't say anything, but he gave her a big grin.
"Me Petrie."
"And this is Cera." Littlefoot said, looking to the Triceratops as she only gave a snort. "Do you have a name?"
"Um, I'm Robin." She told him.
"It is very nice to meet you Robin, it is, it is." Ducky said before she suddenly jumped into Robin's lap and gave her a friendly hug.
"Oh, you are so warm," she commented in surprise, nestling closer into the girls' stomach. "It feels like the bright circle, only… it's you."
"Me feel! Me Feel!" Petrie excitedly said, flying onto her shoulder and nuzzling under her neck, "Oooo, Ducky right! Robin very, very warm."
Pretty soon, the rest of the young dinosaurs came closer, minus Cera, who only held up her nose with grumpy "humph!"
Robin herself felt a bit squished with so much close contact, but she didn't do anything against them and just waited until they were done.
"Hey," Littlefoot suddenly started, nudging her hair with his nose, "this is kinda like what our old friend Tickles has, what's it called?"
"It's hair."
"You have very pretty hair, Robin," Ducky told her, "yes you do, yep, yep, yep!"
Petrie grabbed an arm full of it, and took a big whiff. "Oh, and it smell pretty too!"
"~Okaaay~, uncomfortable." Robin stated as took Ducky off her lap and got up, careful of her hurt ankle, before looking up to Littlefoots' grandmother. "What do I call you?"
"Just Grandma Longneck will do fine." She told her with a smile.
"And you can call me Grandpa." A new voice said and she looked around the see the male Apatosaurus from before coming towards them, a smile on his old features. "All the young ones, regardless if they're related, are welcome to call me that."
"Thanks, I guess…." Robin said, looking away as a shy and embarrassed feeling welled up.
Grandpa Longneck only gave a short chuckle before he turned to meet eyes with Grandma Longneck. "We best get going now dear, the others are anxious for some answers."
…
…
…
…
…
Robin had followed closely behind Grandpa Longneck the best she could with her hurt ankle, but it wasn't too long before she noticed that they were coming up on a very large herd of very big Dinosaurs of all types all gathered around and waiting for them to show.
The young girl definitely didn't want to be in the center of attention in that kind of group, especially because they looked rather distressed, so she just hide behind Grandpa Longnecks' huge leg until someone told her it was safe to come out.
Grandma and Grandpa Longneck both explained what happened after Robin had woken up, all from what she was and what her name was. Once they were done speaking that's when to questions started.
"Where did it come from?
"Is it dangerous?"
"Are our hatchlings safe with it in the Valley?"
"Please, calm down a moment." Grandma Longneck said. "I know that she is indeed rather strange looking, but I assure you that she seems quite harmless."
"Harmless? Ha!" Topps snorted. "I have a sore under my eye that tells me otherwise."
"Somehow, I don't believe she ever seen anyone like us before, she was just a little frightened." Grandpa Longneck explained. "Can you really blame her for defending herself?"
Mr. Threehorn grumbled a bit, and Grandpa Longneck stooped his head down until it was directly before his left hind leg.
"Come on out, dear, let them see you." Grandpa Longneck said.
After a moment, Robin finally peeked out, looking at everyone nervously. But once she saw that they weren't going to try and attack her, she slowly limped out from behind her hiding place.
"Oh, how cute," came a familiar voice.
She looked over to the band of Triceratops' she had seen when she first woke up, and the female one with soft pink skin smiled at her.
But she seemed to be the only one who thought so when a chorus of whispering suddenly flooded the air. They were too hushed and jumbled together for Robin to make out, but she had a feeling that whatever they were saying was less than pleasant.
"How do we really know that it won't try to hurt our children?" Mr. Threehorn suddenly asked, "I say we take no chances and chase the thing out of our Valley for good!"
Whatever fear Robin felt before was lost upon hearing the coarse words of the Triceratops, and in its place rose the familiar bitterness and anger she'd always felt before.
"All right, that does it!" Robin yelled, a very intimidating glare on her face.
With balled fists, she tried to stomp up before to Mr. Threehorn, but in the eyes of everyone else it only looked like a silly hobble because of her injury.
"First, I'm a girl!" she started, "second, I'm a human, not an 'it' or a 'thing'!" she added.
