Hi, at last I'm back! Kind of a shorter chapter today since I felt a lot of this material would do best in its own chapter and I've still got a lot of other things to still include in this day, so I've decided to do another chapter split. Plus I felt like finally getting something out there, I've been keeping you waiting too long. Thanks RadiantLife2 for the reviews and Zee Docking and Ryan6783 for helping me with the story, you're awesome! The Land Before Time belongs to Universal, and I hope the next wait will be a lot shorter than this one!

Chapter 43 - The Friendly Pack

With his faithful sniffer leading the way to the nearest body of big water, Chomper's mind was free to ponder about the new company he found himself in. If someone had told him back then that singing in sharptooth would result in him going on a water hunt with three biter kids he had once saved, a longneck raised by a and fully fluent in sharptooth, a browridge trying to master control of her instincts, and now a prospective new packmate, he would've thought they'd been on a few too many spiked tree stars. Yet here he was in this very situation, with Shorty being the only familiar face accompanying him among this otherwise novel cast of characters.

He was also acutely aware of the incredible risk that he was taking on. While neither his injured parents nor the little biters would have the capacity or a recent history of hunting leafeaters, Lola and the new sharptooth certainly did. Though Lola seemed to only have the best of intentions, even one instant of wayward prey drive could lead to her killing a few hatchlings in as many seconds flat. Mentoring her to have full instinct control and become skilled enough in the flattooth language to where she could interact with everyone was going to be enough of a challenge. Little did he know when taking her on, however, that he had already attracted the interest of another young sharptooth on their travels. And while very excited, Chomper also knew that this resulted in not only twice the responsibility but twice the potential danger.

Yet all the same, perhaps the greatest danger of training two mentees seemed to have been remarkably averted. Since first contemplating the idea of a friendly sharptooth pack, he knew that there was a serious danger of the sharpteeth bonding with one another while not bonding with the leafeaters. If they only abstained from leafeater meat because of his orders rather than their own convictions, they could easily grow resentful of his strict rules and collectively revolt against both his authority and the leafeater herd. But to his surprise and even relief, neither Lola nor the new sharptooth seemed to be particularly interested in one another.

Instead, Lola had been in near constant conversation with her new longneck friend. Though they had just met, she and Star were telling stories, cracking jokes, and getting along like long-lost sisters. He couldn't believe his luck with Star entering the picture. Not only was she living proof that flatteeth were equals that could even speak their language, but she had the potential to really facilitate Lola's development. Being raised by a big sharptooth herself, she would be well-accustomed to Lola's predatory tendencies, able to coach her on both appearing friendly and resisting her instincts while also providing extra opportunity to practice the leafeater language and being her very own flattooth friend. The process of integrating Lola with the rest of the herd, while still challenging, looked a lot less daunting now, a much-needed relief considering that he now might have a second student to contend with.

As he watched the two of them, he could immediately tell just how different their personalities were. In contrast to Lola's boisterous, outgoing nature, the new sharptooth seemed deep in thought as he took each step with cautious deliberation, his sniffer seeming to always be on the lookout for potential danger as he scanned his surroundings. He seemed content to just observe his new company silently as he hung back, though Chomper noticed he cast an apprehensive look at Lola from time to time. Of course, considering that Lola was much bigger and had just ambushed and dragged him in by the neck, this was more than understandable.

The two seemed like polar opposites, kind of like how Littlefoot and Cera seemed at times. Yet Littlefoot and Cera also had plenty in common for them to bond over, while all these two seemed to have was that they were young white-eyes who liked the idea of his pack, albeit for very different reasons. Perhaps the two of them might develop a friendship with time. But for now, he was grateful for their relative indifference, for it made it easier to help integrate them with the entire herd rather than just bonding with one another.

In contrast to their lack of interest in one another, the little biters eyed both new sharpteeth with great excitement. Riding atop Shorty's head, they could admire the forms of their two new packmates in a way they couldn't from the ground, where all they could see without craning their heads up were their clawed feet and lower legs. While they loved being with Chomper, his parents, their friends their age, and the rest of the herd, having two new young sharpteeth and a longneck who could speak their language made it feel a lot more like a real sharptooth pack. From their past experiences, they were naturally wary of other sharpteeth. But Lola's perky, cheerful nature and clear loyalty to Star made it clear that she was a friendly sharptooth just like they were, and while the new sharptooth was harder to read, he didn't seem to have any malice or ill intent either. And of course, they were looking forward to the actual hunt. Having only eaten very small game while in hiding, they were eager to absorb anything Chomper would be teaching them, for they wanted to be able to water hunt in the event he couldn't be there for them.

"So Shorty," Chomper chuckled. "You mind carrying the swimming sharpteeth back?"

"You've gotta make sure they're dead first," Shorty snorted. "Otherwise, they might try to kill me."

"But you can carry them, right?" Chomper teased.

Shorty smirked. "Oh yeah. So long as you don't take out so many that you'll make the big water red."

"Don't worry, my folks warned me to never drain the big water of feeders," Chomper reassured as they both laughed.

Through this playful exchange, Chomper noticed that the new sharptooth was also eyeing Shorty with trepidation and seemed very jumpy whenever Shorty stepped too close. Chomper couldn't blame him here either, for Shorty's bulk could easily kill a smaller sharptooth like him with one stomp or tail whap. From on top of Shorty's head, Deya, Nyko, and Chuss could observe the new sharptooth's wary behavior and decided to try and ease his anxiety.

"Hey Shorty?" Nyko whispered as the new sharptooth took a furtive glance at Shorty's leg. "You might wanna rook out for the new guy, he seems kind of scared of your weight."

"Oh, right," Shorty chuckled, unable to help letting out a laugh. It wasn't that long ago when horned sharpteeth were a major threat. Now he was the one who had to worry about squishing them.

The horned sharptooth, however, while not able to understand leafeater, still seemed to have a sense of the conversation as he politely but coldly whispered, "Please don't talk about me behind my back."

"Sorry," Nyko said sheepishly, feeling a rush of awkwardness. "I didn't mean anything ..."

"It's all right," the new sharptooth interrupted briskly yet calmly. "Just don't do it again."

"Okay," Nyko said, surprised but thankful for the quick forgiveness.

"But Nyko didn't mean any harm," Chuss stood up for his brother.

"He just told Shorty to be careful, since he doesn't really know that he can be dangerous," Deya explained.

"Oh," said the new sharptooth, seeming surprised but pleased that it wasn't mocking gossip. "All right then."

And the new sharptooth truly seemed to let it go as not a sign of fury flickered on his face. He even looked to be faintly enjoying his new company. Chomper smiled. While reserved and stoic, he did seem to have a good heart. Still, Chomper also felt a bit curious. Even for a sharptooth, he seemed to have exceptional hearing to pick up on Nyko's whisper from all the way atop Shorty's head. He could only barely hear himself despite his head being a lot higher off the ground. And already, it seemed not to be the only time in which he demonstrated exceptional senses …

"So how were you able to find us?" Chomper asked warmly. "We went through a smelly swamp and put on stinkweed to mask our scent, yet you were still able to follow us. And Lola was tailing the rest of us too. How did you manage to follow us without her noticing?"

Though his tone was light, Chomper knew he had to be careful. As much as he wanted to like the new sharptooth, Lola did catch him spying on them, and with Goregie having already sent a group of spies to try and tail them, it wasn't hard to imagine her making another attempt with a more substantial minion. Perhaps he could be an especially cunning spy, sent by Goregie to succeed where her sharpbeaks had failed. He then remembered though that he had first met the horned sharptooth even before the sharpbeaks were defeated, meaning that if he did work for Goregie, she would've sent him at the same time as the sharpbeaks. This, along with his body being nearly starved and his passing of Chomper's smell tests, made this seem very unlikely. Still, if he was hiding something, asking him questions would only help him in detecting any suspicious behavior.

The onehorn said evenly, "Well I couldn't smell you. But I could still hear you on the other side of that swamp. It's not like a herd your size is quiet, especially with all those hatchlings."

"Fair enough," Chomper chuckled. "And how did Lola miss you, even though she was following us as well?"

"She wasn't there when I first met you, so she wouldn't have any reason to notice me," he explained. "And I've been keeping my distance from her too. Once you found her, I started following her instead of you, for I knew that wherever you would go, she would follow. I had to stay well back to not get detected, and I only just got settled when Lola found me."

"You didn't have to hide from us though," Chomper smiled. "You could've just asked to come along."

"I had to think it through first," the newcomer replied. "I wondered if you'd even want me. I presume you'd know that I've had to kill lots of little leafeaters to survive, right?"

"Yeah," Chomper said understandingly. "But you're not the only one here who's eaten dinosaur meat. Even I tried hunting flatteeth when I was really little, and probably still would be if I didn't know my friends. What's important is that you don't now, and as long as you stick to other red food, you'll be good."

The new sharptooth couldn't help but smile a little at Chomper's forgivingness. "So I had to ask myself whether I could permanently forgo that," he continued. "But I'm not that big or that fast, so it's not like I could catch a lot anyway. If I can't get much out of hunting, I might as well give up on it completely if I've got another choice. If you can prove you can hunt for a pack that is. That's why I was watching your dinner, I wanted to see your food before talking to you."

"Is that why your senses are so good?" Chomper asked. "To make up for not being a good hunter?"

"Well I wouldn't say they're that good," he explained modestly. "But yeah. When you're too small for big things and too big for little things, food is very hard to find. You need to track down whatever you can, all of course while not getting hunted by bigger sharpteeth or killed by defensive leafeaters. So you need to cast over a wide area. Of course, you'd already know what that's like."

"What do you mean?" Chomper asked, wondering if he gave something away.

The new sharptooth seemed amused at Chomper's bewilderment. "Well, you would've had to undergo your great growing at some point," he explained. "You'd have to have a time when you were my size."

"Oh, yeah, right," Chomper said uncomfortably, ignorant as to the life of most growing sharpteeth from living in the Great Valley so long. He was going to have to break the news about his true story sooner or later …

"LOLA, STOP!"

