Welcome back everyone! A couple quick notes, special thanks to Ryan6783 for some ideas with the chapter as well as the chapter name, and Zee Docking for writing the bulk of a couple of the comedy sequences, as well as to everyone for reading this far, especially favs/followers/revs/PMers. Keep the feedback coming, it's my writing lifeblood! Land Before Time belongs to Universal.
Chapter 37 – A Herd Works Together
As they continued to head south, Littlefoot and his friends could hardly believe how smoothly their latest journey was going. Despite the responsibility of having to lead what was in essence the remnants of their old community along with a sizable number of newcomers and having to worry about both a flattooth regime and a sharptooth pack bent on their destruction, they had encountered remarkably little trouble thus far and been able to steadily proceed onward.
One of the immediate fears the gang had about this journey was that with such a huge number of dinosaurs in their party, they may inadvertently leave someone behind in the perilous Mysterious Beyond. However, to their relief, they found that preventing this turned out to be a surprisingly easy process. Every now and then, they took a quick rest break, during which time they would make sure everyone was still present. The old herd leaders like Bron, Topps, Mama Spiketail and Ruby's parents took the headcounts of their herdmates, while other members of the Circle of Elders like Mama Swimmer, Mama Flyer, Pterano and Mr. Thicknose counted the remaining adults, with Mr. Spikethumb, being an especially skilled counter, double-checking all the headcounts to make sure no one was missing.
The younger kids meanwhile continued to get into their lines of ten, and working together, the new herd deputies assumed responsibility over the task of shepherding them all to a big enough space and then proceeding to count them. While all the kids had soon gotten good at lining up, the teens realized that if one of the kids did end up missing, they needed to figure out a way to quickly determine which kid that was. So they decided to start practicing headcounts of smaller groups within the big group of kids. To start with, they would account for the most high-profile kids, including the ten members of Tricia's gang, Ducky's three other little siblings, Dinah and Dana, the three fast biters, and Cricket. Then they would start counting the remaining seven flatheads, six boxheads, eight giant boxheads, six whiptails, four onehorns, fifteen threehorns, six clubtails, four shieldbacks, thirteen spiketails, sixteen round-crests, nine tall-crests, ten long-crests, seven bigmouths, seven swimmers, three boneheads and three spikethumbs. By quickly figuring out who the missing hatchling was, they could swiftly launch rescue parties to find them. And while no kid had gotten lost yet, it was important to know what to do in the event such an incident did strike.
One time as the kids were shuffling to get into formation, Petrie suddenly came up with an idea.
"Hey … Me just realize, we have 143 kids, right? Maybe instead of lines of ten, we can have lines of eleven! That way, we have perfect number, thirteen lines and eleven rows!"
"Sure, let's try it!" Chomper exclaimed, delighted with the idea, for under the old setup, the remainder of three meant that the little biters had always stood in a line on their own.
And so just like that, the kids reshuffled so that thirteen lines of eleven kids stood before them, making the headcount of 143 remarkably easy with equal rows and columns. Chomper beamed, loving to see his biters seamlessly standing alongside the flattooth kids, not showing the slightest hint of hunger towards them. They truly had complete control of their instincts as they loyally looked at him, helped along by the Valleydweller kids' trust of friendly sharpteeth and the new kids being remarkably open to relearning things in their new herd. Still, he was a little nervous when bigmouth Brier, one of the oldest kids in the group, rose her hand, for her tail was right in front of Chuss' mouth.
"Yes Brier?" Ducky asked gently.
"I just wanted to say," Brier said quietly. "Thanks for doing all these headcounts. They really show how much you guys care for us. You're actually even calling us by our names! Our old herd leaders never did that. We were just a number to them."
"Not to mention the rest breaks," hollowhorn Myrtle smiled. "Our old herds never listened to us when we said we were getting tired! They made us keep going no matter what and didn't care how much our feet hurt."
"Yeah," smiled boxhead Savannah. "You really treat us with love and care, and we love that! So much!"
"And we're all still here!" marveled whiptail Cliff. "We may have been the rejects of our old herds, but you're really taking care of us and giving us a chance! We've never gone so long out here without having to run for our lives from sharpteeth!"
"Everyone's just so nice here!" onehorn Woody exclaimed. "I wish my siblings could be here. Maybe they'd learn something from you guys like we have."
Ducky bent down to kneel in front of the rows of kids. "We really mean it when we say we will never abandon any of you guys," she smiled warmly. "You are all part of our Great Valley family now. We may have different bloodlines and have come from different worlds. But we also know you are good inside, and we will give you all the love we can give, yep yep yep!"
"Well, thanks so much!" exclaimed boxhead Tiff. "You're showing us how special of a family you really are!"
"And I'm so happy you're really including us as herd members!" exclaimed threehorn Blossom. "It's so cool to really be part of it!"
"Going into your tunnels was the best choice we ever made!" cheered spiketail Edan to numerous enthusiastic murmurs of agreement.
"And all the kids here are nice, you have no idea how different it is than it was back home!" agreed threehorn Forrest.
"You guys are the best herd leaders ever!" piped up spikethumb Brook to excited nodding from the other kids.
"Thanks guys, it really means a lot. We're new at this so we know we still have a lot to learn, but we're doing our best to ensure we can make this work for everyone," Littlefoot smiled modestly.
"At least we know we're not as bad at this as Hiss Head," Cera snarked to many snickers.
Leigh's old herdmate Almond shuddered. "Trust me. You guys are nothing like Hiss Head. We'd take you over him even if you had fruit for your brains."
"You're doing great!" exclaimed hollowhorn Poppy to happy agreement. "We love you guys so much!"
"Aww thanks," Ducky beamed. "And we will always be there for you, yep yep yep!"
So feeling heartened after the praise and encouragement from the new kids, they resumed their journey with high spirits. As they drew further away from the fire-ravaged lands near the Great Valley, the land became steadily greener, which in turn fueled a corresponding increase of life. Many leafeaters, mostly longnecks or spiketails, were foraging on the small clusters of trees and ferns in the open plains. Still, as they noticed the enormous mixed group of wanderers passing through, they couldn't help but stare and gawk. Not only was the herd massive in both size and diversity, but they were carrying an impressive amount of luggage and even seemed to contain friendly sharpteeth in their midst. It was a sight unlike any of them had ever seen before, as if this group was more of an organized team than a migratory herd.
With all the leafeaters around, it was only natural that sharpteeth were also beginning to show up more frequently. But to the herd's surprise, most of the sharpteeth they encountered were acting remarkably docile. Many of them were merely resting and sunning themselves, often with a carcass nearby, evidently having eaten recently and had their fill for a while. Others watched the herd from a distance, eyeing the huddles of vulnerable hatchlings longingly, but the mere sight of the huge number of larger dinosaurs protecting them was enough to dissuade most of them from drawing any closer. The few who did try to actually stalk them, usually attempting to sneak up on them from the behind, found themselves quickly retreating upon being confronted with the roars of Chomper's parents and the battle-ready tails of Ali's herd, Tippy's herd, and the four clubtails. As tasty as the hatchlings looked, they knew that it wasn't worth dying for and that they would find an easier meal elsewhere. And for each time a sharptooth had been deterred, a chorus of cheers and whoops from the younger kids rang out, amazed to see just how truly tough their new herd was. But even though they had enough power to kill any lone sharptooth they wished, they never stopped to take on any of them. Judging by their nonaggressive natures in the face of such strength, these were plainly sharpteeth who were just looking for something to eat, and not the kind of manic supremacists that bore personal animosity to them like in Goregie's pack.
The closest call to real danger took place shortly after Ruby's parents and their herd decided that it would be a good idea for them to rest up until nightfall so they could be wide awake to keep watch for danger while everyone else was sleeping. So while they went to climb aboard the larger dinosaurs and curl up upon them for their naps, the three little fast biters were left alone to sniff for threats from ahead. Having lived by themselves for so long, they were still not used to moving at the pace of slower, bigger leafeaters, and without the noteeth to warn them, they slowly started to drift away from the rest of the herd as they became wrapped in an engrossing conversation amongst themselves.
Before they knew it, they found themselves out of sight of the rest of the herd, and no sooner did they realize this than two featherhead sharpteeth made a sudden ambush from behind a clump of cycads. The little biters were paralyzed with fear at first as they shrieked with terror, but their nimble, agile movements allowed them to escape the snapping mouths of the featherheads just in time. Still, they felt the hot breaths of the bigger sharpteeth on their tails as they kept on running for their lives ….
Then they heard a rumbling noise drawing closer to them, and looking up, the biter kids felt a huge swell of relief as a large group of fourteen elder threehorns came charging right over to them in a wedge formation, leaving a thick dust cloud in their wake. Having no trouble recognizing these threehorns as their fellow pack members, Deya, Nyko and Chuss hurriedly ran into their midst as the threehorns ground to a halt, guarding the little biters as they glared at the featherheads from within their wedge, who gawked bewilderedly at the scene.
"We've got your back, kids," Elda reassured them as they smiled up at her thankfully, just before Topps began to speak to the featherheads. Even though he knew the sharpteeth couldn't understand a word he was saying, the right attitude would be able to transcend any language barriers.
"Stay away from our biters, you scum!" Topps roared as the little biters grinned in delight.
"We've got you outmatched and outnumbered, so retreat if you know what's good for you!" agreed Marshall.
"You've got two choices, back off or wish you've never been hatched!" added Ric.
"So choose wisely," Topps snorted. "Because you can't handle the full strength of our team."
And as the featherheads felt the ground continue to rumble, they looked up to see that behind the sand clouds was what appeared to be a thick mass of leafeaters, fronted by a group of gigantic longnecks, readying themselves to reinforce the threehorns' already formidable defenses. The two bigger sharpteeth looked at each other. No fast biter meat was worth this amount of trouble.
Without hesitation, the two featherheads sprinted as fast as their legs would carry them as the threehorns lifted their frills defiantly. Once the sharpteeth were far enough, Deya, Nyko and Chuss looked up at their threehorn herdmates sheepishly.
"We'rre sorrry," Nyko sighed. "Wer worn't dor thart agairn."
"We'rre gornna stirck closer tor grroup," said Deya.
"Frrom nowrr orrn," agreed Chuss.
"Good," Shayle smirked. "But not gonna lie, we needed that."
"Right," grinned Trudy. "We haven't gotten the chance to really stretch our legs and kick some tail in a long time."
"It felt great standing up for you kids and showing those bad guys who's boss!" agreed Elda.
"Just like before we found the Great Valley," Topps said fondly, grinning smugly with reminiscence. "It makes me feel young again."
"Don't forget Topsy, we're not here to play Lone Dinosaur," Tria teased.
"Oh, we're not playing anymore!" Topps smirked in delight. "We're tougher now than we've ever been before. Why shouldn't we throw our weight around?"
Cera beamed at her father's old herd as they chuckled with one another. Indeed, each of them looked to be in far better spirits than usual, and she had a good idea as to just why. While they were generally content to remain within the confines of their peaceful Valley, it must have been a major contrast from their past lives constantly braving danger in the Mysterious Beyond and experiencing the thrill of adventure and daring exploits. To relive their youths after all this time, finally getting a chance to release all their pent-up wanderlust feelings and put their combat training into action after remaining idle for so long, must have invigorated them immeasurably, and as her dad said, really made them all feel young again. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of how good this would be for her father's old herd before as they cockily smirked at the retreating featherheads with flashing vigor in their eyes.
Just as everyone got back together however, a smaller one-horned sharptooth appeared on the horizon, looking hungrily at all the hatchlings as it longingly continued to draw nearer. Chomper could see at once how emaciated the sharptooth looked, and knowing that hungry sharpteeth were far more likely to fight to the death no matter the odds, he decided to take matters into his own claws and defuse the situation.
"Let me take care of that one," he suggested. "I'm gonna try talking to him."
"But Chomper, you sure you okay all alone?" Petrie asked as the sharptooth growled longingly.
"Relax, he's a lot littler than me," Chomper answered. "But he looks really hungry, like he's gonna starve. I'm just gonna take a bit of meat so I can try bargaining with him."
"Okay, but just yell for help if there's a problem," Littlefoot said, realizing that this easily could be a trap laid out by Goregie taking advantage of Chomper's kindly, innocent nature.
"Right," Chomper nodded to show he understood, before ripping off a chunk of swimming sharptooth as he approached the smaller sharptooth, who looked bewildered to see the big twoclaw emerge from the group of leafeaters. The sight of Chomper was enough to get the other sharptooth to stop in his tracks, for just by being a giant twoclaw, Chomper was able to tower over him.
"You can't hurt any of those flatteeth. They are my friends, like my pack," Chomper growled warningly. "You try hurting them, you'll have to deal with me. Understand?"
The horned sharptooth said nothing but slowly nodded.
"Good," Chomper said curtly. "I can tell how hungry you are, so I'm gonna offer you a deal. If you promise you won't try hunting us again or tell anyone that you've seen us, I'll give you my meal. Sound good?"
Solemnly, the horned sharptooth nodded, and Chomper could tell he understood the terms. "All right, it's yours," he said, before throwing him the swimming sharptooth chunk. Vigorously, the other sharptooth tore into it while Chomper went back to rejoin the herd, looking back every now and then to make sure the horned sharptooth was still fulfilling his end of the bargain. It felt so good to resolve things diplomatically with fellow sharpteeth, rather than having to resort to fighting all the time …
"All clear," he said brightly as he rejoined the group, who had stood there transfixed, watching his diplomatic skills in amazement.
"Wow Chomper," Dekker marveled, saying what so many of those who never saw Chomper's threatening side in action had been thinking. "You didn't sound like yourself back there!"
