Hey, welcome back! Tons going on here, and lots of little segments. Hope you like the chapter! Usual things about disclaimers and favs/follows/reviews apply. Enjoy!

Also, we have a conversation between adults with a lot of first names, so here are some first names for reference:

- Beverly = Perri's adoptive mother

- Colby = Cassia's father

- Coral = Ruby's mother

- Jasper = Ruby's father

- Marina = Mama Swimmer

- Rythe = Mrs. Twoped/Cassia's mother

- Terese = Mama Flyer

Chapter 29 - Jeopardy for Jailbirds and Juniors

Day 2 – Late Morning/Afternoon

With the declaration of the bounty being placed on the missing tailed dinosaurs in the twofooter zone, many of the regime's twofooters dove into a full-out pursuit, hunting the escapees down with such ferocity it almost looked as though they had become sharpteeth themselves, even trying to sniff out their prey. While remaining in segregated groups of their own kinds, spikethumbs, boneheads, hollowhorns, swimmers and bigmouths alike scoured the homes of the rebellious twofooters immediately after the herd meeting, while the border patrol refused to allow any of the dissidents back into their homes until the search there had been completed. The hunters combed the entire area thoroughly in a frenzied search that the Valley hadn't seen since the one for the tiny longnecks after the tree sweet incident. But as the dissidents only occupied a thin strip of land, and with tailed dinosaurs known to not be able to swim or climb well, it soon became apparent even to the most dogged of bounty hunters that none of the escapees were hiding there. Reluctantly, they retreated back to the rest of the twofooter zone, crouching, kneeling, and rifling through bushes in their determined search, though keeping half an eye on the rebel area, hoping that they'd catch a fugitive on the run.

Despite the thorough scouring however, their process was not foolproof. The segregated herds, refusing to work with each other's kinds, did not communicate to one another where they had already checked, and their narrowmindedness prevented them from thinking outside the Valley's walls, leaving the rock covering up the tiny longnecks' burrow completely untouched. What was more, although the bounty was on all the escapees, every effort in the hunt was spent trying to track down Oplax. The little clubtail and his friends had attracted such notoriety among the regime's supporters that each of them wanted to be the one to catch him, with many craving personal revenge after the shenanigans the junior gang pulled. As a result, hardly any of them were even looking for Nod, who was reduced to being a distant second tree sweet on the tree.

This all suited Nod just fine of course. As he watched bystander twofooters like Madge and Maia Bigmouth, the Swimmer Trio and Juana Spikethumb start to grow irritated as the regime's followers continued their overzealous search, Nod remained safely stashed inside Mr. Spikethumb's place. Tucked away in a corner, by concealing his legs and lowering his head, he was able to effectively disguise himself as one of Mr. Spikethumb's rocks. This disguise grew even more effective when his friend and Mr. Spikethumb's son Weald woke up. Glad to be able to help keep his friend safe while resting from his injuries, Weald moved his body so that Nod would be even harder to find. Between Weald's gray body and the gray rocks enclosing his family's place, the gray shieldback was completely camouflaged and mostly out of sight. The only way to see Nod was to notice his back from above upon a close inspection, but with the regime's flyers losing their ability to fly, the risk there had been greatly diminished.

After the raucous herd meeting concluded, Nod saw that Hyp, Mutt, Ann, Dispo and now Rana accompanying them had come over to resume reviewing shieldback scales. To their surprise, Mr. Spikethumb quietly revealed to them that he had an extra shieldback, the meaning of which his other friends, even Mutt eventually, happily figured out. Being in the open neutral zone with many regime supporters lurking about, Nod knew his friends couldn't exactly greet him, though Hyp had to hold Mutt back multiple times, nor would they be able to sneak him into a safer area in broad daylight. But they all seemed greatly encouraged knowing that Nod was safe, and they all gave him warm smiles whenever they made eye contact as they sat, adding another protective layer around him. Fortunately, they did not attract much attention from the mob, for between Mr. Spikethumb's firm insistence that his son needed rest, not seeing any sign of Oplax's light green among the gray of the dinosaurs and rocks present, and the fact that nobody wanted to get near a shieldback scales cram session, they preferred to take their search elsewhere.

While the others were too far away to actually speak with Nod, Weald was close enough that they could talk quietly as the others continued to talk to Mr. Spikethumb.

"I can't believe you were crazy enough to try to get past those border patrol guards," Weald muttered to Nod. "Don't you know how brutal they are?"

Nod shook his head. "Trust me, I'm not that stupid. That crazy kid made me do it."

Weald sighed. "Well, you two got lucky. Unlike me … I swear, this rotten Valley hates me."

Nod sighed. Jaded, bitter and frequently complaining, Nod knew that Weald often blamed the Great Valley for his problems, ever since he had lost most of his family on the journey there long before he and Nod met, back when the herds were still segregated. And considering the state of the Valley now, there certainly was a lot to complain about. Still, something about his tone made Nod curious, and so Nod asked, "Why did you get hurt?"

Weald snorted. "Why would you care?"

"Well, I'm your friend," Nod told him earnestly. "I wanna know what's wrong."

Weald stared. Something strange had been going on with not just him, but Hyp, Mutt, Ann, and Dispo as well. Along with being secretive and strangely disappearing for long periods of time, they had all seemed to become a little nicer, gentler, and a little bit less bitter at the world. They had all seemed to grow closer to the Circle of Elders as well, even helping them in the scuffle to help the newly criminalized younger gang escape. And with each passing moment, Rana seemed to be changing too as he felt her presence on his other side, slowly but steadily growing warmer in her demeanor. It was almost as if the rest of his formerly jaded, cynical crew were becoming more like the two younger mixed-species gangs with their idealistic, do-gooder natures …

"All right," Weald told him gruffly. "I'll tell you. If you tell me what you've been up to."

"Up to?" Nod asked, playing dumb.

Weald raised his eyebrows. "You know what I mean," he growled.

"Well," Nod began, but at that moment, Rana turned around, her bluish grey eyes looking surprisingly understanding as she smiled at them.

"It's okay Nod," she said kindly, further intriguing both Nod and Weald. "I know now too. The others told me last night. And they were gonna tell you too, Weald. We just can't tell Ceph, with his family being watched by the mob. But at least the seven of us can know about it together."

Surprised, Nod could tell by the changes he was seeing in Rana that indeed, the others had let her in on the Secret Spot, and not seeing any objection from his other friends, Nod said, "Okay. You go first, then I'll explain our secret."

Reluctantly, Weald sighed. "Fine. I got injured because of Denna."

"Denna?" Nod asked, trying to remember.

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know, we were still segregated back then. Denna was a spikethumb in my herd when I was younger. We were good friends as kids. Her family left the Valley, but now she's back …. In one of those herds," he said, scowling, "But she doesn't go by Denna anymore. Now she's Mrs. Gonn."

Perplexed, Nod looked at Weald as he sighed. "Gonn is one of those brutes on the border patrol. And he's a real chauvinist on top of it."

"Chauvinist?" Nod asked. Being the son of a professorial father, Weald sometimes used big words that Nod didn't understand.

"Sexist," Weald clarified. "He orders Denna to stick to their nest and clean up his waste. And she just goes, "I shall not fail to please you." It's like she's become a shell of her former self."

Hearing the resentment and bitterness in Weald's voice, Nod asked cautiously, "Did Gonn give you those injuries?"

Weald nodded. "He'd been whipping Denna with his tail because she hadn't given him any eggs yet. Each time I watched, she never stood up for herself, she just kept apologizing for not being a worthy mate. It makes me sick just thinking about it, both how disgusting he is and how subservient she has become. So I decided to take matters into my own paws."

"What happened?" Nod asked concernedly.

Weald sighed heavily. "Well, I went to her nest and tried telling her she doesn't have to take any of that sharptooth dirt. But she said I couldn't talk to her because she's mated, and that she's not Denna anymore … She now says she's Mrs. Gonn." Shaking his head in disgust, Weald continued, "I told her to leave him. But she refused, saying once a male picks a female, it's her duty to serve him until the circles call her. She's been brainwashed by these crazy nutjobs. Seriously, she thinks her entire purpose is to give Gonn eggs."

Nod was speechless as Weald darkly continued, "So I just had it. I went to the border patrol to see this Gonn for myself. I told him to stop treating Denna like that or else. He just laughed and asked what I was gonna do about it. You can see how that turned out," Weald sighed, nodding toward his scars. "Oh well. At least I still have you guys, and I know you'd never give up who you are to a dark mindset. But enough about me. What about you?"

So quietly, Nod let Weald in on the secret that he and his friends shared, and with him and Rana both knowing, there were now seven of them in their gang, all together in the twofooter zone, with knowledge of what lay on the other side of the boulder at the zone's north side.


Following the latest raft of accusations and criminal charges, the security at the central prison had been dramatically reinforced. Along with the guards posted on each side of the jail and the border patrol blocking entry into each zone, a second wall of guards was installed around the prison. There were new inmates inside as well. Now that they were being charged as accomplices to murder, Cam and Mia were moved into the central prison, accompanied by their guards. With four large longnecks and a large sharptooth held inside the prison now, the regime knew they needed the very strongest, toughest security agents to restrain them. Thus, every dinosaur posted to guard the jail cell was a particularly large, bulky longneck, threehorn, spiketail or clubtail, every last one of them having muscles that looked so big it was almost as if they could completely squish the tiny, cold hearts that lay inside their bodies. Brutally leering at their inmates, the guards regularly flashed their weapons at them, both to intimidate them and in anticipation for the inevitable verdict that they knew would soon come down.

Ali watched her two old friends and herdmates sadly as they were brutally pushed into the prison. Upon being roughly shoved inside, Mia immediately sat down and folded her legs under her large white body. Then she lifted her very long neck and head up as high as they would go, closing her eyes and letting the Bright Circle's light bathe her as she sat in silent meditation. Ali smiled understandingly, knowing that Mia was taking solace in the Bright Circle's warmth in her time of need. Underneath that normally silly grin was a young, sensitive dinosaur who had experienced more than her share of horrors. She rarely talked about her past, but through their cold times together, Ali knew that she had journeyed a long way from her homeland, lost her parents when she was young, and crossed a place with bitter cold times to get here.

And though she had retained her hallmark cheery, giggly, flirtatious persona, Ali had been seeing Mia meditating to the circles increasingly often as of late. She could easily understand why, for after bullying Cera, deceiving the Valley, trying to frame Chomper for murder, and eggnapping, Mia had done a lot of things both for which she was deeply ashamed of and which still earned her mistrust from other dinosaurs that she would otherwise be able to turn to for support, and the circles were able to help fill that void in her time of need. But having similar beliefs herself, Ali knew that Mia's beliefs in the circles couldn't be more different from those of their oppressors. They along with others in their herd and many of their other friends and allies believed that the circles were gentle, caring entities that would forgive them of their mistakes and would first and foremost want them to treat their fellow dinosaurs with compassion, harmony, openness, and tolerance. It didn't matter if others didn't share the same beliefs about the circles that they did. What really mattered was that they shared the kind, loving and caring values with one another that their beliefs helped encourage them to live by.

It was a belief system that while still believing in the circles, was in complete contrast to the belief system espoused by Leigh and the regime, in which the circles were punitive, hateful, intolerant entities that cast judgment, demanded purity and conformity, cast out heretics, and stuck rigidly to tradition. While the belief in the circles being spiritual beings itself was the same, the nature of that belief and the practices they took from it were completely different, leading to two entirely incompatible belief systems and oppositional ways of life. As Ali looked at the pleading expression on Mia's face, she could only imagine that Mia was probably imploring the circles to help protect all six of them in their prison, as well as everyone else endangered by the merciless regime around them.

But eventually, a sky puffy covered up the Bright Circle, breaking Mia's meditation, and crestfallenly, her long neck slowly deflated, draping to the ground like a saddened serpent, and she began to dwell upon the results of her disastrous plan. There was no way around saying that regardless of her intentions, it had been a complete failure. She had been so focused on trying to protect Chomper from losing control of his hunger that she had failed to consider any oaths that might have been taken or how Leigh and his cronies would lie and distort the situation to fit their ends. Ironically, in trying to help, she had only made everything worse, not only hastening Chomper's impending execution but Ruby's, Shorty's, and Ali's as well, and even placing her and Cam onto the increasingly crowded death row.

As Mia's despair began to overwhelm her, she began to bawl noisily and profusely. Seeing her best friend so consumed with guilt and sorrow, Cam felt desperate to do something, and so she took it upon herself to verbally tirade the guards. With great vigor, she started volleying off loud protests, insisting that none of them did anything wrong, berating how cruel the regime was, and speaking for all her cellmates by declaring how proud they were to stand up for the Great Valley and what it truly stood for. Through her rants, Cam saw her boyfriend Len trying to come visit her, only for him to consistently get blocked by the rows of guards. As the guards' treatment of him became progressively rougher, she grew increasingly incensed, and eventually she even began to threaten the guards that they would be sorry when their herd would come to their rescue. But the vicious guards only laughed, for they knew that with their herd being escorted away, these threats were empty and idle.

Before long however, the continuous racket created by Mia's wails and Cam's screeches caused the guards to develop such headaches that they couldn't even hear themselves think. As the guards crouched down, gritted their teeth, placed their paws over their ears, and growled in rage, Ali and Shorty felt their legs being nudged. Looking down, they saw that Ruby was motioning to them. Confused, they kept observing her and saw her mouthing at them as she continued to motion. Bewildered as to how she could possibly expect them to hear her over all that noise, they then saw that Chomper was oddly crouched on the ground nearby, looking at Ruby urgently.

Seeing this, Ali and Shorty understood. Sharpteeth and halfteeth had better hearing than flatteeth did, and while they wouldn't be able to hear anything, neither would the entirely flattooth prison guard, and Cam and Mia's outbursts would provide the perfect opportunity for Chomper and Ruby to talk amongst themselves without being overheard. So slowly, Ali and Shorty lumbered over to block off either side of Chomper's body from view, to which he nodded gratefully. And with the crouched sharptooth obscured by the enormous longnecks and Cam and Mia's noise continuing unabated, Ruby quietly scampered over to stand right beside Chomper's head. With a smokescreen in both sight and sound having been established, Chomper and Ruby knew that they now had perhaps the best chance to talk that they would get.

Ruby then placed her mouth right into Chomper's ear as she felt his mouth barely move, hearing him quietly rumble, "You can hear me, right Ruby?"

"I can hear you if you are hearing me answer," Ruby smiled.

Chomper couldn't help but chuckle. He just loved the peculiar way his caretaker, friend, and possibly even older crush spoke. He then sighed, wondering if he would ever hear her speak like that again. But he couldn't afford to think like that. Not now, not with so much at stake. Yet pain still filled his heart as he began to speak …

"Ruby," he muttered very quietly. "You have to go."

Ruby looked at Chomper indignantly. She had been with him for all these cold times, ever since she promised to his parents that she would always take care of him, and now when he needed her most, he was telling her to leave him? She knew he was just being his usual goodhearted and selfless self, but did he have any idea how she would feel about selfishly abandoning him like that?

"I won't leave you Chomper," Ruby whispered firmly. "For by leaving you, I would leave behind a part of me too. I'm gonna stay with you until the very end."

"But Ruby, you're needed … there," Chomper said very quietly, his eyes flickering to the Hidden Canyon. "If you don't want it to be the end for either of us."

Ruby understood, but she still shook her head. "I'm not gonna save myself without saving you. Besides," she said, lowering her voice. "What use would I be other than a sixth course?"

Snickering, Chomper's eyes lit up, understanding the cue to use their code again. "You really don't know what's going on in there, do you Ruby?"

"No," Ruby said, shaking her head, but she knew that Chomper could hear and smell a lot better than she could, and she could just tell by his enthusiasm that he had learned lots of new information that he was just bursting to tell her. "What's happening?"

Chomper grinned widely. "There's a big feast in there, Ruby. Laughing, hugging and singing, and way more courses. I thought there might be some last night … But there's even more now. Tons of fresh, happy smells. And while Hiss Head was talking … The stew, soup, liver and pot pie kept singing my first song to the new courses. Then the new courses were singing about how they felt so happy ... I can tell that dinner's gonna be really good."

Ruby paused thoughtfully, feeling sorely tempted to go meet the new "courses" herself. But the question remained, what good would it do for her to go join them, especially when her escape could only put the others in the prison in even greater peril by giving Leigh the excuse to cut down the timeline even further? As if he knew what she was thinking however, Chomper barely whispered, "Ruby … If you want to invite me to dinner … The stew's gonna need some thinking."

