Hello, welcome to another chapter! A lot of things to get through in this final stretch before the crater. First off, thanks to Zee Docking and Ryan6783 for continuously supporting this project. You have both helped me so much with ideas and coming up with scenes and help keep me motivated to keep writing – you're almost like my co-authors you've helped me out so much!

Also a quick note, I know my LBT terms for omnivorous dinosaurs have seemed inconsistent when writing, but there is a method to the madness. Because I'm going to be using these terms throughout the chapter, here's how I distinguish the omnivores.

- Halftooth: All omnivorous dinosaurs. Both noteeth and bothteeth are also halfteeth. The direct equivalent of sharptooth and flattooth.

- Notooth: Toothless dinosaurs, like Ruby (Oviraptor, Gallimimus, etc.)

- Bothtooth: Dinosaurs with both sharp and flat teeth, or toothed omnivores (Heterodontosaurus (Tuck) especially, also applies to Brara, the boneheads from Movie 1).

All right, please fav/follow/review/PM if you like the story, I love feedback, Land Before Time belongs to Universal, and off we go for this last long leg before the crater!

Chapter 39 – Blurry Borders

Following the sharpbeak attack, the rest of the journey across the sandy desert proved to be refreshingly peaceful. Though everyone was getting parched, the defeat of Goregie's sharpbeaks more than eased their discomfort, with them all feeling greatly relieved that they were no longer being tailed. Many of the kids easily dozed back to sleep, flopped over an elder's back, while Pterano, Mama Flyer and Etta took charge of recounting the action to entertain the elders and still awake kids. The trio made a good combination of storytellers, with Pterano sensationalizing the drama, Mama Flyer clarifying and verifying Pterano's grand statements, and Etta adding some humor to the narration.

While the adult flyers from their resting throughout the day were perfectly able to regale the others with their storytelling, the younger flyers were much too tired to take part thanks to their vigorous practice the previous afternoon. Each of them was dozing aboard a large four-legger, quickly drifting off to sleep to the rhythmic footsteps of their ride. Petrie in particular was thoroughly depleted from both leading the dancing class and the sharpbeak attack, as well as having had to endure the brunt of attacks from the sharpbeaks and having suffered a wing injury. He was in a deep sleep, twitching his wing every now and then as he ticklishly kneaded Littlefoot's back with his hands, murmuring every now and then. In one particularly funny moment, Petrie muttered in his sleep, "You walk good … Flathead …"

Littlefoot sighed exasperatedly. "Okay, maybe we shouldn't have gone over everything about our first adventure," Littlefoot said irritably, remembering Petrie's first choice of nickname for Littlefoot.

"Okay Flathead," Cera sniggered cheekily.

Littlefoot rolled his eyes. "As for you, you should have learned not to call me that long ago. Especially after going through it all over again."

"Yeah, but you know I'm not like that anymore, right?" Cera pointed out.

"Well, I thought I did, but now I'm not so sure," Littlefoot cheekily retorted back to many giggles.

Most of the kids were fast asleep, but a couple were awake and heard the exchange. "Um, Mr. Littlefoot, Mrs. Cera?" asked little swimmer Holly. "I thought flathead was a slur against longnecks. Shouldn't you not be calling him that?"

"Yeah Cera," Littlefoot naughtily grinned. "You know you shouldn't be calling me that."

Cera smirked back. "Oh please. You know me calling you Flathead is different than calling you a flathead," she explained, before turning back to Holly. "You're right, calling him or any other longneck a flathead is a racial slur. So don't you go trying it. But Flathead is also a nickname that only I can use for Littlefoot and it's always been that way."

"I don't know Cera," Littlefoot snickered. "You meant it as a slur the first time you said it. You kind of remind me how much of a jerk you can be every time you say it."

Cera snorted before saying, "Fine. Want me to prove I'm not a jerk? Ask me to do anything."

"Okay," Littlefoot said playfully. "Just say that you love me and that longnecks are better than threehorns."

Flustered, Cera nonetheless obliged and sighed. "Fine … I love you. Happy? And … Hey!" Cera roared as Littlefoot tried his best to fight off snickers. "You can't ask me to do that! Because saying that longnecks are better than threehorns makes you no better than I was!"

"Fair point Cera, but it'll be funny to hear you say those words," Littlefoot laughed, shaking his head. "Tell you what, I'll say threehorns are better than longnecks. Deal?"

Cera smirked and said, "You're on," before each jokingly disparaged their own kind.

Though many were laughing with the playful exchange, the few kids still awake were looking confused, so Littlefoot explained, "We don't really believe that anyone's kind is better than anyone else's. But we like to tease each other all the same, and since Cera's always liked to brag about what threehorns can do …"

"Hey, I wasn't bragging, I was just saying facts!" Cera retorted.

"I felt she could be brought down a branch," Littlefoot continued, cheekily sticking his tongue out.

"Me? You're the one with your head stuck in the puffies," Cera teased back, before continuing Littlefoot's explanation. "But all the same, as much fun as we have teasing each other, it has to be mutual to make it fun. Littlefoot and I have always teased each other, and so we're both used to it, we know we both find it funny, and we know we can both handle it. But if you tease someone who doesn't want to be teased, you'll come off as a bully, no matter what your intentions are. When someone says stop, stop. Just to stay safe, don't think about teasing anyone unless you absolutely know they're up for it. And if you wanna tease, be ready to be teased in return. Got it?"

"Don't worry, we're not gonna tease anyone," little spiketail Agate replied.

"Yeah, it's much more fun to watch you two doing the teasing," young threehorn Blossom giggled.

In contrast to the flyers sleeping away, the little biters still had plenty of energy to spare, especially with the desert's large crawlers starting to come out in the cool late night. Many of the kids were terrified of these creepy crawlies, but despite their menacing appearance, they were no match for the little biters, who quickly disposed of their boneless bodies by shaking them vigorously. They made sure to share plenty with Chomper, who was absolutely delighted to eat these jumbo-sized crawlers, not having eaten so many since he had outgrown the Valley's.

It soon became apparent that the crawlers were getting more common, and since most of them could bite, pinch or sting, removing all in the vicinity was actually vital to ensure that no one would be needlessly injured. So Chomper, Ruby, and several of her parents' herd also took part in the hunt. The older fast runners, clawhands and rainbow faces, not having been able to use their predatory sides from the strict conditions of their residency in the Valley, felt refreshed to be helping the herd in this way, while Chomper felt like a kid again as he eagerly chased, unable to control his excitement. He ate so many crawlers that he found that he was actually getting satiated, but he also gave plenty to his parents, who obviously relished their spicy flavor. Chomper even gave Dil some, making it a game where he dangled the crawlers in front of her nose as she tried to snap for them. He thought he could even see Dil smiling a couple times, though perhaps he was just imagining things.

Eventually, the big group finally made it across the long, dry desert, and though they were exhausted, they were even more dehydrated. So they voyaged a little further onward until the land had started to become lush and green. Looking for a watering hole, they at last found one just on the other side of a great land bridge that Littlefoot recalled using with his grandparents and the other longnecks that traveled with them during the Great Longneck Migration. Though this high-up location was relatively light in vegetation, that also meant that it would be effectively secluded and thus make for a good place to get some sleep. Most of them were relieved to take a rest, but Shorty was still wide awake, anxious to make progress toward finding his old friends. Still, everyone knew even he needed some sleep, and from firstpaw experience calming down the hyperactive Tippy, Sophie knew she'd be just the spiketail who could help Shorty out here.

"Shorty," Sophie told him in her usual brief but gentle way. "You need rest. Lie down. I'll help you."

Shorty sighed, but he knew Sophie was right, for he needed his wits about him for the coming day.

"Close your eyes," Sophie murmured in her lulling tone. "Good … Now breathe in … Out … In …"

"Why?" Shorty interrupted.

Sophie blearily opened her eyes. "So you get … Sleeppp …" she trailed off, before falling asleep herself.

Shorty shook his head in disbelief. "And I thought Spike fell asleep easily," he sighed as Spike chuckled. Still, Shorty took her advice and eventually fell asleep along with the rest of the herd.

Of course, they still needed sentries to ensure they would not be ambushed in their sleep. So just as they had done on the first night of their journey, Ruby and her parents' herd, relatively well-rested from their long nap at the riverbank, stood guard around their herdmates to keep watch duty, armed with their battle bones and in Ruby's case Chomper's tooth in case of emergency.

With no threats appearing on the horizon however, Ruby's thoughts soon drifted off to what had happened the prior night. Staring out into the mountainous land covered with meandering rivers and forests just getting illuminated by the Bright Circle's light, she couldn't help but think of how close a call they had with Goregie's sharpbeaks. If they hadn't taken in Dil and along with her her heightened awareness of sharpbeak movements from being with Ichy for so long, Goregie's spies would have been able to report back to their pack as to their location, who would be closing in on them before they knew it. With Dil having eaten the remains of the sharpbeaks, it would not be easy for Goregie to determine what had become of her minions. But at some point, she would figure out the truth, and seeming shrewd enough not to merely repeat a failed strategy, she would undoubtedly come up with a new cunning plan. Which they had to be ready for, and the best way to be ready would be to ready a counterplan.

She pondered this as she looked down at the land around her. To accommodate both a longneck migration then and their massive herd now, the crater they would be staying at would have to be enormous, and thus would have a wide perimeter around it. A perimeter which would logically have plenty of places where spies for Goregie or Leigh could gather intel from, or which their enemies could use in a surprise ambush. Being down in a crater meant that gravity would be on their enemies' side, putting them a huge disadvantage without proper preparedness. Somehow, they had to make sure they could prevent these kinds of horrific scenarios from happening and stop any plots before they could take root. They plainly needed intelligence of their own, a patrol with great senses to notice any oncoming threats from far away, small enough to remain hidden yet strong enough to at least fend off some enemies, and speedy enough to hurriedly alert everyone in the crater of an emergency. And since the crater would be their home, they needed to ensure that it would always be protected …

Looking around her, Ruby considered. She and her parents' herd had all these traits and were doing a good job serving as the herd's lookouts for the time being. Indeed, her parents' herd had plenty of experience with this kind of thing, for the promise of mutually watching over one another was what had brought them all together in the first place. But it was apparent that this would not be enough. Counting herself, the herd had eighteen dinos who could serve on watch duty, which while enough to keep a confined group safe for a designated rest period, was not sufficient to keep an entire crater safe continuously. Each of them needed time to sleep, and a chunk of time to spend eating, hanging out with friends and other herdmates, practicing other skills, and relaxing without having to worry about watch duty. Indeed, she was already getting weary of having a much different sleep schedule than her friends. When considering that they needed a crew who could keep watch over the crater all the time, and taking into account that they all needed at least a third of a day to sleep and a third for free time, that would mean only six of them could patrol at any given moment … Which would plainly not be enough to keep an entire crater safe.

She turned to face her sleeping herdmates and frowned thoughtfully. Despite them being an unprecedently diverse herd, they were still one that was by and large dominated by large, bulky flatteeth. This was not done so with intent, for it reasonably reflected the Great Valley's populace, even more so when taking into account that the Valley's smaller dinosaurs, having more to fear from Leigh and his regime's imposing presence, would be less likely partake in open rebellion. Still, as different as the different kinds of big flatteeth were, none of them would be very good at lookout duty. Big flatteeth had a lot of natural skills, but hiding from enemies, squeezing through tight spots, smelling or hearing out distant danger, and high-speed running were not among them. And everyone else didn't make for great patrol candidates either. The kids and tiny longnecks were small and could hide, but were mostly flatteeth that could not smell or hear faraway enemies, nor were they particularly fast considering they had flattooth bodies. The little biters, Guido, Avie and Cricket had better speed and sensory capabilities, but were even smaller and more fragile than the little leafeaters and could easily be killed by one bite of a full-grown fast biter. Chomper's parents were out due to their injuries, and Chomper, though with great senses and invulnerable to attacks from small sharpteeth, was far too massive to carry out the silent stealth needed for counterespionage. Only the twins could potentially help, but they obviously wouldn't want to be separated from their friends, just like she didn't want to be separated from hers. They plainly needed more help for this kind of role.

Looking to her two parents posted nearby, Ruby walked over to them. "Mom? Dad? Can we talk? I've got to ask you some questions."

Papa Fast Runner turned to two of the other fast runners. "Kitty, Gov? Can you two cover our posts for a bit?"

Kitty and Gov obliged, so Ruby and her parents sat down and got into a huddle together.

"So Mom, Dad, I've been doing some thinking," Ruby told her parents quietly. "And I think we're gonna need a bigger patrol. Don't get me wrong, you guys are all doing a great job. But there's just not enough of us. I figured if all of us spent a third of the day watching the crater and the other two relaxing and sleeping, that would mean only six of us would be able to keep watch at a time. And well, no one else in the herd would be as good for patrol duties as us. Everyone else is either too big, too little, too slow, or has flattooth senses. I think we're gonna need more help, and considering what dinos are good at this kind of thing, I'd say we need more halfteeth like us … I don't know, do you think that's right?"

Mama Fast Runner chuckled. "Oh Ruby, just as well-thought out as always. You're right, our little group is probably not big enough to keep watch on the entire crater. I might add too that even though we're all doing our best, we're hardly perfect watchers. Ced, Yelli and Ius are longarms, so they're not really fast and their senses are more like flatteeth. Jennifer has little Thio to take care of, and who knows when he might need her support. And a lot of us are getting kind of old, and we don't have quite the reflexes of folks half our age. So yes, it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of recruiting to bring some more noteeth into the herd."

"So Ruby," Papa Fast Runner said sagely. "Pretend I'm a fast runner you want to bring in. What would you try saying to me to get me to join? Keep in mind a lot of us halfteeth are used to having to eat whatever we can find to survive, and are mistrustful of both flatteeth and sharpteeth."

Ruby thought before trying her best at a persuasive pitch. "How's that?" she asked as she finished.

Papa Fast Runner nodded once she finished approvingly. "Sounds good. You're really speaking to how you can help them and speaking to their concerns as little dinosaurs who have faced persecution. A couple things though. I might also suggest mentioning that you're a herd leader."

"Wouldn't that sound a little well … Braggy?" Ruby asked.

"Maybe a little," Mama Fast Runner replied. "But in this case, it would show them that even though our kinds may be littler and eat differently than flatteeth, they still have equal rights with everyone else in the herd. I would also tell them more about you and your friends. A lot of them probably don't believe that it's possible to form friendships with either flatteeth or sharpteeth. Your showing them otherwise through your own example will really help show them what our herd is all about."

"Right," Ruby nodded, before thinking of another question. "How would you two go about deciding who to trust? I know they shouldn't be siding with Goregie or Leigh considering they're not sharpteeth or flatteeth … But we can't be bringing in any eggstealers. That would only make it harder for the flatteeth to trust the rest of us, and we wouldn't want anyone in the herd who doesn't value other dinosaurs as individuals."

Papa Fast Runner wrinkled his nose. "Well, there's always the stool inspection method the Valley used on us when we came here. If someone's poop is small and round and sinks, they primarily eat a green food diet. If it's big, long and stinky, they've eaten more red food, so you'll have to ask them what red food they ate. You can also use Chomper to sniff them out. He's got even better senses than us, and can probably tell if someone has eaten an egg recently."

"And I'd say just be honest with them," Mama Fast Runner added darkly. "Make it absolutely clear that while it's okay to eat non-saurian red food here, eggstealing or eating smaller dinosaurs is a betrayal of our trust and what our herd stands for, and that there would be inevitable and severe consequences."

"I thought about that," Ruby pondered. "But wouldn't that just scare most of them off from wanting to join?"

"It might scare some," her mother replied. "But wouldn't the ones you'd be looking for be the ones who would genuinely believe in your herd's ideals and vision, not the opportunists who would just join for the perks and leave the moment things turn sour? The ones who would already respect and value other dinosaurs and would truly want to be part of a community where everyone works, plays, and lives together?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ruby sighed in understanding. "Thanks Mom, Dad, you're the best!"

She beamed at them, before hugging them each in turn and returning to her post. At last, she had come up with a credible plan to tackle the herd's security shortage, and felt much better about the prospect of countering Goregie and Leigh's spies in the future.

When everyone else woke up, Ruby informed the herd of her idea to recruit more members for a border guard, and knowing that they could really use a beefed up threat detection service, the proposal was met with acclamation, especially from her fellow noteeth, whose individual responsibilities would be greatly eased by initiating more patrol guards. Chomper too was excited, and with his sniffer already busy searching for Shorty's old friends, was more than ready to tackle this additional job.

"Hmm …" Chomper said thoughtfully. "This'll be fun! There's plenty of you guys out there in the Mysterious Beyond, you just can't see them because they're small and in hiding. But yeah, we can't have eggstealers. I'll only let you know when I smell halfteeth that I'm pretty sure are friendly. And who knows, maybe these guys will be able to help keep an eye out your friends too, Shorty!" Chomper smiled.

