Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but I hope this one was worth it! Special thanks to Ryan6783 for helping me come up with some ideas in the chapter and Zee Docking for some of the humor. Thanks again for everyone for reading, especially for everyone leaving favs/follows/reviews/PMs. Land Before Time belongs to Universal, and let's get to it!
Chapter 35 – A Sharptooth's Journey
Without even opening his eyes, the young sharptooth had already noticed how strangely weightless he felt. Making sure he wasn't imagining things, he looked out to find that sure enough, he was enveloped in an empty sea of blackness, with nothing below him to keep his body upright. Shuddering, what had just transpired back in the Great Valley hit him. Could all those injuries and blood loss that he endured in his wild escape attempt finally have caught up with him?
"Oh no!" Chomper gasped desperately, swinging his tail around to meet his tiny arms, but not being able to feel it as it strangely floated alongside the rest of his body. Preparing for the worst, he cried out, "I'm not dead, am I? Littlefoot! Ruby! Guys! Somebody, please tell me I'm not dead!"
"You're not dead."
It was a guttural growl that sounded if nothing else faintly amused. Calming down upon hearing those words, he began to breathe a little easier. At least now he knew the worst hadn't happened. But who was speaking to him, anyway?
Then he heard a low chuckle. "You still have a lot to learn, little biter."
He hadn't heard that insult for a long time, ever since the days when he was still able to eat stinging buzzers. His growth spurt had made sure of that. Even so, he still felt annoyed at being called little as well as quite apprehensive, and so defensively balling his tiny, clawed hands, he asked, "Who's there? I'm a big sharptooth, and I'm not scared of you!"
A long pause elapsed as Chomper stood expectantly, looking for some sign of any movement. But then he stared, for as if obliging him, the forms of three fast biters effortlessly glided over, their bright translucence nearly blinding him amidst all the darkness. The forms didn't smell in the slightest, so Chomper had no choice but to squint at them for a while, trying to get adjusted to the sudden light. Eventually however, he was able to see the smallest tinges of color on them. But upon seeing the forms of two of them, one dark olive and one blue-gray in color, both with yellow eyes, Chomper felt his heart race angrily. He could recognize them no matter what form they were in, and he felt his mouth contort into a threatening snarl.
"Screech, Thud," Chomper growled. "I don't know what you're up to, but you're not gonna hurt my friends. I'm bigger than you now, you know, and I'm gonna stop you! I suppose Red Claw's with you guys too, right?"
"No," Screech clarified. "He's long gone. But we're in limbo."
Whatever Chomper was expecting them to say, it sure wasn't that, and so he listened curiously to hear Thud explain.
"We only followed his orders and can still redeem ourselves. To do so, we must help you, young tyrant king. But in only a hundred words."
As the fast biters stopped talking to give Chomper time to consider the situation, he did so very carefully. While Chomper knew that he was a very unusual sharptooth in that he was completely benign to friendly leafeaters and refusing to live off their bodies, Screech and Thud's actions were perhaps just as unusual but in the other direction. While most sharpteeth had no problem eating leafeaters, their main objective was survival, the balancing act of avoiding starvation with avoiding injury, which led to them searching for the easiest meals possible – the lost, the young, the wounded, the sickly, or best of all yet, the already dead. Screech and Thud on the other claw had been involved in the slaughtering of whole herds under the command of their pack alpha. This was hardly normal sharptooth behavior for it would put the sharptooth themselves in great danger, but a victorious conquering of an entire herd would allow a pack alpha to stake their claim to be the most powerful sharptooth of all. Chomper certainly knew this was an ambition of Red Claw's for as long as he could remember. And indeed, Red Claw and his fast biters even had the sheer nerve to attack the treacherous Great Valley on multiple occasions, right until the moment of their deaths. To Chomper, Screech and Thud's actions as glory-killers represented the worst of all sharpteeth, and thinking about their ruthless plunder still made his inner smoking mountain churn ferociously.
However, now that he had become a pack leader himself, Chomper felt compelled to consider things from a new perspective. Like Deya, Nyko and Chuss were to him, Screech and Thud were merely Red Claw's subordinates, bound together by the hierarchical, transactional nature of sharptooth packs, in which Red Claw was indisputably the one in charge. From this angle, it would make sense that just as his pack would not have become loyal to leafeaters without him, it wouldn't be Screech and Thud's idea to wage campaigns of destructive terror in the Mysterious Beyond, and that whatever acts they did commit reflected the desires of their pack alpha rather than their own. Indeed, Thud had even saved their lives once by leading Red Claw and Screech off the scent in return for helping him.
Now that survival was no longer an issue, the question that remained was the nature of Screech and Thud's alliance with Red Claw. If as he liked to believe it was one of convenience rather than personal loyalty, it may be the case that Screech and Thud's true spirits may finally be freed from that of their dark pack leader. But he knew he couldn't be too careful here. Perhaps this was all a clever trick they had set with Red Claw, who would be lurking in the shadows, shaking with mirth as he watched the foolish friendly sharptooth even entertaining such a naïve idea. But to what end? It was not like they could physically harm him anymore as mere spirits.
As he went back and forth however, he became increasingly distracted by the presence of the third fast biter, who was sitting there patiently, having still not spoken a word. Unlike Screech and Thud, this fast biter's eyes were red, had a skin color in a slightly richer shade of blue-gray than Screech, and he could also see that this sharptooth was a female. Not knowing Screech or Thud to have any siblings, mates, or children, Chomper was perplexed for a moment, yet he had the strangest feeling that he recognized her. Then just like that, it all hit him.
"You're … My pack's mom, right?" Chomper asked tentatively.
Slowly and without speaking, the fast biter nodded.
Chomper stared as he pondered. Though he had only seen his pack's mother once, in which she spent most of the time chasing him and his friends, she clearly loved her hatchlings, forgoing attacking Ducky the moment she saw that her eggs were hatching. And considering the way all three of her children had turned out, it seemed she had raised them not to be cruel or heartless killers, but to become loyal and faithful pack members, even willing to respect and work alongside flatteeth. Besides, she had nothing to do with Red Claw, and if she was accompanying Screech and Thud, it made the possibility of them trying to lead him astray seem all the more remote. Regardless, if they had a limited word count as they said, he wouldn't want them to be wasting any more of it trying to explain themselves or the situation. How much of their advice, if any, he would follow would be entirely his decision to make.
"All right," Chomper said cautiously. "Not saying I'll do what you tell me, but I'll listen."
The three fast biters nodded in understanding, before Mama Fast Biter cleared her throat to speak. "My babies are in your claws now. Raise them with love and help them reach their potential."
As Chomper solemnly nodded, Screech added, "You're their pack alpha. Act like it. Embrace your inner twoclaw, train your packmates, and exert your power."
"But follow your heart," Thud clarified. "While remembering what makes us sharpteeth special. Use our natural abilities to your advantage in –"
A crackling noise rang out, and with that, the forms of the fast biters had vanished. The next thing he knew, his eyes were once again shut, but the cozy, soothing scent of his first friend now permeated his nostrils. Remembering he had gone to sleep aboard Littlefoot's back, he realized that he must have just woken up, and as he opened his eyes, he could see that the Bright Circle had once again illuminated the world around them. Frustrated, Chomper wished he could have heard just a few more words from the fast biter spirits. But knowing that was impossible, he began to think over all of the advice he did receive.
Mama Fast Biter's message was easy enough to understand. As a caring mother, she would naturally be concerned about the fate of her children, and Chomper felt very appreciative and humbled to have received her blessing to raise them as his pack. Smiling as he saw them fronting the herd, performing lookout duties with their sniffers, Chomper felt all warm inside from the guidance she had given him. Knowing what it was like to be a little sharptooth in the midst of a community of giant, often mistrustful flatteeth, Chomper knew that giving his pack lots of love was essential in making them feel like they belong. This in turn would allow them to really feel like a part of the herd rather than a separate entity working alongside it, and with increased socialization in leafeater culture, they would hopefully pick up the mannerisms to mark them as friendly sharpteeth, allowing any hesitant leafeaters to trust them and cementing their mutual bond further. But as their pack alpha and de facto parent, he knew he was the one who they would rely on the most, and so he resolved to give them all the love that he could possibly provide.
He also knew that fulfilling their need for love and belonging would allow him to fulfill the second part of her wish. Knowing fully well how all too many sharpteeth spent their lives consumed by hunger and constantly hunting, Chomper knew that she meant that she wished her children to lead more meaningful lives than that, a feeling in which he shared completely. He hoped that he would be able to help his pack realize that rather than being mere hunters and servants, they were unique, special individuals who could really make an impact on the world. And if they wanted to grow in this regard, he vowed that he would do everything he could to help them get there. Reflecting on how compatible her wishes were with his, Chomper felt deeply comforted, yet at the same time, all the more determined not to let her or them down.
This led into Screech's advice, which naturally required more cautious consideration. Not having the love for her kids like Mama Fast Biter or having shown any mercy to him like Thud, Screech was the biter whom he was by far the wariest of. His advice indeed was similarly chilling, sounding to Chomper like he should become the next Red Claw at first glance. Yet at the same time, there was nothing in Screech's advice actually telling him to lead his biters like Red Claw did. And Screech's advice to train his packmates gelled very well with Mama Fast Biter's to help them reach their potential. But what exactly did Screech mean by embracing his inner twoclaw?
Thud's advice to follow his heart put Chomper greatly at ease. If he had any doubts about Screech's intent, Thud's comments were the very opposite of anything that Red Claw might say to him, the friendly sharptooth, to get him to embrace some kind of darker nature. Yet at the same time, Thud told him to remember what made sharpteeth special. Chomper couldn't help but recoil at this sentiment. He hated the arrogance that many sharpteeth held toward all flatteeth and firmly believed that sharpteeth and flatteeth should be equals. But Thud would know that he felt like this, so why bother wasting their precious word count on advice that went against his very nature?
Knowing he had plenty of time to consider all this, Chomper allowed his whirring mind the chance to relax as he distracted himself by taking in all of his surroundings. It was impossible to hold any kind of conversation, for the trampling that would naturally accompany a huge procession crossing a relatively narrow rocky pass created an enormous racket of background noise all around them. So he decided in these spare moments to observe the full party that his friends had managed to organize while he was being held captive. Following the little fast biters and their sniffers in front were Ruby's parents' herd, carrying their battle bones as they scanned their surroundings with their eyes and ears, ready to both warn the herd and protect the little biters, while the flyers above provided the group with an aerial lookout, carrying a few stones in case of a surprise attack.
Not far behind them to provide the lightweight dinosaurs with some much-needed muscle were Topps, his herd, and the onehorn couple, their horns at the ready to help defend the little dinosaurs fronting the herd. Just behind them were Bron, his seven remaining original herdmates, Sue, Ross, and Mr. Thicknose. Apart from providing a second line of frontal defense, they also served as the herd's navigators, for apart from his five oldest friends, the elder longnecks were the only members of the herd who had actually been to the crater before, while Mr. Thicknose had extensive knowledge as to the lands around them. Chomper could also see that Sue and Ross were still carrying the injured Ali and Shorty upon their backs, while the other longnecks were carrying dislodged trees and day-old carcasses of swimming sharpteeth. He was incredibly grateful to his friends for the latter, for judging by the freshness of the bodies and the spike, horn and whip marks upon them, they must have hunted the swimming sharpteeth for him while he was incarcerated, and he knew that their hard work would be enough to keep him, his parents, and the little biters satisfied for a good while.
Following the cluster of towering longnecks was where most of the herd walked. He was at the heart of the procession, surrounded by his six best friends, Petrie flying close by and Ruby taking a few steps for every one that the others took. Scurrying at their feet meanwhile were over a hundred kids, Tricia's gang, the other children of the friendly elders, and the defectors from the segregated herds alike. Seeing all these kids at their side really made him appreciate just how impactful the herd really was, for he knew that they were giving them all a second chance at life. They were closely monitored and shepherded along by many others, including Guido, Avie, and Cricket working to remove the crawlers off everyone's bodies, the tiny longnecks whose tunnels had made all these rescues possible, and the teens, warmly and understandingly helping the new kids adjust to herd life, just as they had themselves only a few days ago. Hyp's gang, Ducky's siblings, and most of the rest of the herd rounded out the group supervising the little kids and ensuring their protection, while the herd's hollowhorns listened for noises from the front and back of the line and were prepared to issue warning calls to alert the entire herd as to any danger. Many of the twofooters also carried with them smaller resources, like prickly plants, throwing rocks, snapping shells, and flowers from back home, while Dispo even brought along Ducky and Petrie's makeshift leaf bed that they had used to save his life in case of any further unfortunate falls.
Looking behind him, Chomper could see that bringing up the rear were Doc, Dara, and apart from Ali, all of the longnecks of her former herd, along with the spiketails and clubtails, ready to use their defenses in case of an attack from behind. Being slower, stronger dinosaurs, this group was also carrying much of the herd's heaviest baggage, including not only additional fallen trees and carrion, but also Cam, Mia, and his parents. He saw that his parents' backs were turned as they rested on their longnecks, likely positioned to sniff out enemies coming from behind.
Seeing all this made Chomper feel really happy inside. Just as they had done to rescue him and his fellow prisoners, the entire herd was working as a well-organized team to ensure that the loss of even one life was not an option on their treacherous journey. And judging by the fact that he had not been awoken by any sharptooth attacks despite being deep in the Mysterious Beyond and being accompanied by long lines of hatchlings, they were plainly succeeding in this regard. Still, he was most of all looking forward to when the herd would inevitably stop for a rest and a meal break, during which time he would finally be able to interact with his herdmates, old friends and newcomers alike.
It was when the narrow trail finally gave way to an open rocky clearing that Chomper saw that the herd slowly began to come to a halt, finally coming to a complete stop once everyone was safely within the confines of the open space. Knowing what this meant, Chomper couldn't help but feel excited as he heard Littlefoot's encouraging voice talking to the crowd all around them.
"Great job everybody," Littlefoot said brightly. "I know it's already been a long journey, but we're making good progress!"
"Let's rest up here so we can have a rest," Ruby explained. "Then we'll be able to keep going when we're ready to go."
"We have herd meeting after breakfast so everyone know who we are, where we going, and what we doing," Petrie said gently, eyeing the numerous kids from the segregated herds, many of whom still looked apprehensive in their new surroundings.
"And remember everyone, make sure to sound the alarm in case you see any bad guys coming!" Cera said determinedly. "A threat to one of us is a threat to all of us, and if anyone dares challenging us, we can all stand up to them together!"
"But otherwise, we can just have fun, rest up, and eat, right Spike?" Ducky asked her brother cheerfully as he enthusiastically nodded.
"So yeah!" Littlefoot smiled. "We'll all get together for a herd meeting in a bit. But for now, just relax and enjoy yourselves before we start journeying again."
So slowly, the herd began to disassemble from their tight-knit formation and began to spread out. Though there was not a sign of a living tree anywhere, after the longnecks had offloaded their backs, it was plain to see that the herd was more than supplied as everyone began to congregate toward the nourishment. Through all the clamoring, Chomper wondered if Littlefoot was going to take him over to the pile of swimming sharptooth carcasses, for he was getting very hungry, not having had anything to eat apart from the bit of Mia's threehorn carcass since his incarceration. Then however, Chomper realized that while most of the herd had dispersed, the rest of the gang had all stayed behind. Grinning madly, Chomper knew that at last, he would finally be getting to have that long-awaited talk with his oldest, closest friends. And sure enough, once the last stragglers began to start eating, Littlefoot craned his neck over to look at him.
"Morning Chomper," Littlefoot beamed, looking just as delighted to have him back as he felt to be there. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah!" Chomper grinned excitedly, not wanting their first proper reunion to be marred by a worrisome sleep story. He would tell them another time. For now, all he wanted was just to get caught up with his best friends. "Um … Thanks for saving me," Chomper said sheepishly, feeling a little awkward, but also wanting to truly express his gratitude.
"Don't mention it," Littlefoot smiled, his warm eyes sparkling in the daylight. "That's what friends do, after all."
"Yeah, friends no leave friends behind!" Petrie said happily.
"And you are one of our very closest friends, you are!" Ducky exclaimed as she leaned over to give Chomper a big hug.
"Besides, what did you think we were gonna do? Leave you to Hiss Head and his rockheads?" Cera smirked as everyone snickered.
Unfortunately, right at that moment Chomper's stomach again rumbled ominously, causing Cera's eyes to twinkle in teasing delight. "But before you get any ideas, no, threehorns aren't yummy, so don't think for a second that I'm on the menu!"
But being in an especially carefree mood, Chomper couldn't help but want to tease Cera right back. "Aww, really? Too bad … Because Ruby and I had some threehorn ourselves, remember?" he teased as he and Ruby exchanged naughty looks. "And I have to admit, it was actually pretty good."
Playing along, Petrie teasingly gasped, "That why you lose your tooth, right? Because threehorn meat too tough?"
"Yep," Chomper chuckled. "And you had it right in that song, Ducky," he grinned naughtily. "I would spit out Cera because she's too tough. So I know better than to even bother trying."
"Well, maybe you're not completely right, Chomper," Ruby said in a deadpan, only her eyes betraying her smirk. "The trick is to go for the belly. That's where all the tender meat is."
Everyone began to heartily guffaw, their strong friendship allowing them to make light of even this otherwise mutually sensitive subject. Even Cera had to fight back laughs as she said, "Well, I'm not gonna lie, that jerk totally deserved it. Even though he was already dead. Just so long as you know who belongs on the menu."
"Yeah," Chomper sighed mischievously, his eyes twinkling. "Shame I couldn't have had any more fiends for dinner … Though I don't know if I could ever eat Leigh. Not with all those stinky flower baths he takes."