The cry jolted Chomper out of his thoughts and brought him to a halt. Whirling frantically around, Chomper saw that a sparkling gleam had begun to take hold in Lola's eyes as thick droplets of slobber began to fall uncontrollably from her lower jaw. Letting out a lustful growl, she made a sudden lunge forward. But before Chomper could react, Star had hurriedly cut Lola off, lashing her tail out just in time for Lola to trip on it. The young browridge fell facefirst onto the ground with a thud. For one dreadful moment, Chomper thought that she had tried to attack Star. Then looking out, Chomper could see that in the distance, a small green twofooter seemed to be running for dear life. But it wasn't Lola the twofooter was running from, for a great grey twoclaw was in hot pursuit. Chomper could immediately tell that the twofooter was running gawkily, its bones most likely deteriorating from old age as the sharptooth closed in. No sooner had he comprehended the situation than the little twofooter tripped, falling onto the dirt with a big dust cloud. Trying his best to numb himself to the pained shrieks, Chomper opened his eyes just before the dust cleared, seeing the faint outline of the twoclaw ravaging the carcass.

Chomper shuddered. There was no way he could have saved that one, it was much too far away and the twoclaw would have caught up to it even if he had tried to intervene. But he couldn't think about it any further, there were far more pressing matters at hand. Lola was still sprawled at the spot where Star tripped her, the drool by her lips now replaced by tears rolling down her cheeks. Star was bent down beside her, though to Chomper's horror saw that she had a fresh gash on her tail. While fortunately not a bitemark, the injury had undoubtedly come from Lola's foot claws tripping upon her tail. Slowly, Chomper walked over until he was facing them.

"It's over Lola," Chomper said gently.

"I know," Lola mumbled. "I can't do it. I can't ever control myself."

"No, that's not what I meant," Chomper said quickly. "You can open your eyes, nothing's running by anymore."

Lola shook her head. "I can't. Because my eyes … What if they changed?"

"It's okay Lola," Chomper soothed. "I saw the whole thing, and the way it moved, it could trigger any sharptooth. It's not your fault that you chased it, especially since you're so new at this. But you were able to snap out of it, and you caught yourself before you could hurt it."

"And since that flattooth is now dead, nobody'll know what happened except us," the new sharptooth pointed out reasonably, but that didn't help Lola feel better.

"Was it a herd member?" Lola mumbled, fearing the worst.

"No, it wasn't," Chomper said reassuringly. "Look at me, Lola."

Lola shook her head. "But … I might have red eyes."

"It's okay, my parents' eyes are red too," Chomper told her. "And it doesn't matter what color they are, for you're not bad inside and you'll still be my friend."

"Me too," Star said gently. "You weren't trying to hurt that flattooth, it was only your instinct, and I know from Mom how hard that is to manage. But your instincts aren't who you are inside."

"Yeah, your instincts only control your body, not your heart," Chomper said gently. "I promise you'll feel better if you open your eyes and that you'll be just fine."

Lola nodded before hesitantly doing so. Privately, Chomper felt confident that one moment of uncontrolled instinct would not trigger the change in color that not even all determined hunters underwent. Still, he felt a wave of relief when he saw her sclera remained as white as ever, with only the predatory gleam being replaced by a gloomy cloudiness.

"There, doesn't that feel better?" Chomper asked gently as Lola nodded.

"Can … I have a cheek rub?" Lola asked tentatively.

Chomper nodded before Lola nervously stumbled forward and shared one. "I … I'm sorry Alpha," she wheezed between hiccups. "I … I couldn't help it … It … It happened so fast …"

"It's okay Lola, it's just something we sharpteeth are all born with …" Chomper began.

"Yeah, but you can control yourself perfectly!" Lola shouted in frustration.

"Not always," Chomper reminded her. "I bit Cera's tail, remember? And then there was another time I almost attacked my friends. I chased them all over the place, and it wasn't until they were cornered and scared for dear life that I … felt something inside me snap. I can remember my eyes going from narrow to round and my pupils dilating, it was like my whole world changed when I remembered them …"

"I thought you said they hatched you and you grew up with them?" Lola asked, raising her eyebrows.

Chomper sighed. There was no getting around it now, he would have to tell his pack everything.

"I did," Chomper explained. "But it's a long story. I'll explain after the hunt, I promise. But we've gotta think about getting the food first, for it's dangerous and you've gotta focus."

"I'd say," came a voice. Turning, Chomper saw that the grey sharptooth from before was walking in, licking his lips. "I see you guys are still stalking your prey. Looks like you need help. Whad'ya think? Together, we can take on those two longnecks."

Chomper growled. "You better not think about hurting them, they're our friends."

The grey sharptooth laughed. "Oh come on, stop messing with me. Those grass guzzlers hate us. Especially that that big longneck. I knew it back when it was a tiny brat. It got under my foot and sent me flying into another guy, sending me down a big hill. My back hurt for days."

Realizing that this must be the very sharptooth that Shorty had just told him about, he had to stifle a chuckle. Luckily, the new onehorn took charge. "Sorry, but you're not hurting him," he growled coldly.

"Like you can do anything to stop me, little biter?" the grey sharptooth taunted as Chomper beamed at the horned sharptooth encouragingly.

"Don't call him little biter," Lola growled. "And yes, we will. For we're friends with leafeaters."

"You better not attack any of us or our leafeater friends or you'll be sorry," Chomper warned as he, Lola, the new sharptooth, and the little biters all glared.

The gray sharptooth guffawed. "A whole pack of simps. Now I've seen everything."

"How about a longneck who can speak sharptooth?" Star asked daringly.

The sharptooth's abrasive laughter abruptly turned to chilling fury. "Some traitor taught you to speak? Well, I better take care of …"

"Oh you better not or I'm gonna rip your head off!" Lola threatened, taking a few steps forward, only for Chomper to gently bite her tail back, knowing fully well that if the young browridge got into a fight with a fully grown twoclaw, she would end up coming off for the worse.

"You might be a big sharptooth, but there's no way you can take on all of us without getting killed yourself," Chomper pointed out firmly.

The grey sharptooth reluctantly saw that Chomper had a point. "Fine, I'll leave you alone, but it'll cost you. One fresh carcass as long as you are."

"Okay, but you've got to promise you'll never hurt us and stay far away from our leafeater friends," Chomper said firmly. "Deal?"

The sharptooth snorted. "You mean those flatteeth at that crater? Like I'd ever want to go back there again. That's where your giant "friend" tripped me up. Okay, deal."

So warily, the group trudged onward. Lola stood protectively besides Star, eyeing the grey sharptooth with hostile suspicion. The biters watched from upon Shorty's head, prepared to warn or even leap down on the gray sharptooth's head in case he attacked. The grey sharptooth himself eyed Shorty with contempt, who stared back at him coldly. Fortunately, the sharptooth seemed to understand the situation and refrained from making a move towards any of them.

"Hey Chomper, I think that's the sharptooth I told you about," Shorty smirked, unable to understand the conversation. "Does he remember me?"

"Oh yeah. You might have gotten a lot bigger but you still smell the same," Chomper laughed. "He doesn't like you, but I'm gonna feed him so you'll be fine."

"I'd like to see him try making a go at me now though," Shorty snorted as the little biters snickered. "But I didn't trip him up just to hurt him. He was attacking Cera and our old friend Pat."

"I kinda figured," Chomper grinned, glad the biters could hear the whole story. "But while he's not very nice, he doesn't have to be an enemy now. My friends saw him another time, they told me they were able to sleep by him for a whole night without him even noticing them. He only woke up because they were trying to wake Spike up, and once he finally started hunting them, they were able to duck into a tree cave and he just lost their trail. That's probably why he's a white-eye, since he doesn't seem to have good sniffing or hearing abilities."

"Gross, you're even speaking their tongue," the grey sharptooth drawled mockingly, to which Chomper simply ignored.

"He probably gets by on his own, he's plenty big enough," Chomper continued. "But he seems hungry enough that I can give him an offering."

"You don't think he's gonna follow us back, right?" Shorty smirked.

Chomper shook his head. "I warned him not to go to the crater, and he said he doesn't want to go anywhere near it. Probably has bad memories."

"I can imagine," Shorty snorted, before abruptly speaking in sharptooth, "Heylllett's malllke a dealllleee!"

"That was pretty good!" Chomper beamed at Shorty, who looked very pleased with himself. The grey sharptooth looked annoyed, but knew better than to object, knowing that a free meal was at stake.

"He's trying to be polite," Chomper explained sheepishly.

"Whatever," said the sharptooth irritably. "Once I've got my meal, I'm gonna get as far away from you nuts as I can."

"Suit yourself," Chomper chuckled.

With the grey sharptooth not causing any more trouble, Chomper was able to turn his attention back to the horned sharptooth, pleasantly surprised with how he was willing to stand up to the much larger grey sharptooth. "Hey, thanks for sticking up for us back there," he muttered quietly. "You were really brave."

"Oh, it was nothing," the horned sharptooth said casually. "I've always found that some attitude can really help make you seem bigger. Mind you, it's a lot easier to pretend when you've got real muscle to back you up."

"I know," Chomper laughed as another thought came to him. Looking over to make sure Lola was still talking to Star, he muttered, "Hey … How were you able to stop yourself from chasing after that twofooter, even though you're bound to be really hungry?"

The horned sharptooth pondered. "I guess because I've learned my limitations," he explained. "Since I didn't have parents taking care of me, I've always had to hunt everything for myself by myself."

"You mean like buzzers, right?" Chomper asked, remembering his first day when he had to hunt by himself. "I tried hunting those before I even met my parents!"

"Yeah, that's what smart hatchlings do," the horned sharptooth smiled ruefully, shaking his head. "Not me though. I tried my claw at a snapping shellback. It was so slow, and there was so much meat under that shell … Of course my wimpy little jaw didn't have a chance. Nope, it just whirled around, bit me on the arm, and swam off. I'm lucky my arm didn't get bitten off. But I learned how to pick my battles. I forced myself to slow down and think, and to only go for it if I had a real shot. That way, even if I end up eating less, I make up for it by not wasting energy or getting injured. So every time prey goes by, I stop to think first. Like what happened just now for instance. Even if I wasn't with you, I wouldn't have chased it because he was chasing it too," he explained, nodding toward the grey sharptooth. "There's no way I could've beaten him, he's obviously way stronger than I am."

The grey sharptooth snorted, "I'd like to see you try," but Chomper and the horned sharptooth ignored him as the latter continued, "Of course there's always the risk of starving, so there were times when food was scarce that I took on prey tougher than I'd like. But usually, I found that if I just waited, the right opportunity would come along, and no matter how hungry I felt, I forced myself to resist the danger kills and only go for the ones I know I could make."

