Here we go with another chapter! Special thanks to RedMageKnight and ShinTheScout for the reviews, Ryan6783 for some thoughtful insights, and Zee Docking with helping write some comedy scenes and other ideas. The Land Before Time belongs to Universal.

Chapter 38 – Water, Sand, Sky, and Rock

As his eyes flickered open with the dawning of a new day, Littlefoot's body felt remarkably refreshed and free of tension. He had desperately needed that sleep and had half a mind to shut his eyes and keep right on resting. But he knew he couldn't just yet. They were still out in the middle of the Mysterious Beyond, and he knew he needed to consult with his friends to best prepare for their journey in the coming day.

One by one, Littlefoot nudged Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Chomper awake, words hardly needing to be said for he knew his friends took the responsibility of herd leadership just as seriously as he did. Together, the six of them gathered a little ways off from where the rest of the herd was still resting, hoping to ensure their herdmates would be as rested as possible for the coming day. Ruby, still on the night shift with her parents' herd, saw her fellow herd leaders getting together and went over to join them.

"Morning guys," Ruby greeted them as she yawned. "We're going to talk about what we're going to do next?"

"Yeah," Littlefoot smiled, before realizing that not only had Ruby been awake all night but she had been awake for the whole previous day as well. "Listen Ruby, make sure you get some rest today. We're gonna talk about where the five of us went on our first journey here, so you and Chomper can just sit back and relax."

Ruby nodded appreciatively. "Thanks. I'll still be able to listen, but I'll make sure to get some rest when we travel today," she said before resting her head against Chomper's kneecap.

"So how long do you think we've got?" Chomper asked eagerly.

"Well, let's see …" Littlefoot pondered. "It took us two more nights when we first went, but we've got a lot of kids and supplies with us, so it might take us a little longer this time."

"That's good," Chomper smiled. "Goregie and Leigh should have a hard time finding us so far away from home."

"Yeah," Littlefoot said. "But we're gonna need to make sure we get plenty of water. There's a big desert coming up, and it will be really hard to get through if we're not hydrated."

To Littlefoot's surprise however, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike all looked surprised. "Um … Me no remember going through desert."

"We must have gone a different way than you did," Ducky realized.

"Yeah, because your grandparents didn't want us to come along," Cera smirked. "Like that would stop us."

"I thought you didn't want to go because we were following our sleep stories?" Littlefoot teased.

"Shut it," Cera snapped, playfully shoving Littlefoot as they all laughed.

"So if you didn't go through a desert," Littlefoot pondered. "Where did you go?"

"Well, just like you, we went through the swamp and had to deal with belly draggers," Cera smirked smugly.

"Then we found Pat," Ducky explained. "He followed us over to some fast water …"

"Hang on there," Cera interrupted. "We are going to that fast water."

"Huh?" Littlefoot asked in bewilderment as Chomper and Ruby shrugged. Ducky, Petrie and Spike however, looked at Cera in astonishment.

"You no learn anything?" Petrie asked incredulously.

"Sure I did!" Cera replied. "I learned that hatchlings shouldn't try to jump across that fast water. But we're not hatchlings anymore, are we?"

Littlefoot didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about, but Cera grinned smugly. "I've got a score to settle with that fast water."

"Me afraid you say that," Petrie muttered.

Turning to Littlefoot, Chomper and Ruby, Cera explained, "The way we went, there was a fast water river in the way. I tried jumping across, but I was too small to make it … But now I'm gonna teach that fast water a lesson."

"I told you she's lost it," Chomper chuckled.

"Besides," Cera smirked, ignoring him. "It'll be totally safe! We were able to walk across Pat from one side of the river to the other, so the kids can just do the same with the longnecks here. And even though he was old and not exactly flexible, he had no problem getting across. There was a big stepping stone that could hold his weight, and he only needed two easy jumps. And if someone actually does fall into the river, we've got all our longnecks who can reach into the river and pull them out, or all our swimmers who can dive in and come to their rescue! And think about how we'd feel after making a daring jump over that river! The thrill of exerting our bodies and triumphing over an obstacle! We'd all feel like we could do anything!"

Cera's passion and arguments, coupled with a newfound maturity that was not present the first time around, were even winning Ducky, Petrie and Spike over, and Littlefoot considered. "Sure, why not? At the very least, the time it will take for all of us to get across will give the kids a rest break, and allow all of us to have a nice drink."

"Hee, I knew you'd come around!" Cera grinned triumphantly.

"So where did you go after the fast water?" Littlefoot asked.

Petrie answered quickly. "Nowhere we wanna go. Lots of shaky ground with fire pits underneath. Pat's weight caused it to crack and got burned from it."

"Yeah, it sounds like a place that does not sound safe," Ruby said thoughtfully. "We best avoid that route, especially since we have so many longnecks ourselves."

"I'll try asking Dad to see if there's a way we can get to the fast water and then through the desert," Littlefoot said thoughtfully. "We'd have enough to drink from the fast water, and as hot as the desert is, at least the ground there is stable. Besides, there wouldn't be many sharpteeth to try and hurt us."

"So we're all in agreement?" Chomper asked hopefully. "We go over the fast water, then get through the desert?"

Everyone agreed, and with a plan set, they happily returned to the rest of the herd as they began to wake up. At once, Littlefoot consulted with his father about first going over the fast water and then going through the desert, and apart from Bron confirming that such a route was possible, he commended him and his friends for thinking to avoid the route with the shaky ground and fire pits, causing Littlefoot to beam with pride.

"How's Shorty holding up?" Littlefoot asked his father concernedly as he noticed Shorty grazing on the ground plants, far away from the others to accommodate the massive intake his body required.

Bron sighed. "I think we best give Shorty some space from my old herd. I know they are sorry, but Shorty's not going to forgive them easily. Hopefully in time Shorty will make peace with them. But until then, I'd imagine he's going to spend more time with you guys and everyone else your age."

"Yeah," Littlefoot said in relief. "I think it'll be good for him too. He looked much better when helping us across the swamp and helping deal with that sharptooth last night."

"Yeah, about that," Bron said thoughtfully as Littlefoot looked at him, intrigued.

"What is it?" Littlefoot asked.

Bron took a big breath. "I'm not sure I should be telling you this, Littlefoot," he said cautiously. "But Shorty's a loud sleeper, and he said some things in his sleep stories last night which made me, well … Realize just how much his past is still affecting him. So I think I better fill you in on some things I'm not sure you're aware of."

"Right," Littlefoot said understandingly as Bron took a deep breath.

Sighing, Bron asked, "Remember how I told you Shorty was one of a bunch of young ones that I found in the wilderness without any grownups?"

"Yeah?" Littlefoot replied.

"Well, Shorty also was, in a manner of speaking, their caretaker," Bron explained. "The other little longnecks were even younger than he was, and along with them being of Cam and Len's kind, made them considerably smaller than he was. Thus, without any grownups to turn to, the others had all come to depend on him. I saw this dynamic the very first time I met them. When I approached them, the very first thing the others did was to run behind him for protection, while Shorty, little as he was, looked ready to fight me on their behalf."

"But you're great with kids," Littlefoot pointed out. "Apart from being big, you wouldn't do anything that would scare them."

Bron sighed. "Right you are, Littlefoot. It's not normal for longneck hatchlings to be so fearful of their fellow longnecks. Most longneck hatchlings are used to the size of the adults from growing up with their families, so that is not generally an issue. And I did my best to be gentle with them, and indeed, they eventually warmed up to me. But their first instinct was one of fear, and I've always theorized that this unusual response was because of what happened to them in their birth herds. And from knowing the appetite that many boxheads have and their tendency to abandon the kids they deem weaker to make sure they can feed their healthier ones, I've long thought this is what happened to them. I'd imagine that they came from herds not too different from the ones in the Valley, where they grew up with lots of fear, facing constant rejection and bullying from their bigger, stronger nestmates. Which, I suppose upon thinking about it now, maybe I should have given Shorty the chance to tell the young boxheads his story … Only thing was, I didn't want him to relive his past over again."

Bron continued. "You might wonder why you've never seen Shorty with any of these guys growing up or why he'd never mention them to you. Simply put, their relationship frayed. Once other adults started joining our herd, many of them expressed an interest in becoming adoptive parents for the orphaned kids. So soon, the kids all started to settle into new families within the herd … All except one," Bron sighed, shaking his head. "Shorty had a lot of things going against him. Not only was he older than the other kids, but he also belongs to a much rarer species of longneck. And while my herd did see the mutual benefit of shared protection for one another, there was still great doubt around adopting a child of another kind … Indeed, even I had my doubts about whether I could possibly raise Shorty as a parent."

Sighing, Bron continued, "Shorty noticed of course, and needless to say, he didn't take it well. Several times, he demanded the other adoptive parents to adopt him too, and when they didn't accept, he started pressuring the kids into the position of staying with their new families or being his friend. Of course this only made their parents want to separate them from him further, and then he responded by whipping rocks at the others with his tail …"

"Yeah," Littlefoot said darkly, remembering when Shorty did that to him.

"It took seeing how close you guys were to one another, and of course hearing how Ducky's mother had taken in Spike as an adoptive son, to make me realize there wasn't any reason for me not to adopt Shorty and finally give him the parental love he so badly craved," he smiled thankfully. "To which I'm still eternally grateful for. But with his old friends, the damage had been done, and they seldom spoke with one another for the rest of our time together."

"So then what happened?" Littlefoot asked quietly. "Did they die in that sharptooth attack that killed off a lot of your herd?"

Bron shook his head. "No actually. They're still alive, as far as I know. Their herd split up with us because of Wild Arms."

"Wild Arms?" Littlefoot asked bewilderedly.

Bron sighed. "Most of them started getting uncomfortable when I decided to experiment with welcoming dinosaurs who weren't longnecks into our herd. They thought I was abusing my power and not considering their wishes, while I thought welcoming in newcomers would benefit all of us. But Wild Arms was the breaking point. Many of them thought he was a threat because of his long claws and his kind being related to halfteeth."

"But Wild Arms is harmless! He only eats green food!" Littlefoot said incredulously, eyeing Wild Arms grab a bunch of grass with his claw as he chatted with some of the others in Bron's herd.

"I know, and actually tried arguing that very point, but many of my herd were set in their ways. After much debate, we narrowly voted to welcome Wild Arms in, but not without strong disagreement and ultimately a schism of the herd. We sensed that things were going badly and not going to get any better, so rather than allow our relationships to deteriorate further, we parted amicably, wishing each other the best of luck but accepting that we couldn't function as one herd."

Bron sighed. "That was the last I've ever heard of them. Shorty at the time didn't seem overly bothered. He just mocked them for being scared of Wild Arms. But as I think about it now, it was perhaps his way of coping with losing what was in effect the first real family he ever had …"

Pausing, Bron continued. "That brings me to last night. As I told you, Shorty tends to be a loud sleeper. And he was calling out the names of the other kids. But it didn't sound angry or despairing. It sounded … Hopeful. As if he's seeking them out and wants to see them again."

"Right," Littlefoot said, nodding understandingly. "You think Shorty wants them to leave their herds and come join ours?"

Bron nodded. "Between seeing you guys as herd leaders, all the new kids you've taken in reminding him of his group, hearing the story of my first meeting them again, the time he'd spend reflecting over his life in the face of death in that prison, and wandering through these lands we once migrated through, I would imagine Shorty's been doing a lot of thinking about his past. I've always been very careful not to force him to relive his past, which is why I never gave him the Big Longneck Test as a kid. But it seems that now he really wants to face his past and bring his old group back together again."

"But what if they're no longer alive?" Littlefoot asked quietly. "What if they don't want to leave their new herd? Or they don't even want to see him again? Or their adoptive parents would try to keep him away from them?"

Bron nodded slowly. "That all worries me. There's a real danger in Shorty getting his hopes up too high, only to have them crushed with an unwelcome truth and leaving him emotionally vulnerable again. And with Goregie already having taken advantage of Shorty's low points before, there's every reason to believe she'd do it again. I think the best thing we can do to protect him from such a letdown is to make him feel valued and well-loved here so he'll always know he belongs. So no matter what happens, he'll know he'll always have friends and a purpose to make living worthwhile."

Littlefoot nodded understandingly. "Yeah. But who knows? Maybe we can help find his old herd, and maybe at least some of them would want to join him."

"Maybe," Bron said in a cautiously hopeful tone. "But just be careful, all right? Make sure his hopes do not get too out of hand."

"Right," promised Littlefoot, before starting to head back to his friends.

Sure enough, when Littlefoot arrived, Shorty was excitedly talking to Chomper, who looked astonished with the barrage of questions he was getting. So too did Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Ruby, all of whom were taken aback with his sudden enthusiasm in marked contrast with his angry outburst the night earlier. Only Spike looked unphased as he watched Shorty ramble on.

"You never told us you had old friends!" Ducky exclaimed. "They sound like fun, they do!"

"Really? I guess I just haven't gotten around to it," Shorty explained evasively.

"Well, I like the sound of them," Cera put in. "Seven more awesome young longnecks? Leigh and Goregie wouldn't know what hit them, hee!"

"I know," Shorty grinned. "They were really little when I raised them. But they've grown up in the Mysterious Beyond just like I have, so they're bound to be pretty tough. All I've got to do is tell them about our herd, and they're gonna be joining us just like that! After all, I was their first herd leader, and I bet they've been waiting for me to come back for them."

