Hello everyone! Here comes the new chapter! Shorter one this time around, but I don't want to show what the gang's been up to and spoil all the action of next time, do I? So mostly some perspectives that won't give away too many spoilers. DeviantArt pic might come a bit later than usual due to huge number of background characters that will be coming in this chapter. Or I might just put up an incomplete pic and add more charas later. Special thanks to hadiginga, RedMageKnight, Ryan6783, ShinTheScout, The Jewelstone Queen and Zee Docking for the feedback – the fuel that really keeps me going, I always appreciate favs/follows/reviews! The Land Before Time belongs to Universal.

Chapter 33 – Run, Hide, and Prepare

Day 3

"Hey Guido? Avie?"

Fast asleep on a branch, the two little feathered dinosaurs blurrily opened their eyes to the dark expanse of the night sky still all around them. Then they turned to their side, and though they could only see a dark shadow at first, they soon recognized it as their younger but much larger flyer friend, perched beside them.

"Oh, hi Petrie," Guido greeted him in surprise, as Avie stretched her wings. "I didn't recognize you in the dark. Everything good?"

"Yeah, me guess so," Petrie sighed, but his voice betrayed his lack of confidence. This did not go unnoticed by the feathered flyer, who shook her head.

"Dear Petrie," Avie said gently, shaking her head. "We can tell when something is worrying you."

Petrie took a deep breath. "We just found out bad guys going to be hunting for friends all over Mysterious Beyond when Bright Circle go up. They no know about herd or Hidden Canyon yet. But if we stay here right by Valley, they be able to find us no problem, so we have to leave. And that only way we can keep Hidden Canyon safe too, for them to have no reason to notice it."

As they could hear a noise behind them, Avie and Guido saw that Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike were working together to knock down the vast expanse of trees in the Hidden Canyon's northern part. "Friends knocking all trees down so we can take them with us. That way we have enough tree stars until we get to new home."

Confused, Guido and Avie looked at each other. "New home?" Guido asked.

Petrie nodded. "We going to spend day waiting tomorrow," he explained. "With Chomper parents. They able to smell bad guys and make sure we move if they get too close. Then when Night Circle comes, we go to Valley to rescue friends, before we go to new home. It big crater to south where whole herd can live until we grow enough to get Valley back. It where Littlefoot meet his dad, so we know where it is."

As Avie and Guido nodded in understanding, Petrie said, "That actually why me come see you, so you can go to Valley and tell grownups we have plan. Maybe they can start coming in and help us with removing trees. Me be there at entrance of Hidden Canyon to induct them."

"Okay, we'll go talk to them," Avie said.

So Avie and Guido said goodbye to Petrie before gliding over to the tunnel where the Hidden Canyon met the Great Valley. The entrance to the Valley still being left ajar, the two of them had no trouble sneaking into the Valley unnoticed. As they got inside, they saw that the huge group of dissident elders were in a huddle, their heads as close to one another as they could manage as they sat crouched right by the tunnel, while across the rock border that Mr. Bonehead had set up, many of the segregated frilled herds' females and children continued to jeer at them, unphased by the lateness of the night. Topps, Mama Swimmer and Tippy's mother were just finishing going over who they saw on the other side when Bron saw them. "Hello, you two," he said warmly. "Come in."

Gratefully, they did, their small bodies having no problem joining the huddle. "You've got a message, I presume?" Bron asked.

"Yeah," Guido nodded. "They need some help to remove trees from the Hidden Canyon. The herd's gonna decamp from there, and after rescuing the prisoners, they're going to the place where you first met Littlefoot, Mr. Longneck, which they'll call their new home."

"Hmm …" Bron said, smiling slowly. "Very smart. That place does have a lot of room and food for a large, combined herd like theirs, and it's a long way away from the Great Valley. The regime would have a very hard time finding all of you there."

"We'll be glad to help," Mama Swimmer smiled, before sighing. "But you see all those horrible threehorns back there? They've been there ever since Mr. Bonehead gave the okay for our combined herd to settle here, protesting us being here. We can't just all go and join our kids without them noticing us leaving."

"And Longneck and I have to stay here until the end because we represent Shorty and Chomper. Not to mention we have to rescue Mr. Bonehead," added Topps. "And some of the rest of us need to stay here until then so they won't notice our whole herds have gone missing."

"I think our best plan is to slowly join them, one by one," Tippy's mother suggested. "That way, our leaving will be gradual and be much harder to notice."

"Right," agreed Mama Swimmer. "Perhaps we should start by sending someone to help who none of them will notice has gone missing. Someone who keeps a low profile and doesn't have children in any of the gangs. Any volunteers?"

There was a short pause before Derlie, one of the round-crested hollowhorns, raised her hand. "I can go, I guess."

Everyone nodded approvingly, knowing that as one of many unarmored hollowhorns without notable familial connections, Derlie was just the type of dinosaur that the regime would fail to notice had gone missing.

"Okay Derlie," Topps instructed her. "Go straight through that tunnel, and you will enter their hideout. You will get an induction into their rebel herd, and then you can go and help our kids remove the trees."

"To cover for whoever's going through that tunnel," Tria suggested, "Why don't the rest of us all move around as a distraction? That way, they won't notice whoever's slipping out."

"Whoever's leaving can maybe take a tree out with them as well," added Tippy's mother, nodding to the knocked down trees that the spiketails had collected earlier. "That way, we can start giving our supply to add to theirs."

"And we can start knocking down our own trees as well," agreed Kosh Clubtail. "After all, we can do anything we want in our zone, right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Bron smiled.

So ignoring the continuous chanting and jeering from the segregated frilled dinosaurs, the combined herd began to move around their area, knocking down a couple of trees in the process, while through all the commotion, Derlie was able to effortlessly slip into the tunnel leading to the Hidden Canyon.

Something funny however, caught Avie's eye. A bush was moving oddly, as though it was alive. Perhaps someone was in the bush? A kid, perhaps? Or perhaps …

Following her instinct, without waiting another moment, Avie flew over the bigger dinosaurs milling around and plunged straight down into the bush, her claws bared as she readied her grip. Sure enough, her claws had met flesh, and as she tightly gripped, she heard a faint squeal from the bushes. Peering down to see who she had apprehended, she realized that it was Tuck, the little bothtoothed dinosaur, who had an expression of both guilt and apprehension in his eyes.

"Oh … No, uh oh … Master … I mean … No, whoops … I failed you, aah!" he squealed.

Avie could then see that Guido had glided over to join her as Tuck began to tremble fiercely. Guido gasped as he saw the little bothtoothed dinosaur, incredulous to see him here, hiding in the bushes of all places.

"It looks like we've got ourselves a spy," Avie sighed as Tuck trembled. "And unfortunately, he found out quite a bit about us."

"Okay, okay, okay, you got me!" Tuck whimpered. "Yes, uh, I'm a dirty spy! Yeah, er … That's right! Now just, uh, get this over with, and kill me, please!"

Guido paused as he stared at Tuck thoughtfully. Almost as tiny as him, he had not seen much of Tuck since he first arrived in the Great Valley, and he felt pained upon realizing that Tuck, who seemed to appreciate how he stood up for him, and even accepted his diet of crawlers without hesitation, appeared to be in cahoots with Leigh. Perhaps like Leigh, he was just a skilled actor who knew just how to make the right impression. But still, the question remained, why would an unusual little fanged dinosaur who was the only one of his kind be working for a regime which avowedly hated bothteeth, as Leigh had so clearly articulated in his speech?

"Tuck?" Guido asked slowly. "Why were you spying on us?"

"My … my master ordered me to," Tuck whimpered.

"Who's your master?" Guido asked, already suspecting he knew the answer.

"Hiss … Head," Tuck trembled, before gasping. "Oh no … Master hates that name! I shouldn't have called him that! Aargh, I uh … Shouldn't have said that! No wait … Aargh, never mind! Why, uh, are you asking … Me all these questions! I'm a spy, right? So just kill me and get it over with."

One thing was for sure, Tuck seemed to be a bad liar who seemed to express every thought that came into his head, even if whatever he was saying was counterproductive. The thought that he called Leigh both Master and Hiss Head indiscriminately was telling, as was the fact that he insisted on being killed now before having the chance to report anything back to Leigh, and Guido knew he had to get down to the bottom of this …

"Tuck," Guido asked. "If Leigh's your master, why did you call him Hiss Head? And why would he be your master, considering he hates those who aren't flatteeth, like us!"

"Well, er … He may be my master, but I know he hates me, and I don't like him, but … Er … I don't really have a choice, do I?" Tuck stuttered.

"What do you mean?" Guido continued.

"Well, I was chased by a sharptooth," Tuck shuddered. "But he killed the sharptooth instead, he's so much bigger than I am. But he told me I have a life debt to him now. He said that if it wasn't for him, I'd be dead. And er … He was right. He said that he could use a servant, and as long as I obey him, he'd let me live. So er … That's what I do. I'm the one stuck putting those flowers in his water pit and making sure his water stays clean. I was ordered to lead everyone to those dead bodies that the friendly sharptooth had to attack. And now I've been ordered to spy on all those big guys. So, yeah, that's me. A stupid little mook who can't even do that right."

Guido paused as everything began to become clear, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for Tuck. However, as he did, he thought of an idea which could potentially get Tuck out of his predicament …

"Hey Tuck," Guido said slowly. "If we don't kill you despite catching you spying on us … You would then owe a life debt to us, right?"