Everyone burst out laughing as they rolled and pounded on the ground, drawing the attention of some of the new kids from a distance, not having seen herd leaders ever act so lightheartedly with each other.
"You would not want to eat Leigh, oh no no no," Ducky giggled. "He would make you feel all crummy in your tummy!"
"Yeah," Petrie shuddered. "You not be able to get taste out of mouth no matter what you eat!"
"Besides, if you tried eating bad meat like him, you'd just get sick!" Cera smirked, as nearby, Chomper could hear his parents and the little fast biters, undoubtedly able to hear everything they were saying, chortling away as they ate.
"But we did talk about dinner a lot, for dinner was our code, right Chomper?" Ruby grinned as Chomper brightly nodded. "That's how we were able to talk about you guys without the guards realizing anything."
"Yeah," Chomper nodded eagerly. "Once we remembered the Hidden Canyon, we started talking about the stew, the soup, the liver, the pot pie, and uh … a la mode, and the other courses," he chuckled. "Even if they did hear us, they wouldn't have had a clue of what we were talking about!"
"See? Coming up with songs helps a lot, it does!" Ducky exclaimed.
"Even when It's just dumb luck!" Cera snorted.
And as they all shared another hearty laugh together, Chomper couldn't have felt happier inside. He and his friends were together again, exchanging banter and jokes, just like old times. It felt surreal that just the prior night, he had been surrounded by walls of hungry jail guards, just itching for the chance to finish him off. Now he was surrounded by the loving company of his best friends in a cheerful, relaxed atmosphere, where everyone around him was either already a friend or a friend that he hadn't met yet.
"Let's see if I can walk yet," Chomper said eagerly as his friends smiled encouragingly at him. And though he felt a little weak in the knees at first and felt momentary flashes of pain, he soon felt reasonably able to amble about on his own two feet.
"Yay, I'm doing it!" Chomper exclaimed as he excitedly jumped in place a couple times. In his excitement however, he stumbled under his own weight, and toppled back onto the ground. Hurriedly, Ducky ran over and pulled him back up into a seated position. "You are doing great, Chomper!" she exclaimed.
"Just take it easy, all right?" Littlefoot smiled. "Then you'll have no problem walking."
"Pity you don't have four paws though," Cera teased. "Those scrawny arms don't do a thing to help your balance."
"Hey, I'm a sharptooth pack alpha now, so you better watch out!" Chomper shot back.
Cera just shook her head, for Chomper had been able to match her banter at every turn. "What did they do to you in that jail cell?"
"They made me hungry," Chomper smirked. "'Nuff said."
And enjoying yet another laugh, Chomper crouched down besides them, giving Littlefoot's back some much-needed rest as they all sat and looked out at their herd of friends together. Chomper's eyes darted back and forth, with so many warm, familiar faces proving to be a sight for sore eyes after his extended captivity. Yet none of the others quite caught his attention like the group of twenty-five teenagers, all of whom were enthusiastically chattering with each other as they ate. It was hard to believe that just the prior night, these newcomers played a critical role in sparing him and his fellow prisoners from another grueling fight in which they could have easily lost their lives. And considering both how well they got along with each other and how well they worked together to create a formidable team, he found it even harder to believe that they had only known each other for a few days …
"So how did you meet these guys?" Chomper asked eagerly as he nodded to the teens. "Have you seen them in action? They're just amazing!"
"Well yeah, whad'ya expect? The Amazing Threehorn Lady trained them personally," Cera boasted playfully, lifting her frill up with a triumphant smirk as she proudly put a paw to her heart.
"Yeah, but you no even want them at first," Petrie retorted teasingly as Cera snorted back.
"Tell me everything!" Chomper begged earnestly.
"Well, we were on our way to the Hidden Canyon," explained Littlefoot. "When we saw these guys fighting each other over the only tree around."
"They were all really injured and hungry," Ducky sighed. "And even though they were not very nice at first, I could tell it was only because they were not happy with their own lives. So I just knew we had to do something to help them."
"So we tried getting them to stop fighting," Littlefoot continued. "They just laughed at us at first. But then we saved them from a sharptooth pack …"
Chomper's jaw dropped. "What? Another sharptooth pack?"
"Well, sorta," Littlefoot sighed darkly, remembering. "We think it was part of the same pack that had attacked us when we went to save Shorty, and the same one that had attacked the Valley. That red twoclaw seemed to be leading them too."
"That right, and twoclaw have new threeclaw friend and lots and lots of fast biters," Petrie explained with a slight shudder. "Me no know how she get so many."
"Ugh, seriously, what is with her?" Chomper asked incredulously, shaking his head.
"It does seem like she has some kind of vendetta against us," Ruby said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, well, whatever her problem is, it's nothing we can't handle," Cera smirked. "You should have seen us beat that pack up! And I'd like to see them try to attack us now that we've got our new friends on our side!"
"So yeah, after we saved them and showed them how tough we can be by working together, they wanted to become our students," Littlefoot explained. "We wanted to take them in, but we had to make sure they weren't Leigh's spies first. So Cera gave them an initiation for them to prove their loyalty, which they all passed."
"No forget, you wanted them all to fail," Petrie teased Cera with a big smirk upon his face. "How we get Chomper out then?"
"No I didn't!" Cera said sheepishly. "I uh … Just wanted to see, uh, what they were made of! Yeah!" she finished feebly as everyone knowingly chuckled.
"Then Ducky discovered that prickly plants have special healing powers," Littlefoot happily explained, beaming at her as he did. "They can't heal all injuries, but they're really good at stopping bleeding!"
Ducky giggled modestly. "But I could not have done it without Spike, nope nope nope!" she said, affectionately hugging her brother as he playfully smirked, shaking his head knowingly.
"Me still no know what you and Spike doing that night," Petrie sighed, shaking his head.
"And I think Spike would rather keep it that way, right Spike?" Ducky replied teasingly, as Spike firmly nodded his head.
"So anyway, once we healed these guys, we got to see how awesome they really are!" Cera exclaimed. "You can imagine all the crap they've had to deal with growing up. But that's only made them all the tougher! You should've seen the look on Hyp's face when Emery creamed him in that race! All I had to do was teach them to work together, and bam! Now they can combine their power to become one really tough dino! You should see them in practice, they can do anything! And no stupid bad guys will ever be able to hurt them again, hee!"
"Wow, they must be good, both to survive your training and for you to actually like them," Chomper teased mischievously to the laughter of all the others, causing Cera to give him a playful shove.
But through all the jokes, Chomper also felt, if it was even possible, a greater sense of appreciation for his friends. In the past, they, along with everyone else in the Great Valley, even the wise, tolerant Grandpa Longneck, would most likely have used the phrase "stupid sharpteeth" in this context. Knowing that these comments were never directed at him personally, Chomper always tried his best to take them in stride, eventually coming to accept them as part of life in leafeater society. Still, hearing the phrase "stupid bad guys" made him feel incredibly happy inside. Perhaps it was because of their new situation involving leafeater adversaries, but he hoped that their newfound use of species-neutral terms to describe enemies would become a permanent change in Great Valley vernacular. And he knew that this simple change in word choice would undoubtedly help the little fast biters feel more welcome into the group, for unlike him, they had not been accustomed to these types of comments growing up.
Perhaps it was because he was thinking about his fellow sharpteeth, but at that moment, his stomach had decided to rumble loudly. Spike knowingly nodded and grunted too.
"I think Spike agrees with your stomach Chomper," Ducky giggled. "You are ready to eat, right Spike?" she asked as Spike enthusiastically nodded.
"Okay," Chomper smiled. "You guys mind if I go eat with my folks and my pack?"
"No, not at all!" Littlefoot smiled.
"Your pack really wants to finally meet you, yep yep yep!" Ducky exclaimed.
So cheerfully saying goodbye to his old friends, Chomper walked past the gorging groups of leafeaters on his way to the swimming sharptooth carcasses. He could feel many of the new kids trembling and taking surreptitious, nervous glances at him as he passed, but he did his best to ignore them, knowing that just being a big sharptooth would naturally terrify them and that they had been raised to think that all sharpteeth were bad to an even greater extent than most leafeaters. He would have to do something to change their perception of him. Once he got to the swimming sharpteeth however, his heart warmed as his parents welcomed him with gentle yet hearty roars as they looked up from the carrion. His little pack, gnawing at the longbody's flipper, instantly stopped what they were doing and hurried over to greet him, each of them reverently taking a knee as they looked at the ground, smiling passionately as they each put a claw to their heart.
"Morning, Alpha Chomper," Nyko greeted him humbly as Deya and Chuss fervently nodded along with him.
"Morning guys," Chomper affectionately replied, still not entirely used to talking with fellow sharpteeth. But having been raised by his parents in his formative cold times, he knew just what to do in this situation.
"You guys want a cheek rub?" he asked softly.
"Yes, please!" exclaimed Deya brightly, and feeling his eyes soften, Chomper bent down to lower his head to the ground, while his little packmates ran up to rub their heads against his as he gently reciprocated their purrs to him. Feeling a new sense of warmth, Chomper realized the significance of this gesture among sharpteeth. By willingly exposing one's vulnerable face to the mouth of another sharptooth, it showed that they had no fear of their counterpart, and thus was an expression of deepest loyalty, trust, and love. Apart from his parents, Chomper had never bonded with fellow sharpteeth like this before, but he could feel the affection building between them through this thoroughly pleasant experience. It made Chomper feel like his entire world was turning upside down, that other sharpteeth didn't have to be his enemies, that they could be friends too, just like all his flattooth friends … Perhaps this is what Screech really meant by embracing his inner twoclaw.
"We are so happy to be with you, Alpha Chomper, as your pack, if you accept us," Chuss continued as his two siblings firmly nodded.
"Of course I do!" Chomper grinned at them. "I'd love to have you guys as friends!"
Deeply honored, the fast biters nodded, before they abruptly pricked their own skin with their sharp claws. Chomper gasped and watched in confusion as the three little biters went over to examine his legs. Before he knew it, he felt three small pokes at a spot on his ankle that he knew had not completely healed yet. Then they brought their claws back over to the places where they drew their own blood and pricked themselves again.
"What are you doing?" Chomper asked curiously.
"Since you accepted us, we performed a blood oath," Deya explained, speaking with deep satisfaction. "Your blood now runs through our veins, and our blood now runs through yours. We are now one with each other."
Nodding understandingly, Chomper heard Deya continue, "Your parents told us you've never been part of a pack, so we'll explain. You, as pack leader, are responsible for ensuring that we smaller biters will be well-fed and cared for. In return, we shall serve you with all our hearts, and we will never let you down."
"Right," Chomper told her, still feeling uncomfortable with the hierarchical ways of sharptooth packs but wanting to respect their wishes all the same.
"In honor of you, we are very proud to call ourselves members of your flattooth herd," Nyko explained. "We are very grateful for the respect and appreciation that we have received from the flatteeth here, and we would never think about hurting any of them. The herd, like our pack, is family. They have even protected us from harm, like members of a true pack should, and helped get you out of danger as well. They truly are good leafeaters inside, and we are proud to stand with them as their allies. But make no mistake, you are our one true alpha, and we answer to no higher power. Especially now that your parents have told us who you really are."
"Right," Deya nodded. "You saving us as eggs is enough to have earned our servitude. But we have now heard that you are also a great adventurer who has braved countless dangers with your comrades. And they've told us how you passionately believe in a world where sharpteeth and flatteeth don't have to fight and can coexist in peace, even becoming friends. We didn't know what to think about your friendship with flatteeth at first, since Mother always warned that flatteeth were a danger to little biters like us. But now that we have seen your flattooth herd for ourselves and know what they are really like, we have come to share your position and will stand by your side against flattooth and sharptooth supremacists alike."
"Mother has always admired you and encouraged us to follow your example," Chuss continued. "She stopped eating flatteeth when we were really little and took us hunting with her to teach us how to survive. We grew up learning how to hunt scaly crawlers, tickly fuzzies, hoppers and scaly swimmers. Things too small to feed a big twoclaw like you, but that would be enough to sustain us even when we're all grown up. She always taught us the importance of respecting our world and only hunting what we need to survive. And she kept teaching us until the end, for she died with honor, refusing to join or have us enlisted in a pack of power-hungry plunderers craving young fast biter blood in its ranks."
Hearing what happened to their mother made Chomper want to comfort his pack, but the kids seemed to be remarkably matter-of-fact, as if they didn't want to express their grief about losing their loved one or dwell on the subject. Perhaps that was just another way in which sharptooth culture differed from flattooth and especially Great Valley culture, and so nodding sympathetically, he let the biters continue to talk.
"We were too weak to help her then," Nyko sighed heavily. "But we will not let her sacrifice die in vain. We have remained in hiding ever since, hunting the small red food that lives in caves, avoiding the eyes of sharpteeth and flatteeth alike. But we have come out upon your calling, for you need us, just as we need you."
"We saw how your partners have taken on students and helped transform them into a real herd and force for good," Deya explained. "We ask for you, Alpha Chomper, to do the same with us. We ask that you raise us to our full potential and train us just as they have been trained. We may be little now, but we want to grow into brave, loyal biters who will remain on your side without question, and be able to truly work alongside the flatteeth who we can call our partners and allies."
Chomper stared at his little pack agape and wide-eyed, at a loss for words. The little fast biters wanted to be raised in just the way he and his mother wanted to raise them. And not only did the little biters express just how loyal they were to him, but through their experience, they came to believe in the same vision of sharptooth-flattooth harmony that he had always yearned for inside, and were even willing to work with him and the herd's leafeaters to help make it happen. It was a desire which had long been quelled with drenches of cold, hard reality, and one that he still knew could never entirely come true given that it went against the natural ways of sharptooth kind. But now that he had a pack who actually shared his moral beliefs and idealistic vision, they could at least take little steps in that direction, and help show the world that perhaps, he didn't have to be just an odd case, that it maybe could be possible for sharpteeth and flatteeth to be friends if they so chose ….
"Of course I'll help you guys," Chomper beamed at them as the little biters let out tiny roars of delight, before they shared another round of cheek nuzzling. They were really doing it, for along with his parents purring approvingly by their side, the six of them really made up the first-ever friendly sharptooth pack …
"I … I don't know what to say," Chomper mumbled, fighting back tears as he eyed his little pack in amazement. "Besides my parents, you're the only sharpteeth who I've ever felt like have been on my side."
"That's because we are," Chuss said proudly. "And we always will be."
"Aww, you guys are the best," Chomper crooned as they continued to nuzzle, grinning madly. Then the little biters stopped and smiled at him.
"You hungry, Chomper?" Deya asked invitingly. "We've still got plenty!"
"You bet!" Chomper laughed, loving to hear the sharptooth kids dropping their abnormally formal word choice in the face of food.
So happily, he crouched down by the longbody and began to ravenously wolf down its flesh. It felt so good to finally be eating after all this time, especially to be eating a juicy, scrumptious swimming sharptooth, as he felt his parents next to him on one side, the little fast biters on the other.
"Hello Chomper," his mother greeted him as he finished a humongous bite. "Feeling better?"
"Oh yeah!" Chomper exclaimed as they shared a happy nuzzle. "I still can't believe I'm finally out of that prison! And I feel so happy that I can be with you guys and not have to leave my friends either! It's so awesome we're all part of one herd now!"
"We're happy too, though I have to admit, it does kind of hurt my ego," Papa Sharptooth smirked naughtily. "My nestmates always told me I ate like a grass guzzler. I'm scared to ask what they'd say if they could see me now."
The whole pack of sharpteeth began to snicker as Mama Sharptooth looked at her husband playfully. "You really think they'd notice how we ate when we can't even walk right?" she asked. "We'd be laughed at just for being invalids who have to ride on longnecks to get around."
"Yeah, but you guys only got those injuries because you're heroes!" Chomper said brightly, eager to share with the biter kids how amazing his parents were. "You helped us stop Red Claw once and for all! And now the Mysterious Beyond is safe from him …"
But he trailed off, for to his surprise, the smiles on his parents' faces had vanished as they darkly exchanged looks with one another. "What's wrong?" Chomper asked concernedly.
His parents looked at each other hesitatingly, before Mama Sharptooth sighed, "Well … Red Claw may be gone. But there are … Others out there who are trying to take his place as the most feared sharptooth of the Mysterious Beyond. And perhaps in response to you and your friends' defeat of so many lone sharpteeth culminating with your defeat of Red Claw … We have heard over the cold times of late that many sharpteeth have begun to submit to packs of vast sizes, headed by charismatic pack leaders that seek to recruit new members. And to feed such large packs, they naturally choose to target entire herds of flatteeth for their assaults."
As she explained, Chomper could hear Deya, Nyko and Chuss begin to let out low growls as their faces contorted.
Papa Sharptooth sighed, before continuing, "Not long ago, we have smelled that one of these packs, headed by an especially formidable young leader, has decided to settle right near the Great Valley, and has been actively recruiting to expand its already formidable membership."
And as the little fast biters' growls turned into flat-out roars, capturing the attention of some of the nearby leafeaters, Chomper was able to piece two and two together and felt his heart drop with a pang. His blood feeling all cold, he turned to the little fast biters and asked, "Wait … You mean that red twoclaw was the one who tried recruiting you guys? The one who killed your mom?"
Furiously, Deya, Nyko and Chuss nodded as they seethed and bared their claws. Chomper's parents meanwhile, looked at each other in alarm, for they had not told Chomper her gender, color, or kind. Papa Sharptooth looked at his son with great alarm before asking, "You've met the pack's alpha?"
"Yeah, I think," Chomper said seriously. "Once when we were trying to save Shorty, and once when she attacked the Valley just before Leigh took over. And she attacked my friends when they were going to the Hidden Canyon. Each time with a big pack at her side."