"Yeah, makes sense," Chomper said appreciatively. He was starting to really grow fond of the newcomer. Though not as outwardly friendly as Lola, the horned sharptooth's modesty, patience, loyalty and practicality made him much different than the arrogant jerks that hunted him and his friends over all those cold times. His instinct control was remarkable too, which coupled with his mature, easygoing yet self-disciplined temperament and relatively small size made him seem like a good fit for his fledgling sharptooth pack. That was, if he could prove to him how effective a water hunt truly was …

"I smell the big water," Chuss hissed from atop Shorty's head.

"Me too," Chomper grinned as he could smell the salty air and hear the waves pounding upon the rocky shore. "And I was thinking … Since this is our first pack hunt, why don't we try doing it together?"

He could feel the stares of Lola, the horned sharptooth, and the biters all apprehensively looking at him.

"Oh no, I didn't say anything about hunting the food," growled the grey sharptooth indignantly.

"You're not part of the pack, unless you want to be," Chomper teased, to which he fervently shook his head.

"But how can we help?" Nyko asked. "We're too little to hunt big water food."

"I have to agree, no offense," the horned sharptooth added politely. "This seems very dangerous."

"And I'm not the best swimmer, since I got stuck in that tar pit," Lola pointed out embarrassedly.

"Don't worry guys, I promise it'll be safe," Chomper smiled. "But first, has anyone been big water hunting before?"

He looked at Lola and the horned sharptooth hopefully, but to his surprise, it was Star who responded.

"Mom had me help her hunt," Star grinned sheepishly.

"Mom," the grey sharptooth growled mockingly as Lola gave a warning hiss.

"Wow," Chomper exclaimed, ignoring the grey sharptooth. "What did you do?"

"I threw bait into the big water with my long neck," she replied. "That brought in the swimming sharpteeth, which she brought ashore."

The other sharpteeth looked confused, so Chomper explained, "Water hunting is different from land hunting because rather than hunting the food, you lure the food to you."

Chomper then led them towards a small but deep tide pool. Shorty decided to stand back, being too big to crowd around the pool, and the grey sharptooth was not interested, but the others curiously approached, where under the glassy surface of the water, the rocky seafloor was teeming with life. Largely stationary star swimmers, snapping shells, purple spikies and even some creatures looking vaguely like flowers were packed into nearly every conceivable nook and cranny between the rocks, while some sand creepers were trying to navigate through the crammed space.

"See all this life? What does it all have in common?" Chomper asked.

"Apart from living in the water?" asked Chuss.

"Yeah," Chomper smiled knowingly.

They pondered before at last, Star spoke up. "They're all creatures … There's no green food here."

"Right," Chomper nodded. "While there's a little green food in big water, the big water tastes so bad that most green food can't grow."

"What about those things?" Deya asked, pointing at the flower-like creatures. "Aren't they green food?"

"They look like it," Chomper smiled ruefully. "But look."

A tiny star swimmer began to scooch across the ground, but suddenly the strange flower-like creature's petals suddenly shot out, revealing themselves to be tentacles, ensnaring the star swimmer and dragging it inside.

"They're called swimming stingers," Chomper explained. "There's two kinds, this kind that looks like a flower and there's another that floats at the surface. They look harmless, but they both have stinging tentacles, so watch out."

"Wow, who'd know something so pretty can do that?" Lola asked.

"They're not the only ones," Chomper said, eyeing another star swimmer. This one however, rather than being attacked, was conspicuously postured right on top of a snapping shell. As they drew in for a closer look, they saw that many tiny feet were wiggling under the star swimmer's five arms, slowly trying to pry the snapping shell open.

"That must really hurt," Chuss observed. "At least when we eat snapping shells, we eat them quick, not torture them to death."

"Yeah, that's how my friend Ruby eats them," Chomper chuckled. "It was so quick that it was even okay with …"

He trailed off awkwardly, before saying, "I'll explain when we're done hunting. But the snapping shells are hunters too. They say that they suck in tiny things that we can't even see to feed themselves. Which probably have to eat things that are even tinier than they are. It may look pretty to us being so big. But it's a sharptooth eat sharptooth world under there, where the tiniest thing is eaten by something bigger, going all the way to the biggest water creatures, who in turn will get eaten when they themselves start to die. So as long as we hunt responsibly, we're simply taking part in a world where everything already has to kill to survive, giving us red food without having to harm a single dinosaur."

"That's the biggest load of flattooth dirt I've ever heard," growled the grey sharptooth mockingly from the distance, but the others seemed to be really intrigued with Chomper's heartfelt, ethical rationalization.

"It sounds great and all," said the horned sharptooth politely. "But I don't see how hunting star swimmers will give us enough food."

"We'll get there," Chomper explained. "But let's start off small. Deya, Nyko, Chuss, can you three grab some creatures from the water? Just make sure not to let the swimming stingers touch you."

"Sure," Nyko said brightly, before the little biters stuck their clawed hands inside the tide pool and looked keenly around. Soon, Deya and Chuss extracted two star swimmers, while Nyko got a sand creeper. The latter creature however sensed Nyko's inexperience and gave him a nasty pinch on the arm.

"Ugh, this thing won't let go!" Nyko shouted as he flung his arm around, his eyes watering in pain.

"Quickly, bite it," Chomper told him.

The little biter did, but with the sand creeper's body being so fragile, Nyko's bite was more than enough to crunch right through its exoskeleton.

"Whoops," Nyko giggled uncomfortably. "Maybe I bit too hard."

"No actually, you did great," Chomper reassured as Deya and Chuss, still holding their star swimmers, looked at Chomper in confusion. "It's better to kill them now rather than have them suffer later."

Deya and Chuss nodded in understanding, and so bit the middle of their star swimmers in quick motions, resulting in their instant deaths.

"Great," Chomper smiled. "Now what we've gotta do is throw them into the water."

The grey sharptooth chortled. "What? You just throw away your food?"

"Yeah, if we want bigger food," Chomper explained before turning back to the little biters. "For you guys, one of those things should be enough for a meal. Don't try anything bigger yourselves, it would be too dangerous. But since we're hunting for our whole pack and to make this guy happy, we've gotta go bigger."

As the little biters nodded, ignoring the grey sharptooth's derisive snort, Chomper said, "Guys, give your kills to our new friend."

The horned sharptooth looked surprised as the little biters dropped the carcasses at his feet, eyeing Chomper curiously. "Since you're bigger than they are, you're gonna bring in a larger kill," Chomper told him. "Using their kills as bait. But maybe we should start with just one carcass. It'll be easier for you to keep track of."

"Yeah, that makes sense," said the new sharptooth courteously as he pickd up one of the star swimmers with his mouth.

"Okay, what you're gonna do is put it right at your feet and just wait, focusing on your surroundings," Chomper said. "Be ready for something to come at you."

Obliging, the horned sharptooth began to wade out into the water.

"Back up," Chomper instructed, seeing that the water was lapping the newcomer's belly. "You want to stay close enough to the shore so you can have firm footing."

The horned sharptooth quickly turned back, ignoring the grey sharptooth chortling at him. "A little bit more … There, that's perfect," Chomper said encouragingly as the newcomer stopped just where the water began to hit his ankles.

"But we're hunting water creatures," said the horned sharptooth thoughtfully. "Nothing's gonna come that close to land."

"Not yet," Chomper explained. "But drop the bait in and see."

The horned sharptooth released the star swimmer from his mouth before they stood and waited. Much as he wanted to coach him further, Chomper could see that the newcomer was staring at the water with deep focus, not twitching an inch as he stood and waited. The time passed and he continued to stand poised and vigilant.

"Nothing's coming yet," the grey sharptooth taunted.

"Just ignore him," Chomper reassured instinctively, though the horned sharptooth didn't respond, still in deep concentration. For a moment Chomper felt impressed, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a murky spot of water closing right in on the newcomer.

"Look out!" Chomper warned.

The horned sharptooth, however, had already roared into life. With quick reflexes, he thrusted his head into the water and ripped out a slender, long-tube shaped scaly swimmer with two pairs of flipper-like fins on the bottom, a smaller fin on top near the rear, and a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. He beamed with triumph as the scaly swimmer flailed in his mouth, attempting to bite any part of him it could reach.

"Great work!" Chomper exclaimed. "Now throw it ashore."

With a great heave, the horned sharptooth turned and swung his neck out, throwing the swimming sharptooth firmly onto dry land.

"There's another one coming," the horned sharptooth cautioned.

"One's all we need," Chomper reassured him. "You can get out now."

"Mom always told me to bring her food further in so it can't get back," Star added as the horned sharptooth shook himself off. "You want me to do that?"

"Yeah," Chomper smiled gratefully. So Star dragged the swimming sharptooth in by the tail, making sure to stand far away from the swimming sharptooth's still snapping mouth.

"Wow," the new sharptooth said, eyeing the swimming sharptooth's long body. "I haven't made a kill that big in a long time."

"Yeah, well I think it's just a scrawny runt," said the grey sharptooth disdainfully. "If you think this'll make me happy, you've got another thought coming."

"Oh we're not done yet," Chomper chuckled before he nodded over to Lola. "Lola, can you finish it off?"

"You bet," Lola answered, and at once, the bigger sharptooth effortlessly snapped the swimming sharptooth's neck. "Ohh, it smells so good …" she moaned lustily.

"Everyone can take a couple bites if they want," Chomper chuckled.

"Hey, that's my swimming sharptooth!" the grey sharptooth pouted.

"You can have a bite with us," Chomper offered as he, Lola, the horned sharptooth, and the biters in crowding around it.

"I'm not sharing with you crazies!" the grey sharptooth snarled back.

"Notice anything different about these?" Chomper asked as they focused in on the swimming sharptooth body.

The horned sharptooth answered at once. "Yeah, they let out blood. I could taste it in my mouth."

"Yep," Chomper said. "And since we're hunting swimming sharpteeth, we're gonna use that to our advantage to lure them in. So what we're gonna do is bloody the carcass so the scent carries through the Big Water."

"Can we still have a few bites?" Deya asked hopefully.

Chomper laughed. "Of course. Just make sure there's enough left to be enticing."

So together, Chomper and his small pack used their claws and teeth to rip open the swimming sharptooth's carcass, eating enough to expose a lot of blood while ensuring that the carcass still remained intact. The horned sharptooth, clearly very hungry himself, was especially appreciative as he took in some modest helpings. "Usually as the carcasses get bigger, so do the predators," Chomper warned. "So your bait should be small enough that you can hunt whatever hunts it. Otherwise you'll get more than you bargained for."