"Er, well, yeah, I guess so," Tuck muttered confusedly. "Why?"

"Well, if you owe a life debt to us," Guido said simply. "You can fulfill that just by not following him and keeping our secret safe. Sound good?"

Tuck nodded thoughtfully. "I do wanna leave him … But I'm scared! If he finds out I left him and he catches me … He'd give me the most painful death possible! He wouldn't just snap my neck. He'd rip off all my limbs one by one and jab at me with his claws until I bled to death! He'd torture me, and he'd have fun doing it!"

"Don't worry Tuck," Guido replied reassuringly. "We can keep you safe from Hiss Head … If you become one of us."

"One of us?" Tuck asked nervously.

"Well, considering you worked for Hiss Head, dear Tuck, I think we ought to give you two choices. One is that we can hold onto you as a prisoner. But we could also give an initiation for you to prove where your loyalties lie," Avie said smoothly.

"Well I don't wanna be a prisoner … I've seen how rough guards can get," Tuck shuddered. "But what do you mean initiation?"

"If you're spying for him, he'd expect you back, right?" Avie asked.

"Yeah," said Tuck. "So?"

"So you can feed him false intelligence," said Avie. "Lead him off the scent."

"But … but … That would be lying to him! If he finds out I lied to him … He'd … he'd … " Tuck whispered frantically.

"Tuck," Avie said, flattening herself down upon his backside like a feathery, red coat. "If you choose to go in there, I'm going to be right behind you, holding onto you like this the whole way."

"To make sure I do it right, or else I die, right?" Tuck asked dourly.

"Well, I have to make sure you won't try and double-cross us before you're able to tell Leigh everything," Avie said fairly. "But if Leigh realizes you're lying, I can fly you out of the cave before him or any of his guards can hurt you."

"Wait … You really promise to get me out of there?" Tuck gasped incredulously.

"I promise, dear Tuck," Avie smiled. "Friends are always there to help each other out. And if you prove yourself to us by lying to him, you can consider yourself a member of our team of friends."

Tuck chuckled gratefully. "Well whad'ya know. I didn't know anyone would ever care about little ole me like that."

"That's something I didn't understand myself either," Avie smiled. "At least, not until Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike first showed me."

Tuck nodded slowly. "You think they'd welcome me in?"

"They welcome anyone in who's good inside," Guido smiled.

Sighing, Tuck said, "Well, I suppose … I can try. Guido, Hiss Head's got a little hole on, uh … The top of his cave so he can watch the circles from his bath. That way, you can hear what I'm saying in there and know I can be trusted."

"Right, thanks Tuck," Guido gratefully said as Tuck began to make his way over by foot, Avie clutching onto his back. Then Guido glided outside of the Valley's walls all the way around to the twofooter zone to search for the top of Leigh's cave. It wasn't hard to find, for a peculiar spurt of steam was coming from one of the caves where he knew a small hot spring was located. Sure enough, when he peeked through the tiny hole, he could see the young despot contentedly lounging in his torrid pool of steaming hot water, surrounded by fresh, fragrant purple flowers. His heart surged knowing that Tuck had told him the truth, and that he indeed made the right choice in trusting him.

He had gotten there just in time, for he saw that Leigh had sat up and turned toward the entrance. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my adorably ugly little minion," Leigh purred. "Bow before your master, please."

After a brief pause, Leigh suavely asked, "You've got something to report to me, I presume?"

"Eee … err … yes, Master," Tuck stammered. "I uh … Heard that young, I … mean … Er, old threehorn, yeah that's right. He said, sir … That they're, uh … Planning to assault you from the, uh … Secret Caverns. Uh, when the, yeah, Bright Circle, yeah, Bright Circle, reaches its highest … I mean lowest … I mean highest point tomorrow."

"Lovely," Leigh purred. "We'll be more than ready for them, my little tree sweet. I shall now consult with the circles for an appropriate plan of action."

And turning back to face the hole above, Leigh began murmuring unintelligible chants. As Guido looked into his cold, jadeite eyes however, he saw that rather than looking contemplative, his eyes were flashing with malice.

"Do you know what the circles told me, Tuck?" Leigh asked coolly when he finally stopped chanting.

"Wh … what?" Tuck muttered.

"That you, you delightful malodorous creature, are no different than the other bothtooth betrayers of your kind," Leigh purred mockingly.

"Wait, what?" Tuck gasped. "I'm not a betrayer, Hiss Head! I … Uh, mean … Sir Leigh, sir … Or Master … I am, uh … Oh no, what am I saying?"

"Ah well, life is not fair sometimes," Leigh sighed sardonically, before his mouth twisted into a wide smirk. "Unfortunately, I have no use for traitors …" Then he sat up in his pool and shouted, "Guards, block the entrance! I want to kill him myself!"

But while Tuck was petrified with fear, Avie had already prepared herself to react, and had begun carrying Tuck out of the cave the moment Leigh shouted. By the time the guards even began trying to block the cave, Avie had already rapidly flown out, carrying the terrified, squirming Tuck to the top of the cave, where Guido sat waiting for them, seeming to be deep in thought.

"Come on, Guido, let's go," Avie told him, and he nodded slowly.

The two little feathered dinosaurs soon descended to the ground, and placing Tuck back on firm footing, they looked to make sure no one was following them before deciding to go onward.

"Well, I guess now that Hiss Head's guards have seen me, I can't do any more surveillance work," Avie sighed.

"I'm sorry," Tuck stuttered. "I tried, but I'm not good at this double agent stuff. I get too flustered."

"It's okay, Tuck," Avie soothed. "You did your best … And that's what really mattered."

Tuck looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean? I failed you! You didn't get what you wanted! Aren't you gonna punish me?"

"No, not at all," Avie said kindly. "And while Leigh didn't fall for it … We now know we have a new friend and herdmate on our side."

"Herdmate?" Tuck gasped. "But … I failed!"

Avie smiled. "Dear Tuck, just because you're not spy material doesn't mean you can't be part of our herd. Everyone has something they're good at, and we just need to find the right place for you. All that really matters is who you are inside. And you've proven you're with us, even under all that pressure. Right Guido?"

But Guido did not answer right away.

"Guido?" Avie asked again.

"Oh, er, hi guys," Guido said slowly, deep in thought. Though he could feel Avie and Tuck looking perplexedly at him, he didn't feel comfortable sharing it yet. But even though it happened so long ago, hearing those words in that delivery sounded strangely familiar …


Just before the Bright Circle began to rise, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike and Ruby looked at each other. As their precious time of safety in the Hidden Canyon continued to dwindle, they couldn't help but appreciate all that the Hidden Canyon had done for them as they had grown from a lost group of fleeing exiles to a real herd dedicated to keeping the spirit of the Great Valley they knew and loved alive. And even now that they had to leave, the Hidden Canyon had still provided them with a parting gift of all the natural wonders it had to offer. They had managed to knock down all the trees in the whole stretch between where the northern wall was all the way up to the Secret Spot's western wall, tying the fallen logs together with vines so they could easily transfer all those tree stars across long distances. They also made sure to collect all the sweet bubbles, prickly plants, flowers, and even scaly swimmers and snapping shells that they could find to ensure that their entire herd would be adequately fed and treated for the long journey ahead.

When the four of them first started gathering, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike wondered how they were ever going to collect all that foliage in just that night. Over time however, adults from the combined herd had slowly filtered into the Hidden Canyon to help. After being inducted by Petrie as herd members, each of them gladly joined the decamping process, making it go that much faster. By the time they had finished gathering all the resources, they had a wide swath of the Valley's friendly elders with them; swimmers Gingko, Osborne, Florio, Shore, Merrill, Xela and Fallow, round-crested hollowhorns Derlie, Kaipan, Parker, Judith and Sua, long-crested hollowhorns Tubi and Walker, tall-crested hollowhorns Muth, Lynn and Lambe, and nesting bigmouths Suri, Melissa, Fero and Glaze. Steno, Bloom, Walnut and Jeff from the spiketail herd were also present, as were Hatcher, Dwayne, Cole, Shayle, Lara, Scott and Elda from Topps' herd.

The gang was incredibly grateful to all these elders who had come to help them. Most of them were members of their community that they grew up with but didn't know particularly well, with their closest ties being to one another rather than to the younger generation. But they were no less committed to the true spirit of the Great Valley than their younger counterparts, and they would prove invaluable in providing more throwing power and pulling strength that they would need to pull off the escape plan, while at the same time not alerting the regime with their absence from the Valley the same way that the absence of their parents and guardians would. Their parents and guardians knew that to keep the regime off the scent, they had to stay in the Great Valley until the jailbreak, when in all the chaos they could seal off both the Hidden Canyon's tunnel to the Valley and its entrance to the Mysterious Beyond, hiding it from their enemies before coming to join the herd.

It was extremely fortunate that they had all these elders with them, for the regime patrolling the entire outskirts of the Valley also meant that the Secret Spot had to be evacuated, lest their escape location be discovered or the hatchlings inside be attacked. Ruby went to organize the exit there, and while the three elders inside worked on collecting all the greenery, Ruby threw vines for the children, as well as the tiny longnecks who made the whole rescue possible, to climb up.

