The Land Before Time: The Passage to the Future

by AllegroGiocoso

One thing is certain, nothing ever stays the same. For Littlefoot, this had never been truer, for the thing he had been dreading most had come to pass. But this in turn leads the whole Great Valley into chaos, and suddenly Littlefoot and his friends find everything they know and love has been thrust upon their shoulders. A sequel to my prior fanfic The Time of Great Growing.

48. Chapter 46 - Testing the Seams

Hi! So glad to be back, with a new chapter covering lots of things today!

So timewise, it's kind of disjointed. There will be a few scenes happening at night, followed by a few that happen in the morning from various points of view. Setting things up before the first real day of training.

Special thanks of course to Zee Docking and Ryan6783, who've helped me for ages on this project and keep this whole thing running with ideas and encouragement. I don't know if I would've gotten this far without them!

Please fav/follow/review if you wish, and The Land Before Time and its universe belongs to Universal.

Chapter 46 – Testing the Seams

As he stood on top of a big rock and surveyed the eyes of his lovely minions upon him in the black of very early morning, Leigh couldn't feel more confident. While the meeting with the savage sharptooth had been predictably pointless, at least he had received some valuable information from that pompous wingbrain. Now he knew that his enemies were headed south to some kind of crater, and anywhere that could host such an infestation of dissidents surely couldn't be difficult to find. And while the news that were now more sharpteeth among the heathens may have infuriated the bestial egglayer, it failed to even disconcert him. After all, it only provided a valuable rhetorical tool for him to utilize.

He couldn't help but grin as he reveled in his newest brilliant plan, concocted while lying in the luxury of his lavish waters. Sure, he could always go for a direct assault. He and his followers would easily be able to send those pests to their well-earned doom. But he needed most of them here to ensure his hard-won grip of this fertile, beautiful land wouldn't slacken. Besides, there was a more suitable way to destroy them. One that without requiring a lot of power, could strike at the heart of his opposition and drain them from the inside. A move of cunning that would be indirect yet extremely effective, giving them the prolonged, painful fate that they so richly deserved …

"Thank you for coming, all of you," Leigh purred as he observed the rapt crowd, standing in five distinct, rigidly purified clusters. Unlike most of his prior speeches in which he addressed the entire Valley, this one was made for a select target audience, one that felt far more comfortable and satisfying to be around. He had gone and informed five herds – the nesting bigmouths, the swimmers, and the three kinds of hollowhorns – to send forth a selection of young warriors to the Valley's edge to prove their worthiness to take part in a truly worthwhile mission. A fine selection of strapping males had arrived, eagerly awaiting further word. Too many, in fact. There was no need to dispatch all of them when just a small contingent would suffice.

"You might be wondering why I have gathered you all out here," Leigh smiled. "Well, the circles have told me where our enemies are located."

Murmurs of hungry excitement broke out among the crowd.

"They are to the south of us, inside of a big crater, festering away as we speak," Leigh explained. "But of course, not for long."

The crowd grew silent with this pronouncement. "You want us to kill the traitors?" asked a round-crest.

"All by ourselves?" asked a long-crest excitedly.

"Oh no," Leigh chuckled to looks of disappointment. Then he grinned malevolently. "At least … Not directly."

Having piqued their interest, Leigh pressed on. "If the circles thought mere force was the best option, they would have had me bring forth the simpleminded four-footed kinds to this occasion. But alas, those piteous fools were unable to ensure that those wretched prisoners remained in their prison, and so needless to say they are wise enough to not trust them with a mission of this magnitude."

As the twofooter warriors jeered mockingly at the failure of the fourfooters, Leigh said calmly, "Now I trust that all of you fine warriors have mastered the art of the warning call?"

Many of the crowd struggled to conceal their sudden feelings of disappointment. "Oh come on!" roared an angry bigmouth. "Is that all …" he paused however, for Leigh only broadly smiled back at him.

"Yes, but it is hardly all," Leigh explained with a subtle sneer. "Now, you know the true reason our warning calls are so effective? Because we are among the most finely perfected of all dinosaurs, the billed, or beaked, dinosaurs of the divinely uniquely created kinds, or duckbills for short. To protect each of us duckbills without having to resort to hideous body armor or bumbling bulk, the circles have granted us with the ability to emit a call so shrill that it can only be heard through the specially designed hearing receptors in the ears of their fellow kinds, and to a lesser extent, the ears of other duckbills. This alerts our herds of danger from the savage sharpteeth without also alerting either them or the boorish four-footers who'd only get in our way. Besides, the circles would much rather see mere four-footers as sharptooth food, anyway."

Basking in the crowd's sardonic laughter, Leigh continued, "Of course, that is not all the call does. The jarring calls also rapidly rise our heartrates, allowing us to reach top speeds at a moment's notice in order to escape from those pointy-toothed heathens. And of course, our calls are so powerful that even just one mere moment of it is more than enough to capture the attention of an entire herd and save them from the brink. Indeed, as I'm sure you have all been warned, issuing a prolonged call can be very dangerous."

Then Leigh grinned wickedly. "But what if the circles have told me that for once, we are not to use our given abilities merely to warn, but also to cleanse? To use our calls in a prolonged capacity that would rapidly rise blood pressure and heart rate, which in turn would lead to uncontrolled migraines, unbearable pain, and ultimately, even a stoppage of blood flow that could only lead to sudden death?"

Many of the crowd muttered curiously, but none more so than the cluster of swimmers, who were grinning darkly at one another. "You mean … We're gonna use our calls as a weapon? To cause that cutesy egglaying disgrace to our blood's heart to give out … Destroying her once and for all?"

"Precisely," Leigh nodded, grinning as he clasped his hands smugly. "And not just her. You get to rip that whole disgusting branch off your family tree as well … Her mother, nestmates, aunts and uncles, and the younger clutch … That little tyke of a brother especially. All without laying a finger on them."

While the swimmers looked at each other in awe, the others looked at Leigh in disappointment. "Well, if their calls are gonna take out the swimmer brat, what are we supposed to do?" asked a long-crest in frustration.

Leigh chuckled, shaking his head. "May I remind you that your kind is hardly excluded from that dastardly herd? Like, for instance, a certain little blue runt who hangs around that ghastly pink threehorn brat."

This quieted the crowd as Leigh explained, "Of course the young herd leader is our biggest target, and her fellow swimmers will lay the most damage on her. But that is not to say that the rest of you won't land further damage. And besides, if you succeed, the impact you will land will be on far more than just one swimmer. Four of the proteges the herd leaders corrupted are also duckbills, as are three of the little threehorn brat's friends, at least one of those older hooligans, and countless elders. And of course, all the little traitors that have abandoned your herd and taken the route to craven immorality."

Leigh paused to let them take it all in, before he said, "If we succeed in driving even a portion of our targets to elimination, the damage we could land would be immense. The other herd leaders' spirits would be broken without their old friend and the countless loss life around them. So would the spirits of all the others. Despair would seep in, leaving them vulnerable to further attacks, whether by us if called upon or from the dreaded sharpteeth outside."

Grinning smugly, Leigh knew now was the time to drop the big reveal. "There is also a second part of the mission. Recently, the circles have told me that the big blue oaf of a sharptooth had recruited two more of his foul kind."

Leigh let the others murmur angrily. "Alas, this should hardly come as a surprise," he sighed in mock despair. "It would only make sense that impure beings would be cavorting with the dreaded scourge that seeps from the Smoking Mountains. Undoubtedly, such creatures are conspiring to rid the world of all righteousness, destroying us purified beings in their wake. I have consulted with the circles, and they have told me that you are to purge them from our world before they can reap any further damage. When you return to me, I would like to see both foul beings' bodies at my feet. And if you can somehow defeat the gigantic twoclaw responsible for all this, that would be all the sweeter."

"When we return?" asked a swimmer. "I thought this was a quest where we sacrifice ourselves to serve the circles. After all, we'd get killed from hearing our own calls, right?"

Leigh chuckled, shaking his head. "Brucad, will you come forward, please?"

A great gray bigmouth emerged from behind the rock, holding onto what looked to be handfuls filled with small objects. Bending to the ground, he revealed a bunch of golden beads. Of course, while he knew they were made of wax from stinging buzzer nests, that's not how he would explain it.

"These," Leigh said smugly, "Are ear shields fashioned by the circles for their finest warriors. With these, you shall be protected from your calls that will penetrate the ears of your corrupted counterparts."

"Yeah, but there's not enough for all of us," grumbled a swimmer.

Leigh grinned. "Well, not all of you will be going. Most of you shall remain here, guarding your herd's own domiciles. Only five of each kind shall earn the privilege of going on this mission. But upon your success, each of you will be richly rewarded. You are to be promised rights over whatever egglayer you want with a lifetime guarantee, allowing you to promulgate your bloodline that much further."

This generated instant murmurs of excitement as the crowd of warriors looked at one another hungrily.

"Now then," Leigh said smugly. "I will be letting out a milder warning call myself. Those that can stay still standing without reacting the longest shall prove their fortitude, and thus will earn their place in this vital mission."

And so Leigh did. It took only a little while for twenty-five warriors, five of each kind, to emerge victorious in the trial. When the proceedings were finished, each winner grabbed a pair of ear coverings before heading south as a unit with the other four of their kind. Then Leigh turned to Brucad.

"Here you go," Leigh said, taking the ear coverings out of his ears and giving them to Brucad. "Make sure all goes well with the others. And see if that worthless eggstealer has arrived and if he can give me any insight."

Brucad grunted, displeased to have received secondhand ear coverings but not objecting any further.

"Trial work getting boring?" Leigh asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," Brucad grunted. "Now the heretics are all gone or dead. But that's not why I'm doing this. I want my brood from that rotten egglayer. And revenge on that filthy pink eggstealer for stabbing me with that tooth."

Leigh chuckled. "I knew I could count on you for some proper motivation."

And with a dark laugh, the two big twofooters parted ways as Leigh headed back into the Valley. Sooner or later, many of his enemies would be dead. And the rest of the heretics will soon crumble in their wake.

"Poor Goregie," Leigh sighed mockingly to himself. "Ah well. At least she's got a bit of time before she gets blighted."

---

Huffing furiously, Goregie gnawed on a longneck bone as she tried to think. Those rotten grass guzzlers were proving far too meddlesome. Not only had they killed off her trusty spies but were recruiting and brainwashing treacherous white-eyes. The very idea of these shameful defectors befriending the prey made her blood congeal with fury. She had to put an end this nonsense once and for all, to return the world to its rightful place, where flatteeth cowered at the very mention of the sharpteeth who rule over them, and she would stop at nothing to protect the natural hierarchy.

That stupid flyer thought the only way she'd destroy her enemies was by teaming up with that highfalutin hollowhead laughing at her every misfortune. Well, she'd prove them both wrong. First, she'd destroy that herd just as she did every other, then she'd invade that stupid flattooth paradise, finally swiping that smug grin off the hollowhorn's face as she'd slowly sever his neck. Word would spread of her two triumphs, causing all the other flatteeth to panic and start breeding rampantly, knowing they had little time left to carry on their bloodlines. And order would be restored, where proud sharpteeth would enjoy free reign over the lands, with no combined herd ever daring to emerge again.

Still, these adversaries were proving stubborn, and could land tremendous damage to her pack with a direct assault. No, she'd have to split them apart from the inside, and she had just the plan to do it.

"Canthor?" she barked abruptly at her ever-present beta.

"Yes Alpha Goregie?" Canthor asked.

"Go over to the smoking mountain and bring me over the best team of white-eyes we've got," Goregie ordered.

"But … The only white-eyes we've got are little hatchlings!" Canthor said in surprise. "Don't you want someone bigger?"

"You think I don't know that?" Goregie snapped. "I need them for a mission."

"Oh, yes your gorgeousness," Canthor bowed before skulking off.

Goregie strode through the dark, barren land in search of an empty cave. Much as she liked ambition, this mission had to go without a hitch, and she couldn't have any old red-eye blundering in. This needed to be done stealthily, to bring down the herd's morale and destroy their fragile alliance from the inside …

She waited and waited expectantly until at last, she saw Canthor arrive, accompanied by three young two-crested girls, about nine cold times old. They seemed to be triplets, all having the same color scheme of being mostly salmon pink with cream bellies, bright yellow jagged stripes on their backs, dull-golden crests, their only difference being their sclera were in different shades. They followed Canthor in, marching in a straight line before Canthor stood off to the side, allowing the triplets to stand in a row facing Goregie, dropping down to genuflect before her, respectfully lowering their heads and holding their arms to their chests with their hands on their hearts.

"Rippa, Maude and Kyda at your service, reporting for duty, your highness," said the center two-crest, Rippa, respectfully as her two sisters nodded.

"Excellent," Goregie said. "I can see why you three have earned Canthor's trust as among our finest white-eyes."

The girls couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably. "Forgive us, Mistress," Rippa sighed dispiritedly. "Try as we might, we have still not grown into our eyes yet. We …"

"It's quite all right," Goregie interrupted. "Actually, you being white-eyes is exactly why I need you. For I need a team of our most capable white-eyes for a very important mission – to help destroy that combined herd once and for all."

"But … Why would you use us?" Maude asked.

"So sorry, mistress," Rippa apologized, glaring at her sister.

"Because," Goregie said hungrily, "You're going to infiltrate their herd and pretend to be "friendly sharpteeth". You know, sharpteeth that hang around the prey."

"Eew," Rippa shook her head in disgust.

"I know," Goregie chuckled darkly. "Disgusting, isn't it? But that's exactly why I'm sending you in. You see, the great blue traitor who came up with this whole nonsense is trying to build his own sharptooth pack. Right now, it just consists of him, his lame parents, three biter kids who got away from us, and two overgrown white-eyes who are trying to follow him into this disgusting madness. Your mission is to pretend to join this pack while all the time seeking to destroy it."

"But how do we do that, your highness?" Rippa asked.

"Twofold," Goregie smirked. "First, you try manipulating the others. Their alpha is too far gone, don't even try messing with him. And his parents have no use to us. No, it's the two teenage white-eyes, a browridge and a onehorn, and the three biters you should be targeting. Act like the biters' best friends and try cutting them off from their flattooth friends. Doing so will make it a lot easier to bring them to me. And convince the two bigger sharpteeth that they could never fit in. Do this stealthily and make sure to remain friendly, all the while building up your goodwill with them."

Pausing to make sure the triplets understood, Goregie continued, "Your other objective is to pretend to be friends with the flattooth hatchlings your age. There are loads of these brats, some of whom are even the descendants of my parents' murderers. Most of them are newcomers to the herd themselves and would eagerly embrace new friends, even if you can't even speak their language. You are to slowly gain their trust, and eventually, they will open up to you and become vulnerable for you to prey upon."

Then Goregie grinned wickedly. "Once you've fully gained everyone's trust, it is time for you to show your true colors. You will attack a hatchling, preferably a sibling of the herd leaders. Attack more if you can manage it. When you do, one of our flyers will be waiting for you and will be able to bring you back home, where you will be forever honored among our pack. Possibly even gaining your true eye color once and for all."

The triplets grinned each other. "Wow, you are so smart, Mistress Goregie!" Rippa exclaimed enthusiastically.

"I know," Goregie grinned back. "But that's not even the half of it. Once your mission is complete, the herd will see the folly of trusting sharpteeth and turn on those traitorous fools. They will be lost, with nowhere to go. That is, until we capture them and bring them here. Then they will have a choice. They can either starve to death, clinging onto blind loyalty … Or they can see the wisdom of seeking revenge and join us in our quest to bring the rest of them down. They might talk a big game at first … But who knows what they'll be like once their stomachs start begging them for mercy."

"It sounds like a great plan, Goregie," Kyda beamed.

"It's Mistress Goregie to you," Rippa shoved her sister.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Kyda said self-consciously.

"Oh it is," Goregie grinned. "Of course, before I can trust you three to carry it out, I require some demonstrations of complete fealty. Do you three wish to proceed?"

"Oh yes," the triplets all said at once, prostrating themselves even lower.

"Excellent," Goregie beamed. "So repeat after me. I may be a little sharptooth."

"I may be a little sharptooth," the triplets repeated.

"But I carry with me the honor and pride of our pack."

"But I carry with me the honor and pride of our pack."

"And I will carry that with me wherever I go."

"And I will carry that with me wherever I go."

"And I will not rest, by the fresh blood in my veins, to carry out my alpha's brilliant vision."

"And I will not rest, by the fresh blood in my veins, to carry out my alpha's brilliant vision."