"Yeah," Nessie shuddered. "You sounded … Really scary! What did you say to him?"
"I told him to back off," Chomper explained, taking another glance at the sharptooth. "I think he understands. But if he tries coming back to hurt any of you guys, I'm not gonna be so nice next time."
Cera laughed. "Yeah, you really don't wanna get on Chomper's bad side!" she warned.
"I'll say, I'd never have thought you'd be a friendly sharptooth from hearing that!" beamed Eva.
"Oh, he really scary when he need to be. Even as hatchling, he save us all from big plated sharptooth, he bite it tail really hard!" Petrie laughed.
"And he kept me safe from a biter much bigger than he was when the three of us were trapped together, he did!" Ducky agreed.
"Yeah," Chomper smiled. "But even though I may be a big sharptooth now, I don't like hurting anyone if I can help it and only fight if I have to. That's why I had to attack those leafeaters back in the Valley, they wanted to kill my friends and left me with no other choice. But that guy just wanted a meal and promised to never hunt us again, so he's no longer a threat to us."
"So you mean … Sharpteeth only eat what they need to survive?" asked little whiptail Faith.
"And they don't just like killing?" asked spiketail kid Orchid.
"Most sharpteeth aren't heartless killers," Chomper explained, as he looked at his friends apprehensively, who nodded back. They hated to get everyone worried when everything was otherwise going so well, but they knew they had to tell everyone about Goregie sooner or later, for transparency was the best policy when it came to threats that would affect all of them.
He heaved a heavy sigh. "But just as there are some leafeaters who are unusually cruel, there are also sharpteeth who are like that. Sharpteeth who don't just hunt to eat, but hunt because they enjoy it. And I just learned from my parents that we've probably got a sharptooth pack like that on our tails," Chomper explained. "They attack whole leafeater herds for the fun of it, and to them, the more dangerous the herd, the more worthy they are of a challenge. They've already tried attacking a lot of us before, and even tried recruiting my pack and their mom who defied them, so they're bound to want revenge. They're led by a twoclaw my age named Goregie, she's bright red with blue eye whites …"
But he had trailed off, for among the inevitable fear and tension on the faces of the other kids, he had noticed how the expressions on Mono, Rachelle, Oplax and Perri's faces had changed to an even more dramatic degree. The four members of Tricia's gang suddenly looked unusually grave and morose, their young eyes reflecting what seemed to be unspoken horrors in their pasts. "Um … Chomper?" Perri asked delicately.
"Yeah?" Chomper replied, his voice full of concern as he turned to face the little hollowhorn.
"Well … The four of us knew Goregie," Perri mumbled darkly. "We were really little back then … But we can still remember her. She and her parents always terrified our families back in our old forest."
"Yeah," Oplax sighed. "They were the scariest sharpteeth around and killed so many dinosaurs that everyone called them the Red Death. She was just a bit younger than we are now back when we knew her, so she wasn't very big yet. But she was still really dangerous, and downright cruel too. She killed one of my cousins by beheading him all by herself. We always lived in fear of her and her parents and were on the lookout for them wherever everywhere they went."
"Those creeps were horrid murderers," Rachelle fumed. "Just as Chomper said, they weren't normal sharpteeth. We've never seen them scavenging dead bodies, they only went after live flatteeth! They always seemed so proud to be hunters and they hunted us like we were their playthings! And they were so darn fast they were impossible to take down! They always won their battles, killing someone whenever they showed their ugly heads!"
"We all had it with those monsters destroying our herds," Mono sighed, shaking his head angrily. "So all the grownups, our birth parents among them, knew that if they wanted to stop them, they had to stand together. They all agreed to form a combined herd of onehorns, threehorns, clubtails, shieldbacks, hollowhorns, bigmouths and noteeth that would graze together for mutual protection and be ready to fight together at a moment's notice whenever they chose to attack."
"The grownups sent us into hiding in a cave while they waited for the sharpteeth to attack," Oplax sighed. "A few of them were in charge of feeding, watering and guarding us, so we were safe, but even though we were really little, we still remember what it was like hiding there, waiting for the big battle to happen."
"We spent so much time together in that cave as we waited for our parents to return," Rachelle added. "Even though we had our own brothers and sisters, the four of us always felt most at home with each other. We spent our days playing together, hoping to take our minds off our fears. And at night, we always cuddled up together, trying to reassure each other that our folks would be all right."
"It seemed to take forever, but at last, the day came when the sharpteeth attacked them," Mono glowered. "Even though there were loads of us and only two of them, a ton of grownups died in that battle. Goregie's mother even brought down one of my toughest aunts. They were able to bring down Goregie's parents in the end, but that fight changed our home forever."
"Yeah, the grownups have never been the same since," Perri mumbled. "Everyone got along peacefully before it all happened. But then everyone started blaming everyone else's kinds for all the friends and family that they had lost. My parents and the other hollowhorns were blamed for not sounding the alarm on time. Mono's and Rachelle's parents and the other onehorns were blamed for missing the sharpteeth with their horn attacks, and their kinds were even fighting with each other over who was to blame. Oppy's parents and the other clubtails were blamed for swinging their tails too slowly. And well … It just kept going."
"Yeah," Oplax sighed despondently. "Eventually they all got so sick of each other they started segregating the forest. But then it turned to whose space was whose, even getting to the point where they'd actually hurt each other. Our folks trusted each other less and less, and it got bad enough that none of our parents would let us play with each other again."
"Which is why we had to leave our families," Rachelle explained. "And made our journey all the way down here … In the hope that we would never be torn apart from each other again."
As the rest of Tricia's gang went over to console their four friends, the gang looked at each other significantly. While they knew the rough story of Mono, Rachelle, Oplax and Perri's pasts and that the four of them chose to run away from their parents because their herds had been fighting, they had no idea it all stemmed from a sharptooth attack caused by the parents of the very sharptooth who was now menacing them. Nor did they fully appreciate just how much the kids' old community resembled their present one, an attempt to build a large, diverse coalition that could stand together against dangerous enemies and dire circumstances. The similarities provided them with a warning of what they had to avoid in running this herd and the stakes if they were to fail, and how important it was to ensure the safety, well-being and satisfaction of every member of their team so that harmony and unity would always be ensured …
Tria then stepped forward and nodded seriously, looking down at the kids. "Cassia's mom and I knew Goregie's parents from our time back there, and can confirm everything you kids have said about them," she sighed. "Like you said, they always seemed to hunt more for the conquest than to actually feed themselves. We threehorns were the biggest leafeaters who lived there, yet they still did not hesitate to attack and succeeded in killing a great many of us. And not only were they very fast and persistent, but they were also, dare I say it, very intelligent. They always seemed to show up just when we were most off our guard so that every time they appeared it was a surprise. I couldn't tell you how many close calls the two of us had, and it's part of the reason why we left that forest to make the journey to the Great Valley."
Sighing, she added, "Towards the end of our time there, we began to see Goregie accompany her parents on their hunts. She had to be only a few cold times old then, an age when most young sharpteeth stay in their nests and are fed by their parents. But she went on hunts with them from a very young age, always sticking very close to her mom. Though young, you could tell she seemed to be a very bloodthirsty child, seeming to idolize her parents, shrieking with vicious joy every time they landed a fatal bite. We all figured then that they were raising her to follow in their footsteps, but if any leafeater so much as took a step too close to their daughter, her parents would slay them in an instant. So you can be sure that now that Goregie has a pack of her own now, she has no doubt raised them to become extremely vicious hunters in the same way her parents raised her, and a force for all of us to reckon with."
The gang looked at each other, surprised to hear all the insight Tria and the four kids had on Goregie, managing to explain her character and the kind of threat she posed far more vividly than they could have from their brief encounters. And hearing the fate of Goregie's parents gave them more food for thought as to the younger sharptooth's motivations …
"She must hate us because we are a combined herd, just like the combined herd that killed her parents," Ruby said thoughtfully. "And a challenge to her ego that needs to be challenged."
Littlefoot nodded. "Which means we've all got to be very careful. Just like Tria said, in the three times we've seen Goregie attack, it was always at the worst possible time for us, so it's up to us to make sure we don't give her another opening. We've got to make sure we don't let ourselves become divided and work out our problems with one another so we will be able to stand together at any given moment."
"That is right, yep yep yep!" Ducky cheered. "We are all friends in our herd, and we always need to remember that. Our friendship, kindness and loyalty to one another has helped keep us together through all of our adventures, and we need to do everything we can to keep those good feelings going so we can all remain good friends."
"Of course, that's not the only way to stay safe," Cera smirked. "If we work on building up our bodies as well as our teamwork, we'd be able to grow so tough that no one will ever mess with us!"
As many of the herd oohed in wonder, young threehorn Aster raised his paw. "You mean like warrior training back with our old herds?" he asked tentatively.
"Kinda, but our training's not about beating each other up or trying to withstand the most pain, it's about building ourselves up so we can be the toughest dinosaurs we can be," Cera explained. "That way, bad guys will never be able to hurt any of us ever again. And we don't believe in painful training. You've gotta take care of your body first or else your heart won't really be in it. Besides, why suffer when you can get just as strong by making training fun?"
"You right about that!" Petrie piped up excitedly, getting an idea as he surveyed the younger kids. "Who here play Toss the Seed?"
And in a split that had become predictable, the Valleydweller kids all eagerly nodded their heads, while the new kids all looked confused, as if they had never heard what Petrie was talking about.
"Swimmer Splasher? Stop the Seed? Rock Rolling?"
The responses were nearly identical for each question asked as the new kids looked more and more curious. Even many of the teens looked up at the gang quizzically, evidently never having heard of these games, such staples of a happy Great Valley childhood, growing up. Perhaps it was an aspect of Great Valley culture and likeminded herds like Ali's or Tippy's that wasn't practiced in the strict, discipline-oriented herds that the new kids came from.
"Don't worry guys, we'll teach you how to play them all!" Chomper grinned excitedly. "We've played these games so many times growing up! They've helped us become the dinosaurs we are today! And they're real easy to play too! My friends had to teach me how when I moved to the Valley, it's not like I had much of a chance to play when I was the only kid around."
"Yeah, but it seemed like we always won when you were on my team," Littlefoot told Chomper admiringly.
"Only because we let you," Cera chortled back to numerous chuckles.
"No matter who wins, playing games is still awesome," Chomper continued. "You can have so much fun doing it! And though it doesn't feel like a workout, you really get to move your body and build up your strength from all that playing! I'd love to start teaching you guys right now, only it's a bit dangerous out here. But once we get to the crater, we can teach you how to play whatever games you want!"
"Of course we don't want to make any of you play if you don't want to, since games are supposed to be fun," Ruby smiled reassuringly. "You should all get to choose if you feel like playing or not. Sometimes, Cera, Spike and I would rather relax in the mud pools."
Spike nodded in agreement, but Cera said, "Hey! I don't miss out on games to play in mud pools. I don't even like them … Well … That much!"
"Yers your dor," hissed Deya teasingly. "Whyr erse your nort therre whern wer hartch?"
"It's just because I had to toughen my skin up," Cera said feebly to many snickers.
"But if you want to go to the crater to try our games yourself, the only way to get to where we're going is to get going," Ruby continued brightly. "So who's ready to continue our journey?"
And as the kids cheered with ravenous excitement, the gang noticed that even Mono, Rachelle, Perri and Oplax had dropped their long faces and were looking like their usual cheerful selves once again. They were truly amazed with how easily all the younger kids, who had the most to fear about the sharptooth pack, managed to pick themselves up after the bad news and returned to such high spirits. This infectious, can-do attitude had served them well on so many adventures, and they couldn't help but feel proud in that they were perhaps modeling this same kind of spirit to the younger children, who certainly seemed to be more upbeat than the social rejects that so many of them had been in their old herds. The thought of how they were impacting these children made them feel all warm and fuzzy as they continued to journey onward, making them feel all the more determined to help them really grow into their full potential.
By afternoon, as they felt the air around them growing steadily more humid, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike couldn't help but knowingly look at each other, with no words even needing to be said to know what each other was thinking. Having gone this way before and having taken the return trip home, they knew what would be coming long before they first heard the hoppers, smelled the stinkweed, or saw the misty skies and moss-covered branches above. This was the swamp that was their first real obstacle on their first journey to the crater and seeing it looming on the horizon reassured them that they were going the right way. Only now, the journey across it would have to be completely different considering they were now leading a massive herd. While most of the teens and adults would have no trouble wading through the shallow swamp regardless of their swimming abilities, they knew all too well the hazards of taking this route, and knew they had to plan accordingly. So once they got just outside the fog, Petrie flew to the front to stop the herd and everyone got together in a huddle for a strategy session.
"Okay everyone," Littlefoot informed the group. "We're coming up upon a big swamp. We've been through here as kids, and while it's not that deep, it could still be dangerous. Anyone who's not very tall, you really should ride on someone else to get across."
"Yep yep yep," Ducky agreed warningly. "There are lots of belly draggers who live in the swamp. They can look like rocks for they can stay real still and hide under the depths, so we must be careful. We do not want anyone to have to meet them, oh no no no."
"Yeah, one almost got me when I strayed away from my grandparents," Littlefoot chuckled sheepishly. "If it wasn't for Sue here, I'd be a goner."
Sue chuckled upon the murmurs of admiration she received. "Aww, it was nothing. When you've got big feet, you might as well make use of them."
"Hmm," Bron said thoughtfully. "Maybe us big longnecks should go through the swamp first. That way, we can stomp on all the belly draggers who come by."
