The Gang of Five

The Land Before Time => LBT Fanfiction => Topic started by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 10:41:39 AM

Title: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 10:41:39 AM
People have been wondering if there would be a continuation of my Sucky story (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15971.0) and, well, here it is!  :celebrate

The story is divided into 8 chapters which I will all post now since I have a deadline to meet (like... yesterday?  :bolt)

Hope you enjoy Sucky's sucky adventures!  :Mo (and I should probably note, that it's a crackfic, though I added some serious parts here and there ;) )

~~~~~~

Prologue:

When Littlefoot woke up the other morning, it was with a strange sensation, just before the first rays of the Bright Circle began warming the land again. Stretching his legs, the longneck drowsily got to his feet.

"Hmm, what a strange dream..." he muttered quietly as he recollected what his sleepstory had been about, the story circle of the previous night apparently having an effect on him, otherwise he wouldn't have dreamed about the adventures of Sucky.

"Hmm, I think my friends might be interested in hearing this adventure of hers as well..." Would they really be interested though? More likely, they'd just want to play... The longneck pondered about this a little more as he sneaked past his snoring grandparents over to a group of nearby trees for breakfast, finally making up his mind as he ate some delicious treestars to get his body going.

"I'll just ask them after all, that won't hurt for sure!”

Without further prompting, the boy ran off through the tall grass towards their meeting place.

*

"So what are we gonna do today?"

Finally, after Ruby and Chomper arrived from their morning "hunt", everyone was gathered, even Dinah and Dana who apparently were still under Cera's scrutinizing watch, considering what to do.

"Let's play games!" Chomper announced cheerfully, never missing any opportunity for a good game.

"Sure but can I tell you something before that?" Littlefoot requested, looking at everyone in the circle that they had formed seeing mixed reactions ranging from curiosity to confusion.

"Oh, what is it, huh?" Ducky questioned with an expectant smile, the swimmer always easy to excite.

"Yeah, hurry up so I can beat y'all in the games already!" Cera boasted, earning a well-placed jab from Petrie perching on her immediately.

"Yeah, like yesterday when you lose three times in row..."

"Shut up!"

"Well," Littlefoot chimed in as if nothing happened, such teases and playful insults being a common thing among the group of friends. "You see, I've had this sleepstory about Sucky and I thought you might...

"Oh, not this again..." Cera sighed, muttering under her breath. "So glad threehorns don't have them..."

"We did, Dinah and Dana did!" Dana laughed as the twins hopped around happily.

"Well, what was that about threehorns no having sleepstories?" Petrie muttered quietly, almost falling off the threehorn as she shook around wildly in mild fury.

"Shut up, beakface... oh those little traitors..."

Littlefoot chuckled at the display; he was about to speak up again when Petrie took the word again.

"Well, me be honest, me had sleepstory 'bout story too..."

"Oh, me too, yep yep yep!" Ducky tweeted from atop Spike, who was looking around in slight confusion, having missed all of yesterday's story since he'd fallen asleep on the spot right after dinner.

"So did Chomper and I," Ruby announced cryptically.

"Yeah, that's why we were late," Chomper admitted.

"It's because we talked about our sleepstories and because we talked about them so much we were late!" the fastrunner explained matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, sorry about that," the sharptooth apologized with a cheeky grin.

"Let me guess, Sucky was delicious?" Cera teased the sharptooth whose shocked expression confirming that this latest jab hit right where it mattered.

"How'd you know?!" Chomper answered with a frown. "I'm not that predictable, am I?"

"I helped hatching you so I should know you, little biter!"

"True..." Chomper gave a toothy grin in response which sent a short round of giggles through the gang. "...she was tastier than your tail for sure... though Sucky is hardly a meal... you on the other hand..."

Cera's reaction to this was absolutely priceless, Littlefoot noted, joining the vivid laughter which had erupted - except for the twins who were still taking these jokes literally, thus slightly backing away behind Cera's protective body.

"Well, looks like everyone has a story to contribute so why not tell each other our respective adventures of Sucky right now?" Littlefoot eventually suggested as tempers calmed at last.

"More like a culinary feast?!" Cera butted in in an attempt to restore her pride and get the last word in. However, her friends knew the threehorn too well to fall for that easily.

"Is it not that you are just trying to divert our attention from the sleepstory you had, Cera? Huuuuuuh?" Ducky hypothesized with a challenging grin on her face.

"Cera, you talked in sleep, Dinah heard it!"

"Dana thinks so too!"

"Uuurrghhh! FINE, I did, now shut up!!!" the threehorn snapped, making the twins jolt over to Spike as her deadly glare fell upon them.

"Me knew that all along," Petrie added to the group effort of exposing the proud threehorn, quickly taking to the skies, flying over to Spike where he landed next to Ducky before Cera could come up with a way to physically get back at him.

"Aaaanyway..." Littlefoot cleared his throat in an attempt to deescalate the situation. "Since it was my idea, I'd like to take my turn first. Anybody mind that?"

"Nope nope nope," Ducky tweeted.

"Me fine," Petrie croaked.

"Uh-huh," Spike agreed. Meanwhile, Chomper and Ruby shrugged and the twins were whispering among themselves.

"Sure, go ahead," Cera exclaimed in a surprisingly neutral voice after her previous outburst. "I'll go for last obviously."

"Why, huuuuuh?" Ducky wondered.

"BeCAUSE... best things always come last!" A smug grin appeared on the tomboy's face.

"Sure," Littlefoot deadpanned. "Well, here goes then..."

Everyone congregated in a semi-circle around the longneck (although everyone kept a respectful distance to Cera... just in case...) when, suddenly, said threehorn spoke up.

“Actually, may Chomper go first?” When irritated faces met her eyes, she explained. “You see… his story might very well be the worst!”

“Sure, I don’t mind!” Chomper announced promptly with a grin. “May I?”

“I… don’t see why you shouldn’t…” Littlefoot replied hesitantly while throwing a confused glance Cera’s way. “Well, the attention is all yours then.”

Chomper and Littlefoot quickly switched places, the longneck exchanging a few shrugs with Ruby as he settled down next to the fast-runner, while Chomper took the word...