Chomper's parents looked at each other gravely as the little fast biters continued to express their rage. "Right … We better tell you what we know about her," warned Papa Sharptooth. "Her name is Goregie. She's right about your age, but she's of a small kind of twoclaw, so she'll never get to be your size. But don't underestimate her. She is remarkably quick, both with her wit and on her feet, and any attempt to try and attack her is sure to be met by counterattacks from her fanatical and vicious supporters."
Mama Sharptooth sighed. "From the rumors we've heard, Goregie came from a land far to the north, one that is very dense with flatteeth but is considered very dangerous for sharpteeth, for the flatteeth there have long been considered difficult to attack. Goregie's parents were some of the few sharpteeth who had acquired a reputation from those parts, with there being many stories of how they managed to bring down herd after herd of leafeaters much larger than themselves. Eventually though, they took on a herd of leafeaters that were just too much for them to handle, and they had both perished in that fight."
Papa Sharptooth paused. "We had heard that Goregie's parents were grooming a daughter to succeed them, but we had never heard a word about her in the cold times since. That was until recently, when she resurfaced with a large pack at her command with a goal of targeting large herds of leafeaters. She must have been laying low, recruiting, eggnapping, and indoctrinating sharpteeth to create her pack and operating in secret. But now that they have emerged, they have done so with a vengeance, and have become the biggest threat to the area since Red Claw."
"Mother wouldn't have any of her crap," Chuss said proudly. "She told her that she could rip her body to shreds if she wanted, but that there was no way she'd ever let any of us serve a maniac!"
"She sounds like a sharptooth Leigh," Chomper observed with a big sigh.
"In many ways, yes," Papa Sharptooth agreed. "Both of them are young, charismatic, power-hungry tyrants, and just as Leigh views flatteeth as better than sharpteeth, Goregie believes the opposite. But in some ways, she is far more dangerous. Unlike Leigh, she is not averse to working with other kinds of sharpteeth, or to get her own claws dirty to gain power. And like her parents before her, she has a knack for knowing just when to launch an attack. She wouldn't attack at just any given moment. She would only choose to strike when a herd is at its most vulnerable."
"Right," Chomper pondered, realizing that indeed, Goregie's attack pattern – attacking Shorty on the brink of despair, attacking the Great Valley when its internal divisions were at its highest, and attacking his friends when they were just exiled and distracted with the bloodied teens – was one that reeked of calculating opportunism. "I guess the reason she's not attacking us now is that we're too tough of a herd, huh?"
"Right," Mama Sharptooth nodded. "Not to mention that the mere smell of the Hidden Canyon's tree sweets are sickening to us sharpteeth, and that her pack would still be regrouping from its previous attacks. But now that we are out in the open, Goregie may very well be looking to exploit any opportunity or fissure within the herd. So you must be very careful to keep the herd strong and united at all costs, and not allow any way for Goregie to find an opening."
"Right," Chomper nodded, before turning to the little biters. "Don't worry guys. I'm gonna keep you safe, and I'll help you grow strong so you'll be able to handle Goregie the best that you can," he promised determinedly, earning the clicks, growls and purrs of his little packmates before exchanging more cheek rubs.
It wasn't long though, before Chomper saw smirks appear on the little fast biters' faces.
"What is it?" Chomper asked as they continued to grin mischievously.
"You've gotta pay attention to your surroundings, Alpha Chomper," Chuss answered teasingly.
"'Cause you've just been surrounded by a twenty-five course buffet," joked Deya.
"Bon appetit," teased Nyko.
Whirling around as the three little fast biters cheekily put their claws up to their mouths to suppress their giggles, Chomper saw that sure enough, he was face to face with his friends' former trainees, all crowding around him, grinning at him excitedly.
"Food, glorious food!" Chomper giggled playfully as he danced a couple steps, his eyes gleaming with happiness.
Then his heart dropped as he cursed to himself. In his excitement to finally talk with the teens, he had blurted out the first thing that came to mind, which was understandable given that both his friends and the little fast biters had just been making food-related jokes. But it probably wasn't a good idea to joke about dinner to orphans who had inevitably been chased by sharpteeth for so much of their lives, especially right after they had just risked themselves to save him. He became acutely aware that he was still standing by a swimming sharptooth carcass while his teeth would still be stained with fresh blood. Growing cold inside, Chomper desperately hoped that he didn't irreparably harm his relationship with the teens before it could even start …
"So," snorted threehorn Chantal. "After we get done saving your big butt and having to say that threehorns are yummy over and over again, you really dare calling us food?"
"What nerve," agreed threehorn Keeter. "I think we oughta teach him a lesson, don't you guys?"
But no matter what they said, warm glorious relief filled Chomper's heart as he brought himself to read the teens' expressions, for rather than looking offended, they were exchanging naughty looks with one another. Evidently, they were in just as playful of a mood as he was, and rather than ruining their relationship, he had instead shattered the hard water with them as they began to lift their paws.
"No! No! No!" Chomper gasped in mock terror, backing away as he tried to hide his giggles.
"I think he asked for it," Newcomb said, eyeing Chomper naughtily.
"Oh, he totally did," grinned Gara evilly. "You know what that means!"
"All right guys, let's get him!" Tilden snickered as the band of teens broke out into raucous, enthusiastic cheers. Waddling on his still tender legs, he tried to lead them in a fun, daring chase. But he soon saw that it was no use, for Cera was right, these guys were seriously athletic and had no problem pinning him down before smothering him with lots of hugs. Feeling paws, arms, legs, and hands wrapped around every part of his body, Chomper couldn't help but grin in sheer delight. He already loved everything he knew about these guys, but it was a whole nother crawler to finally get to really meet them.
"You're even more awesome than we hoped for!" exclaimed Vail.
"You're such a big sharptooth, but it doesn't feel like that!" cheered Sheldon. "It's like you're really one of us!"
"Yeah! I was just hoping you'd be able to understand us at first," Aria beamed at him. "But you can really empathize and interact with us too!"
"Never mind you're loaded with spunk," grinned Seth, playfully jabbing at him. "You're the coolest sharptooth ever!"
"Oh yeah, no doubt about that," Candy gleefully declared. "He's our friends' friend, all right!"
"You were really hatched by Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike?" Nessie asked hopefully.
"And went on all sorts of cool adventures with them ever since you were kids?" added Eva.
"Yep!" Chomper beamed, flattered. "We got into a lot of trouble together, trust me … But I wouldn't regret a moment of it! Well … Mostly. Maybe running into a stinging buzzer cave wasn't such a good idea, and I probably shouldn't have bitten Cera's tail as a baby either," he said, to guffaws from the teens.
"Well, I sure can see it! You're just like them! And it's so awesome having you on our team now!" said Glenn brightly, to enthusiastic agreement from the others.
"We're so happy that we helped rescue you, Chomper!" Felix beamed. "We all knew you'd be amazing. But you've still blown me away seeing what you're really like! You may be a sharptooth, but it's so neat that you're also just like us! You're even just my age!"
"I even kinda wish I was a friendly sharptooth like you sometimes," grinned Light to intrigued murmurs from the others.
"Why don't we all help you relax?" Jada asked happily. "You really deserve it after all you've been through."
"Yeah, good idea!" exclaimed Gabriel, affectionately placing his hand on Chomper's shoulder. "How about we give you a nice massage, just like how Ruby massaged all of us when we first met!"
"Yeah, we've gotta show you that you can really trust us and that we'll always be your friends!" piped up Welbie eagerly.
"Of course, you're so cool you already know that, right Chomper?" Dekker asked hopefully, giving him a wink.
"Yeah!" Chomper beamed at them. "You guys are the best and I feel so happy to finally meet you! If you feel like massaging me, I don't mind! It'll be nice to feel paws that aren't from a pack of crazy kids who wanna strangle me."
"You're sure about that last part?" Emery teased as everyone gleefully laughed before launching into giving him another round of squeezing hugs. Chomper couldn't feel any happier inside, for he really felt at home with these guys, and couldn't be happier that his friends had decided to take them in as their herd.
"Hey Chomper," Kendall said brightly as she offered her frill. "Why don't you rest your head on my frill? It's nice and smooth, and unlike Keeter, Felix, Glenn and Chantal, I haven't got any horns to get in the way," she said, smirking teasingly at her fellow frilled teens.
"Yeah, which also means you're the only one of us who's useless at horning attackers," Keeter shot back as everyone shared another laugh. So grinning happily, Chomper leaned back against the thicknose's frill, enjoying the playful ribbing as several of the smaller teens began to work on gently massaging his belly.
"So you know who we all are, right Chomper?" Tilden asked warmly.
"Oh yeah!" Chomper laughed. "I got to learn all your names, smells and voices while stuck in that jail. I was humming along the whole time for your ceremonies! Then when you guys came to rescue us, I finally got to see what you all look like! So yeah, I know everyone here!"
"Wow, he really is good," Anndi smirked to Candy, who cheerily nodded. "I still can't believe you can actually speak perfect leafeater!" Then her eyes flickered naughtily as she added, "Well, for a sharptooth!"
"And I still can't believe you guys didn't scream your heads off when you first heard me singing!" Chomper teased back.
"Nah, of course we wouldn't do that!" Emery said in mock indignance. "Who do you think we are, little hatchlings?"
"Yep yep yep!" Chomper grinned, making a perfect imitation of Ducky as they all burst out laughing.
"I'm older than you, you know," Glenn retorted.
"Yeah, but you're also way littler," Chomper smirked back. "And none of you have got a sharptooth pack!"
"Yeah, you four against us twenty-five? Bring it on," Seth teased as he threw some mock punches in the air.
"I think we all know you guys would get creamed," Gara chuckled.
"Not if you can't see us but we can smell you," Chomper pointed out.
And as they all erupted in another bout of laughter, Chomper couldn't believe just how much fun these guys were. Far from being the cynical, pessimistic orphans he knew that they were at first, the teens had really shown themselves to be great friends that really embodied the true spirit of their herd. They were even able to banter with and tease him, something he remembered they had struggled to comprehend at first, but now they were able to take part in a playful back and forth exchange, just like the gang had always done. And how they were so welcoming to him, despite all their past experiences with sharpteeth, and really treated him like a true friend made him all the fonder of them.
"So Chomper," Keeter said brightly. "You know you're one of our herd leaders, right?"
This caused the teens to all murmur excitedly with one another.
"Oh yeah!" Audrey exclaimed. "We've got to have a special induction ceremony for you at our meeting, herd leader!"
"We've all agreed to having you help lead our herd," Phoenix told him brightly.
"Great," Chomper tried to smile, but he could not fully conceal the hesitation in his voice. This did not go unnoticed by the teens, who looked at him concernedly.
"What's wrong Chomper?" Nessie asked gently. "Don't you want to help lead our herd?"
"Well," Chomper said tentatively, not knowing what to address first. "I'm only sixteen, not even of age like the others. No offense guys, but don't you think I'm a bit young?"
"Not too young to be commanding your own sharptooth pack," Gara replied with a smirk.
"Yeah, but I didn't seek them out, they sought me out!" Chomper explained.
"So? We've heard and seen you talking to your biters, and trust me, they treat you like a real leader," Glenn said confidently. "I don't have to understand a word of sharptooth to know that."
"You may be younger than some of us Chomper," Jada smiled. "But it's not how long you've lived, but what you've done with your life that's really important! And what more could we ask from a herd leader than someone who's been at our other leaders' side for all those adventures?"
"Yeah, you've always been part of their team, and you belong on their team now!" Candy agreed.
"Thanks guys," Chomper said, feeling a little bit better. "But … Be honest, aren't you at all scared of me? I'm a sharptooth for crying out loud! How can I help lead a herd if you all can't even trust me!"
"Chomper," Gabriel said soothingly, showing him his bright blue tail, upon which lay the faint scars of several toothmarks. "See those? Just before I joined our herd, I was attacked by a twoclaw who got my tail several times. It may not look bad now, but that's only because of the prickly plants! When I first met everyone, my tail was bleeding all over! But I can hold my tail right by your mouth and not even flinch! Because I completely trust you, and seeing you worry like this makes me trust you even more!"
"Yeah! You being so worried about how you might hurt us is why we know you never will!" Aria told him brightly. "We wouldn't have understood before. But our leaders really showed us how to see who someone is on the inside!"
"Trust me, I had the bad luck to deal with lots of hungry sharpteeth," Felix laughed. "But you're nothing like them at all! You're never gonna betray us, because that's just not who you are! And we know how strong you are inside because we know you're able to resist your instincts!"
"Right," Anndi smiled. "Call us crazy, but we know all about what fighting our instincts is like! That was our initiation into the herd, to resist treestars that were placed under our noses for a night! We were all really hungry, so I don't know if any of us would have passed if we didn't have each other to help get us through. But you've been taking that test every day you've been with your friends, and you still haven't failed it!"
"That's just the kind of inner strength we need for a leader," Seth told him. "And why we know we can trust you completely!"
"So who's still for naming Chomper as a herd leader!" Welbie asked eagerly, turning to her fellow teens. And to a teen, the group unanimously raised their hands and paws and cheered enthusiastically.
"See Chomper! We're all with you!" Tilden beamed, flying over to his forehead and giving him a hug. "You're a natural leader, just like the rest of your friends."
"And the fact that you're a friendly sharptooth only shows that you're more able to lead," Light said firmly.
Chomper smiled warmly as he nodded, surprised with just how much better the teens were making him feel. They had given him enough encouragement to feel that he could really do this. Yet at the same time, there were still other problems that needed to be sorted out …
"I know," Sheldon suggested. "Why don't you go talk to your friends? If anyone would understand how you'd be feeling, they would!"
Chomper thought for a second. Sheldon was right, for as helpful as his new friends were, he really felt he could use advice from his old friends right now. Plus, he still had concerns that only they might be able to help him with …
"Good idea," Chomper said, smiling warmly at them. "Thanks guys."
So sitting back up before standing up straight, Chomper began to amble over to the rest of the gang, who were happily sitting together as they were finishing their own breakfast. To his surprise however, he saw that the group of teens had just continued to sit there and watch him.
Turning to face them, Chomper asked, "Aren't you guys coming with me?"
The teens looked at each other, just as surprised as he was. "You sure, Chomper?" Chantal asked.
"We don't want to intrude," Newcomb added concernedly.
"Just go and talk with your friends," Tilden told him. "We'll be all right."
"No guys," Chomper said, shaking his head. "I … would really feel better if you came with me. You guys have been so much help already, and I could use your support. Not to mention you guys built the herd together, and you've even seen Goregie with them."
Now the teens were confused. "Who's Goregie?" Nessie asked.
"Oh right," Chomper said, remembering that they too wouldn't know who she was. "I'll explain to everyone when we get there, the others don't know who she is either."
"Well, we'll be happy to come along with you if you want," Vail told him gently as the group of teens got up and accompanied Chomper over to join the rest of the gang.
"Hi guys," Littlefoot greeted as he beamed at them. "What's up?"
"We were just talking with Chomper," Audrey explained. "He wants to know if he should help lead the herd."
"We told him we're all for it," Dekker nodded loyally. "He's proven himself to be a great friend to you guys, and we can already tell he'd be an awesome part of your team!"
"Besides, we think it'd be cool to have a friendly sharptooth help lead the herd!" Chantal said excitedly.
"We're a herd that welcomes all dinosaurs," agreed Vail. "And what better way of showing that than having a longneck, frilled, twofooter, flyer, tailed, halftooth and sharptooth member on our leadership team?"
"Yeah! We celebrate everyone for who they are on the inside, not because of what they look like!" Aria exclaimed as Harmony vigorously grunted and nodded along with her.
"Me agree," Petrie said warmly. "You really deserve to be herd leader Chomper, and we need your help."
"Oh yes," Ruby chuckled. "We've always succeeded by working together in the Great Valley, and there's no reason why that would change now that we're out of it."
"Vail's right Chomper, if we're gonna have friendly sharpteeth in our herd, it's only fair that we have a sharptooth leader to represent them," he beamed, "And who better than the first friendly sharptooth of all?"
"It's not like anyone's really gonna argue with you after all the crap you've been through," Cera smirked.
"You really think that?" Chomper said nervously. "I mean … I would like to believe that, but … Everyone went out on a chase to kill me because they thought I bit Mia's neck, remember? And I almost did too!"
"Yeah, but that was because they were tricked by Mia, who was tricked by that stinking Ozzy! Nobody really knew if you were still the same friendly sharptooth because you've been hiding from everybody trying to starve yourself!" Cera explained.
This bit of information however, only caught the teens' attention more.
"You … literally tried starving yourself so you wouldn't hurt anyone?" Felix asked in wonder.
"Yeah," Chomper sighed. "Silly, huh?"
"No Chomper," Jada told him admiringly. "It just shows us further how good you really are!"
"Now that everyone knows you're still the same friendly sharptooth inside, no one will have a problem with you leading the herd," Littlefoot reassured him.
"That is right, it is!" Ducky told him. "My mother told me that all the swimmers, bigmouths and hollowhorns she brought here voted for you and Ruby to stay in the Valley when you first came here. They trusted you then, and they still trust you now, just like all the elders here do. Because everyone here knows what you are like inside, yep yep yep! A friendly sharptooth who will never betray us."
"My dad may mess with you sometimes," Cera added fairly. "But he never really had a problem with you, otherwise he'd have never let us play together. Why else would he represent you at that trial? Because he knows you, and dare I say it, he even likes you. Same goes for the rest of his herd. Sure they're rough and tough, but it's not like they don't know we've been friends for ages."
"What about Ali's old herd?" Chomper asked. "They tried killing me when I was just a kid, remember?"