Ruby nodded to acknowledge she understood the code, before beginning to ponder in silence. Much as she didn't want to admit it, Chomper had a very good point. It would take quite a sophisticated jailbreak for a big sharptooth like Chomper to escape the Valley, let alone four massive longnecks. And as smart as Littlefoot was, he couldn't have much of an idea of the setup of the prison or even of the segregated Valley in general, not having seen it for himself.

Nor did he have much in the way of the kind of thinking he needed by his side. The newcomers obviously wouldn't know anything about the Valley for starters. And each of his friends with him had their own flaws. Spike wouldn't say what he was thinking, Petrie wouldn't think without worrying, Ducky would only think with her heart, and Cera would rather act than think. Littlefoot relied on his friends so much for help and advice, but this was the rare instance where none of the friends he had with him would be of much use. What Littlefoot really needed was a trusty advisor, someone who could help him think through things thoroughly, bounce ideas off, and come up with ideas that he might not. Someone with a warm heart, but also a cool head. Someone who could act as a strategist, who could carefully consider every possible action and consequence with him, without being swayed by fear, emotion, or impatience …

Then Ruby understood. Putting her hand on her heart for confirmation, Chomper simply nodded, beaming at her.

Putting a finger on her chin, Ruby continued to think. If she was going to even consider trying to escape, she knew she only had one chance. A failed attempt could only result in increased security and attention that would make it next to impossible to try again, if not earn her an immediate death sentence. Looking around cautiously, she carefully analyzed the guards stationed around the prison, still crouched to the ground due to Cam and Mia's overwhelming noise. While these strong and bulky guards would undoubtedly be able to hold back a direct challenge from four longnecks or a big sharptooth should they try to make a break for it, they would be disadvantaged in a battle of swiftness, flexibility, and stealth. Weaseling her way out would be simple enough if she hopped over the parts of their bodies lowest to the ground and farthest away from any weaponry. Yet all the same, she knew she wouldn't be able to go very far if she didn't know where she was going. She had to have a specific place in her head before she made her move so she would not waste any time in her head while on the move.

Sitting down, she began to try to plot things out in her mind. She knew she was in the center of the Great Valley, and that the Hidden Canyon's entrance was near the deepest corner of the frilled zone. But she would have to run right through the hostile frilled herds' area to get there, and even if she managed to get through there unscathed, with the rock blocking the Hidden Canyon still in place, she would probably be killed before she could even ask a larger frilled dinosaur for help. She thought about the longneck zone. Much of its population had been depleted between Cam and Mia's guards moving to the central jail and many of the regime's longnecks escorting Bron's herd away from the Valley. But with the segregationists' gender hierarchies, many of the regime's female longneck loyalists would probably have stayed behind, along with some indoctrinated kids who would instantly tattle to their mothers, not to mention that the area had high cliffs which would make a quick exit difficult. With few longneck allies that had not left, been imprisoned, or in Bron's case be stuck in trials, it didn't seem like a viable option either. The tailed zone had both potential allies and enemies, but her tailed allies would be too slow and bulky to be of much use to her in a stealth escape. Besides, there was not an easy way to get out from that direction either.

Having exhausted her other options, Ruby reluctantly looked northeast to the twofooter zone. It probably had the greatest number of allies who could help her escape, including her own family, as well as the greatest number of hiding spots. But it was also filled with enemies, Leigh and his guards among them, and where many dark twofooters were voraciously prowling around, trying to earn Leigh's bounty for the missing tailed dinosaurs. Then again, the pursuers would know that tailed dinosaurs couldn't climb well if their lives depended on it, so they wouldn't bother to look in the trees … Still, she didn't want to endanger her family who lived there. Disturbed and quietly but intensely enraged with how Leigh fueled the flames of speciesism towards her kind, she knew that if her parents' herd was even suspected of somehow having helped her escape, they would be framed en masse on some spurious charge. Unless …

Standing bolt upright as she considered, she momentarily paced. This would have to be done very carefully … But if done right …

Turning back to Chomper, she whispered, "The pot pie family … They're still here?"

Chomper sniffed and nodded. "At the far side directly east of us, inside a high-up cave."

Nodding thoughtfully, Ruby looked directly to the east, knowing that the area was littered with trees, marshy banks, and ponds. Continuing to ponder, she asked, "And the liver family?"

"Along the south side of the twofooter zone but north of the border patrol. Along with other nice twofooters, all the way from here to the edge. The bad twofooters are further north."

Ruby nodded understandingly. The friendly twofooters would be occupying a swath of land that ran in a narrow strip from west to east. If she could make her way through their territory and not stray too close to the segregated herds to the north or the border patrol to the south, she might be able to make it to the other side …

"Ruby?" Chomper whispered excitedly, interrupting her thoughts. "I know you said you don't want to leave me behind … But you don't have to! You can take a part of me with you … and become what I am!"

Perplexed, Ruby went over to Chomper's ear, and saw that his smile had only broadened.

"That threehorn meat was really tough," Chomper said in a bare whisper. "So tough that my teeth still hurt."

Confused for a moment, Ruby eyed Chomper's knowing look, and then she realized. Having normally stuck to a diet of scaly swimmers and swimming sharpteeth, he was not accustomed to biting through something as tough as threehorn meat. And while she only took a few nibbles of soft flesh, in his haste to eat as much as he could before the guards could take the carcass away, she had heard him crunch straight through bone, to the point where his teeth …

As she looked at him, Chomper smiled and nodded, before opening his mouth enough so that all of his teeth were revealed. Cautiously, she crouched down to examine them, and saw that a large, bottom back tooth was bent oddly out of place. As she touched it, she found that it wiggled surprisingly easily. In response, she saw his lips stretch into an eager grin.

"Do it, Ruby," Chomper whispered encouragingly, barely moving his mouth, before snickering, "This time I actually want to lose my tooth!"

Ruby nodded, putting a finger to her mouth to warn him not to make another sound. As Chomper barely nodded, making sure to keep his mouth completely open, Ruby pulled upon the sharptooth's lower tooth. She tried to be gentle, but she could tell from his expression and stifled grunts that coaxing it out of his mouth had to be painful. Nevertheless, he kept his mouth ajar for her as she continued to wiggle and pull. Trying to distract herself from her beloved friend's grimace, she thought about the time when Littlefoot had apparently tried to take a sharptooth's tooth from the inside of its mouth. Smirking, Ruby was glad that at least in this situation, Chomper was friendly, the extraction was consensual, and she actually had hands to do the job. She couldn't imagine how the four-footed Littlefoot could have possibly gotten anywhere in removing his sharptooth's tooth, and honestly couldn't really blame the sharptooth for reacting the way it did.

After much pulling, Ruby finally pried Chomper's tooth loose. Blood seeped from the spot where the tooth had been, but Chomper beamed delightedly at her, and now with two gaping holes in his mouth, his big smile looked cuter than ever. Ruby stared down at the tooth, which had split cleanly and lay intact in her hands. It was a little longer than both of her hands together, and while the pointed end was very sharp, she could grab the bottom of the tooth safely. Determinedly, she gripped the tooth's bottom. Knowing she couldn't just stand around with a weapon in hand, she knew she had to make a run for it. As she hurriedly planned out her move, she looked at the border patrol, and saw that the line of shieldback guards on the tailed side of the tailed-twofooter border had already begun to amble away. Knowing how slow shieldbacks were, she knew that they would not be coming back anytime soon. All she had to do now was wait for the distant line of spikethumbs guarding the entrance to the twofooter zone to start marching back north …

Ruby took a deep breath, and before she could think another thought, she launched into a sprint over to the eastern border of the jail cell, toward the wall of spiketail guards, crouched on the ground in a straight line, still with their ears covered and eyes closed. Gaining velocity with each step, the fast runner mentally processed just where she had to leap, and as she reached it, she skillfully vaulted herself a good several feet over a spiketail's neck. She had picked the neck carefully, for it was a spot in which the height to jump was short, behind the eyes so the spiketail couldn't see her coming, and far away from the spiketail's dangerous rear end. She heard a great cacophony of new noises behind her but knew that looking back would only halt her momentum. Not wasting a moment, she sprung right over the neck of the second spiketail guard, and before she knew it, she had made it past both walls of guards and right into freedom.

Like a pink blur, she raced through the open Valley, not even checking to see if she was being tailed by any of the prison guards. And with the border patrol shieldbacks and spikethumbs still out of sight, she was easily able to dash into safety, hiding under the cover of the trees in the friendly twofooters' forest. Getting her breath back as she stood behind a tree a few deep into the woods, she peered around it to see what was happening behind her. The prison guards had left their posts, but rather than chasing her, they were instead dealing with a raucous riot inside the prison, where Ali, Shorty, Cam, and Mia were stomping, shouting and howling in rage, while Chomper roared and snapped his teeth menacingly, creating minor earthshakes as they protested. And though the efforts of all the guards put together seemed to be able to slowly quell the uprising, the ruse seemed to have worked, for through the upheaval, none of the guards seemed to have noticed that their smallest prisoner had gone missing. Feeling a surge of gratitude for her friends back in the prison, Ruby resolved to herself that she would do everything in her power to help free them, just as they had helped free her.

As the line of border patrol spikethumbs returned, not seeming to notice anything unusual as they coldly ignored the prison riot and stuck to their marching, Ruby knew that eventually, the prison guards would notice her absence and report it to Leigh, who would then undoubtedly instruct his followers to conduct a merciless hunt for her. Thus, she knew she had to leave the Valley in haste. Just running to the eastern edge might get her there quickest, but swampland was difficult to run through, and there was a high danger of making splashing sounds, which would undoubtedly attract bad twofooters already on the lookout for the missing tailed dinosaurs. And even if she was spotted by a friend, that still had its dangers, for her presence might cause them to react in excitement, potentially putting them both in jeopardy in a highly crowded area, where enemies could be lurking about in every corner.

Shaking her head, she knew she had to take the longer but safer option here. Taking a few steps back with Chomper's tooth in hand, she ran toward the tree and jumped, reaching up and plunging the sharp tooth into the bark, where it became firmly entrenched. With a hand clutching onto the embedded sharp tooth, she had succeeded in getting herself off the ground. But now with her legs hanging, she needed another source of stability, for the tooth alone would not be able to support her weight for long.

Trying to dig her free hand's front claws and her lower back claws into the bark, Ruby found that they were just too dull to break through the bark. Slightly discouraged but not altogether surprised, she had remembered the legends of the origins of fast runners, in which because her kind had evolved to take care of the hatchlings of the other noteeth, their claws had consequently become relatively dullened compared to those of clawhands or longarms. But that same caretaker heritage required another part of her body to become unusually sharp to break apart snapping shells and provide hatchlings with the necessary nutrients … She just had to improvise here and play to her strengths.

Opening her mouth wide, she pulled her body up and stuck her sharp top beak into the bark and found that she had easily broken through it, managing to establish another anchor onto the tree. Now that her body was higher up and her beak was planted securely within the bark, she was able to pull out Chomper's tooth from the tree and place it in a higher spot, before pulling herself up and lodging her beak in the higher bark. After doing this a few more times, she had reached the branches of the tall, sturdy tree, grabbed onto a thick limb, and hoisted herself aboard. Reaching down to pull Chomper's tooth up, she was able to feel secure as she sat down, knowing the tree would not give way on her.

She looked around her carefully. Being up high was considerably safer than being on the ground, especially with the regime's flyers injured and the regime's twofooters continuing to look for the tailed dinosaurs below. It would also allow her to rest safely, getting vital energy back in case she would have to perform another physical feat, and give her time to think before making her next action. Still, even while resting, she knew she had to be careful. While a lightweight relative to most dinosaurs, Ruby was nonetheless an eighth of a shieldback, and if she picked the wrong branch, the consequences could be disastrous, both in terms of potentially injuring herself as well as possibly attracting unwanted attention. She needed to carefully assess which trees she could safely navigate across, all the while keeping an eye out to make sure no one else was in the area before she moved. And speaking of which …

As she heard a rustling sound below her, her heart began to pound, wondering if anyone had been tailing her. But a second later, she exhaled, for it was only her siblings Pearl and Garnet who had entered the woods, accompanied by Cassia, Perri, and who she presumed was Sam. As the five of them gathered in a huddle, she saw that Garnet and Pearl were both carrying strange objects. Shaking her head, Ruby could only smile at them. The twins were very good at coming up with unusual tools, just as she came up with the idea to use Chomper's tooth as a climbing stick, and as she looked through the trees to determine how to best move forward, she was also able to listen in on the kids' conversation.

"Hiss Head was really mean," Perri said sadly. "You noteeth aren't bad guys!"

"We're used to it," sighed Pearl. "Lots of leafeaters are afraid of us."

"They still think we're eggstealers … Especially among segregated herds like these guys. Even though we've never eaten an egg," Garnet explained.

"That's just not right!" "Sam" sighed, though Ruby knew Sam well enough to tell it wasn't Sam who was talking, but someone else, most likely his nestmate Shine. Smirking, Ruby knew that Tricia's gang had to be up to something to be putting on this mix-up …

"Yeah," Cassia agreed. "But know this, we're gonna be your friends no matter what, right guys?"

"Right!" Perri exclaimed as Shine nodded.

Pearl and Garnet smiled at their friends, before Cassia huddled them even closer. Remembering that Cassia was Tricia's closest friend and her gang's backup leader, Ruby knew she was probably plotting with her fellow twofooters in the gang. Wanting to know just what they were up to, Ruby listened in as Cassia began to speak. She was very quiet for a leafeater, but Ruby's keen hearing still allowed her to hear the young hollowhorn's mutter.

"Okay guys," Cassia whispered, as Perri scanned the area for eavesdroppers. "Oplax and Sam are digging. We didn't see Destiny at the meeting. But Hiss Head said two longnecks tried to sneak past the border. Destiny's folks weren't there either, so I bet it was them that got imprisoned. They must have sneaked Destiny past the border, and since it wasn't our border, that's gotta mean Destiny's with Trish and the others."

"So that means," Pearl said thoughtfully. "With the five of us and the burrow over here, Oplax and Sam digging, and Destiny being over with Tricia, Mono and Rachelle in the frilled zone …"

"All we have to do is get the four of them over here," Garnet finished.

"I wish Avie and Guido could come," Perri sighed. "Then they'd be able to tell the others we found an escape route."

"Yeah," Cassia agreed, before she eyed the objects in Garnet and Pearl's hands. "What are those things you've got?"

"Garnet and I made some tools last night," Pearl happily explained, before waving the long, thick, log-like stick, with holes that she bit into on either end. "This is a distractor stick. It's like how your hollowhorn works, Perri. You just blow in this end and it makes a big noise out the other end. Perfect for distracting guards."

"Ooh, I like it!" Perri quietly exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"And this is a grabber vine," explained Garnet, waving a long, lasso-like vine. "You throw the loopy end out to someone, they grab on, then you pull them back! Pearl and I are gonna use these to save Big Sis. She'll distract the guards by making noise with her stick, then I'll throw my vine to Ruby to get her out of there."

"Whoa, cool!" Shine smiled.

"Great idea, guys!" Cassia exclaimed.

Ruby sighed, knowing she had to reveal herself to prevent her siblings from going on a dangerous and now pointless rescue mission. "Psst … Pearl, Garnet," she whispered, in a very hushed tone barely audible to them but inaudible to the leafeaters.

The twins turned and looked up at the branches, where they saw Ruby sitting, waving to them. At once, Pearl and Garnet's jaws dropped as they looked at each other, before disbelieving grins appeared on their faces. Then they nudged the others and pointed to Ruby, causing them to look gleeful as well, with Perri jumping up and down ecstatically, Cassia waving and grinning back, and Shine shyly but friendlily smiling at her. Hurriedly, Pearl and Garnet gestured to the others to keep quiet, while they went to quietly talk with their big sister as she lowered her ear to hear them.

"Ruby," Garnet grinned. "You're safe!"

"Safe I am, and safe I will be," Ruby nodded. "I'm escaping the Valley in order to escape to a safe place."

"Is it the Secret Spot?" Pearl asked eagerly. "That's where we're heading."

Ruby hesitated, but with the junior gang's plan seeming to be on the verge of success, she didn't want to say anything that would distract them altogether.