~~~~~~

So yeah, this is the set-up for this story haha. Expect this style of dialogue between the gang for the rest of the story. I didn't really pay much attention to add thoughts and descriptions to the dialogue as I think it'd take away the focus from the random silliness I'm trying to portrait here :P

Originally I had Littlefoot go first but I then realized that a bunch of random ideas could actually be forged into a loosely coherent story. Well, except for Chomper's as you will see in the first chapter  :OhYou
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 10:47:46 AM
Chapter 1: Chomper’s story: How to expose your behind to a sharptooth!

One day Sucky was wandering through a forest, when a strange feeling fell upon her... as if something or someone was stalking her. Anxiously, the young swimmer slowly completed a circle, trying to spot if there was any danger lurking behind the thick vegetation, her bad eyesight not helping her in her efford. After completing two more circles without spotting anything peculiar, the swimmer eventually walked on through the thick trees, humming a random melody.

*snap*

Sucky jerked as a twig snapped dangerously close to her, a quick glimpse at her feet confirming that she had not stepped on anything, thus it couldn't have been her...

Oh no...

Sucky turned towards the source of the sound which seemed to originate from a thick bush to her right, leaves rattling as she slowly turned around, petrified.

Suddenly, a face emerged right next to her. Sucky shrieked as the realization hit her with hurricane force.

A purple sharptooth, juvenile, with a toothy grin, manifestation of the successful sneak-up.

With a mighty leap, the girl jumped backwards, falling flat on her back as she barely avoided being severed by the claws of the young sharptooth, scrambling further away but the sharptooth was above her again in no time.

"Heeeeelp!!!" Sucky screamed at the top of her lungs, barely avoiding the deadly bite coming her way by rolling over and somehow getting back on her feet despite trembling heavily. While the purple carnivore was busy pulling his snout out of the ground just where she had been moments ago, the girl ran for it, following no particular direction as she took the path with least resistance as in the path with the least underbrush to slow her down.

For a while it seemed as though Sucky was able to outrun the juvenile sharptooth, however it was when Sucky decided to take a glimpse behind her that she realized this was clearly not the case. The purple beast greeted her with a toothy smile as it jogged along behind her with little to no exertion whereas she was slowly reaching the limit of what she could do. Panicking, the swimmer picked up her pace, screaming like a maniac, only using up the little energy she had left even quicker. Frantically, the girl put her terribly poor eyes to labor in the puny hope that a hideout would present itself to her. Considering her usual luck however…

That was when she saw it. A small tree trunk, the innards rotten away to leave nothing but its rugged outer shell, directly in front of her. Pumped up, the swimmer managed to find some extra energy, sprinting towards the possible life-saver. True, it wouldn’t magically make her lose the predator, however he wouldn’t be able to reach her in there no matter how long he’d wait guarding the exits. It’d be much smarter to search for new pray rather than camp until she’d come out starving after all.

“I will not die today!!!” Sucky yelled as she sprinted the last few meters towards the tree trunk, sailing through the air with a mighty leap and maneuvering herself right into the small opening…

*crack*

Sucky felt humongous pain as the wood splittered, cutting deep into her sides, and it didn’t take long for her to make the obvious realization…

She was stuck, the log too narrow for her to fit. With her butt, legs and tail sticking out, unable to move out due to the several injuries she just obtained and the predator’s steps growing louder behind her, there was little left to say for the poor child.

“I am going to die today… I am Sucky and I suck suck suck... “ A loud sniff erupted from the swimmer as tears flooded her face, a face that would soon be lunch.

The sharptooth saw the fleshy tail wagging back and forth, smelling the scent of fresh blood and immediately entering a mad sprint, saliva flooding its mouth in anticipation of the meal that just got itself stuck much to its pleasure. With a mighty roar of joy and victory, it opened its jaws, going for the kill…

*

“Well, that’s when I woke up,” Chomper mentioned prosaically, a small amount of disappointment ringing in his voice.

“Oh what a bother!” Cera replied while moving in a dramatical manner, the sarcasm in her voice obvious to everyone present.

“Yep, we wanted to hear details after all…” Petrie lied, jumping on Cera’s train.

“Poor Sucky though… she was eated-ed, she was she was…” Ducky commented in a slightly tragic voice.

“Oh no, oh no!” the twins sang in chorus with shocked expressions.

“Well, that was surprisingly not gore-y,” Littlefoot deadpanned. “Okay, I guess now I can have my turn?”

“Sure!” Chomper tweeted. “Go ahead!”

“Alright!”

As Littlefoot prepared to speak in from of everyone, Chomper returned to his place next to Ruby who decided to whisper something into his ear.

“Are you sure this was the full story, Chomper?”

“Nah, just wanted to disappoint Cera, I actually got to eat her,” Chomper answered truthfully with a toothy grin.

