The Demon Returns

Littlefoot, the gang, and the grown-ups came back through the Hidden Canyon into the Valley. None of them spoke, the image of Redclaw brutally murdered still lingered in their minds. And the bite marks on his neck along with the claw marks across his stomach, according to Chomper these could only have been made by another sharptooth.

But Redclaw was supposed to be the biggest and meanest sharptooth of all time, and that was what lingered most in Littlefoot's mind. A sharptooth bigger and more deadly than Redclaw. It disturbed him to think about it, but he could only imagine a single sharptooth that ever scared him more or was more ferocious than Redclaw, and that was the first sharptooth he ever encountered. The one that killed his mother.

"Littlefoot," Grandpa longneck said.

"Huh," Littlefoot replied, snapping out of his thoughts. "Yeah, Grandpa?"

"How about you and your friends go play, we need to speak with the other grown-ups over this." Grandpa said.

"Okay, sure." Littlefoot said.

"No." Topsy said. "Cera's coming home with me."

"But, Daddy…" Cera began to protest.

"Cera, you're coming with me and staying with Tria until this is figured out."

"You don't need to treat my like a little kid anymore, Daddy." Cera said.

"That's enough, young lady. Let's go." As he said that, Topsy started walking off into the Valley. Cera snorted in frustration, then followed.

/

Sharptooth snuck through the valley, keeping deep within the trees so as to remain hidden. His stomach still growled with hunger, although he had mangled and killed that pitiful excuse for a predator, Redclaw, Sharptooth did not eat any of him. A devastating killer he was, but a cannibal he was not. If ever given the choice, he would never eat another sharptooth.

But nearby, he could smell a small group of three horns. Four threehorns, two of them were adults, another was approaching adolescence and the last a new hatchling. Yes, at least one of these should be able to give him the energy he desired. He turned toward the scent of the threehorns, keeping himself in the shadows of the trees. He looked through the spaces between the trees with his good eye and into a small nest in a clearing. At the nest, two of the threehorns stood. One was a large female with a pink hide, the other was the hatchling.

He waited in the trees, just out of sight. His dark green skin hid well in the shadows of the green food. His muscles tensed as he watched the threehorns. He would not be able to attack them at this distance without the mother turning to defend. He needed one of them to get just a little closer. Just a little closer. Closer, damn it!

The hatchling jumped and bounded along happily and eager, like she didn't have a care in the world. She steadily came closer and closer to him, he tapped his finger claws together in anticipation and his breathing increased when suddenly she turned away and ran the other direction, but not in fear.

Sharptooth grinded his teeth together in frustration. The threehorn hatchling ran back to the other end of the clearing just as the other adult threehorn came into the clearing. This one was male and with a grayish colored skin. Following him was the other young one, a female that was bright yellow.

Both of Sharptooth's eyes snapped wide open at the sight of this little threehorn. He recognized her instantly, the same threehorn from years ago. She had been with the longneck. And it had been her that also tried to kill him. He remembered easily, the cliff over the deep pond and the rock.

He had just jumped up to the rock and was reaching over it trying to catch the baby longneck in his teeth when he heard this threehorn run up. She rammed head first into the rock and then the rock started to tip and roll. Sharptooth snapped his jaws at the hatchling one last time just as the rock rolled off the Cliffside with him on top of it, taking him into the watery abyss of that pond.

Yes, he remembered that threehorn. His blood boiled at the sight of this threehorn, his hatred overflowed until he could no longer remain hidden. In a single action, Sharptooth bolted to his feet and crashed through the trees, toppling several of them over. A terrible roar split the air as he charged forward toward the young threehorn.

The young threehorn screamed in fear and ran just as Sharptooth snapped his jaws against the spot where she stood. He continued after her, even when she ran back into the trees all Sharptooth did was rip the trees from the earth.

In a massive jump, Sharptooth leapt into the air and landed in front of her. Without a seconds hesitation, he turned and brought two rows of huge teeth down upon the threehorn, now shivering in fear. Suddenly, another threehorn, the older male, placed himself between Sharptooth and the yellow youngster. Sharptooth caught one of the threehorn's horn in his mouth, luckily it slipped out the other side without causing any damage.

"Cera!" The older male shouted. "Run! Go get help!"

"Daddy!" Cera cried.

"Go!" Her father shouted.

Sharptooth growled, he twisted the horn in his mouth and with a quick jerk of his head snapped it in two. A holler of pain erupted from the old male threehorn. Sharptooth spat out the half a horn in his mouth and then turned back to Cera, the earth shaking with every footstep. Cera scrambled and ran with Sharptooth right on top of her. As he came up again, Cera's father slammed his body up against Sharptooth's legs, causing the carnivore to fall to the ground with a bone crunching thud.

Sharptooth was unfazed. He kicked and caught the threehorn in the face, slashing his claws against the other dinosaur's flesh. Cera started to run, but stopped when she heard her father cry out in pain. She turned back and saw Sharptooth getting back to his feet and again coming towards her. As he did, she noticed his right eye. It was held tightly shut.

She gasped in horror. This was impossible, there was no way it could be him. No, she watched him die when he fell from the cliff and into the water with the boulder on top of him. He should be dead, has to be dead! Yet here he was, standing in front of her with the same terrible snarl and mouth of teeth as before.

Sharptooth charged again, his mouth open wide right for her. But she couldn't move, she tried, but her legs were frozen in place with fear. Every second, those teeth drew closer and closer to tear her apart and swallow her but still she couldn't move. Just before reaching her, Tria, the female threehorn rammed into Sharptooth's leg, one horn on either side. She shoved him down and the giant carnivore landed with a crash. "Cera! Run!" Tria cried. "Take Tricia with you! I can hold this guy."

"No, Tria. You go with them and warn the others, I'll hold him off." Topsy shouted, scrapping his feet across the ground and aiming his horns at the fallen predator.

"I won't leave you behind, Topsy!" Tria cried. Suddenly, the great green monster slammed into her, burying his teeth into her back. Tria screamed in pain as the serrated death weapons drove themselves deeper into her flesh. Sharptooth began to twist and shake his head, slicing his teeth through her body.

Cera still couldn't bring herself to run. The horror before her eyes still transfixed her. Topsy charged at Sharptooth, barreling full speed at the attacker with his horns aimed right at the soft stomach. Sharptooth saw him coming and released Tria from his grip, pushing himself back and out of the threehorn's path.

"Tria! Go!" Topsy shouted again.

Tria nodded and started to move. She nudged Cera, which then started Cera finally running again. Tricia ran up to her mother's side just as Tria scooped the little hatchling up in her mouth and carried her away.

Finally, they emerged from the forest and found the other adults, all of whom had gathered together in the main discussion rock outcrop. "Tria, Cera," Grandma longneck said, "what is going on?"

"It's a sharptooth!" Tria shouted, placing Tricia on the ground. "Topsy is fighting it, but I don't think he can keep it up for long."

"A sharptooth!?" Grandma exclaimed.

"You can't kill him. You can't kill him. He won't die." Cera muttered under her breath.

"Cera?" Tria asked.

"He won't die!! We have to run, he'll kill us all! He can't die!!" Cera screamed.

Just then, the sound of Topsy crying out in pain rose from the trees and echoed through the air. Feathered flyers took flight from the forest and lifted towards the sky as the fierce roar of the sharptooth split the air. A dead silence fell across the valley. Everyone who stood they near Cera just stared at the dark forest without uttering a word. "You don't understand!" Cera finally spoke out. "This isn't just any sharptooth. It's HIM. It's THE Sharptooth, himself!"