"Only because Rhett said you were dangerous, and they didn't know you were friendly," Ruby pointed out. "They wouldn't make that same mistake, especially after they fell for Mia's trick. And Cam and Mia are really sorry now, why else would they throw you that threehorn meat? They'd have no problem with you being a herd leader."
"What about Len?" Chomper asked, eyeing him snogging Cam. "You don't think he'd be angry at me for having to attack Gus?"
"No way! Just listen to yourself, you could have done much worse to that rockhead if you really wanted," Cera grinned naughtily.
"Gus betrayed Len too," Littlefoot reminded him. "By prosecuting Shorty, he was effectively prosecuting Cam. Len even told me he asked Gus to stop, but he wouldn't listen."
"And Mr. Bonehead?" Chomper asked. "I know he helped me a lot in that trial … But he didn't want me in the Valley when I was a kid, and he was willing to try the segregation thing at first."
"Grandpa told me something when I was little Chomper," Littlefoot smiled. "He said that fear makes grownups do strange things. And that's what I bet was with Mr. Bonehead. He probably had bad experiences with sharpteeth in the Mysterious Beyond and didn't think you'd be any different. And he probably was so scared by the bad luck that he was willing to try to do anything to stop it."
"You were asleep Chomper," Cera chuckled. "But my dad, Littlefoot's dad and Mr. Bonehead were cracking jokes about those dumb judges all night long. They even argued which of them was the stupidest. I've never seen Mr. Bonehead look so chummy, it surprised me almost as much as how well Littlefoot's dad and my dad were getting along. He even said that you'd make a better judge than any of them."
"Nobody here really have a problem with you Chomper," Petrie said kindly. "They all know we friends from moment you hatch. And they know that if we be leading herd, you be leading herd right along with us."
Chomper beamed at his friends appreciatively, and while what they said made him feel better, they still didn't understand the full magnitude of the situation. "Thanks guys. But I don't want to do anything that will divide the herd … And it's for all our safety, because I've gotta tell you something I've found out from my parents."
As everyone looked curiously, Chomper sighed heavily. "You know that red twoclaw we were just talking about?" he said before turning to the teens. "The one who attacked all you guys when you first met?"
Cera snorted. "What about her? We showed her up real good!"
"Well, my parents told me about her. Her name is Goregie, and she leads a huge pack of sharpteeth bent on trying to destroy entire herds. That's why she went after us, and why she invaded the Great Valley. She's even the reason my pack's mom is dead for their family refused to join her, and she's gonna want revenge, especially given all the times we've escaped from her. My parents warned me that Goregie picks her moments and only attacks when she thinks the herd is divided and vulnerable. And … I don't want the issue of me leading the herd to cause that division. You remember how Mrs. Maia reacted when Littlefoot's dad said we should have a notooth on the Circle of Elders? It led to all that fighting which allowed Leigh to take over!"
"Chomper," Ruby reassured him. "We don't have the traditionalists here, remember? They're all stuck in the Valley with Hiss Head, or else they would have renounced themselves. Everyone here is fine with friendly sharpteeth just like they are with noteeth. It wouldn't be a problem, and your being a herd leader wouldn't cause a division among the herd."
"What about the new kids?" Chomper asked anxiously, looking at his legs uncomfortably where he had just been crawled on. "Some of their brothers and sisters just tried to kill me! You think they'd really be okay with me leading the herd?"
"Chomper, Skitter and Lizzie make sure only to rescue nice kids," Petrie reassured him. "The kids not happy with their families who most need our help. And they watch every kid first before they talk to them."
"We didn't kidnap anybody Chomper, the kids who came here all chose to join our herd," Ruby agreed. "They made the choice to leave their families because their families didn't love them. Their parents only had kids to pass on their bloodline and increase their herds' power, not to love them like our parents did, and these are the kids they neglected because they were of least use to them. These kids are all grateful to be here, for they're only now beginning to discover what love and friendship really feel like. And they're all on our side, my parents' herd were there to make sure none of them tried running off to their parents and none of them even tried, the new hollowhorn kids helped us with the distraction, and they were all happy to see you guys get rescued."
"Still, I think we should do something to make them feel more comfortable with you," Littlefoot acknowledged, before catching Cera's eye. "Or rather … get someone."
"You thinking who I'm thinking?" Cera smiled at Littlefoot.
"I think so," Littlefoot smiled back, and so the two of them left the group. Soon, they returned with Ali alongside, who was looking curiously at them.
"Hi Ali!" Gabriel waved. "Nice to see you again!"
"You too!" she said, her eyes fondly falling on all the teens, but especially on him and the rest of Jada's team who had rescued her the prior night. "You guys were amazing! Thank you so much for helping us out of there!"
"Aww, don't mention it," Jada beamed at Ali.
"We were happy to do it!" exclaimed Eva.
Grinning appreciatively at the teens, Ali looked over at Littlefoot and Cera. "So what do you guys want to tell me?"
"Well Ali," Littlefoot explained. "Chomper's noticed how some of the new kids are uncomfortable with him, and he wants to do something to try and change that."
"And we thought, well, who'd be better than you, who was scared of us when we first met, even though we just wanted to be your friends!" Cera teased.
"Cera!" Littlefoot scolded gently. "She was just shy."
Ali chuckled. "No Littlefoot, Cera's right, I really was scared of you guys because I only knew other longnecks."
"Just like kids here only know their own kind!" Petrie exclaimed.
"So we were thinking, maybe you could help show them that Chomper's not dangerous!" Littlefoot exclaimed. "Show them what a friendly sharptooth really is like!"
Ali nodded. "All right, I'll do my best to help."
"Thanks Ali," Chomper beamed at her. "Hey … I think I've got an idea for how we can get them not to be afraid of me!"
So after the two talked over their idea, Chomper felt mostly better, but he still had one last big concern. The deepest, darkest fear that had long gnawed at him, only in the background. But now between the cryptic sleep story, the discovery of Goregie's identity, and the talk about him leading the herd, it came floating to the surface, and evidently onto his face, for Ruby had asked, "Is there something else worrying you?" in that gentle, loving, yet all-knowing voice.
"Well, uh … You don't think, there's any chance, that uh …" he sighed, feeling embarrassed for even suggesting this, but decided to plunge ahead anyway. "What if I … Grow bad? What if there's something in me that will make me crave power? I don't want power to go to my head! But, well … Look at Sharptooth! Look at Red Claw! Now Goregie too! They're all twoclaws who've gained power! What if there's something wrong with all of us twoclaws that makes us go crazy when we get too powerful? And now I'm supposed to be in charge of a sharptooth pack and help lead a leafeater herd? I … I don't want to end up like that! And I don't want you guys to get hurt because you trusted me when you shouldn't have!"
"Yourr worrn't," hissed a quiet voice, and Chomper stared as his little fast biters approached, giving him what were unmistakably warm, reassuring smiles. "Beerring alpharr norrt marrke yourr barrd," Chuss explained.
"Yourr goorrd irrnside," Deya soothed. "Arrnd werr knorrw yourr arrways wirr be."
"Arrnd werr norrt let anythirrng harrpen to yourr," Nyko finished, as the three fast biters gave his leg a hug.
"They're right Chomper," Kendall agreed. "Just because you're a sharptooth doesn't mean that you're any more prone to being corrupted by power than the rest of us!"
"Yeah, look at Leigh," Phoenix teased. "He hates sharpteeth, but from everything we've heard about him, he's as power-hungry as anyone could be!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Chomper smiled feebly.
"You know what?" Jada suggested. "I've come up with a new nickname for him, Halfwit Henry!"
"Why Henry?" Welbie asked.
"I dunno," Jada smirked. "But it sounds good!"
"Yeah, listen to this," Dekker chuckled, before spitting out, "Histrionic hollowhead halfwit Henry. Try saying that ten times fast!"
"I think I'd rather have my tongue eaten," Cera snarked.
"My rainbow face friend told me it meant home ruler," Light smirked. "But I'd say home ruiner works better!"
And as everyone, even the little fast biters laughed, Chomper felt much better. So much of the time, laughter really was the cure to worry.
When they finally stopped laughing, Ruby gently told him. "Chomper, you've constantly been questioned and judged all your life. I know others would grow bitter and hateful if they were in your place. But you're not like that at all, and you never will be! No matter what they throw at you, you've always stayed true to your heart and here you are, still the same friendly sharptooth, and stronger than ever!"
"Yeah! You're gonna make an awesome herd leader just like you make an awesome friend!" Cera exclaimed. "And if anyone actually has a problem with you, they're gonna have to deal with me!"
"None of us feel ready to be herd leader either at first," Petrie smiled warmly. "But together, we able to do it, just like we do everything else!"
"And while the six of us have tried to lead the herd together," Ducky chuckled. "We do not feel right without having you by our side, right Spike?" she asked as Spike enthusiastically grunted and nodded.
"We more than understand that you have your doubts," Littlefoot told him reassuringly. "But really, those will only help make you a better leader, for it shows how much you really care inside! And that caring means that you will never do anything to hurt us! We'll help you Chomper, just like you'll help us, and together, nothing will feel impossible!"
"And as for Goregie, we'll be able to beat her, paws down," Cera smirked. "You watch. We've already beat Leigh's guards and judges and sent Goregie's pack scurrying away every time they've tried to mess with us. And if she dares to stick her maw around us again, now that all you guys are ready to show your stuff, we're gonna be unbeatable!" she exclaimed to the raucous cheers of the teens, coupled with the little roars of the fast biters enthusiastically joining in. "She's gonna learn never to mess with any of us again!"
"Yeah," Chomper said, trying to sound enthusiastic, yet at the same time, remembering his own perilous escape from the Valley, in which attackers tore at his sides while he had no real way to defend himself. The leafeaters may have mastered an effective defensive combat technique. But how could he and the little biters, without armor, massive bulk, wings or throwing arms, be able to perform the same?
"Hey Cera?" Chomper asked suddenly. "I promised my pack I'd help train them to get stronger. But I think I need some help myself. I may be fast and have a mouth full of sharp teeth, but I don't have any defensive weapons, same with the biters. So can you and I work together on coming up with a strategy and get in some practice so that I can then teach my pack how to defend themselves?"
Cera grinned at him deviously. "You've come to the right threehorn! I thought you'd never ask, hee! Between your teeth and my technique, no bad guys are gonna stand a chance! Somehow, we've got to come up with a way to help you fight like a leafeater so you'll learn some defensive skills that we leafeaters just take for granted. But yeah, once we do that, we're gonna make you and your pack unstoppable!"
"Great!" Chomper exclaimed, a major weight lifted off his shoulders as the little biters shrieked in delight.
"So," Littlefoot said. "Ready to bring in the whole team?"
After everyone had gotten in a good bit of rest and relaxation, and the sharpteeth, flyers and runners performed a thorough check to make sure no enemies were nearby, everyone began to congregate together, chattering expectantly for what would be their first meeting as a full herd. It was a new experience for everybody, even for the Valley's elders, now standing in firmer solidarity with one another than ever, as everyone regarded each other fondly. Rather than just being a bunch of friendly acquaintances who lived in the same place, they were now a team of kindred spirits, firmly bonded together, just like their new leaders had always been.
As they felt the eyes continue to flicker in their direction however, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Chomper and Ruby couldn't help but to feel apprehensive. In the past few days, they had all gained some vital leadership experience, with Chomper becoming his pack's alpha and the others having mentored the teens and orchestrated the jailbreak. But being responsible for leading the herd was an entirely different matter. What had started as a small group of exiles had morphed into a tutoring program, then into a refugee and resistance camp, before finally coming into fruition as a full herd with hundreds of herdmates, an entire community consisting of all their friends, the old Circle of Elders and their loyalists, and the whole band of lost children.
It was the last group that the gang knew needed the most attention in this herd meeting. The new kids, goodhearted as they may be, had still suffered from extensive brainwashing and conditioning beaten into them from their old families. And having been segregated to their own kinds for their entire lives, the only dinosaurs they would really know and trust would be the small number of fellow defectors from their old herds accompanying them on this journey. They had been suddenly surrounded by many strange faces and would undoubtedly be feeling shy and nervous in this environment, especially regarding the elders, who had always demanded so much of them in their old herds.
The gang was determined to help the new kids feel more included, and so before starting the meeting, they had come up with a plan to integrate them in as seamlessly as possible. Within the safety of their old herdmates, the gang had decided to bring each herd's defectors up as a group to introduce themselves to their new herd. Alongside each group, a corresponding elder would act as an ambassador for their kind and to help the new kids feel more welcome in the herd. This would allow the kids, still getting used to the concept of species integration, to see a positive role model of their own kind and to see how the friendly elders contrasted with the ones they knew, as well as showing to the other kids that all the adults in the herd would be friendly, no matter what kind they were or what their segregated counterparts were like. Through this exercise, the gang sought to show the multitude of new kids that everyone in their herd could be trusted, fostering unity and connection and preventing the kind of fissures that both Leigh and Goregie thrived upon exploiting. This would also everyone to start getting to know the kids on a first-name basis, to further emphasize their importance as individual members of their herd.
Just as she had done to break up the quarreling teens when they had first met, Ducky decided to start the process by letting out a call, which while not as resonant as the cries of hollowhorn swimmers like Leigh, still managed to be loud enough to quiet the anticipatory herd down as she smiled at them welcomingly. Many of the new kids couldn't help but to be unnerved at first, for unknown to Ducky, they had become eerily familiar with the sight of a large, young, green twofooter with a big smile on their face using their crest to start out a herd meeting. But one closer look at Ducky's face was all it took for them to realize that her demeanor was entirely different than Leigh's, for her unvarnished eyes, warm smile, and genuine look of interest and concern for them belied Leigh's calculating pleasantry entirely.
"Good morning, everyone," Ducky called out cheerfully. "I hope you all have had a nice breakfast! Right, let us begin, yep yep yep! Kids, can you please get into lines of ten? We need to do a headcount of you guys."
As the adults stepped back to make room for the kids to come forward, all of the kids who weren't babies obediently did so, with Tricia's gang, Ducky's little siblings, Dinah and Dana, Cricket, the little biters, the other Valleydweller kids, and the new kids all making up the large party scrambling to get into lines. At once, the gang noticed how quickly the kids from the segregated herds had gotten into formation, lining up in straight, orderly lines behind one another as if they had been doing this their whole lives. This was in major contrast to Tricia's gang, who struggled to even arrange themselves in an order, and the other kids, trying to find whatever spaces were still available for them. After all the stragglers filed in, the gang saw the three fast biter kids standing in one line, while fourteen lines of ten had been formed by the other kids.
"Okay, so we have 143 of you kids here," Ruby observed, finishing counting each line to make sure there were ten kids in every one, as the gang tried to commit this number to memory. Not counting the babies who were too young to stray far away from their parents, there were 143 kids that they and the other older dinosaurs would have to be responsible for taking care of and whose safety they would have to ensure. Fortunately, with most of the kids already seeming to be conditioned to get into formation from their old families, getting the kids into rows of ten would be a good way to ensure a quick, accurate count in case of attack …
Then without prompting, the new kids suddenly began to bring their hands and paws to their foreheads, regarding Ducky in a salute as if they were in an army, while the other kids stared at their peers in surprise. Ducky eyed the new kids uncomfortably. "You can put your hands and paws down, guys," she said gently.
Reluctantly, the new kids did so. "Great," Ducky began cheerfully before one of the hollowhorn boys spoke up. "Wait," he said, before realizing that he had spoken out of turn upon seeing the looks of his peers. "Sorry Ma'am."
"It is all right," Ducky told him kindly. "You can talk if you want, uh …"
"Hudson, ma'am. It's just, well, you got us into formation. Don't you want to command us to do something?"
"Yeah!" agreed one of the whiptail girls. "We're your young blood! Ready to follow whatever orders you give us!"
"You want us to practice marching as a unit?" asked a shieldback boy.
"Or our chokeholds?" asked a hollowhorn girl.
"Give us a really tough workout?" said a threehorn girl.
"To prove that we're worthy of you?" agreed a whiptail boy.
"You name it, we'll do it!" put in a boxhead girl dutifully.
The gang looked at each other uncertainly. While the new kids did seem to understand they were now part of a herd that didn't believe in either racial or gender segregation, they still had been programmed to merely view themselves as disposable soldiers for their herds whose sole purpose was to ensure their herd's power and longevity, and despite all the encouragement they had received, they still seemed to expect that they amounted to nothing more than that.
"No guys, this isn't like those classes we just had," Mono chuckled warmly, turning especially to his fellow frilled boys, the ones with whom he had endured that miserable class and who he could recognize as the ones who had tried their best to not really hurt him in the instructed beatdown. "We're not here to beat each other up."
"Or to be told that we're just warriors or egglayers," Rachelle added, thinking back to her lessons about being a so-called lady.
"Or to say we shouldn't like each other or pull anyone's feathers out," Perri agreed firmly, remembering her horrid lecture.
Ducky beamed, loving to see how Tricia's gang was using their shared experiences with the new kids to directly refute their teachings and really connect with them. "They are right, guys," Ducky exclaimed. "We have heard what went on in those classes, and we will not do any of that to you here, oh no no no. I only asked you to get into lines of ten so we could know how many of you kids there were."
"Right, now we know there 143 of you in herd," Petrie smiled. "That way in case of danger, we quickly able make sure you all safe. And you guys really good at getting into lines! You keep doing that, then you really easy to count. And now we know how many you are, you guys can just sit and relax."
While the other kids obliged, the new kids were still hesitant to retreat back into the crowd. "But why'd you care if we're all alive?" asked a onehorn girl. "We're not from your bloodlines, and you're all different kinds! Why'd you care about our survival?"