"Yes, but we cannot let you get bitten," Pterano pondered. "Perhaps we flyers can be your spotters to watch for ripples in the water and look for belly draggers coming from above."
"Yeah, and me think we can handle any belly dragger who gets too close," added Petrie.
"Whoa Peeping Petrie, I like your spunk," Brara told her cousin admiringly.
"Since when did you get this brave?" asked Petrie's brother Stern, half-teasingly, half-admiringly.
Petrie gave him a playful stare back. "Me always brave!" he cried in mock indignation to many chuckles. "But really, it not that scary. Me know because we have lots of practice with herd special move, right guys?" Petrie asked the teens.
"Oh yeah, you can say that again!" Newcomb exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Hey Petrie," Tilden asked. "Maybe the six of us can go investigate. See what we're dealing with."
"Yeah, it would be a good warmup for us!" Welbie agreed.
"What'd you think?" Newcomb asked hopefully.
"Sure!" Petrie exclaimed. "Me think that great idea!"
"We'll be listening for your screams in case there's any trouble," teased Petrie's brother Jett.
"No listen to him guys, we be good," Petrie told the flyer teens, before they flew off to investigate the swamp. As they took off, Petrie couldn't help but feel a swell of appreciation as he soared through the skies with his five new friends. Much as he loved his old friends, they couldn't fly like him, meaning flying always got a little lonely, so much so that he still had an imaginary friend to keep him company for those parts of their adventures where he had to go solo. But now with Welbie, Nessie, Tilden, Newcomb and Phoenix at his side, it began to really dawn on him that he was not the only flyer anymore. He could feel that the younger flyers really appreciated the chance to get to fly alongside him, their primary flyer mentor, and how eager they were to share an adventure with him as part of a smaller group. And he knew that with these guys at his side, he would never feel lonely while flying again …
When the six of them descended into the swamp, they found a long tree branch providing a perfect opportunity to survey the water without having to flap their wings. As the branch rocked with their combined weight, they began looking through the mists down at the water. "You see any belly draggers?" Nessie asked tentatively.
"Yeah, there's one right there," said Tilden, pointing to an especially large, oddly ridged rock in the water.
"Great," Phoenix said, with a smirk, flapping his wings. "Then let's …. Aah!"
For Phoenix, being the heaviest flyer of the group, gripped the delicate branch a little too firmly while achieving takeoff, inadvertently causing it to snap off the tree and fall into the water. Hurriedly, Petrie managed to extend his wings out just in time to avoid hitting the water, allowing him to just skim over it with his wings getting only a little wet. Welbie, Nessie, Tilden and Newcomb weren't so lucky however, and fell victim to gravity as they landed with frantic screams, plunging into the water with a big splash.
Then Petrie saw something to make his stomach grow cold. The belly dragger had noticed the downed young flyers and instantly pushed aside the water as it propelled itself right at them. Petrie looked up to see Phoenix look desperately at him, and he knew the two of them had to act quickly to stop a catastrophe.
"Phoenix, you rescue the others!" Petrie said urgently. "Me deal with belly dragger!"
And before even seeing Phoenix nod out of the corner of his eye, Petrie rushed off right toward the swimming belly dragger's face. "You not hurt me friends, belly dragger!" Petrie shouted angrily as he approached.
The belly dragger opened its mouth to try to swallow Petrie whole, but anticipating this, Petrie veered out of the way before swerving back to land right on top of the belly dragger's head. As Petrie worked to claw its eyes out and remain secured on the one place the belly dragger's mouth couldn't reach, he let out a big sigh of relief as he saw that Phoenix with his considerable wing strength had managed to pull Newcomb, Tilden, Nessie and Welbie out, each flyer teen grabbing onto one another's hand to form a chain as Phoenix flew them out to safety on a sturdier branch. As the belly dragger thrashed aggressively, finally forcing Petrie off its head and up into the skies to dodge its repeated bite attempts, he saw the five flyers frantically whispering to one another. His heart swelling in pride upon seeing just how much they had really taken their lessons on teamwork to heart, he knew they had to be coming up with an impromptu plan to stop the belly dragger. All he had to do was to fight off the dampness of his wings to be able to dodge its bites …
"Take that, you big jerk!" Newcomb growled, and looking up, Petrie saw that the five flyers were all grabbing onto a heavy log, their eyes all fixated on the belly dragger. Confused, the belly dragger looked for the source of the noise, but in that moment of hesitation, the flyer teens were able to lob the big log right onto the belly dragger's head, effortlessly knocking it out as it made a big splash in the water.
"Great job guys!" Petrie exclaimed as the flyer team exchanged high-fives with each other in the air.
"Sorry I caused that branch to split," Phoenix said sheepishly.
"It's all right Phoenix," Welbie soothed. "You wouldn't have known that would happen. But you more than made up for it!"
"Yeah, you were awesome in getting us out of there," Newcomb said brightly. "You're really strong to pull us all out like that!"
"Thanks guys," Phoenix smiled, feeling much better as the young flyers shared a group hug.
"You too Petrie … The way you held that belly dragger off!" Nessie added. "That was so brave!"
"You really saved all our lives, again!" Tilden marveled.
"Me happy to help," Petrie grinned. "But really, we all work to beat mean belly dragger together!"
"Yeah!" the young flyers cheered, just as Petrie's young family arrived on the scene.
"What did we miss out on?" May asked.
"We just beat first belly dragger," Petrie explained nonchalantly.
"Without us? That's not fair!" Tilly pouted mockingly.
"You guys really did it all by yourselves?" Jett asked, impressed.
"Yep!" Welbie grinned. "With our rock trick! All you've gotta do is drop something right on the belly dragger's head. That should knock them out."
"We've been practicing rock drops with our teams in training," Newcomb explained brightly. "You can knock bad guys out from the skies without having to fight yourself!"
"That's how we were able to stop all those mean kids from getting their parents," smiled Nessie. "And we're still amazed with how well our move works!"
"We're getting good at this, so maybe we can show you guys just how to do it," Phoenix teased. "That is, if you're able to carry things with your feet like we can."
"What do you mean, if?" teased Stern back.
"If we could airlift Tricia's troop across the whole Great Valley, we'll have no problem with a few rocks," pointed out Skyler.
"Maybe we should make this a game," Brara smirked. "Whoever knocks out most belly draggers wins?"
"Sure, that sounds fun!" laughed Tilden.
And so fortified with the arrival of Petrie's family, the team of young flyers began to scan the swamp for belly draggers.
"Whoa, there's lots of them down here," Curie observed as she looked further down below them, where a plethora of belly draggers were floating with eerie stillness. It was hard to believe that they were actually alive.
"I don't see enough stuff that we can throw at them," agreed Skyler.
"Or how we can beat all of them at once," added Nessie.
"Yeah," Petrie observed. "Maybe we should go back to others for help."
So the flyers returned to the swamp's edge just as everyone else had managed to arrive.
"There so many belly draggers," Petrie explained. "We have real hard time getting across, and we don't see enough logs and rocks to knock them out."
"Heh, well it's a good thing the swamp is loaded with ammo," Hyp said confidently, running to the edge of the swamp, reaching inside, and smirking as he pulled out a big rock. "See? There's loads of rocks at the bottom!"
"Maybe some of us should start collecting rocks for you guys," Emery suggested. "So we'd have them at the ready for you to drop."
"It'll be a breeze," Rana said confidently. "We'll have so many rocks you won't know what to do with them all!"
So soon, Hyp, Mutt, Dispo, Weald, Rana, Ceph, Halle, Kirt, Naz, Emery and Seth started to reach into the swamp to pull out rocks, while Nod and Tuck worked on organizing them into a pile for the flyers to easily pick up, while the young flyers proceeded to launch rock throws at the belly draggers. The older longnecks gave their supplies, as well as Chomper's parents and the resting noteeth, to the older twofooters to watch over before wading into the water, stomping on any belly dragger that the flyers didn't down with their rock drops, while Pterano, Mama Flyer, and Etta kept watch for lurking belly draggers from above and warned whenever one drew too close. This coordinated teamwork prevented the normally swift belly draggers from even having an opportunity to attack, and soon belly draggers were getting knocked out left and right. After a first canvas, the longnecks then began to survey the swamp, making sure any belly draggers who were reawakening remained out cold with quick stomps or tail whips.
Soon after they got started, Chomper turned to the five remaining herd leaders. "I think I'm gonna have to finish off the belly draggers," he sighed. "I don't really wanna kill all of them, but if we want to get everyone across, we can't have them waking up on us. Just one bite of theirs could kill a hatchling. Besides, their bodies can help keep us sharpteeth fed and I can use them to bargain with other sharpteeth we might meet. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out for any sneak attacks, and only bring ashore bodies that I know are dead."
The others nodded in understanding. "Okay, just be careful Chomper," Littlefoot told him cautiously.
Before Chomper could disappear however, he had seen a glimmer in Ducky's eye after eyeing something along the murky water. "Hey … You see all that stinkweed?"
But Cera quickly cut in. "I don't need to see it when I can smell it," she retorted. "But no. We are not getting hot and stinky again."
"I'm with you Cera," Chomper quickly added. "I know you leafeaters don't like that stuff … But you know how bad it smells to sharpteeth? It's like burning our noses!"
"Yep yep yep!" Ducky exclaimed. "Do you not see? If we smell really bad, that would make it impossible for Goregie to track us, it would! We can cover up all the kids with stinkweed … And maybe if there is enough, the entire herd!"
"I think we should try it," Littlefoot pointed out.
"Of course you do," Cera ribbed back.
"Think about it," Littlefoot said. "If you cover yourself with stinkweed, Goregie won't be able to smell you. That's how we would've gotten past those featherheads back then … If the rest of you didn't want to take a bath."
"Who are you to talk, you got into the water too," Cera pointed out.
"Touche," Littlefoot smirked to many chuckles. "Still, I think it's a good idea. Especially for you, Chomper. After all, who'd she want to hurt more than a friendly sharptooth?"
Chomper took in a deep breath. "So you're really asking me, a sharptooth, to cover myself up with stinkweed?"
"Well, yeah," Littlefoot said simply.
Chomper raised his eyebrows. "Have you lost your mind?"
Looking at Cera desperately, he said, "I think he's lost it."
Cera snorted teasingly. "He's lost it the day he hatched. His grandpa once told my dad his egg rolled down a skeleton. He must have hit his head on the way down and been that way ever since."
Littlefoot rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot, Grandpa."
"Of course," Cera smirked. "I wouldn't have you any other way, flathead."
Chomper shook his head. "Don't get mushy, please! I heard being hunted by sharpteeth does that to a dino."
"Really?" Cera snorted, raising her eyebrows.
"If that is true, what about Cera?" Ducky asked.
"Don't ask me," Littlefoot said, chuckling.
Chomper grinned naughtily. "Oh, she's far too gone. She's the only one of us who's actually been drooled on."
"Quiet," Cera grinned mischievously before pushing Chomper into the mud. Then she rounded on Littlefoot, Ducky and Spike.
"All right, was it one of you three or Petrie who told him that?" Cera barked.
"It wasn't any of them," Chomper said as he waded back onto shore.
"Then who …" Cera began, before trailing off as her eyes fixated upon two certain threehorn kids. "Dinah? Dana?" she called out.
Grinning naughtily, the twins emerged. "Did you two tell Chomper that your Auntie Cera was drooled on?"
"Maybe a little story," Dinah simpered.
"A teeny-weeny story," Dana added.
Cera rolled her eyes. "Don't try the cutesy act on me. It never worked, and now you're bigger, that just makes you bigger pests. Now get lost."
Dinah grinned naughtily. "You really wanna tell us that again?"
Cera facepawed. "Ugh … I give up!" she exclaimed as they all burst out laughing.
Watching them in amazement, many of the teens looked at Ruby curiously.
"Have they always acted like that?" Jada asked incredulously.
Ruby chuckled. "You guys have seen them all on their best behavior, but just wait till they start letting their guard down."
"I think I'm seeing what you mean," muttered Chantal to lots of snickers.
"So can we please try the stinkweed out? It might save all our lives," Ducky asked earnestly.
Cera and Chomper looked at each other. "Oh fine, just this once," Cera hissed.
"Do not worry Cera," Ducky said teasingly. "We are not getting hot and stinky this time. We are getting cold and stinky instead!"
"Like that's so much better," Cera rolled her eyes.
Chomper chuckled. "All right. But I'm gonna have to imagine things that smell good, so you don't wanna get too close to my sniffer," he warned to much laughter.
So with everything settled, Chomper strode in the water and began working on decapitating the knocked-out belly draggers. Most of the herd tried to take their eyes off this gruesome task, except for the little biters, who watched their alpha's hunting skills in eager fascination. Meanwhile, Ducky eagerly asked, "So guys, who wants to help me pick some stinkweed?"
"I do," Mutt volunteered innocently.
"No way, I'm not gonna pull you out of the water if you fall," Hyp said warningly.
"What about me?" Dispo asked teasingly.
Hyp rolled his eyes. "You'd just look for spiky flowers again. I know you too well," he growled, to which Dispo guiltily sniggered.
"We probably need good swimmers who can get through the water easily," Ducky suggested, grinning at her siblings encouragingly.
The swimmer siblings were a little apprehensive, but with no belly draggers having been seen for a while, they started coming forward. "We'd love to Ducky," smiled Lena.
"Anything to help keep us safe," agreed Loph.
"We wouldn't wanna smell like stinkweed forever though," snickered Clive.
"Is there a place to swim in our crater?" Delphine asked hopefully.
"Yeah, that'd wash all the stink away!" agreed Azul.