"You get to the Secret Spot, and we'll catch up later," she promised. The last thing she needed was to get Tricia's gang all excited about what was happening in the Hidden Canyon while still in the dangerous confines of the Valley. There would be plenty of time for that after they made their escape.

"Well, I guess we won't be needing these then," Garnet said, looking at his grabber vine and Pearl's distractor stick.

"You can have them if you want," said Pearl.

Ruby shook her head. "Thanks guys, but I already got this," she explained, waving Chomper's tooth as the kids all gasped and quietly cheered, looking at her in awe. "And you might need them for another time you'll need them."

"Oh yeah, you're right!" Pearl told Ruby.

"Smart as always, Big Sis," Garnet smiled.

Ruby smiled at her siblings and their friends. "Well, I better be off. See you guys soon," she muttered quietly, as the kids each gave her a big grin and respectful salute. Ruby chuckled, knowing how much the junior gang looked up to her and her friends. Then she stealthily began to climb across the branches and slide onto the next tree. Seeing the group wave goodbye out of the corner of her eye, she then heard Cassia mutter to them. "Okay guys, back to our show … Pearl, Garnet, you put your arms around my shoulders. Perri, Shine … I mean Sam … Get on their other side."

Smirking as she wondered what the mischievous band of youngsters was up to, Ruby knew that once the kids were safely within the Secret Spot, it wouldn't be hard to just drop vines down for them to climb out of there before taking them to the Hidden Canyon. Unable to stifle a chuckle as she imagined just how her siblings' gang would react upon finding out about what was going on in the Hidden Canyon, she briskly climbed onward, going from sturdy limb to sturdy limb. As she passed, she did see many hostile-looking twofooters lurking underfoot. But they were all scanning the ground, probably still in pursuit of the fugitive tailed dinosaurs. Seeing this, she was very glad she took the sneakier, stealthier way across.

It wasn't until she drew close to the eastern cliffs that she heard more rustling directly below her. Freezing again, she saw that Mrs. Twoped was foraging for sweet bubbles on the ground. While knowing she could trust Mrs. Twoped, she didn't want to force Mrs. Twoped into the situation where she would have to perjure herself if asked whether she had seen Ruby. But before she could consider what she would do next, she heard footsteps, and saw that Mama Swimmer was approaching Mrs. Twoped. Mrs. Twoped looked up, before the two mother twofooters got closely together. Curiously, she decided to listen in on what they were up to.

"Hello Rythe," Mama Swimmer quietly greeted Mrs. Twoped.

"Hello Marina. The kids doing all right?" Mrs. Twoped asked.

Mama Swimmer nodded. "Their class is going to start soon. Their teacher looks horrible, but they'll be okay, knowing what they've got planned tonight … But I've got something else to tell you."

"Oh?" Mrs. Twoped asked confusedly.

Mama Swimmer nodded. "I just ran into Avie. She gave me a message to tell you, that Fourped says it'll be tonight. I don't know what it means, but I assume you do?"

Mrs. Twoped nodded slowly. "Fourped is my childhood nickname for Tria, and it refers to a clue she gave me. When we were rescuing our daughters from Hiss Head, Tria said that she needed to relax. But that was just code, what she really meant was to tell me that she wants to meet up in her mud pool where she and I relax. She probably wanted to talk about our kids, but with them on their way out, I don't know if she'd still want to meet up. Of course, she wouldn't know what our kiddos are up to. But still, there's no need to coordinate their escape when they're doing it themselves."

"Maybe so," said Mama Swimmer brightly. "But that's not the only thing we can do."

Mrs. Twoped looked at Mama Swimmer curiously. "You look like you know something."

"I do," Mama Swimmer nodded, her eyes gleaming as she grinned, before she very quietly whispered, "And so do Tria and Terese. Let's just say it's the best thing the three of us could have possibly hoped for."

Mrs. Twoped paused for a moment, before nodding to Mama Swimmer understandingly. "You think we should tell the kids?".

Mama Swimmer shook her head. "They can find out after they escape. We don't want them to slip up in their excitement, especially now that they're so close."

"Right," Mrs. Twoped nodded. "The mud pool is in the longneck zone, so we've got to be careful. But I'll let Colby know."

"Right, and I'll tell Beverly, and I'll make sure Terese talks to Jasper and Coral," Mama Swimmer added. "Tria can talk to the Onehorns, and since I didn't see her at the herd meeting today, she was probably making contact with someone in the tailed zone who can reach out to the Clubtails, if not one of the Clubtails themselves." Snickering, Mama Swimmer said, "The bad guys are probably all watching Bron, Topps and Pterano, since they're the ones leading the public opposition ... Well, apart from our kiddos," she smirked as she and Mrs. Twoped both laughed. "But little do they know that the rest of us parents can help just as much as they can."

"Speaking of which, where was Pterano?" Mrs. Twoped asked. "I know the flyers boycotted the meeting, but you would think he would have been there to help Bron and Topps."

"You know Pterano, he must have his reasons," Mama Swimmer explained. "He's probably laying low before he makes his move."

"Right, well, thanks for comforting me, Marina," Mrs. Twoped loudly said as she winked at Mama Swimmer, knowing that this was a deliberate ruse just in case any guards were watching, before the two mothers went their separate ways.

Ruby was about to move onwards when she heard more rustling below her. Looking down, she saw that the brother and sister domehead pair Kirt and Naz had just stepped into the woods. Hesitantly, Ruby paused to watch them.

"Can you believe those rockheads are really trying to kill that little clubtail?" Kirt muttered to his sister.

Naz shook her head. "Now I feel bad that we were harassing them. Especially since all they want is to be together. I mean, imagine if those creeps tried splitting us up?"

"They don't like males and females hanging out as friends either, even if we are brother and sister," Kirt growled. "We're closer than most brothers and sisters are, and they probably think we're a bad influence. We really should look for a way to get out of the Valley before they start trying to split us up."

Naz looked at Kirt thoughtfully. "You think there is a way we can help those kids too?"

Kirt shrugged. "I dunno. I'd like to, but they probably don't trust us after the way we treated them."

"Yeah, you're right," Naz sighed before they left the thicket.

As the two domeheads left, Ruby was free to continue traversing the branches until she had made it all the way to the other end of the forest. She could see the high-up cave where Chomper said he could smell the flyers several yards away from the forest's edge. Unfortunately, there was not an obvious way to get up there. None of the flyers were sitting outside of the cave, so she couldn't ask for a ride up, and she couldn't just walk over to the cave and wait for them to come out with so many enemies lurking around. And while they were effective tools for climbing bark, her beak and Chomper's tooth were nowhere near powerful enough to penetrate through thick rock. Reluctantly, she remained seated on the tree limbs, hoping that one of the flyers would soon reveal themselves.

Then she heard it. A muffled shriek, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps down below. As Ruby looked down, she saw a giant bigmouth, dark gray in color, lumbering past. Trapped in his tight grip was a familiar green and yellow longarm, whose arms and legs were tied up in vines and a leaf was tied around his mouth as a gag. She then saw three more bigmouths follow him to the next tree over. Pinning Wild Arms against the tree, the lead bigmouth revealed another vine he had been carrying before tying Wild Arms up with it. As Wild Arms wiggled in his bindings, the bigmouth smirked, "Ready to have some fun, guys?"

Excited murmuring came from the others in response as the lead bigmouth turned to face Wild Arms.

"So," he sneered. "How do you like being the one that's hunted?"

"But I only eat green food!" Wild Arms shouted through his leafy muzzle.

"That's rich, pretending you're one of us," the leader sneered. "You filthy notooth."

"But I have teeth!" Wild Arms insisted, showing them. "And see? They're flatteeth, just like yours!"

The lead bigmouth laughed as his followers echoed him. "Nice try. But you've got a curved, dirty beak and long claws on your hands and feet … Perfect for smashing and killing babies."

"Yeah, how many eggs have those claws broken into?" asked one of the others.

"None!" Wild Arms protested.

"Oh please. All you noteeth are ugly, gross creatures, just as Mr. Leigh said," continued another. "Created without souls and meant to only be obstacles that separate the strong from the weak. Well, sorry for you creep, but you're out of luck here. You'll be sorry you chose to mess with strong, purified leafeaters."

"But I didn't do anything!" Wild Arms insisted.

"You're in our Great Valley," sneered another. "All of you wannabe sharpteeth are trespassing in a place promised by the circles to only be for the greatest leafeaters. None of you corrupted freaks deserve a place in our purified paradise."

"It's all those traitors on the Circle of Elders' fault," sneered the group's leader. "What would you expect? All three of those filthy fast runner kids are in those dirty, perverted, mixed-up youth gangs. But don't worry guys. Mr. Leigh will speak to the circles soon enough. And then we can cleanse our Valley of this filth once and for all."

Ruby began to feel herself boil inside as she felt her lip curl and her fists clench, Chomper's tooth held very tightly against her hips. She wasn't fully surprised by the hatred, insults, and blatant racism that these dark-hearted dinosaurs had towards her family and to all notooth kind. But despite her best efforts to keep herself calm, she still felt their comments pierce at her like browridge bites. She wanted so badly to give these bigots a piece of her mind. Yet at the same time, she knew that if she revealed herself, her escape attempt would all be for nothing and any hope to save her friends would be gone along with it.

"Come on guys," Wild Arms asked desperately. "Show some mercy, please! I haven't done anything to hurt you, really! Besides, don't you guys know that Leigh's just a crazy nutter who's got a mouth way too big for his hollow head?"

"Not very smart to insult the circles' messenger in front of a judge, right Brucad?" snickered one of the others as he turned to the leader of the group.

"Yes," Brucad smirked. "Sorry, I guess we haven't really met. I am Judge Brucad, and these are my bodyguards. I am going to be one of the dinosaurs that will ultimately sentence you to your fate. Of course, we on the jury already know what's gonna happen to creatures like you … So Mr. Leigh won't mind if we have a little fun with you first."

And chortling, Brucad and his bodyguards got in line to face Wild Arms, helplessly tied up to the tree as he continued to try to break free from his bindings. But his efforts to escape were all in vain, and Brucad and his bodyguards managed to kick, punch, claw at, and tail whap the immobilized longarm in turn, before getting back into line to do it all over again. Wild Arms tried to scream through his gag, but the relentless beatdown on him continued as the four bigmouths laughed sadistically. Ruby stared, desperately wanting to do something to stop the hate crime that was happening right before her eyes. But even if she found a way to help without jeopardizing her escape, what could she possibly do against four giant bigmouths?

"All right, that's enough!" came a strict female voice from above, and looking up, Ruby's spirit soared as she saw that Pterano and Mama Flyer were standing outside of their cave, their hands on their hips as they glowered at the gang of bigmouths, disgust in their eyes.

"Mind your own business, wingbrains," growled one of the lackeys, but Pterano and Mama Flyer would not budge.

"How could you resort to such a disgusting low?" Pterano asked indignantly. "This is not acceptable behavior in the Great Valley, or anywhere for that matter. You should be ashamed of yourselves, for this is a violation of Mr. Wild Arms' basic saurian rights, and I order you to stop and apologize to him at once."

"Who are you, a criminal, trying to give me, a judge, an order?" Brucad asked, sneering. "In case you forgot, what Mr. Leigh says, following the will of the circles, goes. And I'm sure he wouldn't mind me roughing up a dirty notooth a little and teaching him a lesson, especially considering all the bad luck those dirtbeaks brought here in their corrupted states."

"Have you no shame?" Mama Flyer asked, infuriated. "Mr. Wild Arms has done nothing to hurt any of you. Nor is there even any reason to suspect him of wrongdoing. Even when going by your absurd logic that only "pure" leafeaters are good, Mr. Wild Arms' kind is incapable of eating anything other than green food! Making him just as much of a "pure" leafeater as yourselves! If you had any decency, you would treat Mr. Wild Arms with the respect he deserves."

"The only respect he deserves is a good tail whapping," Brucad answered coldly. "The circles created his kind specifically to be dark beings meant to weed out the weak, which in turn shall be defeated by righteous, honorable leafeaters. They are not meant to let fester and defile a paradise solely dedicated to only the strongest leafeaters, and our permissiveness of their existence is one of many reasons for all the bad luck this Valley has faced."

Pterano shook his head as he said disdainfully, "I have never heard such lunacy in my life. This is a complete perversion of what the circles should stand for, and to think that you refer to yourselves as righteous and honorable ... But regardless of what beliefs you have, they do not give you license to practice bigotry. For basic saurian respect shall reign here, as this is a Great Valley that believes in love and tolerance and is against harm to any innocent dinosaur."

"The circles would be ashamed of the way you invoke them for your twisted ends," Mama Flyer scolded. "And there is no excuse to justify this hate crime you are performing."

"Well sorry for you, old-timers, but your ways don't have any power here anymore," scoffed a lackey.

"Maybe so, but we will still stand up for what we know is right and not allow any dinosaur to suffer from discrimination," Mama Flyer said firmly.

"So," Pterano growled coldly. "Do you want to untie Mr. Wild Arms, or shall I?"

"Well boys, is that a challenge?" Brucad asked, turning to his followers, who had begun to flex their muscles, chortling at Pterano and Mama Flyer menacingly.

Just then, Mama Flyer turned back into the cave. "Kids, stay inside," she ordered. "Pterano and I will take care of this."

And with that, Pterano and Mama Flyer took off from their ledge and glided downward toward Wild Arms' writhing, ensnared body. As the bigmouths braced themselves and got into position to attack, one of them clenched his fist and took a massive swing at Mama Flyer. Seeing the swing coming however, Mama Flyer veered off to the side, deftly dodging the uppercut, and instead, the bigmouth's punch collided with another of Brucad's bodyguards, hitting him right in the neck as he toppled into the third lackey, also knocking him to the ground where they both lay unconscious.

Brucad glowered at his bodyguard. "Nice going, rockhead. Watch where you aim next time."

The bodyguard nodded, but before he could make a move, Pterano managed to drop a big rock onto his head, causing him too to fall to the ground, where he too lay unconscious. Determinedly, Pterano turned to Mama Flyer. "All right, you untie Wild Arms, I'll keep this one …"

Mama Flyer opened her mouth warningly, but it was too late. Brucad had managed to clutch onto Pterano's thin body with one hand, before pummeling him into the ground, placing a foot on top of his wing to keep him in place. As Mama Flyer watched in horror, Brucad hurriedly reached up and snatched her from midair, pinning her down with his other foot …

"Hold it right there! You're not gonna hurt anyone for there's gonna be no one there for you to hurt!" came a voice from the trees.

Confusedly, Brucad stared at the tree for a moment. Then with a quick, lithe leap, he saw a small, pink fast runner spring off the limbs and gracefully land on the ground. She started sprinting toward him, a scowl of determined yet cool fury on her face, her right fist lifted oddly into the air, clutching onto something.

"Haha, well what do you know," Brucad smirked, his eyes flashing. "It's our little prisoner. Trying to run away from your fate, are we? Too cowardly to face your end with your bigger friends? Pity for you that you've given me the chance to do the honors right now …"

But Ruby just ignored Brucad as he was gloating, and with a quick movement, she slid down into a kneel right at Brucad's left foot. Before Brucad could react, Ruby lowered her lifted arm and plunged Chomper's tooth right into Brucad's foot with all the cathartic force she could muster. Blood spurted as Brucad howled in rage, lifting his foot up in pain, allowing Pterano the chance to escape. Enraged, his eyes narrowed at the perpetrator of his pain, seething in rage. "You filthy eggeating, toothless, corrupted dirtbeak," he snarled hatefully, his eyes narrowed into slits as he rapidly extended his arm out, getting ahold of her tail …

But Ruby felt Brucad's grip weaken at once as his body fell to the ground. Looking up, Ruby saw that Petrie's siblings, siblings-in-law, and Brara had all defied Mama Flyer's orders and left the cave, dropping rocks upon Brucad's head, knocking the brutal bigmouth out. Then Mama Flyer and Pterano looked at Ruby incredulously, still not able to believe their eyes.

"Ruby … Is that …"

"Get me out of here!" Ruby hissed to the adult flyers.