"I probably shouldn't use this as bait then," the horned sharptooth admitted. "Its kinda heavy, so whatever eats this will be too big for me to lift."

"Good thinking," Chomper beamed, before turning to Lola. "But you can Lola, you're a lot bigger than he is. You want to give it a go?"

"You bet!" Lola said excitedly. So after they finished bloodying the carcass, Lola picked it up, having no problem carrying its weight with her mouth.

"You're gonna do the same thing he did, only you're gonna be dealing with even bigger creatures," Chomper warned. "So be careful."

Lola expressed her understanding through a mouth filled with swimming sharptooth meat.

"I'll go with her for lookout," Star said. Lola beamed at her new friend before the two of them went to the edge of the big water, where Lola dropped the carcass inside. She stared into the depths, for the carcass's arrival provoked an immediate reaction, though not what she had hoped for.

"Only little things are coming," Lola observed, seeing that the swimming scavengers were smaller than the carcass.

"I'll use my tail to waft the scent out," Star said. "That'll bring the blood into deeper waters."

"Hey, I thought I'm the sharptooth here!" Lola laughed in mock indignation.

"But you're also the newbie at this," Star giggled.

For a while, Lola and Star ended up standing guard over the carcass. Most of the little swimming sharpteeth had no interest in going after Lola or Star with the scent of a fresh, bleeding carcass so close by, and between Star's sturdy tail and long neck and Lola's sniffer and offensive weaponry, the few that even tried making a go at it were hurriedly dealt with. As they waited while the biters played on Shorty and the grey sharptooth continued to huff impatiently, Chomper turned to face the horned sharptooth. "Hey, no offense, but …" Chomper asked. "Why are you a white eye? Because your hunting skills are really good."

The horned sharptooth pondered. "Well, kinda for the same reason you don't I suppose. After all, you've gotta be a decent hunter if you can feed other sharpteeth. But red eyes aren't only good hunters, they also hunt dangerously by attacking a lot of big flatteeth. Which is why I don't qualify. The only flatteeth I've eaten are little and dead ones that make easy meals. I haven't chased anything bigger than me, even when I've been at my hungriest. Of course I had to fend off a few leafeaters who attacked me, just like you would've."

"Wait, how do you know?" Chomper asked, wondering how this sharptooth could have possibly known of the time he had to defend his friends against that strange group of leafeating attackers.

The horned sharptooth stared at Chomper in surprise. "Did you grow up under a rock or something? No offense. Just … Well, every sharptooth knows they've gotta be careful from leafeaters who attack them while resting."

"Oh … Right," Chomper said awkwardly.

Fortunately, the horned sharptooth seemed to shrug it off. "Defending yourself or your pack doesn't have anything to do with your eyes changing. The only way to become a red-eye is to live off hunting dangerous flatteeth. Which of course would count me out."

"Star, get out! A big one's coming!" Lola shouted from the big water, abruptly ending the conversation as he rushed over. Star had been on enough water hunts not to think twice, and so quickly made it back to land just as a murky shadow began to close in. Luckily, this swimming sharptooth was easy to locate, for it had a tall dorsal fin that was sticking out of the water. Chomper recognized it as the same kind that had once attacked his friends when they had visited his old island. He wondered if this would be too big for Lola to be able to take on. However upon seeing Star make it to sure, he could see that Lola was eyeing the water carefully, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Sure enough, in a hurried lunge, Lola bit onto the swimming sharptooth's fin and hurriedly tossed it onto the land. With it safely stranded, Chomper, the horned sharptooth and the little biters finished the large predator off and started cutting into it just as Lola arrived.

"Wow, this is actually kinda fun!" she chuckled. "I feel much better about hunting when the prey wants to eat you right back."

"It looked like a close call from here," said the horned sharptooth.

Lola shook her head. "Don't worry, that thing had its eyes on the bait the whole time. And its mouth was still a good half body away from me when I ripped it out."

"Great job Lola," Chomper said, before turning to the group. "These things are really dangerous, especially out in the water, so you don't want to be swimming with them no matter how big you are. Still, they've got a lot of fat on their bones. One of them can probably fill even the biggest sharptooth up for a while. But it's probably not enough for a whole pack. For that, we've gotta hunt even bigger prey."

"Hey, you're right," Lola snickered. "Your meal was enormous. A lot bigger than this."

This even attracted the attention of the gray sharptooth, who still looked disdainful but couldn't hide his interest.

"But wouldn't you have just found that thing on the shore?" the horned sharptooth asked incredulously.

"Nope," Chomper grinned naughtily before his expression became more serious. "Now no offense, but I'm gonna ask you guys to stay out of the water. The kind of things that eat these guys are really dangerous and you've gotta be as big as me to take them on safely. But they've got a ton of meat on them, just one would be probably enough to feed a pack for a few days. I'm gonna ask Shorty to go out with me, since he's really big and can help see them coming. But if you guys smell anything, you can always call out to help."

Lola, Star, the horned sharptooth, and the fast biters all nodded as the grey sharptooth snorted. Then Chomper turned to Shorty. "You want to help me spot the prey, Shorty?"

"So long as I don't have to eat it," Shorty smirked.

"Okay, but make sure to stay well back," Chomper warned. "In the water these things are as dangerous as I am."

"So not very then," Shorty replied with cocky playfulness as Chomper gave him a playful tail whap back.

So the very tall boxhead peered into the water as Chomper cleared his mind, focusing only on his surroundings as he placed the big swimming sharptooth at his feet. That predator's arrival had been enough to clear off the smaller predators. Only a truly gigantic water monster would dare approach now.

"Something's moving back there," Shorty called out.

"Yep, and I'm ready," Chomper said determinedly. Indeed, he saw the immense, slender serpentine shape of a gigantic longbody neatly curve its way over to them. Chomper knew that despite its graceful appearance, its front end held a long skull with rows and rows of teeth, complete with a jaw that could provide a surprisingly nasty kick. But this was hardly his first time dealing with these water nemeses, and he knew they had a weak point, that beyond their teeth and twisting motions lay an otherwise unprotected body. As he felt the creature draw in towards the carcass, Chomper lowered his skull toward the water, high enough so as not to be noticed but close enough to make a quick lunge. The strong scent of the carcass helped in concealing his own scent, luring the hulking predator in and taking its mind off the fact that it too may be attacked …

No sooner did the swimming sharptooth approach than Chomper leaned down and hurriedly severed the swimming sharptooth's neck, instantly decapitating it and throwing the headless body right onto shore. As he quickly retrieved the bait from the now bodiless jaws, he could hear his pack marvel in amazement. But he forced himself to ignore it, for he could tell a second giant beast was on its way. Hurriedly dispatching the second, Chomper then could tell that a third and fourth were closing in. He knew he could get out of there in time, but Shorty might be too slow to avoid a nasty bite. He had to try a different tact …

"Shorty, jump up and give the ground a big stomp when I tell you. Ready? … Now!"

Shorty obliged, landing on the sandy ground and creating a tremendous earthshake. The sandy debris on the shallow seafloor immediately shook violently, disintegrating into dust that clouded the longbodies' eyes and stalled their progress. Meanwhile, Chomper had jumped up just before Shorty landed, causing him to avoid the direct impact of the earthshake. With the longbodies disoriented, he hurriedly moved to sever their necks before throwing their bodies out onto the beach. Then he bit onto the now mangled carcass he had used as bait and threw it out into the big water, drawing any ravaging big water creature far away from the shoreline.

"So yeah," Chomper said awkwardly to his fellow sharpteeth, not knowing exactly where to pick up. "That's a big water hunt."

Lola, the horned sharptooth and the biters looked on in amazement, and even the grey sharptooth looked begrudgingly impressed, for as promised, a longbody swimming sharptooth was just as long as he was. "Not bad," he said curtly.

"Go ahead, take one, just remember your promise," Chomper told him.

So the grey sharptooth did, biting onto the longbody's tail and dragging its body on the ground, pleased to finally see the last of this group of weirdos. But the others looked at Chomper with admiration, and slowly and respectfully, the horned sharptooth turned to face Chomper.

"Can I have some, Alpha?" he asked humbly, slightly bowing.

"Wait," Chomper answered, knowing he owed it to his fellow sharpteeth to tell them the truth. "I mean … Yes, of course you can have some. But you should know who I really am before deciding if you want to join my pack. Same with you, Lola, I haven't told you everything."

The horned sharptooth was undeterred. "You've already shown who you really are," he said firmly. "Not only have you proved you can feed a pack, but you're unlike any other pack alpha I've imagined. You don't brag about your body count and put your pack in danger. You actually care about everyone and treat us as equals."

"Well you are," Chomper began, but the horned sharptooth interrupted, "I feel like I can really respect you, and that nothing you could say would change that."

"Me neither," Lola agreed firmly, shaking her head. "I've learned so much from you already, and I'm not going back now."

"Thanks guys," Chomper smiled. "I'd love it if you wanted to stay. But you should at least know my whole story. Where I came from, how I became who I am today, and how I hope to include you guys." Turning to the horned sharptooth, Chomper said, "Go ahead, have as much as you want."

"You're serious?" he asked.

"Sure," Chomper smiled. "Lola, you still hungry?"

"Nope, I'm all filled up," Lola said brightly.

So after telling Shorty what he was gonna do, Chomper sat down with the others around one of the carcasses, which the horned sharptooth was feasting on ravenously. He was really glad that the elders had already lent their support and promised to help the biters and his parents find a place in the Valley. It felt comforting knowing he had all their support in undertaking what would be a radical change to life back home.

"So you've heard my story of how I was hatched when you were watching us, right?" Chomper asked the horned sharptooth.

"Yep," he recapped. "Your flattooth friends found you, took your egg and you were hatched by them."

"Yeah," Chomper said uncomfortably. "The thing was, I wasn't hatched just anywhere. I was hatched in a, well … Special valley a few days north of here."

"What makes it special?" Star asked.

"Well … It's kinda like a big sanctuary," Chomper explained tentatively. "All kinds of plants grow in there, and no one ever feels lonely. At its best, everyone who lives there is at peace, and while it's got tall walls to protect it, their own cooperation and concern for one another is what really keeps it safe. It may be called the Great Valley … But to me, it's just home."

There was a tense silence. "You don't mean… The Valley of Great Death, do you?" the horned sharptooth asked faintly.