Ducky thought. "There is a big watering hole in the center, and a couple other places," she recalled. "I do not know how deep they are. But they should allow us to get clean, they should!"
Hearing this made the swimmers feel much better, Ducky and her siblings were ready to get to work. To her surprise however, other herd members also volunteered themselves to help.
"You guys need are gonna need some protection while you're picking weeds," Ann said knowingly. "And though you don't see me in it often, I can handle myself in the water just fine."
Ducky looked at Ann in surprise. "I did not know that!" she exclaimed.
"Well, you wouldn't, considering who I hang out with," she grinned at her buddies mischievously. "Apart from maybe Rana and Dispo, most of them sink like rocks."
"Hey, I can swim!" Hyp shot back.
"Really?" Mutt asked innocently. "Then how come we had to pull you out of a tar pit?"
"Why do you think you had to pull me out of a tarpit?" Hyp shouted to many snickers.
And while little Emery and muscular Seth preferred to retrieve rocks than get into the water, Ducky found herself joined by the three other twofooter teens.
"I grew up hiding in the cold, deep water from bad guys and learned how to hold my breath for a good while," Gabriel explained. "So maybe I should scout underneath and make sure nothing's coming at you guys for a sneak attack."
"I haven't had as much swimming experience," confessed Aria. "But I can sure use the practice. Wanna keep watch over them together, Harmony?"
As Harmony happily nodded, Ducky beamed at her team of water-waders around her. "This all sounds really good! You all ready to get started?"
So nodding brightly, the group of young swimmers waded into the water and got to work. Ann gracefully lapped the area to investigate for further threats, while Gabriel dove underneath to make sure no bloodsuckers, belly draggers, swimming sharpteeth or anything else wouldn't attack from the swamp's murky floor. Harmony and Aria stood on either side of Ducky and her siblings, who were lined up at the swamp's edge, collecting the stinkweed that grew at the water's edge and just outside of it. Before long, they had gathered several handfuls of the stinky plant. Looking at Ducky for advice as to what to do next, she explained. "Oh yes, we have to get the stinkweed wet so that it will stick to everyone."
So together, the group continued to gather the clumps of stinkweed. There seemed to be an endless supply, so much so that even after the flyers, longnecks and Chomper had finished taking care of all the belly draggers, there still was plenty of stinkweed to collect. Seeing this, the flyers and rock gatherers switched to the task of cloaking each hatchling with a protective coat of stinkweed, as did Ruby whose nimble hands made her an ideal choice for this. While many made complaints about the smell, they understood that it was for their own safety and did not object too much. The longnecks meanwhile, had begun to carry the supplies, Ruby's parents' sleeping herd, and Chomper's parents, across the swamp, accompanied by the twofooter elders charged with guarding their inventory, all of whom also had large stinkweed coatings draped over them. Once this was done, the longnecks themselves would be draped with large masses of stinkweed before they would let groups of children board their backs to ferry them across the swamp. While they were obviously too large for stinkweed drapings to physically hide them, the hope was to mask their smell enough so Goregie's pack would no longer be able to tail them.
Meanwhile, while most of the remaining adults formed a protective semicircle around the younger and smaller dinosaurs to keep watch for enemies, Littlefoot, Cera and Spike oversaw the scene around them. Everything was going well, and there even appeared to be enough stinkweed to drape over everyone. Yet they did not feel right standing idly by, thinking there had to be something else they could do … And then it came to them.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Cera asked as Spike knowingly licked his lips in assent.
Littlefoot nodded. "Yeah, you're right! There's plenty of trees around here, and we can never have too many of those. We might as well stock up. That is, if we have room to carry any more."
"Psst … You called?" came a voice.
Whirling around, Littlefoot saw Mia's head outstretched toward them, with Ali, Shorty and Cam by her side. "Couldn't help overhearing," Mia chuckled. "But we're all feeling much better now."
"Yeah, we don't have to ride on anyone anymore," Ali pointed out brightly. "So not only will our rides' backs be free, but so will ours. We can carry our share too."
"Especially you, Shorty. You can carry plenty with that buff bod, right?" Cam asked cheekily.
"Uh … Yeah!" Shorty said brightly.
"Great," Littlefoot said warmly, nodding reassuringly to Shorty.
"We can help too," came another voice, and beaming, Littlefoot saw Felix smile up at them, and that all the other fourfooter teens were present, all looking eager to help.
"Hey, don't forget about us!" added Tippy, with Sophie, Monty, Karla, Calem, Gaven, Veno and Len also nodding brightly.
Littlefoot beamed. "Great! I know we all can get a lot of trees down together."
And enthusiastically, each of the young fourfooters got to work at the outskirts of the swamp. The trees, not frequented by many leafeaters and seldom subject to fires, were old, branchy, and thick and took a good deal of effort to knock down. But this was nothing their team couldn't handle, for they had a variety of knockdown techniques at their disposal. The sheer strength of most of the longnecks and in some cases some of the other bulky fourfooters like Cera, Monty and Veno was enough to dislodge some of the trees right from their stumps just from pressing their paws down, sending the trees into the swampy waters, which were easily picked up and lifted over by the longnecks back onto dry land. Shorty in particular was a real pro at this, his extremely heavy paw instantly splitting most trees off their stumps with loud cracks as he watched the trees roll down into the swamp, putting him in a much better mood. For the more stubborn trees, the clubs on the tails of Veno, Audrey and Anndi, the spikes on the tails of Spike, Sophie, Tippy, Light and Eva, the sides of Light, Eva, Dekker and Candy, and the necks of Jada and Gara, as well as the horns on most of the frilled dinosaurs, were able to drill holes into the bark, making it much easier to press down on the tree to extract it. Kendall meanwhile helped gather all the fallen trees together, making it easier for the longnecks to pick up the log piles with one grab of the tail. In what seemed like no time, they had managed to collect a good hundred trees or so, which they knew would leave them that much better stocked for the crater.
While all this was going on, the remaining elders formed a protective circle around all the children while the longnecks and twofooters were busy getting the supplies across. Most of the kids had already covered themselves with stinkweed, but among those who still hadn't were the little fast biters. Just like Chomper, they were a bit nervous about the prospect of being coated with stinkweed considering their fine-tuned sniffers.
"Mayrbe wer carn prractice ourr jurmps berfore wer corvered," Chuss suggested, trying to take his mind off the nauseous covering.
"Wer nort gert murch jurmping prractice irn," agreed Deya.
"Burt howr?" Nyko asked. "Therre northing tor prractice wirth."
"Hey guys," came a friendly voice.
Turning around, the little biters were surprised to see what appeared to be a moss-covered rock smiling at them. Then they realized that because of the stinkweed, their noses weren't working properly, and that what they were really looking at was a little green clubtail covered with stinkweed.
"You wanna use me as a jumping rock?" Oplax suggested. "I'll crouch down and let you jump over me."
The little biters looked at each other in surprise. Indeed, the stinkweed-covered Oplax made a great imitation rock, and was just the right height for them to jump over. Still, they were surprised that the little clubtail volunteered himself. "Your rreally nort mirnd?" Deya asked.
"Wer are sharrpteeth wirth sharrp clawrs," agreed Chuss. "Wer dorn't warnna hurrt your."
Oplax chuckled. "Don't worry, I trust you guys, you're our friends! And my back armor's real thick. It can take a few claw scratches and I won't be hurt, promise."
The three fast biters looked at each other. They were really grateful for Oplax's offer, but they were still apprehensive about accidentally scratching their young clubtail packmate …
"Come on, I know you can do it," Oplax smiled. "Deya, wanna go first?"
Hesitantly, Deya nodded, before taking a few steps back. Then she took a deep breath before taking a sprint, vaulting over Oplax without leaving a scratch behind. Many of the other kids oohed Deya admiringly as she landed with grace, and Oplax beamed at her in delight.
"I knew you could do it!" Oplax beamed at her, before turning to her brothers. "Which one of you wants to go next?"
Nyko and Chuss proceeded to jump over Oplax, after which Deya started over again. Really getting the chance to stretch their legs, Oplax beamed as he saw how happy they looked jumping over him. Looking so serious at first, the three little biters were now showing free, uninhibited smiles. It was so cool to see how the little biters were starting to finally act like the kids they were, and that they weren't so different from them after all …
"Hey, jumping over you looks really fun, Oplax!" Garnet said as he and Pearl arrived at the scene. Like the biters, they still hadn't gotten into the stinkweed yet either.
"Can we jump over you too?" Pearl asked hopefully.
"You bet!" Oplax grinned at the fast runner twins.
So together, the little runners and little biters began to jump over Oplax together. Like Deya, Nyko and Chuss, Pearl and Garnet were good jumpers who had no problem vaulting over the little clubtail, their long legs easily gliding well over the little clubtail's body as they landed with precision.
"Hey, you guys need more of a challenge," Mono pointed out. "Try jumping over me … While I'm doing pushups! That way, you get a moving target!"
So the stinkweed-covered onehorn settled nearby Oplax, turning their jump game into a one-two hop.
"And I can be your real challenge!" Rachelle said daringly, holding up her spiky frill. "Jump over this head of mine, and you can call yourselves real jumpers!"
And she lay down too, but rather than being parallel to Oplax and Mono, Rachelle turned to face the jumpers so that they would have to jump right over her spiky frill.
The other kids watched the impromptu obstacle course with interest, none more so than Tricia, Cassia, Perri, Sam and Destiny, brightly leading the cheers. The five speedy kids now had a real challenge, with a still target, a moving target, and a spiky target to jump over. But being good jumpers, they were still able to flawlessly jump over the three kids, feeling a real sense of pride and excitement as they made round after round. And as they continued jumping, Deya, Nyko and Chuss began regarding their fellow kids with more and more affection. Not only did Oplax, Mono and Rachelle agree to help train them by serving as obstacles, but with Garnet and Pearl jumping alongside them, they actually had playmates apart from each other for the first time. Interacting with their flattooth and halftooth peers like this made their dietary differences feel so much less significant now, and rather than just being allies, they began to feel like friends themselves …
"Okay guys, cover yourselves up," Ruby told her little siblings and the biters gently. "We're almost ready to go."
The kids had been having so much fun that they didn't even notice that apart from them, Tricia's gang and Cricket, the other kids had all covered themselves with stinkweed and were sitting on the backs the larger dinosaurs in the group, ready to depart.
"Climb up children," Ali's mother said invitingly, only having a few other kids on her back so far. "There's still room on me."
So reluctantly, the little biters and runners covered themselves up in stinkweed before following the others up her tail. Then slowly, the big group began to trudge through the swamp.
"You guys are amazing jumpers!" Cricket said admiringly, beaming at the fast biters and runners. "How did you learn?"
"Prractice," Nyko smiled, flattered with the little oneclaw's amazement.
"You think maybe I can learn to jump like you?" Cricket asked hopefully. "That obstacle course looked so fun!"
Mono examined him. "You're pretty light, so maybe."
"Maybe we can try next time!" Perri exclaimed.
"Just so long as we take turns," Rachelle snarked. "I don't wanna be jumped over all the time."
"Yeah," Mono said. "I want to be the one who's jumping!"
"You sure?" Oplax said cheekily. "Jumping requires flexibility, not just strength."
"I'll get you for that!" Mono snarled as the kids snickered.
The procession waded through the swamp slowly but peacefully. While all the small adults like Avie, Guido, Tuck and the tiny longnecks rode aboard the bigger dinosaurs, most of the adults had no problem getting through the shallow water. With their glacial pace and mossy appearance, they had a hard time even recognizing each other by sight.
"We must look so ridiculous," Cera laughed, looking at all the green-covered forms around them.
"Yeah," Littlefoot smirked knowingly. "At least you're in on it this time though."
"Yeah!" Ducky snickered. "The first time you said that, you did not help us, remember?"
"You had to bring that up, didn't you?" Cera snapped as they all chuckled.
Indeed, while careful to walk with good posture so they could keep the stinkweed on their backs for as long as possible, the stinkweed made for remarkably good cover. Nearly everyone wore it, helping mar their scent immeasurably. The only exception were the flyers, who although rubbing themselves in the stinkweed at first to combat their odors, knew they needed to be able to fly at a moment's notice in case a belly dragger emerged. Sure enough, about halfway through the swamp, more belly draggers started arriving. The flyers however were able to quickly dispatch these isolated attackers, with Petrie's family happily joining him and the flyer teens to perform a quick aerial raid on the belly draggers to knock them out before retrieving a fresh rock for the next would-be attacker they came across. The stinkweed was also beginning to lose its potency and started slipping off their backs and into the swamp, but they had gotten far enough away from the shore so that their smell trail would hopefully remain broken.
Just as they could see the swamp finally beginning to recede on the horizon, they noticed a lone belly dragger meandering at the edge of the water. Unlike the other belly draggers they had seen however, this one looked to be of a different species, with a shorter but wider snout and a shorter tail. And to say it was clumsy was an understatement, for it constantly seemed to be bumping into trees, rocks, and logs. Hovering above it, the flyer teens looked at each other curiously as they prepared to aim their rocks at it.
"What do you think's wrong with it?" Nessie asked.
"Hey! I'm not an invalid, you know!" came an old, raspy female voice.
Tilden nearly fell out of the air. "She can talk?"
"Of course I can talk!" she grumbled. "I'm smarter than all those long snouts who are all teeth and no brain!"
Phoenix looked curiously. "She can hear," he muttered. "But she must not be able to smell due to all the stinkweed."
"But she would be able to see, wouldn't she?" Welbie asked.
But then it all clicked as Petrie suddenly burst out laughing. "Of course! That you, Dil?"