They didn't need telling twice. Not wasting another moment, Mama Flyer and Pterano each grabbed onto one of Ruby's outstretched arms before flying her upward, carrying her over the Valley's walls. At the same time, the younger flyers shushed Wild Arms before working him free of his bindings, and grabbing onto his long arms, they flew him out of the Valley as well. Once Ruby saw Wild Arms was safely on the ground, the two began to run, the flyers joining them in the sky. It wasn't until they got a good distance away that they stopped, settling into a circle in a barren, rocky patch on some hard, dry ground. Mama Flyer spoke first as she eyed Ruby, approaching her to give her a warm hug.

"Welcome to freedom, Ruby," Mama Flyer said kindly, as the two hugged and the younger flyers excitedly cheered.

Ruby smiled and nodded. "Yes," she said. "But …"

But at that moment, Wild Arms was released from his gag, immediately interrupting Ruby's train of thought.

"I'm free! I'm free!" Wild Arms spluttered in disbelief. "Thank goodness. What a terrible place you've got there! Did you see those big bullies? Who the heck would call it a Great Valley when you've got creeps like those around? And they call themselves leafeaters? I thought it was supposed to be safe from sharpteeth in there, not have leafeaters who act like them! Now let's be sensible and get as far away from this awful place as we possibly … Wait …"

For he saw the mischievous grins on the young flyers' faces as they smirked at Ruby in delight, who smirked back at them.

"Oh no," said Wild Arms. "Oh no no no. I don't like those looks on your faces. You better not be getting any bad ideas, or …"

"Kids," Mama Flyer interrupted. "Pterano and I were handling the situation ourselves because we didn't want to put you in danger. You shouldn't have endangered yourselves like that."

Pterano nodded in agreement. "Do you realize that your actions have now made you official enemies of the regime, and that you have placed yourselves outside of the law's protection?"

But daughter-in-law Curie grinned. "And it's about time we did too!"

"Now we can show our true colors," Jett smirked

"And do everything we can to help!" Skyler agreed.

"We get to be outlaws, just like Petrie and Ruby!" exclaimed Windy.

"Wait …" Wild Arms stuttered as he stared at Ruby, before shrieking, "Oh no! You're that girl on death row! You and your friends are those crazy kids who get into all kinds of trouble! Aaaaah, what am I to do? If the bad guys see me with a crazy band of hooligans …"

"Hush Wild Arms," Ruby said, taking his arm reassuringly as a smirk spread across her face. "We're not going to be seeing any more bad guys."

"Great, so we are running away! Finally, someone said something sensible …" Wild Arms began, before Ruby shook her head, causing the young flyers to look at her with even more excitement.

"So Ruby," muttered Storm excitedly. "What do we do now?"

"Where do we go? How do we join?" asked Tilly.

"Join what?" Ruby asked, though she thought she knew the answer.

"Your resistance, of course!" May exclaimed, causing Wild Arms to shriek and writhe, forcing Brara to clamp his mouth shut.

Mama Flyer turned to the others. "Kids, Ruby has been imprisoned, so she doesn't know about what Pterano has discovered."

"But she will now, right Dad?" Brara asked Pterano with a huge smirk, as Ruby looked at Brara and Pterano in surprise with the open admission.

Pterano nodded, a smug smile appearing on his face. "Young Hiss Head might think that it is the end for your friends. But contrary to what he might say, I have seen enough evidence with my own eyes to conclude that your friends are alive and …"

"I know," Ruby interrupted, smiling. "Chomper told me. He could smell them. That's why I escaped, to help them. And I know where they are, too. It's a place called the Hidden Canyon."

As the young flyers began to murmur excitedly with one another, Ruby remembered what needed to be asked at the soonest possible moment. Looking at them seriously, she asked, "Guys, before those bigmouths wake up and you can't get into the Valley again, can you fly my parents and their herd out of there? You saw what happened to Wild Arms, and once everyone finds out I escaped, they will be blamed for it. Oh, but not my siblings. They seem to have got something planned with their gang."

"Of course, Ruby," Mama Flyer smiled, before turning to the younger flyers. "All right, everyone. Go look for all the noteeth you can in the Valley and carry them out of there. You can each probably carry one big or two small noteeth out with you."

"You must hurry and be careful, for once you're seen trying to escape with them, you won't be able to go back inside," warned Pterano. "Focus on getting them out of the Valley now and don't worry about the Hidden Canyon just yet. Don't wait for each other either, for a large mixed group of flyers and noteeth traveling together would be easy for our enemies to notice. Just get as far away from the Valley with your notooth or noteeth as you can and go into hiding. The two or three of you can work together to look out for bad guys and depending on your adversary and who you're partnered with, use your wings or their claws or speed to get out of trouble. Once you're out, my sister and I will make sure no one has been left behind, and then we will find you and give you further instructions."

"We will be speaking to Ruby about how to get to the Hidden Canyon while you go do that, all right? And just remember to be sneaky with your rescuing, for that would allow everyone to be safer."

The young flyers nodded, before they flew off into the Great Valley to try to rescue all the noteeth they could, leaving only Mama Flyer, Pterano, Ruby and Wild Arms.

"The Hidden Canyon … That's the place where the sharpteeth got in once, right? The place that was sealed off?" Mama Flyer asked thoughtfully.

Ruby nodded. "But no one knows where it is apart from the seven of us and Cera's dad. And if nobody else knows where it is, that means nobody else can find it."

"Hmm, a hidden retreat … I must say, you kids always manage to impress me. It must be some place, in order to fit Cera's whole class," Pterano said.

As sorely tempted as Ruby was to ask about this class, she knew that she had to get to the Hidden Canyon quickly before the regime would realize she was no longer in the Great Valley. "It's right at the Great Valley's southwestern edge," Ruby explained.

"We'll figure it out," Mama Flyer reassured her. "But you better get going while we keep watch for the kids in the Valley. You should probably take Wild Arms with you. The two of you can keep a lookout for one another."

"Right, see you then," Ruby said as Mama Flyer and Pterano exchanged their goodbyes with her, before Ruby turned to Wild Arms. "Come on Wild Arms, let's get going," she said, grabbing his arm just as he got to his feet.

"I was afraid you'd say that!" Wild Arms shouted as they began to dash through the Mysterious Beyond.


Growing up, Mono had always considered himself an athletic dinosaur. Loving the thrill of a good run, a big jump, ramming rocks with his horn, sparring with his parents, siblings, or Rachelle, or especially a game of Toss the Seed, Mono was always ready for some good old physical competition and roughhousing. So long as the game did not involve water, he felt he could excel at anything he put his mind and body to, and indeed, he relished it when his strength, speed, and determination would carry his team to victory, a big wide smirk appearing on his proud, flushed face.

Yet at the same time, Mono only loved to play if it was fun for everyone involved. Rough and tumble was often his and Rachelle's style but not Oplax and Perri's, so he never pressured them into intense games where he and Rachelle went all out to win. Rather, when the four of them played together, the games were lower key and it was more about having fun. And sometimes, he even let Oplax and Perri take him on two-on-one, which would allow him to have a challenge, Perri and Oplax to win some games, and the games to remain exciting. Much as it hurt his ego to lose at times, it was more than worth it to see Oplax's grin or hearing Perri's cheer, feeling their amazement upon actually beating him.

Being an energetic, athletic kid, many grownups back home wondered why the young onehorn stuck to his group of less fit, coed, mixed-species group of oddball friends. After all, he could easily have joined up with a clique of popular, strong-bodied male onehorns who would give him the physical challenge he craved. But Mono liked his friends exactly because they were different than he was. He depended on them to hold him back, and they depended on him to help them forward. They needed him to stand up to bullies, and he needed their kind, gentle support. Mono's loyalty to his friends was unwavering and total, and upon reaching the Great Valley, their gang flourished even further, not only being able to enjoy being together in a peaceful home, but getting to know six new friends, each of them feeling just as special to him as his first three friends. And apart from just loving the individuality and warmth that each of his friends provided, Mono was proud that he and his friends had become increasingly famous, infamous in some circles, for following the footsteps of their idols before them, and he couldn't imagine himself in any other friend group. Going to the Great Valley was truly the best decision he and his friends had ever made.

Which is why Mono never felt more like spitting nettles than he did at this moment. As soon as the frilled kids were shepherded into the schooling grounds for their classes, Mono saw that instead of Mr. Thicknose, two young adult threehorns, a male and a female, both large, grey, muscular, and scowling, were standing before him.

"Where's Mr. Thicknose?" Mono demanded to the threehorns, as Tricia and Rachelle nodded along at his side.

"That old codger? Who cares. I'm your teacher now," the male answered.

"But …" Mono began, but the male threehorn ignored him and raised his voice to speak to the kids.

"All right, listen up!" he ordered. "We're gonna start real teaching in this Valley and start seeing who's strong enough to deserve to live here. Not the namby-pamby stuff those elders come up with. Males, follow me. Females, follow the missus," he said, nodding to the other threehorn. "Let's move."

As most of the kids followed the elders' orders, Mono, Rachelle and Tricia looked at each other in shock. They had never been forced apart by their gender before. And with Oplax, Garnet and Sam in other zones, Mono would be left all alone …

"Come on, girlies, this way," ordered one of the teaching assistants, forcing Tricia and Rachelle with his horn over into the cluster of frilled girls. Impulsively however, Mono ran alongside them and as soon as the aide lifted his horn, Mono scooched in between them, Tricia and Rachelle hurriedly moving to protect him from either side.

The assistant growled. "You're not a girl, sissy. Go with the boys or else."

Mono seethed. "No! I don't care that they're girls and I'm not! Trish and Rach are my friends, and I'm not leaving them!"

"That's the spirit, Mono!" Rachelle cheered.

"Yeah, we're sticking together!" Tricia agreed.

The female instructor however, had just caught sight of the mayhem going on at the back of the line. "No weakling boy is gonna get out of his schooling, especially one with such bad behavior. Get rid of him," she ordered the assistant.

And as much as Tricia and Rachelle tried to defend Mono, Mono tried planting himself to the ground, and all three of them shouted at the assistant vitriolically, the assistant had no trouble picking up the little onehorn by the frill and carrying him over to the boys' class.

"You're gonna be sorry!" Mono growled to the assistant angrily.

The assistant snorted. "I'd like to see you try, pipsqueak."

Scowling, Mono tried removing himself from the assistant's grip, but he wouldn't let go until they reached the male instructor and the class of boys. Mono was roughly thrown down onto the ground, rubbing his bum from the pain of the impact while the rest of the class was doing push-ups, getting yelled at by their instructor.

"Not good enough, boys! You should've done four times that amount now! I want to see double the effort! Stop when you get to 400. And when you're done, roll onto your backs and keep on crunching until I say you can stop!"

Mono glared at the scene before him, where all the kids had pained expressions on their faces. He had never thought that a fitness class would ever not be fun. But Mono knew enough about proper training to know that wasn't a fitness class meant to improve everyone's strength. Rather, this was plainly an effort to weed out the weak, making the young onehorn even more enraged.

"Hey boss," growled the assistant. "This little sissy wanted to be a girl today."

Much of the class, almost entirely from the segregated herds, stopped working out as they began to jeer, point, and laugh at him. The instructor did not even reprimand the class for stopping their workouts, as he only had eyes on Mono. "You dirty sissy! You do double the push-ups. 800, or else."

Mono shook his head. Apart from knowing that 800 push-ups was such an insane amount that rather than exercising him, it would only leave his muscles in near paralysis from exhaustion, he didn't want to follow a single order that the regime gave him.

"No!" Mono shouted firmly. "I won't do anything you tell me to until you let me be with all my friends again!"

"Mutiny!" shouted the instructor. "Just for that, we're gonna teach you a lesson." Then he ordered, "Change of plans, class! Single-file line, please!"

Relieved that their exercises had been terminated, the boys lined up obediently. Mono, however refused to move. The assistant however, placed him right in front of the line, facing them, before standing on his tail to block his movement.

"Hey, let me go!" Mono yelled indignantly as he heard loud, brutal guffaws around him. As he observed his classmates, he saw that most of them were threehorns, larger, burlier, and less saturated in color than his bright red, and though he earned some pitying looks, others immediately started making fun of the young onehorn.

"Sissy!"

"He has girl friends? Gross!"

"And twofooter friends. What a weakling."

"Yeah, I have girl friends, and twofooter friends!" Mono shouted, lifting his horn up into the air defiantly. "And guess what? I'm proud of it! You don't like it? Well too bad, because I'll never abandon them!"

But while he did feel some sympathetic looks upon him, they seemed to be too scared to actually stand up for him. And while the bullies kept laughing as Mono gritted his teeth, he felt a flare of pride inside. He was proudly and determinedly standing up for his friends, and not one part of him was even considering backing down.

"All right," barked the instructor. "No fooling around. This class is meant so we can toughen up the strong and weed out the weak. Once you're all done proving yourselves, we're gonna throw the weaklings out of this Valley and train those of you hatchlings who are worthy into fighters that won't hesitate to rout out any weakling or mate with any female you want. I want you to think without feeling. Remember, the circles say that the strong survive and the weak shall fall, so if you wanna live and pass on your bloodline, you've gotta prove your worth to them."

Seething, Mono glared at the instructor defiantly. "Well, I don't agree," Mono said coldly. "Dinosaurs should be there to help each other, no matter how strong or tough they are."

Again, Mono felt a few sympathetic looks, but got a lot of chortles, snickers, and jeers. The instructor snorted. "That's a lotta guts from a onehorned pipsqueak. I've heard a lot about you, kid, and all the crap you've pulled. We'll see if you think you're so tough when we're done with you, then maybe you'll learn some respect."

"I will always stand up for what I know is right!" Mono declared, raising his horn into the air defiantly. "And for all my friends and for this Valley!"

Coldly ignoring Mono, the instructor turned to the other kids. "The rest of you, you need practice on how to think like a warrior, and this brat will give you just the practice you need. I want each of you to charge straight into this puny pest and impale him with your horn as you would a sharptooth."

Mono gasped as murmurs broke out in the line of kids, some excited, some nervous. The first boy in line, a light brown threehorn, looked surprised. "But Sir … He's a leafeater. We shouldn't hurt him."

"Those are my orders, understand? He's a no-good traitor who has attacked the border patrol and menaced the Valley. And until he takes responsibility for his behavior and shapes up, he shall continue to be punished!" commanded the instructor. "Unless you want to be the one who gets punished?"

Nervously, the threehorn boy nodded, and reluctantly, he closed his eyes, before halfheartedly charging toward the immobile Mono. "Sorry," he whispered as he grazed his horn against Mono's chin and tried to sneak away to the back of the line. Unfortunately, the little threehorn was not so lucky.

"You call that impaling?" roared the instructor. "That'll do you no good against a sharptooth! He's a onehorn with no spikes, unlike any of you in this class! He cannot provide any use in keeping your kind alive! And you can't live if you're not willing to fight other leafeaters for a tree! You can't mate if you're not willing to fight other leafeaters for a female! That's just being weak, like those weaklings on the Circle of Elders!" He then turned to the next boy in line, a dark grey threehorn who looked maliciously determined and excited. "You, I expect to see better results."

The second threehorn vigorously nodded, before excitedly barreling straight toward Mono. Lowering his horn as he charged, he managed to stick it straight under the little onehorn's chin, forcing his head up as some of Mono's blood splattered and Mono struggled not to make a sound. "Well done. That's what I'm talking about. Show that weak little sissy no mercy. Show him and his weak little friends just how tough you all are!"

As many of the segregated classmates began to jeer at Mono, the threehorns in one cluster of the line, the spiked onehorns in another, Mono glared at the instructor. "Not one more bad word about my friends, creep! I'm proud of them, and they're way too good for the likes of you!"

The instructor sneered. "We'll see how proud you are once everyone gets to show how they feel about you! And you can even get hit by threehorns … You get to have a mixed class, just like you wanted," he snorted as the bullies guffawed. Then he turned back to the class. "All right! Show that soiling brat disgracing your families what you've got!"

Powerless to do anything, Mono closed his watering eyes to try to conceal the pain he was getting from the repeated stabbings, not wanting to give his aggressors any satisfaction. Fortunately, much of his bleeding disguised with his red skin, making this easier. He couldn't help but notice that even though the other boys were forced to horn him, the way in which they did it wildly varied. Some of the attacks were minor pricks that felt more like a tickle, while others were brutal stabbings, more like a sharptooth bite. Predictably, this corresponded with how harsh the beatdown was or how effusive the praise was from the instructor respectively. Trying to numb himself from the pain, Mono tried to imagine the voices of his friends, who would undoubtedly be cheering him on to stand strong and telling him that he would get through it …

"Painful, isn't it, traitor?' the instructor asked once the line was done with their attacks on him, many looking sadistic and excited, but others looking disheartened and some even with self-loathing.