Rippa looked at Goregie hopefully. "What do you mean, the fresh blood in my veins?"

Goregie grinned smugly, before pricking her own skin with her two-clawed hand. Her claw glistening with her blood, Goregie grinned, "Each of you, stand up straight with your arms at your sides."

The three girls complied, before Goregie poked a blood-stained claw into Rippa's elbow, before going onto Maude's and Kyda's.

"Now my blood is in all three of you, to ensure none of you will fail me," Goregie explained. "You feel it inside?"

Rippa, Maude and Kyda looked amazed. "Oh, thank you Mistress Goregie!"

"We never thought we'd receive this honor!"

"We know we can never fail you now."

"And you won't," Goregie smirked. "But that's only your first way to show your loyalty. To ensure that none of the three of you become corrupted, you are to exchange blood amongst yourselves. That way, any betrayal is not only of your alpha, but of your own flesh and blood. I'd like you to witness you prick yourselves, then share your blood with both of your sisters."

"We will, Mistress Goregie," Rippa said proudly, before she and her sisters complied, exchanging their blood amongst one another.

"Thank you very much, oh great Goregie," Rippa said enthusiastically when they finished. "We are proud to carry out your mission and we will never let you down."

"We're not worthy of you, oh great one," Maude and Kyda said at once.

"You're all proving your worth right now," Goregie grinned. "One day, I know I can count on each of you to be among my most effective hunters and will enjoy slaughtering those brutish flatteeth just as much as I do. When you succeed, you will be welcomed back with highest honors, and I will start training you personally to join my top unit of big game killers."

"We cannot wait, your ladyship," Rippa said to the nods of her sisters.

Then Goregie turned to Canthor. "Canthor, take our young blood to one of our flyers to carry out this mission. Tell them to fly south in search of a crater. Upon discovering it, have them drop our spies off before they make their way to the crater ourselves." Goregie then turned to the triplets. "This flyer will reside in the area throughout your stay, and between the three of you, you are to report to them with your progress. Ultimately, they will be the ones to bring you back here once your mission is completed. May your strength as sharpteeth carry you on this quest, and you will forever be remembered as paragons of glory unlike the world has ever seen."

The two-crests nodded before bowing one last time. "We will do you proud, Mistress Goregie," they said devotedly before Canthor led them out of the cave. Goregie grinned smugly. This friendly sharptooth pack idea was going to fall apart before it could even get started.

---

Standing vigilantly in a dark, rocky clearing, his heart pounded as he desperately surveyed the area for any sign of his precious daughters. One the sole survivor of his battle-scarred past, the other embodying his new start as a guardian of their paradise. Through all his travails, he remained steadfastly loyal to them as any good father should. But now, they were on the verge of being taken from him. He shook his head, quavering with rage. Anyone who tried hurting his daughters was going to pay and pay dearly.

"Come out if you dare, you cowards!" he roared at the faceless shadows. "Show your filthy faces or you're gonna regret it!"

He bared his horns as he cast his head expectantly, wondering if any of those lowlifes would dare show themselves. Then he heard it. A faint but highly irritating sound of smug giggling. He stood defiantly, waiting for its source to reveal itself. But while no physical form emerged, the giggling continued to grow louder and spread, seeming to come from a whole bunch of disembodied voices at every turn.

"Come out and face me!" he shouted furiously.

At once, a gigantic horde of whiptails suddenly appeared before him, continuing their eerie, mocking giggling at him. His attention, however, was solely on one of the whiptails, who was biting onto the tails of two little threehorns, dangling precariously high above the ground as they screamed, trying in vain to break free of their captor's very firm grip.

"Give me back my daughters!" he bellowed, only to receive more scornful, jeering giggles.

He huffed, angrily pawing the ground as he set his sights on the big-bodied, tiny-brained lout holding his daughters. With all the force he could muster, he charged forward, wanting to inflict as much pain as he possibly could on this disgusting twisted jerk. Anything to make him scream with agony and relinquish his little girls …

But then everything suddenly went black. The longnecks were all gone, as were his daughters. However, the longnecks' laughter, if anything, intensified. Then the ground gave out and before he knew it, he felt himself falling, hurtling faster and faster as he heard two sets of screams he'd know from anywhere.

"CERA! TRICIA! NOOOOOO!" he called out desperately.

He awoke with a start. It took him a while to reorient himself, remembering that he was now at a new sleeping spot, with Tria dozing comfortably at his side. He felt his heart grow cold when he first saw his two girls were absent. Then he slowly remembered that Tricia was with her friends in the sleeping caves, Cera wasn't the little girl she once was, and that big longnecks certainly couldn't appear and disappear at will, nor would they giggle like freakish hatchlings. Sighing, he realized it was just another rotten sleep story. He hated those, turning what would've been a good night's sleep into one ruined by implausible terrors or long-ago painful memories. It was part of why he always discouraged Cera from taking sleep stories seriously. But on rare occasions, these bad sleep stories could be useful if they spurred him into taking some kind of action. Which was just what this sleep story did.

Checking to make sure he didn't awaken Tria, he slowly got up and began to walk. In the past, this would've been something he'd talk to Longneck about. Idealistic as he was, Longneck was always able to remain calm and keep things in perspective, and the last thing he wanted was to create a panic that Cera and the others would have to deal with. But it just so happened that there was another old longneck he could talk with, one who would remain stoic in the face of fear and valued doing over mere talking.

Looking carefully for the long, jagged scar going down the longneck's skull and onto his neck, he didn't say a word until knowing for certain that he found him. When he did, Topps gave him a gentle prod to the head. At once, the old whiptail opened his eyes, looking at Topps without showing much expression. Just the kind of reaction Topps was hoping for.

"Er, hello," Topps said awkwardly. "Mind if we, um, take a walk? Can't sleep. I've been thinking."

Doc nodded understandingly. "Can't say I was sleeping myself," he replied, and careful not to awaken Dara, he slowly got up and went over to join Topps. The pair walked for a bit in silence as they strolled away from everyone else's sleeping bodies. Topps tried to speak, but to his surprise, felt a lump in his throat. He couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable starting a conversation with the intimidating, stone-faced longneck, especially given that he had once accused him of bringing bad luck. But knowing he had to clear this tension out of the way, he pressed on. "Look, er, Longneck, or Doc, I didn't mean to give you so much trouble back then. I, er, well …"

"It's all right," Doc interrupted flatly. "Actions speak louder than words. I can tell by seeing your daughters that you've raised them well and always meant for the best. Besides, Destiny would kill me if I held a grudge against her friend's dad."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Topps laughed heartily, appreciating Doc's dry humor and feeling much of the initial tension dissipate. Getting more serious, Topps continued, "So I've been thinking about those rotten hatchlings bothering our kids. I'm sure Destiny must have told you about all the crap they said like Tricia told me. But while they may just be pests, their grownups are bound to be much more serious, and Cera and the others have got enough to deal with. I propose that we try to defuse the situation ourselves and make clear to their elders that any bullying or aggression will not be tolerated."

Doc nodded thoughtfully. "I agree. They'd only see our leaders as kids and wouldn't take them seriously. They might even try to attack them. The only ones they might listen to are large elders who can handle themselves in a fight."

"Yeah," Topps sighed. "I know if Longneck were here, he'd want to try talking with them. But no disrespect to him, but I have my doubts. They probably wouldn't want anything less than us leaving. The only thing I can think of that might get them to tolerate us is if we kill off that sharptooth they were complaining about. But who's to say it's anywhere around here, or if it even exists? I haven't seen a sailbacked sharptooth in ages, and Thicknose says they're not usually at dry places like this. Besides, even if we could cut some sort of deal, who's to say they'd keep their word? I mean, this is a herd that's tried to kidnap from us."

"Yeah," nodded Doc darkly. "Best we can do is get our message out while showing our strength. And knowing these kinds of herds, it's probably best if a whiptail does most of the talking."

"You mean yourself?" Topps asked.

Doc nodded. "Short and to the point should give them the message. Still, I'll need some backup. No way their herd wouldn't attack a lone messenger. But there can't be too many of us, otherwise they'd see it as a threat."

Topps snorted. "Well, you can count me in. Who better to stand tough for those of us who aren't longnecks?"

"Right," Doc pondered. "You and me would still not be enough though. We need reinforcements in case they come at us from either side."

"I'd like to see them try messing with Sue and Ross," Topps chuckled. "They're so big they could probably break one of their necks if they had to. You know Dara far better than me of course. You think she'd want to come?"

Doc nodded. "She might help soothe tensions."

"Good thinking," Topps nodded. "Probably should get Longneck, I mean Bron, over here too. He's had to work out deals with a lot of numskulls, even Hiss Head. If it hadn't been for him, Chomper and Shorty would've been killed by those rockheads."

"Sounds good," Doc agreed.

So without waking anyone else up, Topps and Doc gathered the rest of the party.

"Right," Topps said after briefly explaining. "Shall we head out then?"

"Not quite," Bron advised. "We better know where they are first. Otherwise, we might go the wrong way and meet a sharptooth. Let's get Pterano to scout out from above. He's used to flying out of trouble and can spot them out from a safe distance."

So they woke up Pterano and waited for him to return. When he did, he looked disconcerted.

"They're out that way," Pterano pointed to the west. "But be careful. They're awake."

"At this time?" Dara asked in surprise.

"Yes," Pterano said darkly. "It seems the adults are angry at their hatchlings for their failures. There's a mass tail flogging going on."

"No wonder their kids turn out the way they do," Bron said in disgust.

"It looks like a herd meeting might be happening," Pterano advised. "The adults are all seated in a circle. No doubt they could be coming up with a plot to undermine us. I think we should send a spy in."

"You mean you?" asked Topps.

Pterano shook his head. "No, I'd be too visible. They'd find me just like those old double-crossers of mine found Ducky. I'd suggest either Guido or Avie here. They can fly but are far less conspicuous than me, and since they're crawler-eaters, they've got better hearing. I think my sister and I should be nearby to help in case either of them get into trouble, and you all should hang back until the meeting is over before getting in your piece. If all goes well, we might get both intelligence and negotiation out of this."

The others nodded, appreciating Pterano's knack for cunning strategy. Then Pterano woke Mama Flyer, Avie and Guido up and explained the situation.

"What? Spy on those mean longnecks?" Guido asked.

"Relax, they probably can't even see you," Avie advised.

"You do camouflage with the grass," Bron said encouragingly. "And Pterano's right. Longnecks have a blind spot for little things being so big. Steer clear from the hatchlings and their heads and you'll be fine."

"And if the worst happens, rest assured we'll take one of their kids hostage until they stop," Topps said brusquely.

"But it won't come to that," Sue giggled. "You're little, so use that to your advantage."

"Believe me Guido, I've had more than my share of leaving others behind," Pterano sighed regretfully. "So much so that I cannot stomach the possibility again. I'll personally have your back and ensure that nothing bad will happen to you."

Guido nodded. "Thanks Pterano. Makes me feel a lot better."

"I'll even gather you some crawlers if you want," Pterano chuckled. "Give you something to look forward too later."

Guido chuckled. "Well, I'll probably be hungry soon enough."

So flying low to the ground, Pterano led Mama Flyer, Avie and Guido over to the longnecks' lair, the bigger fourfooters following behind from a distance. By the time they arrived, the tail flogging had ceased, and the disgraced hatchlings had joined the adults in the circle, holding their heads low in shame. Luckily, although their gathering spot was devoid of trees, there was plenty of tall grass that Avie and Guido could hide in. Both of them fanned out, looking for a spot just within hearing range that was also a safe distance away from the others. The little gliders very glad that the longnecks didn't have eyes on their rear ends. As long as they didn't move too much and attract attention, they were as safe as they could be in the circumstance.

"Pathetic, all of you," glared an elder. "We've had to work hard, wandering everywhere to grow this herd big enough to ward off all those bigger longnecks. Now you're telling me you couldn't even recruit those hatchlings?"

"They wouldn't come," one of the hatchlings explained. "We tried even dragging them along. But they're crazy blood-traitors. It's like a freak show or something. And they've got grownups backing them up. They even threw rocks at us!"

"You told them about the sharptooth?" the elder asked.

"Yes, but they don't care," pouted a hatchling. "They like sharpteeth. The whitish whiptail they have even hangs around three biter brats!"

"Yeah, and her ugly friends with their big horns and crests and bony tails," mocked another hatchling. "Worse still, they sent another sharptooth at us!"

"You sure?" the leader asked, before turning to one of the grownups. "That's what you saw too?"

"Yep," said the grownup darkly. "I tried helping them finish the job, but then this mixed-up group of grey hooligans held me off. Stupid twofooters, most of them. They've got no business messing with us longnecks."

"What disgusting attitude," scoffed the leader. "It's absurd to think we have so many aliens are in our territory. Now I trust you hatchlings have done some scouting around. We can deal with the others in our sleep. It's only the grownup longnecks we've got to worry about. I want to know what we're dealing with there."

"Well, they've got two spikenecks, a wide-mouth, a clubtailed and an armored longneck who seem a bit older than us," explained one of the kids. "Then they've got a whole bunch of old-timer flatheads."

"Ugh, I hate those porkers," growled one of the elders.

"Yeah, always taking our food," shook another one's head. "Should've known some of them would be involved."

"One of the so-called herd leaders is even a flathead, though they're all just big kids," explained another hatchling. "There's a younger female of that kind, one of those big boxheads, a really longnecked longneck, and two smaller boxheads."

"Don't forget their other elders though," said a kid. "Two whiptails, the white brat's folks. She claims her daddy's the Lone Dinosaur, like that makes any sense. Then there's a pair of gigantic freaks, that really big kind of whiptail and a boxhead even bigger than the normal big ones."

The herd leader shook his head. "Disgraceful. All these little longneck kinds should've been driven out long ago. And the Lone Dinosaur, please. That's just a stupid bedtime story. Right kids. Continue to do more scouting. See if any of those whiptail kids show any interest in joining us, and report to a grownup if they stray too far away from the herd. Capture the little whiptail with the big mouth. No chance she'd come willingly, but we could use her as leverage to force her parents into joining us. As for us grownups, we're gonna deal with those brats of herd leaders ourselves. Tempting as it is, we don't want a fight. If we lose a lot of our members, it'll make it that much easier for another herd to swoop in and take our territory. Hopefully we can make them see the wisdom of leaving and that will be the end of it."

"What about the sharpteeth?" asked one of the hatchlings. "We can't have them lurking around. And worse yet, one of their leaders is a sharptooth!"

"Rest assured, the grownups will take care of that," the herd leader sneered. "But if one of them tries attacking any of you, we give them an ultimatum. Either they dispose of the sharptooth, or we fight. Hopefully they will see sense and know that one sharptooth is not worth it. Any more questions?"

With no one saying anything, the herd leader said, "Meeting dismissed. For now, just stand by and be on the lookout."

As the elders began to stood up, Avie and Guido took advantage of the commotion and glided off back to the group of elders, who were waiting nearby.

"You guys might have a chance to work something out," Guido said. "They don't want to fight, as they don't want to lose their numbers. They did say lots of bad stuff though. Chomper's gonna have to be really careful."

"We'll have plenty of time to fill you in later," Avie said. "But it's probably best that you don't know anything else yet. Don't want to slip you know anything you shouldn't."

"Good thinking," Bron said before the flyers and gliders went back to the crater.

"It actually makes sense that they'd rather not have a fight," Dara muttered. "If they lost half their herd fighting us, another herd could come in and take their territory. That's actually a concern my old herd had, since whiptails weigh less than other longnecks."

"Yeah, but we can't trust those bums on anything," Topps growled.

"No," Dara agreed. "But I imagine if they'd want to fight, they'd rather ambush us when we're off our guard than have a fair fight."

"Of course we should keep our guard out," Bron said. "But I think we can deescalate any aggression if we negotiate a conditional peace and prevent immediate conflict."

"You remind me so much of Longneck," Topps teased. "It's a good thing Doc here'll be doing the negotiations. He'll give off the right attitude."

"And he also wouldn't go blabbing his mouth off like you would," Bron rolled his eyes.

"Hey," Topps harrumphed, shocked yet also amused by Bron's snappy comeback, before they all drew closer to the herd. While the meeting had mostly dispersed, the herd was mostly still awake. Soon, some of the kids started noticing the adult party arriving. Leaving no chance for them to plot a sudden ambush, Bron called out, "We come here in peace on behalf of our herd. All we want is to talk without hostilities. If you could send some envoys to discuss terms, we would very much appreciate it."

The kids scurried back home, before six great grey whiptails walked forward, not among them the herd leader. They leered at their visitors intimidatingly.

