Chomper and Cole both gasped at the response though Cole tried to keep quiet. As Hyp and Mutt tried to get into a more comfortable position, Cole felt something sharp prick his behind and he almost yelped before he covered his mouth, but the twig then snapped and Chomper's parents suddenly tensed.

"Did you hear something?", Chomper's father asked looking firm.

"It came from over there.", Chomper's mother added pointing behind Chomper.

Just as the two adult t-rexes stepped forward, Cole felt a branch swing back and hit his backside making him fly right out of the bush in pain.

"Ow!", he screamed.

He landed right in front of Chomper's parents who looked his way suspiciously before Chomper's father looked to Chomper.

"Who is this?", he asked firmly.

Cole felt his nerve shudder as Chomper's mother brought her face a little closer to his. Cole's heart beat faster at the thought that she was going to eat him if he said the wrong thing.

"Uh…hello?", Cole asked smiling nervously.

Chomper's father suddenly frowned as he noticed Cole's necklace.

"Honey, isn't this that rainbow face that helped raise our son a while back?", he asked.

Cole gulped as Chomper's father looked him in the eye. Chomper must have felt like Cole was scared and spoke up.

"Yeah, he uh, just wanted to be sure I was okay.", he said quickly.

Chomper's father raised an eyebrow without taking his eyes off Cole which made Cole lose his nerve.

"Uh yeah, I just…want to be there for the little guy.", he said quickly, "Can't let him get in over his head until-"

"Quiet!", Chomper's father snapped.

That shut Cole up though Chomper's mother looked her mate's way firmly.

"Was that necessary?", she asked equally firm.

Chomper's father took a few breaths and then looked curious.

"Hey, what's that?", he asked sniffing the air.

Cole felt like he was sniffing out Littlefoot and the others. When Chomper's mother licked her lips, he felt like he had to speak out, but what could he say?

"Smells like…longneck.", she said to her mate.

Cole suddenly found his voice.

"Uh, that was me.", Cole answered fast but got scared as Chomper's parents looked his way suspiciously, "I…uh, I passed a longneck's corpse yesterday and it's still…lingering?"

Chomper's parents looked slightly amused, but Chomper's father brought his face close to Cole again.

"Listen very closely.", he said in a firm tone, "I am trusting you with my son's life and if I find even one scale on his body out of place, you're in big trouble. Got it?"

Cole went pale at the thought of himself being eaten alive by the big predator, but didn't stay silent.

"Yes sir.", he answered in a frightened squeak, "I won't let you down."

Chomper's father looked satisfied as he and Chomper's mother started leaving.

"Don't take too long.", she told Chomper.

"Oh, don't worry, he'll be right there.", Cole assured her.

/

The moment Chomper's parents were out of sight, the gang came out of hiding.

"What was that all about?", Littlefoot asked.

"I don't know, but I think Cole was talking to them.", Hyp stated.

"Oh yeah right.", Cera countered, "Like they could talk."

"Then how do you explain what Cole was doing?", Nod retorted.

Ducky looked thoughtful.

"Cole did that before didn't he?", she asked.

Cole sighed.

"Yeah, I seem to be able to understand what Chomper's parents say.", he said, "I don't know how it happened, but it did."

Mutt looked interested.

"Wow, could your necklace do that?", he asked.

Chomper looked a bit anxious.

"I don't think you guys are safe around my folks.", he admitted.

"Hey, I'm sure they're okay.", Cole answered calmly, "They're just…well, protective."

Cera looked firm.

"Protective?", she asked, "They're sharpteeth and we're not friends, we're their-"

"Cera!", Littlefoot said firmly.

Hyp, Mutt, and Nod looked and saw Chomper looking like he was about to cry before they looked Cera's way just as firm.

"Cera, that wasn't very nice.", Hyp told her.

"Yeah, be nice to the little guy.", Nod insisted.

"He helped keep his parents off us.", Mutt pointed out, "He's…uh, he's…. oh yeah, he's okay."