She couldn't have been more amazed with just how many kids the tiny longnecks managed to gather, numbering at about a hundred. While about twenty were the expected children of the friendly twofooters, who seemed to be the most socially comfortable of the group, most of the others were kids from the segregated herds who had chosen to leave their families. Coming from all four of the Valley's zones, they were a lot more socially awkward than the children of the friendly twofooters. Usually, they were the kids most disfavored by their parents, generally being some combination of frail, shy, small, pudgy, curious, freethinking, softhearted or sensitive, traits that were the very opposite of what their parents wanted. Yet Ruby couldn't feel prouder for each of these children, for they had all rejected the dogma they had been taught and made the difficult choice to leave the world they knew behind and open their hearts and minds up to learn how to become part of a completely different society.

Still, with so many kids defecting, she had to make sure there was not a potential traitor in their midst who would try to sell them all out. To this end, she had decided to awaken her parents' herd to help catch any kids from trying to betray them, and to make it harder for the kids to run, she had them all lie on their bellies for a mass induction ceremony, where each kid would introduce themselves, say why they want to join the herd, and promise their loyalty before she would hug each of them, welcoming them in as junior herd members, after which the kids would go and hug her parents' herd waiting for them in a hugging line, helping to defuse any lingering prejudices toward non-leafeaters that the kids may be carrying with them.

As she continued inducting the new junior herd members, she was heartened to see that not one of them even tried turning back, instead only happily standing behind the hugging line as they went to greet their new junior herdmates, even starting to talk to the kids from the other zones. It seemed remarkable how many kids they had recruited and how much they already were beginning to like one another. But these defecting kids all had shared experiences, being the misfits among herds who prized raising huge families of strong, obedient kids to become future warriors and egglayers rather than nourishing each of their kids with love and affection and celebrating each child's own individuality. These were the kids most harmed by the harsh, judgmental parenting that they left behind, and she hoped that here, they could flourish as individuals in a society where they could finally feel like they belong.

All these new herdmates, along with newcomer Tuck, the three adults in the Secret Spot and the rest of their herd, were now slumbering in the faint glow of the Bright Circle's rising light. The six herd leaders couldn't help but beam at one another as they stared proudly at the group that they helped assemble. They were truly a herd unlike any other, for while skewing young and many of them being longtime residents of the Great Valley like themselves, they were also a highly diverse family, with different backgrounds, bloodlines, sizes, and even diets. Instead of these superficial attributes, what they all shared was a shared belief in celebrating love, friendship, diversity, interconnectedness, and loyalty, and one that prized tolerance, cooperation, compassion, individuality, and harmony. It was a very potent way to hold the herd together, for being a member of the herd actually said a lot about who the dinosaur was inside and gave them all a real sense of commonality and shared purpose.

"You think we should wake herd now?" Petrie asked, as he stared at the Bright Circle creeping over the horizon.

"Yeah, we better get going before there's no time to get going," Ruby said.

So it wasn't long before they began to wake up the herd, who then proceeded to help awaken one another before they had all gathered for a herd meeting. The herd members who had been there last night stared in disbelief as they saw just how many new herdmates they had gotten, with the thirty elders helping to provide a sense of maturity to the group, while the myriads of kids balanced it out, feeling like the herd's little brothers and sisters. While still overall a young herd, these additions on both the older and younger ends helped make the herd feel more like a real community rather than a youth club, with the herd's many teens and young adults feeling like they now had older herdmates who they could turn to and younger herdmates who would come to them.

"Hi guys," Littlefoot greeted them. "Thanks for all coming here. We've got a real busy day ahead of us!"

"I'll get the bad news over with first," Cera sighed. "We learned from the elders that the bad guys are gonna be hunting all over the place, looking for rebels like us. They'd find us all if we stay here, and if they catch us, they're gonna send their whole force after us and won't stop until we're all dead."

As the herd began to murmur, Hyp spoke up. "So what if they find us? We're a big tough group, right? We can just pound anyone they send here and make the rest of them not wanna mess with us."

"If we hurt them, it will give them the excuse to declare war on us," Littlefoot warned. "Then Leigh can call for martial powers and kill all our friends in jail on the spot. We can't fight back until our friends can get past the guards."

"Well, we can just pummel them before they can tell Hiss Head," Nod suggested, but elder Lambe Hollowhorn shook his head.

"If a hollowhorn sees us, they can make a noise loud enough to alert the entire Valley of our location before we can stop them," he warned. "Which would put us up against all their herds."

"And much as we'd like to pound these jerks, even we threehorns know we can't do it," Elda Threehorn added. "You haven't seen the savage threehorns like we have. They enjoy fighting not to defend, but to harm their opponents, even if it means hurting themselves. They are rallying and preparing for war as we speak, and if we try fighting them, we'd only be playing their game."

"Our Great Valley is a very nice place," explained Ducky. "But it is not worth losing our herd over. It would not really feel be the Great Valley anymore if we were to rescue the place but lose half of our friends. It would not even feel the same if we even lost one of us. We do want to rescue the Great Valley, but we want to do it in a way where we do not have to lose a single herd member, nope nope nope."

"But how are we gonna do that?" Mutt asked innocently.

"We've got to become an even better team," Littlefoot explained. "And for that, we need more time."

The herd began to murmur to each other, intrigued. Ann looked at her babies before asking, "But if we can't be in the Great Valley and we can't use the Hidden Canyon or the Secret Spot … Where can we go?"

"We got that figured out," explained Petrie. "It big crater we been to once, where Littlefoot first meet his dad. Lots of longnecks there when we last go, so it have enough food and water for everybody. It far away from home so bad guys no find us. Once there, we can work on making herd even better so we can all be safe."

"But what if we'd never get to that point?" Dispo asked.

"Well, at least we all be together as Great Valley family," Petrie answered. "And even if we not in Valley itself … Us being together is what makes Great Valley feel like it does, right? Because it not feel like Great Valley if we forced to be apart."

None of them, not even Hyp, had an argument, for the desire to defy the segregation order is what drove each of the Valley's escaped residents to rebellion and become outlaws in the first place. Still, many of the Valleydwellers looked apprehensive about the prospect of indefinitely leaving their home. Seeing this, the group of teens then looked significantly at one another, and decided that they needed to speak up, and stepped to the front to address the group.

"Look, we know that a lot of you guys are used to living the Great Valley and it'll be hard to leave," Gara explained. "But it's not like we can't live together in the outside world. All of us have had to grow up out there, often all by ourselves, and we're still here to tell the tale!"

"We know the Great Valley must be a really nice place, just like the Hidden Canyon was for us," Nessie smiled. "But we can make anywhere we go feel like home just by being together, for we're all part of the same Great Valley family!"

"Yeah, we've had a lot of close calls with a lot of sharpteeth growing up," explained Audrey. "But that was because we were lone young dinosaurs. Now that we're all in this herd, we're gonna be that much safer because we're all on one big team. And if anyone tries messing with one of us, well, they're gonna have to deal with all of us!"

"Living in the outside world will be good for you guys too," Keeter smiled. "Just like how we needed to learn how to work as a team, you guys need to learn how to weather the elements. This will toughen everyone up and make it that much easier to save the Valley."

"Heh," Hyp snorted. "I don't think you need to live in the outside world to get tough. In fact," he said, eyeing young Emery, who though bigger than Hyp, was the smallest and youngest of the non-flyer teens. "I challenge you to a race. I'm gonna prove that I don't need any training in the Mysterious Beyond!"

"You're on!" smiled the small spikeless spikethumb eagerly, and everyone watched as the two little twofooters got into position for their impromptu race.

"First one to the exit and back wins," Hyp told Emery seriously. "And no playing dirty!"

"Right on," Emery beamed at Hyp.

"Three, two, one …" Hyp smirked, as he and Emery sprang forward. But the race proved to be a mismatch, for by the time Hyp reached the exit, Emery was already sprinting back toward the starting line, causing even Mutt and Nod to take part in the cheers. Too shocked even to be mad, Hyp stammered, "How'd you do that?"

"I've had to," Emery explained modestly. "I lived in a place with lots of fast biters growing up, and they love going after my kind because we don't have any body armor. So I've had no choice but to get stronger and faster than them. But don't worry, we all can get tougher just by getting practice through being in the outside world!"

"You really think so?" Tricia asked hopefully as she and her friends turned to the slightly older spikeless spikethumb with a new respect.

"Sure!" Emery beamed. "We all can grow if we work at it and help each other!"

"Yeah!" Seth agreed. "I've been fighting sharpteeth for ages now, and you get loads better with practice. But it wasn't until I joined this herd that I really began to appreciate what it's like to work as a team and started diversifying my knockout moves!"

"That's how it's been for all of us," agreed Vail. "We grew up as loners, without the teamwork and cooperation that made us want to join you. We literally beat each other up over a stupid tree because we didn't know how to share like you guys. But just as we learned how to cooperate, you can learn how to become just as tough as any of us!"

"But it's not just about getting tough," Light smiled. "It's about using our bodies alongside our brains to come up with the perfect maneuvers that will allow us to become true heroes, leaving our foes totally unprepared!"

"All as part of an unbeatable team," Phoenix agreed. "A team where everyone is connected, all able to grow together, and one where we don't leave anyone behind, no matter how young or small you may be."

"That's something we all only understood recently," Kendall chuckled. "That everyone has real potential just waiting to be discovered! And if we all grow together, not only will we make it safer for everyone, but we'd be able to do so much more as a herd!"