"You freaks better get out of here," one of the longnecks warned. "This is our land, and we're gonna fight you for it."

Doc stepped forward. "You sure you feel up for that? Because it wouldn't only be our herd who'd suffer losses."

The longnecks muttered to each other, knowing he had a point.

"We're not trying to drive you out," Doc said. "We don't even want to be here. But so long as we are, we'd both be better off if you let us be."

There was a pause, before one of them gave a nasty grin to Sue and Ross. "Wait a minute … We've seen you two before. Where's your ugly dirty-blooded baby?"

Sue bristled. "How dare you," she hissed, barely suppressing her rage. "My Herbie is not ugly!"

"So it's still alive," jeered one of the whiptails. "Pity. We thought it might be sharptooth food."

"Herbie hasn't done anything to you," Ross said in cold, livid fury. "So leave my boy out of this."

"You two great louts are pathetic. I guess your kinds are so wasteful that you've got to mix or there won't be enough to go around, and there'll be more freaks like your baby in the future," smirked another, but before Sue or Ross could respond, Bron called out, "Enough."

Looking at Sue and Ross warningly, Bron said, "Obviously, your herd and ours don't see things eye to eye. But this is not about that, or even us becoming allies. This is about avoiding pointless warfare that will only hurt both our herds in the long run."

"We don't take lectures from a fat flathead," scoffed one of the whiptails.

"Then take it from me," said Doc. "Much as we don't like each other, our herd wants peace and hope yours will too. That means getting your kids to stay away from the crater and stop causing trouble for ours. But in return, we can offer you something."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" snorted one of the whiptails.

"A promise to help you deal with the sharptooth," Doc growled. "Your hatchlings need to be safe from it, just like ours. Describe it for us, and we'll alert our herd to keep a lookout for it. And if we find it, we'll protect you from it."

The whiptails whispered to each other, tempted by the offer. "I'll speak with our leader and see what he says," one said before getting up, walking away.

Soon he returned. "Our leader has agreed to tolerate your presence. Much as we don't like you hanging around, we want to get rid of that filthy sharptooth even more. As for your leaders," he said mockingly, "Tell them this. The sharptooth we want dead is a tan sailback with a reddish-yellow belly and stripes on its sail. That great brute brought down scores of our hatchlings and even some grownups. Bring us its body once you find it. We want to throw its rotting corpse into the smoking mountain where it belongs. And if we find out you let it go … We'll know about it."

"Right," Doc said curtly. "So no more hostilities, right?"

"So long as you keep your word," said one of the whiptails. "Now leave."

"We'd be glad to do so," Topps snorted, fighting very hard to not sound overly sincere, and with that, the two parties split up as they started trudging home.

"Jerks like those," Topps snorted in disgust. "Is why I had problems with longnecks. Arrogant blowhards with very small brains," he sighed, turning to Bron. "It wasn't until I got to really know Littlefoot and your in-laws that all longnecks were not like that.

"You don't have to tell me," Doc nodded. "Want to know why I always remained a wanderer? Because I couldn't take these kinds of herds. Being alone allowed me to be who I wanted. Until I met Dara that is."

"And Doc and I got along since we liked that about each other," Dara snickered. "We both thought we would be loners forever until we met." Turning to a still huffing Sue, Dara asked, "You acted like you knew them, Sue."

Sue nodded angrily. "I think Ross and I might. You explain, Ross. I don't know if I can."

"Well, one time soon after Herbie hatched, Sue and I went out to find food for him and ourselves," Ross explained. "Herbie was bullied by plenty of jerks, so we decided to raise him in a cave where he could be free of bullying and bring food to him there. One time we were out gathering tree stars for him, we saw a small group of adult whiptails. For some reason, they were making a big commotion. We were wondering what they were even doing. They were making so much noise they could attract a sharptooth. Sure enough, a sharptooth shows up. But rather than run or try to fight, they just walked right over to our cave. The sharptooth of course followed, so we had to drop what we were doing and hustle back home to deal with the sharptooth. It was only then that the whiptails started taking off."

"So you mean they tried luring the sharptooth to the cave to attack Herbie?" asked Dara in disgust.

Sue nodded. "That's what it sure looked like, and while I never saw their faces, judging by what they just said, I reckon these were the same sickos. I had to bite my tongue so hard not to lash out at them and give them a piece of my mind. But I can tell you this, I wouldn't put it past any of them to go back on their word. They may promise to leave us alone, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't watch out for them."

"You two in particular need to be careful too, even apart from Herbie," Dara told Sue and Ross.

"What do you mean?" Sue asked.

"You heard how they called you two great louts and insulted your kinds?" Dara explained. "Often, our kind doesn't like either of yours because you eat a lot even for longnecks. My old herd always said it was good there weren't many of you around. It's part of why they probably wanted to kill Herbie too, and they might even want a go at you two if they feel they have a chance."

"Yeah, I wouldn't put it past them," Ross said, shaking his head. "You think they might go after you too?"

Dara nodded gravely. "I may be a bit old, but I'm still an "egglayer", so it's possible I'm fair game. I'm gonna have to be on guard myself, just like you guys. At the very least, they might want Doc or me just to boost their numbers."

"Course, they won't be able to hold either of us down for long," Doc snorted.

"Still, we probably should tell the herd leaders what the sharptooth looks like," Bron cautioned. "It wouldn't be right to hunt down a sharptooth who's done absolutely nothing to us. Fortunately, Chomper and the other sharpteeth have got far better senses than any of us flatteeth. I reckon we should leave it all up to them. If it shows up, they should warn it that the whiptail herd wants revenge and to stay clear of the area. Only if it doesn't listen and tries attacking us should we pursue any further action."

"Maybe we can let it eat some of their hatchlings first though," Topps chortled darkly. "It's not like they don't deserve it."

And quietly, they headed back into the crater before going back to sleep.

---

"Hey Sam, wake up!"

The little swimmer blearily opened his eyes as he saw his threehorn friend looking expectantly at him, her eyes alive with enthusiasm.

"Huh?" Sam mumbled, noticing that the other hatchlings his age surrounding him were still asleep. Except …

"Where's Perri and the biters?" he asked.

"Outside," Tricia said breathlessly. "Now hurry! We can't wake the grownups."

Stretching and yawning, Sam nodded and carefully making sure not to trip on anyone, he followed Tricia out of the cave. Upon getting out, he saw that the sky was still very dark and that all the herd deputies guarding the caves were sound asleep. However, the rest of their little gang was all there, all of whom seemed to be struggling to contain their excitement. The three biters were also present, and seemed to have the others' rapt attention as Tricia and Sam walked in.

"Okay, got Sam," Tricia hissed.

"Great, let's move," Mono muttered, eyeing the sleeping teens apprehensively. The others nodded in silence before surreptitiously making their way to the shade of a vacant tree.

"What's going on?" asked Sam curiously. "You guys look like you came up with something awesome."

"We did," Tricia grinned. "We're gonna see Trace!"

Sam looked surprised. "But I thought the grownups said that kids can't see him?"

"Yeah, but since when has that stopped us?" Mono smirked.

"Besides," Oplax soothed, before nodding to the biters. "They don't know who we've got with us."

"Yeahr," Nyko whispered. "He's fine wirth us since we're sharpteeth. He won't rose contror if we speak sharptooth."

"Thart's why Star's safe with Rora, since she can speark sharptooth," Deya added.

"We've been thinking, Lola's got Star to share her cave with, but Trace hasn't got anybody," Rachelle explained. "He's gotta be feeling lonely in there."

"But he'll be in for a real surprise once he finds out we're there for him!" Destiny added.

"He handled our big sis okay," Pearl reasoned. "And she's not really that big herself. If he can see her, he'd be okay with us."

"Plus, he just ate last night," Garnet chuckled. "So he won't even be hungry."

"So whad'ya think?" Tricia asked eagerly.

Sam nodded brightly. "Okay, I'm in."

"Great," Tricia grinned, before turning to the biters. "Lead us there, guys."

So without another word, the biters led the others to the crater's north side, weaving around all the dozing grownups. They got to the rim without a hitch, but upon looking down, they came to a stop. Patrolling the rocky hillside was Darby, one of the new runners who had joined the herd. While looking tired as he let out a small yawn, he was nonetheless dutifully pacing, scanning the horizon for possible dangers.

"Oh darn, how are we gonna get past him?" Tricia whispered.

"It's not jurst him," Deya warned. "There's rots of runner guards stirr around."

"And we arr gortta hide," Chuss added, nodding to the twins. "I smerr your dad coming."

So the kids lowered themselves to the ground, curling up as though they were lifeless stones, as they silently watched Papa Fast Runner arrive.

"Hi Darby, doing well?" Papa Fast Runner asked.

Darby nodded. "I'm okay. All's clear around here. Not a peep, other than some snores inside the cave. Hopefully the new sharptooth's getting a good night's sleep."

"Yeah, I can imagine he'd use some," Papa Fast Runner chuckled. "I'm just amazed at how good his control is. I talked to Ruby about it, she thinks it's because he had to raise himself and had to learn not to jump at everything that came at him. Resisting his urges back then probably makes it a lot easier for him to resist his urges now."

"Still, your daughter's got some nerve," Darby laughed. "I wouldn't be able to get so close to a sharptooth like that, especially if they can't say any flattooth!"

"Yeah, she never fails to amaze me," Papa Fast Runner laughed, shaking his head. "It's no wonder she gets along with her so friends so well, they've all got nerves of fire rocks, even when they were kids. Even Petrie, as much as he worries, pulls off just as much stuff as the rest of them. I'm just glad the Valley's elders were able to keep them all safe growing up. Not sure if Coral and I could've done it, especially with the twins giving us enough mischief."

Garnet and Pearl grinned sheepishly as the rest of the kids struggled to stifle their laughter.

Darby nodded knowingly. "Two's plenty! When Dot and Opal hatched, Umber and Sienna had such a hard time watching over them, even with help from the rest of us grownups. And don't get me started about Ginger's triplets. I'm so glad our kids now have other friends their age they can play with, and other grownups that can keep an eye on them."

"Yeah," Papa Fast Runner chuckled. "Your herd's kids seem to be settling in well."

"Oh yeah," Darby beamed. "It's like a sleep story come true for them. The hatchlings are almost like their own herd in there!"

"Yeah, and they can really help their new friends, since hands come in handy," Papa Fast Runner smirked. "Especially when the others are all grown up, and the swimmers and spikethumbs' hands get really big."

"We better teach them to make sure they don't get stepped on before then," Darby shook his head.

Both runners laughed, before Papa Fast Runner said, "Well Darby, you better get some rest."

"I could go longer, we're used to long sentry shifts in our old herd," Darby offered.

But Papa Fast Runner shook his head. "Yeah, but you need some time to relax. I'm sure you'll feel a lot better after you had something to eat and drink and a good nap."

"That does sound nice," Darby admitted.

Papa Fast Runner nodded. "Let's get inside and I'll find someone else to take your place."

"Well, thanks," Darby said gratefully as the two runners began to climb the crater's rim. The hatchlings made sure to stay deadly still as the grownups passed, not daring to make a sound. Eventually though, the biters sensed that the coast was clear, and beckoned the others to follow. Fresh off the close call, the kids could barely contain their racing hearts as they scurried down the hill and off to the little cavern. It wasn't long before they could see the boulder marking its entrance.

"Okay guys, let's push," Tricia said eagerly, and together, the kids began to push on the boulder as hard as they could. It was a struggle to get it to budge, but soon enough, their combined strength began to inch it forward.

"Hey Trace, it's urs," Nyko called out excitedly. "And our friends! They're here to seer you too!"

A muffled grunt came from the cave's inside.

"I think he likes us!" Cassia said eagerly.

"Just a little more guys, then we'll bust this thing open!" said Mono excitedly.

"Hey, I think he's helping us!" Garnet observed.

They paused to find that sure enough, the boulder was slowly getting pushed out from the inside, with several low, rumbling purrs accompanying the repeated headbutts.

"He's moving it better than we did," Rachelle said. "Maybe we should get out of the way and let him finish."

"Sounds good to me," grinned Oplax.

"What do you tykes think you're doing?"

Whirling around, the kids felt themselves grow completely cold as their mouths dropped in horror. There, sprinting toward them, was Hyp, with an expression both frightening and furious. Accompanying him were Mutt and Nod, and while neither looked nearly as severe as Hyp did, their larger bodies made them nonetheless very intimidating. Nervously, the others turned to Tricia, who stuttered innocently, "Um, hi Hyp! We were … We were …"

But she was interrupted by a loud, ominous roar from the inside.

Deya, Nyko and Chuss looked at each other frantically. "Oh no!" Chuss gasped. "He's not himserf!"

"Trace, can you hear me?" Deya cried out desperately in sharptooth, but her pleas went unheard as Trace continued to ram into the rock, hitting it harder with each attempt, the sound of falling rock knocked down by his furiously whapping tail and his angry bellowing adding to the cacophony.

"He can't hear us," Nyko said worriedly.

"Well, what did you expect? He's out of control!" Hyp shouted angrily. "This is why you overgrown eggs were told to just stay away from him. But no, you just couldn't help yourselves, and now look at the trouble you've caused!"

Tricia's gang was unable to respond as Mutt said uncertainly, "Calm down Hyp."

"Yeah, getting mad's not gonna help now," Nod agreed, eyeing the cave anxiously.

Hyp sighed, realizing they were right. "Don't you kids even think you're out of the woods yet," he growled. "But lucky for you, we've got bigger problems to deal with first. Now get behind us."

"But …"

"Now!" Hyp shouted. "Unless you want to be sharptooth food!"

Tricia's gang knew he had a point, so they wasted no time in getting behind the three grownups. Seeing this, Hyp then turned to Mutt and Nod. "Mutt, you push that boulder back in before he gets out. Nod, you stand guard over the hatchlings and keep them safe."

"What about you, Hyp?" Nod asked.

But no sooner did Mutt reach the boulder than the young horned sharptooth managed to slip through the gap between boulder and cave. The little biters looked at each other in horror. In contrast to the polite, soft-spoken sharptooth they met yesterday, Trace now looked downright frightening. His pupils had shrunk to half their normal size, his eye shape had angled considerably, and the warmth that was previously there had been replaced by an eerie fixation. They could tell without doubt that he was in a deeply predatory mindset, and the only thing they could hope for was that his condition would not worsen.

Unfortunately, Mutt was plainly not handling himself well in this precarious situation. As the horned sharptooth sniffed the air loudly, Mutt let out a terrified whimper. This instantly attracted Trace's gaze, and Mutt shuddered as he felt Trace's eyes boring into him.

"Don't eat me, aaahh!" Mutt wailed as Trace let out a rumbling growl in response, eyeing the spikethumb's pudgy body longingly as he took a couple steps closer. Panicking, Mutt let out a scream as he turned tail and tried to run for it.

"No don't!" Nyko called, knowing that running away would be the surest way to escalate a sharptooth's prey drive. But it was too late, for Trace let out a bloodcurdling roar and began to pursue Mutt, drool dripping from his mouth. Luckily, Mutt's bulk meant that the ground shook a bit in his wake, resulting in the much less sturdy Trace losing his balance on the already uneven hillside. This gave Hyp a few critical seconds to react as the sharptooth, slightly dazed but still focused, got back up to resume the chase …

"Uggghhh!" groaned Hyp as he chucked a rock with all the force he could muster, aiming for Trace's head. While the rock missed, hitting Trace's elbow bone instead, it did succeed in registering an impact and diverted his attention away from Mutt, who looked on in horror as the sharptooth turned to look for the source of his pain.

"Mutt, go back in the crater and get Chomper over here now!" Hyp roared.

"But what if he's asleep?" Mutt whimpered.

"Then wake him up!" Hyp snapped impatiently. "And make sure he gets here pronto!"

"Oh … Right," Mutt said nervously as he hurried into the crater, looking back to make sure Trace wasn't following him. Trace however, had noticed the hatchlings behind Nod, and licking his lips, he began charging at them. As the hatchlings screamed and Nod braced himself to try and block the attack, Hyp knew he had to react in an instant. So without even taking a breath, he scooped up another rock and furiously lobbed it. This time it made its mark, landing squarely on Trace's head, and this time, succeeded in diverting the sharptooth's attention toward him.

"Nah-nah, come get me!" Hyp shouted, sticking a tongue out at Trace mockingly.