"That'll be great!" Shorty cheered.

So as they resumed their journey, Chomper used his sniffer to search for both boxhead herds with teens and friendly halftooth herds. He could make out some herds from a distance, but the longneck groups didn't seem to have any teens, while the halfteeth smelled faintly sulfuric, indicating an eggstealing diet, or had a carcass of a dinosaur nearby. Much as he wanted to find potential herd members, he knew he couldn't go about making mistakes, especially with Ruby and her fellow friendly halfteeth having a hard enough time as it was trying to keep their kinds in good standing with the leafeaters. When they came upon a waterfall late that afternoon however, Chomper's eyes brightened as he turned to Ruby.

"Hey Ruby … I think I found some runners!" Chomper exclaimed excitedly. "They have a stash of tree stars nearby, and don't smell anything thing like eggs or flattooth meat! Their conversation seems to be very friendly with each other, and they're just a little downstream, hunting for snapping shells."

"Good going, Chomper!" Ruby beamed at him. But she couldn't help but feel more contemplative. As exciting as the prospect of recruiting more herd members was, it was still quite daunting, and she had to think through her words and actions very carefully.

Her parents' herd gathered around her. "You think the rest of us halfteeth should join you?" asked longarm Yelli.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I think having all you guys with me will show them I'm not just a token halftooth and can show them they can really belong."

Garnet turned to face Chomper. "Hey Chomper, do they have kids?"

Chomper nodded, before Pearl brightly said, "Well maybe we can help too!" as Ruby nodded encouragingly.

"We'll not get in the way though," reassured clawhand Rob. "We'll let you make your pitch and only help when you need us."

"And stand guard with our battle bones to make sure there's no trouble," added rainbow face Roy.

"Thanks," Ruby smiled, appreciating her parents' herd warmth and sensitivity, and so following Chomper's directions, while the rest of the group stopped to take a rest, she led the notooth party downstream to meet these prospective new recruits.

Sure enough, Chomper was right, for a good-sized group of fast runners was gathered at a spot downstream near a tree. While they were of Ruby's kind and had very similar markings, rather than the bluish-purples and purplish-pinks of her family and fast runner herdmates, they tended to come in reddish-brown to dull gold shades. There were fifteen of them in all, with nine relatively young adults, five kids, and an adolescent, all working together in ripping tree stars off the trees, digging for snapping shells in the water, and scouting for predators. It wasn't long after Ruby first spotted the fast runners that their sentries noticed her and her parents' herd. One look at the strange group of mixed noteeth, armed with their sinister-looking battle bones and in Ruby's case Chomper's tooth, was enough to get the fast runners to immediately stop their foraging and scamper from their places. With quick thinking though, Ruby soothingly called out, "We mean you no harm, no harm we mean you."

And while most of the group kept on running, the lone adolescent looked backward and abruptly stopped. He was an almond-colored fast runner with darker yellow spots and feathers with blue-grey eyes, looking to be in his early teens.

"Citron, what are you doing?" an adult female called out.

"I don't think they're dangerous Mom," he replied back. "I think they just wanna talk. Who knows, maybe they can help us. I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of being chased by fast biters all the time. If these guys live like us, maybe we can even merge herds!"

The other runners saw wisdom in Citron's words, but still cautious, they approached hesitantly. Most scared of all were the five little fast runner kids, still eyeing the much larger newcomers' weapons with great trepidation.

"You guys don't need to worry," Garnet said, as he and Pearl smiled warmly at the other runner children. "Our grownups only use their bones against bad guys."

The other kids looked a lot more at ease upon noticing the friendly twin runners their age, and following Garnet's words, the herd's noteeth put down their battle bones and Chomper's tooth and sat down, prompting the other fast runners to follow suit and survey the mixed group. While soothed by the gentle, kindly expressions of Ruby, her family, and the six other fast runners in the herd, the fast runner herd still looked at the group's other noteeth apprehensively, particularly the four clawhands, and one of the adults asked, "I hate to ask … But none of you are eggstealers or hatchling eaters?"

With a great number of their kind choosing to live as eggstealers, the clawhands understood their apprehension without offense and quickly clarified the situation.

"Don't worry, we're not eggstealers," clawhand Stevie reassured. "We may look a lot like them, but we're ethically against hunting dinosaurs and we only eat green food and non-saurian red food."

"Actually, Yelli, Ius and I can't even eat red food," Ced pointed out with a grin. "We longarms are just stuck with the big sharptooth claws."

The whole group laughed for a moment, before one of the fast runners smiled and said, "We're conchies too, as in we consciously only eat green food and non-dinosaur red food. But how would you know that? You didn't seem to think we were eggstealers."

Pearl laughed. "That's Chomper. He's got an amazing sniffer, and he couldn't smell any egg or leafeater on you guys. He's back with the rest of our herd."

"Who's Chomper, and what do you mean, the rest of your herd?" asked one of the fast runners curiously.

The others looked at Ruby, knowing it was best to let her describe this.

"Um … hi," Ruby introduced herself nervously. "My name's Ruby, and while my parents lead the noteeth here, me and my friends are in charge of a big herd of dinosaurs who've chosen to live together. Most of us come from a beautiful place called the Great Valley where there's always enough food to eat and water to drink, where all sorts of dinosaurs been able to live together in peace and harmony. Me and my friends grew up there like one big Great Valley family, and that's the kind of community we're trying to build with everyone in our herd. But we've been driven out of our home by flattooth supremacists and a vicious sharptooth pack, and so we are settling at a crater that we'll make our new home, at least until we might get the chance to rescue our old home."

One of the runners nodded sympathetically. "Sounds amazing. I'd never have thought fast runners could actually live with clawhands, longarms, and rainbow faces, I thought that was just an old story. Leave it up to flatteeth and sharpteeth to ruin things as always … They're such unreasonable brutes."

"Not all of them are," Ruby quickly said. "Our enemies are … But not our friends. My best friends and fellow herd leaders are all flatteeth or sharpteeth. There's Littlefoot the longneck, Cera the threehorn, Ducky the swimmer, Petrie the flyer, Spike the spiketail, and Chomper the friendly sharptooth."

The runners stared at Ruby in astonishment as she looked at them understandingly, then at her herdmates, who nodded in confirmation. "They've been Ruby's best friends ever since childhood," Mama Fast Runner laughed.

"And though they may be young, let's just say they're quite the adventurers," Papa Fast Runner shook his head.

"And it's not just Big Sis who has all kinds of friends," Garnet said brightly. "Pearl and I are best buds with two onehorns, two hollowhorns, a threehorn, swimmer, whiptail and clubtail. They may all be flatteeth, but they're all really nice."

"So are all the other kids," Pearl added brightly. "The kids of the other grownups, the new kids who've just left their mean parents, and even Deya, Nyko and Chuss. They, Chomper and his parents are the world's first friendly sharptooth pack."

This left the fast runners completely speechless, before one of them asked, "Just how big is your herd?"

"Um … A few hundred," Ruby answered. Seeing their apprehension, Ruby quickly clarified. "But it really doesn't feel like that. We like to keep it intimate, for that's how the relationship between me and my friends has always been, and how our Great Valley family has been ever since my flattooth friends made their first journey to the Valley together. They each started the journey there lost and all alone, but they found each other and overcame the speciesism in the world to arrive in the Valley as best of friends. And thanks to them, their folks decided to open up to one another and create a society based on mutual trust, openness to everyone, and friendship and cooperation."

As the runners nodded in understanding, Ruby continued, "The thing is, even though we have a lot of very different dinosaurs in our herd, all of us here are the only ones who are the right size and have the speed and senses needed to act as a lookout crew for the crater we're going to. We will all be doing our best, but between Leigh's bigoted flatteeth and Goregie's ravenous sharpteeth, we can't be too careful and need all the help we can get. So we were hoping maybe your herd could join up with ours. If you help us watch over the crater and warn the rest of the herd of any enemies for a third of a day, giving you two-thirds to sleep and relax, we will share all the food, shelter and protection we can provide, and will do our best to make you feel just at home as the rest of us do."

The fast runners nodded, before one of them asked Ruby, "Can we please talk it over for a bit?"

Ruby nodded understandingly, and so she and her parents' herd stood by while their grownups got in a huddle to talk things out. Citron meanwhile, kept an eye on the younger kids, who shyly introduced themselves as Dot, Morgan, Pyra, Rusty, and Opal. As Pearl and Garnet began filling them in on life as a kid in the herd, Citron turned to face Ruby.

"Hey Ruby … Is there anyone, well, my age I might meet?" he asked. "Just it gets kind of lonely being the only one not really a kid but not quite a grownup."

Ruby chuckled. "Oh yeah, they're our herd deputies, and they're a colorful cast of characters! We've only known them for a little while, but they're all really nice, and they'll understand what it's like to be new too."

"Wow!" Citron exclaimed, and between his eagerness and his gumption in persuading his parents' herd to stay put, Ruby was already curious to see how Citron would fit in with their strong-willed deputies.

"Don't worry about my folks," Citron soothed. "They're a little nervous, but you guys are just what we need. It sure beats struggling to find food and getting chased by … Fast biters!"

Whirling around, Ruby saw that a pack of a half dozen striped fast biters were charging in at them. Citron's call got the attention of everyone present, but while his herd seemed to freeze up with fear, Ruby's parents and their herd knew exactly what to do in this situation as they hurriedly wielded their battle bones.

"You guys aren't …" asked a runner incredulously, but he trailed off as he watched Ovie toss her battle bone right at one biter's legs, while Jennifer ran behind her and whapped the biter down with her tail before the runner and clawhand duo stepped onto the fast biter, paralyzing it. Clawhands Rob and Rich grabbed their battle bones like big logs and whapped them down on their fast biter down as rainbow faces Pet and Roy danced around to distract it. Ruby's parents, along with Kitty and Gov, brought their fast biter down by tossing all four of their battle bones at it before pinning it down. Ced, Yelli and Ius took care of the fourth fast biter by using their strength and hand claws to force it down, while Stevie, Sander, Chapp and Wiley dodged the fifth biter's relentless bites before finally spearing it with the toothed end of their bones and stepping onto the biter, pinning it down with their weight.

This left Ruby to deal with the pack alpha, who was flustered to see her subordinates being dealt with so easily. Nevertheless, she chased after Ruby mercilessly, but Ruby knew that by trapping the fast biter into one frame of mind, she could easily confuse it by making an abrupt move. So after making several dashes in a straight line, Ruby abruptly jumped and turned midair, twirling her long legs in the air before bringing her long leg down on the fast biter's neck, sending it crashing into the ground. As the new runners gasped and she heard the twins cheering, Ruby knew the little biter wouldn't stay grounded for long and so she changed tact, using her body to hold down the biter's back, before lowering her face to bait the biter into attacking. Predictably, the biter did make a snap, but while Ruby was grazed by the biter's bite, resulting in a small tinge of blood on her face, the biter was distracted, allowing her to accomplish her real objective and get Chomper's tooth perfectly positioned above her neck. The fast biter looked at Ruby furiously, but knowing any further attempts to attack Ruby would ultimately result in her death, ceased attacking and contented itself to growl in frustration.

"Chomper!" Ruby called out, but she didn't even need to, for Chomper had already appeared, dangling a good-sized piece of belly dragger meat from his mouth. The new runners gasped in shock as they saw the giant sharptooth lumber in, but knowing he had plenty of time to greet them later, Chomper ignored them as he placed his foot upon the belly dragger meat and turned to face the pinned down fast biters.

"Allow my pack to retreat and follow my directions and I'll make a deal with yours," Chomper instructed the fast biter pack leader.

Hating to be lectured by a bigger sharptooth but knowing the precarious situation they were in, the pack leader growled resentfully but commanded, "Biters, do not harm this prey."

The other fast biters growled their defeated consent before Chomper said, "Okay guys, you can let go of them now."

Ruby and her parents' herd took their battle bones and Chomper's tooth away before retreating to join the other fast runners. Then the six biters lined up to face Chomper expectantly.

"Let me smell you," Chomper said as the fast biters lowered their heads, acquiescing to Chomper's terms. Chomper sniffed them thoroughly, but no trace of Goregie was on them, confirming that these were just normal sharpteeth. Satisfied, Chomper said, "If you promise not to ever attack us again or tell anyone you've seen us, this belly dragger meat is yours."

The fast biter leader looked surprised. "You're serious?" she asked.

Chomper nodded, before the fast biter leader and her pack hurriedly nodded in agreement.

"Okay, here you go," Chomper said, throwing the belly dragger meat a good distance away from them as they tore after it. This allowed Chomper to face the new runners, who gasped in shock as the menacing scowl on his face vanished and turned into his usual bright, friendly smile.

"Hi! Are you guys new members of our herd?" Chomper asked excitedly.

Not sure whether seeing a friendly sharptooth or a sharptooth that talked was more bewildering, the fast runners faintly nodded before following them back to the waterfall. They found everyone else was lounging around waiting for them, but upon seeing the new arrivals, they instantly got up and prepared for an impromptu induction ceremony. After Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike made sure they understood the rules of the herd, little Dot, Morgan, Pyra, Rusty and Opal got onto their bellies and each promised their loyalty to their new herd, following which the teens brought all the kids out to practice their new headcount, going from 143 to 148 members, allowing them to stand in four rows of thirty-seven. The other kids all cheered with the addition of more kids to their ranks, especially Pearl and Garnet, no longer being the only halfteeth, as well as Cricket and the little fast biters, who also felt less conspicuous. The little fast runners were also heartened to meet all these young dinosaurs their age, and they were stunned with the friendliness of all the little flatteeth, not only from Tricia's gang and the kids of the friendly Valleydwellers, but even the defectors from the segregated herds, who had grown to like the twins, Cricket and the fast biters so much that they had dropped all their old prejudices and fully embraced the runners as members of their herd.

Next up came Citron, who eagerly got inducted into the herd, and was blown away by all the new company his age. Between Chomper, the herd's deputies, Topps' threehorn trio, and even the hyperactive Tippy, he had never met so many dinos who weren't quite kids but weren't quite adults, and he was visibly looking very excited.

"Just wait Citron," Anndi muttered to him, smirking. "Till the Amazing Threehorn Lady starts coaching you."

"Who's the Amazing Threehorn Lady?" Citron asked, before he heard a cough and saw that he was face to face with his new threehorn herd leader.

"That'll be me," Cera said, grinning smugly. "You ready to become the most awesome you've ever been?"

"You bet I am!" Citron said brightly as Cera happily lifted her head up. "Great! You keep showing up for training, and you won't believe how tough you'll get."

"Yeah, you'll get toughened up all right, from surviving her bossiness," Hyp teased, causing multiple laughs, especially from his gang, and causing Cera to blow a raspberry at Hyp.

Following this, it was time for the adults to get their inductions. They had already relaxed considerably in the company of their new herd and were happy to introduce themselves, with Citron's parents being named Crimson and Clemence while the others introduced themselves as Ginger, Saffron, Sienna, Umber, Caramel, Cullen and Darby, before briefly telling their story.

"We've all known each other since we were hatchlings," Sienna explained. "We're all siblings, cousins or childhood friends who've always refused to eat other dinosaurs and found real company in each other."

"Crimson and Clemence are married and had Citron," explained Ginger. "Umber and Sienna are Dot and Opal's parents, and I mated with a loner to have Morgan, Pyra and Rusty, so Saffron's helping me raise the three of them."

"We've all existed on our own and lived our way, in peace and harmony," Cullen smiled. "But it looks as though you guys live the same way we always have. We'll be happy to both help keep a lookout for our new home and to share in your community."

"Hey Thicknose," Hyp asked cheekily. "You're not gonna make us check these guys' poop, right?"

Mr. Thicknose laughed. "I think we've all had enough stool monitoring. And now that we have loyalty oaths, where we judge a dinosaur by who they are rather than what they are, I dare say diet tests are unnecessary."

"Besides," Chomper snickered. "Who needs to be smelling poop when us sharpteeth can smell diets ourselves?"

"You know," Bron suggested. "I think as everyone here has sworn loyalty to this herd, this loyalty promise to one another should go beyond our time out here and apply to full Great Valley residency once we are able to recover our homeland. We should ensure that every one of us should be welcomed into the Valley without question, regardless of their diet."

"Who are you to talk about your homeland?" Topps jokingly retorted, before saying, "But yes, I agree with Longneck completely here. Our halfteeth and sharpteeth have proven themselves to be far worthier of our Valley than the cowards who stayed behind, to say nothing of the scoundrels who are undoubtedly ruining it in our absence."

"To be fair Mr. Threehorn, we didn't inform everyone else," Mama Swimmer pointed out. "We only reached out to those who we were absolutely sure could be trusted and would want to take part in open rebellion with us. There are plenty of others who have lived with us peaceably for a long time now that would want nothing to do with Leigh's regime."