Mono simply said nothing as he coldly stared at him.

"I know it is," the instructor sneered. "But you can stop it all right now. Tell me where your clubtail brat friend went."

Mono glared loathingly. "No," he spat in disgust. "And you'll never find him."

"Last warning, kid. Tell me something useful or you're gonna have to go through this again," the instructor growled.

Mono shook his head. "I'll tell you something useful all right," he smirked as he held his head proudly up in the air. "Oplax is a better dinosaur than you or Hiss Head will ever be!"

"You dirty brat!" roared the instructor, before turning to the rest of the class. "All right boys, attack! And keep on going until he coughs up where that clubtail is hiding!"

But no matter how many times he was hit, Mono felt a savage, proud sense of pleasure inside. Smiling defiantly, standing up for his friends and against the regime felt so good, and no matter how much physical pain he felt, the rejuvenation it brought his soul made it more than worth it.


"Good morning," said the female threehorn instructor loftily. "My name is Mrs. Troy. While my husband Troy is preparing your future mates, I will be teaching you some basics about the way a proper lady with traditional values should behave."

Forced into the front row, Tricia and Rachelle sat, their front paws interlocked with the other's, making sure that they could glare at their instructor with all the anger they could muster. Still enraged about how they had been forcibly separated from Mono, the two girls were determined to ruin their instructor's lesson by any means possible.

"I have a question," Rachelle immediately interrupted. "Troy isn't your first name, it's your husband's name. Nor is it your kind's name. Why don't you go by Mrs. Threehorn or your own name?"

"A good, mated wife must be completely submissive to her husband," Mrs. Troy said coolly. "The circles deem that I must be in complete obedience to him."

Tricia snorted. "Well, my Big Sis does not go by Mrs. Littlefoot … And she's not in complete obedience to him, they fight each other all the time! But they still love each other, more than you and Mr. Troy do I bet," she said daringly.

"That's because your sister was a corrupted being …" Mrs. Troy began, before Rachelle interrupted.

"Girls, listen! Don't you see that's not fair?" she asked desperately to her classmates, all of whom were far too young to even think about getting married. "If you really love a guy someday, that's great, but you shouldn't have to give up who you are or become their personal slave!"

"Yes! Boys and girls should be equals!" Tricia said firmly.

"Silence! I am a proud, traditional lady, and I am afraid you boyish, uncouth, male-haters never will be," Mrs. Troy growled.

"We're not male-haters!" Rachelle interrupted angrily. "We have four friends who are boys! Who you separated us from!"

"That's right!" Tricia exclaimed. "And they wouldn't want us to obey them just because we're girls! For we all know in our hearts that girls and boys are equal and that we should always treat each other that way! If my father finds out about what you've been saying …"

"Go right ahead and tell your daddy, pipsqueak," Mrs. Troy interrupted. "For your father knows the wisdom and high character my husband has that I am bestowing as his loyal servant upon all of you."

"What are you talking about?" Tricia snapped. "My Dad knows that you're absolutely evil and crazy!"

"I carry the same values of my husband," sneered Mrs. Troy. "My husband is of unmatched, unparalleled character, going so far as to take time out of his busy day and volunteer him and myself to raise you children on time-tested, battletested values. And even your heretic father knows my husband is of the very highest character, for he tried betrothing your older sister to him, after all …"

"Wait … what?" Tricia asked, her voice coming out in a squeak as many of the bullies in the class laughed.

"Oh yes," Mrs. Troy sneered at Tricia. "You remember how he tried to save your sister from becoming an abomination? How he tried to take your family out of the Great Valley? It was his desperate attempt to save her soul from the smoking mountains … Don't believe me? You can ask him yourself. But it's too late now, he fell to permissiveness, and your sister's fate has been sealed. As we speak, the spirits of your older sister and her so-called "husband" are burning in the smoking mountains, their corrupted souls getting incinerated by its righteous flames … "

"Stop it!" Tricia tried to yell, but her voice had broken down as Mrs. Troy smirked in relish. As many of the segregated girls jeered, Rachelle also felt some sympathetic eyes from her classmates on them and even some glares toward Mrs. Troy as she braced her paw on Tricia's reassuringly. Whatever Tricia's father may have done then, Rachelle knew that he would now be deeply regretful of, and they didn't even know that Tricia's sister and her friends were dead, let alone that they would be burning in the smoking mountains as Mrs. Troy suggested. She tried to tell Tricia all this with her gentle, reassuring touch. But Mrs. Troy had succeeded in breaking Tricia to the point where she would now have a hard time verbally standing up to her. Gritting her teeth, Rachelle knew it was now up to her to fight on both of their behalf against this sadistic, so-called lady.

"Now then," Mrs. Troy sneered. "The deviation from traditional gender roles in this Valley is a moral crisis which has brought the circles' bad luck down upon all of us. For far too long, boys and girls have been freely mixing with one another, to the point where many of us have forgotten what the point of the different genders are. The circles intend for boys and girls to seldom interact until the time comes, for they are meant to perform fundamentally different roles. Boys are supposed to grow strong, tough, and virile. They should grow ruthless to take charge of their herd, destroy any marauding sharptooth they lay eyes upon, and fight one another to display their honor and worth in courtship duels, after which the victor may impose himself upon any female he chooses, fulfilling the circles' will and ensuring the survival of his bloodline."

Rachelle gasped, shaking her head, and though young, she was worldly enough to know just what Mrs. Troy was talking about. "And what if you don't want to be imposed upon?" she asked coldly.

Mrs. Troy sneered at Rachelle. "Stupid gang girl. By refusing to submit to your mate …"

"I would never call anyone who says I should submit to them my mate!" Rachelle roared, glaring at Mrs. Troy with hot anger in her big blue eyes. "I would call them a dirty creep and get as far away from them as I can!"

"Then you would be defying the whole reason for your existence and condemning yourself to be a heretic," explained Mrs. Troy calmly as Rachelle continued to shake with rage. "The essence of being a good female with proper, traditional values is to be submissive to the will that your husband and the circles have for you. You do not need to concern yourselves with choosing, for the choice is made for you. You are commanded by the circles to submit to any husband who claims you after emerging victorious in a duel, and then you shall reproduce as many times as your husband deems fit."

"As many … What?" Rachelle asked indignantly, her jaw agape as Tricia angrily nodded along with her, both girls glaring at Mrs. Troy with seething fury, hardly daring to believe the jaw-dropping gender expectations being described.

"Well, you can hardly expect to hatch all the children you need to ensure your husband's genes are passed in one clutch," Mrs. Troy said casually. "Not all of them will grow into strong, healthy hatchlings. Some are just naturally born weaker than others and are not worth putting the effort into raising, with some being so weak that you might as well leave them to the sharpteeth. So-called late bloomers do nothing but take resources from and slow down the rest of the herd, so good egglayers have a responsibility to determine which hatchlings to raise and which to leave behind."

Tricia and Rachelle looked at each other in deepest disgust. They had never heard of such a perverse definition of parenting and felt sickened to their core just hearing this heartless doctrine. But before they could protest, Mrs. Troy continued.

"Of course, you have to also account for other events. Children who grow sick get that way because the circles want to reclaim them, so you shouldn't even bother trying to save them. Some physically healthy hatchlings just don't have the mental fortitude, and they too should be abandoned. And it is inevitable that some of even the healthiest hatchlings will be lost to sharpteeth. So rather than focusing your efforts on trying to save each individual hatchling, you should focus on laying enough eggs to please your husband and prove yourself worthy to him. As a good egglayer, you should expect to provide him at least ten clutches, so that's probably about fifty eggs, in your fertility period if …"

"Fifty eggs?" Rachelle shouted indignantly. "How can you say that? If you have that many children, you can't give them all the time and attention that each of them needs! You can't care for and love them all as individuals, and they'd just become a number to you!"

Mrs. Troy just sighed and shook her head. "Why am I even arguing with a filthy gang member? Oh well, if she is even asking these questions, I suppose the rest of you need to understand the proper role of an egglayer, so I might as well explain. An egglayer is only meant to get her eggs to survival, and to kill any filthy dirtbeak who tries to destroy her gift to her husband. But once the eggs hatch, the egglayer's duties are complete, and the hatchlings are on their own. It is up to them to determine whether they will be strong or weak, worthy of the life they had been given or not. It is not up to an egglayer to mollycoddle them and soften them up by treating them as individuals, and it is not their responsibility …"

"If you're gonna be a mom, it is your responsibility to take care of your kids!" Rachelle snapped. "I'm not a mom, nor do I know I even want to be. But I do know what's right! That good moms should love all their kids, no matter what! They should raise each kid they have with care and affection, and love them for who they are, as individuals!"

"You're right about one thing, girlie," said Mrs. Troy angrily. "You don't know a thing about laying eggs."

"No, but I am a kid, and I know how it is important to be raised with all of these things!" Rachelle said firmly. "Every kid deserves a happy, healthy home, with loving parents or guardians, and to grow up in a place filled with love and harmony!"

"Clearly, you know nothing," Mrs. Troy smirked.

"Neither do you," Rachelle retorted, coming up with a sudden idea. "Because you don't have any kids, do you?" Rachelle smirked, knowing that considering how young Mrs. Troy and her husband were and that they were in teaching roles, neither of them would have ever had a nest of eggs to attend to.

The class began murmuring ominously as Rachelle saw that Mrs. Troy's eyes narrowed, for evidently, she had touched on a nerve. Having lost all pretense of being calm, she glared at Rachelle with hatred. "How … dare you ... You filthy brat," she growled, before lunging at Rachelle and stabbing her frill with a horn.

Rachelle shrieked in pain as Mrs. Troy tried going in for another attack. But before she could get anywhere, Tricia jumped up, and with determined fury, bit Mrs. Troy right on the cheek, not letting go as her beak continued to pierce the older dinosaur's skin. "Don't you hurt my friend, understand!" Tricia ordered as she finally let go, Rachelle hurrying over to catch Tricia from hitting the ground.

As the class began to react, some jeering at Tricia and Rachelle, some sympathizing with them, Mrs. Troy put her paw on her cheek icily as she looked at the two hatchlings scornfully.

"You overgrown eggs have upset me for the last time," Mrs. Troy growled, her voice seething. "I will not have you spewing any more heresies to corrupt more innocent young souls. You clearly have no values and there is no hope that you will ever be redeemed. I will report to Mr. Leigh on your behavior, and rest assured, I will not rest until he receives proper guidance from the circles on your punishment. Now get out of my sight."

"Good, because Trish and I are fed up with hearing all your sharptooth dirt," Rachelle snarled, before she and Tricia, their horns held up high and their noses pointed in the air, defiantly left the class, leaving much muttering in their wake.


"Looks like your class was awful," Rachelle said, eyeing Mono's bleeding chin, as the three of them dejectedly walked back home, making sure to stay near the western edge of the Great Valley, far away from any onlookers.

"Yours couldn't be much better," Mono replied, shaking his head. "I've never seen you look so mad."

"Yeah," Rachelle sighed. "It was awful, right Trish? Trish?"

But Tricia did not answer, for instead, she slumped onto the grassy green floor. Concernedly, Mono and Rachelle went to sit by her, looking at her consolingly.

"What happened?" Mono asked as Rachelle looked at Tricia with understanding.

"I found out … My Dad's a bad guy too," Tricia said, her voice hollow. "He wanted to marry Big Sis off to Troy … and … and …"

Mono looked confused, for Troy did not give his name to the class. "Your instructor," Rachelle explained.

Mono looked aghast. "What?"

"I know, right?" Tricia sighed, lacking any of her usual cheerful vigor. "He tried marrying Cera off to those herds. Taking her away from us ... And making her Mrs. Troy …" Sighing, Tricia said, "If he could do that … How could he possibly be on our side?"

Mono and Rachelle looked at each other, alarmed at seeing how disheartened their friend and leader had suddenly become with this revelation. It then occurred to them that despite the brave, perky, defiant exterior she cultivated to help keep their spirits up in fighting against the regime, that Tricia too would have doubts, fears, and insecurities, which Mrs. Troy had managed to deftly exploit. Nodding to Mono, Rachelle knew she had to help cast away the dark mindset Mrs. Troy helped put in Tricia in.

"Trish …" Rachelle said soothingly. "Mono and I don't know what your dad might have done at one point. And we know he's plenty capable of doing stupid things. But we also know that whenever he does, he always has good intentions and is trying to do the right thing. It was probably because he was scared for her because he loved her so much, and this was just his rockheaded way of trying to help her. He probably didn't even know what Troy's herd was really like. If he actually believed the crap that so-called lady was saying, he would've never raised you and Cera the way he did! But whatever he did then … Ever since we came here … He's always been happy that Littlefoot and Cera are together … And he's doing his best to help keep our valley peaceful."

"Yeah, you've heard all the times he called Littlefoot his son-in-law?" Mono chortled. "That sounds like he likes Littlefoot to me! He's a part of the Circle of Elders, which stands for everything good in the Valley! Fighting for all of us! He probably never told you about Troy because he feels bad about himself. I sure wouldn't want to tell you if I was him! And Rachelle's right, his heart's always in the right place and he always does what he thinks is right. Even if he's got a funny way of showing it sometimes. I mean, he seemed as crazy as Hiss Head when he was fighting Mr. Flyer and Mr. Longneck. Well, almost."

He and Rachelle laughed a little, but Tricia still didn't smile. "He didn't question him very hard," she sighed. "When he first came here, remember?"

"Because Hiss Head tricked him, just like everyone else!" Mono explained indignantly, before smiling. "But you've seen him now! He got his whole herd to do that Circular Cohesive at that herd meeting to help us! Just look at them too, none of them are bigots! And those bad guys didn't have a chance at breaking his herd up! And he stood up to defend Chomper, even putting his own life in the paws of that hopper court! He's fighting almost as hard as we are!"

Tricia felt a little better, with her friends having effectively cleared away any doubts that had been planted in her mind about her dad. Yet still, she felt empty as she sighed heavily, shivering as she thought of the vivid, painful words Mrs. Troy used to brutally describe what had happened to her half-sister.

"Yeah, fighting … For what?" Tricia asked sulkily. Mono and Rachelle looked at each other alarmed, for it was so unlike the little threehorn to lose her perky, optimistic attitude.

"Against Hiss Head and the regime, duh!" Mono said incredulously.

"You're not thinking about giving up, are you?" Rachelle asked concernedly.

"Because we're sure not! We're ready to keep on fighting with you!" Mono exclaimed.

"We'll fight to the very end! And I'm sure the others all will too!" Rachelle agreed.

"What's the point?" Tricia sighed dejectedly. "We've all been trying so hard, but we've got nothing to show for it. Not even our folks can stop the bad guys. We're too little to move that boulder and get into the Secret Spot. And even if we can sneak out of the Valley and escape … What can we do? Where can we go? It's too high to jump down into the Secret Spot. And you heard her, Rachelle … Big Sis and her friends are probably dead," she gulped. "There's no food out there thanks to those stupid fires, not to mention all the bigots and sharpteeth out there who'd wanna kill them … Who are probably picking at their bones as we speak," she shuddered as a tear fell out of her eye. "We'd just be wandering around out there until we starve or some sharptooth kills us. We've done everything we could, but … We'll never be able to have our happy home again."

And with a defeated sigh as her eyes became fully clouded, Tricia placed her head into her paw, beginning to sob into it as Mono and Rachelle looked at each other worriedly.

"Trish, it's okay," Rachelle said gently.

"Yeah, we're gonna figure something out," Mono added determinedly.

"Like what?" Tricia mumbled between sobs. "Especially now that Big Sis and her friends are dead …"

Mono and Rachelle looked at each other doubtfully. Loath as they were to tell her, they too had doubts as to whether they could pull this off. Especially without their idols no longer being around. They felt so small and helpless without the bigger kids, who would always be there, standing by their side, as they looked up adoringly at them, their eyes gleaming with inspiration. They weren't just tougher, older, fully grown dinosaurs, but they were a true team of friends, with endless ingenuity and seamless chemistry between them, and they had accomplished so much through love, determination and sheer pluckiness. With the older kids blazing the trail for them and always encouraging them with a helping paw, they and their friends always felt they could do anything they set their hearts to. But now with the older kids all having been killed or captured, they didn't feel any of their usual hope inside.