Hissing furiously, Trace began to chase after Hyp, roaring as he gnashed his teeth and snapped the air. Hyp, however, had a good head start, for he was prepared to run the moment he antagonized the sharptooth. He could accelerate much quicker than the bulkier Trace too, so by the time Trace had reached top-speed, Hyp had already reached his destination at the edge of the woods. "Can't catch me," Hyp called out, making sure Trace's attention was still on him and safely away from Nod and the hatchlings. Upon seeing Trace continue to charge at him, angrily roaring with each pounding footstep, Hyp saw a drooping vine, giving him an idea. Hurriedly, he climbed it up, landing on the intersection of the tree's trunk and a thick, upward-sloping branch. Sticking his toes slightly into the bark to secure himself, he pulled up the vine and tucked in his tail to ensure no part of him could be reached by the grounded sharptooth. He had to admit, being little had its advantages. Hopefully all he had to do now was wait it out.

He watched as Trace lumbered into the woods, eyeing Hyp with great frustration. Hyp braced himself as the sharptooth took a jump at the tree, only for the branch to be firmly out of bite range. Hyp smirked, glad he picked a tall enough branch to avoid being pulled down. Still, he began to wonder what his next move should be, knowing his safe spot could be jeopardized if the sharptooth bit at the tree's stump and brought the entire tree down. As he considered his options however, he realized that the sharptooth had no interest in going after the tree stump, instead leaping up at Hyp repeatedly, undeterred by his repeated failures. Hyp shook his head in amused relief, for the sharptooth wasn't thinking clearly. But then again, of course he wasn't. This wasn't a conscious killer who could think strategically and change course, but rather a predator driven entirely by uncontrolled instinct and the urge to keep pursuing.

He continued to wait, watching Trace continue to try but fail to reach him. And eventually, Trace started to show the telltale signs of exhaustion - taking longer between jumps, aiming more wildly, and letting out ragged, huffing breaths. After one particularly wild miss in which he slid painfully into the ground, Hyp began to wonder what it would take for the sharptooth's prey drive to finally subside. But as he did, he noticed that Trace's irises were beginning to dilate, the contracted shape of his eyes was beginning to to fill out, and his snarling jaw was starting to slacken. Then after another ill-fated leap, rather than get back up and try to jump up at him again, Hyp saw with astonishment that the sharptooth remained completely still, other than to hang his head and stare silently at the forest floor.

Cautiously, Hyp waited, knowing it could be fatal to let his guard down. He wished Chomper could just get there already. But then he heard an angry growl of what had to be a curse word in sharptooth and watched Trace lower a clenched hand to the ground, pounding it furiously. Then he brought his tail around to his mouth and gave it a quick bite. Considering how resolute and furious his eyes looked and how they hardly reacted to the actual bite, this clearly was a form of self-punishment.

Hyp shook his head. Trace had clearly come back to his senses and realized what he must have done. He didn't even seem to notice Hyp on that tree, probably because he was too consumed with his own thoughts. Letting out a snarl, Trace looked behind him apprehensively before standing up and skulking deeper into the woods, still hanging his head in shame. It then occurred to Hyp what could be going through the sharptooth's head. While he knew Chomper to be a kindhearted and easily forgiving figure, he figured Chomper would have to adopt a level of austerity to convey to the other sharpteeth how serious attacking flatteeth was. Knowing what it was like to have a goodhearted yet demanding father, Hyp shuddered to think how his dad would react if he screwed something so important up so badly. He wouldn't blame Trace for feeling as though Chomper would flat-out disown him, or that he might even be in for a beating or worse. And considering Trace had been under Chomper's tutelage for less than a day, he might feel it better to run away than deal with Chomper's wrath. Shaking his head, Hyp knew, as uncomfortable as it was, that he had to do something about it …

Hurriedly jumping off the branch, Hyp scurried after Trace. It felt utterly weird to be tracking down a sharptooth, especially one that had just tried hunting him. Nonetheless, it wasn't long before he caught up with the sulking, dejected-looking sharptooth. "Hey, come back!" Hyp shouted. He knew that while Trace wouldn't understand his words, the sound would at least get his attention.

As Trace stopped and turned back to face Hyp, it was then that Hyp realized how young the sharptooth really was, no older than he was in his bullying days and undoubtedly feeling just as insecure inside. Only he wasn't as good at hiding it, for in contrast to his earlier ferocity, his expression now looked like that of a discouraged hatchling, as if he wanted to impress but failed miserably at it. Hyp knew what that was like, remembering how often he didn't feel like he was appreciated by his dad. But while words wouldn't be able to reach the young sharptooth, tone and gesturing could more than handle the job …

Trying his best to remove his naturally hard-bitten vocal edge, Hyp said calmly, "It's all right. I'm not mad at you. Heck, I'm not even scared of you. I can see now what you're really like."

Trace stared at Hyp, not comprehending but nevertheless attentive as Hyp kept on talking. "I know you couldn't help it. Those hatchlings drove you crazy. Believe me, I know what that's like, they make my skin crawl sometimes," he smirked. "But they're gone now. It's just you and me."

Trace continued to stare, surprised with how at ease Hyp seemed considering he had just hunted him. Seeing this, Hyp beckoned him to come closer. "I may not be the biggest one around," he snorted. "But I'm no baby, so I'm not scared. Ruby said you handled her easily. If you can see her safely, you'll have no problem with me. I'm all hard muscle, there's no baby fat you'd want to chew off. And if you try to taking a snap, I've got my tail ready to knock you back into shape."

The young sharptooth seemed to understand Hyp's motioning as he cautiously approached. Gritting his teeth to make sure he wouldn't snap, he took a couple steps toward Hyp, sniffing him carefully. Hyp couldn't help but seize up a little at first, but then he realized Trace was probably trying to both learn his scent and catch Chomper's scent on him. Then to his great relief and even a little bit of wonder, Hyp saw Trace crouch down and nod to him respectfully.

"There, that's more like it," Hyp said as Trace held out his clawed hand, which Hyp accepted a handshake with. He smirked playfully. "If someone told me I'd get this close to another sharptooth, I'd have thought they were out on spiked flowers. But it's obvious you're just who Chomper says you are."

Trace nodded slowly before his face fell and he shuffled himself around awkwardly before crouching down behind Hyp.

"Hey, what's that about?" Hyp asked confusedly. Then he heard it. Heavier footsteps were coming, and Hyp looked up to see Chomper lumber in, looking unusually grave. From behind, Hyp could feel Trace's apprehension. Before Hyp knew it, Chomper was standing right before the two of them.

"Thanks for keeping him busy, Hyp," Chomper said appreciatively, trying to sound casual but without the normal sparkle in his voice. "I'll take care of it from here."

"Right," Hyp said uncertainly. "But … Don't be too hard on him. It wasn't his fault."

"I know," Chomper said, before Hyp backed up to watch the two sharpteeth begin to converse.

Chomper bent down so he was nearly level with the already crouched Trace, before saying, "Hello Trace."

Trace stood up defensively. "Don't you dare hurt me," he glared, but his fear easily showed behind the façade.

"It's okay, I'm not mad at you, I promise," Chomper said reassuringly, understanding why Trace was reacting like this considering the warnings he gave.

This surprised Trace, who dropped his act entirely. "But I thought you said …"

"It's okay," Chomper interrupted. "It was just a bit of bad luck, and no one got hurt. Besides, everything that happened was completely out of your control."

Trace looked slightly relieved, but still seemed concerned. "I still don't understand … How did I get out here? One moment I was resting, the next thing I know I'm jumping at that flattooth like crazy!" Trace asked urgently, nodding at Hyp. "Why was I chasing him? I wasn't lying to you, Alpha, I really thought I was safe with grownups!"

"You are," Chomper pointed out. "He's still here and you're not chasing him. And you did great with Ruby yesterday. And they're two of the littlest grownups in the herd."

"Then how come I was chasing him before?" Trace asked.

"Do you remember anything?" Chomper asked.

"No. I just woke up like this."

"Well, did you have a sleep story before it happened?"

"What does it matter?"

Chomper could tell from Trace's tone he was touching on a nerve. "Trace, I wanna understand. I need to know what this was like from your perspective. Not to punish you, but so we know the danger signs and and stop this from happening to any of us again."

Trace nodded dispiritedly. "Yeah, I had a sleep story. I don't remember everything, but I remember something smelled really good. I wanted it bad. So I started chasing, and kept on it … Until I came to my senses out here and I realized it must've been him I smelled. But I still don't get it … Why did I chase him in my sleep? When I'm fine with him now?"

"I think I know," Chomper explained. "He wasn't the one who triggered your instincts. Cera's got a little sister named Tricia, and she's got a bunch of friends her age. We warned all the kids not to get near your cave, but Tricia's gang gets into almost as much trouble as we did at their age," he grinned ruefully. "So they tried to give you a visit anyway."

Sighing, Chomper continued, "They snuck over to your cave, which must have woken your instincts up while your mind was still asleep. Hyp and his friends didn't come until later, but by that point the kids had riled you up so badly that you'd hunt anything. This happened to me once too, I was tricked out of a cave with fresh meat when I tried starving myself. I would've bit another longneck if Littlefoot didn't snap me out of it."

"I see," Trace said, before sighing with discouragement.

"What's wrong?" Chomper asked.

"Did those hatchlings do this to get rid of me?" Trace asked. "Because if I'm that much of a problem, I can just leave. They're hatchlings after all. I'd understand if they wouldn't want a hatchling killer around."

"No, the opposite," Chomper chuckled. "They really wanted to meet you and become your friends. Deya, Nyko and Chuss even came along to help, only they were so excited they spoke to you in flattooth. Same mistake I made once."

"Some friend I must've been," Trace said dourly.

"Don't worry," Chomper snickered. "They never give up on anything so easily. Just we're gonna work up to it before then so you don't lose control again."

"So you're really not mad at me?" Trace asked, still in disbelief.

"No, you and Lola are just starting out on a journey that no sharptooth had undertaken before, and it's only natural you'd make some mistakes," Chomper said understandingly. "Besides, you're more than mad enough at yourself," he said, eyeing Trace's self-imposed bitemark.

Trace nodded uncomfortably. "I still don't feel good about doing it."

"That's actually good," Chomper said encouragingly. "Your heart's in the right place, and that'll make fighting your urges that much easier."

Trace nodded. Looking as though he wanted to change the subject, he saw that Hyp was still with them. "So you said his name's Hyp, right?"

Chomper grinned. "Yep. He's one of the flatteeth in our herd. I've known him ever since I was a kid and he was about your age. He seemed really big back then, if you'd believe it. He thought so too, he even sang a song about it."

"Hey, are you talking about me?" Hyp said, noticing the glimmer of mischief in Chomper's eyes.

"Just telling him who you are, he asked," Chomper giggled.

"Well, then tell him what's really important," Hyp smirked. "That I'm not scared of him one bit, that I'm tougher than I look, and I'll pound those little tykes for messing with him later."

"Right," Chomper said before translating for Trace.

Trace nodded in relief. "Glad he understands. He's not gonna really hurt those kids though, is he?"

"Nah," Chomper laughed. "He likes to act tough but he's really nice when you get to know him."

"Sounds a lot like Cera," Trace commented.

"I guess," Chomper chuckled. "And just like her, you don't want to make him mad."

"You think he's mad at me? For hunting him?" Trace asked.

Chomper shook his head. "It's Tricia and her friends he's mad at. Mostly because he was worried about them. He'll never admit it, but he's got a soft spot for them," he chuckled. "He actually seems to like you though. I bet it's because you're a sharptooth. He may not be very big himself, but he loves feeling big, and he probably feels a lot bigger with you around."

"He sure acts a lot bigger than he is," Trace agreed, watching Hyp's confident swagger.

Chomper grinned. "He's got a whole crew he hangs out with, and even though he's the littlest, he's definitely the leader. He's even gone on a couple adventures with us, including the time we saved Deya, Nyko and Chuss's eggs, though he wanted to kill them at first." He sighed, shaking his head. "Of course, he's okay with them now that he knows what they're really like. Just like everyone else here, he's learned a lot."

Trace nodded. "He still smells pretty good though. No wonder I kept chasing him when I was out of it."

"Yeah," Chomper chuckled. "Don't tell him that though, or you'll get bopped in the nose."

Hyp spun around suspiciously to face the snickering sharpteeth. "If you two are making any wisecracks …"

"Uh-oh, gotta be more careful," Chomper told Trace as all three laughed before heading back.

No sooner did they leave the woods than Chomper smirked at Hyp. "Hey Hyp, you see who I'm smelling?"

Hyp snorted. "Course I do. They're my crew after all. I better let them know I'm okay before Mutt starts wetting himself. You guys can follow if you want. That way the others can see what Trace is really like."

"Good point," Chomper said. "I'll ask him and see what he thinks."

As Hyp sprinted out, Trace noticed the other grey forms Hyp was approaching. "Who are they?" he asked Chomper.

Chomper grinned. "Those are Hyp's friends."

"Wow, they really seem to like each other," Trace said as he observed Hyp greeting them. "But I'm kinda surprised."

"About what?" Chomper asked.

"Can I be honest?" Trace asked.

"Yeah, sure," Chomper answered.

"Well," Trace said, very glad he was saying this in sharptooth and from a faraway distance. "I would've thought Hyp would have tougher friends. You know, like longnecks or threehorns or something with big muscle to back him up. But spikethumbs, bigmouths and boneheads don't have much armor, and if you flip a shieldback over they're defenseless. I'd be too little to take them down, but against a browridge like Lola or a twoclaw like you, they'd be helpless."

Chomper smirked. "You're still thinking of them like a hunter would, like they're prey items."

"That's not what I meant," Trace said quickly.

"It's okay, that's how you've had to live," Chomper said understandingly. "But watch, Hyp and his friends will give you a real surprise. You wanna go see them?"

"Sure, I guess," Trace answered.

Meanwhile, Hyp had returned to his friends.

"Oh look, it's fearless leader," Weald teased.

"Hello to you too," Hyp snorted.

"You're all right!" Mutt called out.

"Course I am, whad'ya expect?" Hyp smirked.

"How'd you get away from the sharptooth?" Nod asked.

"It was too easy," Hyp boasted.

"You mean you didn't wait for Chomper to do all the work?" Rana teased.

"Or maybe the new sharptooth snapped out of it on his own," Dispo added.

"No you morons, I lured him away from those little tykes all by myself!" Hyp snorted.

"I knew you had a soft spot for them," Ann snickered as the others laughed.

"Will you shut it?" Hyp shook his head amusedly. "Mutt, Nod, you tell them all what really happened."

"How could we?" Mutt asked. "You told me to go back in and get Chomper."

"Besides, I thought you said you did it all by yourself," Nod smirked.

"Oh fine," Hyp shook his head impatiently.

"Like you didn't want the excuse to boast anyway," Weald chuckled.

Hyp gave a death glare before continuing, "Well, I ran into the woods with him in hot pursuit. Then I climbed up a tree and waited for him to snap out of it. All without feeling any fear inside."

"I've never seen you climb a tree before," Rana snorted. "Then again, you are a squirt."

"I like my feet on the ground," Hyp smirked, readying his retort. "But just because I don't do it much doesn't mean I can't, unlike you big fatsos."

"Well, I think you're just making it up," Ann wheedled. "You've got too much pudge to actually climb up."

"I do not," Hyp snapped. "I can climb any tree in my sleep."

"Then prove it," Dispo snickered. "We'll even give you a vine."

"Yeah, then we can all watch you making a fool of yourself," Ceph snickered mischievously.

"Shut it, bonehead," Hyp snorted. "But hold that thought. First, we've got to show him what we're really made of."

"How are we gonna do that?" Mutt asked before the eight young adults when into a huddle together.

As they finished muttering together, Chomper and Trace arrived. "Hey guys," Chomper smiled. "Trace wants to say hi," he explained as Trace gave them a courteous bow.

"He's not gonna chase me again, is he?" Mutt whimpered.

"Of course not, as long as you don't try running away from him again," Hyp teased before turning to Chomper. "We'll introduce ourselves, but you better translate us right so we don't sound stupid."

"Okay," Chomper chuckled before Hyp started, going slow enough so that Chomper could growl along a live translation. "Well as you know, I'm Hyp. I'm not gonna give you the sob story of my growing up. Let's just say that I wasn't happy, even when we reached a place where there weren't any sharp … Uh, where we could call home," Hyp said, quickly correcting himself as Chomper nodded in understanding, careful to gloss over Hyp's flub. "But my life changed at about your age when I met … Ugh, I hate getting mushy. I'll just let you two tell it," he nodded to Mutt and Nod.