Though definitely overconfident, Littlefoot did not want to dampen Shorty's enthusiasm, for a cheerful, optimistic Shorty was much better for herd morale than a mopey or argumentative one. At once, Shorty spun toward Littlefoot and saw him. "Hey Littlefoot! Did I ever tell you about my first herd?"

"No," Littlefoot said truthfully.

"Well, I helped raise a bunch of longnecks when I was really young," Shorty explained feverishly. "I was their first protector and helped them until they found adults to take care of them and our herds got separated. But now they're bound to be getting sick of their old, cranky adoptive parents! Looking for a new life! And who better to live with than us? We're a cool young herd on an adventure! I know these guys, and trust me, they're gonna love to be a part of our team!"

"Sounds great Shorty," Littlefoot beamed at his brother, causing him to proudly grin as he basked in the Bright Circle's light.

"I'm gonna use my sniffer to look out for them," Chomper explained. "Shorty said that they'd be migrating through these lands somewhere. I can't tell who they are since I've never met them, but if I smell a lot of boxhead kids my age, I'm gonna ask them if they know a Shorty and I'm sure I'll find them sooner or later."

"Just so long as you remember you're a sharptooth and you have to watch your back," Cera quipped. "The last thing we need is to be rescuing your hide from mobs of angry longnecks."

"Right," Chomper said sheepishly as they all laughed.

"Well, I'm gonna tell Ali, Cam, Mia and Len all about them," Shorty said confidently, before going over to eagerly chat with his fellow young longnecks.

Once Shorty was preoccupied, Petrie nudged Littlefoot. "You know anything about these guys?" he asked uncertainly.

"Not really," Littlefoot admitted. "But Dad does, and he's not sure if they're alive, or if they even would wanna come with us."

"Ugh … I knew he was full of it," Cera said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "Let's just hope he doesn't get too carried away."

"But at least Shorty is happy now, right?" Ducky asked.

"Yeah," Littlefoot smiled. For no matter what fate held in store regarding Shorty's old friends, the prospect of reuniting with them was at the very least brightening his mood during these critical first days when the newcomers would be developing an impression of him, and for that he couldn't be more grateful for them to see his positive side after the last night's dinner.

So with the help of Bron and his herd giving directions, the herd set off again soon after breakfast. Apart from the occasional leafeater gawking at them as they paused their eating in disbelief or the lone sharptooth eyeing them from a distance, they did not meet anyone else as they continued to pass through the open grassland. Most of the group was in good spirits as they chatted away, though towards noon, many of them were getting thirsty, especially the kids, not having had anything to drink since the edge of the swamp.

"Are we gonna find some water soon?" little shieldback Linden asked hopefully.

"Oh, you bet we are," Cera smirked deviously, causing numerous murmurs of interest.

"I can hear the water running from here," Chomper said brightly. "And it sounds like a whole lot of water too!"

"But the water will be running fast!" Ducky warned. "So be careful not to fall in … Right Sam?" she asked, for she had eyed her little brother and the rest of his gang giving one another naughty looks.

"Right," Sam giggled innocently.

Sure enough, they had reached the running water. Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike instantly recognized the place as the very spot that they had once crossed with Pat. It was just as long, straight, and fast-moving as they remembered it, complete with the two grassy notches extending out into the river, the large rock perfectly in between them, and the gently sloping waterfall off to the right where little white clouds hovered over the running water. Looking further to the right, they realized that they were at the bottom of a series of four rolling hills, with a small waterfall going down each one of them.

"Okay guys, here we are," Cera said determinedly. "Kids, let's get you across first."

"I can be their bridge," Sue suggested with a slight giggle, and she waded into the water. It was a pretty deep river, going up to her chest, but her immense weight prevented her from being pushed aside by the water as she firmly planted her feet into the river's dirt. "It kinda tickles," she laughed as she felt the fast-moving water come to an abrupt halt as it splashed against her body before slowly redirecting around her.

"Still, someone needs to make sure you're upright, little lady," Ross told his wife, causing them both to laugh as he waded by her side. Then Sue extended her long whiptail and neck to cover the span of the river. "It's okay kids, you can cross me."

"We better make sure there's no trouble," Doc told Dara, who nodded. "Be there to stop anyone from drowning."

So he and Dara took their spots on the side, prepared to use their long necks to fish out any kid who fell off Sue's back.

With that, the long procession of kids crossed from one side of Sue to the other as she remained still, and just like that, all the kids were across. Some of Bron's herd meanwhile, waded over to the other side as they worked with the half that remained to ferry their supplies from one side of the river to the other, as well as Chomper's parents, Ruby's parents' herd, and the other little herd members. Meanwhile, Cera stood to address the others, a fiery sparkle in her eyes.

"Okay guys," she grinned. "Who's up for a real challenge? Who's ready to jump across this river, something that I couldn't do the first time around?"

"You mean you tried jumping across this river when you were a hatchling?" Topps roared furiously, oblivious to the many laughs. "Without telling me?"

"Well yeah, but at least I've learned that hatchlings can't do it. But we bigger dinos can. Just watch," Cera said with relish as she licked her lips. Backing up a good way, she felt her heart beating with anticipation. It was now or never for her rematch against the river.

Gritting her teeth, she charged forward just as she had so long ago. But this time, she could feel a brisk wind in her stride, a sense of real momentum powering her forward. And she felt her body, flexed and flowing from all her training with the teens, effortlessly glide forward as she made her great leap. Soaring through the air as she felt all four of her legs stretch outward, she looked down to see that rather than drawing closer to the foaming water, she was still curving right over it, and by the time she realized she was beginning to fall, she could see some green in her line of sight. Trying as hard as she could to keep her legs outstretched, her heart soared as the blue beneath her completely vanished, and she landed all four paws on the other side's grass with a triumphant thud.

"Heeeeeee!" Cera roared with relish, grinning excitedly as the kids on the other side cheered and ran up to greet her. "I finally showed that river a thing or two!"

"Big deal, you crossed some water," Hyp smirked challengingly. "I bet you I can do it too, watch!"

But in his haste, Hyp instantly jumped without thinking, causing him to fall straight into the water. Luckily Sue lowered her tail to prevent him from getting carried downstream, but Hyp strode out humiliated, spitting water out.

"Guess it's not that easy, huh Hyp?" Nod teased his friend.

"I can do it!" Hyp insisted. "Just watch!"

"I bet you can," Cera smirked, even catching Hyp off-guard. "But not like that. You need to get a running start so you get real momentum before jumping. Then you can make it over, no problem."

"I knew that!" Hyp playfully snapped back, but it was not hard to see the appreciation on his face as he went back and prepared to get a running start. Concentrating hard, Hyp huffed as he barreled forward before taking a giant leap. Vaulting high into the air, Hyp managed to land gracefully on the other side. "Yesssss!" Hyp smirked triumphantly as he beamed at the enthusiastic kids coming to congratulate him.

"All right, who's next!" Cera called out, but the words barely got out of her mouth before she saw that Tippy had already backed up and took a running charge over the river. "Fun fun fun!" he exclaimed as he landed to more cheers.

"Well don't look at me," smirked Kosh. "I'd rather take the easy way across."

And Kosh eyed the same rock that Pat had once jumped on to get across, before making the hop onto it and then easily getting across to the other side.

"What's the matter Kosh? You've been eating too many sweet bubbles?" Topps teased.

"Like you can jump all the way across," Kosh retorted.

"You don't believe I can?" Topps growled back. "Fine then, I'll show you."

Cera snickered at her dad as he backed up, not entirely sure if he could successfully make the jump or not. Still, he gave it his all as he barreled forward, causing the ground to shake as he leapt into the air, soaring across the river. But while his front paws were able to just make the other side, his back paws landed in the water, dragging him downstream until Sue's body stopped him and she placed him on dry land.

"Daddy, you've got enough power, but you're too stiff," Cera coached her dad. "Threehorn training's good for developing strength and technique, but you need to add in some stretches and flexibility before you can pull that kind of move off."

"Even I could have told you that," Pterano teased.

"You wouldn't know anything about jumping, beakbrain!" Topps shot back.

"Why do I need to? I can fly after all," Pterano smirked.

"Not if I horn your wings first," Topps snarked.

"Is that a way to treat your fellow herdmate?" Pterano needled.

"Well, no … But since it's you, all bets are off," Topps snorted back, smirking evilly to many chortles.

It took a while for everyone to get across, with most of the group opting to play it safe by taking the stepping stone that Pat used. This created a long line, during which time the dinosaurs who were able to take the leap without use of the stepping stone were able to get in several rounds of practice. Littlefoot, being big and sturdy enough to just wade across the river if he wanted to, opted not to use the stepping stone. But he knew this was a great chance to practice his jumps, something he'd been having a harder time practicing ever since his growth spurt without causing a disturbance. Fortunately, he was still relatively small, light, and agile for his kind, and by taking a running start and stretching out his legs just like Cera did, he found that he could make the jump fairly easily. Still, he knew that he could improve his technique, and so he focused on landing in precise spots, controlling his balance upon landing, and trying to land softly so he could jump without creating an earthshake.

He was curious to see the jumping skills of all his friends and teammates. Spike preferred to watch his friends first and learn from them before trying the maneuver, Petrie did not need to jump since he could fly, and Ruby was getting some much-deserved rest. But apart from Cera continuing to practice with continued vigor and enthusiasm, Ducky was still able to throw herself across with nice, easy arm swings, just as she had done to get across the tall rocks in the canyon when she was little. Chomper too was also a great jumper, his practice from water hunting making him very accustomed to getting across the water and making great distances, though his growth spurt made his landings often imprecise and awkward.

He was happy to see that Ali had retained much of her maneuverability that she once used against Dil to land surprisingly gracefully for a longneck. Dinah and Dana, though barely big enough to make the jump, were still daredevils and kept right on trying, making it roughly half the time and laughing it off whenever they fell short. They were more maneuverable than the three teens in Mr. Threehorn's herd, who similar to their herd leader, tried making the jump across with their power but often fell just short. Tippy continued to enjoy jumping with great gusto, his tendency to jump for fun making him surprisingly talented. Monty and Veno, though bulky like Mr. Threehorn, were slightly more flexible, their long legs carrying them over as they enjoyed the thrill of the jump. Cam, Len and Mia happily were able to make the jump but frequently landed clumsily with their bellies frequently hitting the ground, while Shorty made the jump with better balance but often causing uncontrolled tremors with his landings that knocked everyone else off their feet.

While Ducky enjoyed jumping over the fast water, her same-aged siblings were more apprehensive. As they watched Ducky and the others cheerily hop from one side to the other, Ducky decided to see if she could help encourage them to make the jump across. Taking a deep breath, Ducky quickly swam through the rushing current to join them on the riverbank.

"You guys, there is nothing to be afraid with the fast water," Ducky explained soothingly. "We may have been little once, but we are big now, big enough so that the fast water can no longer hurt us! And even if you guys cannot make the jump across, you can just swim to shore, yep yep yep!"

"Well … I guess I can try," Azul said tentatively, before he cleared his throat and focused on his arm swing. Taking a leap, he fell just short, plunging into the water. But he had grown to the point where the strength of his body could counter the water's rushing tide, and he had no problem resurfacing and paddling the rest of the way to the other side, just a tiny bit downstream of where he started.

"You almost did it!" Ducky said cheerfully to her brother. "And nothing bad happened, right?"

"No, I guess not," Azul smiled, before he got back up to shore before backing up for a running start, while Ducky and her other siblings backed away to make room for him to land. Then with a great leap, he landed right by his other siblings, who happily cheered for him.

"That was great!" Ducky exclaimed, hugging her brother. "Who wants to try next?"

"I'll go," offered Lena, and remembering to back up like her brother and swing her arms, she propelled herself forward. She almost fell back into the water, but just enough of her was across so that she was able to remain ashore.

"Whew!" Lena exclaimed. "That was a close one. I might've fallen in!"

Ducky smiled. "But you will get better each time, you will! And soon you will get good enough at it that it will be fun!"

"Is that how you guys got to be … Well, such crazy adventurers?" marveled Loph.

"Without being afraid of anything?" added Day.

"Oh, we still get afraid," Ducky giggled. "But we help each other through the whole way, and after we learn something new, we realize there is that much less we have to be afraid of!"

"I guess so," Kiri smiled. "There is no harm in trying, right?"

"That is the spirit!" Ducky exclaimed brightly before Kiri concentrated on her technique and was successfully able to get across. Before Ducky knew it, all seven of her siblings were able to leap over the running fast water, their confidence improving with each successful jump, as they began to enjoy jumping along the riverbank with their sister and her bright spirit.

With his technique improving with continuous practice, Hyp had become a much smoother, more accurate jumper, using his light build and well-muscled legs to effortlessly glide from one side of the riverbank to the other. There was something innately satisfying not only in overcoming nature over and over again, but also in showing off that even though he was relatively little for a grownup, he still had plenty of strength in his body. What made it still more satisfying was that among his crew, he was actually the best at something physical for a change. Ever since Mutt and Nod hit their growth spurts, he had always been their diminutive leader, a contrast that grew even more marked once Ann, Rana and Weald started hanging out with them. He was so used to being the smallest, weakest, and least capable of them that he couldn't help feeling good seeing that they were all hesitant to make the jump, each of them opting to use the stepping stone to get across. Still, rather than contentedly relish his superiority, Hyp genuinely cared for his friends, and wanted to help them improve their physical capabilities as much as possible. Of course, his way of whipping his crew into shape was a lot different than the goodie four-paws leading the herd …

"You guys are such a bunch of scaredy eggs," Hyp taunted teasingly, knowing how much it would bait them.