Topps actually started to back up at Robin's boldness, his eyes wide. It was odd having something as small as her stand up and speak to him like this.
"And third!" she said in a raised voice, "my name isn't creature or weird or strange, it's Robin, got it?! RO-BIN!" the Triceratops stumbled over his words from surprise, but he soon got control over himself and his brow furrowed in anger.
"Now see here!" he started.
"No!" Robin yelled. "I haven't done anything wrong at all, but you have!"
She then gestured to her leg. "You only sprained my ankle, but what would I have done if you broke it? There's no hospital around and I really don't think you have the brains to fix a broken leg!"
Again Mr. Threehorn was caught tongue-tied, but Robin still wasn't finished.
"You were the one who attacked me first and you hurt me! Even though you're so much bigger then I am!"
"I don't have to leave if I don't want to because this is all your fault!"
Have said her piece, Robin whirled around and limped away, ignoring the murmurs and whispers as she disappeared into the thick shrubbery.
It wasn't long before the young girl could no longer hear voices as she trudged through the shrubbery. Her leg was aching, but she was too angry to care as she imagined Mr. Threehorn falling off a cliff over and over again in her mind.
She was actually so lost in thought that she couldn't even hear voices calling after her.
Who did that dumb Triceratops think he was, spouting off like that, he acted as if he knew the best way for everything in the whole world.
"Hey!"
Well she would be sure to keep her distance away from that crabby old gecko! She didn't ever want to see his mean, warty, big nosed face ever agai-
"HEY!"
Robin gave a gasp when a large yellow object suddenly jumped directly in her path, and she took a step back to see that it was Cera. She just waited there panting a little, and pretty soon she heard other footfalls behind her and she looked behind to see that Littlefoot and all the other young Dinosaurs approaching.
"Can you not here or what?!" she then heard Cera snap once she got her breath back. "I've been yelling for ages!"
"Well what do you want?" Robin demanded, deciding that she already didn't like where the conversation was heading.
"You had no right to talk to my dad like that!" Cera told her in a firm voice.
"He did it to me first!" Robin stated, crossing her arms proudly. "So it serves him right!"
"You need to go and say you're sorry to him right now!" the little Triceratops told her in a demandeing voice. "He's letting you stay in the Valley after all!"
"Only because now he knows that he's the one that was wrong!" Robin said, walking around Cera and walking away. "Because I was the one who told him so!"
"Hey! Get back here!" Cera yelled after her. "I'm not done talking to you!"
"Well I'm done talking to you!" Robin stated, continuing to walk on without looking back.
"I said get back here!"
Robin said nothing more, keeping her nose in the air; and when she still didn't turn around, Cera gave an angry growl and stooped low to the ground, pawing a foot over the ground before she charged at her., Head-butting Robin right in the rear with a force that knocked her off her feet.
Robin gasped at the unexpected assault and fell on her stomach with a loud, "Oof!"
"That'll teach you to ignore me!" Cera stated, starting to walk off with her head and tail in the air as Robin got to her hands and knees.
Robin clenched her teeth in rage, she wasn't gonna just let her walk away with shoving her like that! "Some Dinosaur you are!" she started, noticing a rock the size of a soft ball to her right, "Attacking someone who's injured with their back turned!"
"You're just a sneaky coward!"
"What did you say?!" Cera demanded, whipping around.
Robin only grabbed the rock and threw it at her as hard as she could. Cera gave a gasp and turned her head and face away, but it hit her square in the shoulder, making her cry out.
"Throw a rock at me, will you?!" the Cera demanded as she charged her again.
Robin got to a knee, minding her ankle, just waiting until the right moment; and once Cera was almost upon her, she jumped as high as she could and leapfrogged over the young Triceratops before she sent a good, hard slap at Ceras' tail as she ran under her.
But to her surprise, Cera made no notice of it, she only seemed slightly confused when Robin just suddenly seemed to disappear from in front of her.
She skidded to a halt and whirled around just as Robin landed behind her. Robin made to stand, but as she tried to think of something else she could do to hurt Cera back, she forgot all about her injury and put all of her weight on her bad leg, making her grab her ankle while letting out a hiss of pain.