"Really?" Mutt exclaimed. "Um, okay. So Nod and I grew up like brothers. We did everything together and always hung out together. But that made a lot of bullies mad since we're different kinds."

"Yeah, until Hyp came in and got those jerks off our backs once and for all," Nod explained. "We've been friends ever since, and he taught us how to act tough so no one would ever bully us again. Though we were kinda bullies ourselves, especially Hyp …"

"Yeah, go ahead, blame it all on me, I dare you," Hyp smirked, as Nod continued, "But one thing was for sure, we made sure that we'd stand tough for each other and not take crap from anybody, no matter how big they were."

"And that's just what we did. It was just the three of us for a long time, before we started to get to know these guys," Hyp said, nodding at his other friends. "These are Ann, Dispo, Rana, Weald and Ceph. We started hanging out with them when we started really growing up, and we're sure glad we did. And just like us, they've all put up with a ton of crud."

"My dad and I used to belong to a herd of unruly savages," Ceph shook his head in digust. "We escaped and took refuge in the Great Valley. I was scared of everyone at first, after living with my crazy folks so long. But once I started to relax, I found it really fun to hang out with these guys."

"I always lived back home, but like everyone else, I grew up in a segregated herd," Weald said. "It's when Dad started being a teacher and these three started flunking Dad's lessons that we started hanging out."

"You don't wanna know what he's talking about, trust me," Hyp warned. "You're safe so long as you don't know any flattooth. And if you learn some, pretend you don't know any if you know what's good for you."

"I lost my folks and made it to the Valley by accident. By which time I became hooked on spiked flowers," Dispo smirked naughtily. "So I fit right in with the bad boys club."

"Boys club, please," Rana snorted. "I was an orphan too, only unlike Dispo, my no-good parents didn't want me, but who cares about them. These guys are more of a family than they'd ever be."

"And then there's me," Ann said. "My parents snuck me out of my old herd because they didn't treat girls well. I met Rana right afterward, and we hit it off. Then we started hanging out with the guys. It took Hyp some pride to suck it up and let us girls in, but now he knows it's totally worth it."

"Especially since he realized he needed some more muscle to back him up," Rana smirked.

"Hey, I just wanted you two to show me what you were made of," Hyp snorted playfully.

Chomper laughed as Trace looked surprised. "What do they mean, what they're made of?" Trace asked.

"You know, Trace asked me something I'm wondering too," Chomper laughed. "What are you guys talking about, what you're made of?"

Hyp and his gang smirked knowingly at each other. "I thought none of you hatchlings would ever ask. Well, long before Cera finally started shaping you guys up, we've come up with our own moves to fight off anyone's who really asking for it. In fact," Hyp grinned, eyeing each of his gang, who grinned mischievously back. "I think it's high time we show you what we mean. Ready guys?"

Hyp's gang nodded determinedly, and Chomper and Trace watched as Mutt, Ann, Rana and Weald lined up in a row, squatting down as they flexed their arm muscles, holding up their elbows while lowering their closed fists, leering menacingly. Dispo and Ceph followed, the two slightly smaller twofooters jumping onto their friends' backs before getting into the same hunkered, intimidating posture. Meanwhile, Hyp stepped onto Nod's back, who got behind the others before Hyp jumped from off Nod's back onto Dispo and Ceph's shoulders, where he too got into the same threatening crouch. Together, the stacked-up friends were able to create a thick wall of grey muscular bodies as tall as a longneck while holding steady, keeping their leers firmly in place.

"This," Hyp explained smugly from atop the pile, "Shows off how tough we are without having to do anything. Only a rockhead wouldn't get the message."

"I see," Chomper laughed. "You guys really do look big!"

"You haven't seen anything yet," Hyp smirked. "But you guys better get out of the way if you know what's good for you."

"Right, thanks for the warning," Chomper chuckled as he backed up, telling Trace to follow. Once they did, Hyp called out, "Ready Nod?"

"Yeah," Nod declared, hurrying to a spot several paces in front of the others. "But don't land so hard this time!"

"Sheesh, if you think that's bad, how do you think you're gonna handle some bad guys?" Hyp teased. "Trust me, you're gonna thank me for it later."

Nod shook his head. "Trust me, I'm gonna pay you out one of these days."

"I'd like to see you try," Hyp smirked. "You're ready?"

Nod nodded, before Hyp took a great leap from atop the pile, landing right on target on Nod's back before stepping right in front of him. Meanwhile, the others also disassembled from their formation and got into a single-file line behind them from shortest to tallest. Curious as to what they were going to do, Chomper couldn't help but feel impressed as he watched them pull off a seamlessly coordinated motion forward …

"Whoa, whoa, stop," Chomper shook his head as he noticed that Trace was looking just as bewildered as he did. "You're doing so much I can't even see what's going on.."

"Well, that's the general idea," Hyp said smugly as he and his friends obliged. "Don't want any creeps knowing what we're up to. We'll show you how it works. But first, you better use that sniffer to make sure none of those whiptail brats are watching. Can't have them nosing around."

"Good idea," Chomper said, before casting his sniffer out for their aromas. He shook his head. "All clear."

"Okay then," Hyp smirked. "Now we're gonna go slow, so watch."

Turning back to his crew behind him, Hyp said, "All right guys, just the basic movement. On my cue."

Chomper and Trace watched as they slowed the motion down for them. Hyp, Dispo, Mutt, and Weald, who were first, third, fifth, and seventh in line, had extended their right foot out to do a sideways lunge, putting all of their weight upon that foot. After doing so, they lifted their left foot up, holding it knee-high off the ground. Simultaneously, Nod, Ceph, Rana and Ann, the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth in line, did the reverse, lunging with their left feet while holding their right feet up. This resulted in a zigzagging pattern in which each of their outstretched legs were going in alternate directions, while their lifted feet all remained aloft at the center of the line. Then all eight of them lowered their lifted feet to the ground at once, taking a step forward while bringing their outstretched legs back to the center of the line. Following this, they performed the same in the opposite direction, with Hyp, Dispo, Mutt and Nod lunging with their left feet and Nod, Ceph, Rana and Ann their right. They kept performing the motion faster and faster before returning to the brisk walking pace that they had started out at.

"Of course that's not all of it," Hyp boasted. "Wanna hear what else we can do?"

"Really Hyp, we can just show them," Rana snickered.

"Sheesh, don't you want to build it up?" Hyp said.

"Nah, we just wanna get on with it," Ceph smirked. "We look stupid just standing still like this."

"And we don't wanna give more time for those half-pints to sneak in," added Dispo.

Knowing they had good points, Hyp reluctantly said, "Okay fine. Now that you've seen how our move works, watch and see what we can do with it."

Going at a brisk pace again, Chomper could see that they had added several touches to the basic technique. This time, when lunging off to the side, they added a punching motion to it, cutting the air with their balled fists as they swung at invisible aggressors, Nod's side spikes providing a more than effective substitute. They had also stomped forward at times rather than merely stepping forward, their combined body force causing a minor earthshake which could cause potential aggressors to easily lose their balance, but due to them all coordinating their movements, none of them were knocked the slightest bit off-kilter.

Then Chomper heard a bunch of cheers and whoops from above. Turning to the crater's rim, he saw that many of the kids had come to see the display from above, accompanied by many of the teens and young adults, and even some of the elders who seemed to look at them in a new light. Loving to see everyone in good spirits, he then remembered he had to make sure that the wafting smell of the hatchlings wasn't triggering Trace's instincts again. Luckily though, the hatchlings were much further away this time, and Trace was too busy observing Hyp's gang's moves with interest. And though they didn't say anything to acknowledge the steadily growing crowd, the broad smirks on Hyp's gang's faces more than revealed they were reveling in the attention they were getting.

"This," Hyp explained proudly once they had finished, "Is our way of dealing with anyone who's really asking for it."

Many of the crowd, especially the younger kids, let out eager cheers. Basking in the surrounding enthusiasm, Hyp called out, "Now we're gonna show you another one. Just you wait, we'll be back."

The crowd murmured with interest as Hyp and his crew got into a huddle again and muttered to one another. When they broke out, they split out into a long row facing the crater and leered out at the crowd, taking a quick high stepping lunge with their left foot before switching off their right, flexing their muscles and swinging their fists as they moved in perfect timing, as if they all shared one mind, before finishing with a big jump in place, landing with a shaking tumult. The crowd erupted with whoops and hollers as they relaxed their tough expressions, now fully able to bask in the appreciation.

"Since when did you guys get so good at this?" Chomper laughed incredulously.

"Since forever," Hyp said cockily. "Mutt, Nod and I pulled off these moves when we had to stand up against bullies."

"And when we were bullies too," Mutt said. "We used them to scare your friends in that song we did."

Hyp glared as Mutt chuckled at his awkward honesty, before Hyp continued, "Yeah well, now that there's eight of us and we've gotten bigger and better, our moves have only gotten cooler. You better clear off though."

"Huh?" Chomper asked, wondering as to Hyp's sudden change in attitude. Then he pointed beside him, and Chomper looked down to see that Trace had covered his nose and shut his eyes. Confused for a moment, Chomper understood as he noticed the hatchlings descending down the hillside, bubbling with questions. Knowing he had to get Trace away quick, he bent down and said, "Bite my tail." Chomper felt Trace gently hook on, before steering him around the crater's perimeter. Once Chomper couldn't smell the hatchlings anymore, Chomper said, "It's okay."

Trace opened his eyes and took his claw off his nose. "Thanks. I was feeling a little woozy, good thing you got me out in time."

"You can thank Hyp," Chomper chuckled. "Me and my big mouth didn't notice."

They both laughed before Trace asked, "Can you get me some food? Maybe that'll calm me down."

"Sure, besides, the rest of us sharpteeth need to eat too," Chomper said brightly. "Then I'll come back with more company."

"It better not be those kids again," Trace said wryly, shaking his head.

Chomper laughed. "No, I was thinking of getting you and Lola to meet Ducky, Petrie and Spike. Once you meet them, you'll know all the herd leaders and my best friends. They're all bigger than Ruby, so you'll be fine."

"Okay, great," Trace said. "Thanks Alpha, you really got me out of big trouble."

"No prob, but you can just call me Chomper," he chuckled. "I'll be back with food soon, promise."

And Trace nodded gratefully as Chomper went back into the crater to collect some carcasses for breakfast.

---

Tricia and her friends looked at each other with nervous grins as Cera paced in front of them, still fuming with everything that Nod had told her. As tempted as she was to get away from her enraged sister, Tricia knew that would only make things worse. At least this way, they could get it over with.

"How could you?" Cera raged in cold fury. "Chomper warned you that hatchlings can't see Trace. What part of no don't you understand? And look what happened! You almost got yourselves killed out there! You made Hyp, Mutt and Nod risk their necks to save you guys. And you almost got Trace kicked out, or worse! What do you think Chomper would've had to do if he found your bodies lying around? And think about how Trace is feeling! You set him up for failure on day one, and he's obviously feeling terrible about himself. All this trouble, and for what? It's all your own bloody fault!"

Tricia's gang could only hang their heads in awkward silence, looking at the ground in deepest shame.

"We're sorry Sis," Tricia trembled, her voice quavering as she eyed her much bigger half-sister as the rest of her gang nodded. "But … We didn't mean for that to happen."

"We only wanted to show him we were his friends," Cassia added.

"Yeah, we thought he might be lonely," Oplax sighed.

"We just wanted to make him happy," Perri put in.

"We're at faurt too," Deya sighed. "We thoughrt it okay if they're with us."

"We were so excited though we forgot to speak sharptooth," said Nyko.

"We know we really messed up this time," Tricia admitted. "But we were just trying to help."

Cera sighed exasperatedly. "Look, we don't have many rules here. We don't want to force you to be anything or to not let you be yourselves because you're afraid of getting punished. Otherwise, we'd be no better than those rockheads back home. But because we don't have many rules, the ones we do have are very important and are here for a good reason. Usually, it's to stop someone from pointlessly getting hurt, like what almost happened to you guys. Understand?"

Tricia's gang all slowly nodded.

"Are you gonna punish us?" Perri asked.

"Well, I know too well from Dad that punishing out of fear and anger doesn't help anything," Cera shook her head. "It didn't stop me from getting into trouble, and only made me mad at Dad. And to be honest, I love your guts. Though it might've caused you guys to tempt fate today, it's also what makes you guys so awesome, and I'd never want to squish that spirit out of you. Besides, it would only make me a massive hypocrite considering everything I've done at your age."

The kids giggled, and even Cera couldn't hide a little smile.

"All the same," said Cera seriously. "Your behavior today was absolutely not okay, so don't even think about doing it again," she said sternly. "To help you remember, I think you guys need to do something to show you're sorry."

"You mean apologize to Trace? How can we if we can't go near him?" Pearl asked.

Cera shook her head. "I mean really do something to make up for it. Saying sorry is just not good enough, you need to put that guilt into some kind of action. Especially now that you've got a lot of kids looking up to you, you've got to show the responsibility that comes along with that. You guys are old enough to think for yourselves, so I'll give you a chance to come up with something."

The others turned to look at the biters, who began muttering to one another. "Werr," Chuss suggested. "We can crean out his cave. He might've pooped in there after big dinner. We can do Rora's and Star's too."

Cera nodded approvingly. "That makes sense. And when you're done, you can spend the day cleaning up poop in here too."

"But …" Tricia began, but Cera cut her off with a warning snort. "You gave everyone in here a fright and got Hyp, Mutt and Nod into a lot of trouble, not to mention potentially endangered all the other kids here if Trace got inside. Just a day should be enough, and once that's over with, everyone will know that not only are you sorry for your actions, but that you're willing to take responsibility for them."

The kids nodded in understanding before huddling with each other. "Okay sis, we'll do it, but can we ask you something?" Tricia asked.

"Yeah, what?" Cera asked.

"Well, once Trace and Lola are ready to meet us, can you take us to see them?" Tricia asked. "We really wanna show them we're their friends, but this time, we'll wait until they're ready."

Cera smirked. "As long as you don't ever think about doing this again."

"We won't," they giggled, and satisfied, Cera turned to leave. To her surprise however, she found that limping over toward them was Mama Sharptooth, looking tentative but nonetheless resolute. "Iherrrp," she told Cera, trying her best to enunciate. "Warrrrtchorrrrrkirrrds."

Cera paused to understand before considering how helpful this would be. Not only could Mama Sharptooth make sure Trace and Lola would be nowhere near their caves and could also speak in sharptooth to warn them away in case they decided to go back, she also could keep a sniffer out to make sure the kids didn't get into any more trouble. Besides, this was going to be the first day of full training, and as the herd leader best equipped to make sure everyone got into shape, she had much bigger treestars on her branch than watching over her little sister's gang of scamps the whole day …

"Well, I could use some help," Cera said gratefully. "So long as you've had plenty to eat first. Because my sister and her friends are not on the menu," she teased.

Mama Sharptooth grinned, being more than used to this kind of teasing from Cera's dad yesterday. "Theyrrrrtoorrittre, yourrreyurrrmmierrr," Mama Sharptooth quipped.

Cera pretended as though she didn't catch the slight as Tricia's gang stifled giggles. "Okay, but one wrong move, and you'll have to meet the girls on my head," she said, waving her frill up so as to expose her horns.

"Irrrookforrrwarrrdtorrrirrrt." Mama Sharptooth snickered as Cera turned away, leaving the kids to cheer with excitement. Cera couldn't help but shake her head in amusement. If there was any way to make poop duty cool, having a giant friendly sharptooth overseeing them while they did would be the way to do it.

---

Fresh off the chaos of the Trace incident, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike and Chomper had gotten together to regroup.

"How's Trace doing?" Littlefoot asked Chomper concernedly.

"Getting better, I think," Chomper explained. "He felt awful about it at first. But Hyp actually took it really well. He talked a little to Trace and understood it wasn't his fault."

"Wow, me no expect that," Petrie laughed. "Me thought Hyp would be real mad."

"Oh he's mad," Chomper chuckled. "But he's mad at Tricia and her friends instead for causing the whole mess."

"And he should be," Cera smirked, shaking her head. "I mean, I know we went on plenty of adventures as kids, but come on! At least we didn't sneak out to find sharpteeth."

Littlefoot and Chomper both snickered.

"What's so funny?" Cera snorted.

"Well, don't you remember? I did, that time I went inside that sharptooth's mouth!" Littlefoot laughed.

"That doesn't count, you thought he was dead," Cera retorted.

"Well what about me?" Chomper giggled. "I tried teaching other sharpteeth to be nice. Maybe I just had bad luck though. I mean, I don't think that other sharptooth kid was very friendly. I mean I know I spoke flattooth, but my tone and body language must have been pretty obvious, plus I showed him how to play catch. Yet he bit me twice and tattled on me to his folks!"

