Second Departure
Cera awoke as the Bright Circle rose over the Great Wall, casting its light over the valley. Her eyes blinked away the sleep-sand. Last night had not been a peaceful night. Over the course of the night, she had tossed and turned in unrest while waiting for sleep to finally take her. And when she did finally sleep, she had been plagued by bad sleep-stories. Not even sleep-stories, more like sleep-terrors of her watching as Sharptooth killed her father over and over again.
Her father would be fighting Sharptooth, and for most of the dream it would seem to be even. Then her father would charge and Sharptooth would jump over him, dodging the horns and attacking from behind. Sharptooth sank his teeth into Daddy Threehorn's hide and red would squirt and spray across his face and the ground. She would then hear her father roar in pain and the terrible crunching of bones as Sharptooth closed his jaws tighter and tighter.
These dreams had played through her mind over and over again all through the night and she could do nothing to stop it. She couldn't even wake up. Fortunately that was over now, but reality wasn't much better. Not with the real Sharptooth roaming around the Great Wall. She could only hope that today would be better.
"Cera!" Tricia's cute and squeaky voice squealed. The tiny pink Threehorn bounded over to her big sister and nuzzled up against her. "Sissy is awake."
"Yeah, I'm awake." Cera said, slightly disheartedly, and smiled. Tricia was too young to grasp the gravity of what was happening and for a moment Cera envied her for it.
"Cera, I hate to tell you this, but we have more bad news." Tria said.
"Oh, come on. I just woke up, can't I have a little peace without something bad happening?" Cera remarked.
"It concerns Littlefoot. He's missing." Tria said.
"What?! Missing? Oh, no. Did Sharptooth…" Cera trailed off, unable to finish her thought.
"We don't know." Tria said. "Mr. Longneck just woke up to find Littlefoot gone. Everyone in the Valley has been looking for him."
In the sky, a flyer swooped down overhead and landed near the nest. It was Petrie, gasping for breath. "Cera, me have news."
"What is it, Petrie?" Cera asked.
"Doc's lady friend say she know where Littlefoot go. She tell everyone at the rock bridge grown-up meeting place." Petrie explained. "She explain when everyone show up."
"Then we need to get moving. Hurry, we don't have any time." Cera started running as Petrie took off into the air.
"Come on, Tricia." Tria said as she followed.
A few minutes later, Cera arrived in the stone meeting ground and found Ducky, Spike, Chomper and Ruby already waiting along with most of the Great Valley. Standing in the center of the crowd was Dara, Doc's traveling companion.
"Cera, you made it. Made it you did." Ruby said.
"Has she said anything yet?" Cera asked, panting to catch her breath.
"Not yet." Chomper replied. "She's been specifically waiting for you."
"Yes," Dara said, looking down at the now smaller gang of friends, "now that you're here, I can explain what's going on." She turned back to the crowd and began. "Yes, Littlefoot has gone away. Don't worry, he's alright. Doc is with him."
Cera let out a deep sigh and sat on the ground. "That's good. At least he's protected."
"Doc is taking Littlefoot to protect him from Sharptooth, and so that Doc can teach him how to fight. Doc is going to make Littlefoot his heir and teach him everything he knows, so that one day Littlefoot will be able to stop Sharptooth." Dara said.
"He just ran away?" Ducky asked. "Does he even care anymore? What about his Grandpa?"
"Littlefoot is doing this because he cares. He cares about everyone's safety and he knows that Sharptooth is after him. So he decided to leave to keep Sharptooth from killing anyone else around here." Dara explained.
"And it will work." A growling terror voice said. Cera became frozen with fear. Standing on a hillside behind the crowd of leaf eaters, the rising Bright Circle casting his shadow over the multitude was the silhouette of Sharptooth.
Dara sneered. "Why are you here, monster?"
"It's easy to simply refer to a fellow dinosaur as a monster when the only way for said dinosaur to survive is to eat the flesh of others. Condemned as evil and the scourge of the earth because of my race, but we all must feed to survive. Am I cursed because I must eat meat to live?" Sharptooth responded.
"Deflecting the question, just like a sharptooth. You don't merely kill for food, you kill for joy. You don't survive, you murder. Again, why are you here?" Dara growled.
"I was startled to find that the longneck runt had run away, I didn't expect the one who almost killed me to be a coward. But now I know that he's hiding his cowardly ways with the illusion of compassion. And as well, I should've guessed that Doc would be intervening in matters that didn't concern him." Sharptooth started to move away. "It doesn't matter. They got less than a days head start, it won't take that long for me to catch up. And by the way, how many of you have killed my kind? You don't need to eat meat, and no matter what you say it wasn't always for survival. You have killed before, does that not make you a murderer? Those hatchlings down there had every intention of killing me in cold blood, what excuses their behavior and not mine?"