“Well, suppose this was for the best, for the best it was,” Ruby replied with a devious smirk as Littlefoot began his narration…

~~~~~~

So... yeah. Having Sucky die didn't really fit into the bigger scheme haha. But that idea was too funny to drop so I entered it as the first chapter, acting as a sort of teaser as for what is to come from now on.

Sucky having random adventures and lots of bad luck...  :sducky
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 10:54:34 AM
Chapter 2: Littlefoot’s story: The higher the climb, the deeper the fall!

It had been many days since that fateful day which cost Sucky everything. Well, not like she had ever possessed anything of value to begin with but at least she used to have a home.

She'd been wandering the barren lands ever since, aimlessly. The occasional dry plant and a short rain shower had helped her a little to keep alive but Sucky had no idea how long her luck would last, considering she was a personification of bad luck and mishaps.

After a few days a lonely mountain came to view and Sucky, knowing nothing better, decided to go find a way. On the one hand, she might be able to get a good view of the surrounding area and on the other hand Sucky simply loved heigths, often dreaming of becoming a flyer.

The mountain was a massive monument of orange-ish sand stone towering many hundreds of meters above the small swimmer child. Its walls were steep, forming occasional cascades but the whole flank to the left seemed to be mostly lacking them, possibly allowing for a pretty unproblematic ascend so Sucky decided to take that route, stopping here and there to snack on various smaller herbs that grew inbetween the rubble covering much of the ground here. The food was just about enough of a reward not to call the mission a complete failure. Calling it a success demanded her to successfully climb up and find clues about her whereabouts and where to go.

The climb was arduous and Sucky tripped over rocks at least a dozen times but finally, at the brisk of dusk, the swimmer stood proud at the summit, taking a few ragged breaths as the full amount of exhaustion finally hit her.

“I made it!” she eventually proclaimed in her loudest voice so that even the deafest of sharpteeth would hear the news, holding a victorious fist high up in the air. Though her arm soon sunk when the swimmer began to assess the landscape around her. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but dry deserts with the occasional rock decorating the otherwise bleak and desolate area.

“I am in the middle of nowhere… I am Sucky because I suck suck suck...” the child spoke in a bout of depression. “Well, there is no reason to stay any longer…”

Sucky didn’t even bother to watch the ongoing sunset. With slow, dreary steps, the swimmer began her descend though, in the face of her defeat, her attention wasn’t intact. That backfired badly when she didn’t watch her step…

“AH!”

Suddenly, the girl felt herself losing her balance when she, unexpectedly, stepped on a loose rock that slipped away under her feet. Falling hard on her back wasn’t the worst of it, no. The terrain was fairly steep where she was at the moment so Sucky began to slip down. With nothing to hold onto, her speed increased quickly and she eventually bean to somersault wildly downwards, screaming and crying as the rocky ground cut her open and the heavy impacts bruised every centimeter of her body.

It was only when she had reached the bottom that Sucky came to a standstill, remaining lying where she was, unconscious. It would take her days to recover.

*

“Ouchies!” Dana was the first to comment on the longneck’s story, having traumatic memorries of falling off high places, Dinah nodding with an apprehensive expression. “Unlucky Sucky!”

“Ha! That’s actually funny to imagine!” Cera admitted with a short laugh.

“Yeah, totally,” Chomper agreed, snickering, as did Spike and Ducky, Ruby holding her stomach giggling as well.

“Yeah haha,” Littlefoot laughed. “Still woke up wondering what in the name of the Mysterious Beyond I’d just dreamed about…”

“Me think it probably feel like that for most of us… ‘cept Cera,” Petrie deadpanned, dodging a death stare of said threehorn.

“Hey, I already said I did have a dream after all, beakbrain!” Cera raged, stomping her foot. “And I daresay it’s more interesting than what you beakbrains can come up with!”

“First denying it, now bragging about it, this is Cera as she lives and speaks…” Littlefoot muttered to Ruby, who almost exploded trying not to laugh out loud. And it was probably for the best that only Ruby got to hear that particular remark too.

“Well, me can tell me story now if you insist,” Petrie retorted, crossing his wings.

“That is a very good idea,” Ducky tweeted, backed up by Spike.

“Yeah, please go ahead,” Littlefoot requested with a smile.

“Me do it then,” Petrie announced, flying over to a nearby tree, everyone else gathering around it as the flyer began to speak in his unique way of speech…

~~~~~~

This story ended up being a little shorter and unimaginative than I liked. Part of the reason is probably that sucky me lost the first draft  :nyah Well, Sucky has a thing for high places as you will see very soon  :idea
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 11:00:48 AM
Chapter 3: Petrie’s story: Rescued from certain death!

One day Sucky found herself wandering into a narrow canyon when a short moment of luck presented itself to the poor swimmer in the form of a small patch of green alongside a narrow creek that was flowing through before falling down the cliffs as a small waterfall. Sucky squeaked in joy and the image of all the green food burned itself into her mind, the swimmer sprinting the last few meters and digging in with pleasure and joy, rehydrating her worn body as she did so.

Finally, she was full, her belly bulging from the feast, her mind now satisfied and ready to nap for a while but life wouldn't grant her that. As always, just when the girl thought her unlucky streak would be broken one day, it literally shoved bad events right into her face. This day was no different after all. Sucky dropped out of her sleepiness when small rocks fell next to her. Confused, Sucky looked at her feet. An earthshake breaking rocks loose from the cliffs of the ravine? No, surely she would know what an earthshake felt like and this wasn't caused by one, obviously. So what else could it be?

More pebbles skidded down, Sucky taking a glance high up above her but her vision was way too poor to see the top of the mountains embedding her in a cage of rock as it appeared. Strange sounds reached her ears but the swimmer couldn't make sense of them, uneasiness spreading through her body, an eerie feeling manifesting itself.

*ROAR*

Sucky shrieked as the loud screech of a predator reached her ears, coming from directly above. Frantically, the girl turned her head towards the source of the sound, revealing three striped, orange fastbiters with long sickle claws and sharp teeth jumping downwards into the canyon from above.

“Oh no, oh no…. OH NOOOOOOOO!!!” Sucky screamed as the full scale of the situation began hitting her like a rock, wasting no time to run for it. Though she was giving her best of efforts, they were literally completely meaningless. After all, she was pursued by fastbiters who earned their name rightfully so, catching up to the swimmer in no time, Sucky’s heart sinking as the three roaring figures grew in size behind her rapidly, the swimmer preparing mentally for her inevitable demise, screaming loudly in wild panic while knowing tears were streaming down her face. Her fate was sealed this moment, ground shaking, jaws above her. Defiantly, as if to mock her bad luck, Sucky took a last, deep breath before shouting loudly into the canyons.