"I don't know," Chomper said honestly. "I've never heard of that place."

"Well," the horned sharptooth said. "They say that there's a valley to the north that we sharpteeth can never go to. One that's guarded not only by tall walls as you said, but by tree sweet plants that can nauseate or even kill us sharpteeth."

"Mom told me about that place, I think," Star pondered. "She said that when they were kids, she and my birth mom tried going to that place. But they were turned away because no one believed Mom could be safe, and that a longneck and sharptooth could never be friends."

"And my folks told me that inside, armies of flatteeth band together to kill any sharptooth that wanders in," Lola added with a slight shudder. "You … You don't really mean that place … Do you?"

Chomper sighed heavily. "I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same place," he admitted. "But … That's not the whole story. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here to tell the tale, would I? For I was a sharptooth hatched inside its walls."

As the others looked at him expectantly, realizing he had a fair point, he continued, "Time has a way of changing things. Some of it good, some of it bad. But as I'm sure Star can tell you, just as how sharpteeth like us are not like the sharpteeth who love hunting flatteeth, flatteeth can be just as different amongst themselves."

Star nodded slowly to confirm, before Chomper said, "Those flatteeth you were just talking about? That's what a lot of flatteeth are like. Brutal, hardened herds who only focus on their survival, take pride in their bloodlines, and who would attack us sharpteeth even if we don't attack them. There's a lot like them today, and there were even more of them before our time. But fortunately, things are beginning to change … And that's where my friends come in."

Chomper took a deep breath before explaining, "Apart from Spike who wasn't born yet, my first friends were born as wanderers far to the east of here. Each of them had their own families. Littlefoot had his mom and grandparents, Petrie his mother and many nestmates, Ducky her immediate family and some aunts and uncles, and Cera a small herd led by her dad. They all lived in the same place and they were all going to the Great Valley since there wasn't any green food around. But none of them knew one another. They all only lived with their own kind. None of them even met until Littlefoot bumped into Cera when he was five. They played a little, only for Cera's dad to split them up, saying that threehorns never play with longnecks. Littlefoot asked his mother why that was. She just said because it's always been that way. They may have been neighbors all going to the same place. But if their folks had it their way, they would never be together."

"So their parents were bigots?" Lola asked thoughtfully.

"That's just how their society was back then, and the only thing they ever knew," Chomper sighed. "But it didn't mean they weren't good dinos inside. Littlefoot told me his mom even saved Cera from danger before losing her life to a twoclaw that they called Sharptooth during a great earthshake."

Lola and the newcomer looked at each other.

"Wait a minute," muttered the horned sharptooth slowly. "Are you talking about that Sharptooth? The one who went by that name?"

"I think so," Chomper said disconcertedly.

The horned sharptooth shuddered. "From all I've heard, that guy was a menace. The story went that he hunted for sheer pleasure, always boasted about killing whole herds of flatteeth, and was even able to take down healthy adult longnecks by himself … Which you just said he did."

"Mom told me about him," Star said, shaking her head. "They say he got his red eyes at only two cold times old and started killing flatteeth at five. He got such a reputation that Mom had to avoid everywhere he went, for survivors of his attacks and families of his victims would try and take their grief out on any twoclaw. Sometimes I had to keep watch on Mom while she was sleeping to make sure no one would try and hurt her."

"He must be the same guy my parents told us hatchlings about," Lola muttered, "Like you guys said, he was a crazy strong twoclaw with a whole lotta ego. But my folks told me what happened to him. Apparently he was so full of himself he tried to invade the Valley of Great Death all by himself, only to be defeated by five flattooth hatchlings … Wait a moment … This all would've happened a while ago."

"Yeah, a bit before I was born," the horned sharptooth commented. "Which means that whoever killed Sharptooth … Would be a little older than us."

"You mean …" Lola began. "That those hatchlings were … Your friends?"

Slowly, Chomper nodded. "They didn't really have a choice," Chomper explained slowly. "He went a long way to chase after them, even though he could probably eat them all in one gulp. I always wondered why he hated them so much. It couldn't have just been hunger, otherwise he would've just tracked down Littlefoot's mom's body and ate that. It might have been revenge, Littlefoot told me that he poked his eye with a thorn when trying to escape and Cera rammed into him thinking he was dead. Or maybe it was his pride like you guys said. Whatever it was, he wouldn't stop following them, and if he got inside the Valley, he would've just kept right on killing. My parents told me that's just what he was like. It's[ not like my friends killed him because he was a sharptooth. It's more that they knew he was crazy enough to destroy them, their families, and really anyone who'd stand in his way."

After a pause to take it all in, the horned sharptooth said, "You don't need to explain to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's good that he's gone."

"Yeah, my folks said even they had to be worried about him," Lola agreed, shaking her head. "At least he's no longer a threat to us."

"From what our mom told us, he was even worse than Red Claw," said Chuss to the agreement of his siblings. "And we know way too well just how terrible Red Claw was."

"So did your friends meet each other on the way there then?" Star asked.

"Yeah," Chomper said, feeling a lot better now that the others understood that whole situation. "Since they didn't have any grownups with them, they decided to make the journey together. That's when they found Spike's egg too and hatched him. It wasn't easy, but by the time they reached the Valley, they were both a great team and best of friends. Littlefoot told me it shocked their families at first. They didn't expect their own children to break from their herds like that. But to find the Valley, the grownups had begun to work together as a combined herd themselves, so they got to know each other well enough to know that even though they were different, they were all trustworthy and goodhearted. So they decided to accept their kids' friendship, and the rest is history."

Chuckling, Chomper continued, "Without even meaning to, my friends helped cause a big social change. Not long after they got settled, a series of crises began to happen one after another. Water shortages, cold spells, swarming leaf gobblers, you name it. They always ended up with my friends going on some kind of crazy adventure. But they also involved some of the grownups, including my friends' folks, realizing that these problems were too big for the individual kinds to handle, and that they had to come together as one big herd, just like they did to find the Valley. They soon created what was called the Circle of Elders for this purpose, a leadership team to act on the entire Valley's behalf. Littlefoot's grandparents, Ducky and Spike's and Petrie's moms, and Cera's dad were all part of it, along with a few others. Together, they tried to deal with whatever problems came their way so that the Great Valley would always remain the beautiful, peaceful place that it was when they arrived."

Shaking his head, Chomper sighed, "Not everyone liked this idea. Most of the flatteeth still kept to their own kinds, and a lot of them didn't like the idea of a mixed group of newcomers trying to act on everyone's behalf. There wasn't usually real conflict, for the Circle of Elders let everyone choose to follow their advice and those who didn't like it could just ignore them. But the differences between everyone started to get too big. Soon the Circle of Elders became not only partners, but just like their kids, started becoming friends themselves. Mama Swimmer and Flyer quickly hit it off, and while Littlefoot's grandpa and Cera's dad always argued, they soon began to respect and even like each other. Their families started to have fun together, like playing in the ground sparkles and holding big celebrations. And the Valley just kept on getting more connected. Many others started going outside of their own herds and making new friends among the other kinds. And newcomers like Cera's adoptive mom and her hollowhorn friend started migrating in once they heard how friendly the Valley had become. Slowly, life in the Great Valley was changing from a place of many different herds to one larger community that welcomed everyone."

Pausing, Chomper continued, "But not everyone liked it. Some refused to accept their world was changing around them, clinging firm to their beliefs that dinosaurs should only stick to their own kinds. They seemed to disagree with the Circle of Elders on everything, even my friends. Of course, them being different kinds was part of it. But they disagreed on more than that. Those who embraced the Circle of Elders usually felt they were intelligent, goodhearted kids who stayed true to themselves and always did what they felt was right. While those who didn't usually felt they were crazy, disobedient troublemakers who needed to be tail flogged. A lot of them didn't even like that they were a mixed group of boys and girls. The more adventures they went on, the harder they were to ignore, and it seemed like all the grownups had an opinion of them and whether they were good role models for the other kids."

. "Wow," Lola marveled. "That's a load of crap your friends had to deal with."

"Yeah," Chomper sighed. "Fortunately, it became less of an issue since everything outside the Valley was turning green again. Those who didn't like the Circle of Elders started to leave, and I suppose my arrival only helped speed that up," finishing with a snicker.

"Your arrival?" the horned sharptooth asked as he finished a bite. "I thought you said you were born there. And how are you involved in this? It sounds like a fight between flatteeth."

Chomper paused, knowing that this would be the most difficult part to explain to his fellow sharpteeth. He had to make sure he was fully transparent about all he went through.

"I was born there," Chomper explained. "But I was only there for my hatch day. You guys were right about the Great Valley back then. Because it's meant to be a safe place for flatteeth, sharpteeth weren't allowed in. Littlefoot actually told me that right after I bit Cera's tail."

"So how did you survive?" the horned sharptooth asked.

"My parents came for me," Chomper explained. "They could smell me from outside, so they broke into the Valley and went on an all-out rampage to rescue me. There was a big misunderstanding at first, my parents thought the flatteeth wanted to kill me, while me, my friends and their folks just thought they wanted to eat us, so a fight broke out. Since I was hatched in the Valley, I never saw my parents before, and since my friends were scared of them, so was I. But once they realized I was safe and I told them not to hurt Littlefoot, they stopped chasing everyone and took me home with them. That was the last I saw of the Great Valley, or my friends, for a long time."

Chuckling, Chomper continued, "Little did my parents know just how spending my hatching day with flatteeth would change me forever. They tried raising me like a normal sharptooth, giving me scraps from their kills small enough for me to eat. But I freaked out once I realized where the meat came from. Worse still, because I learned flattooth in the egg, I started hearing the dying words of my parents' prey and started refusing to eat flatteeth. They finally got me to eat by telling me that killing them would free their souls from their bodies and that when their bodies die, their spirits will be at peace. That worked for a while, I felt a lot less guilty and could even start hunting flatteeth with that peace of mind. But of course … Then it all went wrong," Chomper smiled, shaking his head. "Not long afterward, my parents and I moved to an island, and I tried hunting some hatchlings … Only to realize it was my old friends," he grinned sheepishly.

"You mean you almost killed your friends?" the horned sharptooth asked incredulously as Lola stared in disbelief.

"Well maybe, if they wouldn't have fought back," Chomper chuckled darkly. "They were shivering with nerves. I like to think that if it really came down to it though, Littlefoot would've used his tail or Cera her horn to fend me off. They and Spike were way bigger than I was. Thankfully though I recognized them and stopped myself before it got to that point."