"Wha? Who's there?" Dil snapped, unable to recognize Petrie's voice due to his vocal change.
"Me flyer kid with Night Flower, remember?" Petrie chortled. "The one you and Ichy chased after?"
Immediately, Petrie wished he hadn't said that, for Dil's mouth contorted into a snarl as she growled, "Oh yeah! I've got a score to settle with you! But I'm not gonna mess with you … You're too hard to catch … But …" she took a big sniff, before growling, "I think I smell some of your hatchling friends! Revenge is mine!"
As many of the kids riding aboard the taller dinosaurs screamed, Petrie understood. Not only was Dil blind, but she didn't have a sense of the time that had passed since their last encounter, and still thought that the gang were still kids. Stifling giggles, Ducky knowingly winked at everyone as she slipped out of the crowd, cautiously wading over to face Dill as she tried blindly lunging forward …
STOMP
With a perfectly well-aimed, heavy step in the water, Ducky triggered a wave that spun the belly dragger around, leaving her confused, and with her being unable to see anything, going backwards. Barely able to contain herself as the kids oohed in amazement, Ducky then proceeded to stalk the belly dragger from behind, before suddenly making a quick jump onto her. She landed right on target, pinning the belly dragger down in the shallow mud, making sure to have a foot on top of the bellydragger's head so she couldn't try to snap back.
"Argh! Get off me, you big whoever you are!" Dil roared.
"Dilly, do you not remember me?" Ducky giggled, her eyes twinkling. "It is me, Ducky, yep yep yep! You tried to eat me, you did!"
Having not gone through a voice deepening like Petrie, Dil had no problem recognizing Ducky's voice, or her smell with her foot being so close to Dil's nostrils. "How come you're so big?" Dil demanded.
"I grew up, I did!" Ducky exclaimed mischievously. "So have my friends! We are all big! And we lead a big herd now. So big that if you try hurting us, we will hurt you, just like we have all those other belly draggers … We need to feed our sharpteeth, we do!"
"Oh yeah?" Dil growled. "I'm not falling for your act."
But smirking, every herd member stomped or shouted, while Chomper and the little biters all let out roars. The result was a deafening blast of noise that caused the water to rock violently.
"Believe me now?" Ducky asked, grinning.
Flustered, the belly dragger began to shake. "Help!" she screamed in belly dragger as she turned. "There's an army of crazy dinosaurs out to kill every belly dragger in the world!"
Though not knowing exactly what Dill said, Ducky could figure the general gist of it. But inspired by Chomper's bargaining and knowing Dil's innately selfish nature, Ducky knew just how to handle the situation. "Call them off, and we will make a deal."
"Why should I believe you?" Dil snapped.
"Because we just want to pass without a fight," Ducky said truthfully.
"Well, what's in it for me?" Dil demanded.
"Food," Chomper answered at once. "We've got longbody from the Big Water. It's at the swamp's edge. But it's guarded by my sharptooth parents, so you can't get it without us."
"What? Really?" Dil asked.
"Call them off, or no food for you," Ducky explained.
Dil sighed, but her appetite was too great to resist. Turning back, she shouted, "Never mind. False alarm."
And at once, the sound of distant paddling that had been getting louder ceased entirely.
"There," Dil growled. "Happy? Now show me the food."
"Okay," Ducky agreed. "But try to attack any of us, and you will be sorry, you will!"
So Ducky got off the belly dragger and rejoined the group as they all set off with Dil tagging along the rest of the way down the swamp. Petrie eyed Ducky curiously, still with that glimmer of mischief in her eyes.
"Who are you and what you do with Ducky?" Petrie asked incredulously as Ducky just smirked back.
"I think you've been spending too much time with Cera," Littlefoot teased.
"Hey, don't complain!" Cera laughed. "I like this Ducky, and we need her on our side!"
"What happened to sweet, innocent Ducky?" Chomper asked.
"Hiss Head happened, yep yep yep!" Ducky cheekily replied back.
Tricia nudged Sam as they watched their big siblings in action. "Did you know she gets like this? She's scary awesome!"
Sam chuckled knowingly. "Mama told me the first things Ducky did after hatching were chasing a winged crawler and jumping on a tickly fuzzy. She almost her head got bit off by a snapping shellback."
"Your big sisters are more alike than I thought," Cricket grinned as all the kids within earshot began to snicker.
When they had finally made it across the swamp just as the Bright Circle fell, Ducky lobbed Dil a chunk of swimming sharptooth to which she tore into voraciously. Then the kids dismounted the big dinosaurs' backs, allowing them to reload the supplies, Chomper's parents, and Ruby's parents' still sleeping herd that they had already taken across while taking on the new belly dragger bodies and still carrying the newly fallen swamp trees. Making sure to give Dil a wide berth before regrouping, they knew they couldn't be too careful about the possibility of losing someone in the foggy, misty swamp, and so Ducky called out, "Ready for another headcount?"
So after reloading their supplies and gathering the new belly dragger bodies, along with still carrying the newly fallen trees, the group continued to set off away from the swamp, with all the kids returning back to the ground.
And getting real good at this by now, the adults had made sure all of them were accounted for, while the kids had once assembled in their formation of one-hundred and forty-three, erupting in a huge smattering of cheers when they realized every last one of them had made it through the hazardous swamp.
"Great job, everyone!" Littlefoot said brightly. "We all just made it through one of the most dangerous parts of the journey, and we all really deserve a good rest."
There were many appreciative and relieved nods and murmurs to this response, for they had covered a lot of ground that day and were eager for the chance to rest up.
"You mean we really get a chance to rest before we have to drop?" asked little threehorn Valor. "Our old herds would've forced us to keep going till our paws wore out!"
"Yeah," Littlefoot smiled. "Rest is healthy for your bodies and spirits, and helps you be able to walk better tomorrow."
"Can we shake off the stinkweed now?" Chomper asked hopefully.
"Yep yep yep, I think it is safe," Ducky smiled.
"Thank you," Chomper said brightly. "I can finally breathe again!" he exclaimed as everyone shook off their weakening, tired stinkweed.
"Me no think we should stop right here though," Petrie pointed out. "We try that once and what we thought a big rock ended up being a big sharptooth."
"And we do not want Dil or any other belly draggers to sneak up on us when we are sleeping," Ducky agreed.
"Yeah," Ruby said. "We need some place dryer. Some place that sharpteeth won't use as a watering hole and too dry for belly draggers to live in."
Littlefoot smiled. "Don't worry, there's a nice prairie coming up. It's really wide and open and very quiet. There's nothing for enemies to hide behind so they can't sneak up on us, and though there aren't any live trees there, we've got plenty of treestars here. Only thing is, there's not a lot of water, so we might wanna take a big drink now while we still have the chance."
Amazed with how useful their prior experience was in ensuring a much smoother journey, the gang took a big drink of water at a small creek just away from the rest of the swamp. While the water, though slightly cleaner than the swamp water, did taste a little icky compared to the crystal clear water of the Great Valley, beggars could not be choosers in the Mysterious Beyond, and it was important that they not get dehydrated on this long journey. They knew that with the crater's waters being almost as pristine as the Valley's, they would soon be able to get the icky taste out of their mouths anyway …
"Wait!" a voice came while they were drinking.
Whirling around, everyone gasped as a familiar old belly dragger approached them.
"Your food was good," Dil explained awkwardly. "And you guys are big and powerful. Powerful enough to take care of me. I want to partner up. Like I did with Ichy."
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike and Ali looked at each other in shock. Was Dil, a belly dragger who had tried killing them, really asking to become a member of their herd?
"Yeah, I tried to eat you guys," Dil continued. "But you're way bigger than me now. I may be a belly dragger, but I'm old, blind, and slow, so I'm not much of a threat. I know you've got a lot of hatchlings. But so long as you feed me, I won't try to eat them. I don't need much. Unlike you guys, I'm cold-blooded. You know how you can move in the cold times? Well I can't. My pulse goes way down when it's cold. But that also means I eat less. That's why I chased after you hatchlings for so long, you'd be enough to feed me for days. I won't move much, and I'll eat whatever red food you have. Even belly draggers. We eat each other all the time anyway."
The gang looked at each other at this bizarre proposition. While they had welcomed all sorts of dinosaurs into their herd, this was without a doubt the strangest possible recruit they've had. Sensing their apprehension, Dil pressed on.
"Give me one chance. If I'm a bad girl, just kill me. But I'm tired of hunting for food. I just want a cave where I can eat and sleep and be lazy. Give me that, I offer you my services. I can speak belly dragger and tell other belly draggers not to mess with you. I can tell you what other belly draggers are saying. You can even rip out my teeth if you need them. Just so long as I have enough to eat with. We don't need to be friends. I couldn't stand Ichy either. But you're the best option I've got. And if I blow it, it's on me."
And though they hardly dared to believe it, Dil's argument was remarkably candid. There did not appear to be any artifice, for not once did Dil pretend to feel guilty for her actions or express any desire for remorse, and her motives appeared to be purely and characteristically selfish. What's more, she did have a point in that she was a lot less dangerous than under their prior circumstances, and she did have a potential use for them … Particularly if Goregie had recruited belly draggers to her pack …
"Let me smell you," Chomper said cautiously, for he could vaguely recall Goregie's scent and certainly could make out the scent of other sharpteeth. However, he couldn't smell anything but the scent of himself, his biters, and his parents. The first check seemed to have worked.
"Okay Dil," Chomper asked. "Do you know a Goregie?"
"Never heard of her," Dil growled. "Who is she?"
"She's an enemy of our herd," Chomper explained. "A young sharptooth like me who has a big sharptooth pack. Her pack has all kinds of red food eaters in it, so she might have belly draggers working for her. So we have to ask, you're not part of her pack, right?"
Dil snorted. "What'd she want me for? I'm old and blind and slow. Not much use for a packmate."
"Fair enough," Chomper reasoned.
"But if she has belly draggers working for her, you'd need me to translate for you guys," Dil pointed out, as if no one would have thought of the idea before.
"We know," Cera snorted irritably, but even she could see the use of having a belly dragger, especially one who could speak leafeater, on their side. "All right, rule number one, no attacking any kids. No ifs, ands or buts, or you're done."
"And don't go blabbing our secrets," Ruby warned.
"Why'd I do that if it meant I'd lose my food?" Dil asked bluntly. "Besides, I hate everybody."
Ruby sighed. "Right. We're going to a crater. You're gonna have to prove we can trust you, so we're gonna confine you somewhere before we give you the ability to go wherever you want."
"Good, I like privacy," Dil barked.
Ruby nodded. "Maybe we can make a cave for you where you can stay in peace, and we will not bother you except to bring you food and if we need you."
"And no wandering off to help bad guys," Petrie warned. "We take you in, that mean you stay on our side."
Dil snorted. "Like I can climb out of a crater anyway. Deal."
Cera snorted warningly. "One slip-up," she growled, before making an ominous noise. "You realize how tough we all are?"
"Yeah, if you attack any of us, that means you attack all of us," Littlefoot agreed firmly.
"Yeah, yeah," Dil said exasperatedly. "You do some kind of initiation or something?"
"Uh …" Ducky said awkwardly. "Crouch down and I will touch your shoulder to welcome you in. But I think we will skip the song and hugs."
"Good, because I hate that crap," Dil snarled before obliging, and with that, Ducky bent down to welcome in their newest, most unlikely herdmate. "Welcome to our Great Valley family, Dil," she said sheepishly.
"Ah, cut the mush," Dil snorted.
"Great, we've just recruited someone who tried to eat us," Cera whispered to Littlefoot.
"Well, Chomper's parents tried to eat us too, right?" Littlefoot replied back.
Cera snorted snarkily. "I suppose."
Knowing there was no way for the slow, ambling Dil to keep up, they decided to put Dil on a pair of logs across the backs of Chomper's already prostrated parents. That way, no flesh was accessible to her, and should she even think about misbehaving, she would face a gruesome end from Chomper's parents' incredibly powerful jaws. But having had her fill, Dil had no desire to do anything besides close her eyes and sleep.
Soon, everyone was looking forward to finally settling down to eat and relax, and the gang couldn't feel any better. They had completed their first day of leading the entire herd without a hitch. Nearly everyone seemed to be in a good mood, they had gained a lot of resources and even a highly unlikely herdmate, with no sign of Leigh or Goregie in sight. Indeed, compared to most of their adventures, this one seemed decidedly boring. But they couldn't be more grateful, for this time, with the lives of hundreds of herdmates in their paws, the more boring of a journey, the better.
When they had gotten deep within the prairie and the Night Circle began to show up behind the distant mountains, they had finally decided to take the long-awaited rest and stop to eat, hang out, and sleep before preparing for the next day. As they settled down in the grasslands, the gang decided to split up to partake in different activities. Ruby woke up her parents' herd and joined them in conducting their first night patrol. Just as in the legends of their kinds, the clawhands and rainbow faces of the group used their exceptional endurance to form an outer circle around the herd to assess for threats, while the fast runners and longarms would form an inner circle and make sure nobody, especially the hatchlings, strayed beyond it, as well as to quickly report to everyone else bad news coming from the clawhands and rainbow faces. Being sparse feeders, they didn't mind eating on the grass and forgoing the treestars as they patrolled, for it was essential they remain alert, though they did eat a few snapping shells before starting their shift to give them an energy boost. They also made sure to keep an eye on Dil to make sure she didn't try pulling any nonsense, but she had been motionless from the moment she had touched the ground.