"I'm not!" Nod insisted. "I just can't make it across! Do I look like I'm made for jumping to you?"

Hyp looked at Nod's armor-covered back and low legs and saw he had a point. "Okay, fine. You get off easy for now. You do push-ups and build up your strength for later," he smirked.

Nod sighed but got started as Hyp turned to the rest of them with a playful smirk. "The rest of you, you're all twofooters like me, and you're not babies. Right?"

"Right," Mutt, Dispo, Ann, Weald, Rana, Ceph and Halle said.

"Good," Hyp smirked. "So no excuses. Mutt, you're up first."

"Huh? Why me?" Mutt whined.

"Because I knew you first," Hyp said with a snicker. "Simple as that."

Mutt nodded, but he stared out at the other side. "Okay," he said doubtfully, with a big gulp. He had never been an especially smooth jumper …

"Break a leg," Dispo snickered.

"Huh?" Mutt asked.

"It means good luck, he's just messing with you," Ann explained with an eyeroll as she slapped Dispo's back with her tail.

"Right," Mutt nodded as he took an in-breath. Then he released it and took a jump. However, his nerves got the better of him, and he landed well-short of the edge.

"Help!" Mutt shouted. Though Sue was still in the water to block Mutt from going downstream, it still didn't make his friend any less scared …

"I guess I'll go rescue him," Ann sighed as she dove in and swam toward Mutt. However, she could not quite move the bulky spikethumb, for although she was a little bigger than him, his flailing and the water's fast current made it hard to get a good grip. However, she soon felt another presence by her side, and together, they were both able to push Mutt toward the shore.

"Thanks," Ann smiled, expecting to see one of the swimmers come to her aid. But to her surprise, it was none other than Rana, who she had hardly ever seen in the water before.

"Don't mention it," Rana smiled, and Ann watched how gracefully the sailed spikethumb glided as they pushed Mutt back to the river's edge.

"Nice save," Halle grinned.

"Yeah, that was really cool!" agreed Ceph.

"Whoa Rana," Weald marveled. "You really weren't kidding when you said you were part swimmer!"

"Yep, and I'm not gonna hide my heritage anymore either," Rana said determinedly. "I may be a sailed spikethumb born to swimmer parents. But if they don't like it, that's tough luck, for I've got both a cool sail and good swimming skills."

"That's great," Ann beamed. "Now I know I'm not the only one of you guys who doesn't sink like a rock!"

"We'll catch up to you, just you wait," Hyp seethed playfully as they all laughed before Hyp turned to Mutt. "Next time, take more of a running start! And don't think that you're trapped in the water unless you actually fall in."

"Oh, yeah, right," Mutt chuckled sheepishly.

"I'll give you some tree stars the first time you make it," Dispo promised.

"Tree stars!" Mutt exclaimed, his childlike innocence propelling him to new heights, and as if to prove himself, he gritted his teeth and made the leap from one side to the other and back again.

"Maybe you should listen to your stomach more," Hyp grinned, reaching up to pat his friend on the leg, before as promised, Dispo gave Mutt a stick of treestars which Mutt happily gobbled down.

Meanwhile, with the exception of the flyer teens cheering them on, the herd's deputies were eagerly trying their long jumps. Though well-conditioned overall, their differing body builds made the task of jumping from one side to the other very different for each of them. Jada and Gara, being lightweight longnecks with nimble, long legs, were standout jumpers, who provided they got enough of a running start could easily coast across the river and land neatly on the other side. Still, they worked on improving their flexibility so they could jump far without the need of a running start. Anndi and Vail were a bit heavier, so they needed more of a running start to achieve the necessary momentum to get across and missed more often than the two spikenecks, while bulky Sheldon frequently fell short, landing in the water with big splashes, but his sturdiness allowed him to easily swim the rest of the way as he slowly began improving his accuracy rate with practice.

Felix and Chantal were both nimble and lightweight frilled dinosaurs and after having watched Cera enough times were able to master the jump with plenty of room to spare, and the two of them then started focusing on precision landing. Glenn with slightly shorter legs and a slight fear of fast water had a little bit of a harder time, but he soon was able to make it across with increasing frequency. Keeter and Kendall as relatively small but bulky frilled dinos found that they couldn't make the jumps without significant running starts, but found that with enough momentum, they could make it to the other side with significant power and began focusing that power into precision by practicing their landings as if they were stomping on opponents.

The twofooters were by in large naturally skilled jumpers, having had to rely on running and jumping and more to escape sharpteeth in their pasts relative to the bulky, armored fourfooters. Lightweight Emery made for the longest jumper among the teens, while Seth landed with a well-aimed, powerful stomp. Gabriel and Aria were a little rusty at first, but often preferring to swim or hide as a means of escape, but they quickly were able to get the hang of jumping. The only one who had a little trouble at first was Harmony, who seemed to have some confidence issues making it across. Luckily, the flyer teens were there to really work on cheering her.

"Don't worry Harmony," said her teammate Phoenix. "Knowing how great of a rock thrower you are, I'm sure you're gonna be a great jumper too! Just close your eyes and imagine yourself doing it."

"Yeah, and we'll all be here to help you if anything goes wrong," soothed Welbie.

"And that's a promise we're gonna keep," smiled Tilden.

Harmony smiled and nodded, before closing her eyes and taking their advice. With a great swing of her arms, Harmony took a running start before easily landing across.

"That was one sweet landing!" Newcomb flapped over to her as she happily hugged him, humming a few notes in celebration, and the flyers happily watched as Harmony, having gained confidence, was easily able to make the jump in her next few attempts.

Tailed dinosaurs often had a hard time with their jumps, but the tailed teens had an assortment of skill levels. Spikesides Light and Eva were considerably lighter than their spiketailed counterparts with much less heavy armoring, and so made for surprisingly graceful jumpers and landed smoothly on the other side, with Light taking it a step above by practicing his tail lashes upon landing, acting as though he was fighting an opponent on the other side. Audrey was bulkier with her heavy armor, but she had enough muscle power in her legs to jump off with a kick and land cleanly on the other side. Bulky shieldback Dekker knew he wasn't the best jumper, so he found a sturdy training rock to practice with that he threw into the water, focusing on getting to the rock with precision before landing neatly on the other side.

Only Candy wasn't having a good time practicing her jumps. Being a small yet short-legged and bulky shieldback, she was at a relative disadvantage compared to everyone except the even bulkier Dekker, but unlike him, she refused to use a training rock and insisted on trying to jump the whole way across, continuously failing in her efforts. Seeing so much of herself in the younger shieldback, Cera decided to give Candy some individualized coaching.

"You know, you're already jumping really good for your size and kind," Cera reassured her as they sat back a little ways from the others.

"Yeah, but I want to be more than really good! I want to do it just like you, Coach Cera!" Candy insisted.

Knowing how badly she wanted to get across that river, Cera nodded understandingly. "Okay, listen. You've gotta really believe you can land on the other side. Stop telling yourself that shieldbacks can't do it and thinking about all the times you've failed. Each time you try, you get a bit more practice, which'll over time make you a better jumper. It might not be the next time that you make it across. Or the time after. But sooner or later, you're gonna do it. Look at how far you've come already. You've got a lot of spunk just like I do, and knowing that, you're never gonna give up."

"Right, Coach Cera," Candy nodded determinedly, heartened with her words as she got into position for another running start. Cera watched as the purple shieldback charged forward and made a running leap. She worked her hardest to keep herself afloat and Cera watched her descent apprehensively, knowing it would be really close if she made it or not, and at first glance, it looked like Candy fell just short as her back feet splashed the water. However, as the water subsided, she saw that Candy had managed to hook her beak onto the other side's grass, establishing enough of a grip to pull herself out of the water and onto the other side. "Whoa Coach Cera! That was awesome, you really helped me out!" Candy exclaimed.

"Hee, I knew you'd be able to do it!" Cera called out, as Dekker went over to congratulate her.

"Whoa Candy," he exclaimed. "I didn't think it was possible that we shieldbacks could make it all the way across!"

"I didn't think so either," Candy beamed.

"You think I can do it too?" Dekker asked hopefully.

"If you're as lucky as me," Candy replied.

Dekker sighed as he looked at the leaping fourhorn. "Now I wish I was the one named Felix," he observed as they both snickered.

"See that Nod?" Hyp smirked at his buddy. "Shieldbacks can make it across. Now you've got no excuse."

Nod sighed. "I give up," he said, as they laughed.

They had all been so busy with their jumps that they didn't even notice when all the elders and kids had finally made it across. "Okay everyone, we're all set," Bron called out.

Many of the younger dinosaurs however, were clearly disappointed.

"Aww! I was just getting the hang of jumping!" Candy sighed.

"Can't we stay here for a while and keep practicing?" Gabriel asked.

"We were just all making it across too!" Ceph agreed, as the rest of his gang nodded.

The gang looked at each other. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Chomper were having just as much fun jumping as their friends, and not only was this was a great place to practice their skills, but it was also a great spot for a rest break, with lots of green food around and cool water to drink from. But staying put also brought with it some obvious risks …

"Let's talk about it," Littlefoot suggested. "This is a great spot to practice and rest up, and we can eat from the green food here rather than using our supply. But if we stay here too long, our enemies might have an easier time of tracking us here."

The herd began to murmur with one another, weighing both perspectives. "Well, where are we going after here?" Mama Flyer asked.

"There is a big desert," Ducky explained. "Which will be very hot and hard to get through, it will."

"Hey Saro," Littlefoot asked their newest herd member, knowing he'd have to have gone far and wide to share all the longneck stories. "How long do you think it will take us to walk to the desert from here, and how long will it take for us to cross it?"

"Hmm …" Saro pondered. "I'd imagine we'd get there late afternoon, and it probably would take a half day to cross."

"May I make a suggestion?" Bron asked. "Perhaps we should go through the desert at the coolest possible time of day. That way, we'd be least likely to suffer from heat exhaustion or dehydration."

"That's when the Night Circle's at its highest, right?" asked Lyle Hollowhorn.

Mr. Thicknose shook his head. "No, actually. It would be natural to think that, but I seem to recall it actually occurs just when the Bright Circle begins to rise. This is because the heat remaining in the ground from the previous day has had the longest time to dissipate, and the Bright Circle's rays of the new day have not yet had the time to heat the ground. Conversely, it should be hottest when the Bright Circle just starts to set, for it has had ample time to heat the ground before then."

"That means," Mr. Spikethumb considered, "If we were to leave for the desert now, we would arrive just when it is hottest. A disagreeable proposition, I should say."

"Right," Petrie said, impressed and thankful for the elders' natural and navigational wisdom. "Sound like we should wait here then."

"When do you say we should go?" Chomper asked.

Mr. Spikethumb pondered. "Hmm, let me see … If it will take us four-sixths of a day to travel from here to the other side of the desert, and the coolest part of the day is five-sixths of a day from now, when we would want to be in the middle of the desert … We should start leaving there in the evening, so we'd get there when the Night Circle is at its highest point and use the night to cross."

"How did you do that?" muttered Mutt incredulously as Hyp just shook his head.

"Just as long as we stay safe!" Wild Arms insisted. "I heard there's big creepy crawlers that come out in the desert at night! Ones with claws, ones with fangs, and ones that eat red food! Ones as big as hatchlings!"

Many of the hatchlings shuddered, but Chomper looked delighted. "Giant crawlers, really?" he brightly asked. "Sounds yummy!"

Most of the group, especially the new kids, looked mildly disgusted. Chomper was long used to this reaction which was so typical from leafeaters, but he was not used to the murmurs of interest that came along with it.

"We'd like some, Chomper," Mama Sharptooth purred. "We haven't had any in ages."

"Yes, those things are way too fast for us to catch," Papa Sharptooth agreed.

"I'd love to try hunting some!" Cricket exclaimed. "Crawlers are my favorite!"

"They might be bigger than you Cricket," Chomper giggled, smiling at the diminutive oneclaw kid. "But I'll be sure to save you a bite! What kind would you like?"

Cricket licked his lips. "Mmmm … The eight-legged kind! The ones with tickly fuzzies on them! They taste really sweet!"

"Now you're getting me hungry!" Chomper exclaimed to incredulous looks. "Okay, first one of those I see is yours, Cricket."

"Yay! Thanks Chomper!" he cheered as Chomper leaned in to get hugged.

The fast biters too looked delighted. "You guys wirr be protected by us," Nyko smirked to the other kids.

"We're great at hunting crawrers," Chuss explained. "One tries attacking you, they're dead."

"Besides, Arpha's right, they're yummy," Deya agreed.

"Well, you better save some for me," Dil growled. "Only a juicy dessert could get me through a dry desert."

"Haha, good one Dil," Petrie snickered.

"I wasn't trying to be funny! I just spoke my mind!" Dil snapped, but only causing more snickers.

"Well I think it sounds like a good plan, as long as everyone feels they have enough sleep, of course," Mama Swimmer warned. "I know that a lot of you may be short on sleep with all that's happened. But to avoid both the desert's heat and not wait too long for our pursuers to catch us, it's probably best if we go through the desert tonight. If you're feeling at all sleepy though, try to rest up in the day if you can," she encouraged.