"I suppose … Though they still don't have the guts of anyone here," Topps smirked, with a proud nod toward his trusty threehorn clan, who beamed appreciatively back. "But point is, everyone here deserves to be fully welcomed into our Great Valley, and if anyone back there doesn't like it, tough. Our Valley belongs to all of us."

"Knowing my fellow spikethumbs, I dare say most of them can be reasoned with," Mr. Spikethumb speculated. "They of course would have their reservations, but they should understand now what true evil really looks like and with some convincing should understand that conscientious red food eaters are not a threat. Even Juana might be able to taper down her objections, she means well despite her well … Outspoken suspicions."

"Same goes for us boneheads," Mr. Bonehead agreed. "A lot of us, myself included, are naturally mistrustful because of the ways of our kind. But the displays of character our red food eaters have shown prove that they belong just as much as the rest of us, and I will do everything in my power to ease their concerns."

"I suggest that all of us elders make a promise right here and now," Mama Flyer declared. "To promise to work on our well-meaning but stubborn fellow elders …"

"Which, strangely enough, doesn't include Topsy for once," Pterano teased, to which Topps growled warningly in response.

Mama Flyer playfully glared at her brother, before continuing, "To stand up for our friendly red food eaters and ensure they are made full Great Valley residents who are afforded all the same rights as everyone else."

Pterano nodded in firm agreement. "Too true. It is obvious, from my own daughter to Chomper's parents, that all the red food eaters here are worthy. Far worthier than I myself considering all of my errors of judgment. And just from the little I know so far, I am already confident that our newcomers will prove to be herd members with true promise. Therefore, while setting forth that the consumption of dinosaur meat is strictly prohibited except in cases of emergency, we must stand strong for our dietarily different brethren, just as they stand strong for us!"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Kosh lazily declared. "But seriously Pterano, cut the fancy talk. You're starting to sound like Hiss Head."

And with that, the whole group broke out into laughs before the elders agreed to collectively work together to convince their skeptical peers.

"This should put a stop to that nonsense," Topps smirked. "But can't we just kick Ed out? He's always been a pain in the tail," he asked cheekily as the others laughed uncomfortably or rolled their eyes.

"We don't do purges, Topsy, especially over personal grudges," Tria smirked at her husband. "But we will make it clear that any kind of discrimination to those loyal to us will not be tolerated."

"Ah well, I'll just wait for him to purge himself," Topps snorted playfully as Tria just sighed.

"Runners," Mr. Thicknose said reassuringly. "Our goal will be to allow you to live freely and eat whatever non-saurian red food you please. Deya, Nyko, Chuss, with Chomper being your alpha, you can live in the Great Valley so long as you stick to the friendly sharptooth diet." As the runners and the biter kids nodded thankfully, Mr. Thicknose then turned to Dil. "As for you, keep up your good behavior and we may have a place for you. But no hatchlings. Ever. Do I make myself clear?"

"Aww, darn," Dil groaned to many laughs.

Shaking his head, Mr. Thicknose turned to Chomper's parents. "As for you two … I know there are no swimming sharpteeth in the Great Valley like there are at your home … But if you ever wish to stay in the Valley for a while, we hope to welcome you for however long you want, and we will be ready to escort you back and forth whenever you wish."

Papa and Mama Sharptooth nodded gratefully before Mama Sharptooth purred out a very accented, "Thrrraaaaaarrrrnkrrrsss."

"Hey," Wild Arms pointed out. "Why haven't you gotten around to inducting these guys yet?"

"Oh yes," Ruby chuckled, before they all worked on inducting the nine new adult fast runners into the group. With them inducted and counting Ruby and Citron, the lookout patrol had been bolstered from eighteen to twenty-eight potential members, making the prospect of guarding the crater that much easier.

"Hey Ruby," Petrie realized. "Flyers may not be able to smell like you. But we can sit on branches and patrol the skies if you need us," he said, to agreement from most of the flyers.

Ruby smiled. "Good idea, Petrie! Between you flyers in the air and us runners on the ground, our security should be in good shape."

"Gee Petrie," snorted his brother Jett. "There's nothing like volunteering us when you can't fly yourself."

"Oh, sorry, me forgot!" Petrie giggled.

"Who's to say we can't just put Petrie on a branch and leave him there to watch?" sister Tilly asked.

Petrie just shook his head. "Sometimes siblings never change," he replied with a deadpan.

As they were preparing to leave, Ruby went to the water to tend to her sharptooth bite. While not serious, it was still cosmetically unpleasant and could easily get infected if not tended to. Eating a handful of prickly plants and placing a tree star on her cheek gash to stop the bleeding, she stared at her reflection to see if her wound was recovering. Meanwhile, Petrie watched incredulously from aboard Littlefoot's back.

"Um, Littlefoot?" Petrie asked tentatively. "What with girl friends? They getting real scary."

Still lounging with his legs curled underneath his belly, Littlefoot slowly craned his neck so his head would be right beside Petrie's. While Petrie needed some support, especially with his wounded wing, he had to do this in a way that would keep this awkward conversation quiet and not get the attention of Cera and Ducky, both of whom were lounging on his left side. "What do you mean?" Littlefoot asked gently, trying to conceal his faint bemusement as he silently nodded warningly to Petrie, who seemed to get the message, but pressed on anyway.

"Well, Ducky looked like sharptooth ripping up carcass when she beat Dil up, and Ruby wrestle with sharptooth and use fang like one too," Petrie reasoned. "Me not used to them acting like that."

"They're just doing their best for our herd," Littlefoot consoled him gently. "Just like you did when you saved the flyer teens from that belly dragger and fought off all those sharpbeaks. You'd probably be surprised with just how tough you looked. And you don't need to believe me, you've got the scars to prove it," he chuckled.

Petrie smiled modestly, but continued, "But me not thinking, me just desperate to help, me know me have to do something! But those two turn into daredevils. Like they just got sharptooth blood in their veins!"

"What about Cera?" Littlefoot asked reasonably.

"What? Oh yeah, me forget Cera girl," Petrie chuckled. "And me sure she got sharptooth blood in her veins. She probably Goregie cousin few times removed."

Both of them couldn't help but chortle loudly, however, Littlefoot quickly ceased when he felt a pair of front paws slam hard against his back. Petrie however didn't notice however until he felt a hot breath against his wings, and turning around in dread, Petrie saw that he was face to face with Cera, standing on her hind legs with her front legs balanced on Littlefoot's back, allowing her to lean right into Petrie with her horns bared and her narrow green eyes boring into him.

"Petrie," Cera said threateningly. "What did you just say?"

"What?" Petrie squeaked, flustered. "Oh, right, me say, uh … Me say, uh … You not a, uh …" he paused upon seeing Cera's hardened face. "Me say … Nothing," Petrie grinned sheepishly.

"Good," Cera smirked with a smug humph as Littlefoot awkwardly let out a chuckle. He immediately wished he hadn't, for she turned to round on him.

"As for you, don't go thinking I'll let you off easy," Cera playfully retorted. "You set him up!"

"Me?" Littlefoot said in mock indignance. "I didn't know he was gonna say that!"

"Yeah, but you could've told him off the moment he said girls are scary," Cera quickly replied.

"Hey, Petrie needed help," Littlefoot smiled. "And I tried to keep it quiet so you wouldn't have to hear."

"Like that makes it any better?" Cera snorted.

"Well yeah, if you just stayed asleep, then you wouldn't be mad," Littlefoot cheekily retorted back as they both burst out laughing.

"Well as for you Petrie," Ducky cheekily giggled. "You should know better than to talk behind my back, you should."

"Me sorry, Ducky!" Petrie said in mock desperation, for seeing how playful the situation was, he felt free to play along too. "Me no do it again."

"You better," Ducky said warningly, before naughtily exchanging a shifty grin with Spike. "But maybe we can do something to make sure."

"What that?" Petrie asked blankly.

"Well," Ducky smirked. "Maybe I can sleep with Spike tonight. You would not mind, would you Spike?" she asked as Spike playfully shook his head.

"Then who me sleep with?" Petrie asked.

Ducky giggled. "You can sleep with Dil. If you two are both scared of me, you can keep each other company!"

"Haha, me no sleep with someone who tried to eat me," Petrie retorted.

"It is okay Petrie," Ducky teased. "Dil does not want to eat you anymore, oh no no no. She is on our side now, she is! Maybe I can help you two get to know each other!"

"Well, me have better idea, me run from you instead!" Petrie shot back. And sliding down Littlefoot's back, he easily got onto the ground and began a sprightly dart around his relaxing herdmates. He felt his heart fill with relief at once, for even though he would be unable to fly for a little while and had been out of practice moving around without being able to use his wings, he found that he could still use his legs as his primary means of locomotion, just like he had before he learned how to fly …

"All right, girls!" Cera cackled mischievously. "Who's ready to show Petrie just how scary we can be?"

Spotting his uncle, Petrie hurriedly tapped his wing. "Uncle Pterano, hide me!"

Pterano looked around and saw that Cera and Ducky had gathered a small posse of girl volunteers to help them out, unfortunately for Petrie including Deya, who was already using her sniffer to help direct them.

Pterano just shook his head. "What is the meaning of this, Petrie?" he smirked.

Petrie gulped. "Me say to Littlefoot girls scary, that Cera not girl and that Cera Goregie cousin and me forget she and Ducky right there."

Pterano sighed ruefully. "Oh Petrie … So impressive for being so young, but I'm afraid you have made such a mistake that even I cannot help you."

"Uh oh … Me in treestar tree tonight, right?" Petrie whimpered, but before Pterano could respond, Petrie heard a voice call out, "Found him!"

"Good job Faith, you found him, you did!" Ducky giggled as she gave the little whiptail a few tree stars. "I will speak to him now, yep yep yep!"

Ducky bent down, and tapping Petrie on the shoulder, she grinned at him broadly, before she outstretched her arms, inviting Petrie to hug her. Happily, Petrie did, as he rested his head upon her shoulder.

"Me sorry, Ducky," Petrie said. "Just we all change so much when we in constant danger … Sometimes I forget we all the same inside."

"Oh, do not worry, Petrie," Ducky soothed. "I may have to be braver and tougher sometimes … But I am still me inside! Just like you are you, even when you have to be brave and tough!"

"Yeah, me guess you right," Petrie giggled, before confessing, "But though me happy me helped herd out, me still feel scared. Me feel like a baby again, now that me no can fly."

"Petrie," Ducky reassured him. "You will fly again, you will! But while you may not be able to fly now, you sacrificed your ability to help our friends! That makes you really brave! And definitely not a baby, nope nope nope!"

And happily, the two embraced and shared a smooch. "Can me still sleep with you tonight?" Petrie asked hopefully.

Ducky grinned. "Yes … But we can still have a sleepover. I can bring Spike and you can bring Dil, how does that sound?"

"I'm game," Dil suddenly interjected, grinning maliciously at Petrie. "And you're gamy."

"Me afraid you say that," Petrie shuddered as they all laughed. It was still a bewildering sight for Petrie to see Dil laughing along with them. But it also was a tangible reminder of how far they had come from being the vulnerable hatchlings they once were, for rather than being potential food to the belly dragger, they now had the power and means to provide for her, transforming her from a menace bent on attacking them into a member of their team. And it helped hearten Petrie knowing that until he got the full ability of his flight back, he would have his friends to back him up, just as always … Only now, they have all gotten a little bit stronger, just like him.

As they left the waterfall behind, they began to voyage through more flatlands. Starting out lightly forested and covered with greenery, they eventually morphed into a vast prairie, covered with thick, tall grasses that largely concealed the little hatchlings from sight. Though the area, light in very satiating vegetation like trees or bushes, was generally quiet and peaceable, there were still many nuisances from within the tall prairie plants that held them up. Barbed burrs clung to their feet, plants with spiky thorns jabbed them, and they dealt with occasional stings from buzzers or bites from tickly fuzzies. Some of them even had parasites that needed to be pulled out. While the injuries resulting from these were more annoying than dangerous, they had to use many prickly plants to stanch any bleeding to prevent the injuries from getting worse and pause to allow an injured kid or smaller dinosaur to board a larger one. In one particularly tense moment, many of the hatchlings felt a strange presence, and reporting it to Chomper just in time, he used his sniffer to discover that a slitherer was closing in on them, but a hurried roar from Chomper was all that it took to deter it from attacking.

Following this close call, they decided to take another headcount to make sure all of their hatchlings were still present and accounted for. Clearing away a wide patch of grass, they made a flat, even swath of land where all the hatchlings could get into their rows and be counted. The teens then worked on shepherding the kids into their four rows of thirty-seven. But while the kids obediently got into position, the teens soon discovered something was off about the count …

"I'm only getting thirty-six in the fourth row," Seth frowned.

"Kids, would you all get into rows please?" Chantal called out.

"Anyone who's not here, please come!" Dekker shouted.

Jada stretched her neck over the tall grasses. "I don't see anyone nearby."

"Me neither!" Vail said worriedly. "Someone's missing!"

"Kids, if you're from a segregated herd, make sure everyone you know from your old herds are here with us!" Glenn told them.

"Parents, make sure your kids are in the group!" Eva instructed.

Anxiously, the kids looked at each other as they obediently complied. Luckily, this proved to be an efficient delegation of responsibility. The kids were able to quickly locate the herdmates they knew best, and every Valleydweller parent hurriedly confirmed that their kid or kids were all in the crowd. The segregated defectors meanwhile all knew exactly which kids and how many from their old herds had accompanied them on this journey, and due to the headcount drills they've been practicing, were used to combing over the large group to look for their longtime peers. It wasn't long before little threehorn Calla cried out, "It's Gem! He's disappeared!"

"You sure?" asked fellow threehorn Blair. "He's not the type to run off."

"Something must have happened to him!" exclaimed their old herdmate Aster.

Waves of fearful murmuring broke out, and at once, Chomper sniffed the air, trying his best to recall Gem's scent or at the very least, make out the scent of a lone little threehorn. However, he didn't have much time getting to know the new kids, and it was difficult to make out Gem's smell through the clutter of everyone else's, especially those of Gem's fellow young threehorns. Shaking his head, Chomper shifted from using his sniffer to his ears. This too was hard considering the panicking of everyone around him, but he tried to make out a sound that was different … And then he heard it, a muffled yell and the sound of squirming and wiggling, almost like prey that was captured yet not being killed …

"There, that way!" Chomper whispered hurriedly. "He's being held hostage! Someone must want something from us!"

"Well, anyone who dare kidnaps a member of our herd is not getting anything!" Cera growled determinedly, and at once, she tore off in the direction Chomper was pointing.

Knowing there was no stopping Cera when she put her mind to something, Littlefoot turned to the others. "Petrie, could you get off me? I'm gonna go help Cera."

"I think I'll go along too," Ruby said thoughtfully. "If we can't solve this by talking, I'm small enough to potentially sneak Gem out of there while you two do the fighting."

"What about us?" Ducky asked concernedly to numerous nods of agreement.

"If they see too many of us coming, they won't like their odds and might kill Gem before we can save him," Littlefoot reasoned. "Chomper, tell Petrie everything you hear. Petrie, share what Chomper hears with Ducky and Spike. Ducky, Spike, you guys assemble reinforcements in case we need help."

"We will," Ducky promised as Littlefoot and Ruby ran off to join Cera. It took a little while to catch up, but once he got close enough to his hot-tempered mate, Littlefoot quietly called out, "Wait Cera."

Cera turned to face them. "We've gotta come up with a strategy," he told her.

"So whoever it is won't kill Gem before we can save him," Ruby added.

Cera sighed, but reluctantly nodded. "Right … I guess you'd be the one to rescue Gem while Littlefoot and I fight?"

"If it gets to that point, yes," Ruby said quietly.

"Ruby," Littlefoot asked. "Can you tell who we're dealing with?"

Though her senses were not as good as Chomper's, they were still better than Littlefoot and Cera's, so she tried taking in the scent. "We're pretty close," she informed. "I think I know what the smell might be, but I do not know the smell well enough to know for sure. Maybe I should try to get closer to see what we're dealing with while you guys plan out your battle strategy."

And with Littlefoot and Cera nodding their agreement, that was exactly what they did.

"Well, I saw what I saw," Ruby said uncertainly.

"And?" Cera asked impatiently.

"Well," Ruby continued, "It's a big group of boneheads. But … I think they might be bothteeth. I smell both treesweet juice on their hands and saw rotting flesh on the ground. They have their own camp staked out straight ahead, and have Gem all tied up. It looks like they are waiting for us."

"Right," Littlefoot observed. "Thanks Ruby. You stay back and look for an opportunity to get Gem out of there, while we go talk to them."

"You mean, beat them up," Cera smirked.

Littlefoot grimly nodded. "If it comes to it."