"We big kids can be like your coaches, lending a paw to you younger kids," Candy offered, to many intrigued nods from the little kids. "We can train all of you on how to get in shape and stay safe, just like how the Amazing Threehorn Lady taught us. But don't worry. We only do positive, helpful training here as your friends, not the brutal kind we've heard you've done in some of your herds."

"Right, because the real point of this training is to help us be able to do anything so we can be happy together!" Anndi agreed. "Because that is something we really want to do in our herd, to help everyone in it be who they want to be and live how they want to live!"

"And because we're all one Great Valley family, our herd can only really be happy if everyone is happy in it!" Sheldon explained. "If one of us is not feeling happy for any reason, it's up to the rest of us to do our best to help them out!"

"That's right!" Jada agreed. "We all know how difficult life can be sometimes, but we'll be there to help support each other through any challenges we might face!"

"We're a happy, healthy herd of loyal friends," explained Welbie, "Where everyone will always be there for one another!"

"No matter what we do, no matter where we live," beamed Eva. "We're all members of our herd, and we always will be! And even though we might not be in the Great Valley … The Valley's true spirit is inside all of us!"

"And when we're ready to come back, we'll be at a point where we'll all be stronger than ever before, inside and out, each of us as individuals and all of us as a team! Because we know that with the combined efforts of all of us, our herd can only get better!" exclaimed Dekker.

The teens' pitch succeeded in quelling the apprehension in the air, with many of the kids looking hopeful and the adults reassured. Indeed, the adults could see just how influenced the teens were by their mentors, and seeing the character of all these young ones made them never feel hopeful about the future of the Great Valley … If they could rescue it, that was .

Tippy then spoke up next, curiously asking, "So what are we gonna do first? Is it gonna be fun fun fun?"

"We're gonna go and see Chomper's parents by the Big Water, where we can hide out and start preparing for tonight," explained Ruby.

Deya, Nyko and Chuss' jaws dropped as they heard this. "Alpharrr harrrss parrrents?" Chuss asked weakly.

"Yep," Ruby smiled. "Big sharpteeth just like Alpha who we can induct into our pack."

While Deya, Nyko and Chuss looked awed by this prospect, many of the leafeaters, mostly the new kids, looked quite scared. Turning to them, she explained, "Don't worry, Chomper's parents are friendly and eat swimming sharpteeth just like Chomper does, so they won't hurt any of us. Nor can they, for they are very injured and even gave up a lot of their teeth to help us build our battle bones. But they can help us by smelling danger coming and warning bad guys to get away with their roars."

"Will we have time to practice?" Mono asked hopefully.

"For our part in the big jailbreak!" Perri cheered.

The flyers just looked at each other. "Oh don't worry," Brara laughed. "We flyers are gonna make sure you kids are more than ready."

"And we want to be ready to help too!" exclaimed Gabriel, to numerous nods and murmurs.

"To free our friends trapped in the Valley!" cheered Aria.

"So they can join our herd!" put in Glenn.

"We'll have plenty of time," Littlefoot smiled. "While we're in hiding, we can all get ready for the jailbreak. Then once we save our friends, we can start heading to our new home and work on becoming an even better herd and do things beyond our wildest imaginations! So who's ready to start adventuring and growing to become an even better herd?"

And at once, the herd erupted with excited cheers, all fired up for their mission, and got to their feet as they began preparing to head out. The larger twofooters worked to put the logs on the backs of some of the fourfooter adults, while the smaller twofooters went to collect the smaller plants, curatives, battle bones, red food, and even the leaf bed that Ducky and Petrie had made. The kids climbed aboard the backs of the fourfooters who weren't carrying any logs, the flyers scanned for any dangers, the frilled dinosaurs took the front, the tailed dinosaurs took the back, and the five teams of teens placed themselves at the side to guard the herd, the teams' twofooters and flyers with rocks at the ready while the fourfooters held more rocks wrapped in their tails. Then after the herd concealed the Hidden Canyon's entrance from the Mysterious Beyond, Petrie and Ruby took the lead on the journey to Chomper's parents' place.

They had left early enough that the Mysterious Beyond was still desolate and they did not run into anyone, friend, foe or neutral, as they silently made their way forward, the only sound they could hear was the rumbling of all their footsteps. Indeed, the damage caused by the fires and the lack of tree stars by the Big Water meant that neither flattooth or sharptooth would be interested in the area, so the journey remained peaceful and quiet. It was quite a hike, so that by the time they could hear the sound of the Big Water, the Bright Circle was fully up in the sky.

As they drew closer to Chomper's parents' cave though, along with to the leafeaters its disgustingly strong scent of decaying swimming sharpteeth, they were surprised to see that six longnecks were sitting down beside it. Some of the herd was apprehensive, not knowing who they were, but those who recognized them felt relieved, and their relief spilled over to the others as they too realized that these were friends, not foes. Steadily, they drew closer to the longnecks, who they could see were watching them but like them knew the dangers of speaking too loudly. Once they finally got within quiet speaking range, Sue began to speak.

"Hello there," Sue greeted them friendlily. "The sharpteeth smelled you all coming. I presume this is everyone?"

"Yep," Petrie smiled. "We all here."

Then Destiny jumped to the sandy beach floor and ran over to her adoptive parents. "Hiya, Mom, Dad!"

"Oh Dess," Dara cooed as she lowered her head to nuzzle Destiny. "We're so relieved to see you're safe."

"You kids sure got a lot of spunk to get past all those rustlers," Doc chuckled.

"Oh yeah," Destiny beamed. "It was awesome to get through 'em!"

Len then looked at them hopefully. "You guys are really here to help save Cam?"

"Yep," Littlefoot nodded. "We've got a plan all worked out to rescue her and the others tonight."

"Wow," Len said, his eyes twinkling. "You guys really are awesome!"

"And then we will induct them as friends into our herd!" Ducky said happily.

"Your herd?" Len asked as little Herbie cooed curiously.

"Yep! We all big herd! And you can join too if you want!" Petrie told him. "Just get on your bellies and we can do your inductions!"

So in no time at all, the gang quickly inducted Doc, Dara, Len, Sue, Ross and Herbie into the herd. Many of the herd couldn't help but mutter in amazement as they looked at their new recruits, for Doc and Dara dwarfed even Littlefoot, while Sue and Ross even dwarfed them. Those old enough to know their shieldback scales knew that through this recruitment, they had probably gained over fifty shieldbacks of dino power, especially from the gigantic boxhead Ross, making the prospect of lifting longnecks out of the Secret Spot a lot less daunting.

Then they could hear footsteps from inside the cave and before they knew it, they saw the enormous forms of Chomper's parents slowly staggering out to join them. Many of the leafeaters couldn't help but involuntarily flinch at the sight of giant sharpteeth, widely known to be perhaps the most dangerous kind of sharptooth in the Mysterious Beyond, with some of the little kids even jumping back in terror. But everyone soon relaxed as they saw that the gang was right, for Chomper's parents not only were missing many of their teeth and injured, but their mannerisms also showed no desire to do them any harm.

Nobody however reacted more strongly to the arrival of Chomper's parents than little Deya, Nyko and Chuss, who instantly sprang over to them and bent down to kneel in front of them respectfully. The leafeaters stared in fascination, for apart from the conversation the little biters had with Chomper where Chomper was not visible, they had not actually seen groups of sharpteeth interact with one another like this before. The little fast biters however, couldn't care less about the stares they were getting as they reverently looked up at Chomper's parents, who not only raised their alpha, but were also dinosaurs who could speak their own tongue.

"You're Alpha Chomper's parents?" Deya asked respectfully.

Mama Sharptooth nodded. "We are dears. We heard you talking with our son last night. And we couldn't be happier that you have decided to join him."

"We will always be loyal to Alpha Chomper," Nyko vowed. "He and his flattooth pack could have easily killed us in our eggs. But they put themselves in danger by moving our eggs instead, because Mom couldn't understand what they were trying to do. Alpha Chomper taught his flattooth pack to respect sharpteeth, and he is why we are alive today. So we resolved that when we grew older and he needed us, we would be there for him."

"In his honor, once Mother died, we lived in a cave, not attacking flatteeth and only eating smaller food, waiting for him to call us to his pack," Chuss explained. "And now that he has called us, we are more than ready to serve him. We will always be his faithful servants, who will never harm any flattooth that he is friends with. We've joined forces with his flattooth pack. And we want you to join Alpha pack as well."

"We'd be honored," Papa Sharptooth, as all the leafeaters gasped, for the two giant sharpteeth had squatted down to fully prostrate themselves on the ground as Deya, Nyko and Chuss put their claws onto Papa Sharptooth's head.

"You promise to serve Alpha and packmates with us?" Nyko asked.

"I do," agreed Papa Sharptooth.

"Then welcome to pack," declared Chuss, and the leafeaters incredulously watched as they repeated the procedure with Mama Sharptooth. They were seeing with their own eyes inductions into their herd taking place completely outside of their own language, the act of fully grown sharpteeth actually declaring themselves to be loyal to leafeaters, and though it all sounded like hissing, roaring and screeching to them, the meaning was unmistakable throughout. But in case any of them needed further clarification, Deya turned back to the herd, grinning proudly at them, as though she had caught them a humongous meal.

"Theyrrrr irrrnn parrrck," Deya purred, as Nyko and Chuss nodded with her, looking just as proud as she did. The herd stared, astounded as they realized just how much it meant to the little fast biters to officially recruit fellow sharpteeth onto their team.