"Does that sound good to everyone?" Littlefoot asked. "We'll rest up here until after dinner, then go through the desert at nightfall, and hopefully we'll be out of there by tomorrow morning."

Everyone seemed happy with the plan, and with that, they continued their rest break. Chomper's parents agreed to sniff out potential pursuers while they rested, and with that, most of the other elders were able to curl up, basking in the Bright Circle's warmth for an afternoon nap. Some of them stayed awake to watch over the kids, others like Mr. Threehorn spent a bit of time trying to improve his jump, and some of the swimmers, including Mama Swimmer, went upstream for a little bit of practice swimming against the current before returning to their naps. But by and large, it was a period of much-deserved rest for the elders, who could finally get some sleep after all their trying to escape the Valley.

The young adults and teens however, were far too excited to even try going to sleep, and continued to practice their jumps, cheered along by the younger kids, making a perfect pep squad. Littlefoot felt his landings slowly get more pinpointed and controlled, and he saw he wasn't the only one making progress. Everyone else was also slowly bettering their jumps, whether by success rate, precision, controlled impact, or landing balance as they continued to jump over the fast water, steadily gaining confidence and experience with each attempt. Even Spike got into the groove of jumping upon seeing how much fun his friends were having as he eyed the water determinedly, jumping alongside Ducky, Tippy, or his other siblings and friends relaxedly, and his enthusiasm in turn even convinced the normally lethargic Sophie to join in. Everyone made sure to keep morale high, resisting the temptation to make fun of anyone's awkward failures but instead giving each other hearty congratulations whenever somebody made a particularly impressive jump. They were all part of one team after all, and the progress each of them made would help all of them when it came to dodging and befuddling enemies.

As they continued practicing up and down the riverbank, the flyers soon came up with an idea to diversify their jumping skills. Inspired by Pat's old stepping stone and Dekker's training rock, the flyers went to collect a large number of sturdy, heavy stones, they placed them on spots both in the fast water and on the riverbank directly in front of each jumper, allowing them to simulate jumping on top of an opponent, disarming them and keeping pinning them to the ground. Eager to try this, they all found this considerably harder than just jumping onto the other side. This required very precise landings, for landing the wrong way could cause them to tip off the rock, and even with the big rocks, many of them, especially the fourfooters, had to land with their legs bunched together. But each time they succeeded in landing, with all feet aboard and remaining on balance, they felt a huge sense of fulfillment. They knew they could use this skill to rescue a friend in danger and completely incapacitate their opponent, with the force of their jumping being enough to pin down even longnecks or threehorns. The flyers too got a chance to work out with this, for not only did they practice diving under the jumpers, but they also had to move the stones from time to time to ensure no one was on a collision path, but with Petrie, his family and the flyer teens all being involved, there were enough of them to make the jumps go smoothly.

After a particularly rough dive in which he went over and under six jumpers, Petrie looked over to see that some of the younger kids were looking a little wistfully at them. He could understand that after seeing the older dinosaurs perform so many jumping tricks that some of the younger kids would want to try their paw at it. But knowing that not even Cera's determination could carry her across that fast water at that age, he knew it would be far too dangerous for them to even think about trying. Still, he was determined not to have them feeling left out or get bored, and coming up with an idea, he decided to leave his same-aged counterparts at the river and fly over to the group of younger kids.

"Who ready for workout, Petrie style?" Petrie asked playfully, as many of the kids at once turned to face him, looking intrigued. Remembering the segregated kids' history of having endured torturous conditioning sessions with their old herds, Petrie quickly clarified, "No worry guys. Here nobody get hurt. But we all get to really move around!"

Eagerly, many of the kids began to mumble in excitement as Petrie began to instruct them. "All right, everyone who want to join in, stand up, make sure you have enough space to move, and face Petrie."

Obediently, the kids did as Petrie surveyed them. "Great. So me start with extending me arms out, like this. And me extend me legs too. Fourfooters, stretch out your legs on either side. Stretch till you really feel it!"

"Like this?" asked hollowhorn kid Dero.

"Yeah, that good!" exclaimed Petrie. "That make you nice and flexible. Now bend one knee … Fourfooters, two knees on one side, like this, and crouch down. Then get back up, and do it on other side! Good, then keep on doing it! Again and again!"

"Wow, you're right, I really feel it!" marveled longneck kid Coast.

"This really is a workout?" asked bonehead kid Rhine.

"It doesn't hurt at all!" agreed threehorn kid Blair.

"Nope!" Petrie beamed. "But stretching makes you all more flexible. You more flexible, you able to do more things! Like jumping! Once you all a bit bigger, you able to jump across fast water, just like me friends! You keep this up, you be better able to jump than Mr. Threehorn."

"I heard that," Mr. Threehorn loudly growled, causing the whole gaggle of kids to laugh.

After doing some more lunges for a while, Petrie grinned, "Now me favorite! You know what me like to do when me sing? Me like to dance too! Take a step forward. Then extend your back right as far as it go … Bring it forward, take two more steps, and then bring back your back left leg! That what me like to call Petrie kick walk! Now copy me, let out big grins, and do everything me do!"

And Petrie led them all in a walking dance for a few steps as many of the kids began to feel incredulous at how good they were feeling from this simple motion.

"Good!" Petrie exclaimed. "Now we do what me call side waggle! Now all legs on ground, bring your body weight to right side. Then shift it to left side. Go back and forth, and back and forth. Then do what me call belly-up stretch. Stand on your tiptoes and bring your bellies up to one side, and then shift them to other. Yeah, that good, you doing it!"

"Wow, this feels really different!" exclaimed hollowhorn kid Marsh.

"We've never done these kinds of exercises before! It was always just fighting," agreed clubtail kid Fennel.

Continuing this for a while, Petrie beamed. "Now me do what me call upper shuffle! Lift your knees up with feet on ground as high as they go to one side, then do the other! Shift your weight back and forth! Back and forth!"

"You're right, this is fun!" shouted boxhead kid Savannah.

"Yeah, that the spirit!" Petrie encouraged. "Now we do this all as one! Together, we all shift left … Good, yep! Then shift right! And we can sing too!"

"Wait, I've got an idea!" Perri exclaimed, jumping up and down. "Let's do our line dance!"

"Yeah!" jumped in hollowhorn kid Myrtle. "The dance you guys did to make creepy Cryaz really mad!" she exclaimed to much enthusiasm from the other new twofooter kids.

Petrie beamed. "Of course! Perri, Cass, Garnet, Pearl, Shine, you lead twofooters! Fourfooters, me watch twofooters and then come up with move for yous."

So delightedly, the twofooter kids got into an outward facing line, wrapping an arm around another twofooter on each side as they proceeded to kick with their left and then with their right, laughing and singing as they did. Even Deya, Nyko and Chuss took part in the line dance, grinning as their sharp-clawed feet kicked out perfectly in sync with the rounded leafeater toes.

"Our folks would be really mad to see us doing this!" exclaimed new hollowhorn kid Bramble naughtily.

"Yeah, and it feels awesome!" agreed new swimmer kid Calder. "We get to be ourselves now!"

"All right fourfooters," Petrie instructed. "What you do is a hop and a front kick. Get into line with one another and face the twofooters. Then lift up your front right as they lift up their left foot! And do your front left as they do their right foot! Sound good?"

So gladly, the fourfooters joined in, hopping along to the twofooter line dance and moving in unison.

"Wow, we're moving like we're all one!" cheered longneck kid Gardenia as she and the others all switched feet.

"Whoever said we're too different to have fun together?" laughed shieldback kid Misty as they continued to hop, skip, and dance.

The kids were having so much fun with their choreography that the jumpers were even forgetting about their jumps to watch the kids holler and cheer with enthusiasm.

"Wow," Ducky exclaimed, looking at them. "Maybe we should dance with them too, guys!"

"We can do dancing any old time," Cera replied. "We've only got our fast water till this evening."

"Aww, you're no fun, Sis," Tricia playfully teased from the dance line.

"Who says we can't have fun jumping?" Cera shot back.

"Hey, I know!" Littlefoot suggested. "Why don't we try jumping across as a big team?"

"Yeah!" Cera said determinedly, playfully glaring at her sister. "We're gonna show you how to really have fun!"

Indeed, their jumping skills and techniques had improved to the point where even Nod, Sheldon, Candy and Dekker had a reasonably high success rate in getting across the fast water, and the whole group was eager to try performing their jumps together as a team. The kids stopped dancing to watch their older herdmates line up a good several feet from the riverbank, staring out at the other side in determination, while the flyers went above to coordinate them.

"Okay guys, when we count from ten, you take your running start!" Petrie exclaimed. "Ready?"

And as soon as the flyers lifted their hands up to signal them to start, the whole group began to take a running start.

But from the moment they took off, it was apparent that things were going wrong. At once, the ground began to shake from the running of so many fully grown dinosaurs, including many of the teens who were not entirely used to their bodies following their recent growth spurts, charging at once, throwing all of their coordination off a bit and veering them from their paths into various different angles. By the time they made it to their jumping spots, all at slightly different times with their different running speeds, their once even line had been thrown helter-skelter, leading to disastrous results at every turn.

As Littlefoot began to fall, he realized he was headed for a fall right on top of where Keeter and Dekker had just landed, and doing his best to avoid a collision, he stretched his legs out, landing onto the other side in an unceremonious belly flop. Cera meanwhile had crashed into Vail in mid-air, the impact being enough to send her rocketing into the ground horns first, and she soon found herself with only her head grounded while the rest of her body was in midair. Ducky had lost her balance while trying to jump, landing straight into the water with a belly flop, the impact of her splash bringing down both Harmony and Anndi as they dropped into the water with her. Being slower and more aware of his surroundings, Spike managed to grind to a halt, but he couldn't stop himself from slipping into the water, falling in headfirst, his tail plunking Petrie's sister May right into the water. Even Chomper lost his footing as he fell comically short, crashing against Kendall and Rana as he brought them both down into the water with him as he grinned sheepishly.

Nobody else's jumps had been any better. Hyp's little body had been thrown so off course that he ended up landing right on top of Felix, the force of his fall pushing the fourhorn down as they both dropped into the water. Tippy's enthusiasm caused him to jump even before reaching the edge, causing Jada to trip over his splayed paw, in turn causing Glenn to crash into both of them. Sensing trouble was happening, Mutt was unable to help himself from farting in terror, causing Light and Ceph to hurriedly swerve away from him and land in the water instead. Ali was able to land, but not without colliding into Dispo and Gabriel and getting a mouthful of dirt upon her landing. Even Sophie looked a little perturbed as she and Nod crashed midair and got carried downstream, only stopped by Sue still ensuring no one got swept downstream. Ann inadvertently kicked Gara's spike neck as they tried to land, causing Gara to fall just short and Ann to get a bleeding foot. Ducky's sister Delphine started flailing in mid-air, inadvertently kicking Aria with one foot and Seth with the other. The two little domehead twins Kirt and Naz veered off course in the charge and crashed their hard heads into one another, causing them both to topple into the water in a daze. And while Shorty made it across, the force of his massive body sent Monty, Weald, Mia and Chantal tumbling down into the fast water, sinking all the way down before ricocheting off the rocks at the water's deep, leaving them all with sore bellies.

Eventually, everyone finally gathered on the other side, soaking wet, battered, and stuck in undignified positions as the younger kids all broke out in an endless cacophony of laughter. But they were not bothered, for they knew that they must have looked absolutely hilarious like this and that they were laughing out of genuinely thinking they were funny rather than any sort of cruel mockery. The noise from the kids' laughing awakened Ruby from her long nap, and seeing all her friends and young herdmates looking so awkward and disheveled, she too couldn't help but chuckle. "What just happened here?"

Everyone struggled for an answer, before Tippy grinned broadly at her. "Fun fun fun!" he exclaimed.

At once everyone laughed, turning what could have been a discouraging moment into an embarrassing yet heartwarming one. Sure, they had failed miserably with their combined long jump. But they had all failed together, and they couldn't help but laugh at each other along with the kids at their own comical expense. And indeed, while the jump itself was a disaster, they had gained a certain real sense of camaraderie from it, not just as allies with a shared goal, but as teammates and true friends as well. Still, after quickly jumping or paddling back to the other side, they quickly agreed that they had all done enough jumping for the day, and they stood together in a line as they faced the flyers flapping parallel to them, coaching them on some cooldown stretches before taking a quick afternoon nap, watching Ruby decide to practice her jumps as they dozed off.

By the time they woke up, the Night Circle had begun to set, leaving just enough time for dinner before resuming their journey. In contrast to the prior night where the gang had split up for dinner, the elders and kids were largely eating amongst themselves, which allowed them to enjoy a gathering with their fellow jumpers after enjoying a good workout together.

"You know, you guys aren't so bad for babies," Hyp teased with a dry smirk, turning to Ruby. "When you first told me that you babies got some even bigger babies for your team to try to stop Hiss Head, I thought you were nuts. But I have to admit, you've proven to be pretty tough."

"Yeah, we make a pretty good team!" Mutt agreed brightly.

"Even though all you babies are way more mushy than we are," Rana smirked.

Hyp's gang, however, had such a good time practicing their skills that they had forgotten that Dinah and Dana were sitting amongst them, and the cheeky twins had been giving each other mischievous looks the whole time.