"I'll be careful," Ruby said sagely. "Or as careful as I can be. For if they can eat flesh, they probably have good sniffers too."

So Littlefoot and Cera cautiously ambled forward, looking around carefully to make sure they weren't being ambushed, while Ruby strode in the narrow gap between them, doing her best to stay low to the ground to prevent getting detected. With his long neck in the air, Littlefoot could soon see that the boneheads had staked out a clearing of their own, where they stood bunched together on the far side, leaving plenty of room for their expected arrivals. There were about twenty of them, all of whom were adults dark gray in color with darker eye rims and ivory-colored sharp claws on their hands and feet, standing in orderly formation with their arms crossed. They eyed the massive forms of the longneck and threehorn coming in with big smirks on their faces, while firmly held by three of them was Gem, gagged with a leaf wrapped around his mouth and both sets of paws tied up by thick prairie grasses.

"You're herd leaders?" growled a bonehead in the front row as they arrived.

"Yes we are," said Littlefoot in a polite but firm voice. "And Gem is a member of our herd. Can you please let him go?"

The boneheads smiled. "Of course."

But the boneheads made no motion to untie the little threehorn. Impatiently, Cera snapped, "Well? Untie him."

The boneheads roared with laughter. "What, let him go for nothing?" one asked as Gem squirmed. "You've got to give us payment."

"Okay," Littlefoot said doubtfully as Cera began to paw the ground in anticipation. "What do you want for him?"

"Well," answered a bonehead. "We don't like you traipsing around our territory. But we saw you carrying all those trees around. So we'll let this go and pretend this never happened. You give ten trees to each of us, and we'll give you the kid back. Otherwise, bye bye threehorn brat."

Littlefoot and Cera looked at each other darkly. While they couldn't turn their backs on Gem, surrendering that many trees would be an outrageous prospect that would severely deplete their stock for the crater. With food being more difficult to come by in the Mysterious Beyond than the Great Valley, that was an outcome that they absolutely could not afford ….

"Can we negotiate?" Littlefoot asked, though with little hope.

"Nope. Take it or leave it," a bonehead replied, to the devious murmurs of the others.

Littlefoot paused, pretending to consider the offer, while really giving time for Ducky and Spike's rescue party to draw closer. Knowing that the boneheads would really want the massive tree haul over one little threehorn, he reasoned that Gem was safe for however long they felt they could gain the concession. As if reading Littlefoot's mind however, one of the boneheads holding Gem threw him to the ground and threateningly placed a clawed foot on his back.

"I don't think you get how much danger he's in," hissed the bonehead as Gem frantically squirmed and whimpered. "It's not like we'll just let him run free … When he can provide all of us with a nice snack."

"You're sick," Littlefoot said coldly. "Gem's just a hatchling!"

"Besides, your kind doesn't even need red food to survive!" Cera pointed out.

"No … But that doesn't mean it doesn't taste good," smirked the bonehead standing on Gem, digging his foot into Gem's body, causing the little threehorn to writhe and shriek in pain as blood began to spurt out, followed by laughs from the rogue boneheads …

But the smug chortling of the boneheads gave Littlefoot and Cera just the chance they needed. With just one look at each other, they said nothing as Littlefoot brandished his whiptail and smacked it right at their ankles. The boneheads all toppled to the ground, including the one standing on top of Gem. Seeing this, Cera hurriedly ran in, stabbing a couple boneheads as she did, before pawing Gem's lightweight body under her. If they wanted to get at Gem, they would have to go through her first.

The boneheads however would not stay grounded for long. Seeing that all chance of a deal was scuttled, many of them sprung up and latched their claws and surprisingly sharp teeth onto Littlefoot's tail, causing him to gasp in pain and disabling his primary offensive weapon. Littlefoot then whirled his neck around, trying to ignore the shooting pain as he bit onto the boneheads' backs and threw them aside, knowing he had to be extremely careful to prevent them from hurting his face. But these boneheads had a lot of endurance, and every time he successfully removed a bonehead, one of the ones he had previously downed jumped up to take their place. Seeing that this would be an endless stalemate, Littlefoot knew he had to hold out until Ducky, Spike and their reinforcements came in to help.

Meanwhile, Cera growled in frustration, wanting to stop Littlefoot's suffering and kick some bonehead tail. But she was still guarding Gem from the remaining boneheads, who were closing in on her, looking very hungry. However, unbeknownst to them, she had a trick in store. While she was getting drawn closer and closer to the tall grasses, she also knew that Ruby would be closely watching from inside, lying in wait and able to nab Gem the moment she could reach him from her concealment. Getting further and further backed up, Cera felt the tall grasses tickle against the underside of her tail. Knowing it was time to move, Cera shook her frill and roared intimidatingly at the boneheads, but behind this performance, her front foot was performing the real action. Hoping Gem would not scream, Cera kicked Gem backward into the grasses, and heard a rustling sound. "Hee!" she thought, knowing Ruby had just scooped up the little threehorn and had begun to start untying him. "Now I can help Littlefoot."

But it wasn't long before Cera's smirk of triumph had turned into a gasp of horror. One of the boneheads had their arms in the surrounding grasses, and tugging, he had pulled out Ruby by her tail, who in turn was clutching onto Gem with one hand, Chomper's tooth in the other, trying to hurriedly break apart his bindings. While the boneheads were quite a bit smaller than Cera, they still were of good size and powerful musculature and thus had no problem overpowering Ruby and taking her hostage. Knowing there was no way of fighting off the extremely strong bonehead while being constricted, Ruby tried to covertly sawing through Gem's bindings with Chomper's tooth, succeeding in doing so without their noticing. But unfortunately, Gem fell to the grass with a thud, drawing the attention of three boneheads who were attacking Littlefoot to eye the little threehorn hungrily.

"Hey guys," said one of them, a female. "Lunch is served."

Hurriedly, Gem tried running away from them. "Help!" Gem shouted, only for one of them to block his way into the grasses. Desperately, Gem tried turning the other way, but the bonehead and another went in for another attack, him jumping out of the way just in time so that the boneheads would instead attack each other. Flopping onto the ground, the three boneheads saw their chance. With their reflexes being much quicker than the little threehorn, they had no problem surrounding him, their eyes alive, their tongues dangling out and sharp claws exposed, as they looked at him lustily. Seeing nowhere to turn, Gem shouted, "Help me! Help me! Help!"

He turned to face Ruby, struggling to break free of the bonehead who had her in a chokehold, then to Littlefoot, who was still fending off the mob of boneheads after his tail, and then at the bigger threehorn … Who had gone oddly stiff, her mouth dropping in a wide gape as her eyes flickered in terror, almost as if she had seen a ghost. Her legs seemed to have gone numb as she just stood frozen, forgetting to swing her head around as the boneheads dug their claws into her sides, fixated on the little threehorn, crying out in pain as the boneheads began to tear into his skin …

"Cera! Cera!" Littlefoot called out desperately.

But Cera just stood there glassy-eyed, her teeth beginning to chatter as some saliva began dripping from her mouth …

"Cera, please!" Littlefoot urged, trying to shake off his bonehead attackers. "Snap out of it!"

Cera's legs began to shake, and uncontrollably, she fell onto her belly, still seemingly oblivious to the world around her. Gritting his teeth, Littlefoot quickly realized that with Cera already grounded and Ruby apprehended, he had another technique at his disposal just perfect for this emergency. He was so glad now that Cera had insisted on giving them the chance to practice this …

Taking a deep breath, Littlefoot hurriedly bent down before springing up to jump in place. The trick worked perfectly, for his weight allowed him to land with a big thunk, causing an earthshake that was able to knock down all his grounded opponents. While not able to dislodge the boneheads tightly gripping onto his tail, it allowed Ruby to break free from her captor's chokehold and for Cera's and Gem's attackers to fall backwards. Hurriedly, Littlefoot ignored the boneheads still clinging to his tail as he rushed besides Cera and seeing that she was still shivering, he bent down to whisper into her ear

"Cera," Littlefoot cried desperately. "I can't lose you! Because … I love you, Cera! And I need you too much! We all do! And we're always gonna hold on together, promise!"

Something in Cera's eyes stirred before at last, she turned to look at Littlefoot, and to Littlefoot's intense relief, her gape shut, her eyes narrowed, and her eyes directly meeting his, nodded determinedly at him as she stood up. So too did all the boneheads, smirking at Cera maliciously.

"Aww, did the wittle girly threehorn have a panic attack?" sneered one of the boneheads as the crowd erupted in laughter.

Something snapped inside Littlefoot as he felt his heart race, all of his usual warmth and kindness having absolutely vanished. They could make fun of him all they wanted. But to go after Cera like that, especially upon such a sensitive question when she was at her most vulnerable … There would be hell to pay.

"How dare you make fun of Cera!" Littlefoot roared in outrage, causing even the boneheads still clinging onto his tail to fall off as he reared onto his hind legs, bringing them mercilessly down upon the nearest bonehead, causing its bones to instantly crack. The others tried to respond, but Cera had gotten up and crashed right through five boneheads, slamming them onto the ground. As Littlefoot's now free tail rained down hard upon the downed boneheads, landing repeated whiplashes, Ruby called out, "Cera, Gem needs help!"

Sure enough, the three boneheads that were attacking Gem were back at it, having just trapped him on the ground again. But this time, Cera was not going to let Gem suffer. Not if she could help it …

"I'm coming, Gem!" Cera roared with an instant charge, and her horns fully bared and head lowered, Cera charged right at the three boneheads, striking one with her horns, jabbing another with a front paw, and swatting the third down with her tail, before picking Gem up with her mouth.

"You … saved me," Gem gasped in wonder.

"Of course I did," Cera said through holding him. "I'm your herd leader, and I'll always be there to protect you."

Gem nodded thankfully as Cera whirled around, wondering how she could keep Gem safe while continuing to fight off boneheaded goons. But the answer got solved before her eyes. As Littlefoot kept whipping and pounding away at the boneheads and Ruby used Chomper's tooth to stab at them, Ducky and Spike's cavalry of reinforcements had arrived. The squads of teens leaped into battle, using their tight defensive formations to spike, whip, horn, rock throw or rock drop the boneheads, while Hyp's gang went around fighting, the twofooters punching the boneheads while Nod went around stabbing their knees. Along with several others, Ducky, Spike and Chomper moved to form protective walls around Littlefoot and Cera, who had only now begun to realize how bloodied they had both become and how much pain they were in. The scuffle proved to be anticlimatic however, for the herd's reinforcements were bigger in both size and number than the boneheads, and before long every bonehead was out cold without any of them having received significant injuries.

Still seething with fury, Littlefoot was prepared to rain all his rage upon the downed boneheads, but hurriedly, Cera lowered her frill to ease Gem onto the ground before approaching Littlefoot. "Littlefoot," she said gently. "I'm okay. Really."

"You … Are?" Littlefoot huffed.

"Yes," Cera said as calmly as she could. "Now sit down, close your eyes and count backwards from ten."

"Huh?" Littlefoot asked bewilderedly.

"Just do it," Cera barked.

Relieved to hear Cera sounding like her normally impatient self, Littlefoot obliged, while Ducky, Chomper and Spike braced their hands and paws on him. Feeling his blood pressure stabilize, Littlefoot opened his eyes and felt much better.

"Sorry about that," Littlefoot said sheepishly. "I just hated hearing them make fun of you like that … Especially about something so sensitive."

"It takes more than that to get under a threehorn's skin," Cera cheekily retorted, causing them both to weakly laugh.

With the dust settling, Chomper bent down to sniff them. "Only that one's dead, the rest are just knocked out. Mind if I take it for barter?"

No one had any problem with this, so after Chomper picked up the dead bonehead body with his mouth, Hyp and his gang began ripping out tall prairie grasses and binding the boneheads up, just as the boneheads had done to Gem.

"We'll give them one chance," Hyp growled warningly. "But if they ever try hurting us again, they're gonna be really, really sorry."

"That is, assuming the sharpteeth don't find them first," Dispo grinned wickedly.

"Well, that's not our problem," Hyp smirked back. "Shoulda thought of that before kidnapping our hatchlings."

There was then a long silence. Neither Littlefoot nor Cera wanted to talk about their mutual loss of control, so they instead found solace in each other's company by supportively sitting side by side, silently nuzzling each other's faces. No one else felt like talking either, until Ceph took in a deep breath, the friendly bonehead looking at his beastly kin with disgust and disdain.

"This," said Ceph darkly, "Was how I grew up. My dad came from a clan of savages like this. But he was always the oddball out. He only ever ate green food if he could help it, and only stayed with them for protection. My mom was a freak though … So were my siblings," he shuddered. Sighing, Ceph continued, "Once Dad realized I'd never end up like them, we ran for it, before they could try to put me through their headbutting trials. We were out there ever since … Until we met Mr. Threehorn, who brought us to the Great Valley. That's why Dad became legal expert. He hated the savage lifestyle of our old clan so much that he devoted himself to enforcing saurian rights and personally making sure that none of his old clan's savagery ever reached the Great Valley. So … uh, yeah."

By the time he finished his story, they had finished tying up the rogue boneheads and they all began to return to the rest of the herd. As they walked though, Littlefoot's head began exploding with thoughts and questions. Ceph and Mr. Bonehead were the first boneheads welcomed into the Great Valley, settling in just prior to the invasion of the swarming leaf gobblers. Before this point, boneheads were not present in the Valley, which he realized in retrospect must have been due to their story about the rogue boneheads that had attacked them. Indeed, these weren't the only savagely behaving boneheads they had encountered, for they had seen a similar pair on their journey to find the night flowers. What prompted Ceph and Mr. Bonehead to be welcomed in so easily, and for that matter, how could the policy towards welcoming boneheads change without seemingly any controversy?

The connection between Mr. Threehorn and Mr. Bonehead was also very curious. Both were normally austere figures who didn't readily share their feelings or seem particularly close in the past, but seemed to have warmed up to each other significantly after the trial. But with Mr. Threehorn not being inclined to suddenly make friends, Littlefoot realized that there perhaps was always some level of connection between the two of them. Perhaps the reason Mr. Bonehead was welcomed into the Valley without issue was that the normally skeptical Mr. Threehorn vouched for Mr. Bonehead's character. Indeed, even recently, Mr. Threehorn spoke highly of Mr. Bonehead's innate knowledge of his kind at a herd meeting. But why would the normally mistrustful Mr. Threehorn put all doubts aside for of all dinosaurs, one of the very kind who had attacked Cera?

Littlefoot frowned as more thoughts entered his head. This was also a period in which Mr. Threehorn had been acting strangely, remaining oddly quiet and even leaving the Great Valley from time to time. He remembered this, for Cera frequently slept over with him, Petrie, or Ducky and Spike during these times. He couldn't even remember if Mr. Threehorn had been in the Valley during Grandpa's deadly night flower sickness, for he didn't express concern over his close colleague, try to stop Cera and the others from going to find the Night Flower, or even declare that he would go find the Night Flower himself. At the very least, he would have made his opinions known at such a serious time as the Valley's arguable second-in-command, just as he had done regarding every other crisis the Valley had, rather than be absent or keep an unusually low profile.

What's more, he also remembered that around this time, Mr. Threehorn's relationship with Cera had dramatically changed for the better. During the Valley's great drought, he and Cera were constantly butting heads, with Littlefoot remembering how much she complained about her father to him, and even before then, she frequently spoke behind his back in a way she hadn't since before reaching adolescence. By the time of the swarming leaf gobblers however, Cera vigorously stuck up for her dad after Littlefoot criticized the way he spoke about his grandpa, with the two of them even butting heads about it, and she tended to be much more defensive of her dad for a while afterward. Something must have happened around this point, the same point in which Mr. Bonehead was allowed to stay in the Great Valley …

He was therefore curious but not altogether shocked to find that the two elders were in deep discussion as they arrived, but upon seeing their return, Mr. Threehorn instantly broke off the conversation and ran straight over to them. "Cera …" he spat out urgently, eyeing her bleeding with alarm. "Are you all right?"

"I think so Daddy," Cera said in a surprisingly vulnerable voice. "But I don't understand … I thought you said they were gone?"

"They are, Cera," her dad said soothingly, placing his paw around her to give her a big hug. "These must have been different goons."

"I lost it Daddy," Cera mumbled. "I was seeing Gem being attacked by those creeps … And it was like it was happening all over again. It felt like for every blow they landed on Gem, they were landing one on me too. And I just couldn't take it. Sorry I was so weak …"

"There, there, Cera," Topps soothed. "You're not weak. You're a brave girl. You've just had horrors happen to you at a young age that would affect anyone."

Cera nodded feebly. "You're sure they're really gone?"

Topps nodded. "Mr. Bonehead and Ruby's parents were there with me. If you don't believe me, you can ask them."

"Thanks Daddy," Cera said quietly, nuzzling with her father before slowly going to rejoin everyone else.