Laughing, he continued, "We had some crazy adventures there. My parents could smell them, so I tried hiding them in a stinky place. Only for a big mean plated guy to come and destroy it. But I bit onto his tail before he could hurt them!"

"You've got some nerve!" Lola laughed.

"They helped me just as much though," Chomper beamed. "When he tried biting me back, Cera rammed into his foot, so he ended up biting his tail instead. I still remember that roar of pain he let out! Then he fell off a cliff and into the water, dragging me down with him. But Littlefoot dove in to save me and stopped me from getting away!"

"But I thought Littlefoot was a longneck, not a swimmer!" Star said, amazed.

"He is," Chomper grinned. "But that wouldn't stop him from making sure I was safe."

"Wow!" Lola said in amazement. "Some friends you have, to go out and save you right after you try hunting them!"

"I know," Chomper smiled. "We'd really do anything for one another."

He then let out a sigh. "I wanted them to live on that island with me and my folks. My parents even promised that they would be safe with them, once they saw them save me. But my friends couldn't stay. They still had their families and there wasn't enough green food around. So we had to say goodbye again."

"But not for long," Chuss pointed out with a knowing smirk.

"You were still pretty little when you found us," Nyko snickered.

"I guess it wasn't," Chomper laughed. "But it felt like a long time. After they left, I began feeling depressed. I was used to being alone before, but after meeting them again … It just wasn't the same anymore. I remember later that night, my parents still had some longneck left over. I was able to eat it just fine the day before. But after meeting Littlefoot again … I couldn't do it without thinking about him. And it got worse. Soon I found I couldn't eat any flattooth meat. My parents started getting worried. Then word got out that a sharptooth hatchling was friends with leafeaters. This enraged another big twoclaw named Red Claw, who sought to destroy me once and for all."

Sighing, Chomper explained, "My parents knew they'd have a hard time protecting me, so they figured that since I could speak leafeater and had friends there, the Great Valley would probably be my best chance. The only thing was, they knew that to have a chance of being allowed in, I needed to develop absolute control of my instincts."

"You mean … You didn't have perfect control then?" Lola asked hopefully.

"Nope!" Chomper giggled. "That's why I hunted my friends. When I first saw them, they were sleeping, and just seeing sleeping flatteeth was enough to get me going." He shook his head in embarrassment. "I was so out of it that I couldn't even recognize their smells, even though they were the ones who hatched me. I also roared without thinking, which was good since it woke them up. But since I wasn't myself, they didn't recognize me and ran, which of course only made my instincts worse."

"Wow," Lola said, looking extremely excited. "And I thought I was bad … So if you weren't born with good control … How did you get it?"

"Well, I had to learn," Chomper grinned. "My parents had trouble teaching me at first. I couldn't try hunting them, they were way too big to trigger my instinct. But then one day, a family of runners arrived. Two parents, two babies, and an older sister. I really wanted to be their friend, so I went right out to greet them. They were scared of me at first, but once they saw I didn't want to hurt them, they were really nice. My parents saw them too, and they wanted to talk. Only thing was, the runners spoke flattooth, so they needed someone to translate for them."

Laughing, Chomper continued, "So there I was, repeating everything back and forth between them, having no idea what my parents were gonna say. At first, they just told them that they could stay for as long as they wanted and that they could even share the red food that washed ashore, which made me happy. Then they asked the runners if they could do something in return. I wondered what they could possibly do for my folks. But then I heard my parents ask if they would give me instinct control lessons! I was like no way, who'd want to be chased and get their tail snapped at? But one of them actually said yes! And that's how I first met Ruby," he finished, grinning reminiscently.

"Wow," Lola said in wonder.

"And Garnet and Pearl were the two babies?" asked Deya.

"Yep," Chomper laughed. "Ruby was a great teacher. She really helped me get lots of practice. She could run like prey for one thing, which always got my instincts going. But she was also a lot bigger and faster than me, so I didn't have a chance of really hurting her. And she had the perfect attitude. Even though I made a lot of mistakes, she was super patient and understood it was just the instincts that I was born with. But I got a lot better with her guidance. She didn't just teach me about resisting my bodily urges, but also about building my willpower and developing a real sense of self. And she always kept me going, pointing out how far I've come when I didn't even realize it myself."

Chomper beamed with the memories before continuing, "But apart from being a great teacher, she was also a great friend. Her parents were busy taking care of the twins since they were so little, so we spent loads of time by ourselves. I still remember lying on the sand, looking up at the stars and talking to her about everything in those times. She was almost as lonely as I was, for her family was always on the run from sharpteeth and so many flatteeth shunned them for thinking they were eggstealers. The only kids she could play with were those who couldn't actually see her, for if they told their herds they played with a fast runner, that would put her family in danger. I told her all about my old friends too, and she really wanted to have a chance to meet them."

Taking a breath, Chomper said, "Ruby kept on tutoring me until I finally was able to beat back my prey drive once and for all. But I could see she was growing conflicted. I asked her, and she knew that now I had mastered my instincts, I had to get to the Valley before Red Claw could find me. She told me that while she didn't want to leave me, she didn't want to leave her folks either, so she didn't know what to do. I asked why she couldn't bring her family with her, and she told me it would be hard enough just convincing the Valley to let us in, never mind fully-grown halfteeth. In the end, we spoke to our folks about it. They told us that I'd have an easier time getting in if Ruby was there to watch over me, and that by going to the Valley, Ruby could help them by learning about how everyone there cooperated with one another and use that knowledge to help stop Red Claw. So we said goodbye to our folks, rode our friend Elsie to get to the mainland, and went to the Valley."

"So how did it go?" asked Chuss.

"Well, we knew we had to get their permission to have any chance of being allowed to stay. So we asked a flyer named Quetzar if he could bring the Valley's leaders over to see us. That's when I first really met Littlefoot's grandparents, Cera's dad and stepmom, Ducky and Spike's and Petrie's moms, and Mr. Thicknose. We told them our story and asked if we could stay. Well, of course, they wanted to know if we were telling the truth, so they brought my old friends over to make sure." Closing his eyes, Chomper grinned, "I couldn't stop smiling. Ducky and Petrie were crying with joy, Spike was making so many happy sounds, Littlefoot kept on giving me hugs, and even Cera couldn't help but throw herself at me. Ruby must've got a real kick out of seeing us," he laughed. "When I told them that I got complete control of my instincts and wanted to live with them, they got super excited. They begged the grownups to let me stay. But while they seemed okay with it, they knew that sharpteeth weren't allowed in the Valley. So they called for a public hearing at the Rock Circle, our meeting spot, that would end with a vote on whether they would make an exception for us."

Chomper shuddered. "I knew it wouldn't be easy to convince the Valley that I would never hurt anyone, and I felt so scared I didn't know if I would be able to speak. Luckily Ruby was there with me the whole time, reassuring me that it'd be all right no matter what happened. Then the hearing started. Ruby and I were on the ground with all these big grownups, feeling the eyes of leafeaters from the rocks on the sides boring down upon us. Everyone seemed to be against us at first. They kept interrupting Mr. Bonehead, saying we'd kill their hatchlings or bring in bigger sharpteeth in to attack them. No matter how many times we tried denying it, they kept right on going. To say nothing about the insults that were thrown our way."

"You must've felt really hopeless," Star sighed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, but my friends weren't gonna give up that easily. Even though they were only kids, they started interrupting the accusers to stand up for me. They said not only that I was a great friend, but that they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me biting that plated sharptooth. They fought for me better than I could've, vowing that I'd never hurt anyone here and that they'd take full responsibility if I acted out. Littlefoot even said that if they wouldn't let us stay, they'd leave the Valley to be with us … No doubt Cera helped him come up with that one," he snickered. "That stunned the crowd so much it finally gave Mr. Bonehead the chance to talk."

"So how did your questioning go?" asked the horned sharptooth.

"Well, though he's okay with me now, I could tell Mr. Bonehead didn't trust me at all. So it felt pretty intimidating having him glare at me like that. But he still gave me fair questions. I explained that I had mastered full instinct control, and that I could prove it. Cera told her father about the time I bit her, so he suggested that me and Ruby should run in a line with us, changing the order up so I'd be tempted by the smells of each of their tails," Letting out a laugh, Chomper said, "It sounds funny now, but I was so scared then. We didn't have much to eat on the journey there, so I was really hungry, and their tails smelled so good. But Ruby had given me so much practice with managing my instincts that I had no problems. I don't think they expected me to succeed. Eventually, they upped the ante, bringing me crawlers, tickly fuzzies, snapping shells, and sailbacked lizards to try to tempt Ruby and me, but no matter what, I was able to remain myself and since she ate mostly plants anyway, Ruby had no problem breezing through."

Chuckling, Chomper continued, "After that, Mr. Bonehead had us making a lot of vows and promises. You know, to never hurt a flattooth or steal an egg, that kind of stuff. By then it was clear a lot of the crowd was coming around, so those who didn't want us here started playing dirty. They made threatening gestures, roared and yelled out insults, threw rocks at us, and did whatever else they could to try and get under our skins. It got so bad that they were drowning Mr. Bonehead out, so Mr. Threehorn had to take over since he's loud enough to quiet the crowd. It hurt to feel all that anger directed toward us, but Ruby and I did our best to ignore all that and focus on understanding their rules. Once that was done, they had a vote. It was close, but in the end, we convinced enough grownups to allow us to stay."

"Then what happened?" asked Star.

"Well, since so many dinosaurs didn't want us there, we knew we had to keep a low profile," Chomper grinned sheepishly. "Grandpa Longneck showed Ruby and I some caves far away from everyone else, which became our sleeping spot. We spent most of our downtime there, and the rest playing with our friends. We went on lots of adventures outside the Valley too. That's how we found these guys," Chomper grinned at the little biters. "We found their eggs in a cave, and moved them out of the Valley."

"And we're glad you did," Deya snickered. "For you were speaking to your friends in flattooth, allowing us to learn your language."

"You even moved our eggs on our hatchday, just like how your friends moved you!" Chuss laughed.

"Yeah, and just like your parents, Mom didn't understand and thought you guys wanted to kill us, so she tried hunting you down," Nyko smirked, turning to the others.

"You could've just tried speaking sharptooth," Deya giggled.