"And it took you that long to figure out he wasn't friendly?" Cera snarked pointedly. "Still, at least you knew to get out of there yourself. Who knows if Sis and her friends would've. Hopefully now that I'm through with them they've learned their lesson."

"You were not too hard on them, did you Cera?" Ducky asked. "Knowing them, they were probably only trying to make Trace happy."

Cera laughed. "Nah, Dad might kill me if I was. I swear, he turns to mush with Sis, not like with me at all. They just got a day's poop duty. And they're gonna all be doing it together, so it won't be too bad."

"Cera real softie," Petrie teased.

"Hey, I'm not soft!" Cera shot back. "I just don't wanna do anything that'll break their spirit, and this should be enough to get them to think twice about doing anything this stupid again."

"Me no bet on that," Petrie giggled.

Cera raised her eyebrows. "Fine wingbrain, if you want to see a tough punishment, why don't you get it? After all, I'm a herd leader now."

"Well me herd leader too," Petrie shot back.

"But who always takes charge when Littlefoot's gone?" Cera teased back.

"Not you," Petrie snickered. "Ali led us to rescue in big cave."

"But I broke through the cave wall," Cera retorted.

"Yeah, but you lead us to pass over fire pit," Petrie snarked back. "We dead if Littlefoot not come, and you killed by boneheads."

"I'm also the reason you guys even went to the crater in the first place," Cera pointed out. "And the reason why you, Petrie, were not hit by that big rock on that smoking mountain."

"Me forgot about that," Petrie snickered. "I guess you good for something."

"Hey," Cera growled, sticking her tongue out as they all laughed.

"So Ducky, Petrie, Spike," Chomper asked brightly. "Ready to meet Lola, Trace and Star?"

"Oh yes yes yes!" Ducky said brightly. "I am ready, I am! How about you, Spike?"

Spike grunted happily as he nodded. Petrie meanwhile, looked a little uncomfortable.

"Um, me ready, but me a little scared," Petrie explained, looking to Littlefoot and Cera. "You guys come along with us?"

"Sorry Petrie, but we can't," Littlefoot said. "We already had our turn with the treesweet juice. Besides, Cera and I have gotta come up with a training plan, and I've gotta make sure her ideas won't get anyone killed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cera teased as she gave him a mischievous knee jab.

"You'll be fine Petrie," Littlefoot reassured him. "Chomper, Ducky and Spike will all be there to protect you, and you can fly too."

"Oh yeah, me forgot about that," Petrie chuckled. "But me take along extra tree sweet just in case."

"You've got nothing to worry about, you barely have any meat on your bones," Cera snorted. "Sharpteeth go after meals that are more filling."

"Like you?" Petrie quipped.

"That's NOT what I meant!" Cera snapped, though secretly relieved to see that Petrie was able to rattle off that quick response.

"Besides, Lola and Trace are under Chomper's care now," reminded Littlefoot.

"And they know the big rule in my pack is not hunting flatteeth," Chomper said brightly.

"Yeah, but Star's not," Cera smirked mischievously. "So even though she won't eat you, she might still want a bite."

"Nice try," Petrie laughed. "But me know longnecks no eat red food."

"How do you know?" Cera teased.

"Me know Littlefoot and his grandparents didn't," Petrie replied.

"But how do you know we don't do it secretly?" Littlefoot added, joining in. "Grandpa told me the first twofooter longnecks ate everything, including red food."

"And they haven't fully let go of that taste," Cera smirked. "Sometimes, he bites my tail in his sleep."

"What?" Petrie squawked in horror.

"Gotcha!" Littlefoot and Cera both said as they cracked up, exchanging a paw bump.

"That mean," Petrie teased, shaking his head.

"Well so is trapping us in a dirt pit," Littlefoot grinned naughtily.

"And now we're even," Cera said matter-of-factly before she and Littlefoot parted ways from the others.

"We better get you guys covered," Chomper said.

So using a few tree sweets each, Petrie carrying an extra for safe measure, Ducky, Petrie and Spike scented themselves while Chomper roared to the sharpteeth to announce they were coming. They friendlily roared back, so once Ducky, Petrie and Spike were ready, Chomper used his sniffer to track his fledgling pack down. When they got to the rim, they couldn't help but notice what looked to be Dinah or Dana off chasing something.

"Me no wanna know what that about," Petrie giggled.

"Hey guys," Chomper called out, seeing them eating out of the corner of his eye. "We're here!"

Lola, Star and Trace finished their bites before getting up to approach. When they got closer however, Lola and Trace hung back, keenly aware that they were sharpteeth and thus had to be cautious. Star however was able to freely approach them. "Hi Chomper! And you must be Ducky, Petrie and Spike."

"Yep yep yep, we are," Ducky giggled.

"Great to finally meet you guys!" Star said happily. "Lola and I spent all night wondering what you'd be like."

"Me hope you not mean what we taste like," Petrie chuckled.

Star rolled her eyes. "Did Cera tell you that?"

"How you know?" Petrie asked.

Star giggled. "Kinda figured she'd do that. But don't worry. Trace is safe with grownups, and Lola's safe around me."

"So you slept fine then?" Chomper asked, trying to conceal his relief, for he was a bit apprehensive about Lola and Star sharing a cave.

"Oh yeah," Star chuckled. "Well, when we got to sleep. We talked a bit, and we practiced a few things that Mom told me she and my birth mom did when they were getting to know each other. Like we worked on bite inhibition. You know, not getting her to bite so hard. That way, in case she does bite someone, it won't be as bad. She practiced on rocks, though a few got crunched. And she started to get to know my smell better. Mom told me that she got to know my birth mom's scent so well it always kept her prey drive at bay. Lola rested her jaw against my knobs while she sniffed me. So long as I kept talking to her in sharptooth, she was able to remain focused. A couple times she got a little feisty, but I quickly snapped her out of it. We of course had to sleep on opposite sides of the cave just to be safe, but since she was well-fed, we didn't have any problems."

"Wow, that's awesome Star," Chomper said in amazement, really grateful to know that Star already knew all these ways of sharptooth conditioning.

Trace then muttered in sharptooth. "Um Chomper? You think I can try greeting them?"

"Sure, go ahead," Chomper grinned encouragingly.

Nodding resolvedly, Trace walked over to Spike first, being most confident he could handle himself around the bulky spiketail. "Hello Spike," Trace said, determined to keep talking so his mind wouldn't have a chance to slip. It helped knowing Spike couldn't understand sharptooth, so he could babble whatever came to mind without thinking about it. "You're really big! I mean strong. Uh … What I'm trying to say is, uh … Maybe we can be friends, right? I hope," he said, not used to talking without thinking and feeling incredibly self-conscious.

Spike however, had no worries and glomped the smaller sharptooth with his front paws. "Hey!" Trace chuckled, and for the first time, Chomper heard Trace really let out a laugh. "Not so hard! You're squishing me!"

Spike nodded, understanding Trace's tone, and gently let up a little while still giving Trace a cozy hug. Being bigger than Ducky for all those cold times really gave him good practice at striking this balance. As Spike let out a few friendly grunts, Trace looked at Chomper curiously. "Does Spike sound like he's grunting in flattooth too?"

"Yep," Chomper grinned. "Spike will always sound like Spike, no matter what language you speak. He doesn't say much, but you can always tell what he means by the way he says it."

"That's awesome," Trace said, shaking his head. "It's almost like I can speak to him just like you guys, since he doesn't speak flattooth to you back either. He can understand my tone too, right?"

"Yeah, Spike's very good at nonverbal communication," Chomper chuckled. "Littlefoot told me he even befriended a tickly fuzzy named Tickles once, despite them never saying a word to each other. It was all grunts and chirps, but Spike was definitely Tickles' favorite."

"Wow," Trace said. "And here I was thinking I'd have to learn flattooth before talking with anyone."

Lola, meanwhile, couldn't help but join in seeing how well Trace was doing. Recognizing Ducky from seeing her in the pool earlier and her being a lot less vulnerable to attack than Petrie, Lola focused herself on Ducky's disgusting aroma before approaching. "Harrrrrrro Durrrrrckrrrrr," Lola said enthusiastically as she waved, her bright tone even covering up her intimidating accent.

"Oh, hi Lola!" Ducky said cheerfully, surprised but pleased at her sudden greeting.

Lola then breathlessly asked something in sharptooth as if she had been holding it back all night. However, her face fell as she realized Ducky couldn't understand. Nudging Star, the two exchanged a few sharptooth growls before Star translated. "Lola said she saw you swimming before, and she wants you to teach her how so she can water-hunt for herself."

"Oh yes yes yes!" Ducky said happily, eyeing the very pool that she had been in earlier. "Follow me," she beckoned Lola before leading her down the crater's side and to the small lake.

"What going on?" Petrie asked.

"Ducky's gonna teach Lola how to swim," Chomper laughed.

"I better go with them so Lola knows what Ducky's saying," Star chuckled, sprinting to catch up.

Trace just shook his head with amusement. "She's always in such a hurry. Isn't learning how to live with flatteeth enough work?"

Spike too shook his head and grunted in playful exasperation as Trace stared, amazed with how well Spike was able to understand. "Spike agrees with you," Chomper laughed. "I'm surprised she wants to try swimming already too. But Ducky's a master at this, she even taught Tricia how to swim."

"That's good, if I see Tricia again, all she needs to do is jump in the water," Trace teased self-deprecatingly as they both laughed, Chomper delighted to see that Trace recovered to the point where he could joke about his incident.

So Chomper, Petrie, Spike and Trace sat down as Star began translating for Ducky and Lola. Ducky couldn't help but feel a little surprised, not expecting the young sharptooth to be her first swimming pupil here, but she was happy to teach all the same.

"Okay, you are a twofooter like me, and you have got longer arms than Chomper does," Ducky pondered. "So I will teach you a front crawl first. Come into the water with me."

Lola watched as Ducky gracefully slid herself into the pool and tried emulating her. As soon as she put half her foot in though, Lola let out a yelp.

"She says it's really cold," Star said as Lola began to shiver, before asking in sharptooth, "Wanna try another time?"

Lola however shook her head, and closing her eyes, she forced herself in the water with a big splash. As Lola shivered profusely, Ducky advised, "That was great, yep yep yep! Now that you are in the water, you can relax. Once you are relaxed, you will be able to float like me."

Ducky watched as Lola adjusted to the chilly water, her body slowly loosening up as she too began to float.

"Good! Now that you are not standing, you are swimming! So watch me and lie belly down in the water. Yep, just like that! Now use your legs to kick to propel yourself forward. Like this," Ducky demonstrated.

Lola watched attentively as Ducky kicked from one edge of the pool to the other. "Now you try!" Ducky said encouragingly.

So Ducky swam slowly, watching Lola try to imitate her movements. "Kick a little lighter, you will not splash so much. Good … good! You are doing well, yep yep yep!"

The two got to the other side, Lola huffing exhaustedly.

"You are doing great for a first try," Ducky beamed. "Now to go faster, you can use your arms to help. Lift them up, then put them out in front of you to help your legs carry you across the water, like this …"

Ducky began to paddle forward, expecting to see Lola try to tag after her. What she was not expecting however, was a sudden chill on her tail, making the water seem that much colder …

"Me coming Ducky!" Petrie shouted urgently, carrying his tree sweet, while Spike cried out in horror. Looking behind her, she gasped as she saw that Lola had grabbed onto the end of her tail with her mouth, her eyes eerily sparkling as she let out a low, ominous rumble. Petrie's tree sweet however, made its mark, the big yellow fruit landing right on Lola's nose, forcing her to go let go of Ducky's tail. As Ducky made her way to the other end, Star hurried forward over to the side of the water. "Lola, stop!" she called out in sharptooth.

Star's call was enough to get Lola out of her trance, but as she regained composure, she saw the trail of red streaming across the water. "Oh no! No no no no no, not now!" Lola screamed in frustration, before looking at Ducky in horror. "Is she going to be all right? She lost all that blood because of me! Oh, I shouldn't have gotten this close! I'm never gonna get this right! I …"

"Lola, calm down," Chomper said reassuringly.

This however didn't soothe Lola one bit. "I'm sorry I bit your friend! I … I …. I don't know what got into me!"

"Well I do, and it wasn't your fault," Chomper said gently. "Ducky had some tree sweet scent on her beforehand which prevented you from getting her scent. But when she got in the water, the tree sweets washed off, leaving her fully exposed."

"That, and you were trying so hard to swim too," Star explained. "Your mind was probably so focused on swimming that you couldn't keep your instincts at bay at the same time."

"I … I …" Lola stuttered, before sighing defeatedly, "I'm never gonna get this. I'll always be a monster to you guys, even if I don't want to be. I can't ever get this right."

"Don't say that," came a calm, steadying voice, and Lola stared to see Trace looking at her understandingly. "I … I felt enough like that. I don't want to see you feeling like that too."

Lola stared before climbing out of the water, and to her surprise, Trace hugged her. "You and I are in a place unlike any other sharptooth," he explained. "Not even Chomper, his parents, or the biters. One day, we had to eat other dinosaurs to survive, no matter how much we didn't like doing it. Now we've got to completely unlearn what we've learned growing up, that flatteeth are not food no matter what. Chomper took some time to control himself before going to the Valley, his parents were cut off from other dinosaurs on that island, and the biters were lucky enough to never have to eat dinosaur meat. Whereas you and me have got to learn to control ourselves right away. And like you, I failed too. I thought I couldn't do anything right when I hunted Hyp and the kids. But … Our hearts are in the right place, and though we've made mistakes, we've also done really well."

Lola looked on as Trace continued, "You especially. I mean, you decided to follow Chomper all on your own, you've made a longneck friend, you caught me watching on you guys, stood up to those bullies, and you can actually say a few words in flattooth! You're doing great, and don't forget, we're on the same team. I never knew what that was like, growing up all by myself. But … I already feel like I can really trust you, and Chomper and all the flatteeth. And we're gonna get through this. We might be struggling now, but someday, we're gonna be friendly sharpteeth just like our alpha. We're gonna get through this, just like he and his friends always have. And when we do, like them, we're gonna be better than ever before."

Lola smiled faintly. "Thanks Trace," she hiccupped as she hugged the littler sharptooth back.

Sniffling, Lola looked up, and her heart sank as she realized that Ducky was missing. "I'm really sorry …" Lola sighed defeatedly. "I didn't mean to do it, honest."

"It's all right Lo," Star reassured her. "You remember the bite inhibition we did last night? It worked! You only grazed Ducky's tail a little bit. She's just gone to eat some of those plants that helped me recover. I know it looks bad in the water, but the water always makes blood look worse."

"Yeah," Lola said dourly. "But I still attacked Ducky. She's not gonna want to have anything to do with me now."

"Oh, I wouldn't assume that," Chomper grinned as he nodded to the crater's rim, and in disbelief, Lola saw that a familiar young swimmer was coming toward them, though she couldn't smell her in the slightest, for her body was covered in tree sweet juice.

"No way," Lola gaped as Ducky came hurrying in, and to disbelief, Ducky ran right toward her and gave her a big bearhug.

"Lola, I do not want our first time together to end on a bad note, oh no no no," Ducky said brightly as she waved her tail, which only had a very faint red spot. "My tail feels all better now that I had a prickly plant, and you did not bite very hard. Actually, this is all my fault. You did not know that treesweet juice comes off in water, and I was too excited to think. But I want you to know that I am not mad at you because I know you did not mean it, and that we will always be friends, yep yep yep!"

Ducky threw her arms around Lola's neck and even nuzzled her cheek, causing Lola to giggle slightly. When Star finished translating, Lola asked Chomper, "Does she really mean all that?"

"Yeah, that's Ducky," Chomper grinned. "Just be glad it wasn't Cera's tail you bit. I know the hard way."

Seeing that Ducky was all right and understanding Lola meant no harm, Petrie and Spike were greatly relieved and felt sorry for Lola too, going over to join Ducky in comforting her.

"Spike says it is all right," Ducky said gently.

"And me say that too," Petrie beamed. "Though me sorry me had to hit you with smelly fruit."

As Star translated, Lola laughed. "It's the least my rotten instinct deserved. I only wish I could do it myself."

"We will see you soon," Ducky said brightly. "And we are looking forward to it, yep yep yep!"

So parting friendlily, Ducky, Petrie and Spike headed back to the crater. Chomper meanwhile, stayed behind to talk to Star, Lola and Trace.