Littlefoot meanwhile, took all this in, piecing together what must have really happened all that time ago. He supposed that Cera must have had some horrific sleep stories in which she relived her trauma with the boneheads, hence her frequent and insistent childhood mantra that she never had sleep stories. Most likely she had these sleep stories ever since arriving at the Great Valley, just as he had horrible sleep stories about Sharptooth, but at least in his case, he could awaken with the knowledge that Sharptooth was dead. But the boneheads would have still been at-large, making the horrific sleep stories seem so much more real, and potentially motivate Mr. Threehorn to try to resolve this in some sort of way.

Littlefoot shuddered. It was hard to imagine that Mr. Threehorn, as hard-bitten as he was, would resort to premeditated murder, even if it was for dinosaurs who lived outside any sort of civilized order and who would have gladly eaten his daughter if given the chance. But he also knew that Mr. Threehorn would do anything for Cera, and if he could meaningfully improve her well-being, he would take the opportunity in a heartbeat. He could just imagine how Cera would feel upon learning that she would never have to worry about the creatures of her worst sleep stories ever again, and such visible concern for her would prompt her to fully appreciate just how much her father really loved her, resulting in their dramatically improved relationship. He supposed what most likely happened was Mr. Threehorn went out in search for the boneheads to confront them and demand they apologize for their actions. Knowing the boneheads however, they would probably have only taunted him back, causing Mr. Threehorn's volatile temper to rapidly escalate, ultimately killing the three boneheads in the process.

And judging by the comments Mr. Threehorn had just made, Littlefoot realized that he must have been helped along the way to uncover the three murderous boneheads by both Mr. Bonehead, who would be able to give him valuable insights as to bonehead kind, as well as by Ruby's parents, who would have naturally related to Mr. Threehorn from having their own young daughter and who would have been able to help him track down the boneheads with their improved senses. This would explain not only why Mr. Bonehead and Ceph were welcomed in without issue as well as Mr. Threehorn's bigoted comments finally beginning to taper off around this point, but also why he was so willing to accept Ruby, a halftooth and the only one of her kind in the Valley, as well. In the past, Littlefoot didn't give much thought to Ruby's residency being granted, merely attributing it to the fact that she was Chomper's caretaker. But even with their word that Chomper was different, it still didn't seem likely that Mr. Threehorn, despite his steadily increasing tolerance, would trust a sharptooth to play with his daughter, especially when he had never seen Chomper for himself before. Not with his suspicious and protective streak. Yet Mr. Threehorn, apart from ribbing Chomper at times and making a few doubtful comments, seemed surprisingly chill about him being Cera's friend. It would make sense that he would need some other assurance that Chomper could be trusted, and Chomper being under the care of the daughter of two dinosaurs who had previously helped him would provide just that assurance. Indeed, he never seemed to have any issue with Ruby despite her openly eating red food, and though he had put on a threatening demeanor when first interrogating Ruby's parents, perhaps this was just for show to quell the inevitable opposition they would face and secure their residency …

Littlefoot's attention finally returned to the present when the fast runners and flyers had begun preparing a pile of prickly plants for him to eat, with some tree sweets thrown in to mask the bitter flavor. As he sat down and began to eat the mixture, he noticed that the bleeding toward his back side had finally ceased and the pain had been greatly numbed. He examined his body. While it seemed as though his neck and body were okay, being mostly untouched by the boneheads, his tail was still heavily scarred, with bite marks all over and feeling very brittle.

"You all right Littlefoot?" Petrie asked concernedly as he climbed aboard Littlefoot.

Littlefoot nodded. "I think so. But I think my tail's gonna be out for a while."

"Yeah," Petrie said sympathetically, looking at his wing. "Me know what that like."

"Hey, at least we can work on learning how to use the rest of our bodies better together," Littlefoot tried to cheerfully point out.

"You right," Petrie grinned as they both laughed.

Littlefoot then turned his attention to Cera, who had just consumed her healing dose. She had the exact opposite problem of Littlefoot, for while her primary weaponry at the front end was untouched, her back had been heavily bitten and clawed out and she seemed to stagger whenever she moved.

"You okay Cera?" Littlefoot asked gently.

Cera nodded. "Yeah, but I'm gonna need some rest if I wanna get back to training."

"Hey Petrie," Littlefoot asked. "Mind if Cera hitches a ride?"

"Me afraid you say that," Petrie teased as Cera snorted, before Littlefoot lifted Cera up by her frill and placed her on his back slumped over right next to where Petrie was perched before they once again began to trundle on. Being over half his weight, Cera was a lot more work to carry than the others, but given that Cera would never let herself get carried when healthy, the times when he was allowed to carry her always felt especially rewarding.

"Aren't the hatchlings a bit young to see this?" Gara cheekily teased.

Cera rolled her eyes. "Put a treestar in it, spikeneck."

"Which one?" Jada wheedled innocently as she and Gara slapped paws with smirks. Littlefoot couldn't help but grin at them, seeing how the two spikeneck team leaders had come so far from mistrusting and fighting each other to teasing Cera together.

Cera sighed, smirking as she turned to Chomper. "Hey Chomper, want some spikeneck stew?" she called out.

Chomper giggled. "Sorry Cera. Spikenecks hardly have any meat on their bones. If I wanted something their size, I'd have something fattier, like a threehorn," he said to raucous laughs and a playful glare from Cera. Even the new kids had learned to trust Chomper enough by now to know that he was only teasing. "Besides, longnecks back me up."

"What does that mean?" Tricia asked Destiny, who just shrugged.

"It means he can't relieve himself," Hyp smirked naughtily.

"Eewww, nasty," Destiny smirked as Tricia's gang all giggled loudly.

"I bet clubtails really back sharpteeth up," Oplax grinned. "We're all plate and don't break down easy!"

"Or frilled dinos," Mono agreed. "Chomper broke his tooth on a threehorn, remember? Our skin is just too tough."

"That must be why they go for us twofooters all the time," Cassia observed. "We're actually edible."

"Without us, they'd lose teeth or get hard poops!" Sam snickered.

"Probably," Hyp chortled, loving to see just how naughty the junior gang could be.

"So why hasn't anyone eaten Hiss Head yet?" Rachelle asked.

Nod rolled his eyes. "Would you want to eat Hiss Head if you were a sharptooth?"

"No," giggled Rachelle. "I guess not. That would make your poop green."

"I didn't know eating green dinos could make your poop green," Perri marveled.

"No no," Rachelle explained. "It'd be from all the icky germs he's got in him."

"Eeeww," they all said as they roared with laughter.

From above, Littlefoot too couldn't help but roll his eyes and shake his head. "They sure are getting cheeky," he whispered to Cera aboard his back. "Aren't they a bit old for this kind of thing?"

"That no stop Hyp and friends," Petrie pointed out, eyeing Hyp's gang laughing along with them.

Cera smirked. "They've got the worst potty mouths, especially when they're feeling naughty. Now do you realize why I was so scared for them being stuck in Hiss Head's Valley? One mouth-off and they'd get a death sentence from those crazy disciplinarians. No wonder they're acting so naughty now, they're letting it all out."

"Yeah," Littlefoot chortled. "No kidding. But wouldn't your dad have tried to wash Tricia's mouth out with stinkweed?"

Cera grinned naughtily. "You don't think he tried with me first?"

"Ooh boy," Petrie shuddered. "Me know no you potty mouth."

"Yeah Cera," Littlefoot observed. "You weren't that bad with us."

"Because I saved it all for Daddy," Cera explained, smirking broadly. "He tried feeding me stinkweed in response."

"That why you have bad breath sometimes?" Petrie cheekily asked, causing Cera to snort some hot air onto his wings.

"So what happened?" Chomper eagerly asked.

"Well, you know me," Cera grinned. "Punishments never work. They just make my will stronger, and make me want to do whatever it is even more. So by the time Tricia learned to talk, he knew better than to even try with her. And it's not like he's anyone to talk. You should hear his waterhole talk with the males in his herd, it's embarrassing."

"And with Grandpa too I'd imagine," Littlefoot chortled uncomfortably, imagining the two of them far away from any of the kids. "I always wondered what those two got up to when we weren't watching."

"Oh yeah," Cera smirked. "But Tria always gives him a good tail whapping when she overhears him. So he's learned to be careful."

"Ugh, me glad me no there for that!" Petrie shuddered.

"My mom has never bothered with Sam either, nope nope nope," Ducky giggled. "She knows how far telling me and Spike no got her."

"And the twins will keep you in order if you try keeping them in order," Ruby chuckled.

"No wonder they like each other so much," Petrie smirked. "They all got so much attitude."

"Like we don't?" Littlefoot playfully asked to numerous laughs. "But I wouldn't want to give them stinkweed anyway. It's too mean, for both the kid and the parent."

"Soft as always Littlefoot," Cera smirked as they all sniggered.

It wasn't long though before they halted again, for Mr. Bonehead had made his way to the front of the herd to turn and face them. Knowing Mr. Bonehead would likely have come to some important conclusions about the rogue boneheads, everyone agreed to silently stop and let him talk.

"Everyone," sighed Mr. Bonehead darkly. "Let me first apologize with respect my kin's disgusting behavior. You have seen with your very eyes the worst of all boneheads, the kind that would not hesitate to kidnap hatchlings, act with total barbarity and disrespect, and even eat like wannabe sharpteeth. Let me first impress upon you children that as someone who is all too familiar with this behavior that none of it is tolerated among boneheads who choose to live in leafeater civilization. I would like to speak on behalf of my herdmates who remain in the Great Valley that we categorically reject any of this savagery, and that if we are able to reclaim our homeland, I have full confidence in saying the boneheads back home would all swear to never hurt any of you hatchlings."

The kids nodded in understanding, before Mr. Bonehead cleared his throat. "One thing I am sure you are all wondering is whether these boneheads are an individual pack of rogues or an affiliate of a larger group, by that I mean working for Mr. Leigh or Ms. Goregie." Nodding to new bonehead kids Lark, Moor and Rhine, Mr. Bonehead explained, "I have asked our bonehead children to see if they could determine the identity of the deceased body. As former members of their segregated herd, they would be able to easily identify one of their former herdmates. But the three of them cannot recognize this fiend. They have also told me that in keeping with flattooth supremacist orthodoxy, their old herds would never eat any kind of red food, believing it to be a crime of purity for red food to touch their lips. Therefore, it seems like neither Mr. Leigh or the segregated herds are responsible for this attack."

Silence followed this proclamation as Mr. Bonehead continued, "This leaves us with two possibilities, that these boneheads are either their own group or are aligned with Ms. Goregie." Continuing as though he was conducting a trial, Mr. Bonehead explained, "Boneheads tend to be mistrusted by both flatteeth and sharpteeth, for like halfteeth, we don't cleanly fall on one side of the dietary divide. Therefore, I'd imagine that if affiliated with Ms. Goregie, these boneheads would have a sharptooth commanding them from the field and ensuring that they do not turn traitor." Looking at Chomper, Mr. Bonehead sighed. "Chomper, I would like to ask if you can still smell the boneheads, and if so, whether you can smell another sharptooth in the area as well."

Chomper nodded, and began to sniff the air fervently. He could still make out the boneheads a good ways behind them, but he could not smell any sharptooth that way. But as he wafted the air in front of him, Chomper's face fell. A foul scent had permeated the faraway air, and through the noxious gases, he could barely make out the scent of a sharptooth. No sound could be heard though, meaning that the sharptooth had to be sitting perfectly still. Yet it didn't smell dead … Chomper shuddered. Perhaps this was Goregie's subordinate, attempting to hide its presence by keeping still and disguising its scent. If he wasn't looking for the scent of sharptooth, he would've almost certainly missed it.

"What is it, Chomper?" Petrie asked, bringing Chomper back to his senses.

"I think I found her," Chomper said tentatively.

"Wha? Goregie?" Petrie squawked in alarm.

"No, but a possible subordinate," Chomper said. "I think it's a browridge. Smaller than me, and she doesn't seem to be moving. I'll go on ahead and scout her out. You guys keep going and I'll warn you if there's any trouble."

"Make sure you're not walking into a trap," Ruby warned Chomper cautiously. "And roar if you need any help."

"We'rr risten for you," Nyko promised as he, Deya and Chuss bowed before their pack alpha.

Chomper smiled. "Thanks guys, I'll be careful. I better take along the bonehead though. Maybe she can be bartered with."

So Chomper retrieved the dead bonehead body and held onto it with his mouth, heading quickly forward as the others trailed behind. His sniffer led him to the other side of the tall grasses and into a dusty, barren area where sand clouds blocked his vision. The smell he realized came from what appeared to be several gigantic tar pits, spreading out into the horizon like an expanse of big water as they gurgled and oozed menacingly. Being aware he could be easily walking into a trap, Chomper cast around for another sniff. However, he still couldn't smell any other sharpteeth besides the one female browridge. The only thing was, he couldn't see her anywhere.

Then his eyes fell upon a dark shape in the distance, and tucking his head in so he could put a claw over his eyes, he squinted through the Bright Circle's light and the dust to see the form of a long decayed spiketail lodged deep within the tar, with only a little bit of meat still on its bones. Looking down however, he saw something that made his heart churn. There, nearly submerged in the sticky tar, was the browridge. She was quite small, probably only about half his size, and judging by her outstretched posture, it looked like she was trying to swim through the tar to get to the spiketail carcass. Suddenly, Chomper understood. This sharptooth was not trying to conceal her smell, rather she smelled that way from being stuck in the tar pits. And rather than lying in hiding, the reason she wasn't moving was because she was trapped.

Chomper swallowed. He knew this could be a trap, but he couldn't let an innocent dinosaur die on his watch, even if she did eat other dinosaurs. Especially since this sharptooth had apparently chosen to make an extremely dangerous attempt to scavenge, rather than take the smarter route and opt to hunt. He could ask questions later, but right now, this dinosaur's life had to be saved, and so once again sniffing the air to determine that no one else was there apart from the browridge and the dead spiketail around, Chomper pressed forward with his rescue mission. Eyeing the tar very deliberately, Chomper saw that fortunately, the browridge's tail was outstretched toward the dry land. If he could just lean over and grab her tail with his teeth, he could free her from the tar and bring her to dry land. He chuckled to himself, for he was never so glad to have tiny arms, for they allowed him to lean deep into the tar without fear of potentially getting them stuck in the tar.

Shuffling his feet to get as close to the tarpit as possible without being at risk of falling in, Chomper set aside the bonehead carcass before leaning forward, concentrating on finding the very tip of the browridge's tail. He could see it sticking out just barely above the gurgling ooze. Chomper swallowed. He had to be really careful here, for if he got his head stuck in the tar, he knew he would be in big trouble.

So very deliberately, Chomper used his front teeth to grip onto the browridge's tail. The browridge did not seem to respond, so Chomper grabbed onto a little hunk more, slowly sinking his teeth until they were just above tar level. Then with a good chunk of tail tip secured in his mouth, Chomper did his best to yank out the browridge. The tar clung hard, but Chomper's bite grip was very powerful, allowing her tail to be kept firmly within his mouth. He slowly dragged her closer to the crusty land before he noticed the delicate edge crack slightly under his weight. Hurriedly taking a step back, Chomper was able to hoist the browridge by the tail and onto dry land just as some of the land crumbled into the tarpit.

Taking a deep breath, Chomper sighed with relief. He had extracted the trapped dino, who still had not moved since he first saw her. He wondered for a moment if she was dead but hadn't started to decay yet. But upon cautiously putting his head next to her heart, he heard that it was still beating faintly.

Curiously, Chomper began chipping away at the tar on the browridge's body to see if he could discern more about her. She had a smaller, narrower head than other browridges, with very pronounced brow horns. She looked to be in her early teens, for judging by her awkward body proportions she had just started her time of great growing. She also appeared to be unhealthily slender, and as he removed the final layers of tar above her skin, he could she had a turquoise color scheme.

Then she began to stir, revealing a pair of eyes that caused Chomper to gasp. Rather than having fully colored sclera like most sharpteeth, her sclera were still amazingly white, with indigo irises. At once, the sharptooth looked at Chomper indignantly. "Hey, what are you staring at?" she barked. "Sorry bud, but I only like other girls. So back off. Whoops, I shouldn't have told you that …" she trailed off awkwardly.

But Chomper chuckled. "Don't worry, I don't care who you like. And I'm not interested in you that way either. It's just your eyes … They're white."

At once, Chomper wished he didn't say that, for the browridge looked highly offended. "How dare you …" she began.

"I didn't mean it as an insult!" Chomper quickly spat out. "It's just … Mine are white too."

She paused and stared. "You're not kidding," she said at last. "You're one weird sharptooth, to actually admit you're a white-eye."

"I guess so," Chomper said, but he could detect a slight change in the browridge's attitude.

"But you must have saved me from that tarpit … Otherwise I wouldn't be alive right now, right?" she observed.