"Hey, it's hard to think when you're getting chased!" Chomper giggled defensively, before returning to his story. "So yeah, that was how I grew up. At first, there were times when others tried disturbing us at our caves to get me to lose my temper so Ruby and I would get kicked out. Ruby really helped me remain calm then. But since most of them were the same ones who didn't like the Circle of Elders, a lot of them were leaving the Valley anyway. I didn't really have any other problems until I started growing up. I lived off crawlers and buzzers as a kid, but found it harder and harder to eat enough when I got bigger. Ultimately, I tried starving to death, but that backfired when I lost control of my instincts and almost killed a longneck. But after my parents came to help me and my friends defeat Red Claw, they decided to live by the Valley and teach me how to water hunt. And I haven't had any hunger problems since," Chomper grinned.

"So what happened?" Lola asked.

Chomper sighed. "It all started when Littlefoot's grandparents passed. They kind of kept the whole Circle of Elders together, but once they were gone, the others started arguing amongst themselves. Mr. Thicknose took Grandpa's place as the leader of the herds, but he didn't want to be leader and had a hard time dealing with the pressure. Littlefoot's dad, Cera's dad, and Petrie's uncle all felt that they should lead be herd leader, and were convinced that the other two would be really dangerous. They finally worked it out between themselves, but by then it was too late," Chomper sighed darkly. "While all this was happening, some fires came and killed all the green food around the Great Valley. Since we were the only place not touched, far-walkers from all around had to take refuge here until the outside world turned green again. A lot of these far-walkers were from the old herds who had once lived here, who though while quiet about it, still didn't like the Circle of Elders and everything that had changed in the Valley."

Chomper shook his head. "Nobody really thought they were a threat since they left on their own terms and as long as they were segregated, they wouldn't end up working together. But unknown to any of us, a hollowhorn our age named Leigh had been quietly bringing together all the segregated herds to take the Valley back to the days before the Circle of Elders. No one suspected him of anything since he's a great actor, seeming friendly and even pretending to have a threehorn girlfriend. But one day, it all blew up. A big sharptooth pack invaded the Valley and killed loads of Valleydwellers. At the same time, this weird group of flatteeth tried killing me and my friends. Well, that's what we all thought, but I think their real goal was to force me to kill them so I could be framed. One of them even seemed happy when he died."

"Sick," Lola snarled. "That's just really, really sick."

"Yeah," Chomper sighed. "Anyway, Mr. Thicknose was blamed so he stepped aside, then Littlefoot's and Cera's dads started arguing they should be in charge and attacking each other. They made u.p in the end, but not before the crowd started losing trust in the Circle of Elders. That's when Leigh revealed himself. His girlfriend died in the attack, and he spent the whole meeting crying over her so everyone would feel sorry for him. But then he started speaking gibberish, pretending to be in some sort of trance … And he came out of it claiming he spoke for the circles, and that they told him all of this was happening because of the Valley was integrated, and to change their luck, they had to follow the circles' will, which was of course what he wanted."

"And they believed him?" asked Star incredulously.

"Leigh waited for the moment when the Valley would be at its most desperate, his opponents would be at their most divided, and his supporters all rallied and ready to go," Chomper explained. "Afterward, the bodies I killed were discovered, Shorty was framed for killing a longneck that he didn't like, and my friends had to run for their lives because they loved each other."

Shaking his head, Chomper explained, "Leigh wanted to kill me and Shorty right then and there, but Littlefoot's dad forced Leigh to compromise, so we had a quick trial instead. Trouble was, Leigh got to pick the judges so it was a hopper court, so what it really meant was I had until a verdict to escape. But my friends weren't gonna give up, so while I was trapped by guards, they started organizing a rebellion. They reached out to all our other friends who escaped the Valley's border guards in all kinds of crazy ways, and even made a bunch of new friends as well."

"Don't forget, you called us to help," Nyko teased.

"Hey, you guys know that's not what I meant," Chomper giggled.

"You were singing a pack calling in sharptooth," Deya shot back.

"We were waiting for your call, and now you made it, you're stuck with us," Chuss said naughtily.

"Like you had to tell me," Chomper laughed. "Anyway, since these segregated herds are filled with crazy tough warriors who love killing, my friends figured they couldn't save our home without sacrificing a lot of us. So they figured our best chance was to get everyone together, break us out of the Valley, and migrate down here. If we can't have the Valley itself, we can at least take its spirit in our community with us. And that's how our herd was born."

Chuckling, Chomper continued, "We chose this crater because my friends went there when they were kids and it's well out of Leigh and Goregie's way. Goregie is the alpha behind the pack who attacked the Valley that night, and we've had a few more run-ins with her. She may be of a littler kind of twoclaw than my kind, but my parents and I think she wants to massacre as many flatooth herds and gain as much power as possible."

"That monster tried forcing us to join her pack, but Mom fought her off so we could escape," Chuss growled. "It's her fault our mom is dead."

"That's just too much," the horned sharptooth growled. "Killing for enjoyment and power grabs? It's like she's killing for killing's sake."

"I know," Chomper commiserated. "Anyway, now that we're out here, we're gonna make the most of it. A lot of us have spent a long time in the Valley, so living outside will give us a chance to strengthen ourselves and work on our conditioning, while having a lot of fun too of course. If we learn that we've got a real chance to get our home back without losing a lot of our friends, we're preparing now for that very moment. And if we never get that chance, at least we'll all have each other, and it's our relationships that really made our Valley so great."

Turning to Lola and the horned sharptooth, Chomper explained, "I never wanted to be a pack alpha. I only found you two because I wanted to make sure my friends were safe, and I wouldn't want to see anyone starve or drown in sinking sand. But if you guys still want to be with me even after everything I told you … I'm gonna fight to make sure you get all the same chances that I did."

"But … How?" asked the horned sharptooth. "Forgive me for saying, but … You were hatched by flatteeth. You learned their tongue in the egg, and you didn't have to grow up eating their flesh. Yet you still had so much trouble proving to them that you can be trusted. How can we ever hope to do the same?"

"Well, that's where I'm gonna help you," Chomper said, the excitable little biter that had hoped to teach sharpteeth how to be nice speaking up once again. "I'm gonna be teaching you loads of stuff. Their language for one, just like I'm teaching my flattooth friends sharptooth."

"You really think we can learn flattooth?" Lola asked hopefully.

"Yeah, with a lot of practice," Chomper said encouragingly.

"When we first came, we had really thick accents," added Chuss. "But now that we're speaking their language with them, our flattooth has become much better."

"And I've already started teaching my parents, they knew no flattooth at first but now they can understand and even speak a little," Chomper grinned. "I'm also gonna coach you guys on instinct control, just like Ruby taught me. Maybe she'd want to come over and help, and some of my other friends will want to come over and see you guys too."

"I know he sounds crazy," Lola pointed out to the new sharptooth. "But apart from Shorty here, I already got to meet Ruby and Ali!"

"Great," the horned sharptooth said, but Chomper could tell he seemed a little apprehensive.

"You okay?" he asked kindly.

The horned sharptooth sighed. "I probably should tell you right now … I'm not very good at resisting hatchlings. That's probably why you noticed me in the first place, I really was tempted to have a go at them," he said awkwardly. "I don't have a problem with adults, I've always known they're too dangerous. And I don't get the urge with these guys since they're sharpteeth," he nodded to the sharpteeth. "But … I've never had to resist a flattooth hatchling that was by itself."

Chomper nodded understandingly. "I totally get it. You being able to eat something really good all your life and then all of a sudden you have to stop eating it? It's like telling my friends that they can be in a forest of tree sweets but that they can't eat a single one of them. I don't expect instant success, and that it's gonna take time to wean you off the instinct."

He paused, before saying, "That's why I'm gonna have you and Lola outside the crater for now, helping to keep watch for enemies outside. Get to know everyone's scents inside, and give me a roar if anyone suspicious is coming. All the while we're gonna keep working on both your flattooth and your instinct control, and by the end, you'll be able to both talk with the flatteeth and not have to worry about attacking them. I'm gonna keep practicing with you until you're perfect, and then I'll give you guys a final test just like I had so everyone will know you're a friendly sharptooth. And once you pass, you can officially become part of our herd and live with us wherever we go."

"Even … The Great Valley?" Lola asked.

Chomper sighed. "I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be difficult. Even if we beat Leigh and you become just as safe as I am, there are loads of leafeaters who still don't want me around, and will be even worse once they see me with you guys. But …" he considered his words carefully. "The old Circle of Elders have stepped down, and me and my friends are now the leaders of what's left of the Valley's spirit. And good leaders shouldn't just follow traditions, they should know when to break from them to do what's right."

"Just like you and your friends have always done," the horned sharptooth pointed out contemplatively.

"Yeah," Chomper nodded. "If for whatever reason you guys can't get in, I'm not just gonna leave you. My parents have a cave not far away from the Valley, right by the Big Water. It's really quiet since there's no food for anyone around. That's where I go to do all my feeding since there aren't swimming sharpteeth in the Valley, so you'd be seeing me all the time anyway. My friends too, they like to hang out there. But if you guys want to stay with me … I'll do my best to go all the way for you. And I won't be alone either. My friends will stand up for you, just like they did for me. And our elders have already said they're gonna try to convince the others about letting the biters and my parents in. A lot of them are the old Circle of Elders, so their voices carry a lot of weight. It might take a long time and you might have to keep proving yourselves. But if there's anything I know about my friends, it's that they'd never give up on anything, and you'll always be welcome among us so long as you remain a friendly sharptooth."

"You know," the horned sharptooth pondered. "I've thought of a way that could allow us to gain their trust."

"Really, what?" Chomper asked eagerly.

"Well, since we'd be hunting outside anyway and we've got the better senses, we sharpteeth could become your Valley's protectors," he explained. "We might not be able to take on big sharpteeth ourselves. But we could warn other sharpteeth away and alert the Valley as to danger."

"Yeah, that's exactly what Chomper has me doing right now with the herd!" Lola said excitedly. "I'm guarding the south side of the crater, but maybe you can take the north!"

"My friend Ruby and the halfteeth were gonna do that," Chomper said. "But one whole side's a lot for them to cover, and they're struggling to balance on the cliffs. Maybe we could do something like give you the north, Lola gets the south, and the halfteeth can watch the east and west. That'll make the job easier for everyone with less to do."

"Sounds good to me," the horned sharptooth nodded, before looking Chomper right in the eye. "Well … I dare say you told me everything, right?"

"Pretty much," Chomper admitted.