Taking advantage of Robins distraction, Cera charged once again and struck her in the back, so hard, she actually knocked her in a good distance the air before she fell face fist into the ground.
Robin just lay there, trying to get her breath back, when Cera hit her, she felt her spine pop from the force; and for a moment, she was scared that she was paralyzed at first. But to her relief she could still move her fingers and toes, although she almost wished it otherwise because she hurt all over.
"Ha! That'll teach you to challenge a Threehorn!" Cera stated as she walked off with a flick of tail, obviously very proud of herself for coming out the victor over the scuffle.
Before the fight had started, Littlefoot had herded that others away a safe distance to wait until it was over. He sent Cera a distasteful look for a short moment, and then he went over to Robins' side, checking her over with concern.
"Robin, are you okay?" Ducky asked with a soft, hesitant voice.
"I'm fine!" she said firmly as she pushed herself up, rubbing at the dirt on her face, not meeting anyone's eyes.
In truth, she was covered is scratches and grass stains, and a spot on her lower back was stinging like crazy; plus, she was pretty sure that she had bruises everywhere, but her pride was already dented enough by her defeat to admit that she really felt hurt.
"Are you sure?" Littlefoot asked, "You don't look so good."
She suddenly heard sniffing and she looked over her shoulder to see Spike smelling at the sore spot on her back. She quickly got to her feet, making sure to keep her ankle in check this time.
"Hey, I'm pretty hungry, do you have any apple trees or berry bushes around here?" Robin asked. It was a half serious question, she hadn't eaten anything at all in a very long time, but she also really wanted to divert their attention from what happened. "Or is there anything that has fruit in it?"
"What that?" Petrie asked.
"Fruit? They grow from trees, or bushes, whichever you can find some are kind big and some a small; they're really juicy and taste sweet."
"Oooh, you mean sweet bubbles and tree sweets." Littlefoot said.
"Yeah…those." Robin said, going along with the weird names.
"We know where you can find some really yummy sweet bubbles," Ducky said as climbed up on Spikes' back. "Don't we, Spike?"
The Stegosaurs said nothing, but his violet eyes lit up in excitement and he gave a nod of his head,
"Lead away," Robin said, putting on a strained smile, "let's hurry before I collapse from hunger."
Spike, Ducky and Petrie all hurried ahead, but Littlefoot hung back with Robin; he still felt concerned about her, and it looked like her limping got a little worse.
"Hey Robin, if your leg's bothering you, I could give you a ride on my back if you wanted." Littlefoot said. "I think I'm just big enough for you to-"
"I can walk by myself, alright?!" Robin said in a voice that told him to drop the idea immediately. "It's not the first time I ever sprained an ankle!"
"O..okay then….Sorry," Littlefoot said, looking down at the ground with a rather sad look on his face.
Robin noticed it and instantly felt bad; she was hurt and mad, but she shouldn't have snapped at him like that, he only tried to help her.
"But thank you anyway, Littlefoot," she started in a soft voice, turning her face as she felt an embarrassed blush coming on, "It's nice that you offered."
Littlefoot just gave her a smile and he nodded. But he still held back and kept pace with her. If she needed help for anything, he'd make sure to be there.
…
…
…
…
…
…
I had been a pretty good walk before they finally arrived to a rather large berry bush. Robin eased herself to sit down next to it while the others started to help themselves to some.
"So you eat these all the time, right?" Robin asked.
"Oh, Yes, yes, yes," Ducky said. "They're really yummy."
"And you never feel bad afterwards?" she asked again, she really didn't want to get sick in a place where there definitely wasn't a doctor around.
"Me no think so," the Petrie said as he perched near the top of the bush and picked off a few berries. "They my very favorite and me never feel bad."
Robin picked a purplish-red berry herself, just eyeing it for a second before she slowly placed it in her mouth and chewed it. An almost bitter, sweet and sour taste washed over her tongue before she swallowed it.
She waited a while to see if she felt different after eating it, but when no change occurred, she figured that they were safe and began to pick more.
They definitely weren't going to be her favorite, but they would do for now until she found other things she would be able to eat.
Once she ate her fill, she looked over at some trees that where nearby, then at her ankle before she paused the others as they continued to eat.
"Hey guys, do you think you could do me a quick favor?" she asked.