Littlefoot bent down to face her. She was one of the oldest and largest kids there, but not having reached her great growing yet, she was still only about as big as Littlefoot's head. "What's your name?" he asked gently.
"Clover," the onehorn said nervously.
"Well Clover," Littlefoot asked. "Why did you join our herd?"
"Well, I guess I didn't have anywhere else to go," she said. "I didn't really want to betray my family … But what choice did I have? They all believed I was just meant to be an egglayer won over by a male, especially now that I am getting older. And I just … Well, it didn't feel right. It never did, but Rachelle standing up to that teacher finally convinced me enough was enough. I didn't want to be bossed around by a guy with a big ego. Not to mention none of this purity stuff really felt right. I mean why couldn't we get along with anyone besides onehorns? So when the tiny longnecks found me, I … just couldn't say no."
Littlefoot beamed at her in understanding. "See Clover, you just told me a lot about who you are. Despite everything you've been told, you've shown me you believe that all dinosaurs should be treated fairly, that you can feel free to follow your heart and that you value friendship and cooperation, which makes you fit right in with our herd! It's who you are that makes you one of us, and that goes for all of you. Whatever happened in the past, each of you freely decided to leave your old herds because of who you are inside, and that's why you all belong here, no matter where you came from or whose bloodline you carry!"
"You can't help where you come from, or how crazy your parents are," Cera added. Realizing she sounded a bit insulting, she quickly clarified, "The point is, it's not your bloodlines but the choices you make that show who you really are inside! We don't think all you girls need to stay at your nests or that all you boys need to be macho brutes! We believe everyone should become what they want, and we're all here to help each other! You've all made the tough choice to come here because each of you are awesome dinosaurs who stand up for what you believe in! You've all come here because you believe in our herd's promise and what we stand for, and trust me, we're not gonna fail you! Together, we're all gonna stand tough to make our herd work for everyone!"
After allowing the little kids to take this all in as everyone else began to express vigorous agreement, Littlefoot asked gently, "Why don't we all relax, get into a big circle and let all you kids introduce yourselves?"
"Don't worry, you don't have to do it alone," Ruby soothed. "We were thinking about having you guys come up with your old herdmates, and then some of our elders will introduce themselves to you," she said, eyeing many of the old Circle of Elders, nodding understandingly and eager to do their part to welcome the new kids in. "We know there's a lot of us here, but you can feel free to reach out to anyone here like a real family, for though we may not live in the Great Valley anymore, the Great Valley's spirit lives on in our hearts, and we are all still one Great Valley family!"
So everyone got into two big concentric circles, most of the older dinosaurs sitting in an outer circle while the tiny longnecks sat alongside the kids in front of them. At once, the gang beamed at each other, seeing how well this was working. Rather than being an imposing crowd jostling to find a place to stand in the confines of the Rock Circle, sitting down allowed the entire group to feel more casual and relaxed, not to mention make the bigger dinosaurs look much less imposing to the little kids.
"Anyone want to go first?" Skitter asked encouragingly from within the inner circle.
There was a long pause before young threehorn Gem sighed and stood up. "I guess I'll go," he sighed before stepping into the middle to introduce himself. He was soon followed by his fellow young threehorn defectors Aster, Blossom, Hayley, Blair, Forrest, Aura, Evie, Spruce, Elm, Raven, Everett, Laila, Calla, and Valor. As the fifteen threehorn kids stood anxiously, waiting to be acknowledged by their new herd, Tricia excitedly ran out to greet them. Squeezing the new threehorn kids in tight glomps, Tricia immediately began to introduce herself. "Hi! I'm Tricia, and I'm so happy knowing you guys are part of our herd! It's so awesome to have more kids here, and I know we're all gonna be great friends!"
As many of the kids smiled incredulously at Tricia, never having seen a threehorn who didn't even make a pretense of acting tough through all her sincere and exuberant friendliness, her father came out of the circle, shaking his head. "Tricia, I thought they said that an elder should introduce themselves to the new kids?"
"Yeah, I know," Tricia grumbled before revealing a playful smirk. "But I wanted to make sure they know that they don't have to be grumps like you."
"Tricia Threehorn, get back here this instant!" Topps shouted, but Tricia ignored him as she ran straight back to her gang, all of whom were guffawing at her cheek, and indeed, rumbling chuckles permeated throughout the whole herd. Topps however, had immediately gotten over his moment of embarrassment as his eyes fell upon the new threehorn kids. At once, Cera noticed the strangest expression on her father's face, one of uncharacteristic spright, perkiness, yet also pity, and she immediately knew what this was about. Despite his gruff exterior, her dad always had a soft spot for children, and always loved being an active fatherly figure. And these kids were also outcasts from the same kind of threehorn herd that he and his herd had been expelled from, and considering how he knew Trenton and Tobias, they may have come from the present incarnation of that very herd. Still, she couldn't be prepared for just how downright giddy he was acting as he walked over to greet the new threehorn kids, looking as though he was trying to hold back tears of happiness.
"Hey there," Topps said in an unusually welcoming voice, dropping his normal gruffness entirely. "I'm Topps, leader of the threehorns here, but you can call me Topsy, Daddy Topps, whatever, it's all cool," he said, as the others stared, struggling not to laugh from this entirely uncharacteristic display. "No doubt you've all been raised to believe we threehorns are rough and tough. And we are, don't get me wrong. No stupid bad guys in their right mind would ever dare take us on! But that's only part of who we are. As I've learned the hard way, a real threehorn is measured not just by the strength of their head, but even more importantly, the strength of their heart. And that's exactly how we do things in our herd," Topps said smugly, nodding to his threehorn herd beaming at him in pride. "Just like you kids, our herd has come a long way, once being wanderers merely focused on survival and believing ourselves to be better than all other dinosaurs. Indeed, I myself tried to keep Littlefoot and Cera apart far more than I should have. But those days are long gone, for I cannot emphasize enough that is not what our herd is about."
Clearing his throat as the new kids, especially the threehorns, watched curiously, Topps asked, "Do you know what really makes me mad? When other leafeaters think we threehorns are mean and savage or even evil just because we're tough, when in truth, the reason a true threehorn is so tough is because we care about the ones we love so much! We feel it is our duty to help defend everyone in our herd, and that means everyone here, even if you don't have any horns! But that doesn't mean we can't let our frills down and really have fun as loyal, committed members of our combined herd! So to all of you kids here, unlike the brutes you knew before, you have no reason to fear us threehorns here. We will always be on your side as loyal herdmates and friends that you can always trust. And for any of you young threehorns who want to follow our example, or for any of you for that matter, we'd be more than honored to mentor you to become a rough and tough protector who no one will ever mess with!"
"What's he been eating?" Cera whispered to Littlefoot, half-impressed, half-amused.
"I don't know," Littlefoot chuckled, smirking back. "But whatever it is, it's sure made him popular," he observed, for indeed, many of the threehorn kids were eyeing the elder threehorn as if he was the coolest thing ever.
"Wow, you're so awesome!" hollered Valor enthusiastically.
"If only my folks were as cool as you," exclaimed Everett.
"You're so chill and relaxed!" agreed Aura.
"We wanna become herd protectors just like you!" exclaimed Aster.
"I don't believe this," Cera hissed as the little threehorn kids began jumping up and down excitedly as Topps happily lowered his belly, allowing them to play on him as he grinned in deepest satisfaction. But Littlefoot could only smile, for the introduction couldn't have gone more perfectly. While he may have seemed like a grouchy, temperamental figure compared to their other parents growing up, Mr. Threehorn was just as goodhearted as the rest of them, and next to the uncaring, cruel elders the new kids would have been used to in their old herds, Mr. Threehorn would look downright cuddly in comparison. Indeed, any fear of the imposing threehorn herd leader was rapidly deteriorating among the crowd of newcomers, and by showing an unusual display of warmth that Littlefoot knew was always there, his father-in-law managed to obtain the validation among the young kids that he had long craved. Looking deeply satisfied, Topps at last reluctantly stood up and said, "Well, I better let someone else take their turn."
And to raucous enthusiasm as he grinned contentedly, Topps took his place next to Tria and Bron within the circle, and with their apprehension having instantly melted upon meeting the leading elder of their kind, the threehorn kids enthusiastically headed back to their spots, still in disbelief with how different he was from the elders in their old herd. The good feelings had also spread to the other kids, who in turn felt more ready to take their turns in the middle of the circle.
"Can we go next?" asked a swimmer girl hopefully.
"Sure," Littlefoot answered warmly. "Um …"
"Fleur," she excitedly introduced herself. Following her were fellow new swimmers Calder, Shell, Tulip, Holly, Cade and Serena, all of whom waved to greet their new herdmates as they stepped into the middle of the circle. With a gentle smile on her face, Mama Swimmer went over to introduce herself to them.
"Hello there," Mama Swimmer said warmly. "I'm Marina, the swimmer representative on the Circle of Elders, but everyone calls me Mama Swimmer. And I will do my best to live up to that name, for I believe all you kids deserve as much love as you want, and I will always be there to help guide all you kids here. Now why don't you all come here and enjoy some hugs?"
Having always been popular with young ones for her exceptionally kind, friendly demeanor, Mama Swimmer had no trouble warming up the seven new swimmers with hugs, her tight embrace permeating each of their bodies as they took in all the affection that naturally emanated from her. By the time they had finished, the seven swimmer kids were overcome with happiness, and Mama Swimmer, knowing from Phuru and the ferocious swimmer border patrol agents how badly these kids would have been treated in their old herds, decided to show just how different the friendly swimmers were by explaining a key cultural difference.
"Now then," she said brightly. "I'd like to tell you all a bit about how we swimmers here might be different than the ones you're used to. For one, rather than fight and march all the time, we swimmers … Well, swim!" she giggled. "We don't believe that playing in the water is a pointless activity like in your old herds. For one, we all value play here, for it makes everyone happy, helps build friendships, and painlessly increases your physical capabilities. Not to mention we believe that kids should truly enjoy being kids! But we swimmers actually do take to the water in our herds. We believe that the water heals cracked, dry skin, relaxes and strengthens your bodies, and helps ease your stress. And besides, you should never underestimate the importance of knowing how to swim when you really need it, especially when you've got no body armor! So rather than discourage swimming, we celebrate it and will gladly teach you how to swim if you haven't been taught yourselves!"
Mama Swimmer too had managed to endear herself to the new swimmer kids, who were gasping and staring at each other in disbelief upon hearing her kind, caring attitude as they grinned at her.
"Wow … Why couldn't you have been our birth mama?" asked Holly.
"It'll be great to be able to swim rather than fight all the time," beamed Shell. "You'll really help us learn how?"
"I'd be honored," Mama Swimmer said to cheers from the little swimmer kids, also earning intrigued smiles and mutters from the others, amazed with seeing another nice and concerned herd elder right before their eyes. The gang beamed at each other. They had already shown the new kids a genuinely friendly and caring threehorn and swimmer elder, melting the expectations the kids might have from their experiences in the segregated herds faster than the ground sparkles hitting a smoking mountain, and couldn't wait to prove that all of the elders here, no matter what kind they were, were truly loving individuals who had their best interests at heart.
As the swimmer kids returned to the circle and Mama Swimmer started to turn back however, Ducky and Spike knowingly looked at each other. "Hey Mama?" Ducky called out. "You should help welcome in the spiketail kids here too, you should!"
Mama Swimmer stopped and turned to beam at her daughter. "Well, why didn't I think of that myself?" she laughed. "All right spiketail kids, ready to come and introduce yourselves?"
So surprised to see the swimmer elder offering to welcome them as well, the herd's new spiketail kids came up. There were ten of them, introducing themselves as Lando, Kylan, Agate, Field, Edan, Juniper, Ridge, Orchid, Mason and Fauna, before looking at Mama Swimmer curiously.
"You may be surprised to see me inviting you spiketails up," Mama Swimmer said kindly. "Well, I may not be a spiketail. But I have raised Spike here as my son, and I couldn't be more proud of my boy," she grinned at him as Spike blushed with the compliment. "See kids, you don't have to find a parent of your own kind here. We're all a bunch of tolerant, loving adults, and you can feel free to stay with whoever you feel most comfortable with," she explained, as she happily began to hug the spiketail kids one by one, each of them beaming at her back.
"Hey! Don't even think about trying to recruit my tough little threehorns away from me!" Topps shouted teasingly to much laughter.
"That's right, besides, I thought I should be the one welcoming the spiketail kids!" smirked Stella as she stepped out to accompany Mama Swimmer. "Don't go thinking just because you raised Spike that you should be responsible for raising all the spiketail kids! Not only am I a spiketail herd leader, but I also raised Tippy and trust me, he was way more of a challenge than Spike!"
"You mean I was more fun, fun, fun!" Tippy replied cheekily as he burst out, glomping the much smaller spiketail kids with hugs, oblivious as to his recent growth spurt.
"Relax guys, chill," Sophie yawned from the crowd as everyone snickered.
"Sophie is right, the last thing we need are any custody battles!" Pterano chuckled.
And as everyone exploded in laughter, Stella smiled at the little spiketail kids welcomingly.
"Hello! I'm Stella, or Mama Spiketail or Mrs. Spiketail, leader of the spiketails here. You kids may not know us, but for the longest time, we've been a wandering herd ourselves," she explained. "While we've long been friends with the others, we only recently came to the Valley to stay because we spiketails have the ability to eat pretty much any green matter, our taste buds are more tolerant than those of other leafeaters. But we don't pride ourselves on that fact, we use it to work with everyone else and keep those pesky plants at bay."
"Um Mrs. Spiketail?" Mama Swimmer teased. "Don't eat too many prickly plants this time, now that we know what they can do."
Mama Spiketail laughed. "Of course … Other plants taste better anyway. But I think we might have managed to root out the bad guys' healing source," to many snickers. "Oh yes, contrary to the spiketails you might know, a lot of us spiketails here like to relax. With so many strong personalities here, we feel we help contribute by staying laid back and really bringing the temperature down. While we can fight, we'd prefer to leave that up to Mr. Threehorn here," she grinned at him. "But we can do that here, for we're all part of a big herd that allows for different cultures to flourish. I couldn't be happier that my herd and I are part of this Great Valley family now, and I promise that all you kids will soon feel the same way."
So after the spiketail and swimmer kids went to hug Mama Spiketail as well, buoyed from all the love they had obtained, the other kids were looking increasingly excited for their turn to introduce themselves and to meet more of their new herd's friendly peers and elders.
"Can we go now?" implored a little round-crested girl named Myrtle as many of her old herdmates brightly nodded.
"Of course!" exclaimed Ducky.
So happily, the new round-crested hollowhorn kids filed out. They made up a good-sized party of nine, for along with Myrtle were her old herdmates Bramble, Marsh, Aspen, Kodi, Lacey, Fennel, Galena and Tide, all waiting to be greeted. Before anyone could step out and do so however, Petrie had suddenly come up with an idea, and flying up, he eagerly shared it.
"Hold on!" he exclaimed. "We should give shout-out to these guys and herd's other little hollowhorns for leading bad guys away from friends with their calls!"
So to many murmurs of approval, new tall-crests Olivia, Almond, Sycamore, Grove, and Basil and new long-crests Cheyenne, Teresa, Poppy and Hudson emerged, introducing themselves, before Valleydweller kids Cassia, Perri, Karyn, Caty, Hyra, River, Spring, Splash, Toyo, Bea, Dero, Lora, Lak, Lima, Gipa, Stewie, Peggy, Percy and Cen came out to join them, making a total of thirty-seven hollowhorn kids who had participated in the successful diversion. Together, the big band of little hollowhorns bowed as they received raucous cheers from the rest of the audience, thoroughly appreciating the praise in their honor. The gang grinned at each other. Far from becoming a boring herd meeting, this was increasingly taking on the feel of a unifying pep rally.
Then when the hubbub died down, Cassia pointed to her fellow hollowhorn friend. "Thanks everyone," she exclaimed. "But we really oughta have a special cheer for Perri here! For she's the one who came up with the whole idea of a diversion!"
So shocked yet also overcome with gratitude, little Perri blushed furiously, covering her cheeks with her hands, as she received a wave of cheers all for her own, with tears of pride and joy streaming down her adoptive mother's face. Then the Valleydweller hollowhorn kids stepped back to allow a hollowhorn elder to greet the new hollowhorns. But to everyone's surprise, it was not a hollowhorn who came over to greet them, but Tria.
"Hello there," Tria smiled warmly. "My name's Tria. You might be wondering why me, a threehorn, is here to greet you hollowhorn kids. Well, apart from wanting to give Topsy the chance to smother the little threehorns with affection …"
"Watch it, Tria!" Topps roared as everyone laughed.
Catching her breath after chortling, Tria continued, "Well, the reason I'm here is that I've had a very close hollowhorn friend over the cold times. Despite that she walked on two legs and I walked on four, the two of us have been inseparable ever since we first met. We played together, grew together, and lived together … She even came with me to the Great Valley, and she's here with us too as a member of our herd!"
And warmly nodding to her old friend, Mrs. Twoped walked over to join Tria. "Hi, my name's Rythe, but everybody calls me Mrs. Twoped. Apart from Twoped and Fourped being our childhood nicknames, I go by Twoped so you won't get me confused with Mama Hollowhorn here," she said, nodding to Perri's adoptive mom.
"Despite how we look, the two of us have a lot in common," Tria explained. "Both of us love collecting shiny stones and sharing them with one another. We both love the tree sweets and adore their smells. We both have older hubbies who've been in the Valley long before us. And we even have daughters who have always been best friends," she nodded toward Tricia and Cassia. "We even have a mudpool we like to relax and hang out in."