Everyone else meanwhile stayed inside the tighter circle, partaking in a wide variety of activities. Chomper went to feast on one of the belly draggers along with his parents and pack. Never having eaten belly dragger before, he found the taste surprisingly lean and a nice change from the swimming sharpteeth. His biters also had never eaten belly dragger before, and his parents, who had not dared to attack a belly dragger since their injuries, greatly appreciated their taste. Spike meanwhile finally got to spend some quality time with Sophie and Tippy, both of whom he hadn't seen much of since his expulsion from the Valley. Carefreely tussling with Tippy and snuggling with Sophie, Spike felt greatly fulfilled from spending time with his two fellow spiketails. Though their ways of interaction were very different, they were both a lot more physical relative to his other friends, allowing him the chance to listen to the grasses talking to him.
Ducky and Petrie meanwhile, held a dinner session where any kid who wanted to could attend in an effort to help the new kids further adjust to the herd and allow them to really get to spend quality time with two of their new herd leaders. Spurred by the setting Bright Circle and rising Night Circle looming over them, many of the kids showed up burning with questions about the circles after being fed hateful dogma for so long. Ducky and Petrie did their best to handle these delicate questions carefully, with many reassurances that they weren't doing anything wrong by going against their old families' beliefs and offering their personal opinions in response to some of the questions, making sure to emphasize that beliefs were personal and that it was okay for each of them to think differently. Afterwards, they led the kids in a nature appreciation session to help them realize how special the world really was after having taken it for granted in their old herds, and once it became dark, they partook in a stargazing session, where the kids described all the different things they saw in the skies, and Petrie even volunteered to give the kids gentle rides on his back, carrying them higher up than they have ever been as they eyed the open, blue-green world below them in wonder.
This left Littlefoot and Cera alone to themselves.
"Wanna get some training in, flathead?" Cera asked, cheekily grinning at him. "You're gonna need some catch-up if you want to keep up with our deputies."
"You're on," Littlefoot laughed.
So in the space of the open plain around them, Littlefoot and Cera began to practice together. After starting out with some stretches and taking a warm-up jog, Littlefoot felt his muscles really begin to loosen up after having been confined to the cramped Hidden Canyon for so long. He started out quite a bit slower than Cera, who had a head start on physical conditioning due to her having spent the past few days training the teens. However, he soon got into the swing of things, and remembering to pace himself, he did a better job with keeping a constant tempo than Cera, who soon began to slow down due to having exerted so much energy at first in her excitement. Littlefoot soon was able to keep up with her, and the two of them ran circles around their herd, causing the ground to vibrate a little as the two large dinosaurs earned the impessed stares of many of their herdmates.
Soon afterward, the two began to partake in sparring. The teens, eager to learn other techniques besides the cohesive, had come to watch, especially the longnecked and frilled teens, who watched their older, larger counterpart for modeling. Knowing Jada, Gara, Sheldon, Anndi and Vail were carefully watching his every move, Littlefoot tried performing a variety of moves at his disposal. He practiced his rear-and-stomp move, causing an earthshake as Cera charged at him. Sometimes, he was able to knock her off-balance, in which case he won the round, while other times, Cera managed to win the round by touching his leg with her foot. Many of the new kids were also watching, and seeing how Littlefoot did not try to hurt Cera when she was down and Cera did not try to horn him, Littlefoot knew that they were really showing them how to grow stronger without hurting one another. They soon switched off to where Littlefoot was on offense and Cera on defense, with Littlefoot lobbing rocks at her frill with his tail as she tried knocking them down, improving both of their precision capabilities. The two of them then developed a tag-team technique, in which Littlefoot whipped a rock up into the air with his tail while Cera jumped at it from underneath and stabbed it with her horns, knowing that they could disable an enemy by hurling it up in the air and horning it before it could return to the ground.
Invigorated with their training, the two of them then began to rest and munch on a few tree stars.
"Makes you wish we had more water back at the swamp, huh?" Littlefoot asked.
Cera snorted. "You don't mean you got tired from that?"
"Like you didn't?" Littlefoot retorted back as they both snickered.
But as nightfall started to creep up on them, they heard an inviting voice call out to them. "Hello Littlefoot, Cera."
Turning around, Littlefoot and Cera saw that Bron was approaching them. "Saw your training back there," Bron smirked. "I don't think any enemy is going to want to mess with you guys."
"They sure aren't!" Cera laughed delightedly.
"So Dad, what brings you here?" Littlefoot asked curiously.
"Well, I was wondering … Well, Cera's dad has told me that he has made you an honorary member of his threehorn herd, Littlefoot. I was hoping that I could extend the same gesture to you, Cera, and make you an honorary longneck in my herd, just like Etta and Wild Arms."
"Oh, thanks Bron," Cera said politely, surprised but flattered all the same. "I'd be honored."
"Great," Bron smiled. "I was wondering if you two would like to join us for a dinner in your honor, Cera. We have an old ceremony to formally welcome new members, and now that my herd is back together again and finally healthy, we'd like you to welcome you in as well as celebrate our reunion together."
"Well, I'm up for that," Cera smiled as Littlefoot couldn't help but chuckle, knowing how much Cera thrived on receiving positive attention.
"Excellent," Bron smiled. "Well, let's get going, shall we?"
As they followed Bron over to a small clump of trees, Littlefoot realized that this dinner did not just include the elders of Bron's herd, but the younger members as well, for Ali, Cam, Mia, Len and Shorty, having eaten breakfast by themselves that morning, were also present. Immediately, Littlefoot could see that in contrast to Len looking relaxed, Cam and Mia cheerfully giggling with one another, and Ali smiling brightly, Shorty's mouth was stuck in a snarl, looking much worse than when he was falling trees at the swamp, obviously looking like he didn't want to be there. Littlefoot silently groaned to himself. Was it perhaps Shorty's jealousy rearing its ugly head again with all the attention being called to Cera? Whatever it was, he had to help his brother get through the dinner without blowing his top.
This didn't go unnoticed by Cera. "What's wrong with him?" Cera muttered to Littlefoot.
"I don't know," Littlefoot said cautiously. "But I think it's best if I stand by Shorty."
"You think it's nerves about Ali?" Cera whispered. "It's obvious he likes her."
"Maybe," Littlefoot pondered. "But he was looking upset before she helped introduce Chomper. I saw him when …"
He trailed off as he came to a realization, remembering just who was talking when Shorty had been losing his cool earlier …
Very quietly, Littlefoot whispered to Cera, "I think it's my dad."
"Right," Cera said understandingly. Indeed, apart from Bron's apology, they had not seen the pair interact since issuing Shorty the no-contact punishment. And while they obviously had to have interacted some since, with Bron being Shorty's legal representative, was resentment still brewing under the surface?
"Hey Dad," Littlefoot asked quietly, motioning for the three of them to halt. "Have you been talking to Shorty?"
Bron sighed. "I've been doing my best. I checked in on him as much as the prison guards would let me, and several times since. I imagine he's going through some trauma from the trial. He had been surrounded by guards who wanted to kill him the whole time, Gus made him out to be some sort of murderous monster on the stand, Leigh kept playing games with the trial rules, the hopper court was asking harassing questions to get him to lose his temper, and then of course all those dinosaurs who tried to kill him in that escape. That's part of why I'm having this dinner tonight, hopefully it will finally help get his mind off everything that happened to him back there."
"Right," Littlefoot said disconcertedly.
"I know you're worried about him, and so am I," Bron soothed. "But I'm sure time will help overcome the trauma."
Littlefoot nodded. Perhaps his father was right and Shorty was suffering from trauma and this was the right course to help him. But he still wasn't entirely convinced, and neither was Cera who looked doubtfully at him as they continued to draw closer.
"I'll try to keep Cam and Mia busy," Cera whispered.
Littlefoot nodded understandingly, knowing that their excitable, giggly and cheeky natures might really rub Shorty the wrong way, especially when he was in this kind of a mood. This would leave him on Shorty's right and Ali on his left, and knowing Ali was extremely unlikely to say anything that would get under Shorty's skin, this was probably the best setup they could have asked for.
"Ooh! It's our super tough herd leaders!" Cam giggled excitedly, happily scooching over to make room for them. "Great training session, you guys! We loved to watch!"
"Thanks," Littlefoot smiled. "But we're just here as members of my dad's herd," Littlefoot reassured as he settled in next to Shorty, who didn't acknowledge him sitting by.
"And to celebrate my becoming an honorary longneck," Cera playfully boasted to Cam and Mia.
"Wow, cool!" Cam exclaimed. "Hey … Anndi and Candy told me the Amazing Threehorn Lady coached them last night. That's you, right?"
"Sure is!" Cera said happily, lifting up her frill. "I coached them all to work as a team and pull off my move."
"Well, it sure worked!" Mia laughed. "You should have seen them barrel in there and save us! They pummeled all those mean kids!"
"We've both got a lot of power," Cam smiled. "But those guys have really cool moves!"
"Hey, you think you can you train us like that?" Mia asked.
"You bet!" Cera said confidently. "You're right, you two have got a lot of power. You were great at stopping Ozzy's fast biters back then. But with some moves and conditioning, you two can really kick some tail!"
"Yay!" Cam and Mia cheered as they started discussing defensive strategy. Littlefoot beamed at his mate. With her having preoccupied the chatty longneck duo, he could try to crack his brooding brother without their noticing.
"Hi Shorty," Littlefoot greeted him friendlily. "Doing okay?"
Shorty turned to face him. "What do you think?" he asked coldly.
"Hey, I was just trying to be friendly," Littlefoot said quietly back.
Shorty sighed. "Doesn't matter. You're the only one who's asked all day. The only one who's realized I'm pretending to be happy."
Littlefoot said. "Listen Shorty. You can come to me with anything. Actually, that goes for all of us. I know Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Chomper and Ruby would want to talk with you too. And I'm not the only one who's realized you're not happy. Cera has too, so has Dad …"
"Oh yeah, like Dad really cares about me," Shorty hissed back. "Considering he's making me eat dinner with a bunch of dinosaurs who gave up on me."
"Wait, what?" Littlefoot asked, taken aback.
"Never mind," Shorty quickly muttered. "Just forget I said that, all right?"
But as much as Littlefoot wanted to let it go, for the herds' sake, he couldn't let a comment like that slide so easily. Seeing that the adults were busy talking with one another, Littlefoot felt safe in trying to press onward.
"Shorty," Littlefoot said quietly. "You can tell me what's going on. I won't be offended by anything you say, promise. We're brothers, right? And I want to do whatever I can to help you feel better."
Shorty nodded in understandingly, and took in a deep breath …
"Thank you everyone for coming here."
Littlefoot could have sworn at his father's terrible timing. He had been so close to making real headway with Shorty, only to be cut off at the worst possible moment as Shorty's eyes shifted back to their father, narrowing with every word Bron spoke.
"I know it's been a while since we've last been together," Bron smiled. "But even though we now may be a part of a new herd," he said, nodding respectfully toward Littlefoot and Cera, "We can still appreciate time spent with each other as part of our old herds. In fact, this is the first time we have truly all been together. For not only is my son with us now on a permanent basis, but so is my daughter-in-law, who I would like to honor today and make an official part of our herd."
Surprised, Cera leaned back as the longneck herd outstretched their necks, their heads meeting in the middle. "To Cera, a brave, loyal and caring young lady, who exemplifies all the traits of not just a good herd member, but a herd leader as well. And while we are under the auspices of her leadership as part of the bigger herd, she humbly comes to us as an honorary member of our smaller herd. So to Cera."
"To Cera," the group all murmured respectfully as Cera beamed in pride.
Bron then nodded to the other elder longnecks. "I would also like to thank all of you for coming back to us. Even though we disagreed about your course of action, I fully understand the position you were in, with none of you having any reason to obligate yourselves to the Great Valley and your actions being motivated out of a desire to save as much of our herd as you thought possible. Nevertheless, you came back to us, greatly endangering yourselves by defying your renouncements and helping to save my life and become loyal members of our new herd. I understand you feel great regret for your past actions, and I forgive you for them, and I am happy to see that we are all together once more."
"Well, I'm not!" barked a voice, and Littlefoot felt his veins grow cold. In his father's effort to reassure his old herd and help integrate them in with the larger group, he had failed to realize that those same words couldn't have been more alienating towards his adoptive son. But the herd's biggest longneck was plainly not in the mood to listen to an apology, for Littlefoot could hear the harsh words streaming out of his mouth before they were even spoken.
"You guys all sold me out!" Shorty roared at the other elder longnecks, who held their heads down in shame. "I don't care what your excuse is! You were willing to let me die in that prison, and if you all had your way, you'd have taken Bron and Ali away from me and go on acting like nothing had happened, laughing your empty heads off … While I'd be left without legal counsel, left to die at the paws of a bunch of monsters! You were all willing to give up on me and even tried to persuade them to give me up! Well guess what? I don't forget so easily. And I don't forgive any of you selfish jerks, abandoning me just like my parents! I don't wanna ever have to speak to any of you again!"
As they all gasped, not sure exactly how to respond, he hurriedly rounded on Bron. "As for you … You've got some nerve! Thanking these dirty traitors after everything they've done to us?" Raging furiously as the other longneck elders looked down somberly, Shorty continued, "Of course, it's always been stupid Shorty. Wild, angry Shorty, always losing his temper and causing trouble for your herd. You don't believe in me at all, do you? Treating me like a baby and never giving me a real chance! Well I've had enough of it. I don't wanna have to speak to your pesky, oh-so-concerned face. You don't like it? Should have thought about it when you tried to ignore me. So much for your apology."