"Lola, Trace," he told them. "I know you both had rough mornings. But you're gonna have the chance to start really practicing your instinct control later today."

"Really? How?" Lola asked hopefully.

"The herd's gonna begin training," Chomper explained. "And since we need more space than what's in the crater, we're gonna have to practice outside of it. Which means you'll be seeing many of the others for the first time. Start learning their smells, while at the same time, work on building up your control. But be sure to be a safe distance from them. Everyone's gonna be moving, so your instincts are more likely to be triggered. Try sitting down so you can't stand up. Star, can you make sure Lola and Trace stay themselves?"

"Yep," Star said determinedly.

"If it gets to be too much, take a break in the cave," Chomper said. "But I think this will be a good place to start. I'll be out training with the others, but if you need me for anything, be sure to call me and I'll be right there. Okay?"

Lola, Trace, and Star nodded as Chomper beamed. "Good luck guys. I'll check in on you soon and stop over for lunch with a nice juicy carcass."

And with that, he too returned to the crater.

---

By the time the Bright Circle had crept over the crater's rim, nearly everyone was awake and the news of the junior herd leaders' ill-fated escapade with the new sharptooth had spread like wildfire. While Hyp reveled in the praise of his heroism and quick thinking, many of the hatchlings, especially the newcomers, were even more shocked to hear how Tricia and her friends blatantly disregarded the warnings of their herd leaders. Rather than make fun of their humiliated peers however, the other hatchlings took pity on them, many of them expressing their concern that their new friends were either shaken by the incident or cruelly punished. Soon though, word got around that the little troublemakers, though fully understanding the foolishness of their mistake, were laughing it off and accepting responsibility by cleaning out Trace's now empty cave. It made the other hatchlings feel much better, though they could all agree that they'd never dream of getting themselves into that kind of predicament.

That was, except for two particularly cheeky young threehorns. At twelve cold times old, Dinah and Dana were right on the cusp of childhood and adolescence, dwarfed by their Auntie Cera and quite a bit smaller than the frilled herd deputies, yet well bigger and bulkier than Tricia and unlike her had started to really grow out their brown horns that they had from a very young age. Despite their growth however, the twins remained as mischievous as ever, with a special knack for seizing opportunities while technically not putting a toe out of line. After all, they were literally following instructions when Cera told them to get lost. And considering the constant trouble they got into, this ability to exploit loopholes while technically staying in bounds was the only reason they lasted so long in their old herd in the first place. It was therefore hardly out of the ordinary for the two to be carefully thinking over another rule.

"So the rule was no hatchlings can leave the crater to see the sharpteeth," Dinah muttered. "But we're not really hatchlings anymore, are we? After all, we're older than any of Trish's crew, and besides, we've got horns on our head."

"And unlike them, we're not gonna leave the crater and try talking to them or get close enough to trigger their instincts. We're just gonna get close enough to get a good look."

"You know Auntie Cera would probably get mad, right?" Dinah smirked.

"Yeah," Dana said fairly. "But it's not like we're breaking any rules, right?"

"Or that we need to tell anybody," Dana muttered as the twins mischievously snickered. "So we should go south, right? Trace's cave is north, and since that's where Trish and friends are now, he's gotta be on the south side."

"That's where Lola's cave is too," grinned Dana. "I think we've got a two-for-one waiting for us!"

So chortling, the twins quietly walked over to the southern rim of the crater. However, unlike Tricia's gang, they could afford to be seen moving freely. So long as they stayed within the crater, they technically weren't doing anything wrong at all …

As they got to the rim, they peered over to look at the rocky hillside. Immediately, they knew they had struck the treesweets, for standing on either side of a longbody carcass were two sharpteeth, a turquoise browridge and a fern-green horned sharptooth. The twins could only look at each other in amazement. They had seen a lot of sharpteeth growing up, but never a pair acting like this. Rather than hunkering protectively over their meal and wolfing it down before another sharptooth could arrive, their bodies were at ease as they were placidly relishing their meal, as if they were flatteeth dining upon the flowers. Neither seemed to have any qualms over sharing the carcass either, a sharp contrast from the fights breaking out over carcasses they were used to that often led to the loser getting killed and eaten. Adding to this strangely serene picture was the presence of the longneck who they knew had to be Star, eating her treestars alongside the two carnivores without seeming at all ill at ease.

"Wow," Dana whispered. "Chomper's not kidding that these sharpteeth are different. Just listen to them talk! It sounds more like sleep rumbles than roars."

"Yeah," Dinah snickered, eyeing Lola and Star, who evidently shared some kind of joke as they started giggling together. "I can't believe Lola's the same kind as that monster who chased us to Saurus Rock. She almost looks cuddly!"

Dana sighed longingly. "If only we could get closer. I can't wait to talk to them, it's so awesome to have sharpteeth on our side!"

Then a deep roar rang out. Dinah and Dana looked at each other fearfully, knowing the sound of a big sharptooth's roar from anywhere. Lola and Trace, however, both finished their bites before stopping respectfully and nodding along in understanding.

"It must be Chomper talking to them in sharptooth," Dinah whispered. "They wouldn't react like that to anyone else."

"He's probably not saying anything bad though," Dana chuckled. "I know it sounds scary, but knowing him, he's probably just saying he's bringing over seconds."

"Let's hope he means carcasses and not friends," Dinah snarked back as they both laughed. Sighing, she continued, "But we should probably turn back. They might not know our smells, but Chomper sure would."

"Yeah, we don't want to give dear old Auntie another excuse to yell at us," Dana snickered as they both struggled to avoid bursting out laughing. However just as he was about to turn back, something odd crossed his eye. "Did you see that?"

"What?" Dinah asked.

"Something moved out there," Dana explained.

Dinah turned to look with Dana and together, they saw what looked to be a lone herd guard descending the crater's hillside.

"What's a herd guard doing over here?" Dinah asked. "Don't they know that Lola and Trace have got this area covered? Or that Lola could attack if they get too close?"

"Except if it's not a herd guard," Dana muttered.

Suddenly, the twins felt their hearts race as a dark thought came to them. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dinah asked. "That we've got a spy to deal with?"

"Yeah, but the sharpteeth don't seem to notice anything, and the herd guards are all on the other side," Dana observed. "And by the time we go get someone else, they'll just get away."

Dinah and Dana looked at each other, grinning naughtily. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yep," Dana smirked. "Little dinos like him are fast, so I say we divide and conquer."

"Good thinking," Dinah whispered. "See you soon!"

So quietly and making sure to give Lola and Trace a good berth, Dinah and Dana carefully descended the crater's slanty side, stopping just short of one of the small lakes on the outside. With a silent nod, the twins split up as Dana continued onward. Dinah, meanwhile, turned right and slowly began to close in on the direction the suspicious stranger was going. As she approached, she thought she might've missed him at first. But before she could turn back, she heard loud, wheezy hyperventilating. Looking out, she squinted to see that a clawhand was leaning up against a tree facing away from the crater, evidently trying to calm down as he jabbered to himself frantically.

Cautiously, Dinah considered. Threehorns were not generally stalkers, usually preferring to go for the direct approach. But as her Aunt Cera showed her and Dana when they were little, even a bulky fourfooter could creep up on a victim if they were scared. Moving in a quiet but steady stroll, she soon got close enough to the point where she could start hearing what the stranger was saying to himself.

"Sharpteeth … Why does there have to be sharpteeth?" he moaned. "Just the one sharptooth's bad enough … But three of them? I don't stand a chance!" Groaning piteously, he continued, "I don't know Ozzy, I don't know if I can do it. I know you're still probably crazy in the head, but this is too much. You were always the sneaky one, I'd get smelled out for sure. But if I back out … I'm gonna pay, aah! I don't want to be dead like you! But if I go for it, I'd die too! Why did you have to show me that stupid place, Ozzy? It made you crazy when that rock fell on your head. And then when I try sneaking in, I get caught! Why can't I be like you, brother, and just not get tempted by a juicy green bedtime snack?"

Suddenly, the stranger whirled around and noticed the young threehorn watching him. To say he looked startled was an understatement, and Dinah couldn't help but giggle a little. "Hi there. You lost?"

The stranger let out a squawk as he gaped in terror.

"It's okay, I don't bite, unless you're asking for it," Dinah snickered. "But don't worry, there aren't any eggs for you to try stealing, Strut."

Strut grew, if possible, even more pale as he clutched at his heart with his clawed hands. "Huh? How do you know my name? When I haven't used it in ages?"

Dinah giggled. "You were muttering to your crazy brother Ozzy," she explained cheekily. "And my auntie knows all about you guys."

"Your auntie? I don't know your auntie!" Strut screeched.

"Sure you do," Dinah explained. "You and Ozzy were the eggstealers who tried taking one of Ducky's mom's eggs from her nest, and Auntie and her friends chased you off. And then when Chomper hatched, you and Ozzy kept chasing him. I wish I could've been there to see it."

"Ducky … Chomper? I don't know who you're talking about," Strut wailed.

"Well then, maybe I'll take you to Auntie Cera and see if she recognizes you?" Dinah giggled naughtily.

Strut screamed as he bolted at top speed. Dinah snickered, shaking her head, knowing there was no way she could catch up with the eggstealer. But she didn't need to, for she knew her brother was right there at the ready.

As Strut ran desperately onward, he suddenly felt himself getting tackled by something ramming into him. Knocked flat onto the ground, Strut tried to get up, but just as he did he felt a chomp on his leg, and turning in horror he saw that the young threehorn had somehow caught up to him and clamped down hard on his leg.

"No fair!" Strut whined. "There's no way you can be that fast!"

The threehorn chuckled, and only then did Strut realize that this was another threehorn, a boy who seemed to be just the girl's age. "I can't … But we can!"

"Let go of me now!" Strut wailed, trying to yank his leg out of Dana's grip with both his arms, but he soon found it to be in vain, for despite his youth the threehorn was much stronger than he was. Moments later, Dinah caught up and seized Strut's other leg.

"Okay, okay, you win, I know those kids!" Strut wailed, causing Dinah and Dana's grips to slacken slightly. Seizing the chance, Strut tried taking a swipe at Dana's nose. To his horror though, he found it was ineffective, for the light scratch of an eggstealer was only enough to tickle even a young threehorn's skin.

"That wasn't nice," Dana warned Strut cheekily as he and Dinah eyed each other. "You want us to be not so nice?"

"No, no, no!" Strut begged, eyeing their browhorns fearfully. "I don't wanna get horned!"

"We won't," Dinah snickered teasingly. "Knowing Auntie Cera, she'd want to see you herself. Especially now that she's all grown-up and way bigger than us."

"Not her, please!" Strut wailed. "Or any of those kids … I mean, her friends! Anybody else!"

"Okay," Dana said, grinning mischievously. "How about Chomper's parents?"

"Wait, what? You're joking, there's no way they're here," Strut said feebly.

"You really wanna find out?" Dana asked naughtily. "I'm sure they'll still remember you, especially since you tried choking their son to death."

"That wasn't me!" Strut whimpered. "I mean, maybe I did … But it was only on Ozzy's orders! Please, please not them! I'll be good, promise! I'll see whoever you want that's not a sharptooth."

"Anyone?" Dinah asked. "Even our granddad? He's even grumpier than Auntie Cera is."

"No, no, not him!" Strut begged. "Anyone else! Well, not your Auntie Cera. Or the longneck, swimmer, flyer or spiketail. Anyone but them!"

Dinah and Dana looked at each other naughtily, knowing there was someone else that he wouldn't know about. "Don't worry," Dinah smirked. "We've got the herd leader just for you."

"Let's go then," Dana nodded. "But you might've wished you had one of the others!"

---

"Hey Ruby? Ruby?"

The young runner opened her eyes. She had been curled up in the shade of a tree, trying to rest up from her night shift, only to find that of all dinosaurs that Cera's niece and nephew had woken her up, standing in front of her with one of a clawhanded halftooth's legs in each of their mouths. Shaking her head, Ruby couldn't help but laugh. "I know you guys like to play pranks, but that's not what they mean by pulling their leg!"

"Yeah, especially to a new friend," Strut chuckled nervously. "An innocent passerby who's never met any of you guys!"

"Yeah right," Dana smirked. "Don't believe him, Ruby. This is Strut, the same Strut who the others met in the Valley."

"We know for sure it's him, because I heard him talking to himself about his dead brother Ozzy," Dinah added.

"We found him spying on Lola, Star and Trace," Dana explained.

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "After Tricia and her friends got into sharptooth trouble, don't tell me you guys got into sharptooth trouble too?"

"Oh no," Dinah stood up straight along with Dana as they both grinned. "We only saw the sharpteeth from the crater and didn't put a toe out of line."

"You can always trust us to be good," Dana snickered.

"Right," Ruby smirked doubtfully, shaking her head. "But go on."

"Anyway, we saw him watching them too," Dana explained. "We could tell he was up to something. And since there was no one else who could help, we knew we had to take matters in our own paws."

"He tried getting away from us, but we stopped him," Dinah grinned proudly. "He said he didn't want to see Cera or her other friends, but he didn't say he didn't want to see you, so that's why he brought him here."

Ruby nodded. "You two are something," she teased. "But for once, it's good that that something is what you are. If you get Ali over here to help me out, I'll tell your grandpa and Cera not to yell at you. Strut helped her herd, so she knows all about how good a friend he is."

"Oh, uh, yeah! Yes I did!" Strut interjected, looking suddenly hopeful.

Dinah and Dana looked surprised at Ruby's seeming leniency. "You sure?" Dinah asked uncomfortably.

"Yep," Ruby nodded. "We want him to feel right at home after all."

"And you want us to let him go?" Dana added incredulously. "What if he runs away?"

"You won't, right Strut?" Ruby said calmly. "Because you'd rather talk with me than face our sharpteeth tracking you down."

"Oh yeah, um, right," Strut said, smiling nervously.

"So just get Ali over here and we'll be good," Ruby said.

Reluctantly, Dinah and Dana did, causing Strut to fall onto his belly on the floor. Of course, Ruby had her suspicions. But by acting friendly, she could get him to lower his guard and get him to make a revealing mistake …

"Here, let me help you up," Ruby said, helping to pull Strut back up to his feet. Unbeknownst to him however, she took a stealthy whiff of his scent, returning a faint but chillingly floral aroma. Trying to look unphased, Ruby considered. Somehow, Strut must have gotten himself into Leigh's flowery waters. While the halftooth-hating Leigh seemed unlikely to associate with Strut, the scent was evident and his suspicious behavior supported a connection. For now, she would work at gleaning his purpose while continuing to lull Strut into a false sense of ease.

"So Strut," Ruby asked friendlily. "How did you find this place?"

"Well, first, erm, I was not spying," Strut stuttered. "I was hungry. Yeah, that's it. I smelled good food. I haven't had any for ages! So I came closer. Then I saw sharpteeth and ran for it. I thought I was safe, but then those two threehorns pick me up. You know what it's like, it's so unfair as a halftooth. Flatteeth always think we're up to no good."

Ruby nodded, pretending to be sympathetic while concealing her deep skepticism. Protesting his innocence unprovoked and his weak attempt to manipulate her into thinking Dinah and Dana treated him unfairly only supported the notion he had something to hide. Testing his dishonesty further as she waited for Ali to arrive, she pretended ignorance as she asked, "You met my friends before I even met them. What was it like?"

"Oh, um," Strut said, racking his brains. "Well … Ozzy and I heard about this beautiful valley and so we wanted to check it out. He wanted eggs, but I only wanted the green food. Yeah, that's right. Um, they met us because Ozzy took an egg and chased after him, I tried to stop Ozzy too of course. Then Ozzy got his head bumped and started going crazy. He made me do things I didn't want to do afterward. But I did my best to stand up to him. Anyway, he only got worse, trying to kill poor me afterward. So I've been alone, and yeah, then I thought about you guys, and uh, realized I didn't have to be. So I came to join you. Well, before the sharpteeth. Now I'm not so sure. Sharpteeth are scary things."

Ruby had to work very hard to keep a straight face. Not only did he feed her an account full of lies, omissions, and exaggerations, but he changed his reasoning for coming here in the first place. Seeing that Ali was coming over to help, Ruby decided to continue trapping him in a corner. "You must've made a lot of happy memories with them for you to want to see them after all this time."

"Yeah, that's right," Strut chuckled nervously.

"Can you share with me some of them?" Ruby asked. "I want to hear how you know each of them."