"I don't know, Ceph and Halle look pretty mushy to me," Dinah teased as the domehead couple abruptly let go of each other's hands, Ceph blushing furiously as he stared determinedly at the ground.

"You sure the rest of you big meanies don't have any secret someones?" Dana playfully asked.

Ann snorted. "Heh, no. Trust me, I'm way past done with that kind of thing."

"Yeah, you said it," Weald snorted. "The last thing I need is someone else who'll become indoctrinated."

"What does that mean?" Mutt asked innocently.

"To lose your own willpower and just follow along mindlessly," Weald said, rolling his eyes.

"So kind of like what Hyp wants us to do with him?" Nod teased.

"Just shut up," Hyp answered to chuckles.

"But what if we find the perfect ones for you?" Dinah simpered.

Hyp rolled his eyes. "Trust me, we're good. Ceph can have Halle, but the rest of us have got our crew, and that's all we need. Kinda like you babies, before you four went on that crazy mush trip and Spike found Mrs. Mute."

"Mutes can't talk. You lose," Sophie retorted cheekily before she took another bite.

"And we're not mushy!" Cera growled. "We're just like we've always been, just we go to our nests instead of our folks'!"

"Yeah, your nests," Dispo teased.

"You can pretend not to be mushy … But we all know what you're really like with Littlefoot," Dana smirked.

"Right, Auntie Cera?" Dinah wheedled.

"Hush, you two," Cera snorted, but Hyp answered.

"Oh please. You're as horny as the horn on your face. Why else do you have a private nest with Littlefoot?" Hyp asked.

Cera went bright red for a moment to many snickers, before regaining her composure with a quick smirk. "Thanks Hyp. You just helped me figure out who to make first victim for target practice. After all, when you're big, you can push all the little ones around, right Hyp?"

"Uggghhhhhh …" Hyp facepalmed, but he knew he had that one coming as Littlefoot and his friends roared with laughter and even his own gang couldn't help but chortle at their leader having to eat his own words. The teens however looked confused.

"I don't get it," wondered Audrey. "Wouldn't you guys always have been bigger than him?"

"Yeah," agreed Vail. "He's kind of a creepy crawler … No offense."

"Even littler than me, and slower too," Emery teased as Hyp playfully seethed.

"No actually," Ruby chuckled. "We were nothing like our current sizes back then. I may be the littlest now, but I was second tallest as a kid just a bit shorter than Littlefoot. Cera and Spike were a tiny bit shorter than me, Chomper was only about half my height, and Ducky and Petrie were the little ones, they used to ride on Littlefoot, Cera and Spike all the time. So we've changed a lot since then."

"Oh please, all of you guys have always been babies, and you still are," Hyp smirked. "You may look bigger now, but you're still way younger than us and act that way too, so that just makes you big babies." He turned to the teens. "Same for you guys. If the babies brought you to our team, that makes you guys really big babies."

"Sure, whatever you say, teeny," Light cheekily replied.

"Don't believe me, huh?" Hyp argued. "When Mutt, Nod and I met these guys, they were tiny. One stomp from us and we could send them running."

"I wasn't scared of you," Cera shot back.

"None of us really were," Littlefoot agreed.

"Only because we held back," Hyp retorted. "We could step on your toes and bop you on the nose if we really wanted. You were just lucky we felt like being nice."

"Yeah, right," chuckled Glenn.

"As for you guys," Hyp mischievously continued. "You were probably all still in your nests back then. Probably some of you were still in your eggs or haven't even been procreated yet."

"Hush Hyp, we have kids present," Cera playfully snapped.

Shorty guffawed. "I didn't know you were a prude."

Cera glared at him. "I am not! But you don't know my niece and nephew like I do, and I don't want Thicknose to feel like he has to explain the buzzers and the beasts to the whole group of kids because two little threehorns can't keep their mouths shut."

"Don't be silly, of course Thicknose isn't gonna have to tell them," Dinah said naughtily.

"You and Littlefoot are gonna do that," Dana added with an evil smirk.

Littlefoot and Cera blushed before Littlefoot came up with an idea. "They're gonna know anyway, with all the kids their old herds had," he replied, defanging Dinah and Dana's argument.

"Yeah, it's not like they won't already know anyway," Cera explained. "They'd have seen their parents getting into it."

"I don't know, you guys have never heard Hiss Head talk," Chomper snickered warningly. "He probably told them that their eggs came from the circles. After all," Chomper cleared his throat before putting on a pained grin and sickly-sweet voice. "I just adore children."

With his perfect imitation of Leigh's voice, everyone who was in the Valley roared with laughter, and even those who weren't around realized at once did too, astonished to hear just how eerie Leigh sounded.

"Chomper, I think one Leigh is bad enough, we do not need two," Ducky giggled.

"Maybe you can eat imaginary Leigh up," Petrie snickered.

"Okay, this will be fun," Chomper said brightly, before closing his eyes and taking a big snap. "There. All gone!"

"He really sounds that creepy?" Kendall asked.

"Yep," Chomper said to giggles.

"And I suppose he actually said that about children?" Cera asked incredulously.

"To the whole Valley, with lots of kids present," Ruby chuckled knowingly.

Cera just sighed. "Of course he would."

"Of course, he's just a baby too," Hyp smirked. "He may talk and look big, but he's even more of a baby than all of you. You should've seen what he was like when Old Bonehead didn't give him his way. I wish he was in the Great Valley back then. He'd be as little as Ducky was, and even smaller than you tykes."

"If we're tykes, then you're an old fossil, right?" Sheldon chuckled.

"You're sure talking big considering you're kinda little yourself," Eva giggled.

"No, we're in our prime, and if you call me little, you're asking for it!" Hyp replied, flexing his muscles threateningly. "I've been ripped forever! I've been tough as a rock when you babies have been drooling on your food! I've been … Hey!"

Through all his argument and parrying back shots to the younger dinosaurs, Hyp had completely failed to notice that Gara and her team had left their spots and slowly crept behind him, and Hyp was left completely unsuspecting as he felt himself get lifted up by Phoenix, the young giant flyer carrying him far above the grassy ground.

"Hey, put me down, you big baby!" Hyp wailed as the others began to roar with laughter.

"Okay," Phoenix said innocently, and let him fall to the ground.

"Help!" Hyp cried out, only to be caught by Harmony, before mischievously, the bigger hollowhorn giggled as she released Hyp once again, who bounced off Dekker's armored back and right over to Chantal, who aimed her horn to lightly graze his butt before letting him comically tumble on the ground right at Gara's feet.

"Step on your toes, bop you on the nose," Gara teased as she proceeded to gently do each one.

"Great teamwork, guys!" Cera cackled as she and Gara exchanged paw slaps with naughty smirks.

"Ugh … To get caught off guard by babies," Hyp said as Chantal hurried over to give him some prickly plants. "Baby want a planty?" she cooed.

"Just shut up," Hyp smirked, but gratefully ate the prickly plant all the same, his minor cut from Chantal's horn vanishing at once. "Okay, maybe I deserved that," he admitted. "But you better make me laugh by getting a bad guy like that!"

"Oh, we will," Gara promised with a snicker as they all returned to their spots.

"So how did you guys meet up, anyway?" Jada asked Hyp.

"You know Hyp," Littlefoot added, "We don't even know your guys' whole stories."

"Of course not, we don't go bawling our hearts out like you guys," Hyp smirked. "But fine, you've proven you're pretty cool for babies, so we'll tell you."

"I knew you'd guys like getting sentimental," Newcomb teased.

Hyp glared at Newcomb as everyone snickered, before he began. "Well, me and my dad were tired of wandering in the Mysterious Beyond. It sucked being chased by fast biters all the time. So we heard of the Great Valley and set out to find it. We dealt with lots of bad guys on the way there. But that's how I got really tough."

Pausing, Hyp continued, "When we got there, I knew I'd wanna stay there forever. Everything looked perfect after dealing with all those sharpteeth. Except one thing. Just like now, the whole Valley was segregated. I was okay with that then, I didn't know of any other way to live. But what I really didn't like was seeing others being told to live that way if they didn't want to. I always thought if it didn't really hurt anyone, you should do whatever you want, regardless of so-called purity crap. But well, that's how I met these guys."

"Yeah," Mutt nodded. "Nod was hatched with me. His egg rolled in my dad's nest, Dad took him in, and yeah, that's what happened. But the bullies didn't like us being friends."

"Yeah, these bully longnecks liked to bother us, saying we were creeps and shouldn't hang out together," explained Nod. "Right Mutt?"

"Uh … Right," Mutt continued. "Until Hyp showed up and showed them, didn't you Hyp?"

"Oh yeah," Hyp cackled proudly. "I gave them everything they asked for. I rammed thorns into their feet, and they took running off like babies. At that point, I learned that being big's not just how you look, but also your attitude and how you carry yourself. And well, yeah, that's how we became a crew," Hyp said proudly. "All those old-timers stuck in their old ways tried to split us up. But we didn't listen to any of them, for we only followed our own rules and gave them what they had coming."

"So then why you so mean to us?" Petrie asked. "We no do anything to you."

Hyp sighed. "Yet. But how'd we know once you'd get big that you wouldn't end up just like all the other longnecks, threehorns, swimmers, flyers and spiketails trying to throw their weight around? The last thing we wanted was more big dinosaurs to boss us around. Not to mention Dad was really angry back then. You think he's cranky now? He used to grab me by the tail and spank me because he was in a bad mood. It's only now I realize he was grieving because he missed Mom and was still hurting from it just like I was. And I was jealous of you guys all having parents or guardians who obviously loved you … Ugh … I've been hanging out with you guys too much, now I'm getting mushy!" Hyp said impatiently, before turning to the rest of his crew. "All right you guys, speak up. I'm sick of talking."

"Well, I was actually the first one of us to live in the Great Valley," Weald explained. "I've always lived there, but as part of a segregated spikethumb herd. I was lucky enough to have a good childhood, I even had a good friend … But she and her folks didn't change like the rest of us, and then her mate changed her forever," he growled, shaking his head. "Ah well. I'm a few cold times older than they are, so when they first integrated the Valley, I didn't have any interest in them. They felt way younger and more immature than me. But slowly … I guess we all started growing closer together, with how badly life has treated us, and our shared determination to stand together against what we've been dealing with," he explained.

"I was once part of a survival-minded herd," Ann sighed. "But my parents knew that with my maturity, I'd be vulnerable to both sharpteeth who love to go after my kind and males who looking for a young female to lay their eggs. They didn't want to leave their herd, but they wanted to keep me safe. So they snuck me on my fifteenth star day out of the herd and into the Great Valley, and yeah, that's what happened. Rana and I then met and we connected over our traumas."

"My problem was I'm a bad egg," Rana explained. "Most of the time, parents of the same kind have hatchlings of their kind. But my parents were bigmouths who must have had a sailed spikethumb in their bloodline somewhere, so that's how I came to be. They didn't like that I was an impurity on their bloodline, so they just threw me out and I lived on my own before I found the Valley, and Ann was the only one I felt like I could talk to."

"I guess I met these guys in my classes with Weald's dad," explained Dispo. "I kept on getting held back because I couldn't master my shieldback scales. It's not that I was stupid, I just didn't try hard because I felt there was no point. I had to deal with my parents getting ripped up before my eyes, and because I wasn't gonna get any bodily protection, I just thought my life was pointless. So yeah, I got stuck on the spiky flowers," he grinned sheepishly.

"What about you, Ceph?" Nod asked. "I don't think you've even told us. How did you and your dad get to the Valley?"

Immediately, Nod wished he didn't, for Ceph looked sickened with the question. "Sorry," Nod said at once. "I didn't think …"

"It's okay, it's not like we've gotten all mushy together before," Ceph smirked. "But I don't think you'd really wanna hear my story. It's pretty … Well, gruesome. Not good for morale. And I don't know if Dad would want me talking about it. He's really scarred from it too, and he's trying really hard to put it all behind him. That's why he's so obsessed with keeping order in the Valley, because our life was anything but."

As Halle stroked Ceph reassuringly, Littlefoot smiled at him. "It's okay Ceph. You don't need to tell us anything if you don't want to."

"Thanks," Ceph said gratefully. "But let's just say I've had troubles just like the rest of my crew."

"Point is, even though we may have all been screwed over in some way or another, we're done letting that define us," Hyp smirked. "Our struggles brought us together, making us an even cooler, tougher gang. And it's just made us tougher, and we know we can do anything."

"Hee, love your guts," Cera smirked at Hyp.

"I don't need a big baby to congratulate me," Hyp cheekily retorted as they all laughed.

So filled up with dinner, everyone gathered together to make the next leg of the journey. Everyone had been well-fed and watered in preparation for the desert and in high spirits from the rest break. The elders had been well-rested from their long naps and had enough energy to carry all their supplies through the night, as well as the younger kids, most of whom gladly jumped at the opportunity to ride a grownup across the treacherous desert. A few of the kids insisted on walking however, most notably a certain band of headstrong youngsters.

"We're gonna walk all the way there, just like Big Sis had to when she was our age!" Tricia enthusiastically declared to her mom as her gang nodded fervently alongside her.

"But I didn't!" Cera insisted. "We rode Pat some of the way."

"And I had Sue to ride on," Littlefoot agreed.

"Then we can outdo you!" Tricia cheekily grinned.