"Sure Robin," Littlefoot said. "What do you need?"
"Just a couple of things, could you bring me some sticks and vine?"
"I get whole bunches of sticks!" Petrie said as he fly off.
"Me too! Me too!" Ducky said as she followed close behind him.
"And I'll get some vines." Littlefoot announced. "Be right back!"
Spike was the only one who stayed behind as he wasn't finished eating, and he took a huge bite out of the berry bush, cleaning the skinny branches completely bare. He hummed in joy as he munched away, and Robin couldn't help but smile at his happy expression.
And after a few moments, everyone else finally returned and laid out the items she requested beside her.
Robin picked though all the sticks and pulled out a couple that were wider and about the same size. Then she placed them on either side of her injured ankle and started to coil the vines around them.
"What are you doing with those, Robin?" Ducky asked.
"I'm making a splint." The young girl answered. "It'll give my ankle more support and help it heal."
"My Granpa taught me how in case I ever ended alone when we go camping."
She stopped when she was ready to pull it tight, taking a deep breath before she quickly pulled the vines together into a knot.
Robin cringed at first, letting out a pained grunt, but slowly the sharp sting turned into a dull ache. "That should do it for now…" she said, setting the knot.
"Ducky, Spike!" a voice suddenly called in the distance. "It's time to come home."
"We have to go now," Ducky said, climbing up on Spikes back. "Bye Littlefoot, by Robin, We'll see you tomorrow, we will, we will."
"By guys." Littlefoot said.
"Me better go too," Petrie said as he took off from his perch on Robin's shoulders. "Mamma no like my flying when it dark."
"Dark?" Robin asked, looking up at the sky. And to her surprise, she saw that the sky had started to turn pink, it started getting late without her realizing.
"Good night Petrie, see you tomorrow." Littlefoot said.
Once he was gone, Littlefoot walked over to Robin with a rather exhausted look on his face. "Well, we better get going too," he said. "Grandma and Grandpa will worry if we're not back before the Bright Circle's gone."
Robin felt a little confused by the word 'Bright Circle', but then it dawned on her that he was talking about the sun. She tried to get up on her own, but she had been on her feet for most of the day because of her stubbornness, and now she was paying for it.
She looked up at Littlefoot for a second, biting her lip even though it was just the two of them now, it was still gonna be hard for her to ask for this kind of help.
"Hey, Littlefoot…"she started, unable to keep his gaze as she felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. "Is….is that offer for a ride still open?"
"My ankle… really, really hurts now."
"Oh sure, climb on." He said, coming up directly beside her and leaning his neck down to her. Robin wrapped her arms around his neck and slowly pulled herself up and climbed up on his back. And after he was sure that she was on securely, he started off down the path towards home.
…
…
…
…
"So, how come you only ate the sweet bubbles earlier?" Littlefoot asked as the two of them continued to stroll down the path to where his Grandparents sleeping spot was. "The green food was really good too."
"I can barely stand greens enough as it is, but humans can't eat leaves and stuff like that." Robin informed him as she idly played with passing bushes while she rode on his back. "We can only eat certain kinds of vegetables, along fruits and meat."
Littlefoot suddenly paused, and he gave a rather worried look. "Meat?" he asked rather nervously. "You like to eat meat?"
Robin inwardly kicked herself, he was a plant eater after all, of course he wouldn't be too keen on finding out that she ate meat as well.
"Well, I do like it, but I never eat anything that talks to me." Robin told him. "I'm pretty sure that I can get by on fruits, maybe I'll even get lucky and find some nuts somewhere, my Granma says they're a really good source of protein."
"Plus I really don't think Dinosaurs would taste very good at all, anyways, and I don't really like the idea of finding out if I'm right."
"So you're kind of like Chomper, then." Littlefoot stated as he continued on his way, it mostly to himself, but it caught Robin's curiosity.
"Who?"
"He's a Sharptooth that me and friends hatched." Littlefoot answered her. "He only bit Cera once before, but that was when he a just a little baby, he's never tried to eat us."
"We kind of became like another family to him."
Robin didn't know exactly what kind of Dinosaur this Chomper was, but she was smart enough to guess that 'Sharptooth' was a title for the ones that at meat.