"And I'm not deterred … So I'm ready to promise my loyalty to you, my Alpha."

"Just Chomper's fine," Chomper smiled reassuringly.

"Okay then, Chomper," the horned sharptooth positioned himself on the ground at Chomper's feet. "What would you like to call me?" he asked.

"Well, what do you want out of a name?" Chomper asked back.

"Hmm … I suppose I've got a good sniffer, to have found you," he considered. "But Sniff would sound kinda silly. Sniffy would be even worse. I suppose I could be a Tracker, considering I tracked you down … I kinda like that name. But it's too close to yours. I want a name that sounds different. A sound I can call my own."

"Hmm," Chomper pondered, before coming up with an idea. "I know, how about Trace? Like you can find a trace of something, no matter where it is?"

Suddenly, the new sharptooth smiled. "Huh, that's really cool. Okay, I'll take it."

"Well then, welcome to the pack, Trace," Chomper beamed at Trace, who happily stood up.

"Does he get a song and hugs?" Chuss asked.

"Nah, Chomper's hands are too small for hugging," Nyko laughed.

"Wait, what?" Trace asked confusedly.

"I think we're gonna save that for when you get through your training, since it requires all the herd leaders, and Lola hasn't had hers yet either," Chomper chuckled. "But we can still have a cheek rub."

"Okay," Trace said respectfully as they exchanged a cheek rub. Chomper couldn't help but grin broadly as they did. He really liked Trace already, and knew he would make a great addition to his fledgling sharptooth team.

"What about you Star?" Chomper asked her. "Do you want to come in the crater and join our herd?"

Star pondered, before shaking her head. "Thanks, but no thanks."

"What?" Lola asked in disbelief. "You must be crazy!"

"I wanna join," Star explained, "But … I don't feel like I should until I help Lola master her instincts. It wouldn't feel right for me to come in while she's still out there."

Lola's eyes watered as she looked at her friend in surprise. "Star, it's okay. You're a flattooth, that's just how it is. You don't have to wait for me."

"No Lola, I want to," Star grinned. "Your sniffer is the reason I'm even here in the first place. And I know it's what both my birth mom and Mom would want. My birth mom wouldn't go to the Valley without Mom, and I won't go without you. We can be together the whole time. I can give you instinct control practice and teach you flattooth whenever you want. Then once your heart finally beats your instincts for good, we can go into the crater together and join the herd side by side."

"Wow … I don't know what to say," Lola said in deep gratitude.

"We'll both get in someday," Star giggled. "But until then, we're gonna have lots of fun together."

"You sure you're up for babysitting my prey drive?" Lola giggled naughtily.

"Yep, and I'm just as up for putting you straight," Star snarked back.

Feeling heartened both with welcoming Trace and seeing just how determined Star was to help Lola, Chomper said excitedly, "You guys ready to head back now?"

"Wait," Trace pointed out. "Something's coming for us."

"What kind of something?" asked Star.

Chomper looked out into the water, not able to see anything but feeling something familiar tickle his nose. As the scent grew nearer, he couldn't help but feel excited.

"Hey Mud Brother! Is that you?" Chomper called out.

"Mud Brother?" Shorty snorted.

"Long story," Chomper explained quickly, before calling out, "Mo, it's me, Chomper! Come on over!"

Then out of the water, a rainbow-colored finned swimmer popped out. Apart from seeing him at his friends' double wedding, Chomper had only really met Mo once, so Chomper wasn't completely sure if Mo would recognize him, especially since he had gotten so big since then.

"Should we attack it?" Trace asked curiously, not able to understand what Chomper was saying in flattooth.

"No, he's an old friend," Chomper answered hurriedly, to which Trace quickly nodded as Lola stared with interest. Then Chomper realized how scary he looked without Mo's other friends and with the company of all these new sharpteeth.

"It's okay Mo, these guys are all nice," Chomper called out, seeing Mo's eyes were wide with alarm. Mo did swim over to the shallower water where Chomper waded out to greet him, but still seemed somewhat panicked, very unlike him. "They're not gonna eat you."

"Oh, that not why Mo worried," Mo told Chomper quickly. "It swimming longneck! She stranded on land and needs help from land walker to push her back in!"

"Right, we'll go help," Chomper said before translating for Lola and Trace.

"Mo show the way," Mo said. "Hurry!"

So after quickly rounding up the carcasses, they followed Mo down the shoreline for a little while.

"I've never seen a swimming longneck," Lola said. "What's it look like?"

"It looks like a longneck, but has flippers instead of legs," explained Chomper.

"And I've never seen anyone like Mo before," added Star.

"He's a finned swimmer," Chomper said. "Their kinds only live in the water and shouldn't be on land. The swimming longneck must've gotten washed ashore."

Soon they heard some mournful wailing. "Is that her?" Chomper asked.

Mo nodded. "She giving birth to baby."

"You mean she's laying her eggs or her eggs are hatching?" Chomper asked, confused.

Mo shook his head. "Water creatures give live birth. They come out with no egg. You'll see."

Sure enough, they could see the swimming longneck stranded on the shore, light green just like Elsie though much younger. Toward her rear, they could see that what appeared to be a hatchling appeared stuck. She appeared to be in great pain, and when she looked over to see them coming, she looked that much worse.

"Sharpteeth, help! Help! Help!" she wailed.

"Rerax," Deya said as Shorty lowered his head to allow her, Nyko and Chuss to descend to the ground.

"We're here to herp," Chuss explained.

Now the mother swimming longneck looked really confused. "Talking sharpteeth, what's next? Oh no, not my baby!" she wailed as she saw the little fast biters running to her rear. The little biters ignored her however as they looked at one another.

"Quick, let's bite down our claws so we don't hurt the baby," Nyko hissed. They hurriedly did so, leaving their claws on their hands much shorter. Then they worked on gently coaxing the baby out. The mother, turning her head around in disbelief, eyed the little biters with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, it's gonna be all right," Chomper soothed once he arrived. "We're not gonna hurt you, we're only here to help."

"Mo know him, he old friend," Mo soothed from within the water.

Then with most of the baby's body out, the little biters gently worked to wiggle the baby out. It ambled onto the shore clumsily, looking confused. Then the biters hurriedly picked it up and put it onto its mom's back.

"How … Why?" she asked, but at that point, Chomper turned to Shorty. "You get ready to push, I'll tell the others."

Then Chomper turned to Lola, Star, and Trace. "Okay guys, we're gonna help push them back into the big water. Ready?"

The three of them nodded, before they joined Shorty in going to her chest and getting ready to push. The mother swimming longneck looked incredulous, but said nothing as Shorty and Star used their front paws while the sharpteeth used their heads to push her back into the water, while the biters stood and watched for more swimming sharpteeth. Before they knew it, the swimming sharptooth had safely been pushed back to sea, and nodding in thankful incredulity, she dove back into the water, the little baby by her side.

"Wow," Deya said quietly. "We just helped a baby."

"And saved their lives," Chuss muttered in wonder.

"Huh," Trace said thoughtfully. "It feels kinda strange … But good too."

"What do you mean?" Chomper asked curiously.

"Well in the past, all I ever did was take lives," Trace muttered. "It feels kinda weird actually sparing someone. But … I like it. It feels good."

"Yeah, I know what you mean!" Lola exclaimed. "Just because we're sharpteeth doesn't mean that we can't do some good in the world!"

"Yeah," Chomper grinned delightedly.

"Hey," Mo asked once the swimming longneck disappeared. "If you come all this way, does that mean other mud brothers come here too?"

"Yep!" Chomper giggled.

"Wow!" Mo exclaimed. "Maybe Mo come and meet you guys soon! Mo will be right here in this water."

"Sounds great," Chomper smiled. "I'm sure they'll love to see you!"

"Okay, great!" Mo exclaimed, before saying, "Mo's water kin don't know where Mo is, so bye for now. But Mo family migrate down here with water getting cold up there, so Mo can see you real soon!"

And chuckling happily, Mo dove back into the water before swimming off into the distance.

"Come on, we've got our own home to go back to," Chomper said in flattooth before repeating it in sharptooth, and with that, they began to make their way back to the crater. It was a funny feeling, saving the day not with his friends like usual, but with his other new brother and his fellow sharpteeth. But he felt good, for not only did he take part in a good deed, but he did so in a way that gave the term friendly sharptooth an entirely different meaning, one that he didn't think possible. And that felt better than any piece of fresh, juicy meat ever could.


Running as fast as he could with a ripped off longbody tail in his mouth, he couldn't believe all the nonsense he had overheard. Sure, he had only asked all those questions to that blubbery oaf to distract him while severing off the tail, it was obvious he would fall for it being a white-eye at that age. He probably couldn't even kill any hatchlings. But the story was just too unbelievable for anyone that stupid to make up. A sharptooth pack that was friends with leafeaters? What was the world coming to? He'd need to talk to his father for an explanation, not hearing anything so weird in all ten of his cold times …

"There you are, son."

His father's voice rang out as he arrived at the outskirts of the woods where his father was waiting. Many sharpteeth liked to hide while in rest, afraid that leafeaters may attack them or that they may be preyed upon by bigger sharpteeth. But his father was not only the biggest sharptooth he knew, but also one of the bravest, having taken on two fully grown twoclaws all by himself. He had no fear of ever being attacked.

"Not bad, not bad," his father said amusedly, eyeing the longbody tail in his mouth.

"I nicked it," he boasted. "From some stupid old white-eye. A big twoclaw."

His father chuckled. "Sounds too easy."

"I know … Only …" he trailed off. "He told me some crazy story. He claimed he got the longbody from a sharptooth pack that protects leafeaters."

His father shook his head. "You're right, he is crazy. It's probably a couple stupid halfteeth and he can't tell the difference. Only how could they get a longbody?"

"I thought so too, but he said it's more than that," he explained. "He said there were six of them. Three biter kids, a onehorn, a browridge, and a twoclaw, all white-eyes. And a longneck that spoke sharptooth."

"He must have had some rotten meat," his father said, before his face suddenly grew thoughtful. "The twoclaw would be the alpha, right?"

"Yeah."

"And his skin color?"

"Blue."

He looked into his father's eyes, which had lost all of their jovialness, and he looked deep in concentration. But then a knowing smile slowly grew across his father's face as he smirked with triumph.

"Son … I thought of a way to finally darken those eyes of yours," his father said slowly, causing his heart to beat with excitement. "Just do everything I say."