As Chomper nodded, her eyes narrowed once again. "Why'd you do it? You're way bigger than me. So you would've eaten me by now if that's what you wanted. And if it's not pleasure you want, what is it?"

"I just didn't want to see you drown," explained Chomper honestly. "Especially because I can tell you really want to scavenge. No hunter would throw themselves into a tarpit to eat some already dead meat for who knows how long it's been decaying."

Once again, the browridge looked highly affronted, before looking at him sharply. "Are you part flattooth or something?"

"Huh?" Chomper asked, taken aback. "Why'd you ask?"

"Well, every normal sharptooth knows that saying you have eyes like a flattooth is a big insult, and normal sharpteeth don't go out of their way to save random strangers because they felt like being nice."

Chomper shook his head. "I'm not a normal sharptooth," he chuckled, realizing just how obvious he really was.

Then however, the sharptooth eyed the bonehead body. "Hey, you have food," she said. "I want it! I'm starving!"

"You can have it," Chomper chuckled. "But you don't recognize this bonehead?"

The browridge sniffed it over. "Nope," she said, and Chomper was inclined to believe her. Still, she stared at Chomper. "That's it? You're just giving it to me? Without a fight?"

"Don't worry, I've got plenty," Chomper pointed out. "Or we can just share."

The browridge rolled her eyes. "You really are weird." Hurriedly, she added, "Whoops … I mean, different … Wait, I can't be insulting someone who gives me food! Ugh … Shouldn't have said that! Can I still have your food?"

"Sure," Chomper chuckled to the awkward browridge, who began to voraciously dig into the bonehead's meat. "You're right though," she pointed out. "I like being a scavenger. Call me crazy, but I don't like seeing flatteeth suffer. That's why my family kicked me out. That and they think I'm a freak for liking girls … And I've been on my own since …"

Then she stared at Chomper and gaped. "Hey, that's it!" she gasped. "You're alone, I'm alone. You're a white-eye, I'm a white-eye … Let's form a pack together! You can be alpha, you're older than me, bigger than I'll ever be, and you saved my life … Not to mention you've gotta be pretty powerful to give me that food. You must be loaded. That is, if you want to … Ugh … You probably just think I'm annoying."

Taken aback, Chomper quickly answered, "No, that's not it."

The browridge however, raised her eyebrows. "Then what? Do you know what an alpha is? You said you've got plenty of food …Which means you can order me to do whatever you want. I'll even swear my loyalty to you if you want!"

Shocked, Chomper paused. This little browridge actually seemed serious … But he knew this could be a clever trap laid out by Goregie, meant to prey upon his compassionate, trusting nature. He had to proceed very carefully before revealing anything further to this young sharptooth.

"Let me smell you," Chomper said cautiously.

"Why?" the browridge responded.

"Or we can just call the whole thing off," Chomper replied.

The browridge nodded. "Sorry Alpha, I mean, Mr. Twoclaw, sir. Go ahead, smell away."

So the browridge crouched down as Chomper bent to thoroughly smell her, making sure to keep his head a good distance away from her teeth or claws. But she remained perfectly still, and while he could make out traces of other sharpteeth on her body, there was no scent of Goregie anywhere.

"Who are the other sharpteeth on you?" Chomper asked.

The browridge sighed. "My folks. I was kicked out two days before I dove in for the spiketail, whenever that was."

Nodding, Chomper found it easy to believe she was genuine, but he still had to vet her thoroughly. "Do you know a Goregie? Or belong to any other sharptooth packs?"

The browridge shook her head. "Never heard of her, him? And no normal … Whoops, I mean other sharptooth pack would want a white-eye my age. I'm all alone."

Chomper nodded, figuring he could slowly start disclosing the truth. "The thing is, uh …"

"You have to name me," the browridge instructed.

"Right," Chomper said uncomfortably, knowing from listening to the teens' inductions that by naming her, he would officially be taking responsibility for her. "I already have a pack."

"Where are they, then?" the browridge asked.

"They're waiting for me to return," Chomper explained. "They can't go out like I can. Two of them are my injured parents, and three of them are fast biter kids I helped save."

"Sounds like they can use more protection," said the browridge with a smirk. "You can't tell me you can guard them all by yourself. I mean you can, but with my help, you can guard them better. I'm going to get bigger in a few cold times, you know. I'll grow up to be a very tough packmate."

"Yes," Chomper said cautiously. This browridge was harder to dissuade than he expected, but he still had plenty of opportunity. Knowing the nature of sharptooth packs, Chomper had to go against his inner nature here, but knew that this could perhaps deter her. Trying to channel Cera's attitude, he added, "But I also require absolute obedience in my pack. I am alpha, and that is it. If you do not comply, I will have to kill you. Got it?"

Still, the browridge nodded. "Yes. And?"

Shaking his head, Chomper thought to himself. She really seemed impossible to dissuade. But he continued, "You will have to agree to always follow my number one rule if you want to join me. Ready?"

The browridge nodded through a mouthful of bonehead. "You got it."

Chomper sighed, for the moment of truth had arrived. It was time to see if she could even possibly be trusted …

"You must vow to me that you will never hunt any live dinosaur again and only eat dinosaur meat with my permission," Chomper explained seriously.

At once, the browridge spat out her meat and gaped at Chomper in horror. "But what else could I eat?"

"Swimming sharpteeth, slitherers, tickly fuzzies, hoppers, lizards giant crawlers, belly draggers except for Dil," Chomper explained. "Or anything else that is not a sharptooth, halftooth, or flattooth, with the exception of killed enemies of the herd like this bonehead."

Chomper swore to himself, for he had just used the leafeater term for a pack, hoping the browridge would not catch on. Unfortunately, she was just too sharp of a sharptooth.

"Wait a minute," she observed. "You just said herd."

Chomper heavily sighed, but there was no going back now.

"Yes," he informed her. "Me and my friends lead a herd of flatteeth, halfteeth and sharpteeth, all together as one big group. And yes, my friends are a runner, longneck, threehorn, swimmer, flyer and spiketail."

The browridge stared at him, stunned, looking at him if he was half-crazy and half-brilliant. "Do you mean to tell me," she asked incredulously. "That you can speak flattooth?"

Chomper nodded, before demonstrating. "Yes, I can speak flattooth."

She stared in disbelief, before Chomper explained, "We had to leave our home because it had been taken over by evil flatteeth who tried to murder me and my friends. And now we're being pursued by a sharptooth pack, and both groups won't rest until they are able destroy us."

"Led by this Goregie, right?" the browridge interrupted as Chomper nodded.

"So now we're wanderers, heading to a crater where we know we can all live and grow until we feel we can recover our home safely," Chomper explained.

The browridge nodded in understanding. "And you don't trust me because I'm a normal sharptooth, right?"

"Right," said Chomper uncomfortably. "And neither will the rest of us until you prove you're a sharptooth friendly with flatteeth, just like the other members of my sharptooth pack have."

"So that means I'm gonna have to earn your trust," the browridge pondered. "Tell you what. I'll serve as a guard for your crater. I'll use my sniffer and report to you any intruders. I'll sit outside so you won't have to worry about me hurting your flatteeth. Besides, I've got to work on overcoming my instincts before I'm ready to meet them. Keep me fed too, that will help with that. And if I betray you or your flatteeth, you can just kill me. You're the only reason I'm still alive anyway, it's okay if you kill me if I blow this chance."

Chomper shook his head in disbelief. This young browridge was proving to be remarkably ambitious, but at the same time, making it virtually impossible for him to reject her. He was just glad that his friends had been in the very same position themselves not that long ago, which allowed him to know just what to do in this situation.

"All right," Chomper said cautiously. "I'll take you on as a trainee, and if you do what I ask, I'll let you into my pack. I will keep you fed and you will help keep guard over our crater. You will be working alongside our herd's noteeth, including my friend and fellow leader Ruby, to keep a watch for enemies. She may be little, but you must always respect her and treat her like your pack alpha. Make sure never to harm any of them, they're mostly runners with some clawhands and rainbow faces. I will come to see you every day, and while you can leave if you want, you must never report on us to our enemies, otherwise we will have no choice but to kill you, part of us or not. Do you understand?"

The browridge nodded before taking a knee for him and putting a claw on her heart. "Name me, Alpha," she instructed.

"You can just call me Chomper," Chomper smiled. "But Alpha's fine too." Thinking back to how the others named the teens, Chomper asked, "What do you want out of your name?"

"To reassure your flatteeth I'm not a threat," she answered.

Chomper thought, before remembering how much difficulty sharpteeth had with the L-sound. If she wanted to be a friendly sharptooth, it would help to have a name belying the harsh sound of the sharptooth language entirely.

"Okay then," Chomper suggested. "How about Lola?"

The browridge nodded with satisfaction. "I like it. Say it in flattooth."

Chomper did, causing her to stare in incredulity. "I don't know if I can even make that sound," she muttered, before trying it. "Rrrrrroorrrraaa?"

"Don't worry, my biters still have trouble making that sound, even though their flattooth has gotten a lot better since I first met them," Chomper laughed. "But that's why I'm giving you that name, it'll help you fit in with the flatteeth."

Lola grinned at him. "Right then, Alpha Chomper. Return to your herd. I'll use my sniffer to tail behind a respectful distance and warn you of attackers and follow you to your crater to start my guard duties. Your wish is my command."

"Okay, but call if you need any help too," Chomper told her. "We take care of each other in our herd."

"Right, Alpha," Lola nodded respectfully before Chomper headed back to rejoin the herd.


"What? You recruited a browridge?" Cera asked in disbelief, half-furious, half-amazed.

"Well, sorta," explained Chomper sheepishly. "I didn't mean to … But she wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Chomper," Littlefoot said cautiously. "I know you always wanted to teach sharpteeth to be nice … But well, how do you know for sure she's not with Goregie?"

"I thought about that," Chomper explained. "But the only sharpteeth I could smell on her were the family who kicked her out. And she said she would rather scavenge than hunt. I know we've gotta be really careful though. I made her promise not to eat any dinosaur meat so she can learn that flatteeth are friends, not food. But I know she probably can't control herself yet. It'd be like asking you guys to resist a whole tree of tree sweets. That's why I'm gonna have her stay outside the crater, and she's only following us from a long way back."

"You think she hear us?" Petrie asked concernedly.

Chomper shook his head. "Yeah, but she doesn't know any flattooth. It all sounds like grunting to her. She probably can tell when I'm talking though."

"You sure it's not just the hormones?" Cera bluntly asked, but unable to conceal a smirk. "You're probably pretty hot to another sharptooth."

Chomper chuckled embarrassedly as many snickers broke out. "No, she only likes girls. That's why her parents kicked her out. That and she doesn't like hunting."

"What is she like?" Ducky asked curiously.

"Very stubborn," said Chomper. "And she talks before she thinks. But she's pretty smart, and seems friendly once you get to know her. I think I can trust her."

"Of course you do," Cera snarked. "You trusted that sharptooth boy who told his parents to eat you for lunch."

Even Chomper couldn't help but laugh before saying, "Okay, good point. But I did just what you would've done if you were me. I told her she had to obey me and never hurt any of us or else I would kill her on the spot. Only I sounded a lot meaner saying it in sharptooth. And she's got a skinny neck, I'd be able to split it with one chomp if I had to."

"Hey, I never say I'll kill anyone if they don't obey me!" Cera retorted sharply to numerous guffaws, but Chomper could tell that she was greatly reassured.

"Only because you let your horns do the talking for you," Chomper quipped back.

"Who are you and what've you done with Chomper?" Littlefoot laughed.

"You guys only know the flattooth me," Chomper giggled. "The sharptooth me can be a lot meaner. Just be glad we share the same heart inside."

"Thank goodness for that," Ruby chuckled before she sniffed the air. "I can't smell her anywhere. She must have a really good sniffer to track us from so far away."

"Yeah," Chomper sniffed. "She's there, but she's keeping her distance. So far, so good." He then sighed as he faced Ruby. "Ruby, I'm gonna introduce her to you first. I've assigned her to help guard the crater with you guys and alert me to anyone suspicious. You guys should steer clear of her if you can, and be ready to jump away in case she tries to bite. Maybe you can patrol one side and she the other. But it'd be best for her to know who you are, I told her to treat you like her pack alpha."

Ruby blushed, flattered, before nodding in grateful understanding. "Good thinking. I was the first one the biters would listen to apart from you, so it probably makes sense for me to meet Lola soon. Especially as I should probably watch over her to make sure she has good behavior."

"What about the rest of us?" Cera playfully retorted. "Did you say we were all pack alphas too?"

"I said you were herd leaders with me," Chomper said evasively. "But none of you were my caretaker, were you?"

"Hey, I was your caretaker before you even met Ruby," Littlefoot playfully snapped.

"Yeah, but you were more like my big brother left in charge of babysitting me," Chomper smirked. "You took care of me, sure. But unlike Ruby, you didn't get me out of trouble, you got me into it."

"Gee, thanks Chomper," Littlefoot snorted in mock indignation to many laughs.

"Then what does that make me?" Cera asked.

"You were my first chew toy," Chomper giggled.

"And I'll be your last if you ever try it again," Cera growled, slapping Chomper from upon Littlefoot's back. "Got it?"

"Yes Cera," Chomper giggled to snickers.

"I would love to meet her, yep yep yep," Ducky said brightly. "Even if she cannot speak flattooth, I really want to see her myself, I do!"

Chomper chuckled. "Once I can teach her to resist flatteeth, I'd love to introduce you! If she sticks around that is. I told her she can leave at any time, so long as she doesn't betray us to anyone. The last thing we need is a sharptooth who doesn't want to be here."

"Good thinking Chomper," Littlefoot smiled, amazed with how many precautions Chomper was taking, despite the overwhelming excitement he had to have been feeling. Then again, this worked both ways, for with this being both a promising and perilous undertaking for him, he would do everything in his power to make sure this experiment wouldn't backfire on him.

When nightfall came, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike knew that they were getting close to the crater, as the terrain had become grassier and hillier, and they had begun seeing expanses of trees on the far horizon. Yet at the same time, they knew that between being disrupted by a sharptooth attack two nights ago, wandering through the desert last night, and only getting a little sleep in the early morning, it would be a lot safer to spend the night rejuvenating before making that final push to the crater. This at once proved to be a popular choice, for as excited as everyone was to reach their destination, there was no denying that they needed a good night's sleep.

From all his recent activity, Chomper was getting very hungry, and couldn't wait to dig his jaws into some swimming sharpteeth. To his delight, he had sniffed out some big water in the distance. Though they still had plenty of swimming sharpteeth in their inventory, he knew a crater would be an unlikely place to find the kind of swimming sharpteeth that could satiate even himself, let alone his fellow sharpteeth. At least now he had a spot relatively close to the crater that he could frequent to provide for his pack. Besides, they could never have too many carcasses, especially now that they had to barter with hungry rogues and had both Dil and Lola to feed.

Most of all however, Chomper felt he really needed his friends' company in a more secluded setting. As much as he liked his entire herd and spending time with them, he found that he really needed some intimate time with his closest friends, to reassure him that they would always be by his side, even if he now had a young, potentially dangerous trainee to manage. Still, he couldn't overlook the fact that Littlefoot, Cera and Petrie were all injured, and with Ruby being too small to fight large sharpteeth and him having to concentrate on the swimming sharpteeth in the big water, he couldn't ask Ducky and Spike to be solely responsible for all their protection. Luckily, there was an easy solution to this by inviting Ali and Shorty along. Though not growing up with him and quite as close to him as his six oldest friends, Chomper felt a great deal closer to the two of them between their recent adventures and their time shared together in the prison, and so the group still felt very intimate. The two of them were very happy to come along and help serve as their bodyguards and to carry some trees for everyone else to dine on.

Not wanting to draw attention out by themselves, the small group refrained from talking much as they followed Chomper to the big water. But this suited Chomper just fine, for just their presence gave him valuable support. A couple times, Shorty asked if any longnecks were around, but with the area by the big water being devoid of trees, Chomper just shook his head. Fortunately, apart from Lola resting a respectful distance away from them, there were also no sharpteeth around. The complete silence with nothing but the footsteps of him and his friends making their slow, steady beat felt very therapeutic, soon to be accompanied by the smell of the big water and the sound of the waves slowly rolling their way onto shore.

When they got to the big water, the others began to dig into their treestar dinner while Chomper killed a sand creeper, bit into it, and threw it back into the water in order to lure in the swimming sharpteeth. As he stood there, waiting and then hunting just like he had so many times before, he couldn't help but to feel oddly contemplative. He was now feeling torn in two directions, both wanting to stay alongside his closest friends as always, yet also fully realizing the incredible opportunity he had been given. He had already discovered that indeed, other sharpteeth could be friends with flatteeth thanks to the biter triplets, and he couldn't help but smile with pride as he thought about how well they were integrating with the leafeater herd. On every occasion, they had proven themselves to be loyal and trustworthy herd members, and in their short time with the leafeaters had already really become a part of them.