But as Mono and Rachelle put their paws on Tricia supportively, trying to figure out what they could say to her, the two onehorns saw something move in the bushes.

"Who's there?" Mono shouted as he and Rachelle lifted their frills up protectively to guard Tricia. The last thing they needed was a bully to bother Tricia at this trying time.

"Show yourself!" Rachelle demanded.

Then Mono and Rachelle saw a tiny little dinosaur step out. At once, they felt a spark of curiosity as they observed him. He was a oneclaw, a type of tiny red food eater, who was just about their age, with light blue, fluffy feathers, big purple eyes, and a rounded orange beak and legs. And despite the segregation order dictating that twofooters stay in the Valley's opposite corner, here he was, standing in the frilled zone, defying the order as he smiled brightly, seemingly without a care in the world. Rather than being in an oppressive regime, he looked as though he had been having the time of his life.

"You guys are Tricia's gang, right?" he asked eagerly.

Surprised, Mono and Rachelle nodded, as Tricia, still crying into her paw, sighed, "What's left of it."

"I'm Cricket!" the oneclaw introduced himself excitedly. "I've heard all about you guys … the Tricia Team, Tricia's Troopers, the Tricia Ten, the Tricia Ten-Hit-Knockout … But it's different finally getting to meet you! Even if you're less … Well, happy than I thought."

Staring at Cricket, they then felt a presence above, and to their surprise, the three frilled kids saw Guido descending toward them. "Cricket!" Guido gasped. "I thought I told you to stay in hiding!"

"Sorry Guido," Cricket giggled. "They found me and told me to come out. Besides, these guys really need help. They don't know anything."

"Not now, Cricket!" Guido gasped warningly, but it was too late, for Mono and Rachelle had begun to stare at Cricket, and even Tricia had lifted up her head.

"Know what?" Mono asked at once.

"How do you know about us?" Rachelle asked.

"And where'd you get those names?" Tricia said, and Mono and Rachelle hopefully glanced at one another, hearing a little bit of intrigue in her voice.

"My new herdmates Light, Gara …" Cricket excitedly began, before Guido hurriedly cut him off, "Please guys, not here! Go to Tricia's sleeping spot and we'll meet you there, all right?"

And hurriedly, Guido plopped Cricket on his back as he glided off, while Cricket smiled and waved back at them with a one-clawed arm, exclaiming, "See you!"

Mono, Rachelle and Tricia looked at each other curiously.

"What are they doing in the frilled zone?" Rachelle asked confusedly. "And who are Light and Gara? Did Guido start a new herd of little guys here?"

"There's only one way to find out," said Mono determinedly, looking at his friend, whose eyes had gained a slight bit of life back. "Coming Trish?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she sighed, before remembering what had happened last night, a little smirk returning to her face. "Besides, you guys have gotta see you know who."

"Oh yeah!" Rachelle exclaimed, and hurriedly, the three little frilled dinosaurs quietly scampered to Tricia's sleeping spot without saying another word. Topps, who had been utterly miserable and feeling extreme guilt ever since he found out just who was teaching the children, tried to approach his daughter, his head held in deep shame. "Tricia, I …" he called out, but the little frilled dinosaurs didn't even stop and instead jumped straight into the bushes where he knew Destiny was hiding, still being watched over by Shayle, standing guard as he was pretending to graze.

"She looks like she's doing okay, Topsy," Tria said as she walked over to her husband.

"Yeah," Topps sighed. "I just wish I could do something for her, after everything I've done. I don't want her to think badly of me."

"You'll have plenty of time for that later, Topsy," Tria reassured him. "But I think she'll have enough to think about."

Quizzically, Topps looked at her. Smirking, Tria whispered, "I just talked to Guido. Apparently the twofooter kids found an escape and are leaving tonight. And now that their class is over and they won't be running into any more bad guys … I said it's okay to tell them everything."

"Right," Topps said. "Well then, I better tell Monty, Thicknose and the kids ... I mean our new herd members that it'll be tonight. I'll tell the rest of the herd to be on the lookout for bad guys and come to their rescue should they get in trouble. You got your word out to the others?"

"I talked to Laurel this morning," said Tria. "Even with the kids gone, we can still use the meeting for other things. And Guido says Avie told Marina to tell Rythe about the meeting, and that Marina and Terese know about …" she stopped, ending with a knowing smirk, to which Topps returned back.

"Excellent," Topps said, grinning. "Also … Bron told me he's up to something tonight. Now that Hiss Head decided to violate the spirit of their deal while still technically abiding by it, he will do the same …" Smirking, Topps said, "I don't know what he's up to … But I sure like the sound of it."

Tricia hurried into the clump of bushes, Mono and Rachelle following in her wake. Destiny was sleeping just where Tricia had left her, fast asleep after her excursion last night. Nudging Destiny awake, Tricia hissed, "Dess! It's us!"

Destiny's grayish eyes steadily blinked open. "Oh … Hi Trish," she smiled, then she noticed her two companions. Beaming at them, she exclaimed, "Oh, Mono, Rachelle, it's you! I missed you guys!" And she gave both of them hugs as they happily hugged back. Tricia couldn't help but chuckle. Four of them were now together without anyone trying to split them apart, the closest they had been to their full group since the separation started.

"Hey Destiny," asked Mono. "You've seen this kid named Cricket yet?"

"He's a oneclaw, but he seems really nice … And he said we don't know anything," Rachelle explained. "You know what that's about?"

Destiny shook her head, but before any of them could say another word, they heard the leaves rustle and Cricket bounced inside, followed by Guido. "There you guys are!" Cricket exclaimed, before turning to Destiny. "You're in their gang too?"

"Yep," Destiny nodded. "So what's all this about?"

Cricket was about to speak, but then Guido interrupted. "Cricket, I've gotta fill these guys in on the planning stuff first."

"Oh yeah, right," Cricket cheerfully nodded as the four other kids stared at each other, all with wonder in their eyes.

Guido looked at them seriously. "Everything's all set for you guys. First, I've got to fill you in on how you're gonna get out of here."

The four children sat, looking at Guido in eager disbelief. They had all been trying so hard just to sneak a paw across the border into each other's zones. And now …

"You … Mean that?" Mono gasped. "You mean ... You've got a plan for us to actually escape?"

Guido nodded. "Okay kids. Avie checked in with Mama Swimmer in the twofooter zone. She said that your friends found a hidden burrow in the ground on the far east side belonging to the tiny longnecks."

As Tricia's gang breathlessly looked at each other, Guido continued. "She didn't know where the tunnel went. I decided to check … You know where. And sure enough, I found Oplax and the baby clubtails inside. The boulder had not been moved, but there was a freshly dug hole which I didn't see before. So I think we can say that … Your friends have dug a hole from the twofooter zone to the Secret Spot. And with Oplax in the Secret Spot and the rest of you kids being twofooters, the only thing left is to get you guys into the twofooter zone and down that tunnel."

As grins began to creep across Tricia's gang's faces, Guido continued, "We've got some distractions set up. While they're happening, Monty, Calem, Karla and Gaven are going to smuggle you into the twofooter zone. Then you will find your friends and they can show you the hole that will take you to the Secret Spot."

The kids looked at each other, their eyes wide with excitement. "This … sounds like it will really work!" Destiny cheered.

"Yeah, this sounds amazing!" Rachelle agreed.

But Cricket snickered. "You guys still don't know anything."

Tricia's gang could only stare at little Cricket in amazement. "You call escaping the Valley nothing?" Mono said in disbelief.

"You mean … You've got something even better to tell us?" Rachelle asked hopefully.

Guido looked a little hesitant, knowing just how young Tricia's gang was. "You guys don't have to worry about anything else. You can just …"

But Guido trailed off, for mischievous grins began to spread across the four hatchlings' faces like wildfire. Smirking, Mono said, "Spill," to vigorous nods from his friends. Even Tricia seemed to be getting her spirit back.

"Oh, let me do it!" Cricket asked, and Guido nodded, stepping aside. Despite being the same age as Tricia's gang, he was quite a bit smaller than they were. But he commanded their total attention as he said, "All right guys. I'm gonna tell you everything. But you gotta promise you won't tell the bad guys anything!"

"We promise," Mono quickly spat out, and at once, he, Rachelle, Tricia and Destiny rushed to express their agreement, before they each put a front paw on their heads, giving Cricket a salute.

"Or to tell any of the others until you're out of the Great Valley and safe in the Secret Spot," Guido cautioned warningly.

"We promise that too," Rachelle agreed, the four kids still saluting as they grinned, their eyes flashing excitedly.

Guido sighed. "Okay guys … If Cricket's gonna tell you anything, you've gotta be quiet."

Taking their paws off their foreheads, the kids immediately motioned to seal their lips, but their eyes continued to sparkle, their big grins still in place.

Cricket grinned too as he felt all their excitement. As he looked at Guido who gave him a sigh and a reluctant nod, Cricket then waddled right over to the four kids, his eyes twinkling. "Guido and I are part of a big, bad crew of outlaws. Not counting the babies, I'm the youngest and the littlest. Most of the rest of us are these cool, big kids. We're gonna save everyone in the Valley from the bad guys. And we're led by the coolest little gang of rebels of all ..." And chuckling, he added, "I think you might know them."

And Guido could only watch as the four kids' eyes brimmed with determination and pure, unfettered excitement as they enthusiastically put a front paw on their heads, saluting him and Cricket, their mischievous, eager, grins wider than ever. Shaking his head, Guido knew there was no point even trying to stop the crazy band of tykes now as he could feel their energy building up, just waiting to join forces with not only a bunch of awesome new teammates, but to be reunited with their idols once again ...


Sitting glumly with her cheeks in her hands, Cassia glared at the instructor in the middle of the Rock Circle. She was an older dinosaur named Cryaz, a round-crested hollowhorn just like herself, only she was mostly of a sludgy purple color, with red and black markings.

"Good morning, children," Cryaz began with a wheezy drone. "Sorry for all of you having to sit in on the same lecture despite all of you being of wildly different kinds … We only have one Rock Circle here, and I have profound wisdom …"

Cassia felt a hot surge of fury as their eyes briefly met. When she came to class, she had tried to sit down with Perri, Pearl, Garnet, Shine, and Sam's other nestmates by her side. But seating areas had been designated for the different kinds, and rather than letting her sit by her friends, a bunch of brutal enforcers were patrolling the ledges to pluck noncompliant kids up and throw them into their assigned areas. Garnet and Pearl were taken out of the Rock Circle by the enforcers, and while Shine and his siblings still had each other by their sides, Perri looked absolutely terrified, with some of the long-crested hollowhorns rudely taunting her, shoving her so that her face would hit the ground. Cassia was relieved to see that many of her long-crested hollowhorn peers seemed to look sympathetically at Perri, and a few even seemed to be arguing with the bullies. Cassia recognized most of these kids as children of those who were still faithful to the Circle of Elders. Even at this young age, kids were already falling in line with their parents' beliefs and attitudes.

While Cassia was bigger and older than Perri and harder to knock down or rattle, she still had bullies jeering at her too, insulting her bright skin color, calling her a race traitor, a threehorn wannabe, and spreading all sorts of whispered gossip to each other as they looked at her devilishly. Like Perri, she too had allies among her type of round-crested hollowhorn, who glared at the bullies, with some even trying to sit themselves around her to keep her protected. Like Perri's supporters, they were disproportionately children of friendly twofooters, most of whom had grown up in the Great Valley just like she had. Indeed, it looked like this among all the different kinds with vocal, mean bullies happily spouting out whatever their dark-hearted parents told them, but there were sizable groups of kids scowling at Cryaz among every kind as well.

"You are all twofooters. Obviously, my kind of hollowhorn is the best kind of twofooter there is, even better than Mr. Leigh's …"

Cassia rolled her eyes, scowled, and crossed her arms angrily as both the bullies in her zone applauded and those in the other zones, wanting their kinds to be named the best, booed and jeered Cryaz, who seemed to enjoy taking both reactions. "But regardless of that, all of us are better than the other kinds. Can any of you actually imagine being a fourfooter? We all know that flatheads have very small brains, hornfaces have extreme tempers, spiketails have gluttonous diets, and clubtails have bad breath. At least we can all sit down on our butts and actually do things with our hands, unlike their useless front paws," she said, flailing her arms around mockingly as if they were bulky front paws, causing the bullies in the Rock Circle to erupt with raucous laughter.

Sighing, Cassia shook her head as she tried to tune out all of Cryaz's bigoted nonsense. She could hardly imagine how the Bright Circle would think about constantly being evoked for dark purposes, and she knew that the flowers around them would be wilting, losing their petals as they took in the ugly, hateful diatribes from Cryaz's so-called class. Scanning the seated twofooter kids for any sign of Garnet and Pearl, she couldn't find them. But Perri and Shine were still there, both looking scared and angry, with Perri looking just as furious as she felt, her hands balled into fists. Perhaps they could still do their stunt as a threesome …

"Daughter of Mr. Colby and Mrs. Rythe Hollowhorn, adoptive daughter of Mrs. Beverly Hollowhorn. Come forward this instant," Cryaz commanded.

Shocked, Cassia and Perri looked at each other from afar, surprised at their being summoned. But before they could say anything, they were picked up by teaching assistants and brought forward right in front of Cryaz, squirming as they tried to free themselves from their captors' grasps.

"Well girls," Cryaz hissed as Cassia and Perri glared at her. "I know you want to impress your teacher. So let me ask, where is the clubtail brat?"

"What clubtail brat?" Cassia said defiantly as she kicked her captor. "I have a clubtail friend, but he's not a brat!"

"Oh yes he is!" Cryaz growled, before saying, "Fine, you need more persuasion. So I will make a special offer to you. I will speak to Mr. Leigh who will contact the circles, and if you cooperate and hand over the clubtail, we will let each of you have access to the entire Great Valley and eat from whatever tree you want."

Cassia looked at Perri, who while still being dangled by her captor, put her hands by her ears and blew a great big, loud raspberry at Cryaz. Beaming at one another, the two young hollowhorns threw out their hands and gave each other a triumphant high-five.

"Ugh … You brats need to learn some respect for your elders!" Cryaz growled, before turning to her aides. "Make them grovel before my feet!" she ordered.

They nodded, throwing Cassia and Perri down, pinning them belly-down against the dirt floor of the Rock Circle's center while standing on their tails, while the two little hollowhorns glared at their teacher with all the ferocity they could muster.

"Right then," Cryaz continued, before talking to the whole class. "We are going to end this lesson today by talking about the dirtiest of all dinosaurs, the so-called halfteeth, or what I like to call dirtbeaks …"

"Hey!" Cassia tried to shout, knowing this was a highly offensive racial slur toward halftooth kind. But Cryaz's aide stepped on her tail, turning her shout into a screech of pain, causing the bullies in the audience to laugh and jeer at Cassia.

"As Mr. Leigh said earlier, dirtbeaks are among the foulest creatures to exist. Their very purpose is to ensure that only the tough-hearted dinosaurs survive, for while they may look harmless on the outside, they have sharp beaks meant for ripping babies out of their eggs. Do not let them deceive you. Some of them may pretend to be harmless, but their souls are born corrupted, and one may never know when a dirtbeak gets the urge to crack an egg for their crafty, wicked …"

"Stop it!" Perri shrieked, only for her too to have her tail stepped on, just like Cassia's as she wailed in pain, causing more laughter from the bullies.

"Many of these disgusting creatures have grown a covering of what are called feathers to disguise their dark treachery," Cryaz sneered, her lips curled in disgust. "How could such soft things belong to such vicious creatures? It is once again part of their darkness and corrupted states, meant to trick the weak and gullible into their deaths. To resist the darkness of these creatures, every decent twofooter, even hatchlings, should be able, at the very least, to rip their deceptive disguises off their bodies. We are the only kind of leafeaters gifted hands by the circles, and so it is our duty to expose them as the dirty, runty things that they are. And now, I will ask these two young ladies, under the circles' judgment, to give us a demonstration."

And at once, Cassia and Perri were released as two more aides walked in, carrying two familiar fast runners. Looking at each other in terror and then at their captured friends, Cassia and Perri felt Cryaz leering down at them.

"Well, girls?" she leered deviously. "I am going to give you a choice. Either you pluck out all of these brats' feathers … Or I shall have to report your behavior to Mr. Leigh, and you will be facing the circles' wrath for insubordination."