Smiling reminiscently, Tria explained, "Much of what we get up to are things typically associated with hollowhorns, but not so much threehorns. But none of that matters to me. Why? Because I follow my heart and do what feels right for me, regardless of old traditions. And that's the way we've always done things in our Great Valley family. Everybody is free to be true to themselves and to do what they want, and though I may not be a hollowhorn, I still get to enjoy and share in all the additions hollowhorns have made to our culture."
"Well, most hollowhorns," came a knowing voice from the crowd, and herd elder Lambe walked out to approach the five new tall-crests, who looked at each other nervously as most of the crowd grew tense, for they knew just where these little tall-crests came from. "You guys were part of Leigh's herd, right?" Lambe asked gently.
Silently and in shame, the five little tall-crested kids nodded.
"We … were too scared to do anything," admitted tall-crest Sycamore. "It didn't feel right to any of us … But we couldn't even turn to our brothers and sisters, let alone our parents. They'd have killed us if we said anything out of line."
"The only way out of Leigh's herd is death," sighed Almond. "We knew our only chance to escape was to join the revolt after class. So we took our chance and ran for it."
"We know they'd have disowned us," sighed Basil. "And they probably still want to kill us for being blights on their bloodline."
"And if they don't get us, the circles will boil our bones and burn our tails," Olivia shivered, clutching her tail nervously.
A wave of murmuring erupted from the new kids before Lambe went to give each of the tall-crests hugs. "Nothing is going to happen to you kids," he tried saying reassuringly.
"You sure?" Grove asked tensely, looking toward the gang. "Because from what we've heard … The circles will hate us for everything we've done."
Cera had to fight very hard to bite her tongue, but knew that it was best to let Ducky and Petrie answer this delicate question.
"Well, no one know everything for sure," Petrie finally explained, before adding more confidently, "But we know that no happen."
"Just ask yourselves," Ducky said reassuringly, looking at the crowd. "Do you really feel it would be right for anyone here to be burned by the smoking mountains just because we do not all think the same way?"
An overwhelming murmur in the negative came from the kids as they looked at each other in wonder, finally realizing through Ducky's simple but effective question that they had been fed a steady diet of hatred over all this time …
"We all have different opinions about the circles," Littlefoot explained. "My mother once told me that some things we see with our eyes, others we see with our hearts. And what feels right to each of us personally is bound to be different. We have all kinds of beliefs about the circles in our herd. Some of us believe they bring good luck, some of us think they have special powers, some of us believe they're the spirits of our ancestors, some of us think they're just flying rocks, and some of us don't know what to believe. We're all free to believe what feels right to each of us, and since we're all different, it's only natural that we won't all feel the same. What really matters is that no matter what any of us personally believe about the circles, that we treat each other with love, respect, and understanding, and if the circles are really watching us, that's what they would want us to do as well."
"Oh yes yes yes!" Ducky exclaimed enthusiastically. "No matter what Leigh may have told you, a lot of us really do believe in the circles! But we believe that they are warm, loving bodies watching over us who only want us to be happy in our lives and want us to become the best individuals we can be, and to feel the same love for each other that they feel for us."
"Yeah, circles not angry and judgmental like Leigh say," Petrie agreed. "They only want us to be good inside and love our fellow dino, and they no like it when they be used to make us hate each other. Leigh say he speak for Bright Circle and talk about purity, but you really feel anything he say right inside? You really believe circles hate everyone who no follow old ways of doing things?"
"Yeah, and how do you really know when Leigh's speaking for the circles and when he's speaking for himself?" Cera pointed out. "We know he's a good actor, he pretended to love a threehorn before he revealed what he's really like! He can claim he's speaking for whomever, but you have to ask for yourselves if that really feels right inside!"
All of this provoked a lot of muttering among the new kids, and the gang could see that they were finally cutting through all the indoctrination.
"You mean … We've all been lied to about the circles?" asked threehorn Laila incredulously.
Spike took it upon himself to deliver the grunt in assent as the kids looked at each other, thunderstruck, not knowing what to say next.
"Hey, me have idea!" Petrie declared, grinning at Ducky. "Maybe me and Ducky can talk with you kids about circles some nights! Nobody have to come, we not telling you what to believe. But if anybody have questions or want to talk with us about what they believe, they can come! You think that good idea, Ducky?"
"Oh yes yes yes!" Ducky exclaimed. "I think the circles would be happy if we talk together about what they might really like out of us!" With a teasing smirk, Ducky giggled, "Of course, you can come along with us, Cera!"
"Nah, I think I'll leave the flying rocks to you guys and work on my headbutting," Cera snarked back.
"Can I flirt with Littlefoot while you're practicing?" Mia smirked teasingly from the crowd.
Cera rounded on her. "Oh, come on!" she thundered. "I thought you were over him!"
"Well, he's still cute, isn't he?" Mia wheedled innocently, causing them all to laugh.
So with everyone feeling better, Lambe, Mrs. Twoped and Tria all worked on hugging the new hollowhorn kids before everyone headed back to the crowd.
Next up came new bigmouth kids Brier, Rowan, Sharon and Daisy. After introducing themselves, Melissa of the Swimmer Trio came to greet them, alongside her two best friends Sua the round-crest and Lyle the tall-crest.
"Hello there," Melissa said casually. "I'm Melissa, she's Sua, and he's Lyle, but everyone just calls us the Swimmer Trio, for we're always seen together. We may not be very outspoken most of the time, we'd rather just hang out and be with each other and leave the decision-making to others. But we've heard from that crazy teacher of yours that you've been taught to believe that you twofooters should hate each other and say that your kind is the best. Well, we're here to tell you just as ordinary members of our herd that we don't believe in that kind of nonsense either! Otherwise, we wouldn't be friends! So, uh, yeah! Have fun in our herd, we know you kids will like it."
Then her eyes fell upon the notooth herd, and she remembered. "Oh yes, you probably have been told by your folks that all noteeth are eggstealers. I know that our kind tends to be very protective of our nests, and your old herd may have taught you to kill any notooth you saw on the spot. Well, let me tell you this. These guys aren't eggstealers, they never have been, and they never will be!"
"That's right," Papa Fast Runner beamed at the elder bigmouth as he and his wife stepped forward to approach the audience. "While we may eat a snapping shell or a star swimmer, we all believe in a no-kill philosophy towards all saurian life, and that will be something that will never change. And now that we noteeth are a part of a herd that believes that all dinosaurs can be friends, allies, and partners, we can gladly embrace those beliefs we've always had and act as your loyal herdmates."
"And I think that also goes for our herd's friendly sharpteeth," Mama Fast Runner explained, first nodding to Avie, Guido and Cricket. "These guys only eat crawlers and will never eat anything larger than that, and we're gonna need them to remove all the tiny crawlers that will be on us from journeying out here," she explained. Then she nodded to Chomper, his parents and the little fast biters. "And Chomper has proven over and over again that he's friendly to all friendly leafeaters. His parents have given up dinosaur meat and were even willing to give us their teeth to help us build our battle bones. And his pack has demonstrated incredible loyalty to their alpha since they have come here. So I think it can go without saying that all of us, flatteeth, sharpteeth, and noteeth alike, will always stand together, no matter what any of us may look like!"
Chomper beamed at Ruby's mother, feeling his eyes soften first at her, and then at the entire crowd, who really seemed open to the idea of friendly sharpteeth being in their herd. Even the new kids looked to be a little less scared of him. Perhaps if he could keep proving that he really is a friendly sharptooth, it wouldn't be that much of a threat to the herd's unity if he would join them as a herd leader after all …
Once the bigmouth kids stepped back, Kosh Clubtail then moved into the circle. "Right then, who's here to help Oplax with babysitting duties?" he called out playfully as the mob of little clubtail babies continued to tussle by his fellow parents.
As everyone laughed with the older clubtail's lightheartedness, new clubtails Chandra, Buck, Breeze, Horizon, Fen and Hawthorn came out of the circle to greet him. Rather than trying to give the kids a hug, Kosh decided to paw bump the little clubtails, who happily paw bumped him back. Seeing this made everyone chuckle before Kosh went to have his talk.
"I'm not gonna bore you all with the same speech about how we're not like the clubtails back there," he said simply. "You can see that for yourselves! But I will say that though we've got plenty of little rascals to take care of ourselves, we're here for everyone who needs us! And if anyone ever wants to help us with babysitting, we'd love it! We can't expect little Oppy to do all the work considering how much trouble he and his friends get into."
Oplax blew a raspberry in the crowd at his caretaker in response, causing everyone to laugh, before he said, "He's kinda right though, we can use some help with the babies! They're a bunch of little rascals …"
"Who're you to talk?" Kosh interrupted to more laughs.
Even Oplax chuckled. "But yeah, once I introduce you guys, you can help babysit and take care of them! And I'm sure the triplets, Thio and Herbie could all use some babysitting, right?"
Ann, Thio's mother Jennifer and Sue all nodded as Oplax beamed at them, and said, "So yeah! We're a real family here, and if you wanna help take care of the babies here, we'd be happy to have anyone who wants to help!"
"You guys can't do any worse of a job than how we raised Chomper," Cera snarked.
"You guys wouldn't want to see me if you raised me badly," Chomper giggled back to more laughs. But the new kids, surprised to learn that they could help out with raising the little hatchlings, began to feel a slight bit of empowerment, that they too could be herd contributors in ways that they would want, not just servants carrying out their elders' demands.
The herd then worked on greeting the smaller groups of kids next, and between the kids growing more confident and the adults having to put in less effort to show the kids that they were friendly, the process was going more quickly. Onehorn kids Woody, Sterling, Clover, and Esme walked forward, and were greeted warmly by Albert and Ova Onehorn.
"Well," Albert smirked. "We didn't think we'd ever have children. Much too much work, if you know what I mean," he teased.
"But after welcoming in Mono and Rachelle, we think we can handle you guys if you want," Ova added. "You can't be as much trouble as they are."
"We heard that!" the two onehorns in Tricia's gang shouted as they stood alongside their friends and blew raspberries at their adoptive parents, causing more laughs from the big crowd.
"But like everyone else here, we too will do our best to give everyone here the love and attention they need," Albert said as Ova warmly nodded alongside him, before they gave the four onehorn kids hugs.
Shieldbacks Linden, Barrow, Misty and Clay came next. With there not being any elder shieldbacks in the herd and there not being any new flyer kids, Mama Flyer decided to greet the little shieldbacks. She could see that the four shieldbacks looked a little more nervous than most of the groups in that they didn't have any older counterparts to look up to, and knew that she ought to give them some special attention.
"Hello, my real name is Terese, but all you young'uns can call me Mama Flyer," she introduced herself, wrapping her wings around each of the little shieldbacks' bodies. "We may not have any elder shieldbacks here. But that doesn't matter in our herd, for we really love everyone here, no matter what they may look like. And I for one can say that if you ever need love and guidance, you can always come by my place and I can …"
But Mama Flyer trailed off for when to everyone's surprise, Nod had suddenly strolled out of the circle and right over to Mama Flyer. He even surprised himself, but as Mama Flyer stared at him in disbelief, she stood off to the side, incredulous that Nod was now willing to take it upon himself to be a role model for the little shieldback children.
"Um, hey," he said awkwardly. "I'm not really a parent, you know? I'd rather hang with my crew here," he said, nodding toward his friends. "But I get the feeling. I'm an orphan myself, I was hatched by my friend Mutt's dad, so we're like brothers. And I guess I can be like a big bro to you if you want. Yeah, if you need anything. Uh … whatever you want is cool. Um … Yeah."
And grateful to see the older shieldback come and greet them, the shieldback kids nodded in understanding as Nod went to hug each of them.
"What's gotten into him?" Hyp muttered teasingly to the rest of his gang, eyeing Ann, who was kneeling on the ground, playing coochie-coo with her babies. "It's like he's learned from you or something."
"Yeah," Ann said dreamily as she happily tickled Willow, Saska and Creek running around her feet.
"You sure you don't want to try loving someone?" Ceph teasingly asked his friend as he and his girlfriend caressed. "It might make you less grumpy."
"No, not me!" Hyp snorted. "I'd rather kiss Mutt!"
"Really?" Mutt said confusedly as the others stifled guffaws as Hyp rolled his eyes.
"Maybe I can give you some spiky flowers to change your mind," Dispo teased.
"And maybe I can shove some spiky flowers down your throat. Of course, knowing what happened last time, let's not go there," Hyp smirked as they all broke out in snickers. It felt so good to be operating as a whole crew once again.
With two small groups of boneheads and spikethumbs, Mr. Bonehead turned to Mr. Spikethumb. "Well Gideon … What do you think will happen first, you'll bore these young'uns with your lectures, or I'll have to cast judgment on them on some petty infraction?"
"Your calculated estimate is as good as mine, Lance," Mr. Spikethumb replied as many of the herd looked at each other in shock, while the gang beamed at each other. If even these two normally austere adults were able to crack jokes in this new environment, it really said a lot as to the culture they were building. But having seen so many friendly adults by now, spikethumb kids Velda, Lavender and Brook and bonehead kids Moor, Lark and Rhine were able to smile, recognizing that the two of them were only teasing.
After introducing themselves and appreciating the friendliness they were receiving, Mr. Spikethumb and Mr. Bonehead decided to speak. "Um … We're not exactly the most lovable guys here," Mr. Spikethumb pointed out. "It's my job to make sure everyone here passes their shieldback scales tests … Something our herd leaders, being too busy on their crazy adventures, have failed to accomplish despite most of them being of age …"
"Uh-oh, we in big trouble now!" Petrie smirked as everyone laughed.
"And I've spent so much time sentencing criminals that I've lost my charm long ago …" Mr. Bonehead said, shaking his head. "But who knows, maybe now I'm an outlaw I'll get some of it back."
"You're more charming than our old elders, that's for sure," commented new bonehead kid Lark as everyone laughed.
"We may not be the most natural huggers, eh Lance?" Mr. Spikethumb asked.
"No," Mr. Bonehead reasoned. "But we're better than cranky old Wess at it."
"Who're you calling cranky and old!" Hyp's father roared at them to more raucous laughs.
At last, only the longnecks were remaining. Whiptails Faith, Cliff, Cypress, Nigella, Drake and Hazel introduced themselves, while Doc and Dara went to approach them.
"Hiya huns," Dara greeted them warmly. "We're happy to have you all here. Doc's just as friendly as I am, but he's kinda the strong and silent type if you know what I mean. He'd rather show you."
"Yeah!" Destiny exclaimed, running out to look at her adoptive father. "Why don't you show them what we do together?"
Doc nodded. "Sure thing, Dess," he said gruffly, but he smiled as he reared up to create a slight incline with his back.
So Dara reached down to grab each whiptail kid and place them on Doc's head, and as each kid scooched themselves a little forward, they began sliding down Doc's neck, shooting straight down his back and all the way down his tail before gently hitting the ground.
"You're not bad, kids," Doc said in his usual gruff but warm manner, and gratefully nodding at the big whiptail, the little whiptails returned back to the crowd, cheerful with how welcoming Doc was to them.
Next came the longnecks of Littlefoot's kind. There were seven of them, Sage, Crystal, Coast, Dahlia, Chester, Sakura and Gardenia. After introducing themselves, Bron stepped forward to greet them. Littlefoot beamed at his father. He knew his father was great at delivering warm, eloquent welcomes, and couldn't wait to see how his dad might make these kids feel even more welcome.
"Welcome to our herd," Bron said soothingly, lowering his massive head to rub against their little ones. "We're all happy to have you here, and we will do our best to make each of you feel comfortable. Yet at the same time, like Stella and her herd, me and my herd can understand where you've all come from. I know every one of you kids have come from a herd where you've seen countless horrors and have been led to believe that the harsh treatment directed toward you is reflective of the harsh world that you live in. Believe me, I too have dealt with horrors and loss in my life … Yet at the same time, I know that treating each other coldly is not the answer."
Smiling warmly, Bron continued, "For each challenge we are given, I've found that we can best get through it by opening our hearts up to one another. Sure, it is important that we remain tough and be ready for all that life throws at us. But that should not come at the expense of developing greater intimacy. After all, love can truly bloom if we allow it to, even in the most unlikely of places. To show you what I mean, I would like to welcome the boxhead kids up to introduce themselves."
So confused, the two different kinds of boxheads, the last of the new kids left, went up to introduce themselves. The smaller reddish-brown boxheads, who were the same kind as Cam and Len, introduced themselves as Dakota, Copper, Bay, Dew, Thyme and Kale, while the larger boxheads, of Shorty's kind but dark grey, introduced themselves as Tiff, Pike, Cedar, Birch, Heath, Topaz, Macon, and Savannah. Bron beamed at them all fondly.
"You may be wondering why I brought you all up here," Bron beamed. "Well, it was because of an incident fate had in store for me. You see, I had been in the pit of despair once, losing both my wife and my son in an effort to find a better life for them. I felt all lost and alone, and like I had no purpose in my life without them. But then it all changed when I met a bunch of little boxheads just like you, out wandering alone by themselves, just like I was," he said gently. "It made me realize that really, none of us are different at heart no matter what we look like, and I decided to see whether it was possible to go against all tradition and create a herd of different kinds of longneck. And you know what? Over the cold times, our herd had flourished. We grew in size to the point where we were able to fend off most cowardly enemies who tried to face us. And after I finally met my long-lost son and his friends, I decided, why not open a herd up not just to all longnecks, but to all dinosaurs? So I had hollowhorns, threehorns, bigmouths … You name it in my herd at one point," he beamed. "We've had a lot of turnover over the cold times. But two of my old herd who are not longnecks are still with us," he said, beaming to Etta and Wild Arms, who waved to the crowd.