"We've made it all the way from our home," Mono chuckled. "We can handle this!"

"Besides, you don't have to carry us if we're on the ground," Perri giggled.

Cera huffed, but knew that her little sister was just as stubborn as she was …

"All right, but if you guys climb on anyone, I get to throw you in the lake," Cera smirked. "I know fully well you guys can swim, so no complaining."

"You're on, Sis," Tricia grinned.

So they set off again at an easy, relaxed pace that they knew they could sustain throughout the night. With most of the kids being awake as they rode on the grownups, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Chomper, with Spike's help, decided to go into a detailed storytelling of their past adventures as kids to try to entertain the kids through the dreary desert, starting from the moment when Littlefoot first met Cera and covering all of their first adventures. The new kids, having being raised in herds philosophically against the gang's interspecies and mixed gender friendships, defiance of authority, and so-called interventions against the circles' will, had never heard these stories before, so they were the most entertained as they rapturously took in every word, but these retellings were also entertaining and distracting the others as they crossed the harsh desert.

With the land becoming increasingly flat and barren, apart from some sandy hills once they started trudging through the desert lands, they could just close their eyes and think back to their past adventures as if they were reliving them once again. They could remember their old journeys as if they happened yesterday, for they were cornerstone moments in their friendships and climactic times in their childhoods, and between them, they found themselves even being able to quote the exact words they said. Better still, they were able to call on others who took part in these experiences. At first it was mostly Mr. Threehorn, Mama Swimmer, and Mama Flyer, explaining how they came to accept their kids' friendships and adding in their bits and pieces and parental perspectives, but soon it was Hyp, Mutt and Nod's turn to go into their meeting of the gang. Hyp, Mutt and Nod were remarkably good sports with the storytelling as they fully embraced their role as antagonists, even partaking in a reenactment of their song they sang. This was especially hilarious for the grownups, for Hyp was tiny compared to most of them, and even Mutt and Nod were smaller than average. Hyp's other friends however, not having known him at this point, were also getting a kick out of what exactly Hyp said then.

"So let me get this straight," Dispo snickered. "You actually threatened to kill them?"

"I did not!" Hyp exclaimed indignantly. "I said I'd make sure they'd never grow up. As in to make sure they'd stay little forever."

"Well, how did you think you were gonna do that?" Ann asked.

"That's what I asked!" laughed Mutt as Nod grinned naughtily. "And Hyp said …"

Hyp glared at Nod, before swallowing his pride as he smirked, "Who's ready to hear the stupidest thing you've ever heard a cranky teenager say?"

Many of the kids nodded curiously, before Hyp gave a perfect imitation of his younger self. "First we chase 'em, second we catch 'em, third we hurt' em! As if I was gonna hurt them enough to stop their growth."

"No offense Hyp," grinned Ceph. "But that was the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"That's what I just said, didn't I?" Hyp shot back. "But don't worry, we get to have our awesome moment soon enough."

"Yeah … Eventually, after we have to pull you out of a tarpit" Cera said snarkily.

By the time they finished the story, it had gotten dark, and many of the kids had gone to sleep. Hyp, however was still filled with energy as he delivered his next line.

"I know that! Not sharing is for scaredy-eggs, right?"

"Right," Garnet said slyly.

"Hey," Hyp frowned. "That's not your line. You weren't even born yet."

"How do you know?" Pearl asked. "We were born in the Mysterious Beyond … How do you know when we were born?"

"It's okay though," Garnet continued as the fast runner twins looked mischievously at the rest of their gang. "You say you like sharing, right? Well now's your chance to prove it."

"What are you talking about?" Hyp snorted.

"My butt still hurts from where you spanked me," Garnet smirked. "You can show you're sorry by carrying me."

"Yeah, my brother can I have one shoulder, I can have the other," Pearl proposed brightly. "That'll show how much you're willing to share, right?"

"You cheeky little …" Hyp began, but Mono interrupted. "Rachelle, Tricia and I can ride your back, Nod. That'll allow you to share Hyp's load."

"And you're not out of this either, Mutt!" Oplax snickered. "You're heavier than Mutt and Nod, so you can carry Destiny and I in each arm, Cass and Perri can ride your shoulders, and Sam can ride your head! That'll be a fair share for everyone, right?"

"Well, I think I should ride on Hyp's head," Sam cheekily replied. "He may be the smallest, but he needs to learn how to share the most."

Hyp looked like he was going to explode. "You little kids are not babies!" he roared.

"How can we not be babies if our big sibs are babies?" Sam naughtily retorted back.

"And we babies need some wuv-wuv," Perri simpered. "My feet hurt."

Hyp rounded on his fellow gang members. "No way! Weald, you're the biggest, you carry …"

"Hey, we're staying out of this. We weren't bullying them, remember?" Weald smirked naughtily.

"Besides, I've got my own babies to carry," Ann pointed out as her tiny triplets nodded from within her hands.

"They're all yours," Ceph chuckled.

Hyp growled. "If you think I'm gonna …"

But he paused, for Tricia's gang had abruptly encircled the three former bullies, giving them big, pleading eyes.

"We're tired," Perri begged. "Please? Pretty please?"

"Pretty please with a treestar on top?" Cassia added, as the whole group relentlessly stared up at them.

Hyp stared at them for a few moments, before letting out a deep breath …

"No way, babies. Go find someone else to climb on."

Tricia's gang however, were ready for this response, and began to bawl dramatically at the trio's feet. Normally, Hyp wouldn't fall for such a charade. But as he caught Cera's naughty eye, he realized he had them right where he wanted them …

"All right, climb on," Hyp growled resignedly as Tricia's gang burst out laughing before hugging Hyp, Mutt and Nod and climbing on top of them.

"Boy, you guys are easy," Tricia laughed. "We've got you guys around our little footsies," Tricia smirked as they all boarded the former bullies.

"You better think again," Cera chortled.

"Huh?" Tricia asked, before Cera burst out her suppressed laughter. "You said you wouldn't climb on anybody, remember? Well, you lose! So that means I get to throw you guys in the lake!"

Tricia's gang looked at each other in horror as Hyp, Mutt and Nod burst out laughing.

"Heh heh heh … And since you gave us such a hard time, we're gonna give you it all back and then some," Hyp sneered to his friends.

"Oh, I know!" Nod smirked. "They can play sharpteeth-flatteeth in the water! But since Ann and Rana are such good swimmers, they can be the sharpteeth!"

"And they can bite hard too," Mutt added as the two girls in Hyp's gang smirked at each other.

"No guys, who needs a pretend swimming sharptooth?" Hyp smirked naughtily. "We've got a real belly dragger now. Let's leave her to deal with them. That'll give 'em a real scare."

"You mean I can eat those guys?" Dil asked hopefully as Tricia and her friends looked desperately at one another.

"Not unless you want to be turned into sharptooth barter," Topps chortled evilly.

"Uggghhhh!" Dil snarled as everyone laughed. "Just you wait, one of these days, I'll … Sharpbeaks! Sharpbeaks are tailing us!" Dil shouted urgently.

"But sharpbeaks don't live in deserts," observed Ali's mother. "They live in wet places, like the Land of Mists."

"You think after having Ichy ride on me for so long that I can't sense when sharpbeaks are stalking us?" Dil snapped. "But they've retreated now."

"But why would they do that? Unless …" Littlefoot trailed off, for one look at Chomper's face confirmed the same horrific thoughts that he was thinking.

"Those must be Goregie's spies!" Chomper gasped. "They were looking for us. And now that they found us … They're gonna report back to her!"

"Well, not if we stop them!" Petrie said determinedly, looking at his mother, Pterano, Etta, his young family, and the flyer teens. "Everyone else, stay here! No way you guys can fight sharp beaks on ground. It up to us flyers to stop bad sharpbeaks from informing their pack."

"Yes, but all of them? Only Brara would be able to pinpoint them or have a beak sharp enough to halt them entirely …" Pterano observed, before the three little fast biters rushed forward.

"We ride you," Chuss growled as he, Deya and Nyko went over to Pterano, Mama Flyer and Etta and crawled onto their backs. "We smerr them out. We attack them with our teeth and craws."

"Wait, somebody's gotta protect Petrie," Guido insisted. "We gliders can't fly long distances like you flyers. But we can do a little flying, and we eat crawlers. We might be able to bite their wings if they try to attack."

"We'll sit on you, Petrie, and make sure none of them try to land a dirty attack on you," Avie said firmly.

"But what about everyone else?" Petrie asked, but Mama Flyer cut him off. "Petrie, you're a herd leader now, and if the sharpbeaks would want to target any of us flyers, it would be you."

"Can I help guard you too, Petrie?" tiny Cricket asked, showing his tiny sharp beak.

Petrie nodded. "Okay, but be careful," Petrie warned as he let Guido, Avie and Cricket board him.

"Hey Tuck," Guido remembered. "You're as little as me but you've got those big teeth of yours! Maybe you can ride someone and help!"

"Well, I …" Tuck said nervously, but Brara answered, "You can fly me, I've got fangs on my end so you won't have to do all the biting, and I can swerve you out of trouble too."

Sighing, Tuck nodded. "I'll try my best," he said, trying to sound brave but not fully concealing all his apprehension.

"We've got no time to lose," Mama Flyer said as she looked to make sure the whole group of flyers and little red food eaters riding them looked ready to take off. "Ready everyone?"

And the flyers rocketed into the skies, going as fast as their wings could carry them, while Deya, Nyko and Chuss sniffed the air determinedly.

"They're Goregie's goons, arright," hissed Deya angrily. "I smerr traces of her arr over."

"Flyers, for the sake of everyone in our herd, we can't show any mercy and must be absolutely ruthless in our attack," Pterano warned solemnly. "If even one of them reports back, the sharptooth pack will be able to follow us all the way here and have a much easier time finding our destination. We have no choice but to kill each sharpbeak we find and feed their bodies to our red food eaters so there is absolutely no trace of them left."

"That'll make Dil happy," Brara teased to snickers.

"Yes," Pterano smiled ruefully. "I dare say she deserves their flesh after her help. Might give her the incentive to perform further heroics."

"Better them than any of our bodies, that's for sure," Tilden chuckled.

"How many sharpbeaks do you guys smell?" Welbie asked the biter kids.

Nyko stuck his nose out. "I count 17."

"17?" Petrie's brother Perkins asked incredulously, nearly forgetting to flap his wings. "That's a ton!"

"Her pack is enormous," growled Chuss. "Rots of greedy hunters who'd do anything for unrimited food and power."

"Well then, we must be sure to collect 17 bodies," Mama Flyer said warningly. "Keep holding onto every body you capture so we can make sure we have all of them at the end."

"Good news is, we should be gaining on them," huffed Etta. "Flyers are a lot faster than sharpbeaks. But I wouldn't fancy routing them out will be easy. No doubt they've got some tough training in that pack."

"We're getting very close," growled Deya. "They're up straight ahead."

Sure enough, they soon were able to see the behinds of a unified group of sharpbeaks, flying in a tight, rigid wedge formation, focused only on the direction in front of them.

Petrie's brother Jett stared at the group with a nod, deciding to make a silent surprise attack. Aiming for the back left sharpbeak, he silently glided up to the sharpbeak's behind and grabbed its tail feathers with his claws.

At once, the sharpbeak whirled around and made a shrill shriek of rage, instantly alerting the rest of the sharpbeaks to the flyer's presence. Seeing it trying to reach behind and bite his toes, Jett frantically twisted his body so his beak could grab it by the neck as he frantically tore off to join the other flyers. While his beak was not sharp enough to sever the sharpbeak's neck, his grip was able to keep the sharpbeak's head subdued while he used his feet to make sure the shrpbeak was in a secure grip. He could sense the other sharpbeaks were chasing after him, but his sister May flew out in front.

"Get to Brara!" she hollered, and Jett obliged, darting right toward Brara who had her mouth open at the ready and upon fitting the sharpbeak's neck under her fangs, she chomped down with a sickening crunch as Jett continued to hold onto the limp body. "One down," she huffed.

Seeing the decapitation of their comrade enraged the other sharpbeaks, and they immediately focused on May, being the nearest flyer to them. She hurriedly launched herself higher as two sharpbeaks angrily pursued her, snapping at her with their toothed beaks. They were so fixated on her however, that they failed to notice her sister Windy underneath. Just as they got right above her, Windy shot upward and caught one, while the shock of the attack surprised the other one just long enough for May to apprehend it. The flyer sisters took their two downed flyers over to Etta, where Nyko was waiting.

"Nice teamwork!" Etta complemented them as Nyko gruesomely chomped down on their necks.

Meanwhile, Petrie's two fellow mated siblings, Tilly and Stern, worked with their partners Skyler and Curie to lure three sharpbeaks away from the rest of the group. They steadily drew them further and further out until the others were out of sight. Then outnumbering the sharpbeaks four to three and being bigger and faster than them, Tilly, Skyler, and Curie each got a hold of a sharpbeak. Stern meanwhile went over to alert Pterano, dodging another two sharpbeaks who tried attacking him, who hurried over to assist his younger family members with Chuss on board, who rapidly decapitated the three sharpbeaks with his sharp teeth before Tilly, Skyler and Curie retrieved their deceased bodies.