“I AM SUCKY, BECAUSE I SUCK SUCK SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU…”

All of a sudden, before the girl was able to grasp on what was going on, Sucky felt herself lifted above the rocky ground as something grabbed her from above, digging into her shoulders though not causing any cuts, pulling her higher and higher, the ugly faces of the three fastbiters, roaring angrily at the prospect of a failed hunt, growing smaller and smaller as she quickly gained height.

At first Sucky was incredibly scared, however the fact that whatever had grabbed her did not have sharp claws meant it was not likely to be something deadly. The growing height also contributed, making her feel strangely at ease the higher she was lifted, seemingly effortless, by the mysterious creature. A bit of uncertainty still left, Sucky finally dared to cast a look above, catching a glimpse of a brown flyer with a long crest and a faraway expression on them. No matter how to look at things, that flyer, sailing effortlessly through the air in a continuous ascending circle and elegantly so, he had saved her there and Sucky would make sure to express her gratitude to them as soon as they'd drop her off somewhere. For now though enjoying the rare gift of flight would do.

Soon, a plateau came into view as they rose above the high mountains that encroached the small valley, the flyer aiming for it and gently dropping her from a safe height (of course the swimmer fell flat on her face) before making a landing next to her just as gracefully as he flew.

"Uhm..." Sucky scrambled back to her feet unscathed, facing her probable savior who was merely gazing at the faraway horizon. However, as soon as she addressed him, the flyer's attention turned to her.

"Well uhh... thank you very much for saving me, big flyer. I thought my luck had finally run out..."

"I did not save you for your sake, young swimmer, I had an agenda of my own," the flyer explained gruffly, clearly a mid-aged male by appearance, coloured in a light brown colour with a slight hint of orange mixing in. "Anyways, you are welcome young child."

"Also... t-thank you for that ride... I always dreamed of flying high like that one day, that was so cool!" the swimmer exclaimed happily.

"Oh, is that so little one?" the flyer wondered, his distant and formal demeanor changing as he realized he had a willing listener. "You see, the gift of flight has been kindly bestowed upon us flyers and us flyers alone since ancient times, passing on this gift from generation to generation, father to son, mother to daughter."

"Well, so it is with us swimmers... I think," Sucky spoke thoughtfully.

"Right, each kind has their own skills to be proud of," the flyer admitted with a weak smile.

"...and the lack of such skills..." Sucky sulked, disappointed that she would never be capable of flight.

"Be proud of what you're good at little one and use it to your advantage," the adult explained though it was with a grain of salt. "Also... show awareness of your faults and... well, I just learned this the hard way so I shouldn’t be lecturing you really..."

The girl perked up with curiosity as the grown-up became uneasily downhearted and sad. Even someone as stupid as Sucky could realize that there was grief and regret in the old flyer.

"Mhm? Would you like to tell me, wise flyer? Maybe you are like me?"

The flyer gave a harsh, mocking laugh.

"Kid, I doubt you have the blood of those you were responsible for on your talons..." Pain distorted his facial features as he covered his face in grief. "I led them into this very canyon, believing it to be the famous Great Valley, a land said to be a paradise. Instead, we were ambushed by fastbiters - the very ones I just rescued you from, and I was unable to find a quick solution... they all perished before my own eyes… of course I was able to fly out of danger but others did not have that option I’m afraid..."

The swimmer gasped in shock as the flyer gravely told her about those tragic events.

"Well, young swimmer, let me not startle you, what about you? What does a little fella like you do in the middle of the desert, all by yourself?"

"I am all alone," Sucky confirmed with a slight hint of sadness. "I am also very unlucky, that is why I am all alone and in the middle of the desert, I am."

"So... I shall assume you have nowhere to go and nowhere to belong, my child?" the flyer questioned with some concern.

"That is correct," Sucky affirmed.

 "Unfortunately," the flyer continued," I absolutely cannot escort you. You see... I am trying to starve these fastbiters who took my herd by distracting them whenever they go on a hunt. Just one meal and my mission would be a failure so I must be on guard, always. By taking revenge like this and saving some lives, maybe one day I will be able to bear my failure to protect those who put their trust into me..." The brown flyer trailed off for a second before his focus returned at once.

"Anyways, what I can offer you, young swimmer, is some hope and directions. I am not willing to assume responsibility over anyone unless I believe my powers and ability match the tasks that I am given, so I cannot and will not take care of you as much as my heart desires it. Well,  but as it turns out, the Great Valley is very well real and not too far away. Would you like to hear about it?”

"Oh yes!" Sucky cheered with curiosity.

“The Great Valley is a wondersome place, the closest to a paradise I’ve set my eyes upon in my whole life. It is overflowing with food, water and life and the mountains surrounding it are rumored to be a natural barrier against a bunch of unpleasant things you might expect out here. Many herds have moved there and, as far as I can tell, life there is rather harmonious. Certainly, it would be a better place to be for a lonesome child, don’t you think, little one?”

“Oh yes, oh yes!” Sucky agreed happily, the sounds of that glorious valley making her all fuzzy and excited. “How do I get there?

"From here on, follow the Bright Circle's afternoon position until you see a rock that looks like the neck of a longneck. If you reach it, you should be able to see the valley. Go and live there, I have seen many of your kind there and I'm sure that you will find a place to belong."

"Okay, I will but tell me why are you not going there if it is a paradise?"

A small smile crept up the flyer's face. This little child did not see the atrocities he had committed but the good in him. Well, he had saved her after all so maybe the girl would be a little biased.

"Kid, believe me when I tell you... if there was a way for me to live in this paradise, I'd take to the sky this very second to journey there. But... that is a dream I may now never realize..."

"Oh why is that? I do not understand..." Sucky wondered with a frown.