She definitely hoped she would never meet one of those while she was here.
"You might not want to tell the others about it, though," Littlefoot suggested.
"Well, no promises, if it ever comes up I'm not gonna lie." Robin said. "I guess I'll have to just show everyone that I certainly don't plan on ever eating them."
"Even Cera?"
Robin frowning slightly at her name. "I'll have to think about that a little bit…."
Littlefoot let out a laugh. "Oh, and I've been wanting to ask, what's that thing you have around your neck?"
Robin looked down at a plastic case she wore as a necklace on a thick black string.
"Well, I have this thing called 'Asthma', lots of people have it." Robin explained, taking it in her hands and fiddling around with it. "It's a condition that makes it really hard to breathe sometimes, especially if you run or get too worked up, so you have to use a special medicine for it in case an attack ever happens."
"That sounds kind of scary," Littlefoot commented.
"Meh, it' more annoying than scary, I haven't had an Asthma attack in forever because I know how to control it, so I don't even need to use the medicine." Robin said, letting it drop from her hands and looking away with a rather angry look. "But everyone I know doesn't believe me and they have to go and make such a big deal out of it and make me carry it around everywhere I go…"
"They don't think I can take care of myself and they never let me to do anything I want to do either!"
Before Littlefoot could ask what she meant, a voice beat him to the punch.
"There you two are, we were afraid you had gotten lost."
A bit surprised, they looked ahead to see that the two of them had made it back, and both Grandma and Grandpa Longneck waiting for them in their sleeping spot.
"Robin! What in the world?" Grandma Longneck began in surprise once she noticed Robins dirty, scraped and grass stained state. "What happened?"
"She and Cera got in a fight, Grandma." Littlefoot told her as Robin slid off his back.
"A fight?" Grandpa Longneck asked with a little concern.
"And not a fair one either!" Robin grumbled.
"I don't know how children behave where you're from, Robin," Grandma Longneck started in a firm tone, "But we will have no fighting here in the Great Valley!"
The young girl only crossed her arms, saying nothing as she looked down at the ground with the look of a scolded child.
"Look at you, you're absolutely filthy." Grandma Longneck chided, bringing her face down close to her.
Robin jerked when she suddenly felt something huge and wet run over her face, and she grimaced when she realized that it was Grandma Longnecks tongue.
"Whoa! No licking!" Robin said, quickly backing away while making a face. "I'll take a bath tomorrow!"
"Right now I just wanna go to sleep."
"Well, there's plenty of room here with us." Grandpa Longneck said as he bedded down beside his mate. "You can sleep close to me if you like."
"No thanks," she said walking off a little ways to an old log that had a large patch of soft moss growing on it. "I'll be just fine over here." She said,
"Are you sure?" Grandma Longneck asked. "You might get cold sleeping by your lonesome."
"Yep, I'm good." Robin said curtly, laying down and getting comfortable as she used the moss as a makeshift pillow. " 'night."
She had to back to the three of them, but she just listened for a moment to them rustling around trying to get comfortable. "Come to bed now Littlefoot, it's late." She heard Grandpa Longneck say and after a little while longer, everything was still and silent except for the sound of night bugs singing their songs.
…
…
…
…
…
Sometime during the night, Littlefoot had woken up with something nagging at him.
He couldn't understand what it was at first, but when he looked over to where Robin was sleeping, even in the darkness, he could see that she was shivering very hard from the cold.
Getting up, Littlefoot carefully walked over to her. Looking her over, he couldn't help but smile a little at remembering her stubbornness earlier. He knew that she'd get cold laying by herself, but she just went ahead and did her own thing.
Just like Cera did.
They actually seemed to be a lot alike, they were both a bit gruff, but they could be very nice too; He found himself silently wondering, had they all met under different circumstances, if the two of them would get along a better with each other.
But in the end, all he could do was hope that they wouldn't fight anymore during Robin's stay.
Giving a soft sigh, he slowly nestled down beside her and laid his neck over her side. And sure enough Robin's shivering soon started to quiet down.
"Have nice sleep stories Robin…." He whispered before he finally fell back into his slumber.
Whew...5222 words, I think I'll go and try and revive myself now...
I hope you liked it. :):)