Storm and Perkins seized their chance when they saw the two sharpbeaks attacking Stern. Flying closely behind their brother's pursuers, they waited till they drew close enough before making sudden lunges at the two sharpbeaks. Catching them thoroughly off-guard, they turned to see that their mom had been following them, with Deya on her back. With two swift bites, Deya broke both sharpbeak's necks as Petrie's brothers carried their limp bodies.

Just as Mama Flyer had anticipated, the remaining nine sharpbeaks had decided to turn this into an offensive attack and targeting all of their efforts on Petrie. Despite the flyers' qualms about killing the smaller, weaker sharpbeaks, it was plain to see that they were ruthlessly fixated on Petrie, undoubtedly having been told of his importance and seeking to deliver his head on a platter to their boss. While waiting for Brara or a biter to come to their aid and finish off the sharpbeaks, Welbie, Nessie, Tilden, Newcomb and Phoenix used their wingpower to try to blow the smaller sharpbeaks away from their flyer mentor. The sharpbeaks were persistent however, and though they kept on getting blown back, they kept on attempting to launch themselves at Petrie time and time again.

"Argh, I've had enough of those things!" Newcomb growled, before sighing. "Guess I'll have to use my special move."

"What move?" Nessie asked in surprise, but the double-crested flyer lowered his head and impaled it right through the sharpbeak's stomach with his very long, javelin-like top crest. The sharpbeak was too astonished to attack in what little time it had left, but even the light weight of the sharpbeak proved to be too much for Newcomb's fragile crest. The end of it snapped right off as the sharpbeak began to fall, but Newcomb hurriedly swooped over and caught the sharpbeak's body.

"You okay Newcomb?" Nessie asked her fellow flyer teen.

"Yeah, don't worry, it will grow back," Newcomb explained. "But it hurts like a fire pit whenever it snaps off like that. I only use it as a last resort … Huh?"

While talking, Newcomb didn't see that another sharpbeak was sneaking up behind him. Hurriedly though, Nessie whirled around, and used her protruding bottom beak to knock the sharpbeak out right on the head.

"Thanks … I see you've got a special move too," Newcomb chuckled as Nessie retrieved her aggressor.

"Yeah," Nessie groaned, putting a claw on her lower big beak. "Hurts to talk though. My teeth grow all the way to the bottom."

"Ugh," Newcomb commiserated, but he found it cool that another one of the flyer teens had a last resort bodily weapon as they went over to find biters who could do the dirty work with their subdued sharpbeaks.

With Tuck clinging onto her back, Brara was just about to fly over to Petrie to offer her assistance …

"Sharpbeak alert!" Tuck shouted.

Whipping around, she saw that Tuck was right, for a lone sharpbeak was making a lunge for her long wings. Tuck tried to bite the sharpbeak from Brara's back, but it effortlessly dodged before fixating on Brara once again …

"Get away from her, you creep!" shrieked a voice, and Brara turned to see a pink blur shoot right at her, letting out a loud, shrill shriek. The noise stunned the sharpbeak for a second, and seizing the advantage, Brara brought her fangs around to crunch the sharpbeak's neck. Then she turned and looked at her rescuer.

"Welbie," Brara gasped. "You made that sound?"

"Uh-huh," Welbie shyly said. "Sorry I scared you … I must've gotten it from my creepy uncle."

Brara snickered. "No, it was awesome! And don't worry about your uncle, it looks like you've only got his good side! Besides, even though you may be Rinkus' niece and I may be Pterano's daughter, I'm not gonna be ordering you to steal any Stone of Cold Fire."

"Not even if your dad puts you up to it?" Welbie teasingly asked.

"Trust me, Dad's had way too many power grabs," Brara smirked.

"Well I'm glad you two aren't up to anything evil," Tuck said brightly. "I've heard enough evil plotting from my old master … I mean Hiss Head."

Both Welbie and Brara laughed, but out of the corner of his eye, Tuck could see another sharpbeak trying to make a sneak attack. Fortunately, the little orange bothtooth camouflaged well on Brara's back especially in the darkness of night, and did not even seem to notice his presence. As the two flyers continued their snickering, Tuck waited just for the sharpbeak to get in range before leaping off Brara's back and with a perfectly aimed chomp, broke its neck with his tusk-like teeth.

"Good job Tuck," Welbie cheered, before gliding over to give Tuck a big hug.

"Hiss Head never told me good job for anything," Tuck said gratefully.

"Well, just be glad we're nothing like him," Brara laughed.

Tilden and Phoenix, meanwhile, continued to guard Petrie fiercely against the remaining five sharpbeaks. The sharpbeaks however, were very evasive flyers, and as Phoenix tried chasing them away by creating a big gust of wind, one of them abruptly turned tail and flew straight toward Petrie's neck …

"Oh no you don't, you sharpbeak crud!" Tilden shouted, and the flyer teen abruptly lowered his head and used his tall, solid crest to whap the sharpbeak down like a paddle. Dazed from the sudden head twist and impact required, Tilden recovered to pick up the unconscious sharpbeak, and looked up to find Avie going to meet him, who had just jumped off Petrie's back and flown over to sever its neck.

Another sharpbeak meanwhile, seeing that Avie was no longer guarding Petrie, was hungrily gliding right over Petrie's back, looking for an opportunity to bite him in the neck. Unbeknownst to it however, the little blue oneclaw was at the ready. Closing his eyes and imagining the sharpbeak was a great big crawler, Cricket made a surprising jump and was able to pin down the bigger sharpbeak, standing on top of its neck as it wriggled frantically.

"Hey Avie, I got one!" Cricket called out.

Avie flew over and bit onto its neck. "Ugh … It just had to come when I was busy. They are much too tiresome things ... You want a bite?"

Cricket giggled. "No thanks. I'd stick to crawlers. Dil can have it."

"She'll be pleased," Avie smirked as the two of them laughed as Petrie zigzagged jarringly, avoiding the attacks of the last four sharpbeaks all trying to close in on him. In their haste to attack however, they failed to see Phoenix coming, and the big flyer teen managed to grab onto one of the sharpbeaks with his back feet. While his toes were not sharp enough to puncture its neck, he held the sharpbeak with such a firm grip that he prevented it from opening its mouth while simultaneously cutting off its air supply.

Darting about in feats he had not attempted since the Great Day of the Flyers, Petrie tried everything in his power to evade the jaws of the last three sharpbeaks, closing in on him determinedly with malice flashing in their eyes. He tried flying as fast as he could, but the sharpbeaks were in hot pursuit as they continued to tail him. Far away from the rest of the flyers, Petrie knew he had to handle these three sharpbeaks quickly. He didn't want to show it, but he was getting tired from flying so intensively for so long, especially with the weight of Avie, Guido, Cricket, and now Avie and Cricket's sharpbeak bodies, all aboard his back. He had to think fast here …

"Avie, you think you can carry Cricket and your bodies and hide?" Petrie huffed out.

"Petrie!" Guido shouted warningly, but it was too late. One of the sharpbeaks had managed to finally land a bite onto Petrie's delicate right wing, causing him to cry out with pain as he struggled to keep afloat …

CHOMP

Fixated on trying to land further damage on Petrie, the sharpbeak completely failed to notice the teal-colored glider coming at it, and with one clean motion, Guido used his hooked beak to serrate the its neck. Enraged, the other two sharpbeaks flew in at the pair of them for a joint attack. Petrie made a cry of terror, causing the sharpbeaks to look even more ravenous. But this was really a trick to get them off their guard, for having done some stretching that afternoon, he was more than ready for them …

Trying to remain afloat with his wounded wing as Avie and Cricket struggled to hold their bodies and cling on, Petrie flapped in place as he saw the sharpbeaks coming in at him, one from above, one from below. Curling his right toe, he abruptly kicked out with his right leg to grasp onto the body of the bottom sharpbeak, who began to flail desperately, but Petrie's larger size was enough to keep the sharpbeak apprehended. Knowing the second sharpbeak was still coming at him, Petrie reached up with his left hand and managed to grab it by its tail feathers. Still trying desperately to fly as the two sharpbeaks continuously tried to fight him, Petrie kept a tight hold on the two of them while Avie and Guido each hurried over to decapitate the sharpbeaks, leaving them both limp in Petrie's hand and foot.

Then through the pain of his throbbing wing, Petrie looked below him and saw just how much altitude they must have lost in the last struggle. Still holding onto his sharpbeaks, Petrie knew of the danger here, and knew he had to give quick instructions to his flight crew …

"Guys, give me your sharpbeaks!" Petrie urged. "Guido, Avie, help steer me so there no crash! Cricket, look for safe place to land!"

So Guido, Avie and Cricket each put their sharpbeak body into Petrie's mouth before helping Petrie land. Petrie could feel his flight ability in his bitten wing begin to give out, forcing him into a descent. But the two little gliders took hold of the ends of Petrie's wings and helped slow his fall with their wingpower. Cricket meanwhile perched on top of Petrie's crest and looked below him.

"There, through those trees!" Cricket exclaimed, and Petrie looked down to see that they were coming upon a clearing where a high branch stuck out, waiting for them. Gently, Petrie glided down to where the branch became thicker and thicker until at last perching on it, moving the sharpbeak bodies into his free hands and feet, before giving out a big sigh of relief.

"You okay Petrie?" Cricket asked worriedly as he got off Petrie's head and retrieved his sharpbeak body.

"Me think so," Petrie said, staring at his wing, where a large splotch of blood had spread. "Wing hurt bad though. Good thing Ducky found prickly plants."

"Well good news," Guido pointed out. "Everyone else is coming!"

Sure enough, the other flyers had arrived, carrying with them their dead sharpbeak bodies. At once, Mama Flyer saw the blood on her son's wing and rushed to check on him.

"Petrie," Mama Flyer asked. "Did a sharpbeak bite you?"

Petrie nodded. "Me okay Mom. Give me prickly plant and me know me feel better."

Mama Flyer nodded in understanding. "All right. But you best go easy on that wing. Pterano, you take one of Petrie's wings and I'll take the other."

"Wait," Petrie asked, remembering their main objective. "We have 17 sharpbeaks between us?"

After a quick count, the group realized they did have the magic number, before taking off at a slower pace to rejoin the rest of the herd.

"Pterano, you must have dealt with sharpbeak bites in your time out of the Valley," Mama Flyer asked her brother. "How does this one look?"

Pterano eyed it carefully as Petrie listened apprehensively. "Painful but by no means lethal. As bad as it looks, the severity is magnified by the loose wing skin causing the blood to disperse over a wide area. Rest assured though, this is merely a flesh wound. But it will keep you grounded for a while, just as Brara's bites kept Leigh's flyers on the ground."

"Yeah, don't worry cuz," Brara chuckled. "Sharpbeaks bite flyer wings all the time, and they don't kill you. They don't have the bite force of bigger sharpteeth or even sharptooth flyers, and flyers only die from them when they try something stupid, like trying to fly before they're healed and crash into a cliff, drown in the big water or get gobbled up by land or water sharpteeth."

"Yeah, it's a lot like a buzzer sting," Etta added. "Sure those varmints' bites hurt like heck. But you'll feel better in a jiffy, no doubt about it. With proper rest, you'll be back up in the skies in no time."

"Me hope you right, but me wing say otherwise," Petrie groaned as they all laughed, but he was feeling much better.

It wasn't too long before they rejoined the rest of the herd, who looked greatly relieved to see all their flyers alive and Goregie's sharpbeaks dispatched with.

"Petrie, are you all right?" Ducky asked worriedly as her boyfriend perched beside her on Littlefoot's back.

"Me think so," Petrie said, trying to put on a brave face. "But wing hurt real bad."

Ducky giggled. "Well it is a good thing I got these ready," she explained, before lifting up her hand to reveal some prickly plants underneath.

"Yay, prickly plants!" Petrie exclaimed as he giddily went over to munch on them. But upon putting the foul plant in his mouth, his eyes watered. "Pleh, these things taste awful!" he exclaimed.

"Well yeah, why else would we need a whole herd of spiketails to remove them?" Cera rolled her eyes.

"And we are sure glad we had them, for you guys would not be here without them, yep yep yep," Ducky beamed.

"No … Friends always find way to be together, no matter what!" Tippy exclaimed, putting his paws on Spike's side, who nodded happily.

"Here Petrie, have a tree sweet," Littlefoot told Petrie, reaching over to collect one off one of the other longnecks' backs. Petrie happily munched on it eagerly before breathing in a sigh of relief. "Ahh … Much better. It so sweet and juicy. Get bad taste of prickly plant right out of me mouth."

"Can you guys stop talking about disgusting plants?" Dil snapped through a mouthful of sharpbeak bodies. "I'm trying to enjoy all these sharpbeaks and relish being stuffed for a change. Makes me wish I had eaten Ichy."

But as he laughed along with everyone else, Petrie felt a warm sense of relief inside. As bad as being grounded was, Goregie's spies would never get the chance to return to their pack, leaving them completely in the dark. And with them being so far away from her lair now, it would hopefully be a long time before Goregie would ever get so close to catching wind of them again.