"You speak good flattooth," Mama Sharptooth told the little fastbiters admiringly. "You actually sound like them."

"We try, but we hope Alpha can teach us better though," Nyko said. "It being his preferred tongue."

"You're better at speaking flattooth than they are sharptooth," Papa Sharptooth smirked. "Chomper's threehorn friend tried speaking sharptooth, but all she could say was threehorns are yummy."

And the five sharpteeth loudly began to snicker, glancing at Cera with smirks on their faces. This did not go unnoticed by Cera, who went red with embarrassment. "If you guys are talking about the time I tried to speak sharptooth …"

But then Cera paused, for a new thought had just entered her mind. Something she couldn't believe she hadn't come up with before … But now that she had, it was too delicious not to contemplate.


The Bright Circle's rays heated the Great Valley's open space, making it feel like the inside a smoking mountain as Chomper stood exasperatedly, trying to keep everything in. He and Shorty had been called forward in their farce of a trial, surrounded by a vast array of hostile prison guards and the bigoted judges who made up the hopper court. The trial had two sessions, a morning session in which Chomper and Shorty's initial murder charges would be discussed, and an afternoon session in which all five defendants would be facing trial regarding the supposed murder of the threehorn guard Hordus. By this point, the trial was getting stale and repetitive, with prosecutors Gus and Trenton repeating their accounts over and over to expressions of sympathy from the judges, while Bron and Topps gave their defenses to a much cooler reception. The only one who didn't seem to be getting exhausted was Mr. Bonehead who kept his stoic, stone-faced demeanor, not reacting at all other than to keep the motions proceeding. Yet as tiring as it was, Chomper was still very grateful for the trial, to Littlefoot's dad for insisting upon it, to Cera's dad for representing him, and to Mr. Bonehead for enforcing guardrails on the trial, even though he was a relatively traditionalist dinosaur himself and hardly Chomper's biggest advocate. For without the trial, he knew he and the others would already be dead, without any chance for his friends to rescue them.

"Hey Sharptooth," asked Snotsps, a spiketail judge.

"Yes?" Chomper answered wearily, not knowing exactly what the judge would want. The questions had been getting steadily more irrelevant and outlandish upon everything being repeated so many times, and Judge Snotsps did not disappoint.

"Why aren't you eating your rations?" Snotsps demanded.

Holding in a big sigh, Chomper replied, "I can't eat that stuff. It's green food."

"Well, why not?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe it's because he's a sharptooth, as you yourself said?" Topps snidely retorted as Chomper fought to hold back his laughter. Mr. Threehorn's biting, sarcastic remarks were perhaps the only thing entertaining about the whole trial, and cut through the ennui as if his horn was plunging straight through it. "Maybe I should be asking you why the brain in your butt is talking instead of the one that's supposed to be in your head?"

"Order," Mr. Bonehead said flatly, before Judge Phuru moved onto her questioning.

"How many swimmers have you eaten in the past cold time?" she wheezed.

"None," Chomper truthfully answered.

"You said you eat scaly swimmers!" Phuru said triumphantly, as though she had just caught Chomper perjuring himself.

"I meant I don't eat dinosaur swimmers," Chomper said exasperatedly.

"Do you want to kill me now? Just like you murdered all those poor, innocent swimmers before?" Phuru continued, ignoring Chomper's response.

"I told you, it was self-defense!" Chomper wearily sighed as the jury exploded in hearty laughter, only quieting with Mr. Bonehead shouting, "Order."

"All right, Sharptooth, my turn," said Head Judge Tobias as Chomper fought his hardest not to preemptively retort. "Why did you eat Mr. Hordus' body?"

"I thought you weren't asking questions about Mr. Hordus until this afternoon?" Chomper asked meekly.

"This issue is relevant for this case as it defines your character," insisted Tobias. "So why did you? Could it be that you are a bloodthirsty, murderous sadist who enjoys watching leafeaters bleed to death …"

"I was hungry, all right?" Chomper snapped, unable to prevent a snarl from leaving his mouth, to which the guards growled menacingly while the judges murmured darkly. "What else am I supposed to do? Eat live flatteeth?"

Predictably, Tobias ignored Chomper's response as he asked, "Tell me Sharptooth, did the threehorn taste good?"

"No …" Chomper began, but he was immediately interrupted.

"Ha!" Tobias jeered. "All sharpteeth like the taste of threehorn meat. You just perjured yourself in court!"

"Okay, fine, it tasted good!" Chomper said exasperatedly. "But then you'd just say …"

"Silence!" Tobias interrupted. "So now that we've established you like eating threehorns, what's to stop you from eating threehorn meat again? What's to stop you from taking a big bite out of my leg?"

"Maybe," Shorty said mockingly as Chomper felt grateful to Shorty for taking the heat off him. "It's because Chomper's a friendly sharptooth? Who only had to eat the threehorn meat because you guys were starving him?"

"Shut up, Boxhead," growled Tobias.

"I'll handle this, hornface," Judge Brucad interrupted as he turned to Shorty. "All right, Boxhead, you asked for it. Why are you so fat?"

Bron stepped forward at once. "Mr. Bonehead, this question is irrelevant …" he began, but Shorty interrupted.

"Well, duh! I have to eat a lot to survive!" he snarked.

"You're eating too much!" accused Brucad. "Taking tree stars away from all of us strong, pure dinosaurs!"

Chomper couldn't help but interject. "So if I can't eat red food, and he can't eat green food," he innocently reasoned, "What can we eat?"

"Enough," insisted Judge Gassar, a longneck. "How many times have you talked to the Bright Circle today?"

"Which one of us are you asking?" Shorty asked.

"Both of you!" Gassar growled.

Knowing nothing good could come from this question no matter how they answered it, Chomper decided to brave it first. "Er …"

"You heretic!" Tobias roared. "How dare you stutter disrespectfully as to such …"

"Order," loudly sighed Mr. Bonehead. "It's plain to me that we have exhausted all issues of relevance. We shall adjourn for a small tree star break before moving onto the afternoon's cases."

This was just the moment Chomper was waiting for, and in his excitement, he eagerly asked, "Um … Mr. Bonehead?"

Mr. Bonehead slowly turned to face Chomper, raising his eyebrows. "I cannot personally speak to defendants. You must convey what you want to say through your legal representative."

"Right," Chomper said respectfully as Mr. Threehorn approached him. So after Chomper whispered the plan to him, Topps smirked as he turned to face Mr. Bonehead.

"Mr. Bonehead," Topps said carefully. "My client has informed me that with his personal confidante having gone missing, that he would like to exercise his right to appoint a replacement. Is that granted?"

Mr. Bonehead nodded. "It is, so long as the personal confidante is not the one shared by Mr. Shorty here," he explained.

"The dinosaur in question is not Ms. Ali," Mr. Threehorn explained. "My client has requested to appoint Ms. Mia as his personal confidante, effective immediately."

Mr. Bonehead turned to Mia. "Well, Ms. Longneck? Do you agree to serve as Mr. Sharptooth's new personal confidante?"

Bewildered, Mia looked at Chomper, who smiled and nodded at her encouragingly. Then she said nervously, "Um … Sure."

Chomper could more than understand Mia's hesitancy. After all, even apart from the dangers of being a personal confidante, he knew that Mia would still be struggling with her own guilt from framing him. But he was more than willing to forgive her, especially after her self-sacrificing action to keep him from growing hungry, and besides, between her very long neck, close bond with Cam and Ali, and her penchant for being a gossip, she made an excellent friend to have for this purpose.

"Very well," Mr. Bonehead said. "Motion granted. We shall have a brief break for personal confidantes to speak to their clients in private before resuming for the afternoon's cases."

So still in surprise, Mia approached Chomper while Ali went to approach Shorty. "You really want me to be your personal confidante?" Mia asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Chomper said, nodding knowingly. Seeing the look in Chomper's eyes, Mia whispered, "You wanna tell me something, right?"

"Yep," Chomper whispered back.

"Okay," Mia said, before cheerfully giggling. "You've been noticing Ali and Shorty have been going gaga for each other?" she asked more loudly.

"Uh," Chomper chuckled in embarrassment as Mia giggled loudly. "I think they've totally got the hots for one another … They're so cute together! Too bad the bad guys don't like interspecies couples … But I don't mind one bit! I wonder if some cute boy will come for me some day, just like Cam has Len and Ali has Shorty … But ah well, it's fun to be single and flirt too!" Mia exclaimed.

But all the while through Mia's giggle fit, Chomper felt her coil her extremely long, twisting neck around his head a few times before he found her face right in front of his. Grinning mischievously, Chomper understood, for Mia had put up a cheery, gossiping façade to disguise the true nature of this interaction, while in the meantime, her ear got close enough to his mouth so that he could speak to her in a whisper. "Okay Chomper, spill," she snickered.

Chomper took a deep breath, delighted to finally be able to share all the knowledge that he had been holding onto with a fellow prisoner. "We're gonna escape tonight," he whispered. "Our friends have formed a huge herd and they're gonna be putting on a distraction for all five of us to escape. We're going to a place deep in the twofooter zone we call the Secret Spot. Ali and Shorty know about it too, so all you and Cam have to do is follow us. It is hidden by a huge boulder which you longnecks can push to get inside. We're then gonna have to shut it from the inside to keep the bad guys out, and then our friends will work together to pull you out. Then we're gonna join their herd, and we'll go together to a big place that'll be our new home until we're ready to save the Valley."