But he knew Lola would definitely be a harder case than the triplets. Unlike them, no flatteeth were involved in saving her life, and she didn't have a parent to model for her a respect for flatteeth that the biters did. She was older than them too, making it harder for her to drop her old habits, and unlike the biters who had fended for themselves with smaller life forms once their mother passed, she was accustomed to eating flatteeth. Then there was the fact that she was a lot bigger than the biters. Not only would this make it a lot harder for the leafeaters to not be scared of her, but it also meant that she would both pose more of a danger to them and require a larger appetite, concerns which would only grow when she would reach her full size. Browridges, while considerably less bulky, were only slightly smaller than twoclaws, and thus if not controlled could prove to be a danger for even the biggest flatteeth. She absolutely had to be kept under firm control.

As the swimming sharpteeth started to come in, he thought about the broader ramifications. If he was able to successfully mentor Lola into becoming a friendly sharptooth that could coexist and even befriend flatteeth, he realized he could probably coach any sharptooth who didn't want to have to kill for a living to learn to live together in harmony with flatteeth for a more peaceful existence, bringing the promise of the Great Valley to all dinosaurs, no matter their natural diet. The thought warmed his heart. Sure, they would probably be thought of as freaks and weirdos by other sharpteeth. Probably like some crazy cult to be defying the laws of nature so brazenly. But he would be at least giving his fellow sharpteeth another option, to no longer feel like they had to kill leafeaters to survive.

Then there were also the practical benefits. As good as the Great Valley's physical defenses were, they were nonetheless far from foolproof. Even with the strong leadership of the Longnecks, many sharpteeth, his parents and Red Claw included, had managed to break into it, to say nothing about the frequent eggstealer raids and fast biter attacks. Not to mention both Leigh and Goregie had managed to thoroughly outwit the Valley's defenses, bringing them to the situation they now found themselves in. While he didn't take pride in it, the fact of the matter remained that sharpteeth had better senses than flatteeth and even halfteeth did. He was only one sharptooth, so there was only so much he could do alone. But while his parents and Dil were aging and greatly limited in their mobility and sight respectively, he, Deya, Nyko, Chuss, and hopefully Lola would make up a crew of five friendly sharpteeth who could use their predatory senses to help keep their Valley safe. With their superior hearing, a team of five friendly sharpteeth would have been that much more likely to uncover Leigh's plotting with the segregated herds before his plans could even get off the ground. And they would likewise make a formidable border guard, one that could not only help warn the Valley of faraway threats and readily summon a contingent of Valleydwellers for battle, but one that could also defeat enemies themselves with their powerful claws and jaws. A guard which could prevent Goregie from ever finding the opportunity she so badly craved … And if they had more sharpteeth on their side, so much the better …

But then the perils of such an ambitious plan hit him. There could be absolutely no mistakes. Any sharptooth who joined him had to be completely loyal and trustworthy. One betrayal of the Valley's trust, one change of heart, one bribe from Goregie could lead to the downfall of this whole crazy experiment. And not only that, but all the progress that had been made towards improving relationships between friendly sharpteeth and flatteeth could be ruined. The Valley's traditionalists would be emboldened, start declaring that there could be no such thing as a friendly sharptooth, and would be able to garner enough public support to potentially exile or even kill his parents, his pack, or even himself and his friends for spreading such dangerous ideas. Leigh or someone like him would seize on the chaos and proclaim that diversity was inherently dangerous, potentially even using it to exemplify the dangers of friendships between different kinds of flatteeth. And everything would be worse than if he had never gone through this highly audacious scheme.

Chomper shook his head. He couldn't go recruiting whole groups the way Ruby found the new runners or the flatteeth found the teens. Any sharptooth in his care had to be fully in accord with his vision. He had to maintain his pack alpha status, or else risk his entire pack becoming corrupted by the will of a new alpha. This meant he had to ensure he remained the biggest sharptooth present so none of the others would even think about overthrowing him. Conversely, his pack had to be small enough in numbers so that he could personally build a firm relationship with every one of them. He needed to ensure that they all would remain loyal to him as a friend and mentor, not just for being their more powerful alpha. And just like his friends with the teens, he needed to take an active role in orchestrating their growth and development. He had to mentor each new member to completely resist their instincts and truly believe that flatteeth were friends, not food, as well as to help them transition from lone hunter to team player.

But he knew he couldn't really succeed in teaching them flatteeth were friends without integrating them into flattooth society. He thought about all the progress that the biters had made. They were not only interacting with him and his parents, but also with their flattooth and halftooth herdmates, especially with Tricia's gang of similarly aged, similarly perky youngsters. It was essential that any sharptooth he helped develop would build up their own relationships with flatteeth, or else their loyalty would be only directed at him or the pack and not the whole herd. Even his parents needed a lot of work in this regard, for they had only just begun to speak a little flattooth. None of this would be easy, if even possible. But if it all worked out, he could create a pathway for any sharptooth of good heart and motivation the chance to become a part of their Great Valley family themselves, while at the same time dramatically bolstering the Great Valley's defenses from any potential enemies. If he succeeded, it would truly be a win-win situation …

Still, as he finished his hunt and looked back to the shoreline, he had to acknowledge what mattered most. Above all, he had to make sure that he didn't get so drawn into dealing with sharpteeth that he would forget who he really was, a part of a committed, lifelong group of friends who always did everything together and clung to each other with their steadfast loyalty and love. He could never let himself slip one inch from being the gang's eager, funny-toothed friend. He would always stand by their side, and if that meant he would have to give up on this whole project, so be it. Still, he felt he had a real chance of being able to do both. He would be spending most of his time with his friends and his herd of course, for what's where his heart really belonged. But for those times he would spend mentoring Lola and perhaps other trainees, he wished there was something he could do to ensure he would never lose himself … And then just like that, it came to him.

"Hey Littlefoot?" Chomper asked as he loaded the last swimming sharptooth onto Shorty's back. "Before we go back, can you do something for me?"

"Yeah, of course," Littlefoot smiled. "What is it?"

Chomper took in a deep breath, before sighing. "Look guys … It's not like I wanted a sharptooth pack. I found the little biters by accident. And I didn't mean to recruit Lola, I just didn't want to see her drown in the tarpits."

"We know what you mean Chomper," Littlefoot chuckled. "We didn't go out and recruit the teens either. They just sort of fell into our paws."

"Thanks to Goregie being stupid enough to try to mess with us," Cera snorted.

"Yeah, but if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't be alive now," Chomper chuckled. "And I was just thinking … What if I try doing the same?"

"You mean," Petrie gasped apprehensively. "Train a whole team of friendly sharpteeth?"

"I know, it sounds crazy," Chomper said sheepishly. "But look at the biters! They've proven themselves to be just as friendly as I am. I'm gonna be really careful. It might just be Lola, and I'm not even sure I really trust her yet. If she's just trying to trick me, I'm prepared to break her neck if I have to. But I want to at least give her a chance. And if I find a few more sharpteeth I think can be nice, I'd like to see if I can work on them. Besides, think of the possibilities! We can really use some more friendly sharpteeth to help protect us, for we've got better senses than you guys, no offense," Chomper chuckled. "If it doesn't work out, that's fine, because you guys are my true friends, and nothing's gonna change that. But I'd like to at least try my claw at bringing some friendly sharpteeth to our side."

"What are you planning to do with her, or them?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I'm still gonna spend most of my time with you guys," Chomper explained. "I'm only thinking about checking in with Lola around dinnertime, to feed her, talk with her a little, and start teaching her to resist her instincts. Maybe I can teach her a little leafeater too, if I can manage it. Then I'll go back to the crater and spend the rest of the day with you guys."

Sighing, Chomper continued, "But I wanna make sure that no matter what else happens, I'll always be the same friendly sharptooth inside."

"But Chomper!" cried out Ducky. "We already know you will always be the same you inside!"

"You've been doubted so many times it's a wonder you haven't snapped yet," Cera smirked.

"Of course it wonder for you, since you snap at anything," Petrie wheedled.

"Watch it," Cera warned as everyone laughed.

"I know," Chomper smiled bravely. "And your words really help a lot, they really do. But I need a different kind of assurance. Something I can carry with me no matter where I go or who I see."

Chomper looked at Littlefoot expectantly as he stared back, puzzled, before he finally realized. "Wait a minute … Do you mean … A blood oath?"

"Yep, I knew you'd figure it out!" Chomper said brightly, jumping up and down before running over to nuzzle Littlefoot. "Think about it! If your blood's in my veins, I'll always have a bit of you inside, wherever I go! You'll always be a part of me, and since I'd be making blood oaths with my sharpteeth, they too will have your blood inside!"

"Me think it all sound too bloody," Petrie chuckled.

"Tell me about it," Cera rolled her eyes. "If you wanted longneck blood, you should've gone for that Gus. You could've just ripped out a spike of him."

"Good one Cera!" Shorty roared with laughter as he slapped paws with her.

"No, really," Chomper said, trying to fight back laughs. "I meant what I said, Littlefoot's always kinda felt like a big brother to me. He was always on my team in the pointy seed game … And even before that. He was the first one I ever saw, the first one I ever licked …"

"Not the first one you ever bit," Cera muttered with a smirk.

"Well he never deserved it," Chomper grinned evilly.

"Hey, I never did anything to you when you did that!" Cera pointed out.

"That was for everything you did to Littlefoot before I was born," Chomper retorted to many snickers, before continuing. "Don't you see? You hatched me into your world! The reason why I'm a friendly sharptooth! And if anything will keep me protected from any darkness, it will be your blood running through my veins! So you will always be a part of me … And I can proudly say to any sharptooth who doesn't believe me that we are like brothers in blood!"

"So what does that make me?" Shorty snorted. "I'm already Littlefoot's brother, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Chomper chuckled. "Haven't thought about that. I guess that makes you my big-big brother."

They all laughed before Littlefoot gladly extended his fleshy paw pad. "Okay Chomper, go ahead," Littlefoot smiled.

So very gently, Chomper pricked a hole in Littlefoot's skin and gently pressed a finger claw inside, with Littlefoot doing his absolute best not to flinch. Then Chomper reached out, his finger claw coated with Littlefoot's blood, before clawing into his own skin and putting Littlefoot's blood in his.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?" Chomper asked Littlefoot worriedly.

"Only a little," Littlefoot smiled honestly. "But nothing that a prickly plant can't fix. My tail hurts way worse. You?"

"Same here," said Chomper thoughtfully. "But I'm surprised. I thought I'd feel different inside. But I feel just like I always do."

"Well, maybe that's because we've always been like brothers at heart," Littlefoot smiled, before the two of them embraced, Chomper closing his clawed hands into knuckles as Littlefoot reached to wrap a big paw around Chomper with a tight squeeze.

"Thanks Littlefoot," Chomper beamed at him. "I really needed that." He smiled brightly before saying, "Well, I've got a pack to feed."

"Say Chomper," Littlefoot smiled at him. "You don't have to do this alone. Why don't we get to know Lola with you?"

"What?" Chomper asked, surprised. "But didn't I tell you? She can't speak any flattooth, and I have no clue know how long it will take to teach her."

"No, no," Littlefoot said, eyeing his friends, who by their expressions knew just what he was thinking. "I was thinking … If you and the biters can learn how to speak flattooth … Why can't we learn how to speak sharptooth?"

"Yeah! It's not like you sharpteeth are any smarter than we are," Cera said determinedly. "Besides, I can't wait to tell Goregie to shove it in sharptooth!"

"I would like to speak sharptooth too!" Ducky exclaimed. "I cannot wait to meet your new sharptooth friend! And even if Spike does not want to speak, it would help him to know what sharpteeth are saying, it will!"

"Me able to spy on sharpteeth from on high," Petrie added. "And hear them talk when they make plan to attack!"

"If you want to teach her to live like us, it would make sense to teach us to speak like her," Ruby explained.

"We could help you with bartering," Ali suggested. "So you don't have to be the only one negotiating with sharpteeth."

"Or just tell them to buzz off," Shorty chortled, before adding, "Hey guys, remember the threehorns are yummy trick? Imagine what Hiss Head would think if we're able to spit whole phrases of sharptooth at him!"

As everyone laughed and looked at Chomper excitedly, he pondered. Teaching his friends how to speak sharptooth would be another major undertaking, especially with so many other responsibilities being placed on him. He knew all of his friends were highly intelligent and certainly had the determination needed to pull off the task. But the sharptooth language was very precise, with a more limited range of sounds and a heavier emphasis on intonation. He wasn't sure if it was even possible for any flattooth, or even Ruby, to be able to accurately speak his kind's tongue.

But he knew they were right. If the goal of this whole project was to help more sharpteeth become friends with flatteeth, what better way would there be than to have flatteeth who knew how to speak sharptooth? It would first show any pupils he might have that flatteeth were intelligent beings to be respected, not mere brutes to be consumed. It would also show them that his friends respected sharpteeth enough to learn their language, breaking down the mistrust they would naturally feel towards dinosaurs from races who had tried to kill them. Them being able to learn sharptooth would go a long ways in convincing any student of his that flatteeth were sapient beings who could be befriended, and much more powerful than any words he might say on the subject.

Then there was the matter of how it might really benefit his friends to learn the sharptooth tongue. It wouldn't have made much of a difference when they were kids, for a hungry sharptooth would just laugh them off and proceed to hunt them anyway. But now that all of them, the fourfooters and Ducky especially, had acquired grown-up bodies, and his fellow herd leaders now had the ability to command an entire herd, they could now wield a credible display of power that would incentivize a sharptooth to negotiate. No sharptooth in their right mind would choose to attack them when they could barter a free meal instead … And perhaps they could even help talk some of Goregie's troops into surrender, rather than have to defeat her entire horde …

"All right," said Chomper thoughtfully. "But it'll have to be just between you guys. I don't even know if I can teach you, let alone the whole herd. Our language is very fussy. Say a word wrong and the whole meaning could be wrong. I'm gonna have to watch each of you very closely to make sure you learn right. But … If you really want to, I'll do it." Turning to Ali and Shorty too, he smiled. "And that goes for you two too. You guys really deserve to learn it. It might even help you find your friends, Shorty." Chomper sighed as he pondered. "We should probably practice small chunks at a time. I'll get my parents and the biters to help out. Who knows, maybe you can help my parents finally learn flattooth too," he chuckled.

"Well Chomper, we're all more than ready to learn," Littlefoot smiled reassuringly. "Just do your best, and we'll see how it goes from there."

"Right," said Chomper appreciatively, feeling a great deal of the pressure taken off him. Just like the prospect of resocializing sharpteeth, the mere idea of teaching his friends his language seemed impossible, or else he would have made an effort at it long ago. But then again, breaking him out of that prison seemed just as impossible at times. If there was anything he knew about his friends and life in the herd, it was a can-do attitude to reach for the tree stars and never give up. And while the tasks before him were particularly ambitious, there was no reason for them not to give it their best shot.

It wasn't long before nightfall came. Chomper had been sitting, thinking over the dinner he just had with his parents and the little biters. Just as he expected, Deya, Nyko and Chuss were all bursting with questions about their potential new packmate and asking when they could first meet her, with Chomper having to remind them several times to be careful around her, especially given their tiny bodies, and that he wasn't sure if they could fully trust her yet. Mama and Papa Sharptooth were pleased upon hearing Chomper go into more detail about her. They thought that her sexual orientation and lack of a desire to hunt were convincing reasons to explain why she had been kicked out, but they were most intrigued when Chomper mentioned that she was a white-eye, just like him and his biters.

"Chomper, this is actually a really good sign," explained Papa Sharptooth.

"Why?" Chomper asked.

"Sharpteeth are born with white sclera and colored irises, just like flatteeth," explained Mama Sharptooth. "They only get colored sclera and black irises like us when they have achieved a certain level of prowess in hunting flatteeth in their lifetime. Your father and I lost ours at around ten or so, back when we used to eat other dinosaurs. If Lola still has white sclera at her age, it shows that she either has a lack of hunting ability or a preference to not hunt flatteeth."

"If it was simply hereditary, you would have been born with red sclera like us," smirked Papa Sharptooth. "Who knows if Littlefoot would've raised you then."

"Gee, thanks Dad," Chomper snorted.