"Some of the dinosaurs who perished under my command had relations to the valley. They will not allow me to live among them because of my failure to protect them..."

"So do you not have anywhere to belong?" Sucky inquired in slight shock.

"That is correct." The flyer gave a sad smile. "It humbles me that a young child like you who has nothing still has some room in their heart to worry about an old fool like me. I am glad that I was able to save you."

"Me too!" Sucky tweeted with a giggle.

"Obviously, obviously my child," the flyer replied with a light chuckle. "Well, it'll be no good to send you on your way from up here. I am sure a certain little swimmer would be very happy to take another flight or am I wrong?"

That needed no further prompting. Squealing, the little girl climbed onto the flyer's back (not before slipping off and falling on her back twice).

"Hold on tight, the wind can be quite unpredictable even if I fly calmly," he warned cautiously but the swimmer had already found a piece of his skin to hold on. "Grand! Enjoy the ride!"

And so Sucky got another free ride, enjoying being airbourne to the fullest and, astonishing as it was, without falling off, until the flyer eventually landed some distance ahead.

"Well, I suppose our paths split from here on, young swimmer, but rest assured I wish you the best of luck for the future and I shan't ever forget about you either!"

“Thank you very much, again!” Sucky exclaimed happily, jumping ahead to give the flyer’s beak an embrace. “Oh brave flyer, before we have to say good-bye at least tell me your name so I can tell everyone at the Great Valley what a nice dinosaur you are, oh yes!”

The flyer was at a loss of words for a moment, returning the embrace to the child.

“Pterano is my name, remember it well my child,” the flyer responded with a weak smile. “Now what is yours so I can spread the tale of the brave little swimmer who bested the deserts all alone in spite of her habit of being unlucky as you claimed?”

“My name is Sucky because I suck suck suck!” the swimmer tweeted.

“Well that… matches you to the point then, huh?” Pterano half-joked, both chuckling about this.

“Well, I hope I will see you again!” Sucky announced as she prepared herself to march off towards the promised land, the Great Valley that Pterano promised her.

“Certainly, that goes for me as well, young swimmer!” Pterano proclaimed, raising his wing in departure. “Farewell, my brave Sucky!”

“Bye!” Sucky exclaimed before hopping off after the late afternoon sun and promptly tripping over her own feet.

“I can only hope it is the right decision to let her wander off on her own accord…” Pterano murmured quietly to himself as he took off to the skies, resuming his mission to starve the fastbiters that ruined his life. Time would surely tell…

---

“So… that what Petrie’s dream ‘bout Sucky be like, what you think?”

“Do I need to answer?” Cera rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath of relief now that the flyer had concluded.

“I… think we can all imagine, Cera…” Littlefoot stated with a nervous laugh. “Anyway, whoa. To think if this really happened…”

“Yep, yep, yep, that would be really cool, yes it would!” Ducky chirped, Spike non-verbally expressing that his opinion matched Ducky’s perfectly. “Petrie, did your uncle ever…”

“‘Course he not, it not like me see him bunch of times,” Petrie replied with a slightly sour voice. “But me can ask him next time me see him, who knows? Maybe he really meet Sucky?”

“Well, that was certainly more intriguing than my sleepstory, because my sleepstory wasn’t very intriguing…” Ruby admitted with a polite smile.

“Same,” Littlefoot admitted with a chuckle.

“Well, I liked it!” Chomper proclaimed with a wink at the fastrunner’s direction. “In all seriousness though, I think I have yet to meet your uncle, Petrie.”

“So me think too…”

“Well, who’s next?” Cera demanded when nobody else voiced up any more feedback.

“Dinah goes next!”

“Dana too!” the twins blurted out at once, hopping around in agitation.