"Wow," Mia muttered faintly. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," Chomper grinned. "They're behind it."

"You mean ..."

"Yeah."

Nodding slowly, Mia whispered, "Okay."

"Think you can repeat that to the others? And make sure they keep quiet?" Chomper said to Mia, who smirked. "You've come to the right longneck! Well … Talk to you soon, hunky herdmate!"

And Chomper felt his heart lighten as Mia uncoiled her neck around his and blithely chattered about her old herd and how they were doing. Chomper beamed. No matter how she appeared, Mia could be a suave, sneaky communicator who could get all the others up to speed in a covert way that he could not. And Chomper had to work hard to conceal his excitement for the time when he would become free from his bindings and joining his friends for their next adventure.


While Chomper and Mia were whispering to one another, Ali and Shorty stood side by side, watching them as they felt the glares of the guards all around them. Knowing though that this was their only opportunity to talk with the new solitary confinement order in place, they quickly turned to each other. Shorty felt his face getting hot, but even this couldn't distract him from his anxiety and discouragement.

"You really think …" Shorty began, but Ali hurriedly nodded to cut him off. "Watch Chomper," she whispered. "He'd know."

Shorty nodded, but still looked in frustration. Though the two of them knew there was something that made Chomper and Ruby excited two nights ago, apart from vague references to dinner, they had no definite clues as to just what it was. And time was running out. By this time tomorrow, if they were not out of the Valley, they would be dead.

Yet things seemed to be happening all around them. Apart from Ruby's escape enraging the mob, there was Chomper's strange behavior, first almost seeming to be singing in sharptooth, and then those commanding roars causing him to be whacked by that clubtail guard. Indeed, he didn't even look to be very upset, considering all the hateful questions from the hopper court directed his way. Then there was all the rage from the prison guards, talking angrily about a bunch of elders rebelling in the threehorn zone, the disappearance of the younger and older gangs as well as the swimmer siblings, and even the disappearance of a large number of kids. Too much seemed to be going on to completely ignore.

As Ali pondered this, regarding Shorty's frustrated frown, she desperately wanted to say something to comfort him. It hurt her heart seeing him look so despondent and discouraged. She strongly suspected, just from Chomper and Ruby's dialogue, that the dinner code they were using had something to relate to their other friends. But she couldn't convey it to him, not with all the guards around. As she looked at his sullen blue eyes, she tried to imagine the moment in which they would come to life again. But this was difficult, for how exactly would they be able to get out of here?

Then it came to her. There was one place in the Great Valley that they knew about that the guards didn't. A place that would be hard to get into, but one with their weight that they'd have no problem breaking into themselves. Indeed, even Shorty himself might be able to move the big boulder by himself. The only problem was getting up … But perhaps this was not their problem to solve.

But before she could say anything to him, she saw that his mouth slowly widened in a gape, for he too seemed to have come up with some insight. Hesitantly, he asked, "Our … place?"

Ali nodded as the guards strained to hear them, their faces contorted, fortunately, it seemed as though they could not make anything out. Ali whispered in Shorty's ear as she eyed Chomper and Mia, for Chomper had whispered something that made Mia look quite excited. "Mia knows."

"If Mia does, so will Cam," Shorty nodded back, and the two of them giggled together as Cam stared at all four of them, perplexed.

"We'll be okay," Ali told Shorty with as much confidence as she could muster.

"I know," Shorty smiled hopefully, as the two put their heads close together, being very careful to avoid actually touching one another.

Then the afternoon session was called, and all five defendants stepped forward to answer another round of questioning about the supposed murder case. Time was running out. But that also meant that they would spend less time in waiting. And at least they knew exactly where to go. Somewhere that the regime did not know about.


Trundling through the Mysterious Beyond as the Bright Circle mercilessly shone down its heat upon them, Linda Longneck accompanied her listless herd as they lumbered upon yet another barren plain. It had only been a little while since the brutish herd of longnecks escorting them had finally left them behind. She was surprised how unhappy the herd seemed. After their protracted stay in the Great Valley, they were finally back to their life of freedom, able to go wherever they pleased and not having to worry about any sort of authority trying to tell them what they could and couldn't do. Yet they seemed to be marching on without any real sense of direction or purpose.

She in particular was very dispirited, and even before she had left the Great Valley, having been obligated to do so with failure to do so resulting in death, she had instantly regretted it. It was a strategic move that had gone horribly awry. In the Mysterious Beyond, sacrificing an individual or an individual sacrificing themselves for the greater good of the herd was a long-accepted principle, for in the harsh world outside the Valley, it was often impractical and even dangerous to try saving every life, and some losses just had to be accepted to allow for the best plausible outcome. So the calculation had been made with that logic, hoping that by sacrificing Shorty, whose odds for survival looked extremely bleak, they could get Bron, Ali, Cam, Mia, Len and Gus out of harm's way. All the rescued dinosaurs had to do was cooperate.

Instead, they had wound up with the worst possible outcome. Not only did Bron stand by his adoptive son, but Gus kept on with his vengeful crusade, Len insisted on staying behind, and even Cam and Mia refused to cooperate. The herd had really failed to understand the attitudes of the younger generation as well as their herd leader, who refused to accept traditional herd protocols and follow their hearts, no matter how the odds were stacked against them. And as a result, they found themselves in the situation where they had not only failed to save any of their herdmates, but they had lost the ability to even help them.

But of course, it was her failure to understand her own daughter that troubled her the most badly. As she continued to listlessly amble, she pondered on just how little she really knew about her. Yes, she knew her daughter in all the ways a good mother would, her ticklish spots, her scream when she was in danger, all her favorite things to look at and taste. But being so wrapped up in the herd's social network herself, she had failed to really appreciate that rather than growing up to become part of the herd's community like she did, Ali had decided to make her group of friends on her own.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of being part of a migrating herd was raising a young one. The lack of stability inherent to frequent moving was not conducive to settling down and laying eggs, and whatever kids they did have would be vulnerable to sharptooth attacks. This left Ali as the only young one for much of her time growing up, and despite being loved by a herd of older dinosaurs, she had very little contact with kids her own age. In fact, partially because of the herd's discomfort with other species in the past, Ali had never really met a child her age before meeting their cousin Littlefoot. Ironically enough, it was through Ali's befriending his four unusual but faithful friends which actually helped make their herd grow more comfortable with other types of leafeaters. While not comfortable enough to actually let a spiketail or threehorn join their herd, they felt considerably more at ease cooperating and working with other herds, so long as they proved to be friendly and cooperative.

When they had left the Valley then, she knew that Ali really enjoyed spending time with her new friends. She even briefly entertained the idea of staying in the Valley with Ali where she could grow up in safety with the new friends she had made. But she did not want to leave her own friends behind, and felt convinced that with time, Ali would eventually grow up to become just as much a part of the herd as she was. Still, she hoped to find kids that could become a part of their herd, and when their herd merged with young Rhett's, she couldn't have been happier. Being the only two kids of their herd, Rhett was perhaps Ali's closest ever friend, even though she was much more mature than he was despite being of similar ages. Indeed, Ali finally stopped reminiscing about her Great Valley friends when she had Rhett by her side and actually seemed happy and content with herd life, and she even suspected that the two of them were falling in love.

Then with Rhett's death, everything seemed to be falling apart, for Ali had become very depressed and not interested in making friends with anybody. It had been hard enough just getting her to eat, let alone thinking about her future. But things finally seemed to be turning around. Cam and Mia joining the herd finally gave Ali some fellow young ones to talk to, and with the later addition of Earl, Gus and Len, the herd seemed to be set for the future, with five other young longnecks to ensure that Ali would never be lonely.

But that future never materialized. The death of the Old One threw off their planned departure as the herd had to regroup, and Earl's subsequent death killed any chance of the young ones becoming a happy part of the herd together. Now Gus had gone mad with vengeance, Cam and Mia threw themselves in jail and called themselves Valley girls, Len was stuck between them, and there Ali was, calling herself Shorty's personal confidante and willing to die so long as she could be with Shorty and her other friends. It was apparent to her now that even without her first friends and Rhett, Ali wanted her future, however short it may be, to be with the friends she had truly made for herself. And choking back a tear, she wondered if there really wasn't anything else that she could do for her daughter.

Way off in the distance, she could see that they were heading toward the massive form of Saurus Rock, towering over everything else on the horizon, just like Shorty did over the other longnecks. She closed her eyes to reflect upon the young boxhead. The boy did have a temper, that was for sure. But he also seemed to be holding onto a great deal of pain inside, a kind of inferiority complex, and underneath, there were moments when he actually seemed very kindhearted, selfless, and loyal. And she knew that when not afraid, Ali had always been a good judge of others' character. Indeed, that was part of why she got along with Rhett so well, for she could see through his excesses and understood that it was mere insecurity and all he really wanted was to be her friend. Perhaps that like Rhett, she could see through Shorty's abrasive side and uncover the heart of gold that lay beneath.

But apart from Shorty being just the type of boy that her daughter seemed to have a soft spot for, the two of them had something else in common, that they were both friends of the seven young adventurers who through circumstances had not been able to spend much time with growing up. Curious as to just how Shorty had gotten to know their shared friends, she remembered that she was now in a herd with some of the longnecks who would have been there to witness it.