And with that, he stood up, glaring at his old herd, before charging off into the distance, causing the ground to shake and everyone to stare at the gigantic longneck, emanating negative energy like the Bright Circle emanated heat. He tore right past fast runners Kitty and Gov in the inner circle of night patrols, begging for him to come back, and even beyond rainbow faces Pet and Roy and the outer circle of night patrols before coming to a rest, dropping to the ground in a heap. Fortunately, Shorty's gigantic size was easy to see from a distance, so that he was easily visible from a distance and anybody would be able to tell if he was in danger.
"Wow, he's not looking so hot!" Wild Arms exclaimed as Etta slapped him with a wing on his head.
Looking at Cera, Littlefoot whispered, "I better go talk with him."
Cera nodded, uncharacteristically silent as Littlefoot hurried off to try to speak with his foster brother, indifferent to all the eyes that were upon him. Shorty was plainly in need of help, and the dinner party with his old herd, rather than helping matters, only made things ten times worse …
Trying to quietly approach Shorty, Littlefoot saw that his boxhead brother was on guard as he whirled around and glared at him. "Leave me alone," Shorty growled at once.
"Shorty, you sure you don't want to talk?" Littlefoot asked gently.
Shorty shook his head. "No," he snapped.
Not wanting to arouse his brother's ire further, Littlefoot knew better than to try arguing with him, especially since a loud, angry confrontation could only weaken the morale of the herd and give Goregie exactly the kind of opening she was looking for. He knew that being gentle and supportive without being pushy was the best course of action here.
Putting a paw on his brother's, Littlefoot gently asked, "Please don't do anything you'll regret, okay? Just stay safe and close to the herd … I don't want to lose you."
"Don't worry, it's not like I have anywhere else to go anyway," Shorty mumbled discouragingly.
Littlefoot sighed. "Shorty, if you want to talk, I'll be here for you. I know it might be hard to say everything, and I don't pretend to understand everything you're feeling. But letting it all out might really help. Just think about it, all right? And no matter what happens, I'll always love you."
Shorty sighed curtly before giving Littlefoot a nod. "I just need some space," Shorty sighed. "Okay?"
"All right," Littlefoot told him gently. "Good night, Shorty."
"Night," Shorty breathed out feebly.
So Littlefoot walked back to his spot at the dinner, where everyone was oddly quiet. Indeed, so was everyone else. The infectious optimism throughout the day had been quelled to the point where no one felt like talking, and with the Night Circle being high in the sky, many of the herd decided to call it a night. As the dinner uncomfortably passed, Littlefoot and Cera said goodnight to the rest of the herd before retiring for the night. Thankfully, tomorrow was another day, and perhaps Shorty would awaken in better spirits. But they knew they couldn't let Shorty's negative emotions keep on festering, and that they had to help him resolve them some way or another. Regardless, they were in for a rough, fitful sleep, ending with a jarring note what had otherwise been a day flush with victories.
Dashing through the flower patch and hearing the floral kingdom serenading him as he stopped to ate was just such a lovely way to pass the time. As he took a delicious munch, he couldn't think of anything quite so gratifying …
"Spike! Spike!"
His eyes opening at once, the first thing he saw was that Sophie was still contentedly dozing by his side. It couldn't have been her calling for him …
"Spike!" the voice hissed.
Looking up at once, Spike saw that he was face to face with a large green face, staring at him intently with his bright blue eyes …
"Let's talk. Follow me."
Shaking himself awake and being careful not to awaken Sophie or Tippy on either side of him, Spike got up and began to follow Shorty. It must have been the middle of the night, for everyone else was asleep, except for Ruby's parents' herd, still conducting their night patrols. They passed Kitty and Gov as well as Pet and Roy, all of whom were staring at them anxiously, as Spike gave them reassuring nods. As Shorty parked himself in the exact spot where he had been brooding and looked behind to make sure Spike was approaching, Spike was pretty sure he knew just what was going on. Shorty had come to him, not because he wanted to have someone to talk with, but because he wanted to be heard, without fear of anything he had to say getting shared. Realizing this, Spike realized that Shorty was about to share with him his deepest, darkest feelings, and knowing how important it was for Shorty to get everything out of his system, he readied himself to be as sympathetic and supportive as possible.
"Sorry for waking you up, Spike," Shorty said quietly. "It's just … I can't sleep. And you're the only dinosaur I can talk to. I know Littlefoot's trying to help, but I don't want him having to worry about all my troubles when he should be leading the herd. I don't want anything else bad to happen because of me."
Sighing, Shorty continued, "Littlefoot's right. I do have to let it all out. I know I can't go on being mad like this. But it's too hard with someone asking me questions. I just need someone who can listen. Just one thing, Spike. I'll tell you everything, but you've gotta promise you won't think too badly of me if I do. Okay?"
Spike nodded in understanding, knowing just how serious this was, before letting Shorty talk.
"Well, I guess … Thanks for saving me," Shorty smiled at Spike. "I really thought I was a goner in there. I mean, I knew Chomper and Ruby were up to something. But I didn't really think they could pull it off. I'm so used to disappointment. I didn't really think I could get out of there until Gara and her gang came to free me. I knew they had to be on your team, nobody else would care about me like that. And Gara said you and Ducky helped heal them of all their injuries. So if it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be here … So thank you," he said awkwardly.
Spike nodded and grunted gently before Shorty continued. "I guess it all goes back to the beginning. Long and short of it, my birth family abandoned me when I was a hatchling because I was the smallest of my nest. That's where I got the name Shorty from. My nestmates constantly bullied me about it. And I guess the name stuck. I don't mind it now, I actually like it. It helps me feel I'm not freakishly bigger than everyone else. But yeah, that's why I reacted to Earl like that. He taunted me about how no one ever loved me or ever will … And I just couldn't stand it. It's no excuse for leaving him paralyzed and effectively killing him, but … And I guess that's why I was so mean to Littlefoot at first. Bullying him made me feel powerful, like there was actually someone lower than me out there. And then it all got worse when it turned out he was Bron's son …"
Trailing off, Shorty continued, "I wanna forgive Bron. I really do. I know he loves me, he stood up for me at that trial and I know he's worried for me now. Heck if it wasn't for him insisting on the trial I'd have been done for. But I still can't, not completely anyway. He knew I was abandoned, and yet he threatened to do the same to me anyway. He should've known how badly I'd take it. I mean, I know he felt he didn't have any other choice … But I really can't handle any more rejection. That's why I can't forgive my dad's herd … Not Ali, Cam or Mia, they stood up for me. Not even Len, even though he had a crappy choice of friends. But the others? They wanted to make some stupid renouncement deal with Hiss Head. They tried to make a deal to leave the Valley and get out Ali, Cam, Mia and Bron out. Leaving me without a legal rep or a personal confidante, in effect giving up on me and sending me to my death. But I wouldn't have been such a loss … I'm sure they'd still get rid of me if it meant they'd get Earl and Gus back. At least those two didn't have anger issues or ruin everything they touched. They say they're sorry now … But I don't believe them."
Spike shook his head, really seeing the depth of Shorty's insecurities and now understanding what set him off earlier as he reassuringly placed a paw on him.
"But it's not just that," Shorty continued. "It's that my dad doesn't think I can do anything. He never has. I mean, has he or Littlefoot ever told you how Bron and I met?"
Curious, Spike shook his head. Shorty sighed.
"I told you my parents abandoned me. But I'm not the only boxhead who's been abandoned by their folks. We weigh more than Littlefoot's kind of longneck, especially big boxheads like me. Because of this, we need a lot more to eat. And because of fear of not having enough food to go around, a lot of boxhead parents abandon their weak hatchlings and give up on them to ensure their strong hatchlings survive. And … That's how I met all of my first herd."
Shorty sighed, before continuing. "Marron, Lottie, Carram, Poinsette, Chicorie, Teala, and Palmer. Seven boxheads, not my species and way younger and littler than I was. But that didn't matter. They were all kids abandoned by their folks just like I was. We all came to live together because we were all we had. And because I was the oldest and biggest … I was their first herd leader. I watched over them as they ate, and stood guard over them whenever they were scared. That was actually how we met. Bron found us all alone. And the eight of us … Well, Bron took us in, and well, that's how his herd started. We were his first members."
Never having heard Shorty get so personal about his past before, Spike watched as Shorty visibly worked to fight back tears. "Over time, they all got adopted by parents and got separated from our herd. Who knows where they all are now. Probably dead, I'd imagine. But point was, Bron never seemed to care about any of that. Remember how he gave Littlefoot the Big Longneck Test, and never gave it to me, even though I'm the older one and the one who's actually led a herd in the Mysterious Beyond? It just goes to show how he's always had no belief in me. And you saw what he did this morning …"
Glowering ferociously, Shorty continued, "I was once a little boxhead who had parents who didn't love them, just like the new kids! They remind me so much of my first herd! So much of me! If anyone would have an idea of what they're going through, it would be someone who's gone through all the same crap they have! I know you said an elder should do it, but you let Nod talk! And Bron's not even a boxhead, and I'm the one who's shared their experiences of being unloved! But no, Bron had to butt in before I could say anything and tell the whole thing from his perspective. Spoiling any chance I'd have to really connect with those kids. To tell them that they'll always have enough food to eat as part of our herd no matter how big they get, and that we'll never think about abandoning any of them! All because he believes I can't do anything right! And then he goes out and suggests that your students be the herd deputies … Don't get me wrong, I've seen the way they work together, and they're awesome. But it's like he completely didn't consider that I might want to be a herd deputy too! Chomper and Ruby even told me I'm part of your gang in that jail cell!"
Spike nodded, before Shorty continued, "I know I haven't been on as many adventures as you guys, but why shouldn't I be a herd deputy? I mean, I've had experience leading a herd, I'll do anything to help, and I've known you guys for cold times! Why can't I get to do anything?" Then Shorty paused, suddenly realizing what he had been saying. "Ugh … Sorry Spike. I forgot you were a herd leader too for a second. I shouldn't have bothered you with any of this. Forget all the stuff I've just said, all right? And don't tell it to any of the others. This is why I hate talking about my feelings. I must sound like such a baby."
Gently Spike tried to look reassuringly at him, grateful that he was not expected to say anything in response. Yes, Shorty was a close friend and one of the few other dinosaurs that had been involved on a significant number of their adventures before the herd. But he had to consider the well-being of the rest of the herd. Would Shorty, with his emotional rollercoasters and temper issues, really make a good choice to help keep the herd united? Not to mention that such a move could come across as favoritism, and they couldn't afford for any resentment to develop in that regard. Plus, making Shorty a deputy had its own problems. They had carefully taught the teens to work well enough with one another so they could make a truly formidable team, and throwing the volatile Shorty into the mix could upset all that. Yet somehow, he knew they had to do something to help Shorty feel more self-worth inside …
But before Spike knew it, Shorty stood up abruptly, his neck craned up as high as it would go. Wondering if someone had been eavesdropping in on them, Spike turned to see that no one else seemed to be approaching them. Then however, Spike could barely make out a roar from the distance.
Then Shorty looked down frantically at Spike. "There's an old longneck in trouble … He needs our help!"
Knowing that Shorty could see much farther out than he could, Spike nodded uncertainly. Then they heard the rustling of footsteps, and turning, Spike saw that it was none other than Veno, the young clubtail in their herd. Apparently, he was not kidding when he said that he was borderline nocturnal …
"You guys heard it?" Veno asked to Spike and Shorty, who nodded.
"We've got to stop him," Shorty insisted.
"Yeah, but how?" Veno asked. "We can't do it all by ourselves. I tried that with trying to trick Leigh, look how well that turned out!"
Shorty growled, but then remembered Ruby's parents' herd on watch duty. Indeed, many of the noteeth came to them concernedly, having heard the noise themselves.
"Sorry to interrupt," longarm Ced said, but Shorty cut him off.
"Yeah, we heard it too," Shorty told him. "You go wake the rest of the herd up. Spike, Veno and I will try to save the longneck."
"But …" Ced began.
"Hurry!" Shorty hissed. "And tell them to follow us!" before the three large young males began barreling off to where Shorty saw the large form of the longneck. True, none of him, Spike, or Veno were especially fast runners. But they were the only ones with sufficient body strength to be awake that could try and combat a sharptooth ferocious enough to try to take on a fully grown longneck.
It wasn't long before Ruby's parents caught up to them, along with fellow fast runners Gov, Kitty, Sander, Chapp, Ovie, and Wiley, all wielding battle bones. As the other six charged forward, Ruby's parents briefly stopped to explain. "The rest of our herd's getting the others ready," said Ruby's mother.
"In the meantime, we'll slow the sharptooth down with our battle bones," added Ruby's father, with a nervous chuckle. "It's about time to see if these really work."
Then they tore off to catch up with the rest of their fast runner clan. Spike, Shorty and Veno did their best to keep up, as from a far distance behind them, they could make out the hurried, heavy footsteps of assistance coming their way.
It wasn't long before they saw what they were dealing with. The longneck, an elder male, was taking heavy, ragged breaths, desperately trying to hold his whiptail up to fend off an enormous twoclaw baring in on him. The twoclaw looked to have a lot more stamina, but he was being held back by the fast runner team, using their agility to run circles around the big sharptooth and preventing him from making a move by distracting him with constant bludgeoning from their battle bones, the toothed end of the bones pricking the sharptooth's thick skin. The sharptooth had just shifted his gaze from the longneck to the fast runners, realizing that if he wanted to eat the longneck, he had to defeat the fast runners first. But before he could make a move, Shorty charged forward to preempt him.
"Wanna fight, sharptooth?" growled Shorty determinedly. "Come and get me!"
And without warning, Shorty took a big leap that caused the entire ground to shake violently, knocking everyone besides the older longneck off-balance.