"So contrary to what you may have been told," Bron smiled. "It is entirely possible for a herd with all types of different dinosaurs to be a success. It is not just because we have lived in the luscious Great Valley that we have been able to live in harmony together. Our diversity is not a weakness, but a strength, for as our leaders have said, it is who you are as individuals that really matters. That is the philosophy that all of us believe in this herd, and together, it is how all of us strive to live by."
And as Bron allowed each of the little longnecks to hug his giant foot, the crowd broke out into a smattering of cheers. He had truly delivered an eloquent speech that had for the first time truly convinced many of the kids that not only did their herd have promise, but it also had serious potential. The segregated kids never looked so happy, their faith in life restored as they looked at each other with fresh hope kindling in their eyes. Littlefoot felt all warm inside. His father truly failed to disappoint, and had managed to bring the kids' enthusiasm to a whole new level …
Then he saw it. Through all the positivity and radiance among the crowd, the narrowed eyes and clenched teeth on his foster brother's face had become apparent. Wondering what this was about, Littlefoot desperately wanted to speak to his foster brother to try and console him. But how could he manage to reach out to Shorty without bringing his problems to the attention of the entire herd?
His thoughts were interrupted however, as Mr. Thicknose had slowly strode forward, while Bron and the little longnecks took their place back in the crowd. "I suppose I better introduce myself, and I won't vomit on anybody this time, I promise," Mr. Thicknose smiled to some soft chuckles. "My first name is Chirio, but everyone calls me Mr. Thicknose, and I'm the former leader of the Great Valley. But more importantly, and following my life's true calling, I'm a teacher. Over the cold times, I have lectured countless students about our world, even including our herd leaders," he said, nodding to the gang, who smiled back. "And once we get to our destination, I am happy to say that now that I have been relieved of my leadership duties, I will be able to share my knowledge with each of you. My classes will be nothing like those you have experienced from your previous instructors. There will be no hate speeches, beat-downs, or prejudicial comments, for I believe in giving lessons that improve a young dinosaur's knowledge and individual potential. And while we will have some large lectures, we will also have some smaller classes so I can really get to know each of you and really be a mentor for each of you growing up. And for these small classes, we will not split you up by your race, but by your age, so that you can all learn at an age-appropriate pace and have the chance to get to know all kinds of friends within our herd."
"That's right!" Littlefoot exclaimed eagerly, as Mr. Thicknose looked at Littlefoot indignantly, Littlefoot realizing too late that Mr. Thicknose was not done speaking yet. "Oh, sorry," he chuckled.
Mr. Thicknose smiled forgivingly to Littlefoot before continuing, "Part of my knowledge entails the world we live in. And as a combined herd, we are moving south into a region known as the Longneck Plains. It will be a little hotter and drier than what you all are used to, but as we will be settling the very northern edge of this region, hopefully things will not be too bad in this regard. But this does impact the world around us, for this climate favors the tall trees that longnecks are famous for eating, and it is harder for flowers and smaller plants to grow here. We therefore must rely on the longnecks here to ensure that all the sustenance on the treetops is accessible for everybody, and be careful to ration whatever flowers and low-growing plants we do choose to eat. We also must be aware of the sharpteeth around. While there are still plenty of twoclaws, there are also more browridges, horned and featherhead sharpteeth, kinds that generally prefer these climates. Their methods of attack tend to be different and revolve more around stealth and cunning rather than sheer power, so be aware of that. However, if we all stand together as a group, it should be enough to fend any potential attackers off."
So as Mr. Thicknose lumbered off, the gang looked at each other. While the knowledge Mr. Thicknose had given them was important, they wanted to end the meeting on a high note, and besides, they still had some things they wanted to accomplish.
"Thanks Mr. Thicknose," Littlefoot nodded to him, before turning back to the herd. "We've all got a tough path ahead of us. No doubt about it. But it's nothing we can't handle as one great big Great Valley family! We're gonna help each other grow so we can all become the best dinosaurs we can possibly be! We're gonna be there for each other to help make sure we all can reach our full potential! And we're not gonna give up on anybody! We didn't rest until we made sure our friends were out of that prison, and that's why we're going here, to improve each of our capabilities so when we're ready to rescue our Valley, we'll be able to do it in the safest way possible!"
"Right!" said Cera determinedly. "Once we get to the crater, we can start training to help toughen all of us up! But the training we do here is not about getting a body count and getting yourselves killed in the process! It's about being able to build yourself up so you can keep yourself and everyone you care about safe from harm, so we can all live the lives we want and not have to worry about any stupid bad guys!"
"Oh yes yes yes!" Ducky agreed. "But while we may have to work hard in our herd, we will be sure to have lots of fun too, we will! We wanna play lots of games in our new home, and leave plenty of time for singing, hugging and loving! We are really like a great big family here, and so we should celebrate our love and friendship whenever we can and really spend time to appreciate everyone, just as we would back home!"
"You right!" Petrie declared. "We all on journey to grow together, and while growing may be scary, we've all got each other to lift us all up! We all go to new heights as big herd, far beyond what even we flyers can see in the sky! And who knows what we all gonna do next! We only find out through what we do together! What you think, Spike?"
Spike nodded, and clearing his throat, he answered, "Herd … all … together!"
Those three simple words was all it took for the entire herd to erupt into an enormous bout of cheering. They were really all in this together, no matter who they were or where they came from. All that mattered now was that they were all part of a massive team together, and that with all of their combined energy and determination, anything was truly possible.
Then as the hubbub finally died down, Ruby beamed at them friendlily. "Before we end this herd meeting, why don't we celebrate the heroism of some of our friends, induct some new members to our team … And celebrate the addition of a new herd leader?"
An excited murmuring occurred upon this pronouncement, for everyone was excited to hear about the feats of heroism from their herdmates and see them be justly credited for their role in the rescue. And while everyone had at least a good idea as to who their new herd leader would be, they couldn't wait to witness his well-deserved moment as he formally went from prisoner to leader.
"All right!" Ducky exclaimed as she walked to the center of the circle. "Can Azul, Lena, Kiri, Loph, Clive, Delphine, Day, Hyp, Mutt, Nod, Ann, Dispo, Rana, Weald, Ceph and Halle all come to the middle please?"
So Ducky's nestmates and Hyp's gang all walked over to face her. Ducky could only imagine how her siblings would feel, after having heard about so many of her exploits over the cold times, finally having the chance to be celebrated for an exploit of their own. And Hyp and his friends, always feeling ignored and undervalued by the elders, couldn't help but beam at Ducky as they reflected on how far they had come, from poop duty punishees to something much greater …
"So first," Ducky exclaimed. "I would like to congratulate all you guys for your rock throwing! You managed to knock out so many bad guys with your rock throws, without which our friends never could have made it to the Secret Spot! Which thanks to you, the bad guys still do not know about! We would not have been able to perform this rescue without you! We want to thank you all for what you have done, and so we will like to name all of you as heroes of our herd!"
"You mean … We're really heroes?" Mutt asked, as the big group of young dinosaurs all looked at each other in amazement.
"Yep yep yep!" Ducky exclaimed. "And you all really deserve it!"
And so to much fanfare, Ducky went over to hug her siblings one by one, and even Hyp's gang consented to being hugged in this moment of celebration, all looking delighted to actually be called heroes of the herd. Enthralled with this reception, they happily returned to the crowd, Hyp's gang looking less jaded than ever, before Ducky, feeling all warm and happy from congratulating them for their accomplishments, stepped aside to let Petrie take over.
"All right! Stern, Storm, Jett, Windy, May, Tilly, Skyler, Perkins, Curie, Brara, Tricia, Cassia, Mono, Rachelle, Oplax, Perri, Pearl, Garnet, Sam, Destiny, please come up!" Petrie exclaimed.
Tricia's gang beamed at Petrie with delight upon being called forward, while Petrie's young family regarded him with a warm, newfound respect. Never having felt so proud of his siblings, Petrie addressed the next party of rescuers.
"You guys always much better at flying than me," Petrie beamed at his family. "And you really show it last night! How you guys able to work with kids, carry them on your backs and keep them out of danger just amazing!" Then he turned to Tricia's gang. "And you guys! You all drop rocks on so many guards! You break jail so friends can break out! You really just like us when we your age!"
Petrie's siblings fondly smiled at him, not used to hearing him actually complimenting their flying skills considering their normally strained relationship, while Tricia's gang grinned at him, half excited, half deeply flattered, almost as if he had just called them the best dinosaurs in the entire world. "Me think that make all you guys herd heroes too, right?"
And as the audience enthusiastically agreed, Petrie beamed at them. "So yeah, congrats to you, herd heroes!"
Then Petrie went to hug each of them. It was the fondest embrace he had with his siblings in a long time as he really basked in how goodhearted they all really were, while Tricia's gang wrapped their arms and paws around Petrie before he could even react, squeezing him tightly with happy hugs. Feeling just as happy as Ducky to have congratulated members of their herd on a mission well done, Petrie headed back to join his friends before Cera took her turn. Grinning excitedly, she said, "Jada, Light, Keeter, Seth, Gara, Felix, Gabriel, Welbie, Eva, Sheldon, Kendall, Aria, Nessie, Anndi, Emery, Tilden, Candy, Vail, Glenn, Newcomb, Audrey, Chantal, Harmony, Phoenix, Dekker, you're up!"
With warm, humble smiles on their faces, the twenty-five teens walked to the middle, standing in five lines of five as they beamed at their old coach. After the crowd silenced, Cera stepped forward to address them, her eyes sparkling brightly.
"You guys … You're totally amazing, that's what!" Cera said proudly. "To think I didn't want to take you on as my students … I can't believe how rotten wrong I was! You dove right into enemy territory, saved Chomper's pack, stood tough against all those attackers and got all our friends out before their adults even knew what was happening! All while working together as one tough squad, keeping each other safe so none of you got hurt and beating them so badly that you didn't even need to really hurt them! You guys are everything we could've asked for, and I can't be prouder of you! You really showed what our herd is all about!"
As they all grinned back at Cera, Bron stepped forward, a thoughtful look on his face. "May I make a suggestion?" he asked. "Perhaps maybe you should officially make them your herd deputies."
There was a good amount of murmuring to this proposition.
"Our deputies?" Littlefoot asked curiously.
"In other words, your backup leaders," Bron explained. "In case you're not available for some reason. I had a deputy in my old herd who I entrusted my herd to when Shorty and I needed some father-son time. I only wish now that I had appointed more deputies that could've helped him fight all those enemies …" he sighed heavily, before saying, "But just as you all are a team of leaders, it would make sense for you to have a whole team of deputies that you can count on, who can all work together to run the herd in your absence. And who would make more sense as your backup leaders than your fellow founders of the herd, who have grown just as you have from this experience?"
The gang looked at each other thoughtfully, while the teens looked just as surprised about the prospect. "You sure you don't want to be their deputies?" Seth asked respectfully, looking toward the old Circle of Elders.
Mr. Threehorn snorted. "Trust me, as elders, we've done enough lusting for power, and we're not gonna go back to arguing over it now."
"It was our fighting that laid the groundwork for the young tyrant to take over," Pterano agreed, sighing and shaking his head.
"Besides," Mama Swimmer observed. "It would kind of be odd for us to be their deputies, since we also happen to be their parents."
"And with the herd having young leaders, it would make sense for it to have loyal deputies who share their same youthful spirit," agreed Mama Flyer.
"We elders are too set in our ways," agreed Bron. "We can lead our own herds just fine. But we don't want to lay a paw on the big herd that you all managed to create. That's something you made for yourselves, and your idea entirely."
Jada looked at Tricia's gang. "What about you guys?"
"Pfft!" Tricia laughed. "We're just kids! I mean, it would be awesome to be their deputies, but we're way too young!"
"We may get into trouble, but we're not ready to help lead a herd!" snickered Sam.
"And you guys are almost as cool as they are," Mono agreed. "You'd be awesome as their backups!"
"Maybe when we're a little older, we can be deputies too," Oplax suggested. "But we're too young and small for that kind of thing yet!"
"Yeah, not to mention they're our heroes!" cooed Perri.
"Yeah, we'd probably go a little crazy, always having to look up to them!" Rachelle laughed.
"Both figuratively and literally!" agreed Pearl as they all snickered.
Nodding in understanding, Keeter turned to Hyp and his friends. "What about you guys?"
Hyp snorted. "Nah, we don't wanna be their backups! We'd much rather do things our way, for while we're happy to be part of the team, we're only here because we wanna be," he said, playfully glaring at the gang. "You guys may be bigger than us now, but you'll always be hatchlings to us!"
Littlefoot chuckled, "No arguments there, Hyp. We wouldn't have it any other way."
"But if we're hatchlings, then that makes you fossils, right?" Cera teased to many snickers.
"Uh, Hyp, what's a fossil?" Mutt asked.
Hyp shook his head. "It's something that only babies would call us!"
"We may be their friends now," Ann chuckled. "But we're not really the type to be their backups."
"Yeah, it's obvious Cera actually likes you guys," Weald teased as Cera snorted warningly. "No way we'd put up with her bossiness!"
"Yeah!" Rana agreed. "You guys already proved you can work with them. We'd rather just hang back and help in our way, rather than get into fights with them."
"Besides," Dispo agreed deviously. "Herd leading's boring, and you don't want to see what kind of trouble I'd get up to if I'm bored."
"Oh no no no," Ducky giggled. "You have had enough spiky flowers."
"We not wanna go there again," Petrie agreed to more laughs.
So seeing that everyone seemed open to the concept, Littlefoot asked, "All right then, is everyone okay with having these guys as our deputies?"
The muttering was a consensus in the affirmative, so Cera strode forward to stand right in front of the teens, who once again prostrated themselves before her as a big group, all smiling broadly. Sighing in an attempt to regain her cool and hide how proud she was feeling of her former proteges, she said, "Well, someone's gotta induct you guys as our deputies, I suppose."
The teens however knew Cera well enough by now to have no problem seeing when she was trying to cover her true emotions. "Admit it Cera," Gara teased. "You know you really want to hug us again."
"Shut up," Cera growled to the younger spikeneck, but there was no disguising the smile on her face as she went around, placing her paw on each of the teens' shoulders and inducting them as their herd deputies, embracing each of them with bearhugs every time she had finished.
As the teens took their place back in the crowd to more enthusiastic cheering, tears of happiness running down their faces, the gang looked at each other in delight. It felt so good celebrating the accomplishments of their teammates rather than performing the actual feats of heroism for once, and indeed, the looks on their team's faces showed that they all deeply relished the special appreciation that they had gotten in this celebration. Now they only had one part of their herd meeting left to complete.
"Well, now we've got to welcome our new herd members," Littlefoot beamed warmly, quieting the crowd, stepping forward to take his place as the lead inductor. "Halle, why don't you come up first?"
Ceph's girlfriend strode up, and without even being prompted, prostrated herself in front of Littlefoot.
"I didn't want to have to renounce myself," she explained. "But Ceph told me it was the only way for me to get past the bad guys. And well, he was right! And I've been waiting in the shadows, biding my time until I knew I can help you."
"You don't have to apologize," Littlefoot smiled, putting his big toe on her shoulder. "We're just glad to have you on the team."
"And it was great how you found that spot to knock out all those bad guys!" Ducky happily added.
"So welcome to the herd, Halle," Littlefoot beamed. "Ready for the song?"
And the herd erupted into a chorus of their welcoming song before Halle went to hug the six herd leaders.
"Cam, Mia, why don't you go next?" Littlefoot asked invitingly.
With tearful smiles on their faces, the gang's old nemeses happily took their place in front of Littlefoot as they prostrated themselves on the rocky floor, excitedly looking at Littlefoot as well as each other.
"Wanna say anything before we welcome you two in?" Littlefoot asked gently.
"Yes!" Cam exclaimed vigorously. "We're sorry for everything we've done to hurt you guys," she said, before heaving a big sigh. "You too Clubtails for what we tried to do to your eggs. But know this, we're done being bad and tricked by eggstealers! Just watch, we're finally gonna prove ourselves to be great friends and loyal herdmates! We're Valley girls forever!"
"You said it, Cam!" Mia grinned at her best friend, before sighing. "I'm just as sorry for all the crap I've pulled, even sorrier considering I'm the one who started it, Cam was just following along. But I'm not going to let that regret eat at me." Turning to the two dinosaurs whose actions she had hurt most directly, she sighed, "Chomper, Cera, I want you guys to help induct me since you're the ones I've hurt most badly."
"It's okay Mia, really," Chomper reassured her. "You more than made up for it when you fed me that carcass! I'd have gone crazy if I literally had nothing to eat in there!"
"And I know you're just teasing about Littlefoot, you big flirt," Cera smirked at her. "You know better than to go after him now that I'm around."
Mia couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else, before sighing, "Yes … But induct us anyway. To show we're really serious about making a new start. After all, that's what this herd is all about, right?"
"Oh yes yes yes!" Ducky exclaimed, and so looking extremely grateful, Cam and Mia happily nodded toward their new herd leaders.
"Can we hug all you guys too?" Cam asked eagerly, seemingly oblivious as to her large size.
"Sure if you want, but instead of you hugging Petrie and me, maybe you should let me and Petrie do the hugging," Ruby answered, looking at Cam's pillar-like legs.
"Yeah! You longnecks a little big to hug us!" Petrie agreed.
"But the rest of us are tough enough for you to hug!" Cera added as Cam giggled with a big, hearty laugh.
"Right then," Chomper said, bending down and placing a claw on Cam. "Whoops, I just realized … I'm not inducted yet! I can't do the honors!"
"Don't worry, I've got you covered," Cera smirked evilly. "These two need a threehorn's touch to make sure they stay on the right path. Right?"