"Um, Roland?" she asked. "Can you fill me in on how Littlefoot met Shorty?"

Roland looked at her, surprised. "Why'd you ask?"

"It was just on my mind," she replied as they continued to trundle on. "I just knew you were there back then, and I was just wondering if you knew anything."

"Well, Shorty was kind of a bully when he was young," he told her. "Not a bad kid, just misunderstood. Just like he is now. He came to our herd along with some other orphans younger than him. He got bitter from all the younger kids being adopted by parents while no one ever showed interest in him. Seeing how no one wanted Shorty, Bron started growing concerned for him, and they began to develop a father-son relationship. Then Littlefoot showed up, and Shorty hated him at first, he was very jealous. But that all changed when Littlefoot told him that they could be like brothers. That started changing Shorty's attitude, and he even became friends with Littlefoot's friends, and that kind of showed everyone that Shorty really was a good kid inside. Bron also realized how important he was to Shorty too, so he officially took Shorty in as his adoptive son. Does that help?"

"Yes, thank you," she nodded thankfully as she returned to her thoughts. The connection that the two kids would feel became even more apparent, for like Ali, Shorty was a lonely, socially awkward kid with a pain-filled past who had learned about friendship from Littlefoot and his friends when he was a kid. And it seemed that just like Rhett, though rough around the edges, he truly was a nice kid at heart. She could now begin to fully appreciate what the two would see in one another and why they might connect so well. Perhaps they really did belong together, along with their other friends, all of whom were dead or soon to be departed. She sighed wistfully as she looked up at the sky puffies together, imagining Ali's spiritual form joining with those of Rhett, Shorty, and Littlefoot and his other friends, all as a group of young free spirits. Up there, Ali would finally be able to enjoy the life of her sleep stories, where she could really have endless adventures with her friends, not as an onlooker or a visitor, but as a true part of their group …

But then another possibility occurred to her. What if Ali's first five friends weren't actually dead? What if, perhaps, they had defied the odds, just as they had when they had miraculously brought Littlefoot's grandfather the night flowers? And if they were still alive, she knew enough about them to know that they wouldn't just be wandering through the Mysterious Beyond, looking for a way to survive, but would instead be trying their absolute hardest to make sure Ali and the others would escape from their prison … Just as perhaps, they should be doing …

"Sharpteeth!" shouted Harland, one of her old herdmates.

Sure enough, they turned around to find three browridges charging at the herd.

"This way!" shouted herdmate Decia as the herd began to panic, nodding toward Saurus Rock.

But though the longnecks tried their hardest to run, their physical exhaustion was catching up to them. They had been marching without rest ever since their escorts led them away from the Great Valley, waiting for nightfall before deciding to get some rest. Even worse, the herds escorting them made sure to eat what little green food they found along the way, and they had found nothing to eat since their escorts left. In contrast, the sharpteeth had no such exhaustion, and looked ravenous as they growled, snapped, and bared their teeth in hot pursuit.

As they approached Saurus Rock, they saw that the sharpteeth were right on their tails, and so the herd knew they had no choice but to fight. Readying their whiptails as they backed right up to the behemoth of a rock standing by them, the weary herd hoped their hardest that they could defeat these three sharpteeth without suffering from further injuries or even worse, casualties …

"Wanna do it?"

"You bet!"

"One threehorn, ready!"

"Two threehorn, go!"

And both longnecks and sharpteeth stared for the source of the shouts in wonder. Then they all gasped as from the top of Saurus Rock, two gray forms had leaped downward, landing right on two of the sharpteeth's heads, instantly downing them with their landing. The third sharptooth had its teeth bared, but now that it was greatly outnumbered, the longneck herd had no problem dispatching the last sharptooth remaining.

Then the longnecks looked at their two rescuers, confused. They were two teenage threehorns, one a lighter gray girl and one a darker gray boy, each with bright blue eyes and darker splotches around opposite eyes. Seeing their success, the two threehorns gave each other a triumphant paw-bump.

"See? We're heroes already!" the girl exclaimed.

"Lone threehorns together!" the boy cheered.

Perplexed, the longnecks stared at the fearless little threehorns.

"Uh … who are you?" longneck James asked.

"We're the terrible two," laughed the girl.

"The new Lone Dinosaurs!" exclaimed the boy.

"Fighting bad guys," snickered the girl.

"And having adventures!" added the boy.

"Doing things our way," said the girl.

"Always together!" agreed the boy.

"Dinah and Dana," said the girl.

"At your service," chuckled the boy.

The longnecks just stared. Out of nowhere, these two little crazy threehorns showed up, with no hesitation to jump off Saurus Rock and rescue a herd that they hadn't even met.

"Where's your herd?" longneck Kelsey asked.

Dinah and Dana looked at each other naughtily. "We left," smirked Dinah. "Before they could kick us out."

"We've been too naughty for our herd," Dana explained. "The other grownups say we've been setting a bad example for their kids. And now that Mom's gone, we're heading off on our own."

"But first, we're gonna stop by and see the rest of our family in the Great Valley before we go on our big adventure," Dinah added.

"To do everything we couldn't as part of their herd," deviously grinned Dana.

"Like climbing Saurus Rock! Just like when we were kids!" laughed Dinah.

"They told us threehorns couldn't climb Saurus Rock … Well, we showed 'em wrong!" Dana cackled. "And we're just getting started!"

"You know a grumpy old threehorn named Topps?" Dinah asked.

"He's our gramps, we wanna go see him," said Dana.

The longnecks uneasily looked at each other.

"You can't," said longneck Hilda. "He's trapped in the Great Valley, which is overrun by bad leafeaters."

To their surprise however, Dinah and Dana just looked at each other, their eyes twinkling. "Ooh, a rescue mission! I like that, don't you Dana?" Dinah exclaimed.

"You bet! We're gonna team up with Auntie Cera and get him out of there!" Dana cheered.

The longnecks could only gape at the reckless, fearless threehorn kids. "But … Your aunt is dead! She's been exiled to the Mysterious Beyond, and having grown up in the Valley all her life, there's no way she could survive!" insisted longneck Brent.

The threehorn twins, however only stared back, before beginning to roll on the ground, cackling madly.

"You know Auntie Cera and think she and her friends died from getting lost?" Dinah cackled incredulously.

"Well, guess what? We're gonna prove you wrong!" cheered Dana. "It's thanks to them that we love adventuring so much! Follow us, we're gonna take you right to 'em!"

The longneck herd could only stare at each other in astonishment. Following such reckless, foolhardy kids could only be a recipe for disaster. Yet at the same time, they didn't really have anywhere else to go, and all they had done by themselves was walk through barren lands and get chased by sharpteeth. At last, Ali's mother spoke up.

"Well," she said tentatively. "I don't suppose it would hurt to follow them, would it? Those kids did help us, after all. And it's not like we know where else we can go."

The others muttered, but grudgingly agreed, seeing no real alternative, and so they began to trundle after the little threehorns gleefully scampering in front.

As they passed, drawing somewhat close to the Great Valley, they came across a small squad of segregated swimmers, marching along like troopers as they scouted the area. It wasn't long before they noticed the combined herd and instantly confronted them.

"What are you flatheads and hornfaces doing together?" jeered a swimmer.

"Wait, hold on … You're those renouncers! With threehorns! Conspirers! Traitors! We better go inform Sir Leigh …"

But knowing they had no other choice, the longneck herd sprung into action. With their whiptails, they instantly pummeled the unarmored swimmers before leaving them in a heap.

"Well whad'ya know?" Dinah grinned. "You guys are outlaws!"

"This is so awesome!" Dana exclaimed.

Not knowing what else to do, the longneck herd followed. Though they saw several sharpteeth, they completely ignored them and ran toward the knocked-out swimmer patrol, which made for a much easier meal. Then a threehorn patrol came into view.

"Uh-oh, these guys are mean, watch out," Dinah warned, and sure enough, the threehorn squad began to charge at them.

"TRAITOR THREEHORNS WITH FLATHEADS!" one of them roared.

But the longnecks readied their tails and managed to slam the threehorns to the ground before they could horn their bodies, knocking them out. Hurrying onward to avoid the inevitable sharptooth rush, they could see that indeed, more sharpteeth were charging to where the threehorns were. The herd didn't like weakening their fellow leafeaters for the sharpteeth to kill. But they consoled themselves in knowing that if the dark leafeaters had their way, it would be them whose bones would be picked at by the sharpteeth.

The afternoon continued like that, with several patrols going to attack them, and the tired herd using their size and long whip tails to quickly knock out their pursuers before they could hurt them. They were getting exhausted however, and so they headed over to the beach, the only place where they knew flatteeth and sharpteeth wouldn't be around due to the lack of green food.

When they arrived there though, they were greeted by an unexpected visitor.

"Ah, I see you longnecks have finally decided to arrive for the party," Pterano observed proudly as he swooped down upon them.

"The party?" longneck Genevieve asked as Dinah and Dana stared at each other in excitement.

"The great rescue to save your four young herdmates from wrongful execution, of course," Pterano smiled broadly. "Along with young Chomper."

"Cool!" Dana cheered. "Can we help?"

"Well, who might you be?" Pterano asked.

"Maybe you know our gramps," snickered Dinah. "A big gray grumpy threehorn named Topps?"

Chuckling, Pterano smirked. "Ah yes, Old Threehorn said something about grandkids your age. Dinah and Dana, I presume?"