Strutting throughout his glorious valley as he watched a patrol of spiketails go by, Leigh could not be more satisfied. Everything was beautiful in his fertile leafeater paradise, free of both sharpteeth and heretics for two whole days. Recalcitrant troublemakers were getting taken care of left and right. Intensive corporal punishment was readily issued for the young ones that could quickly nip any wrongdoing in the bud and teach the future generation how to properly behave. And for those who had obviously gone too far astray, he had so many ways of dealing with them. He was such a nice guy that he offered them their punishment of choice. They could either renounce themselves from the Great Valley, with the promise of death if they showed their faces again. Or they could go through his trials, which without Mr. Bonehead, proceeded much more smoothly. Both of course were satisfactory solutions. A renouncement would mean starvation and predation in the barren Mysterious Beyond and help keep that stupid sharptooth pack out of his way. A trial meanwhile allowed for a surefire quick execution. Either way, the miscreants would be taken care of.

His eyes fell upon an egglayer threehorn coaching a class of threehorn boys in sparring, violently berating the weakest boys in the class and praising the most brutal, while another egglayer was demonstrating to the females how to kill creatures that got too close to their nests. All going well there, with none of the pink threehorn's pack of brats to cause trouble anymore. Straddling over, his eyes flickered delightedly as he saw that the threehorn and onehorn warriors were dueling one another at their boundary, and he could make out bits of conversation.

"Hey, this is our spot, you filthy threehorned scum!" said a onehorn.

"Not anymore, weakling," the threehorn, who he recognized as Troy, chortled back as he horned the onehorn aside.

Leigh watched with interest and a broad smirk. Now without the rebels to worry about, the purified herds could feel free to fight one another for land. Of course he knew this was a mismatch, for threehorns were much bigger, stronger and better armed than onehorns. But it would give all of them valuable sparring practice, both to deal with any rebellion from within his kingdom and to cleanse away the vicious sharptooth pack when the time came for it. Besides, these fights will raise their desire for food, land and power to their highest points, making them all the more susceptible for his next move … He just had to make sure they wouldn't get too carried away …

"Is there a problem?" Leigh gently asked as he approached the sparring onehorns and threehorns, who promptly stopped upon noticing the circles' messenger.

"You bet there is!" onehorn Raxor roared. "These threehorn thugs are trying to take our space!"

"You win it, you earn it, right?" threehorn Trenton replied smugly.

Leigh smiled gently. "Allow me to consult with the circles to determine how to handle this situation."

And concealing his broad smirk, Leigh knelt down and began murmuring again. This was just too easy …

"All right then," Leigh smiled. "The circles have come up with a solution that works for everyone. Threehorns, you indeed have been blessed in this fight, and you have earned the right to conquer as much territory as you wish."

"What?" Raxor growled as Trenton grinned in triumph, but Leigh smiled, "Not to worry. The circles have a plan for you too. May I remind you that there is a lot of land just outside this Valley? Land which is unclaimed by anyone that you can just move and take for yourself? You can establish your very own enclave beyond the Valley's walls that I'm sure the threehorns will never mess with. And of course, you are all-powerful and have the circles' blessings. Which will be especially important in protecting you against sharpteeth. Not to worry. The circles have instructed me to give half of the trees growing in the area to you onehorns, to ensure that none of you threehorns get fat and lazy."

"Give half our trees to those weaklings?" Trenton asked incredulously, but Leigh shook his head. "You get your land, they get their land, and you all get your food. Sounds fair enough, doesn't it?" he asked with a broad grin.

But as much as neither Trenton nor Raxor liked the idea, Leigh knew neither one wanted to be deemed a heretic. Prodding a little further, Leigh continued, "Of course, for those who refuse to cooperate …"

"Oh no, we accept," Trenton said quickly as Raxor nodded.

"Grand," Leigh smiled smugly, before striding into the longneck zone, making sure to stay as far away from that annoying spikeback pest as possible. Everything was according to plan. With the onehorns establishing their new territory just outside of the Valley, his sphere of influence had increased. Of course, the threehorns would inevitably grow restless with their new conquest, and try to invade the onehorns' lands again. In which case, he could push the onehorns out further, allowing his influence to stretch even further. With the Great Valley supplying an endless source of material riches, nothing would be able to stop his kingdom of segregated herds from gaining more and more power … And create a vast paradise where sharpteeth truly would cease to exist and purity would reign supreme.

As he watched a bunch of longneck kids scour a riverbank to find and exterminate any remaining hoppers, he couldn't help but to think about the bigger longneck and his friends who had been causing so much trouble. True, they had not dared to show themselves since his rise to power. But he had to be careful all the same. Like it or not, he had to admit that he got outplayed with the jailbreak. But with the band of rebels now revealing their existence and that they were collaborating together, he had a clear group to target. Somehow, he had to gather intelligence. Yes there was the failsafe. But he wanted to take care of the organization his way. Sure, Goregie and her pack of savage ruffians could weaken them … But it was destiny that ultimately, purified leafeaters would remove the stain on their unworthy members of their kind, the only way that the circles would want for it …

Scratching his chin as he wandered back into the twofooter zone and saw many fellow hollowhorn kids run over to welcome him, he pondered as he charmed and flattered them. No, he could not risk any of the hatchlings for this purpose. They were the future after all, and would grow into fine valuable herd members soon enough. Not to mention they would certainly be looked on suspicion by their traitorous brothers and sisters and old herdmates … He needed them here. Just as he needed all the big strong adults to preserve order as well. The servant he was looking for would be just like Tuck, a small, meek coward who could play innocent but could also be easily manipulated and would be completely disposable. Therefore, he would have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But keenly aware of how Tuck had betrayed him, he knew he needed to do a better job of coaxing this minion to his side. Fear of him, while necessary, would not be sufficient. He needed to get inside their head … And get them to really want to do his bidding.

"Sir," one of Leigh's guards smirked as he approached his cave.

Leigh turned to face him. "What is it, Cathmoor?"

"We've got a new plaything for you," Cathmoor explained. "We'd tell you more, but we know you'd like the surprise."

"Right, thank you," Leigh smiled as he stepped through the passageway into his cave.

What he saw waiting for him at his pool intrigued him greatly. He could make out a dirt-colored eggstealer, both arms and legs tied up with vines, and gagged for good measure too with a leaf wrapped around his mouth. Leigh smirked. Cathmoor was right, this was going to be fun …

"Hello," Leigh said pleasantly as he bent down to face the much smaller eggstealer. "My name is Leigh … And you are?" he asked as Leigh chewed off the gag, allowing the eggstealer to feel his hot breath on his face.

"I don't have a name, really!" the eggstealer whined.

Leigh's eyes narrowed. "Really? Perhaps you don't feel like talking … Because you haven't had your bath."

And grabbing the much smaller eggstealer with one hand, Leigh lazily slid into his sulfuric pool and pressed him down into the water, holding him down for several seconds. The eggstealer's body tensed up, but being all tied up, couldn't kick or scratch, and no sound came out of his mouth. Lifting the eggstealer's body out of the water, Leigh turned to face him. "Life isn't fair, isn't it? Shall we try again, or do you want to say your last words?"

The eggstealer gulped before helplessly crying out, "Ozzy, you better be sane when we meet again!"

Leigh's eyes flickered. Ozzy … From lying in wait for so long, he had gathered vital bits of knowledge about the Great Valley from before his time there. And one of those things he had heard from his pretend girlfriend Bella, who had heard from her caretaker Monty, who had heard from that old heretic threehorn, was that there was a certain eggstealer named Ozzy who had invaded this Valley leading a combined pack of eggstealers and fast biters. One who had been killed by a certain sharptooth protecting this Valley from this attack … It was all becoming too easy.

"Ozzy?" Leigh asked gently. "I think I might have heard of him. Has he been to this Valley before?"

"Oh yeah, of course you would, you seem just as wacko as him," the eggstealer commented darkly.

Leigh snorted warningly, causing the eggstealer to giggle. "Never mind, I mean no, you're not wacko. What was I saying? Oh yeah … This is the place where he started going nuts. He grew crazy about finding eggs here and wouldn't let me eat green food. Like it was worth it, considering it was a baby sharptooth and we got bothered by all these crazy kids and chased by his parents. Then he built up a crazy pack of monsters. I tried to get him to stop, I even betrayed him one day and helped warn a longneck herd. He tried killing me afterward, but I managed to play dead long enough to trick him. Then I ran away as far from my brother as I could, never using my old name again and staying hidden for cold times."

"I see," Leigh purred, figuring exactly who the baby sharptooth and crazy kids must have been. "But you must not blame your brother too harshly. He is derived from your same lineage, and therefore something must have happened to him to make him end up that way, um …"

The eggstealer sighed. "Strut," he admitted as Leigh smiled brightly. Getting intimate with this Strut was a lot easier now that he knew his name …

"Well, I'd imagine he'd have gone crazy from getting chased by those sharpteeth," Strut rambled as Leigh sympathetically nodded. "He was kind of fixated on the chase … But so were the kids. They really didn't want us to eat for some reason. Willing to follow us all the way out into the Mysterious Beyond to try to get their egg back. All for a baby sharptooth … I mean, cor blimey! It's probably ripped off all those kids' heads by now … Right? All I know is that I've heard somewhere that Ozzy is dead. Which means it's finally safe for me to go out again."

Leigh sniggered inside as he pretended to stroke Strut reassuringly. "So, it's not really your brother's fault at all, is it? He can't be held responsible for having lost his sanity. It's those kids for sending you two on that wild chase, no doubt hitting your brother's head with a rock in the process."

"Well yes, Ozzy's head did get bumped," Strut observed. "You mean … They made him go insane? They made him want to kill me? They took away the only brother I had?"

"I know, such evil creatures, right?" Leigh purred smoothly. "No wonder why they are in complete harmony with the sharpteeth … Their souls are just as blackened as theirs are … Not to mention, of course, what happened to Ozzy in the end …"

"What?" Strut asked.

"Well, what if I were to tell you that those kids are not dead? What if I were to say that they are friends with the sharptooth, laughing at Ozzy's expense as we speak? And of course, what if I were to tell you that the baby sharptooth had grown up and killed Ozzy himself with one savage bite?"

"How do you know all this?" Strut asked, causing Leigh to smirk.

"I am a humble messenger of the circles," Leigh explained, pointing to the hole at the top of his cave. "They tell me of all sorts of happenings in our world. Like of course, that these merciless killers have banded together to create an entire herd bent on destroying other innocent souls, just like your brother."

"Wow … I mean, they were annoying brats, but murderers?" Strut sighed. "Maybe Ozzy was right in sensing that there was something wrong with them. He always knew what to do and I just followed. But wow, that … It's just terrible!"

"Isn't it?" Leigh asked. "But not to worry. You might be just the dinosaur who can avenge your brother's soul and rectify the great evil in this world. Allow me to speak to the circles for a moment."

And Strut obliged as Leigh shut his eyes and murmured, Strut staring at the great hollowhorn with amazement, for he had never seen a dinosaur with such wisdom and clairvoyance …

"Well, I am pleased to say that the circles do have a role for you," Leigh smiled gently at Strut as he gently moved to untie him. "You ready?"

"Anything," Strut mumbled nervously. "Am I supposed to fight them?"

Leigh chuckled. "Oh no. I … I mean the circles are not heartless like that? No. You are going to infiltrate their hideout and join them on their mission. Pretend to sweet-talk them and they will gladly take you in, they love noteeth like yourself. I need you to gather information on them. I am going to send a flyer out with you who will work with you on the specifics, ensure your safety, and ultimately report back to me. Like you, they have been victimized by this dastardly group of outlaws, and will steadfastly remain on your side. The flyer will follow you there and will every now and then search you out to allow you to report to him and give you further instructions. And as a reward for carrying out the circles' will, I have been authorized to give you full and immediate Great Valley citizenship and all the treestars you could ever want so you'll never grow hungry again in return for your services. The thing is, you must never mention me or your true purpose to anyone while you work undercover. Otherwise, there will be hefty consequences to pay, both from the circles above and from those of us down here. And believe me … I will know if there is any betrayal."

"I'll never betray you Mr. Leigh, honest," Strut said.

"Good," Leigh smiled. "I have heard that they have headed south, but other than that, I do not know their whereabouts. However, a herd of this size cannot be hard to find. Ask anyone around if they had seen a gigantic mixed herd wandering around, and you will surely eventually find them. Any questions?"

"No," Strut said meekly, shaking his head. "Thanks for everything Mr. Leigh … You're really helping me finally achieve closure."

"Don't mention it," Leigh said sweetly. "Now be on your way, and I hope to be hearing from you soon."

And so as Strut left the cave, Leigh allowed himself to lie back and close his eyes. He had done it, recruited a new minion to the cause … One manipulated enough to not let him down. Everything was going just swimmingly …

Then he heard heavier footsteps down the cave's passageway. Sitting back up, Leigh saw the familiar dark brown spikeback gallop into his cave, looking at him condescendingly. Leigh smirked. It was time to reveal to Gus the workings of an inner mastermind.

"Ugh, you're finally free, your guards wouldn't let me in," Gus growled, shaking his head. "What took you?"

"Nothing of your concern," Leigh smiled sweetly.

Gus huffed. "Well anyway, Goregie has sent some spies to try to track them … What's so funny?" he asked in annoyance, for Leigh had begun to snigger darkly.

"Like that toothy savage would know the first thing about spying. Her so-called spies will surely be found out. It's probably just some stupid sharpbeaks she's sending. No no no, you can tell Hatzem that I've got the spying covered … With a secret plan surely beyond Goregie's limited powers of imagination."

And as Leigh chuckled icily, Gus smirked. "Well, sounds good. You better not be breathing hot air again though."

"Oh believe me," Leigh sneered. "I've got this one made."