Chomper felt comforted that the three new guys were standing up for him before Hyp looked his way a bit embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm sorry I don't think we've met.", he said before gesturing to himself, Mutt and Nod, "I'm Hyp and these are Nod and Mutt."

Mutt and Nod gave a gesture when their names were called and a friendly smile before Cole looked Chomper's way.

"So, you know a place where the gang can lay low for a while?"

Chomper looked better already.

"Of course I do.", he answered, "Just follow me."

He started heading into the forest with the gang following.

"It's a good thing my folks are the biggest sharpteeth around here.", he said.

Cole sighed as he knew there might be, but chose to say nothing.

"Hey, while we head to this place you have for us, why don't I explain how the new members of our gang came to be?", Cole suggested.

Chomper looked interested as they vanished away unaware of the large Giganotosaurus that stomped into the area and sniffed the air before chomping the bus the gang had hidden in earlier but found nothing so it spat out the green scraps in disgust. With another sniff in the air, it picked up the trail and then stomped after the gang. It had come close to getting Chomper once, but his father had been able to send him flying into a ditch and giving them enough time to get away. The predator sneered as it was now more determined to hunt down the hatchling and end its life.

/

Chomper had by now had gotten the details on how Hyp, Mutt and Nod had come to be friends with the ones who raised him.

"So you guys used to pick on Cole and the others when a drought came to the valley?", Chomper asked.

Hyp looked a bit uneasy.

"Hey, we were just having issues and the adults were too busy arguing than to think about what to do."

Nod looked firm.

"Not to mention that your dad was giving you grief.", he put in.

Hyp thought about retorting, but after thinking about what had gone down, chose not to.

"Well, after we got the water back and learned to get along, we made amends.", he said, "Then we went to another valley of mists to find some night flowers."

"Night flowers?", Chomper asked.

"Special flowers with healing properties.", Cole answered, "We needed some for Littlefoot's grandfather and Hyp's father who had grown ill."

"We even managed to keep some extra to make our own patch so we wouldn't have to travel to the Land of Mists to get more.", Hyp added before he figured Chomper hadn't heard of it, "That's the name of the land where we found the night flowers."

Mutt sighed.

"It's too bad those swarming leaf-gobblers came and ruined our patch.", he said looking firm, "And after we worked so hard to tend it."

Cole looked their way sympathetically.

"At least they didn't get the seeds.", he said gently, "Hopefully they'll regrow by the time we return."

That helped Hyp, Mutt and Nod feel better as the group continued following Chomper.

"Stay together so you don't get lost.", Chomper told them.

"Don't worry, we'll stay together.", Cole answered.

Ducky climbed up on Spike's back as she was getting a bit tired and chose to ride for a bit. When they came to a gorge with a tree that served as a bridge, Chomper walked across it while looking back at the group.

"Come on.", he said playfully, "It's fun."

Littlefoot cautiously got to the log and gulped.

"Some fun.", he muttered.

Cole felt his nerve tense as he remembered what Chomper's father had told him, but felt relieved when Chomper made it to the other side okay. Cole followed Littlefoot across with Hyp, Mutt and Nod behind them. Cera looked a bit nervous as she suddenly looked assured.

"I won't look down.", she said as if telling herself as she started across, "I won't look down, I won't look down."

She had gotten halfway across when Petrie suddenly flew in front of her and made her flinch before looking over the side where Petrie flew into view.

"Ha, me make you look.", he said playfully.

/

Cera frowned as she was annoyed that Petrie would do something like that, but she shook it off as she made her way across. Spike just walked up and stuck his nose in the air while walking across as if he had walked across this bridge enough times to know he was perfectly safe. Ducky couldn't help but look over the side and see how far down the gorge was and went pale. As Spike got to the other side, he slipped a bit and Ducky almost fell off, but before she got too far away, Hyp reached forward and caught her before bringing her to safety.

"Careful.", he said playfully.

Ducky looked grateful as Mutt looked to Chomper as if interested.

"So how come you and your folks live here?", he asked.

"My dad just wants me to be safe since other predators tried to eat me or I was wandering off a little too often.", Chomper admitted though he looked a bit embarrassed while doing so.