Giggling, Cam and Mia nodded, smirking at each other. "We'll do whatever you say, Amazing Threehorn Lady," Mia answered as Anndi and Candy burst out laughing with Mia's use of their cheeky nickname.
"Stop," Cera snorted, before she strolled over to Cam's shoulder and inducted her into the herd, before doing the same with Mia. "Welcome to our Great Valley family, you two," Cera smirked.
And as they both hugged Cera in delight before moving on to the others, the herd gave them a rousing song and cheers before Cam and Mia took their place back in the crowd.
Littlefoot then nodded to his cousin and adoptive brother. "Ali, Shorty, you ready for your inductions!"
The contrast in the two longnecks' demeanors was plainly apparent. While Ali's head was humbly held high as she grinned at all her new herdmates watching her, Shorty, while managing to suppress any anger he might be feeling, was still looking distinctly dejected and downcast. Littlefoot hoped by bringing the two up together, that the crowd would be less likely to pay attention to Shorty's less enthusiastic mood, that Ali's presence might be able to soothe whatever he was feeling, and knowing how insecure Shorty tended to get, would allow Littlefoot a way to boost Shorty's ego without making it obvious of his intentions.
"Everyone," Littlefoot introduced. "These are two of our oldest friends, both of whom have gone on adventures with us ever since we were kids! Ali here helped take us to the Land of Mists, where we had to get past a bellydragger and sharpbeak to find the Night Flower so we could save my grandfather! And we actually met my brother Shorty at the very place we're going to now! Even as a kid, he was a champion tail-swatter who used his tail to fling rocks at bad guys, tripping them up! And he had the nerve to get right under a bad guy's foot and trip him up, helping save a grownup with his actions!"
"And now that they're big, you're gonna see that they're gonna be even more awesome!" Cera cheered.
This had the immediate desired effect of causing the new kids to look at Ali and Shorty in wonder, causing many of them to whoop, holler and cheer in admiration. Deeply flattered, Ali giggled modestly, but it was Shorty whose response Littlefoot was most concerned about. It was then that the two finally made eye contact. Littlefoot saw that a small smile had crept across Shorty's face, and he knew that his brother appreciated the gesture to share his accomplishments with their herd, and from the slightly melting expression, Littlefoot could tell that Shorty really appreciated his effort and that it wasn't him that was causing Shorty to seem so downcast. Yet all the same, something still seemed to be troubling Shorty inside, for he didn't look entirely enthusiastic. Littlefoot sighed to himself. His hunch was correct in that Shorty didn't want everyone to know something was bothering him, yet at the same time, it would be extremely difficult to try to find a time when he and Shorty could have a sufficient moment of privacy without drawing attention to it. Perhaps when they would get to the crater and they could all spread out, he could get a chance to talk to his brother and see what was troubling him.
"So guys, you wanna say something before we welcome you in?" Littlefoot asked friendlily.
Ali nodded enthusiastically. "I just want to say … This is what I've always wanted," she beamed at Littlefoot. "I thought I had to make the choice of staying with my family or my friends … But now, it's not an either or, but it's a both! We can all be family and friends now, and we actually can live together today! And now that we are … I wouldn't have it for anything in the world."
So Littlefoot placed his paw above Ali's shoulder. "So Ali, are you ready to join our Great Valley family?"
"Of course!" Ali exclaimed happily to cheers as Littlefoot put his paw down. "Then welcome to our Great Valley family, Ali!"
So to great hubbub and enthusiasm, Ali hugged Littlefoot before going to hug Cera, Ducky and Spike, while Petrie and Ruby went to hug her.
Then Littlefoot turned to Shorty. "Shorty, you wanna say anything?"
"Yeah, um …" Shorty said nervously, but Littlefoot smiled at him encouragingly, making him feel a little better. "I just wanna say, thank you guys. Thank you for getting me out of that prison. And I'm not gonna fail anyone here. I've been through loads here in the Mysterious Beyond, and I'm gonna help you kids get tough enough to face any stupid sharptooth … Er, I mean, bad guys," he quickly clarified, seeing Littlefoot gently shaking his head. "Yeah, I'll do whatever I can to help out."
As Littlefoot beamed at him, he went over and affectionately put his paw on his brother's very tall shoulder. "You ready to become a part of our Great Valley family, Shorty?"
"You bet," Shorty said, smiling at Littlefoot.
Littlefoot beamed at his foster brother. "Then welcome to our Great Valley family, Shorty!"
And as the song went on in earnest, Littlefoot felt Shorty give him a massive squeezing hug. Seeing his chance through the noise, Littlefoot lifted his head right up to Shorty's ear and whispered, "I'll always be there for you, big brother. Come talk to me whenever you feel like it."
"Thanks," Shorty whispered back warmly, causing Littlefoot to feel much better. Whatever was nagging at Shorty wouldn't be completely impossible to solve as long as they could work through it together.
And with that, everybody watched with anticipation, for there was only one dinosaur left to be inducted into the herd. While Shorty made his way back to the crowd, Ali surprised most of the herd when she made a sudden request. "Kids, why don't you come over and sit beside me while I tell you something."
Surprised, while Tricia's gang and many of the Valleydweller kids had no problem approaching her, the new kids approached her tentatively as she sat down and waited for them to come closer. Once they all came, she lowered her head and began to speak softly to them.
"When I was your age, or even littler," Ali began, "I lived in a herd a lot like yours growing up. True, we did not have beat-downs or practice hatred. But we were a migrating herd that always struggled to survive, and we were also strictly segregated, with not even other kinds of longnecks being allowed to join. I was the only kid for much of the time, and I always wanted to have friends my own age. The thing is however … Because I had never really gotten to know anyone who wasn't a longneck, I was afraid of them … Even if they were just trying to be friendly with me."
As the kids looked at her, she continued. "It's okay to be afraid. But it's also important to realize when someone means you no harm. I didn't really understand that … Until I first met Littlefoot here," she said, beaming at him. "He was the first real friend I ever made. Yet at the same time, he had four other friends … Four fire-forged friends who he had been in the thick and thin with. Four friends who were much closer to him than I'll ever be. I refused to accept it at first. I kept telling myself that there was something wrong with him, that if I could just get him away from his so-called friends, he would open his eyes and see that he belonged with us, with other longnecks. Not to mention I was scared of them. I thought just because they looked different from me, that they'd want to hurt me."
Everyone stared, for Ali had never been this open and candid about her own past before. The new kids meanwhile, stared at her with rapt attention, for she was relating with them in a way that no one else really could.
"It was only when I needed their help that I found that despite how badly I treated them, that Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Cera all really were true friends," she smiled warmly at them. "They may not have been longnecks like Littlefoot and I. But they all had warm, pure hearts, and would do anything to help each other. When I saw how concerned they were for Littlefoot, I finally began to understand. Even Cera, who really didn't like me for a bit," she grinned sheepishly. "But it was only when I helped Cera escape from a bellydragger … And found that she too was willing to be my friend, even after everything I've done to her … That I really began to change for the better."
Sniffling a little, Ali explained, "Friendship can be found anywhere, as long as both dinosaurs can open their hearts to one another. And in that fateful time, I made my first five friends … Whose friendship still remains unbreakable, and was the seedling that first sprouted our herd … And I vowed from that day forth never to be prejudiced to anyone again."
As everyone, especially the new kids, hung upon her every word, she continued, "Cold times went by until I saw them again. By that point I had made a new friend, and we had become so close that when I had to pick between him and my old friends, I was forced to side with him. But I really wanted all of us to be friends, and hoped that he would let go of his own fear so we can all play together. Eventually, he let go of his fear just like I did, and we had a bit of time where we all got to play as friends. But I too learned something else that day from my old friends. Something that built upon the first lesson they taught me, but took it to a whole new level."
Sighing, Ali looked at the new kids and explained, "I am sure each of you have had horrible experiences with sharptooth attacks. I have lost both my father and my friend to them. But what if I were to tell you that there was a sharptooth who would never hurt any of you? A sharptooth with the kindest, gentlest, most caring heart possible?"
As the kids stared, Ali smiled. "I wouldn't have believed it either. But there really is one sharptooth who's always been like that. One hatched by our herd leaders who raised him with love from his first moments. A sharptooth who managed to remain friends with them, even after cold times of separation, and just as a kid stood up for them against a great big sharptooth. A sharptooth who has lived in the Great Valley ever since his fifth cold time, choosing to endure life in a leafeater-only paradise just because he wanted to be with his old friends? A sharptooth who has always stuck by our leaders' sides, doing the impossible with them ever since they were kids? A sharptooth who has endured constant mistrust, bigotry, and even violence from leafeaters who refuse to see who he is ever since? And yet through it all, he has never hurt a single leafeater who didn't want to hurt him, and even when he has been forced to act, he feels constant remorse over his actions?"
There was a long, profound silence following Ali's questions before she continued, "What if I were to tell you that that friendly sharptooth is right among us? And that it would only be fitting to have him working right alongside his closest friends to help them, just as he always has?"
Uncertainly, Chomper felt all the eyes on him as he stood, feeling paralyzed from the chill he felt in his feet. However, he heard two very soft, gentle roars to him, endlessly warm but also filled with great pride.
"Go on, son."
"It's time to join your friends on their journey."
So very slowly, Chomper nodded and walked over to Ali. Proving he could control his sharptooth instincts hadn't been a challenge for a long time, but it was still unnerving to see all these eyes upon him, especially from the new kids, some of whom understandably still looked quite suspicious. But now was his chance to remove any of those doubts once and for all and prove that friendly sharpteeth really did exist to leafeater kids who've been constantly told otherwise.
"Okay everyone," Ali said gently. "I know some of you may be scared about having a sharptooth herd leader. But now is the time for you to let go of your fear just as I have. Before we get going, every one of you is going to ride on Chomper's head as he walks around the circle. Chomper will be able to smell each of you as you'll all be by his sniffer. But I promise that he will not hurt any of you, and that each of you will be safe from the moment I put you on his head to when he lets you back on the ground right back where you started. We will go ten at a time. Any volunteers?"
Ali of course, intentionally brought all of the kids out to her, and just as she had hoped, Tricia's gang immediately volunteered to go first. As the new kids breathlessly watched and gasped at the sight of their peers willingly clamoring to get onto a sharptooth's nose, many of them couldn't help but shudder and close their eyes in horror, not wanting to watch the moment that the sharptooth might turn on them and have them for lunch. But Chomper, though nervous from the pressure, was feeling excited. He was ready to vindicate himself once and for all.
And as everyone watched, Chomper slowly began to make his way around the circle, making sure to keep a slow, steady gait to prevent both his injured legs giving way and the kids from falling off his nose. But all the while, he heard Tricia's gang's whispers encouraging him.
"Great job, Chomper!" Destiny cheered.
"You're doing great!" Garnet agreed.
"You're gonna pass the test, I just know it!" Sam smiled.
"Yeah, because you're just awesome!" Pearl grinned.
And after what seemed like a good while, Chomper managed to make his way around and deliver Tricia's gang back to the other kids. "We love you Chomper!" they all shouted, before giving him big hugs on his head wherever they could reach. Chomper grinned at them, for they gave him just the boost of confidence he needed.
Deya, Nyko and Chuss, already doing their best to help calm their fellow kids by sitting beside them and not showing the slightest interest in smelling them, volunteered to go next, along with Cricket, Dinah, Dana, Ducky's three other little siblings and older Valleydweller kid Spring. It was a slightly more distracting walk since Chomper didn't know their smells quite as well as Tricia's gang, but he was still able to get them around with no problem, and the ten kids happily returned, joining Tricia's gang in happily cheering for him. Chomper grinned excitedly. He was all warmed up and ready to go now.
So again and again, Chomper continued walking the kids around the circle. The next round of kids who volunteered were all Valleydwellers, but the fourth time around, he began to get some of the new kids on board. To his surprise, he began feeling a little uncomfortable, especially with the sixth group, the first one of which was made up of only the regime's defectors. But as he thought about it, he realized that he was not fighting the urge to eat them. Instead, his discomfort was one of fear, for the clubtails, spiketails, threehorns, and longnecks smelled vaguely of their relatives manning the prison guard, while all the twofooter kids smelled like their brothers and sisters who had been attacking him and his friends, and in the case of the spikethumbs and long-crests, their parents.
"I'm a little afraid of these guys," Chomper thought as he unloaded the seventh load of kids and picked up the eighth. "It's understandable, after all that happened to me back in the Valley. But Ali's right. Just as they've got to open up their hearts to me, I've got to open my hearts up to them. It's not these guys who wanted to kill me. They're just nice kids, and I've gotta remember that, no matter what they smell like."
As he made it halfway around the eighth lap, Chomper asked the kids on his head, "You guys doing all right?"
"I guess so," one of them said.
"You're really not gonna hurt us?" another one asked.
"Nope," Chomper smiled. "Trust me, you guys are gonna be just fine."
Sensing that they were just as nervous as him made him feel a little more reassured, knowing he was not the only one to be feeling fear in this moment. A small part of him was still on guard, almost expecting one of the kids to suddenly turn traitor on him and attack like some of their brothers and sisters, but by the time he picked up the eleventh load of kids, this fight or flight instinct was starting to subside.
At last, he managed to haul the last group of kids around the circle and lowered his head to let them off to tumultuous cheers. He had done it, he had managed to prove to his herd that he could completely control his sharptooth instincts and make it possible for him, his parents, and his pack to fully become a part of their herd. But rather than revel in this moment of victory, Chomper wanted to talk to the kids directly, and lowering his head to them once the noise began to die down, he began to softly speak to them.
"I know a lot of you were scared," Chomper told them sympathetically. "But you know what? I was scared too. I can smell a lot of your family members on you, family members who tried to kill me. But I know you guys aren't like that. You're just friendly, nice kids who want to be loved, just like I'm a friendly sharptooth who'll never hurt any of you. It's hard to trust when our instincts are telling us otherwise. But together, we can all work on controlling them and learn to get over our fear so we can trust each other like true friends should."
Chomper grinned at them, doing his best to show as much smile and few teeth as possible so as not to intimidate them. The kids' expressions were hard to read at first. But at last, they slowly began to smile back at him.
"Wow!" said little threehorn Hayley. "You really are a friendly sharptooth!"
"You're not like any sharptooth we've known!" exclaimed swimmer Serena.
"You're never going to hurt us!" agreed boxhead Copper.
"And you deserve to help lead our herd!" added hollowhorn Aspen.
Chomper beamed as he realized he was finally gaining the trust of the new kids, who began to gather around his mouth and hug him all over, a feeling of deep satisfaction inside. He had forever changed the beliefs of his young herdmates, all of whom had good reason not to trust him, powerfully reinforcing the trust and unity that defined their herd. And he had proven that in fact, sharpteeth and flatteeth, if they all put their hearts to it, really could live together as friends in one herd …
"All right everyone, who's ready to welcome Chomper as a herd leader?" Littlefoot asked friendlily, and Chomper grinned at all the smiling faces cheering for him, his pack throwing their little arms up into the air in gleeful triumph, his parents purring proudly at him, and of course, his best friends, beaming at him broadly, awaiting the moment when he would finally rejoin their team …
"Come here, Chomper," Littlefoot warmly told him.
So smiling humbly, Chomper prostrated himself before his longneck friend. Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Ruby stepped out along Littlefoot's side to take their places facing him. Along his sides, Chomper felt the teens step out of the circle, each holding one of their paws and hands above him, all the way down his body. As Littlefoot grinned at him, his chocolatey brown eyes sparkling in delight, he asked, "Is there anything you'd like to say before becoming a leader of our herd?"
"Yeah, there is," Chomper smiled. "I can't say it as prettily as Ali … But I promise here and now that I'll never hurt any one of you. You're all my family, and I'll never forget that. I won't ever let power corrupt me, like it did Red Claw or Sharptooth. I'm going to always be your devoted friend, and though I might get older, bigger, and tougher, I am never going to stray from any of your sides. Because just like my pack, I am a friendly sharptooth, and that will never change."
And as he felt a warm peace in his heart upon making this vow to his herd, Chomper felt the loving, excited paws and hands of the teens touch his back, before Littlefoot strode over and placed a paw on his shoulder. Smiling proudly down upon him, Littlefoot said in a both very warm and very clear voice, "Welcome to our Great Valley family, Herd Leader Chomper."
And Chomper couldn't help but to bare all his teeth in a delighted grin as the teens began to lead the crowd in an overwhelming tumult of celebration all around him, hearing what he knew were hundreds of enthusiastic whoops, screams, and hollers. But as the noise started to slip into the first song that was ever sung to him, sounding more wonderful than he could possibly have imagined, there was only one thing that could possibly be on his mind.
His friends.
And as the tears started falling down his cheek, he pressed his big head next to Littlefoot's shoulder, who wrapped him with both a paw stroking his back and the warm caress of his neck. Cera followed suit, giving Chomper a big hug to his legs nearly knocking him off balance. Ducky then reached down to help him get up, before throwing her arms around him and the two of them shared a cheek rub. Petrie followed, diving toward Chomper's head and clamping it shut as he wrapped his entire wingspan around him. He bent down to let Spike both give him a cheek rub and throw a paw around his back. Then he stared into the bright eyes of his old caretaker, lovingly placing her hands on his cheeks as they shared an affectionate nuzzle.
Chomper stood back up as they all stared in disbelief, all of them grinning back at him excitedly as his heart began to race with joyous anticipation. He was really part of the gang once again, and all ready to join them on their next adventure together. And with all these other friends around him, he felt his inner twoclaw roaring in hopeful determination. He was going to do everything in his power to join his old friends in making their herd the best that it could possibly be. He was not sure what that ultimately entailed of course. But together in this world of endless possibilities, he knew that they would soon find out, one step at a time.