“You guys? Oh whatever…” Cera sighed as she plopped down on her seat in the circle in resignation, knowing that a huge mess was awaiting the group as the erratic twins began telling their dream…

~~~~~~

Whoa whoa WHOA! Sucky met PTERANO!  :lol

That was probably the most RANDOM idea of those I had and god I LOVE it  :Mo Pterano is fun to write after all and I think mixing the crack fic with some serious character developement was a nice touch, wasn't it?

Well, I had fun writing that anyway, noone can take that away from me haha  :SmugSpike

Now here's the question: Is Sucky going to reach the Great Valley? Time will tell  :SmugSpike :SmugSpike :SmugSpike
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 11:11:40 AM
Chapter 4: The twins’ story: Blown off Saurus Rock!

Weeks went into the land and Sucky kept on wandering aimlessly through the land, stopping by here and there to have a snack, walking hither and thither but finding no trace of the rock that Pterano had described to her nor any other location that could provide for her permanently - nor a herd that could possibly take her in for that matter. Not that the unlucky child ever expected anyone to take her in, considering her disabilities.

One day on her monotonous journey, the dull desert landscape provided her with a rare sight - a distant mountain on the far left horizon. Finally, after those many weeks, something was able to catch her attention and appeal to her curiosity. For the swimmer, there was no question where to go now as she loved to climb high places even if her last attempt ended painfully. Though at that moment it did not occur to her that the mountain could be the one the flyer spoke of, merely allowing her insatiable curiosity to overflow and take hold of her. With renewed energy, Sucky adjusted the direction more towards the left where the mountain stood far far away under the afternoon sun...

*

"Saurus Rock, eh?" Cera couldn't refrain herself from perking up despite trying to maintain her general disinterest in the stories so far, the twins interrupting their chaotic and badly coordinated story, looking at their big cousin in a mixture of fret and curiosity.

"Oh no no no, please do not tell me that Sucky causes bad luck by breaking it!" Ducky exclaimed in slight worry, an uneasy expression on her beak.

"It take twins and Cera to break tooth, me think Sucky no can do that," Petrie reasoned but would he be right? Considering the bad luck that was haunting the swimmer as it was...

"Thanks for reminding me..." Cera growled sourly but decided not to take things further. After all, they would not be hearing this particular tale if it hadn't been for her brave and selfless actions, catching the mischievous twins back in the days.

"Well, go on," Littlefoot spoke quietly to the twins who promptly did so with wild chattering.

*

Many days later, the small mountain had turned into a big one. As the swimmer girl stood at the base of Saurus Rock, still oblivious to its identity, she could only gawk up in awe, imagining just what kind of things she'd be able to see from the top which towered several hundreds of meters above her head. It would be a terrifying climb for sure but if there was one thing she was semi-good at it was climbing things.

Aside from taking a small break on a ring of what seemed to be tooth-like rocks glued to the main mountain, Sucky worked herself up little by little until by the evening she had finally reached the top up high.

"I... did... it," the swimmer exhaled groggily, collapsing on the spot on the small plateau that formed the summit of the high mountain. From her position lying flat on her belly, a rare sight suddenly greeted her eyes.

Green food.


Behind what seemed to be a wall of mountains, there was lush vegetation, much greener than she'd ever seen and much greener than the forests that grew in the vicinity of the mountain that she passed through before reaching it. A smile crept across the young swimmer's face as she passed out from exhaustion.

When Sucky came to, she immediately knew that something was wrong. Her eyes immediately fell on the oasis of green in front of her again but somehow everything around her seemed strangely gloomy and dark.

"What is going on? Is it dusk already?" the swimmer wondered as she puzzled about the unusual lighting conditions. That was when a breeze of wind hit and a thick drop of water exploded in her face. Sucky scrambled to her feet immediately and saw herself faced with a black wall of clouds about to roll above her from the direction of the place with the green food.

"Oh no, a storm!" Whenever Sucky had gotten into a storm or heavy rain in the past, she'd simply hide underneath the grown ups or seek cover but neither were an option for the swimmer at the moment. Quite frankly, being on top of a high mountain with no cover and full exposure to the elements was about the worst place to be during a storm. Frightened by the lightning cracking the sky and the ever growing thunder growling at her like a hungry sharptooth, the swimmer began panicking. Where to run? Where to hide? Climbing down would be nothing short of suicidal under these weather conditions but wasn't staying where she was any different? Fearful as lightning struck the walls of the place with all the food, Sucky cowered down flat on the ground as rain hit the ground, single super thick drops of water that almost felt like rocks falling when they penetrated her back, their amount slowly increasing.

Suddenly and without warning, the wind turned into a raging storm blowing a wall of rain and hailstones right into the small child who instinctively entered a fetal pose to minimize her exposure to the weather, however that proved to be a major mistake when the strong gusts of wind managed to grab hold of her, the force enough to push the child over in a mighty backflip, thus helping the storm even further as she was thrown and pushed closer and closer to the edge, somersaulting several times.

"HEEEEEEEEELP!!!" Sucky screamed at the top of her lungs but the inevitable happened. Before she knew it, the girl was once again airborne though, with no means to keep herself afloat, the wind toying with her as rain, hail and grains of sand and dust all penetrated her at once. That was until a huge hailstone hit her forehead at full-force, lights dimming out as more and more huge hail hit her as the wind carried her to lands unknown...

When Sucky came to, the first thing she noticed was the pulsating headache and a crust that was all over her face and body which turned out to be her own blood. Groggily, she pulled herself into a sitting position, taking a look around her. Judging by the position of the Bright Circle, it must have been early morning. The sandy floor was still partly flooded from the storm of the previous evening, having turned into a muddy mess with brown puddles and small ponds forming in every depression. As a matter of fact, Sucky found herself in a puddle of her own which had a particular stench and traces of blood. As Sucky looked around, she could see nothing but a desert prickled with many rocks of various sizes, waking up leaning against one of those herself. Just where was she?!

Sucky then tried to get to her feet though her vision immediately turned black and she fell back into the puddle losing her balance. The swimmer realized that her injuries were quite severe so she did not make any further attempts, mere sitting where she was, trying to recollect what she knew.

She still remembered climbing that mountain and seeing that place with the green food but her memories faded as soon as she'd been blown off the mountain. Pondering some more, the swimmer eventually came to the conclusion that she'd been both lucky and unlucky - unlucky to be caught by the storm at such a bad place and lucky to have survived falling what could be estimated to be several hundreds of meters. How she'd survived the fall was beyond her but the kid didn't dwell on finding answers for long since her headache was constricting her cognitive abilities even more than her disabilities were in the first place.

Though there was one thing that she couldn't wind up thinking about regardless of the distress it caused. No matter how hard she tried... as she was stuck here in the puddle of rain water and her body fluids, unable to go anywhere, she couldn't help but feel that there were some pieces missing - as if she'd forgotten something important that she should have remembered. Truly, something about the mountain she'd climbed felt special and then there was also that green valley...

"Green valley... a rock that looks like a... wait..." Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle were rearranging themselves in her mind until she suddenly remembered.

"I... I found the Great Valley?" Sucky couldn't believe her luck and it gave her a sudden boost of mood and confidence, pushing her pain further into the background. "Well, I found the Great Valley but... where is it now? Where... am I now?" But before Sucky could come up with a plan to find it again, suddenly tiredness overwhelmed the child and she fell asleep without warning.

Only the other day Sucky would be able to get back on her feet, her injuries slowing her down for the next few days. The swimmer tried to relocate the Valley but wherever she looked, neither the mountain nor the Valley showed themselves to her ever again. Sucky was the unluckiest dinosaur after all.

*

"Oh drat," Littlefoot chuckled as the story concluded. "That's some real bad luck there."

"Yeah, poor poor Sucky," Ducky admitted. "We were lucky to find the Great Valley but Sucky was not, oh no no no..."

"Not like Sucky ever existed," Cera chimed in sarcastically. "Though yes, we were lucky back then... and I saved your asses!"

"Yeah, but you run off first after we scare you," Petrie countered which earned him a snort.

"Anyway, that was a very interesting dream you two," Littlefoot exclaimed with a smile, causing the twins to bounce around cheerfully, grinning in a silly manner.

"Here they go..." Cera sighed though she couldn't help but give a weak smile at the blissful sight.

"Well, next story please," Chomper demanded, eager to hear more.

"I think I would like to go next, yep yep yep!" Ducky requested, taking the position of the speaker when no objections came in. "Oh, and Spiky has an idea for a story as well so I would tell you his story after mine, oh yes I would."

"Fine by me," Littlefoot approved, speaking on behalf of everyone. Thus the swimmer cleared her throat before telling her dream of the fellow swimmer she introduced to the gang the other day...