"Yep, that's us," Dana chuckled.

"Well, we will gladly have you, upon a simple induction into our herd," Pterano said as the twins grinned at each other. "On your bellies, please."

And Dinah and Dana didn't hesitate to hurl themselves down before Pterano as they vowed their loyalty to the herd. Pterano then eyed the longneck herd, who still looked at him warily.

"Don't worry … I'm not in charge of the herd. I am merely a humble member of it," Pterano explained. But I do believe you belong here too. Young Len is part of our herd of outlaws, and by joining us, you will have the best chance of rescuing the rest of your herd. And believe me, I know from experience that while it may seem the right thing to do to look out for your own safety first, not doing anything to help your fellow herdmates will leave you with endless regret."

"Well, uh …" Benton began.

But Ali's mother cut him off. "I'd do anything to save my daughter," she said firmly, and the others gasped as she prostrated herself before Pterano, and just like that, she was inducted into the herd.

The rest of the longnecks looked at each other. "You sure this is not madness?" asked Peaches tentatively.

"Well, considering you are with the young threehorns, that has made you an integrated herd," he said, eyeing them, "Which by your very existence would leave you an enemy of the regime. And judging by your bruised tails, I think it's safe to say you have had to fight some of the patrols outside. Which of course makes you fellow outlaws … And in alliance with us as enemies against the regime. Besides, there is safety in numbers."

Looking at Pterano in disbelief, Harland asked, "Can you show us this herd? We promise we won't betray it … We just want to see if there really is hope."

"Right, this way," Pterano said confidently as the longnecks followed, Dinah and Dana charging as fast as they can down the path.

It wasn't long however, before the longneck herd gasped at the sight in front of them in the dimming Bright Circle's light. It was truly a massive group of dinosaurs, taking part in what looked like practice for a bizarre sporting event. A huge number of kids were darting around the beach, playfully frolicking under the watchful eye of several elders and tiny dinosaurs. Fast runners, clawhands and rainbow faces were scattered around the perimeter, scanning for any threats to the area and practicing their vine tying abilities. Flyers were swimming over the Big Water clutching onto rocks, while riding on top of them, they could barely make out a bunch of kids riding them, among them the rainbow-colored gang of wild kids led by the little threehorn, throwing rocks down into the Big Water, landing with big splashes. A big gang of twofooters, among them the seven swimmer siblings and the older gang of troublemakers, were practicing their rock throwing abilities, while some like the older gang's shieldback collected the thrown rocks for them, getting a running workout. Nearby, adult spiketails, threehorns and longnecks were breaking up larger rocks into smaller rocks that the twofooters could throw, and twenty-five teens were standing in a circle in five groups of five, practicing throwing and blocking techniques in peculiar formations.

Most unusual of all, even more than three little fast biters who were staring out into the Big Water with deepest admiration, not even interested in harming any of the leafeaters present, was what was happening the Big Water itself. If they didn't know better, they would think it was a mirage. But there was no mistaking that alongside two fully grown sharpteeth and the escaped pink fast runner, were five unmistakable young dinosaurs, miraculously still alive, and judging by the way they were horning, spiking and whipping the water around them, along with the water's reddish hue around their feet and the pile of carcasses placed by the cave along with a huge collection of trees, vines, flowers, bones and small red food, they appeared to be hunting swimming sharpteeth. Amazed with this incredible collection of dinosaurs, the longneck herd just stared as Pterano circled around, alerting the herd as to their presence. Soon, they had all gathered together, the herd expressing their amazement at the longnecks who had just arrived.

Cera decided to greet her niece and nephew first. "Dinah? Dana? Where did you come from?"

"We left our herd because we were causing too much trouble," Dinah explained.

"But it looks like we'll fit right in your herd!" Dana cheered.

"Don't worry, I already inducted them," Pterano reassured her. "As well as Ali's mother over here. But the rest of them haven't said whether they would like to be inducted yet."

However, upon hearing Pterano's words, the rest of the longneck herd immediately got onto their bellies as they respectfully stared down. "Len?" asked Ali's mother shortly.

"Yeah?" Len replied.

"Since you're the only member of our herd present whose loyalty to all our members has never wavered, you can do the honor of inducting the rest of us into this herd."

"If you will take us, that is," chuckled Genevieve.

Len gulped. "Thanks … But I didn't stay loyal to everyone … I betrayed Gus."

"Len," Hilda reassured him. "I know how close you and Gus were in the past. But sometimes, good dinosaurs lose themselves for reasons beyond anyone's control. And in this situation, you did the best you possibly could by staying loyal to the rest of us, following your heart and doing what you know is right."

"We know how much it hurts for you to go against your friend," added Peaches. "Especially now that you are without both of your oldest friends. But we want you to know that we all support you and will do anything to help you."

"We're proud of you, for you were so brave, being the only herd member who stood with Bron until the very end," said James. "And on behalf of our herd leader, we would be honored if you would induct each of us in this combined herd."

Surprised, Len looked at Littlefoot.

"Go ahead Len," Littlefoot encouraged him. "I know my Dad would want you to do this."

Len nodded, before saying, "Okay guys. Would you like to say something before your inductions?"

Peaches nodded slowly, before she started. "We are all elder longnecks who have wandered the land as migrating herds for many cold times. We are the last survivors of our once proud herds. But rather than live our lives the way we have always done in the past, we will now live them following what we have learned."

"We came from a time when herds kept to themselves and only focused on survival," Dorian said. "That kind of thinking has been how we've always done things and has always impacted our judgment. But with the influence of Mr. Bron and Ms. Ali, our herds have slowly begun to warm up to the world around us."

"When we first came under the leadership of Mr. Bron, we were an all-longneck herd," said Hilda. "But you, Mr. Littlefoot, and your friends showed us how dinosaurs of any kind can be friends. That helped encourage Mr. Bron to integrate our herd up to other dinosaurs, including you Mr. Wild Arms, and you, Ms. Etta, who have proven remarkably brave by joining this resistance herd."

"Yes, I am brave!" Wild Arms boasted, before Phoenix snuck behind him and whispered in his ear. "Boo!"

"Aaah!" Wild Arms screamed as everyone laughed.

"Ms. Ali opened the eyes of our herd up too," said Benton. "We used to be just one kind of longneck. But when we welcomed Ms. Cam and Ms. Mia, we had broken the species barrier among our own kind."

"When we arrived in the Great Valley, we didn't expect to stay long. But this Valley has been very kind to us," Genevieve explained. "You didn't kick us out after the scandal Cam and Mia caused. You allowed us to remain while our herd was in instability with the Old One's death. And you are even willing to forgive us after we betrayed our own herdmate Mr. Shorty."

"We've come to realize, just like you spiketails, that being part of this Great Valley family doesn't mean that you have lived in the Great Valley a long time," Harland sighed. "It's a matter of who you really are inside, a matter of commitment to one another and to live in harmony, loyalty and cooperation."

"We have a lot to learn still, despite our age," said Roland. "But we will do our best, as Mr. Bron's loyal herd, to help out your Great Valley. We longnecks will forgo our urge to wander and settle down here, fulfilling our role here just as the spiketails herd has."

"And we will not only be loyal to our own herdmates, but to all of you as well," Decia smiled. "Something our young herdmates taught us, for we are all dinosaurs with the same vision of society and we should all do whatever possible to make it work for all of us."

"It would do us a great honor if you would welcome us into your herd, Mr. Len," said Brent as the rest of the herdmates agreed. And so one by one, Len went and inducted his eleven herdmates into the herd to much fanfare. They had now gained sixteen fully grown longnecks on their side between them, Sue, Ross, Ali's mother, Doc and Dara, and the herd felt stronger than ever.

Then they all noticed that the Bright Circle started going down. "You think it time?" Petrie asked the others.

Ducky nodded. "Yep yep yep!" she exclaimed, as Spike loudly grunted, "Save friends!"

"Yeah!" Cera cheered. "It's time to free our friends from danger once and for all!"

"So is everyone ready?" Littlefoot asked, and the herd made a silent but passionate cheer.

Then while some elders came to collect most of the kids and keep them safe in Chomper's parents' cave and watch over them, most of the herd started heading to the Great Valley, carrying piles of rocks with them as they

"Watch out for guards," longneck Kelsey warned. "We had to dispatch a couple units along the way."

But remarkably, no guards had shown up.

"The other units must have retreated back into the Valley because of the sharpteeth that would have been attracted from your fights," Pterano observed as he eyed the sharptooth footprints around. "Which will make it rougher in there, but safer out here."

"Now remember, wait for the word from us," Ruby said to the herd. "Then in their shock, we can all make our move at once."

And so with that, the herd began to split up. The flyers and Tricia and her friends stayed at the southern edge, while mixed groups, including several twofooters and a few longnecks as well as everyone who was left, went over to each of the walls. The largest party however, went all the way to the northeast corner, just by the Secret Spot. Ruby's parents' herd dropped vines down into the now empty Secret Spot, while Doc, Dara, Len, Sue and Ross stood in an outer circle along with several threehorns and spiketails. Inside their circle, the five groups of teens stood, protectively guarding the gang from the inside, who kept a lookout all around them as they waited. By this time, the Night Circle had begun to rise, and the sky had gone from light to dark.

"Well everybody," Littlefoot said. "I think it's time."

And as he prepared to make the big noise along with the others, his heart began to race. It was now or never, and they would either get their friends out or die trying.