There was a tense silence as Cassia and Perri looked at each other and nodded. Then, Perri took in a deep breath and made a shrieking noise with her hollowhorn. It echoed off the rocks around them as she glared at Cryaz defiantly.

"You impertinent …" Cryaz shrieked, but at that point, Pearl and Garnet's holders were distracted just enough so that the twins were able to wiggle free of their captor's grasps. Falling to the ground, they were caught by Cassia and Perri, who nodded to them determinedly. Then they saw Shine running toward them, and at once, the five of them knew what to do. It was time to put their choreography into motion.

Getting into a line where they stood side by side facing the other hatchlings, Perri, Garnet, Cassia, Pearl and Shine hurriedly wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders as if they were in a hug, and before Cryaz or the aides knew it, the five of them engaged in a cute, innocent line dance, each making a little flutter kick with their left foot a few times before they all switched together off to their right, breaking into simultaneous song.

"It takes all sorts to make a world …"

They sang at the top of their lungs, their eyes gleaming as they smiled, feeling their hearts soar along with their voices, feeling the Bright Circle's rays proudly shining down upon them, and Cassia could almost hear the thankful flowers singing back to them. The class gasped as they stared at the display, and Cryaz began to quaver with fury.

"You … insolent brats!" raged Cryaz as she turned around, clenching her fists, looking like she was going to punch the kids as the crowd began to buzz with all kinds of noise. But just as they had planned, Cassia and Shine switched places, Pearl and Garnet took hold of the three others' hands, and the five of them began to sprint for the exits. The two fast runners did most of the legwork, lifting Shine in between them off the ground, while Perri and Cassia on the ends managed to lift their free fists up into the air, proudly showing their defiance as they hurried triumphantly out of the Rock Circle and into the safety of their home, where their parents, guardians, Shine's older siblings, and other friendly adults would be able to protect them.

Coming to a stop as they left the forest and reached the edge of their pool, the five little twofooters gave each other a big high-five and launched into a celebratory hug.

"Yay! That was fun! We did good, didn't we?" Perri giggled, her eyes flashing excitedly.

"We sure did," Cassia smirked, before whispering, "And we're only just getting started!"

And the five kids giggled and grinned at each other in anticipation, their hearts warm as they thought about what they had accomplished. Not only had they succeeded in putting on the spectacle that would get other kids talking about them for days, but as Mama Swimmer said, now with this stunt accomplished, the regime wouldn't think that they had another trick at the ready. But they were just bursting for more as they thought with anticipation about what was beyond the other end of that tunnel.


"So," Wild Arms asked Ruby for the umpteenth time. "Are we going the right way?"

"Yes, we are going the way we should be going," Ruby explained calmly, trying her hardest to not sound exasperated as she tried to concentrate. They had followed the Valley's walls all the way south and a good way to the west. Just a little bit more west should do it. Yet she couldn't be careful, for there was always the risk of sharpteeth or Leigh's supporters prowling around ...

"That's good," Wild Arms sighed loudly in relief. "Because I don't want to be seeing any … EEEEEKK, DANGER, AAAAH!"

Ruby whipped around to see that closing in on them from each direction were eight young dinosaurs, larger and apart from the flyers heavier than she was, but all of them were surprisingly fast. They leered at the two of them as they approached, and Ruby could tell by their coordination and eye contact with one another that this was a group working as a team, like a pack of fast biters bringing down their prey. Before she knew it, one of them grabbed onto each of her legs and arms, while the other four had done the same with Wild Arms, and the two of them were held completely suspended, belly-up in the air.

Wild Arms looked completely panic-stricken as he continued to squirm and flail desperately, while the muscular longneck and flyer continued to hold his arms firmly in their strong grips.

"Okay, okay, you win, you bunch of scary tough guys!" Wild Arms flailed. "Just let me go, okay? Pretty please?" As they only continued to growl, Wild Arms tried to scream for help, but the double-crested flyer holding him clasped his mouth shut.

"You'll be quiet if you know what's good for you," he growled. "Got it?"

Fearfully, Wild Arms glanced at Ruby, who nodded respectfully to the flyer. "It's okay, you have nothing to fear from us."

"You're telling them not to fear us? We're the ones who should be afraid," Wild Arms began to shout, before the giant flyer holding Ruby's left arm interrupted. "Give me your weapon," he ordered.

Nodding, Ruby complied, opening her hand and letting the flyer take Chomper's tooth. "Hmm … Looks like a twoclaw tooth," he examined.

"What? What do you think you're doing, giving them …" Wild Arms shouted to Ruby, but the dinosaur holding Ruby's right foot, a small reddish pink threehorn, cut him off with a warning glare.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she growled in a low, threatening voice.

Wild Arms stared at the threehorn for a moment, before screaming as he writhed in terror. "Aaaak! It's Bella! She's back from the dead! Oh no, it must be … An army of zombies! Eeekk! Please don't hurt me, I didn't put any of you in the ground! I …"

But Wild Arms trailed off, for he saw Ruby's flyer hand Chomper's tooth over to the hollowhorn holding Ruby's left foot, which she took with her free hand. He spluttered for a moment, before emerging into a full-out bawl.

"Oh no! It's Loopy Leigh! Wait … I mean, aah! He wouldn't like it if I call him that … I mean, would you? Sorry, your highness … I mean …"

"Wild Arms, relax," Ruby told him reassuringly. "She's a girl and Leigh's not a girl, so she's not Leigh. And if I am right, I think we found them just as much as they found us."

Curiously, the group looked at one another for a moment as Wild Arms thrashed and shrieked, "What? You mean to tell you me you were looking for these wackos! I thought you were sensible. But no, you kids are once again nuts! Why did I come along with you anyway? I better …"

"Quiet, unless you want sharpteeth to find us," growled the wide-mouthed longneck holding onto Wild Arms' flailing right arm. This shut Wild Arms up at once, before the longneck picked up where the threehorn left off. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Still straining, Wild Arms whimpered, "I'm Wild Arms … And don't hurt me, please!"

Calmly, however, Ruby smiled. "I'm Ruby. Wild Arms and I come in peace, in peace we come. I know you don't know us, but we might know the same friends, which would then make us friends too."

"How could you have the same friends …" Wild Arms began, but the giant flyer shook his head, interrupting him.

"We don't know any Ruby or Wild Arms, but our team leaders might."

The shieldback holding onto Ruby's right foot nodded. "Let's find out," he growled, before he turned to Ruby and Wild Arms and said, "And no blabbing to anyone about any of us, or you'll be sorry. Got it?"

"I won't, Mr. Shieldback, I promise, I won't do anything that insensible!" Wild Arms begged as Ruby nodded understandingly.

Then while still being held completely off the ground, they were carried off. While Wild Arms continued to writhe and whimper anxiously, Ruby was able to relax, even resting her eyes from the Bright Circle as she was carried off. Despite being younger than she and Wild Arms, the pack of teens was larger in both numbers and body size and could have easily killed them if they wanted to, especially after taking away Chomper's tooth. Yet despite being tough and restraining them, they didn't make a move to actually hurt them, suggesting protectiveness rather than aggressiveness. And being a mixed-species party that coordinated well as a team, it was obvious that they were not aligned with Leigh and the segregated herds. Remembering how Chomper had referred to new courses in the Hidden Canyon and how Pterano had referred to a class, she smiled, knowing that most likely, these were some of the gang's new trainees, posted on guard duty to be on the lookout for enemies. And if she was right, then all she had to do was get them to realize that they were on the same side.

As she rested as if she was in a hanging nest, Ruby realized that they were drawing close to the Hidden Canyon, being able to distinctly smell the succulent tree sweets nearby. As she opened her eyes however, she felt the group's pace begin to slow, and looking ahead, she saw two more young dinosaurs sleeping side by side, an olive-green highly muscular male swimmer with some blue on his back, and an ochre-colored female spikeneck with darker markings and spikes.

As Ruby and Wild Arms were placed back on the ground, the honey-colored clubtail and dark green-colored curved onehorn carrying them glared warningly at Ruby and Wild Arms as the other six moved to block their escape. "Stay there," the clubtail ordered, and she and the onehorn approached the two sleeping dinosaurs and prodded them awake. The two of them woke up, looking at the others quizzically.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Seth, Ms. Gara," said the clubtail respectfully. "Just we caught these two approaching our hideout."

"This one claims that we might have the same friends," explained the onehorn. "And our leaders said they have some missing friends. Do you two know them?"

Seth and Gara shook their heads. "Good work guys. We'll take it from here," Gara said, before her golden eyes looked down at the two of them warily. "Get down, please."

Ruby and Wild Arms did so without complaint, though Wild Arms visibly continued to tremble. "We are looking for some lost members of our herd that we don't know personally," Seth explained. "We're gonna ask you some questions to see who you are."

"It might be just a couple questions, it might be more," Gara continued. "But regardless, don't tell anyone you've seen us or else there will be trouble. Got it?" she asked, as Seth flexed his bulging muscles while eyeing the two of them, and the other eight dinosaurs expressed their firm agreement, causing Wild Arms to let out a silent scream.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, nor will you, right Wild Arms?" Ruby asked the longarm, who frantically shook his head, losing his voice due to fear. "We come in peace, and I think we are your friends," Ruby explained. "I have said who Wild Arms is, but I haven't said who I am. Well then, I am Ruby."

Seth and Gara looked at each other for confirmation, before bending down to be eye to eye with Ruby. Feeling more confident upon seeing their reactions, Ruby knew that she had nothing to hide, for they were looking for her just as much as she was looking for them.

"We know of a Ruby, who even is supposed to talk the way you do," Seth observed. "But now we need to make sure you're one and the same."

As Ruby's heart soared upon hearing further confirmation that they were friends, Seth looked at Gara who asked, "Okay Ruby, where do you come from?"

"The Great Valley," Ruby answered without hesitation.

Nodding, Seth continued, "Who's Tricia?"

"Tricia's a friend of my siblings," she explained. "She's their gang's leader. Don't worry though, they're a friendly gang, as in a gang of friends. Just like I'm in a friendly gang, as in a gang of friends."

Seth and Gara briefly glanced at each other again, before Gara asked, "Why did you leave the Valley and what are you doing out here?"

"Bad leafeaters took over the Great Valley, and I was a prisoner," Ruby explained. "I was supposed to be with my friend Chomper as his confidante. That's his tooth she's holding, he's a sharptooth," she nodded to the hollowhorn. "But don't worry, he's a friendly sharptooth. He was falsely framed for murder because he was trying to protect me and my friends from bad leafeaters. Anyway, he told me that I should sneak out of the Valley to help my friends in planning a strategy. He could smell them in a place called the Hidden Canyon, a place hidden in the Great Valley that only he, Mr. Threehorn, my other friends, myself, and soon some others on our side we can trust will know the location of."

"You sure this place even exists?" Wild Arms asked desperately. "Because I want to get out of trouble!"

As Seth and Gara ignored him and looked at Ruby expectantly, she said, "So Chomper let me take one of his teeth, I slipped past the guards, climbed on the Valley's trees, and then my flyer friend's mother and uncle flew me out. Their whole family should be on their way, after they sneak my parents' herd of noteeth out. The flyer family all want to join you guys, and my parents' herd need a sanctuary from hate crimes in the Valley."

"Hate crimes? You mean like what happened to me? I'll say that was a hate crime," Wild Arms said firmly.

"Yes Wild Arms," said Ruby. "That was a hate crime."

"Well, I'm just glad that you were there with that sharptooth tooth to plunge into that creep's foot!" Wild Arms exclaimed. "Just don't do that with my foot, okay?"

"I won't, Wild Arms," Ruby reassured him, as the others expressed sounds of amazement, looking at the fast runner with admiration.

Seth and Gara looked at each other, also looking impressed. Everything about the fast runner's story seemed to check out, and this Ruby seemed to match the characterization of the Ruby they were looking for. But they needed some more confirmation, just to be sure.

"Right … I better get a witness to double-check," Seth said as he hurried the short distance to where Ruby knew the Hidden Canyon was.

"Okay Ruby," Gara said, "One last question. You said you have friends in the Hidden Canyon. Tell me their names, skin colors, kinds, and eye colors."

Ruby smiled, not only in that Gara had picked a question that would only be known by someone who regularly looked into the gang's eyes, but just visualizing them when she knew she was so close to finally seeing them made her feel all warm inside. "All right … There is Littlefoot the brown longneck with brown eyes, Cera the orange threehorn with green eyes, Ducky the green swimmer with blue eyes, Petrie the brown flyer with dark eyes, and Spike the green spiketail with purple eyes."

Gara smiled at Ruby as the others began to mutter excitedly. "Well, I guess all we have to do is wait for …"

But she trailed off, as Seth had returned, with a large golden flyer accompanying him. As Etta went to examine them, she immediately smiled. "Yep, that's the real Ruby all right." Then she turned to Wild Arms. "And that sure is Wild Arms," she muttered, before asking, "Only what in tarnation are you doing here?"

"Oh, it's you Etta! Well, it's a long story … It was a long, harrowing journey as to how I've gotten here, but …" Wild Arms began to boast, as the others began to snicker, and Etta rolled her eyes.

"Well, I ain't sure you reckon what you've got yourself into," Etta shook her head, chuckling. "You might be in for a bit more than you can chew here running with these guys. But hey, welcome in. You're now the second old-timer on board!"

"Hey! I'm not that old!" Wild Arms insisted to more snickering from the others.

Seth and Gara looked to Etta for confirmation. "You think he's trustworthy?" Seth asked.

Etta nodded. "He may be a little crazy, but yeah, he's harmless," Etta reassured them.

"Crazy smart and crazy brave, you mean!" Wild Arms shot back, as they all shared a laugh.

"Right then," Etta smiled. "I better wake the sleepyheads … They're not gonna wanna miss this! Wild Arms, Ruby, you better stick back though … It's about time to give them a nice surprise."

"Wait, don't leave me with these guys! They're scary!" Wild Arms screamed as Etta took off. And as Etta began to fly slowly away, she was able to hear the start of their conversation.

"Great job, guys! You make great guards!"

"Aww, thanks. You're awesome!"

"Yeah, you're so cool!"

"Welcome to our team, Ruby."

"Sorry we roughed you up back there … Hey, you might be a herd leader now … If you are, how about you help name us?"

"Wait, what?"

"Oh yeah, right. We'll explain."

As she turned to look back, she saw that far from looking like the scary herd guards that Wild Arms would have first seen, the group of teens were all smiling and laughing together, their eyes alive with excitement and even looking downright cuddly as they moved in to greet Ruby as she took turns greeting them like old friends, as Wild Arms could only gape at them.

Indeed, it was hard to believe that such tough dinosaurs could be so tender and vice versa. But then again, that had always been the very essence of the gang, brave and tough enough to take on any obstacles and emerge on the other end stronger than ever, yet at the same time unabashedly compassionate, goodhearted, idealistic, and never taking themselves too seriously, with their deep love and friendship providing the inner strength to spur them onto greater challenges. And now they were taking that outlook to the next level, cultivating an entire herd to grow in both toughness and tenderness, just like themselves. Etta smirked as she thought about their opposition, merely valuing simple, brutal toughness, and failing to see the value of singing, laughter, and play. If the young herd could keep growing in both toughness and tenderness, catching up to them in the former and outstretching them even more in the latter, as well as throwing in their trademark determination and ingenuity, even the strength and viciousness of the regime would be hard-pressed to stop them.

As she flew back into the Hidden Canyon, Etta had found that while only Littlefoot and Petrie were awake when she left, Cera, Ducky and Spike had woken up since, as had all the inducted new recruits. Cricket and Avie had also since returned from their reconnaissance mission, and Ann's babies were scampering around their feet as everyone else sat expectantly, watching Etta in anticipation as she perched in front of the young herd to address them.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you've all woken up," Etta chuckled. "But it's a good thing you have! We've got a couple of unexpected arrivals," before she explained, "Seth and Gara's teams found them, and after figuring out with absolute certainty who they were, they brought me over to confirm their identities. But don't worry, it's all good news! We're gonna be welcoming in our first two friends from the Great Valley."

At once, the young herd let out a couple big cheers before beginning to murmur with enthusiastic anticipation, with the newcomers being excited to make new friends and gain new herdmates, while the gang was eager to see just who had made it out of Leigh's regime. Soon, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike began to mutter amongst themselves for a little bit to make some plans, while the other herd members began to chat with each other eagerly. Knowing very little about the gang's other friends, the newcomers were eager to speculate.