As Shorty landed, readying his reflexes as he leered at the sharptooth, the sharptooth got up, gazing at Shorty as if to size him up. As big as the sharptooth was, he still was dwarfed by the even bigger boxhead, giving him a moment of pause.
"Whatsa matter sharptooth?" Shorty taunted. "Are you scared?"
Recognizing that the young longneck was taunting him, the sharptooth forgot all about his other opponents and began to charge straight at Shorty. But in his determination to get the bigger boxhead, he failed to notice that Spike and Veno were standing off to the side, ready to swing their tails right at the sharptooth's legs. The sharptooth ran right into their path, and promptly, Spike and Veno landed direct hits on either of the sharptooth's ankles, causing him to topple face-first onto the ground.
Getting back up, the sharptooth eyed his opponents vengefully, wondering how he could take down all of them. Then he felt the ground rattle, and saw to his disbelief that a whole bunch of leafeaters were charging right at him. Looking around them, Spike, Shorty and Veno beamed to see that the other herd leaders, the teens, the young swimmers and flyers, Hyp's gang, Ali, Cam, Mia, Len, Monty, Tippy and Sophie had all arrived on the scene, the twofooters and flyers armed with rocks, the fourfooters armed with their bodily weapons, a belly dragger carcass draped over Littlefoot's back.
"Let me handle this," Chomper told the others, before stepping out. Though he was a lot skinnier and smaller than the other twoclaw, he didn't feel so small with all his friends by his side.
"You better leave the longneck alone," Chomper demanded. "Or else."
The sharptooth guffawed. "Yeah right, little biter."
Chomper tried his best to not sound irritated. "Let's make a deal. You leave him alone, I'll give you a belly dragger. Okay?"
The sharptooth snorted. "Not a chance."
Chomper sighed. Some sharpteeth were evidently harder to reason with, so he had to show him the stakes, plain and simple.
"Then you're gonna have to fight all of us," Chomper explained, gesturing toward his fellow young herdmates with his tiny claw, before turning to them. "Guys, let's show him how tough we are."
And at once, the entire group brandished their tails, horns, spikes, and rocks threateningly as they leered at their opponent, stomping and growling as ferociously as possible. The display was enough to cause the sharptooth to step back and look at the bigger picture. As tempting as a longneck carcass all to himself was, there was no way he could singlehandedly defeat all these young, healthy leafeaters teaming up together. He might as well go for the smaller prize so at least something productive would come out of the hunt …
"Fine," the sharptooth snarled. "Give me the belly dragger."
"On two conditions," Chomper warned. "First, I have to smell you."
Reluctantly, the sharptooth crouched down to allow Chomper to smell him. Fortunately, there was no scent of other sharpteeth on him, confirming he had nothing to do with Goregie's pack. But he had to try and ensure that they hadn't created another enemy.
"If we feed you, you must promise never to hurt us again," Chomper added.
The sharptooth sighed, swallowing his pride. "I promise."
"Good," Chomper said curtly, before going to Littlefoot's back and throwing the sharptooth the belly dragger body.
"Thank you," the sharptooth growled.
"You're welcome," Chomper hissed back.
As the sharptooth voraciously tore into the belly dragger, ending hostilities and turning a would-be enemy into a neutral party, Chomper walked over to the elder longneck. "Hi Saro!" he exclaimed as Ruby's parents' herd began heading back to return to their guard posts.
Saro glanced up at the sharptooth in surprise. "Who are you? How did you learn to talk? And how do you know my name?"
Chomper chuckled. "It's me, Chomper! From the Great Valley! Littlefoot's friend!"
"Yeah! It's me, Littlefoot! I'm your friend's grandson, remember?" Littlefoot asked Saro.
Saro stared at them bewilderedly, before chuckling. "Of course I remember you two! You're the kids who helped convince me to be a Story Speaker. I just didn't realize how much bigger you would've gotten. My goodness … I really am getting old."
Chuckling, he eyed Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike and Ruby. "Now that I recognize Littlefoot and Chomper, I know who the five of you are," he smiled knowingly, before turning to Shorty. "But who might you be? You seem to be extremely brave yourself."
"Oh, this is Shorty, my brother," Littlefoot introduced warmly.
"Hey," Shorty introduced himself shyly, smiling a little from the compliment.
Saro nodded. "If you're Littlefoot's brother, I guess that makes you like another grandson of Kenneth's," Saro observed, with Shorty quickly realizing he was talking about Grandpa Longneck. "He was an old friend of mine. And from the way you handled yourself against that sharptooth, you reminded me so much of him."
"Gee, thanks," Shorty said in surprise, only knowing his adoptive grandfather a little bit, but knowing enough about him to know that the complement was one of deepest respect as he blushed modestly.
"I'm sure Grandpa would be proud of you, Shorty," Littlefoot told him gently.
Saro's face fell. "I suppose your grandpa passed?"
"Yeah," Littlefoot sighed. "But I can feel him watching over us, and he'd be happy that we're meeting again."
"Yeah," Saro smiled, before eyeing the other young dinosaurs standing nearby. "But I see that you're all doing well for yourselves. Not only are you all much bigger than I remember you, but I see you've got a seriously tough crew on your side."
"About time you've noticed us," Hyp smirked to many laughs.
"How can I not?" Saro chuckled. "It's not often that I see a group of young dinosaurs who are so different yet display such obvious teamwork with one another. And definitely in all my cold times this is the first time I've been saved by such a group. I suppose you youngsters are all getting tired of the peace in your Valley and are out here for an excursion?"
"Actually, we'd want nothing more than to have peace," Littlefoot sighed. "But our home has been taken over by segregationist leafeaters who tried to kill us, so we're on the run. Since we can't stay there anymore, we're on our way to a big crater which we're gonna make our new home."
"We are not alone," Ducky added. "Our families and friends are with us too. Lots of our elders from back home, as well as a big group of hatchlings, many of whom we have rescued from the bad herds!"
"Of course, we're not just giving up on the Valley," Cera smirked. "We're hoping to get to the point where we'd be able to rescue it from the bad guys. But if we're gonna do that, we need to get super strong and become the toughest herd ever."
"Right," Littlefoot agreed. "Ultimately, our goal is to save our home without losing any member of our herd. We know that if we just tried to fight our enemies now, we might be able to rescue our Valley that much sooner. But as much as we love our home, it's just a place. It wouldn't feel right if we rescued it but had to sacrifice any of our friends in the process. Because our friendships are worth more to us than all the tree stars and fresh water in the world."
"Yep yep yep," Ducky agreed. "Our friendships are what really makes the Great Valley special. Our Great Valley had a culture of peace, love, and harmony, not fighting. That is what made it so different from the outside world, far more than anything you can see or touch. We started out as just the five of us and Etta, but we worked to bring everyone who shares in our vision together so we can bring the Valley's spirit with us wherever we go. And all of us have endured so much loss, separation, and suffering that we are going to work really hard as a herd to make sure that we do not have to face any more."
"So we all prepared to make new life in crater," Petrie explained. "We all can live there as big herd and live just the way we want. Of course, we know we in Mysterious Beyond now, and there lots of bad guys who want to hurt us. But we do our best to make sure that no happen."
"Right," Ruby agreed. "If we want to live in the Mysterious Beyond, we must be prepared for life in the Mysterious Beyond. So once we get to our crater, we will work on building up our strengths, smarts, and skills so we can be just as safe out here as we were in the Great Valley."
"Yeah," Cera grinned. "It's all about us getting tougher and being able to handle anything. We keep building ourselves up, we're gonna become too tough for anyone to want to mess with. And if we get strong enough, we'll be able to defeat both the bad guys who took over our home and the sharptooth pack who's after us just for existing without losing a single one of us."
"Of course, fighting's not the only answer," Chomper added passionately. "I can speak sharptooth, and now that I'm a big sharptooth, I can give most sharpteeth the food that they really want, just like how I handled that guy back there. That way, we don't have to fight anyone who's not a real enemy, and not make any more enemies than we have to."
"But of course, we are going to have plenty of fun in our new home too," Ducky chuckled. "If we want to lead a herd, we need to make sure everyone is happy, and do the best that we can for everybody here."
Saro nodded slowly, clearly deep in thought with what the gang was explaining to him. At last, he said, "Well, I've got to tell you. This is a tall task you have in front of you. A real ambition if you will. But from what I remember of you guys as kids and having a taste of what you all are made of, if anybody could pull it off, it'd be a team like you. Dare I ask …"
Saro paused hesitantly, before plunging on. "The thing is, I've learned a lot of old stories in my life and shared them with the world. But that's just it, they're ancient legends of things that happened long ago. But this would be entirely different. To be there to actually experience a legend in the making … I would be able to recount this adventure on a personal level and be able to really connect with others when sharing it. It would be storytelling like never before. So I humbly ask … To join you on your quest and become a member of your company."
Littlefoot beamed at his grandpa's old friend. "Of course Saro. We'll gladly welcome you into our herd. You just need to get down so we can do the honors."
Saro obliged, prostrating himself before Littlefoot asked, "Anything you would like to say to us?"
"Just know that though I may be old, I do will whatever I can to help you," Saro vowed.
Littlefoot beamed at his grandpa's old friend. "Welcome to our Great Valley family, Saro," he said as he put his paw on Saro's shoulder.
Surprised but pleased with the chorus and hugs he received, Saro smiled fondly at the group of younger dinosaurs. "Wow. You all really have got your own culture and everything."
"Yep yep yep," Ducky giggled happily.
"I just hope I can keep up with you guys," Saro smiled.
"Do not worry. We have healing plants that can heal you right up," Ducky grinned.
"Though they taste really bad," Chomper warned. "We've gotta find a way to improve that awful taste somehow."
"I don't think we'd want what you'd find good," Cera teased Chomper before laughing, they led their new herdmate back to the rest of the group. Being much older than them, Saro expected to easily be the slowest dinosaur of the bunch. However, to his surprise, he saw that the boxhead who had helped saved him was also lagging behind. As the gap between the two big longnecks and the others widened, Saro noticed just how glum the boxhead appeared under the surface, and there was an all-too-familiar sense of inadequacy darkening his gaze …
Instinctively, Saro walked closer to Shorty, to which the boxhead noticed in surprise. "Shorty," Saro whispered. "I want to thank you so much for helping to save me. You didn't even know me, yet you showed some real bravery in the face of that sharptooth that I don't think I'll ever forget."
Shorty nodded slightly, before Saro looked seriously at him. "You have some self-doubts?"
Shorty stared. "Wait, what?" he reacted defensively.
Saro looked kindly at Shorty. "It's just I have gone through such feelings myself before," he said, eyeing Littlefoot. "Littlefoot's grandfather was the greatest story speaker I ever knew. So great that I tried to persuade him to leave the Great Valley so he could keep on telling the stories. And when he refused, I let my passion control me, claiming that he betrayed our kind and all our traditions … Even though it was plainly obvious that he was much too old for a wandering life, and he had a wife, a grandson, and a Valley with whom his heart truly belonged."
Sighing, Saro continued, "Eventually, he told me that I should carry on his legacy. And as much as I wanted to keep the legends alive and knew everything there was about the Great Longneck stories, I didn't think I could do it. Try as I may, there was no way I could deliver them in exactly the way Grandpa Longneck did with his wise, soothing tones. But I soon realized that I still left an impact on my listeners by telling the stories in in my own way. And that allowed me to really grow comfortable with my storytelling. With me?"
"Uh …" Shorty began, before Saro continued.
"You don't have to be Littlefoot or Chomper or Spike or any of the rest of them to leave your mark on the herd," Saro advised. "You have skills, capabilities, and experiences that make you different from any of them. Which means that you will have your own way in which to contribute. Try not to think of doing things as good as they can. Think about ways in which you yourself can make a unique contribution. And once you do, you will never have to feel inferior or inadequate again."
Shorty nodded slowly. The elder longneck was right. Whether he thought about it or not, he had always subconsciously negatively compared himself to Littlefoot. He wasn't Bron's birth child like Littlefoot. He had a short temper unlike Littlefoot. He couldn't make friends as easily as Littlefoot. He had never gone on all those adventures like Littlefoot. He did not pass the Big Longneck Test like Littlefoot. Clearing his mind, he realized that if he wanted to feel real self-worth, he needed to stop trying to play to Littlefoot's strengths and play to his own. He had to draw on his own skills, experiences, and knowledge if he wanted to really prove to everyone that he wasn't a worthless failure and could actually be a real contributor to the herd …
And then it came to him. A new idea which only he could pull off. Something that if all worked out right, not only would allow him to help his current herd, but would allow him to help those for whom he had once been responsible for … True, it was a long time ago, and some of them may have fallen to sharpteeth. But if he was twenty, they would probably be seventeen or eighteen, just the age when young dinosaurs often look for a new life. And the prospect of being reunited again, only this time as a fully-fledged group of young adult longnecks who would be more than capable of defending themselves, alongside a herd filled with so many other dinosaurs their age, was one which began to make his heart pound with excitement. It truly was a win-win situation, one that would not only ensure the safety of his old herdmates by uniting them with a larger herd where everyone looked out for one another, but also one that would provide his new herd with as many as seven loyal young boxheads who would fit right in on their team …
"Hang on guys," Shorty thought as he remembered the small, brown faces of his old hatchling herd, having depended on him as their caretaker and benefactor. "I'm ready to take you in again!"
And before he knew it, Shorty's stride had picked up to the point that he was hardly trailing the others at all. He knew his whole affect must have changed, for the others were repeatedly looking at him in hopeful surprise. But Shorty could hardly notice. Now he had a purpose, a quest of his own to accomplish, and he was determined not to let his first real family down.