"Hey, it's okay.", Hyp told him, "My dad is pretty much the same way."

Cera still didn't look convinced.

"I don't blame them.", she said.

Cole looked Cera's way firmly and then rolled his eyes while Littlefoot looked just as firm.

"Cera, don't you remember when we saved him from those egg-nappers before and how Cole helped us watch over him?"

Cera just rolled her eyes showing she had put that behind her.

"Besides, not all predators are crazed killers.", Cole added, "They're just doing what they are designed to do."

"Like eat us?", Cera countered.

"Is this about Sharptooth?", Cole asked.

The whole group went silent at the mention of the first sharptooth they had encountered while Hyp, Mutt, and Nod looked confused.

"Who?", Hyp asked.

"A savage predator that hounded us before we came to the Great Valley.", Cole explained, "He wouldn't give up the chase and scared the heck out of us before we put him down."

Hyp, Mutt, and Nod looked awestruck.

"You took out a predator?", Nod asked.

"It was more of a one-time thing.", Cole stated, "But not all predators can be like that."

Cera didn't look that convinced, but she said nothing as Chomper led the group to what looked like a large patch of flowers.

"Here we are.", he said.

Petrie went up to one of the flowers as if entranced.

"Oh, pretty."

He gave it a big sniff, but then looked shocked and disgusted before he fell to the ground before getting up again.

"But it no smell pretty."

Mutt also had gotten a whiff and looked grossed out.

"How come it smell so bad?", he asked while holding his nose.

Cole tried to ignore the smell, but couldn't help but it smelled strongly like garlic.

"Hey, at least it might keep the predators away.", he assured.

/

Chomper pushed some plants aside as the gang entered though Hyp, Mutt and Nod had to crouch so they wouldn't be seen.

"P-yew.", Petrie gaged, "This place smell like herd of club-tails on hot day."

"At least we'll be safe here.", Littlefoot said before seeing Spike eating one of the plants and looked alarmed, "Unless Spike eats the whole hideout."

Spike paused as Ducky came up to him.

"If you eat this stuff, you will have club-tail breath you can never get rid of.", she told him before he belched in her face and she was grossed out, "Ew!"

Chomper looked in and Cole came out to stretch out.

"If you guys are hungry, I think I can find you some food.", Chomper offered.

That was when the gang bombarded him with descriptions.

"I like flowers.", Cera stated, "Especially yellow ones."

"Me like berries.", Petrie added, "Lots and lots of berries."

"I like the tall grass with the big leaf.", Ducky stated, "Yep, yep, yep."

Hyp suddenly came forward with Mutt and Nod.

"Guys, let's not overwhelm the poor guy, I'm not sure those things grow around these parts.", he said carefully.

Chomper was grateful for the support and Cole looked thoughtful.

"I'll help you out, Chomper.", he told the little t-rex, "Your dad wants me to keep an eye on you and I certainly don't want to disappoint him. Not to mention I really, really don't want to see him when he's angry."

"When he's angry?", Nod asked, "I thought we were already looking at it."

Hyp gave Nod a firm look, but softened up and sighed.

"We'll go too.", he said, "The more hands on deck the better."

Cole looked amused.

"Why thank you Hyp.", he said as the trio started heading off with them, "That's very considerate."

They paused to look back at the group.

"We'll be right back.", Nod called back.

"Uh, oh…uh, yeah, we…won't take long.", Mutt added.

Chomper chuckled merrily as he knew he would have support.

"I appreciate all the help you guys are putting in.", he said, "I just love having friends for dinner."

Hyp, Mutt and Nod looked a bit nervous, but Cole didn't.

"Relax guys, it's just an expression."

"What that?", Mutt asked as they had gotten far from the hideout.

"Sometimes people say things that mean something else.", Cole explained, "When Chomper said he loves having friends for dinner, he really ment that he loves having us over to eat with him. That's all."

Hyp, Mutt and Nod looked more at ease while Chomper looked up at Cole smiling. Cera may not be willing to accept him just yet, but at least his old babysitter and the three new guys were.