Sharptooth walked away, the ground thundering under his feet with each step. Cera watched as he went, a boiling rage started to fill her from her toes to the top of her frill. This evil monster, a true murderer. She wasn't a murderer for trying to kill him, he wasn't even a dinosaur, more like a demon walking the earth to cause pain and misery.
"Sharptooth!!" Cera shouted. "You won't have to worry about Littlefoot killing you, because I will!"
Sharptooth laughed. "You? A weak Threehorn could never kill me. But if you want to try, be my guest. Work, grow, train and become strong then one day face me without fear of death and I will fight you."
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Late that night, as the Night circle rose into the sky and blanketed the earth in silver, Chomper emerged from his cave in the Great Wall. Ruby had fallen asleep hours before. Chomper stepped outside and tested the air. His powerful sense of smell quickly caught the scent of Littlefoot, still strong in the air. He had made up his mind earlier today when Sharptooth had decided to keep going after Littlefoot. Chomper had decided that he was going to go after Littlefoot himself.
He started off. The young sharptooth climbed up the side of the Great Wall as silently as he could. He accidentally hit a small rock and caused it to cascade down the mountain all the way to the valley floor. A small stream of pebbles and dirt followed, and Chomper winced, thinking it would awaken someone in the valley. The rocks came to rest and when no one reacted or even moved, Chomper sighed in relief.
He turned back to go up the mountain and suddenly saw the huge snarling jaws and teeth of a predator. Sharptooth was standing right in front of him, holding his jaws down at Chomper's level. Sharptooth snorted and hit Chomper in the face with hot stankey breath.
"Aaahh!!" Chomper screamed and stumbled backwards, falling on his side. He tried to scramble away, clawing at the ground as best he could with his hands. Sharptooth rose to his full height and cast his terrible shadow over the tiny carnivore.
Just as Chomper got to his feet, Sharptooth stomped his talons in Chomper's path. Chomper was trapped in the presents of a monster. He curled up in a ball and quivered in fear, weeping.
Sharptooth sighed. "I wake up to a disturbance and find this little thing here. Disappointing." He said in Sharptooth speech. The giant carnivore stepped away. "Get up, worm."
Chomper dared to look up at the powerful creature standing before him. A mountain of muscle, claws, teeth and rage given flesh. The personification of power. The pinicle of sharptooth strength. Somehow, Chomper felt a form of reverence about him. "You're not going to eat me?" Chomper asked.
"You don't know much, do you?" Sharptooth said. "Cannibalism is the worst offence any dinosaur can achieve, leaf eater or meat eater. I may be many things, but I will not eat another of my own kind. Now scram. Get out of here."
Chomper started to turn, then stopped. "Why are you still here? I thought you were going after Littlefoot." Chomper asked.
"Is that the true name of the longneck runt? Littlefoot? I once knew another longneck who was called that, although that wasn't his true name. I don't feel the need to answer a weak traitor. Now, get out of here!!!" Sharptooth roared.
Chomper jumped. Sharptooth started to move, making his way over the Great Wall and to the Mysterious Beyond. "You are going after Littlefoot, aren't you? If you're going after him, then so am I!" Chomper shouted.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Sharptooth laughed. "What do you hope to accomplish? You'll run off into the Mysterious Beyond and only get yourself killed. Nothing as weak as you can survive in the real world. What does this longneck mean to you?"
"Littlefoot is my Gralnuk. My best friend. I would go to the ends of the earth for him. I don't care what I have to do, I will find him!" Chomper shouted.
Sharptooth looked down at this little hatchling. A physical weakling, small and extremely undersized for his age. But his heart was strong, his inner strength burned with the intensity of a smoking mountain. Sharptooth snorted. "So, you plan to go into a world of death to find a friend?"
"Yes." Chomper responded without a seconds pause.
"Fine. Then you travel with me. You will become my apprentice and you will learn everything from me. How to hunt, fight, and kill. That will be the agreement, otherwise I will kill you here and now." Sharptooth said. "Do you understand?"
"That's fine." Chomper replied, with complete confidence.
"Good." The mighty dinosaur said. "Then let us go." Together, the two sharpteeth stepped over the summit of the mountains and started their journey into the Mysterious Beyond, one searching for someone precious, the other after revenge.