~~~~~~

Some people lose their change or their socks but no, Sucky had to lose a whole Valley :P

As you probably noticed by now, even though Sucky is extremely unlucky, when it comes to surviving, her luck couldn't be greater haha  :lol

In the next chapter, Sucky goes through some rather unpleasant things, I hope it doesn't put anyone off  :sducky
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 11:20:57 AM
Chapter 5: Ducky’s story: The Land Of Cursed Waters!

Sucky may not have found the Great Valley though at least she was able to keep alive. Soon after her injuries had healed up, the duckbill discovered a broad, usually slow-flowing river that she'd followed ever since. Had she known that the river was the secret to the Valley's status as a paradise, she may have decided to follow it downstream but instead the child went upstream, finding just enough food underwater to recover her deposits somewhat, travelling through the water wherever the current was slow enough (she had to swim upstream after all).

The landscape didn't really change much. The terrain was mostly earthy, dried by the drought and caked by the Bright Circle day after day, becoming hard as stone.Traces of lone trees and remnants of grasslands long gone occasionally flanked the riverbed but otherwise the land was as boring, flat and unspectacular as one could imagine. Following the river was the only way to survive in these lands and yet Sucky rarely passed by anyone.

That finally began to change, when she approached a shallow mountain range. The river was forming a cascading waterfall and Sucky couldn't help but spend a whole day enjoying herself diving in and out. Eventually, on the morning of the next day, the swimmer ascended the shallow mountain range and what she saw at the top was something she hadn't expected.

As it turned out, the mountains were the leading edge of a bigger plateau which seemed to have some depressions where the water of the river formed lakes and small ponds, splitting into countless small arms that split the high plains into many green islands with lots of vegetation. Sucky's eyes became wide with awe. This clearly wasn't the Great Valley but it was still very green. Clearly, if she stayed here, she wouldn't go hungry anymore.

As Sucky approached the first islet with only a few berry bushes and a lonely tree growing on it, she pondered hard while devouring the delicious berries, sweet and delicately sour at the same time. Initially, she really liked this place but it was at this point that the child began to wonder just what her priorities were. So far, she'd merely tried to survive, day after day looking for food, water and a place to stay the night, day after day struggling with the heat, loneliness and her bad luck. But really what was she trying to achieve? During her adventures, Sucky had slipped away from certain death more than once. Just how many more times would she run into danger, risking her life before her unlikely luck, as far as life-endangering situations were concerned, would finally run out? Just how much longer would she push on on this lonesome journey? Wasn't it about time that she tried to achieve and do something about her current situation? Not that she wasn't used to the loneliness but surely she wouldn't want to live like this forever. It was time to look for a herd or a family!

With a sigh of pleasure, Sucky finished her little berry feast, feeling a little drowsy after eating so much food which she clearly wasn't used to anymore. Finding a herd huh? That was easier said than done considering her many conditions. This lush land seemed to be very promising yet she hadn't seen a single dinosaur as of yet, not even a flyer hovering above. Sucky didn't worry about it all that much though; the land seemed to be fairly large and it was in the middle of nowhere. Besides, there were plenty places to hide, plenty places she wasn't able to see from her location so she might as well be wrong.

With a new aim to achieve and fresh motivation now that survival wasn't her primary goal, the swimmer headed out, battling the food tiredness effectively and crossing some more thin arms of the river, walking across the small islands in order to discover and research the land. However, it wasn't long until her progress was halted.

"My tummy feels very funny..." Sucky looked down on the bulge that was her stomach full with yummy berries... though they clearly were misbehaving badly. The swimmer sat down leaning against a tree as her stomach went from a mere funny feeling to boiling rage, twisting itself with excruciating pain, within moments. Then, without warning, a fountain of berry juice erupted in a vicious paroxysm all over the unlucky swimmer, heavy nausea and tormenting cramps torturing her for hours. It was only at the evening that Sucky was able to move again as the stomach cramps finally subsided though the nausea still remained in place although not as severe. The interior of her stomach had begun to smell awful and Sucky was more than happy when she was finally able to crawl over to the river. Luckily, the water was shallow and flowing very slow here. In her current state, she didn't even have the strength to swim after all. After washing herself and erupting all water she tried to drink as soon as she did, the unlucky swimmer dragged herself back onto dry land where she immediately collapsed on the soft carpet of grass.

"I am... S-sucky be-because I suck suck........ suuuuuuuuuck."

That was when the girl passed out.

Though, as she learned, the worst was yet to come. When Sucky awoke at noon the next day, she was relieved to find that her nausea had vanished overnight, however she was already faced with a new problem. Her lower tummy felt extremely inflated and hurt somewhat but Sucky didn't worry about it all that much, all that mattered being that the terrible terrible nauseous pain was no longer harassing her. Still a little shaky on her legs, the swimmer was headed to the river for a much needed drink when her lower abdomen suddenly twisted itself painfully. Instinctively, she entered a fetal pose, holding onto her rumbling tummy, unable to move once again.