"Hmm … Well, er," Strut considered. "Littlefoot, he's the little longneck. Yeah, that's right. Ozzy grabbed his head, mistaking it for an egg. But I told him to drop it of course. Cera? She's the threehorn with the big mouth … Er, I mean, big head. Filled with big brain inside, very smart. She's the one who told us she's friends with a sharptooth. That's Chomper, right? Yeah, yeah. He was the cutest little thing. Yeah, he even bit my tail. But I didn't mind. I thought it was so sweet. Petrie? He … he didn't want to take a bath. Poor guy, I could hardly blame him. And Ducky and Spike … Well, I never got the chance to apologize, but I made Ozzy give the egg back from their mom's nest."

"Hmm, I see," Ruby said calmly, seeing that Ali was just about to approach. "Funny that you didn't tell me some memories I remember my friends telling me."

"Did I? I thought that was about everything," Strut replied, smiling feebly.

"Well, I remember them telling me a few more things," Ruby said evenly. "Like how you were the one who ran off with Mama Swimmer's egg. Or that Littlefoot told me that you asked Ozzy if you can throw him off the Great Wall. And Chomper told me you had him in a chokehold."

"What? Oh, uh … I'd never do any of that stuff," Strut said, trying to feign innocence.

"Hmm … So maybe my friends were lying to me," Ruby pondered.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it," Strut said hurriedly.

"But I know that my friends don't lie to me, and since you're saying that my friends are lying to me, that means you're the one who's lying to me," Ruby pondered. "Right Strut?"

"Yes … I mean no … I mean … Aah! You're making my head hurt."

Strut could only blubber as Ruby continued, "You're hiding something from me. Which means maybe I should get someone else to talk to you."

Seeing he was cornered, Strut tried to turn tail and run for it. Ruby however, was already mentally prepared for it, and she was not called a fast runner for nothing. Quickly catching onto Strut's tail before he could reach full speed, she did her best to hold him back. Before he could get very far though, a long purple tail lashed out, tripping Strut on the ground.

"Thanks Ali, that was perfect," Ruby laughed as Ali put her foot on Strut's tail to keep him still.

"It kinda tickled," Ali replied, before lowering her head next to Ruby to reveal some vines in her mouth. "I've got some thorny vines ready. The kind thick enough that he can't chew through."

"Great," Ruby smiled, reaching to grab the vines before working on handcuffing the restrained Strut. "Now that I know you wanted to trick me, let's try this again."

"But I …" Strut whimpered, but Ruby cut him off.

"I gave you every chance to be straight with me," Ruby warned, "But you couldn't even keep your own stories straight. Which means I know you're here for a reason you don't want me to know about. Now that you know that I know that, let's try again. And if you try tricking me again, you'll find yourself in trouble again, only with someone who won't be so nice."

"Oh … Okay," Strut trembled, seeing no way out. "But … What do you want from me?"

"I want to know why you really came here," Ruby explained. "Because I'm not really sure of who you really are. I know that you've tried to hurt and even kill my friends when they were little. Yet I also know a lot of it was your brother's bad influence, and you've shown some conscience by stopping him from eggstealing from Ali's herd. But I also know you're hiding something from me. Your actions so far have given us no choice but to detain you since we can't trust you. But now you have a choice. If you keep giving me a hard time, you'll be in for an even harder time. But if you cooperate, our herd can help you."

"Help me? How?" Strut asked.

"Well, we can take you in," Ruby explained. "You'll have to be under supervision and you won't be allowed to walk free, since we can't have you running back to whoever sent you here. But we can share our food and water and keep you safe from any enemies you may have."

Strut shuddered. "How can I know your guys will keep your word? Your friends were the ones who made my brother go crazy by causing that rock to hit his head. Who've killed him too, because they're crazy murderers."

Ali and Ruby looked at each other. "But … Ozzy made you try stealing eggs before he got hit in the head," Ali explained. "My friends told me the only reason Ozzy was even hit was because they were chasing you two, which was only because you two stole Mama Swimmer's egg."

Strut paused to consider. "Well yeah, it did happen during the chase. And Ozzy was already kinda nuts before then." Shaking his head, he said, "It's weird, you know? He took care of me back then, but he wouldn't let me eat green food! He actually made me spit it out and stomped on some green food I wanted to eat! Before the hit on the head! I didn't really have a choice to eat eggs! Not when I've got a crazy brother like that!"

"And we didn't want to kill him either," Ali explained. "But it was our only choice. He was leading an army of fast biters and eggstealers to try to kill everyone in the Valley and steal all the eggs. They almost killed some of our elders, and he would've kept on fighting if we didn't stop him. He was so crazy he even wanted Red Claw to come in and finish the job."

"Well, I kinda believe you … I mean, he tried to murder me because he was mad. But I thought you guys were the crazy killers," Strut said confusedly.

"What made you think that?" Ali asked sympathetically.

"Well, er, um …" Strut mumbled, and Ruby knew they had him cornered. "Did someone tell you that?"

Strut's eyes bulged in fear. "It's okay, just tell us," Ali soothed.

Frantically, Strut nodded. "Yeah. The one who had me captive. But I can't say his name, or he'll kill me."

"Let me guess," Ruby said. "You're talking about a hollowhorn about our age who claims he speaks for the circles, who's always smiling even when he's threatening you, speaks in a suave voice with lots of big, fancy words, and has a cave filled with fragrant water that he tried to drown you in?"

Strut just gaped. "How do you know all that?"

"You smell like his water," Ruby explained. "And you sounded scared of taking a bath. And knowing what Leigh's like, I can put two and two together."

Then he gasped in fear. "Oh no … Oh no … They know! I betrayed him without meaning to! Oh dear … oh dear … That's it, I'm a goner. I blew everything because I opened my big yap!"

"He would've wanted you dead anyway," Ruby said sympathetically, in a voice with so much sincerity it gave Strut pause. "What do you mean?"

"He hates halfteeth since he thinks we're all eggstealers and impurities on the world," Ruby explained.

"But … That can't be," Strut begged. "He showed me real kindness. Especially to a former eggstealer. He promised me full Great Valley citizenship and that I could have all the tree stars I wanted."

Ruby looked at Strut, now understanding the manipulation. "You saw how everyone else was in segregated herds in the Valley?"

Strut nodded.

"And that there wasn't a single halftooth in the Valley either," Ruby added.

Again, Strut nodded. "What are you saying?"

"That Leigh and the herds under him believe in strict segregation," Ruby said. "And you know as well as I do that most of the herds like that have no tolerance for halfteeth. Most likely, Leigh fed you a promise that he had no intention of keeping."

"But … he sounded so sincere," said Strut sadly.

"Leigh is good at saying things even if he doesn't mean what he's saying," Ruby explained. "Knowing him, he probably only saw you as a minion whose only purpose is to carry out his wishes until you're no longer of use to him."

Strut scratched his head uncomfortably. "I don't know what to think anymore. Or what I'm gonna do now."

"Well, you're gonna have to prove where your loyalties lie," Ruby said. "We need someone to take care of the poop duty here. My siblings and their friends are doing it today, but that's just because they were naughty. We could use someone to do it full-time, and in return, so long as you stay out of trouble and don't communicate to Leigh, you can have all the food, water and protection we promised."

Ali, however, nodded to Ruby. "And I know just who can watch over you," she giggled. "We have someone here a lot like you. Someone who knows what it's like to go hungry in a dangerous world, and who even had a run-in with me and my friends when we were little. Someone who's used to being on her own now, but who hung around with a close friend they argued with until they fell out. She likes it quiet, so she can be up with you while you're cleaning at night when most of us are asleep. And she's big enough to keep you safe and make sure you don't get into any more trouble"

"Well, that sounds good," Strut said as Ali lifted him up by the neck. Then his eyes narrowed. "Wait, what do you mean, a run-in with you and your friends? You're not taking me to Chomper's mom? Please!"

"Don't worry," Ali giggled as she winked at Ruby. "We're not taking you to a sharptooth, right Ruby?"

"Right," Ruby winked back.

Strut wanted to object further, but he knew he was in enough trouble as it was, so reluctantly kept quiet. Besides, the promise of guaranteed food, water and protection was greatly appealing, especially now that he had broken his word to the creepy hollowhorn …

He stared in confusion as they approached an out of the way cave on the crater's walls. "I'll go in and get her," Ruby chuckled.

Strut stared anxiously as he remained suspended in Ali's mouth, but no amount of worrying could have prepared him for what came out of that cave. An enormous dark green belly dragger with deep red eyes strolled out of the cave, Ruby by her side.

"A belly dragger?" Strut cried out in disbelief. "No fair! I wanted someone who'd keep me safe, not eat me up!"

"Well whad'ya expect, a tickly fuzzy?" Dil scoffed.

Now Strut looked doubly confused. "A talking belly dragger? Oh, uh … Sorry, your beauteousness. Oh my, have I told you how nice scales you have?"

"Don't try being nice," Dil growled. "Now listen up. As much as I'd love to eat you, I can't. Those kids told me you're off-limits. And while they may be kids, they can keep an old girl like me happy with more goodies than I could get for myself. Which means that I'm not gonna fail them and make things harder for me. So you're gonna do everything I say if you know what's good for you, and the less grief you give me, the better off you'll be. Got it? And don't try pulling any nonsense. Otherwise, they may change their mind about you being off the menu."

Terrified, Strut nodded. "I'll be good, I promise!"

"Good," Dil snapped. Then she turned to Ali. "Get me some red food," she barked. "I'm getting hungry."

"Sure thing Dil," Ali chuckled. "Just as soon as Ruby ties Strut up."

It wasn't long before Ruby worked to fasten one of Strut's legs with a thick, long, thorny chain to one of Dil's. Strut, still half-expecting to get eaten at any second, kept looking at Dil's maw fearfully, to which Dil just snorted. "You've probably been looking longer than anyone else who's live to tell the tale," she smirked as Ruby finished tightening the connection. "But you better stop gawking if you don't wanna test my temper. And don't take my food. It's all mine."

"Right," Strut gulped. Then while Ali went to get Dil's breakfast, Dil dragged Strut into the cave, Ruby following closely behind to make sure Strut didn't pull any more nonsense. When they got inside, Ruby looked around. There was a small pool of water in which Dil situated herself.

"You're not gonna drown me too?" Strut begged.

"Only if you want it," Dil snorted back. Then Dil nodded to Ruby. "See that boulder?"

"No," Ruby said. "Where is it?"

"How should I know? You're the one who can see," Dil smirked.

"Fair point," Ruby laughed, squinting before making out a heavy boulder just light enough for her to be able to lift with both hands. "Untie me and put that down on his end."

"Can I have solitary confinement?" Strut asked hopefully.

Dil nodded enthusiastically. "There's space back there. But I can smell you, so no trying to get out."

"Okay," Strut said with great relief. So as Ruby secured the untied end of Strut's chain under the heavy boulder, Strut went to stand back on the far side of the cave. Then after Ali returned with a scaly swimmer carcass which Dil happily gnawed on in her pool, she pushed forth a small boulder just the right size to fit into the cave. Ruby and Dil had to work together to push the boulder into place, but it worked perfectly, sealing Strut off in a space with a small watering hole that nevertheless yielded cracks for air and to put food through. After settling Strut in, Ruby went to slide him some treestars through the gap.

"Let's hope this'll help you'll be the good Strut and not the bad Strut," Ruby said playfully.

"Wow … Mmm, green food! That's good," Strut said, sounding sincerely appreciative as he dined.

"I'll even give you a snapping shell as dessert," Ruby chuckled.

"Sure, I'll take that," Strut said nervously. Ruby shook her head. While not sure if they could trust Strut, she felt good that they had managed to confine him while still keeping him alive. And perhaps one day, he, like Pterano, Hyp, or Dil, could find his way onto the path of redemption.

---

Strolling out to the northern side of the crater and down its perimeter, Littlefoot and Cera began to think over the foundational steps of a workout program. Knowing this kind of thing was up Cera's alley, Littlefoot decided to pose the question.

"So Cera, what do you think we should be working on first?" Littlefoot asked.

Cera pondered. "Well, the threehorn way of doing it is to start with strength, and the rest will come later," she explained. "But that's just how those rockheads in the Valley will fight since they're more muscle than brain. If we're not gonna lose a bunch of us to their sorry behinds, we've gotta be better than them in every way. Not only do we have to catch up with them in power, but we've gotta be skilled in ways they won't be, and now that they've seen our defensive formation in action, I don't know if we can rely on that."

Littlefoot paused as Cera said, "We've gotta build ourselves up in every way. Dad always said to stand and fight, not run away. But I think speed's a weak point of theirs. All their herds are big kinds and their conditioning seems so strength-based. So if we become way faster than them, we might have a chance … That means agility too, so we can evade whatever they might throw at us."

But Cera discouragedly shook her head. "But we can't beat Goregie's goons just based on speed. They're probably gonna be faster than us no matter what we do. So we need to practice strength training. Increase the power in our attacks, and make them more accurate while we're at it. And for both groups of enemies, we need to improve our durability and resistance to attacks. Not to mention all the special moves we've got to incorporate … What's so funny?" Cera asked incredulously as Littlefoot couldn't help but snicker.

"Cera, we already know a game that does all that," Littlefoot explained. "One where we can work on strength, speed, and durability all at once."

Cera stared at Littlefoot. "Well, what?" she asked in disbelief.

"Toss the seed," Littlefoot chuckled simply.

"WHAT?" Cera asked. "That's just a fun game, it's only a real workout for hatchlings! We're dealing with armies of creeps who want nothing more than to kill us! And there's only one ball in toss the seed! How can we all get a workout at once chasing a silly ball around?"

"Sorry, I should've been clearer," Littlefoot laughed. "Toss the seed, grownup style. That can be played with as many players as we want. We can even play boys versus girls if you want."

Now Littlefoot had Cera's interest. This kind of creative, head-in-the-clouds thinking was where he always had a leg up on her, loath as she was to admit it. It was part of why they always made a good team. Of course, she had to return the favor and play sharptooth's advocate, forcing him to think practically and hammer out all the details. So still playing cynical with him, she snorted, "All right, what kind of crazy idea have you come up with this time?"

"Well for starters, since we're grownups, we won't be using a seed," Littlefoot laughed. "That'll just break on us. We can use a big boulder. More like big boulders, since there's so many of us. And with more boulders, we need more goals. So there'll be plenty to do for all of us."

Cera readied her first shot. "Okay, what about the flyers and runners? No way they can hurl big boulders into goals."

Littlefoot thought. "Flyers can drop new balls onto the field, and drop seeds onto the other team," he considered. "When you've been hit by a seed, you have to drop to your knees and let go of your boulder and count to thirty before you can get up again. Except if you catch the seed. Then the flyer has to take a timeout. Runners can throw seeds just like flyers, but they can also tag others out with their hands, but they can only tag someone out with their hands if they're holding a boulder. That forces anyone carrying a boulder to want to throw it before they can be tagged out."

Cera asked, "Okay, I can see how this gives us practice with speed, evasion, and accuracy. But what about strength and resistance? I don't see how this will help us get stronger or endure more blows."

Littlefoot grinned mischievously. "We're not kids anymore, so we can play tackle toss the seed! Anyone who doesn't have a ball can tackle anyone on the opposite team who's about their weight. If the victim's belly touches the ground, they have to let go of their ball and have to count to thirty before getting back up. That develops strength by doing the tackling, and endurance from being tackled. Not to mention we gain strength by moving the heavy boulders around."

Cera stared as Littlefoot said, "So this game helps us with speed, agility, accuracy, strength and endurance. Seems like a pretty good thing to try."

Cera pondered. "Well," she smirked. "You've done a pretty good job at making a fun game hardcore. It sounds better than I thought."

"I figured you'd like it," Littlefoot grinned.

"Get over yourself," Cera snorted.

"We can always come up with another idea later," Littlefoot laughed. "But we've got one for now, so we might as well run for it."

"Okay," Cera smirked. "But on one condition."

"What's that?" Littlefoot asked.

"Let me explain it," Cera snorted.

Littlefoot guffawed, shaking his head. "But it's my idea!"

"Yeah, but I'm the one who can make it sound awesome to anybody," Cera laughed. "After all, who's both Coach Cera and the Amazing Threehorn Lady?"

"You're really letting being a herd leader get to your head," Littlefoot chuckled.

"Oh please," Cera snorted. "I'll even credit you with the idea. Then will you be happy?"

"Sure, whatever you say Cera," Littlefoot grinned, shaking his head. Though secretly, he was all too happy to let Cera explain. After all, if anyone could sell the herd on his crazy game, it would be the very threehorn who so regularly questioned his ideas. They truly complemented each other in every way.