Chomper thought about this. He asked his friends to try to remember the eye colorings of the various sharpteeth they had encountered. While they had faced sharpteeth with many different eye colors, there were some clear differences. The white-eyed sharpteeth, while just as aggressive, tended to be less competent hunters, bumbling far more often, with various incidents including getting themselves stuck, self-inflicted falls, slow bite times, getting knocked out with a ground sparkle ball, tripping, allowing flatteeth to sleep by them, forgetting to use their sniffers, or getting scared off by the falling Bright Circle. While they never met a blue-eyed sharptooth like Goregie, the red-eyed sharpteeth in contrast tended to be the most dangerous, including the sharptooth that killed Littlefoot's mother, the plated sharptooth that wounded his parents, the Meanest Sharptooth from the Lone Dinosaur legend, plus the one red, one yellow-eyed Red Claw. He knew his parents were skilled hunters before their injuries, they had even killed a fully-grown longneck the day before Littlefoot and his friends arrived on that island. And Dil could have easily been much more ferocious had she not lost her vision. She certainly was determined enough considering how far she tracked his friends. If all the white-eyes and red-eyes had fought, the red-eyes would definitely come out on top. If this theory held, it would mean that at worst, Lola was a relatively unskilled hunter, and at best, a sharptooth who preferred not to hunt flatteeth. And intelligence was certinly not an issue with her …

"Hey Chomper?" came a soft voice, and turning, Chomper looked down to see that Ruby had plopped down, sitting by his side. At once, he could feel his blood pressure begin to ease, though at the same time he felt his face begin to fluster a little. "You're doing all right?"

Chomper sighed. "Yeah … I'm just thinking about all this … I want to succeed … But I don't know if I can pull this off. I'm afraid all of this will go horribly wrong."

Ruby smiled knowingly. "Chomper," she beamed at him. "I'm actually really proud of you right now."

"Huh?" Chomper asked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I remember that day you just left the Great Valley to try to convince that sharptooth boy to be nice," she chuckled.

"Ugh," groaned Chomper. "You don't have to remind me, Cera already gave me an earful!"

Ruby laughed knowingly. "No Chomper … I actually really admire you for that. Sure, you didn't really think it through, at all actually. But your heart was in the right place, and a good heart is rarer than a good mind. But now … You've gained maturity with growing mature, while still having that same heart inside. You're thinking everything through, which will help allow the impossible to become possible! And while you're still following your heart, your head is now prepared to come to the rescue if something goes wrong." Chuckling, Ruby explained, "And now that your head's taking care of you, you don't need me taking care of you. So I can hardly call myself your caretaker anymore."

"Yeah," Chomper sighed, unable to conceal a little bit of melancholy. "It's kinda funny, but … I still miss when you were my caretaker," Chomper smiled. "I remember when you were big and I was little, when you were the one who would protect me from Red Claw and help me get to the Valley. And now … I don't know," Chomper sputtered. "You're more to me than a friend. Don't get me wrong, I love Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike. But you're … Even closer to me than they are. You're the one who's always taken care of me ever since we met, and I don't want to lose that. You're not my mom, I have a mom, and you're way too young for that. And you don't really feel like a sister the way Littlefoot feels like a brother. I rely on you too much for that. We're kind of like Littlefoot and Cera and Ducky and Petrie, but … Technically, you're a grownup, and I'm still a kid … Not to mention I don't know if I want to be close like that."

Ruby giggled. "You know what Chomper? I feel the same way. The two of us have our own ways that only we are connected. We're the only ones of the gang who are not flatteeth, the only ones who've been mistrusted by Valleydwellers, and even gone on our own adventures together. I agree, we're both part of the gang, but at the same time, we're closer to each other than we are to any of the others, maybe except you and Littlefoot, but I'm not sure we're like our friends in that way … Our relationship has changed so much as we've gotten older and you've gotten bigger. But I've got an idea … How about between you and me, we can call each other partners? That way, no matter what transpires between us when we get older, you and I will always have a special term of commitment that we will always have for only each other? If we want to become a couple like our friends someday, that's great, but if not, that's great too, for we will still be committed partners to the end, always looking out for each other."

Chomper grinned. "Thank Ruby … It's just perfect. I really needed that, with so much that's going on right now … I need to have a firm sense of myself, and this really does that," he beamed at her. "Hey Ruby … I don't know if you would mind, but can we do a blood oath as well?"

"Of course," Ruby smiled. "But why don't we make a physical promise of our own first?"

"Great idea Ruby," Chomper said, pondering. "I'll lower my claw for you to wrap your finger around, and then we'll shake on it."

Ruby nodded happily, and grinning at each other, Chomper bent down so he was face to face with Ruby, holding his claw out. "Partners?"

Ruby took his claw and smiled back, "Partners."

Then Chomper moved to nuzzle her cheek as she grabbed his head, before they both reached to gently prick the others' skin and place each other's blood in their own veins.

"I guess I've got Littlefoot's blood now too," Ruby smirked to Chomper.

Chomper giggled. "Don't tell Cera, or she'll get jealous!"

"You're right," Ruby snickered. "We don't want her to horn Littlefoot to get some. But if Littlefoot's your brother, that'll make Cera your sister-in-law, so she can get it from you instead."

"I'd probably feel sick if I had threehorn blood inside," groaned Chomper as they both giggled.

Then they felt the ground shake slightly, and turning around, they saw the form of a young longneck approaching them. But through the dark lighting, they could tell that it seemed to hold its tail up just fine, so it couldn't be Littlefoot …

"Hey Chomper," Ali asked. "Would you mind taking me out for a bit? Just I … I need a little bit of quiet, and you can keep me safe from sharpteeth. I won't need long, just …"

"It's all right Ali," Chomper interrupted brightly. "Sure, I'd be happy to do it."

"Okay," Ali smiled. "Sorry about interrupting you two, I should've waited …"

"We were about done anyway," Ruby soothed, before the three of them strayed from the rest of the herd until even the biggest longnecks were mostly out of sight. Once they got into seclusion, Ali sat down, curling her legs under her belly before explaining, "I just need to meditate a little bit."

So Chomper and Ruby obliged, trying not to stare at her as Ali reached her long neck high into the sky. They soon found her behavior hard to ignore however, for tears soon began to fall from her eyes, landing on the barren ground like big drops of sky water. Ruby instinctively put on Ali's hand to brace it, but Chomper, unable to perform such a covert display of support with his big sharptooth body, felt unable to help. He wanted to respect Ali's privacy, knowing it was likely the reason why she wanted to come out alone, but he soon found himself unable to help expressing his concern.

"Hey Ali, what's wrong?" Chomper asked gently.

"Huh?" Ali asked, before realizing that she had been crying. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to be that obvious. It's just … Well, I still miss him."

Sighing, Ali explained, "I love being here with you guys, don't get me wrong. But I can't help but think what it would be like if Rhett was still here with us. I know he was kind of a jerk to you guys at first … But he was a really good guy at heart. If he hadn't been killed, he would've certainly been at our side, just like he was when we all played together back then. And …" she sighed, before saying, "He was my first true love. Sure Littlefoot was kinda cute, but part of my fascination with him was he was literally the first one I ever met my age. Certainly the only one who ever wanted to be my friend. Well, I guess … There was that other longneck, but I didn't even see her. Besides, he was always way closer with the others than he was with me. I mean I could tell just how much he'd rather stay in the Valley than migrate with us. But Rhett and I … We were different. It was always only the two of us in our herd, and we literally shared everything with each other. Even though he was a lot more immature than I was … I knew he always really cared for me, and so much of his bragging was just him trying to impress me. He was just starting to grow out of it all … We were just about to start going out."

Ali paused, before saying, "But now … It's like I'm going through it all over with Shorty again. He's so much like Rhett it scares me sometimes. Insecure and acts without thinking, always gets mad … But really sweet too, and really just wants to show he cares. I know he likes me. Just like Rhett, he's not very good at hiding his feelings. And now that we're not in that jail cell anymore … We can be together. It's just …"

She sighed, before continuing, "What if I'm bad luck? I mean Rhett died, so did my dad! What if I'm just not meant to be happy? What if by falling in love with Shorty, I'll put him in danger? And then … Do I really love Shorty, or do I just think I love him because he's so much like Rhett? I don't want to break his heart because I'll find out later I don't really love him … Sorry I'm getting mushy."

Ali's head had slowly slumped to the ground as she talked, prompting Ruby to pull out a feather from her arm, and begin trying to dry Ruby's eyes. "Well, you will never know until you get to know him better," Ruby soothed. "He really does seem happier in your company, and so try hanging out with him some more."

"Hey, you can help me and Shorty find his old herd!" Chomper pointed out. "You can spend time with Shorty while not feeling awkward about it?"

"Well …" Ali stuttered, but Ruby interrupted. "You know all about migrating longneck herds from living in one. Yeah Shorty did too, but you lived in a smaller group, so you'd probably have a better idea of helping him. And you'd be better at asking them for help. Who knows what Shorty might say if it was up to him."

"Yeah, it's not like I can do it," Chomper grinned. "They'd probably just think I was trying to eat them."

They couldn't help but all laugh with this, but Ali trailed off, for a new sight caught her vision. "Sharptooth!"

Whirling around, Ruby and Chomper saw that indeed, a sharptooth was approaching them. But upon a closer inspection, Chomper was relieved. This wasn't just any old sharptooth …

"Hey guys," Chomper whispered. "It's Lola!"

Ruby and Ali gasped as they stared at the teenage turquoise sharptooth, who had just stopped in her tracks upon realizing that she was being observed. But Chomper couldn't help himself. He was just getting too excited.

"Come here Lola," Chomper instructed in sharptooth. "I'd like you to meet my friends."

Lola stared in disbelief at the gigantic longneck and the small runner sitting happily by Chomper's side. Then slowly, she approached them, still looking as if she wasn't sure she was supposed to be there. Oddly quiet and shy around the two of them, she parked a good spiketail's distance away. Chomper then went to sniff her to ensure she had no scent of other sharpteeth, and satisfied, he began introducing them.

"This is Ruby, who I already told you about," Chomper said in sharptooth, nodding to her, who got the message as she waved to the young sharptooth. "Remember, she may be little, but she's like your pack alpha when I'm not around. So be sure to give her plenty of respect."

Lola nodded in understanding, before taking a knee, placing a claw on her heart, and lowering her head respectfully. Ruby stared, awed at the respect this bigger sharptooth was visibly giving her. But she was even more impressed with the way that Chomper was effortlessly communicating with his new trainee. Chomper really was right about his dual identity, for when he spoke sharptooth, he sounded like a totally different dinosaur.

"You can say something to her," Chomper smiled. "She won't understand what you're saying, but she'll get to know the sound of your voice."

Ruby stared as Lola looked at her with her shockingly white sclera, before the sharptooth issued a few quiet growls. While still talking though, her growls slipped into a honeyed purr for a moment, and a second later, she began making a hacking sound.

"What's she saying?" Ruby asked Chomper, surprised.

Chomper shook his head. "I told you she likes girls, right? She was hitting on you."

"Oh," Ruby said quietly, unable to conceal a chuckle, before Ruby nervously waved back. "Uh, hi … I'm Chomper's friend, Chomper's friend I am. I hope we too can be friends."

Chomper translated back to Lola, who nodded. "Sorry about that," she chuckled sheepishly. "It's just … Yeah, she's very pretty." Then she turned to face Ali. "This is your longneck friend?"

"One of them, yes," Chomper explained. "Her name's Ali. She's my longneck brother's cousin."

"Right," Lola said, sounding a little confused, but going along with it all the same. "She smells … Really good …"

And Chomper noticed a little drool on Lola's lips as she began to growl slightly. Hurriedly, Chomper stepped in to intervene. "Lola, stop! They're friends, not food!"

"Wha? Oh … No no no. Darn I already messed up. Go and kill me," Lola sighed.

"It's okay," Chomper sighed. "Everyone makes mistakes, and you were able to stop yourself."

"Yeah," sighed Lola. "I'm not ready for this."

"Don't give up yet," Chomper told her as he thought quickly, determined to end this first training session on a positive note. Casting his sniffer around, he could tell no other sharpteeth were present. At least if Lola lost control, no other sharpteeth would be able to back her up. And if the worst happened, Ali was big enough to dispatch the teenage browridge if it came to it.

"Stay right there," Chomper ordered. "I'm gonna give you more food. That will help control your instincts. Just stay put."

"Yes, Alpha," Lola promised, sounding disheartened as she stared at the ground in shame.

Then Chomper turned to Ali and Ruby. "Ruby, ride on Ali to make sure you're out of her reach. Ali, if she tries attacking, stomp or make a whip crack to snap her out of it. If she bites you, use your whiptail. I'll understand if you have to kill her, just make sure you're safe."

"Okay," Ali told Chomper understandingly as Ruby climbed up Ali's tail and sat comfortably upon her back.

So hurriedly, Chomper ran to the sleeping herd to rip off a good chunk of belly dragger meat. Upon turning back, he was half afraid that Lola might rise and attack. Fortunately, she appeared to take his direct order to heart, for she resolutely remained fixed in her position, taking a knee and staring at the ground. Relieved as he arrived, Chomper instructed, "Good job Lola. You can eat."

"Thank you Alpha," Lola said respectfully, before she started wolfing down the belly dragger meat. "Sorry about that," she muttered through a mouthful.

"It's all right," Chomper said sagely. "I almost bit a longneck's neck when I was half-starved. Just make sure to tell me when you need to eat, and I'll be there to feed you."

Lola nodded gratefully and returned to her eating before Chomper turned to face Ali and Ruby.

"She didn't try attacking us," Ruby said appreciatively. "Telling her to remain still must have really worked."

"Yeah," Chomper sighed. "I hate having to give orders … But if that's the only way she'll listen, I've gotta do what I've gotta do."

"Maybe she'll break out of it, just like the biters," Ali suggested. "They've loosened up a lot since we first met them."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Chomper appreciatively as they watched Lola finish her meal.

Smiling at Chomper when she finished, Lola said, "Thank you Alpha. I feel much better now. Can we sit together a little more so I can learn the smells of your friends?"

"Sure," Chomper said brightly, knowing that smell was a major way in which sharpteeth learned about the world around them.

So the four of them sat as Lola keenly sniffed, loudly muttering, "Pack … Pack … Pack … Not food … Pack."

Chomper then turned to Ruby and Ali. "She's trying, but this is gonna be hard. We better make sure no one gets too close to her until she makes further progress in her training."

"Hey Chomper," Ruby pointed out. "I have an idea. You know those tree sweets from the Hidden Canyon we're carrying around?"

Chomper shuddered. "Don't ask her to put those things on her sniffer. That's torture for us sharpteeth!"

"No, that's not what I was thinking," Ruby suggested. "You know how Light has that treestar pendant around his neck? Well I was thinking we should make some with rotting tree sweets. We runners can wear them when guarding the crater with her, and anyone who's meeting her can wear one as well. At least until she gets better control of her instincts. That way, we won't smell so good and she will be able to smell us safely."

"Good thinking, Ruby," Chomper said, amazed as always with his partner's ingenuity, before proposing the idea to Lola to see if it was okay with her. She nodded, seeming relieved with this additional safeguard. Then they said goodbye to Lola and headed back to the herd for the night. Their first session could've gone a lot worse, but lots of improvement still had to be made if Chomper wanted this crazy idea to work. But at least now, they had taken their first steps to getting there, and that had to count for something.


Deep in the dark, the mystical being was on his knees, murmuring all sorts of phrases, making sure that nobody else could see him …

"What are you doing?"

He whirled around to be face to face with his fellow overseer, her hands angrily on her hips.

"I uh … Well I, uh …"

"You've been helping them, that's what."

The male uneasily looked at his steady companion.

"Haven't I told you?" she growled. "We're not supposed to help them, or else they won't learn to figure it out for themselves!"

"Hold on, I am not telling them anything!" he retorted back. "And I am not taking care of them. I am merely enhancing their educational experience so they can see the results for themselves. You do want them to learn, am I right? Besides," he said accusingly. "You lied to them. You told them there would be no one else at the crater."

"Nuh-uh, I said there would be no one settled there," she replied. "I wouldn't call a bunch of rogues settled."

"You are incredible," he told her incredulously. "You said that to be deliberately misleading. I should have listened to my gut and told them the truth."

"So what if I did? And we can't give them all the answers. They've got to figure things out for themselves and have some unexpected surprises."

The two rainbow faces looked at each other with daggers for a moment, before Neo replied, "Well, I'd say we're even. I gave them a little boost, you gave them a little challenge. That sounds fair, doesn't it?"

"I suppose," Megte replied. "But from now on, no more helping without my agreement. They're not children anymore, and perfectly capable of taking care of themselves."

"I know that," Neo agreed. "And I agree, as much as we want them to succeed, we cannot keep on interfering." Smirking, he explained, "We might as well disappear now before any of these rogues find us."

"Right," Megte agreed, before holding hands, the two rainbow faces disappeared in a pillar of light.

Lola is an Allosaurus (Lola being a play on Allo). So smaller than Chomper, but she'll still grow up to be a big sharptooth, about Goregie's size, though she's a lot smaller now. I thought having the classic Jurassic apex predator as Chomper's first student would make a great counterpart to Chomper being a T. Rex. Hopefully he will be able to help mentor her … If she stays out of trouble!