"What do you think these guys will be like?" Nessie asked hopefully.

"Don't know," Keeter said. "Our leaders have a headcount of 85 friends, so it could be anybody."

"They said two of their friends were held captive, their sharptooth friend Chomper and Littlefoot's boxhead brother Shorty. Maybe they've escaped!" Light happily speculated to eager murmurs from the others.

"Oh, I hope they have!" Kendall said eagerly.

"I still can't believe they know a friendly sharptooth … I wonder what kind of sharptooth he is?" Eva wondered.

"Maybe he's pretty big," said Tilden. "Like a horned sharptooth or something."

"I hope he can understand us," Aria said hopefully. "At least they can sing to him! But I'd love to actually talk to a friendly sharptooth!"

"These guys can do anything," Candy laughed. "I bet they taught him some leafeater."

"He can probably even speak in whole sentences," Anndi agreed.

Etta chuckled, knowing how much of a surprise these guys would be getting with the friendly sharptooth.

"And I know Shorty implies a small name, but trust me, boxheads are big," Sheldon commented.

"Bigger than you?" Welbie asked in surprise.

"Way bigger than me. Possibly even bigger than Littlefoot!" Sheldon exclaimed.

"Hey Jada, do you know any of their other friends?" Felix asked her.

Jada thought. "They have two friends named Ali and Ruby who are acting as Shorty's and Chomper's confidantes, respectfully … They must be really good friends," she smiled.

"Wow, this Ruby must be really brave to know Chomper well enough to be his confidante!" Felix gasped.

"And a really good friend!" Gabriel agreed. "Maybe even another herd leader!"

"Oh yeah, and there's this bunch of crazy kids too, led by Cera's sis Tricia, and Ducky's little brother is one of them," laughed Keeter. "There's 10 of them. They're little, but apparently, they've got a ton of guts. Probably even younger than us, Em."

"I bet they're loads of fun!" Emery beamed. "Maybe we can even help train them and keep them safe!"

"Guys, I think it's Seth's and Gara's teams!" Kendall exclaimed, hearing a noise outside.

Welbie flew up to check. "Yep, it's them!"

Sure enough, Seth's and Gara's teams returned. Not having been inducted yet, they sat a close but respectable distance outside of the Hidden Canyon's entrance, the two newcomers not within sight. Excitedly, the rest of the group hurried over to approach them so they could all sit together as one big herd.

"Great job, guys!" Littlefoot exclaimed brightly to the two unnamed teams, who nodded appreciatively. "Etta told us how you managed to find some of our friends, and I'm sure they'll make our Great Valley family even better!"

"Yeah!" Cera agreed. "You guys totally deserve your inductions. We'd let you in right now, but know you'd rather wait, so we're gonna do them before dinner tonight."

"Oh yes yes yes!" Ducky cheered, clapping her hands excitedly. "And to celebrate everyone becoming part of our Great Valley family, we are going to have a big feast on the ground together, just like yesterday, right Spike?" Spike salivated as he imagined an encore of the scrumptious feast. "Only now it will be even better," Ducky giggled, "For we will have even more friends to share it with!"

"And our Great Valley family grow even bigger!" Petrie exclaimed happily. "We have lots to celebrate!" Turning to the eight teens not inducted yet, he asked, "You decide who you want help name you?"

The teens looked shiftily at each other. "Not yet," the male shieldback said slowly. "We better show you who we found first."

Then, Seth's team on the left beckoned someone over from behind the Hidden Canyon's walls. Slowly, they heard a shuffling of footsteps, and Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike stared in surprised amazement as a familiar, eccentric longarm ambled into view. The new recruits looked at Wild Arms curiously, with not many having seen a dinosaur like him before, and even fewer who acted like him.

"Hey there," Wild Arms said sheepishly, waving at the young herd. "Uh, I'm Wild Arms. I don't know why they call me that," he said as he shook his arms. "But here I am, so, uh, yeah."

Anxiously, he paused before continuing, "Look, I know you're supposed to be this crazy bunch of rebels. No, I mean, er, ugh, a bad crew of tough guys. I saw just how scary you guys can get, and, uh, I don't want to have to go through that again! And I know, er, just how noble your dad is and the crazy things he'd do for the herd!" Wild Arms stuttered to Littlefoot. "But don't you have me doing anything crazy! I got here by accident … Bad guys were after me! So yeah, I won't do anything to hurt you guys, and the last thing I want to do is get near Loony Leigh again! I won't betray you or do anything to make you guys mad, promise!"

"Okay Wild Arms," chuckled Littlefoot. "We're just happy to have you here and that you escaped the Great Valley, and that you're not going to tell on us."

"Still, you've got some long arms with long claws on your hands," Cera noted with a half-teasing, half-admiring smirk. "We could use you for some close-range offense …"

"No! No!" Wild Arms shrieked as everyone began to snicker.

Petrie smiled. "It okay Wild Arms. We hope we not have to fight much either. If we train together and work as team, we no need to get hurt."

"Train? Train?" Wild Arms shouted in panic.

"And we have lots of curative that will help everyone feel better, in case anyone does get hurt," Ducky added, beaming.

"You know, I was thinking," Etta said, "Wild Arms can help me provide some old-timer supervision and help support you bunch of young rascals. You know, keep watch for bad guys and bring y'all curative."

"Hey! I'm not an old-timer and … I'm too young to keep watch for bad guys!" Wild Arms shouted tentatively.

Etta raised her eyebrows. "Would you rather be young and train with the kiddos?"

Frantically, Wild Arms shook his head. "You're right, I'm very old, and I love watching for bad guys!" he exclaimed.

"Good," Etta said, before turning to the inducted newcomers. "You think we should start inducting everyone who comes here?"

"Well, it will help us trust everyone if we hear them promise their loyalty to the herd," Anndi suggested, as the rest of the new recruits agreed.

"Okay … Maybe as a fellow old-timer, I should induct in good old Wild Arms," Etta smirked, as everyone else agreed, before saying, "On your belly, Wild Arms. Palms out."

"Oh … I know how to do that!" Wild Arms said, and promptly fell into the posture.

Etta cleared her throat, before asking, "Would you, Wild Arms, like to pledge your loyalty to, uh …"

"Our Great Valley family," Petrie assisted.

Etta nodded thankfully. "Our Great Valley family?"

"Uh … Yeah! That is … If that's what it takes for you guys not to be scary," Wild Arms shuddered.

Etta then reached out and placed her palm on Wild Arms' shoulder. "Then welcome to our Great Valley family, Wild Arms," she said, as the entire group cheered. This however, had the opposite effect on Wild Arms.

"Wait? What? Oh no! Did I just join a bunch of loonies … On a path to certain death?"

"Come on Wild Arms," Etta smirked. "I'll show you 'round the place and get you fixed up while the kiddos get to greet our other newcomer."

"Good, finally, something sensible," Wild Arms said, and the two went inside the Hidden Canyon.

As they did, both the gang and the inducted recruits noticed that both yet to be inducted teams looked very excited as they kept glancing off to their right. Once Etta and Wild Arms were out of sight, the giant flyer began to smirk. "Well guys," he said in a low, mysterious voice. "Now that Wild Arms isn't here to get scared anymore … We can tell you the full story of our epic capture."

Intrigued, the others leaned in, eager to hear what they had to say. The gang beamed at each other, for they just loved to see their new friends growing more comfortable with each other and really learning to have fun like this. "It all began when we were on guard duty," the flyer started in a spooky tone, relishing every word he spoke. "We were doing our jobs, just minding our business, when we saw these two shady characters getting too close."

"So you know what we had to do, right? We pounced 'em!" snickered the threehorn. "We couldn't let any enemies of the herd get away! So we grabbed them by their arms and legs. Seth's team got Wild Arms. But our victim … We knew at once she was one cool dino. She was even carrying a sharptooth tooth around. And though Wild Arms kept on screaming … She didn't seem scared one bit!"

"Yeah, she was just relaxed, cool as you please," smirked the shieldback. "No matter how tough we sounded. We even took her tooth and she was still calm, even though we could have hurt her at any moment! She's got some nerve, that's for sure. She said that we might have the same friends … So we took her and Wild Arms to Seth and Gara."

Gara nodded. "Yep. We saw how cool she was at once. Seth and I questioned her, and she got all the questions right of course. But it was how she escaped the Valley that really got our attention."

"Yeah," Seth said happily. "She broke out of prison, ran straight through some guards, climbed the trees to get all the way across, and risked her own neck to save Wild Arms. She plunged her sharp tooth right through a bad guy's foot to rescue him! It was a total smackdown!"

"And as she told us about herself and who she was, we realized that we don't have just another new herdmate on our paws," Gara said triumphantly, her eyes gleaming. "We've got ourselves another herd leader!"

"A close friend of our other leaders ever since they were hatchlings, who has been with them right by their side on tons of adventures!" cheered the curved onehorn as the inductees oohed.

"Who's not that big or strong herself but can run like the wind and think like no one I've seen!" agreed the clubtail.

"She even taught Ducky to speak big, so it's thanks to her we even heard Ducky when we were fighting!" beamed the wide-mouthed longneck.

"And who herself saved our other leaders' necks on countless occasions!" agreed the double-crested flyer.

The inducted recruits, enthralled with everything they were hearing about the newcomer, began to murmur to one another, their eyes alive with excitement as they tried craning their necks around the Great Valley's wall to get a glimpse of the new herd leader. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike all looked at each other, their hearts soaring and grins widening throughout the introduction as they became more and more certain on just who this newcomer was.

"So without further ado, please welcome our sixth herd leader, Ms. Ruby!" Seth exclaimed.

Staring, the inducted teens excitedly looked at each other.

"It's … The Ruby?" Kendall asked hopefully.

"The one we were talking about?" added Gabriel.

"It must be!" said Tilden. "This is so awesome!"

"We really get to meet her!" Aria exclaimed.

"And now she's our herdmate!" cheered Emery, and the group began to exuberantly whoop and celebrate.

Then however, they caught sight of a little pink foot taking a tentative step toward them. At once, the new recruits all scrambled to prostrate themselves off to the sides, creating a path down the middle for which Ruby could walk to the gang. A hushed silence occurred as the newcomers, hardly able to contain their excitement, watched the little fast runner holding a sharptooth's tooth take another step down their path. She had never felt so many faces beaming at her in rapt attention, especially from unfamiliar leafeaters who often treated her kind with hostility. She could tell at once just from their smiles, eyes and expressions that they had pure hearts and great intentions, just wanting to express their respect for her, and she hoped that they would all grow to be close, great new friends. But it just didn't feel right, being treated with this much reverence …

And to the newcomers' surprise, Ruby stopped just before the Hidden Canyon's entrance and prostrated herself, belly flat on the ground, putting Chomper's tooth off to the side, revealing her palms in the front and soles in the back. The teens gasped as they looked to their herd leaders, only to see them smiling encouragingly at her. Ruby smiled back, knowing that her old friends were just as uncomfortable with these subordinative gestures as she was.

"Wait, Ms. Ruby," said Nessie concernedly. "You shouldn't feel like you have to do this."

"Yeah," agreed Felix. "You're a friend of theirs and a herd leader, so you've already proven that we can trust you."

"You guys can just call me Ruby," she smiled warmly. "And if you all feel like you have to be inducted, then I feel like I have to be inducted too."

Littlefoot smiled as he cleared his throat before any more of the newcomers could interject. "Guys, we really are a Great Valley family in here," he explained. "And though Ruby may be one of our oldest, closest friends, that doesn't make you any less a part of our family."

As the new recruits could only look at each other confusedly, Cera explained, "We're all equals here. We may be the first members of our family, and we can be your leaders if you want us to, but as important as it is for you to be loyal to us, it's just as important for us to be loyal to you."

Ducky nodded excitedly. "That is why once you have all been inducted, before we eat dinner … You will be inducting all of us!" she exclaimed. "We will be the ones on the ground, and you will be the ones with your paws on our shoulders."

"You guys induct all of us! Five longnecks induct Littlefoot! Five frilleds induct Cera! Five twofooters induct Ducky! Five taileds induct Spike! And five flyers induct me!" Petrie explained.

"Because just like you want to promise yourselves to us and the herd, we want to promise ourselves to you guys as well," Littlefoot smiled.

The teens looked confusedly at one another as Ruby nodded from her prostrated position. "You know, since you guys aren't the ones getting inducted now, you don't need to pose like you're the ones getting inducted."

And reluctantly, the others got back into normal seating position as Ruby continued to lie there. She could tell that her old friends felt the same way she did in that they didn't want to be the ones who inducted her, for that would undermine the whole equality argument they had just made. But she didn't want to favor any individual student … And then it came to her.

"Mr. Oneclaw," Ruby asked the tiny oneclaw, seeing his wide, gleaming, curious eyes. "Would you induct me, please?"

Surprised, Cricket jumped, before seeing Ruby's encouraging smile at him, as the others too looked at him eagerly. Nervously, he waddled over to Ruby's shoulder, climbing aboard Ruby's outstretched arms as he stood on top of her shoulder.

"What's your name?" Ruby asked kindly, her eyes melting as she saw just how fluffy his feathers looked, along with his adorable little orange feet, tiny, stubby little one-clawed light blue hands, feathery tail, and wide, round face.

"My name's Cricket," Cricket told her excitedly, before asking, "You really want me to induct a dinosaur like you?"

Ruby smiled affectionately at him. "Yes I do, Cricket."

Cricket gave her a big smile, before asking, "Ruby, you wanna join our Great Valley family?"

Ruby happily nodded. "Yes I do, Cricket," she beamed at him, before the little oneclaw bent down to place his tiny little hand right onto Ruby's shoulder bone, before saying, "Welcome to our Great Valley family, Ruby!"

And as Ruby helped Cricket climb back down to the grass before standing up herself, she saw that the others were looking anticipatorily at her. Then she realized. "Oh yeah … Chomper said something about hugging. Is that …"

"Yep yep yep," Ducky answered. "You get to hug each of us!"

"You get to see what we do with new friends tonight before your turn," Petrie explained.

"Yeah, now that you're here, you can do the hugging with us tonight!" Littlefoot exclaimed.

"Yeah, but watch out, these guys are tough! You don't want them to rip you apart!" Cera teasingly warned.

And laughing, Ruby happily hurried down the path before stretching her hands out to hug each of Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and as she finished, she felt her heart warm as she got a rousing chorus from her new Great Valley family, old friends and new friends, inducted and yet to be inducted alike. Then she turned and faced the newcomers and greeted, "Hello my Great Valley family, my Great Valley family hello."

The effect of her words was instantaneous. Before she knew it, she began to feel the ground shake a little as the crowd of teenagers began to cheer and started rushing over to her. The three twofooters got there first, and after introducing themselves as Gabriel, Aria and Emery, they wrapped her up in a big, warm hug. Upon letting her go, the flyers, Welbie, Nessie and Tilden, immediately perched themselves on any part of her body they could reach, giving her tight, squeezing hugs. Frilled dinosaurs Felix, Kendall and Keeter immediately lowered their frills as she went to hug each of them, longnecks Jada, Sheldon and Anndi gave them her heads for her to hug, she cuddled with the tailed dinosaurs Eva, Light and Candy, and she saw the eight dinosaurs yet to be inducted all grinning at her, celebrating her induction.

As she felt each of their incredible warmth, Ruby beamed at them affectionately. Chomper was right, these guys had truly become a happy family with Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike, and in no time, she felt like she was a part of their family too. Their smothering affection made her feel all toasty inside, like she was resting in a hot spring as she felt and saw all the endless love the young herd had for each other. Yet at the same time, as she looked and saw Chomper's tooth still lying on the ground.

Chomper.

She felt a cold breeze from the Valley against her crest. She knew that Chomper would be overjoyed right now, being able to hear and smell that she had made it to safety. But far from the snuggly refuge she was in, Chomper and the others were still imprisoned, surrounded by menacing guards just waiting for word from Leigh and the one-sided jury. As good as she felt, she knew she couldn't fully relax until Chomper and her other imprisoned friends were there to experience the same scrumptious feast of friendship that she was.

"Don't worry Chomper," she thought determinedly. "We're gonna get you guys out of there and help bring you to dinner, I promise."


Updated group photo at DeviantArt! Be sure to look at these to keep track of all the OCs!