"What is this? I do not understand!" the swimmer lamented, failing to realize that the cause of all this was quite clear. After all, if you ate something poisonous, your body was likely to get rid of it as soon as possible and that was exactly what happened right after she'd said these words. Sucky wasn't able to find a suitable spot in time, a goo-ey pile of dung bursting out of her with a loud roar.

That day, Sucky spent trying to rehydrate her burdened body to little avail.

Finally, on the third day, breakfast decided to stay where it was supposed to so Sucky continued to explore the maze of jungle, rivers and small ponds. Around afternoon, a highly interesting sight presented itself to the young swimmer.

"Preeeeeeetty!" Sucky exclaimed in awe as she, suddenly, found herself standing in front of a huge field of purple flowers with an almost sweet, inviting smell. Filled with joy, Sucky playfully sprinted right into them, her arms spreading out wide as she laughed, jumping, running, rolling and frolicking about for a long time, the abundant smell making her feel very happy and carefree.

It was only when she finally arrived at the other end that she noticed a silent observer eyeing her suspiciously. At first, Sucky jumped in fright, landing ungently on her back, for she had never seen one of their kind but she soon came to the conclusion that the old, slow turtle was of little danger.

"Kid, what are you doing?" The creature approached her after making it very clear that he meant no harm, a look of disbelief on his face. "Aren't you aware? Those flowers aren't harmless!"

"Huh?" Sucky wondered. "But they are pretty, how can they be dangerous?"

"Oh dear..." the turtle sighed heavily. "Of course you wouldn't know unless you've lived here your entire life... this is the Land of Cursed Water, it's cursed as the name implies."

"Why is it cursed?" Sucky questioned in naivety, still oblivious to the obvious.

"Kid, even Sharpteeth avoid this land... it's because a lot of vegetation here is either poisonous or otherwise harmful. If you eat the wrong leaves, death may await you and it is never quick..."

"D-death? Am I going to die now?" Sucky wondered in slight concern, still not really able to grasp on the information the turtle was sharing with her.

"Of course not!" it snapped impatiently. "Though I'd hoped those berries gave you enough of a scare already - you still reek of them!"

"Huh? They were poisonous?"

"Of course you blockhead!" the old creature yelled, shaking its head in disbelief. "Those flowers you just pillaged through usually cause mild irritation and itching on touch but since you've had so much contact to them... well, it's safe to say you'll have a worse time than with the berries!"

"What? Oh no..."

"Well, good day to you," the turtle grunted before waddling into the water to disappear.

"I am Sucky because I suck suck suck..." the swimmer mumbled quietly, her eyes twitching. If the turtle was right then hell was embracing her right now just waiting to drag her in. Sucky spent the rest of the day in the water, hoping that the cool water would wash off whatever might cause the irritation or mitigate the effect but when her skin started itching at the end of the day, Sucky knew that she was in for a lot of crap. It was only several days later that the swimmer left the land, most of her skin covered in a bloody crust. Of course she had to end up finding a cursed paradise of all places... The journey in order to search for a herd and a place to stay began anew, as the swimmer continued to follow the river upstream...

*

A moment of silence lasted short. Being not much of a surprise, it was Cera who had a comment on Ducky's story ready though it wasn't quite her usual snarkiness for once.

"I can actually relate to that," the threehorn mentioned with slight annoyance. "You have no idea how often Tricia's eating weird things and ends up making a big mess like that..."

"It can even happen to us sharpteeth," Chomper casually mentioned, earning some curious glances. "We have no problem eating rotten meat but under certain circumstances that we don't know of ourselves, sometimes our bellies also act up... oh, and if we eat too much green food, obviously."

"That's what sets us apart because you can't eat green food," Ruby reasoned though Chomper had a counter ready.

"Well, you are also more likely to..."

"Um, could we like... not talk about that now?" Cera requested politely, rolling her eyes.

"Oh sure," both replied at the same time though they continued to bicker among themselves for a few moments.

"Anyway, that itchy flower part... that must have been a pain in the..."

"Yeah, we get the idea, Littlefoot!" Cera snapped. "Let's go on, I don't wanna listen to those stories all day!"

"More like you no can wait until it your turn," Petrie teased.

"Why you..." the threehorn growled. "Well, of course I do!"

"Knew it," Littlefoot chuckled. "Well, Ducky, you said Spiky had a story for us as well? I'm... guessing that we'll hear you one more time, correct?"

"Yep yep yep!" the swimmer tweeted as she was almost pushed off Spike's head when the spiketail nodded eagerly.

"Oh, it'll be about food anyway!" Cera hypothesized, rolling her eyes when Spike gave an approving nod and satisfied grin.

"Well, let's go!" Chomper cheered and so the next story began...

~~~~~~

Poor Sucky huh? First eating funny food and then touching a flower that gives you a super bad itch  :sducky

Rumors have it that Cera would be right about the next story being about food. But probably not what you expected ;)
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 11:28:15 AM
Chapter 6: Spike’s story: The hardships of food-gathering!

Sucky's wounds had hardly closed and healed, when her bad luck entered the next stage. For some reason, even underwater food grew more scarce so the swimmer had to go hungry most of the next three or so weeks. After said three weeks, Sucky eventually arrived at a small section of the river where it joined with another middle sized one. Both were forming a tiny island with a single, very old and tall tree carrying enough treestars to last her for years growing on it. There was little doubt for the swimmer what to do in this situation although it did not seem to be an easy-earned meal.

The river was shallow but the terrain descended a fair bit so it was a rather fast water to cross for a child like her. Some rocks were resting in the fast flowing water, the distance between them way too great for a small swimmer to hop across. Moreover, their appearance was rather rough and ragged so they were more likely to cause injury than to be of any help. If Sucky wanted to reach the tree on the other side she'd have to avoid losing her footing or else risking significantly injuries. Sucky though, mouth watering and tail wagging in excitement and anticipation, wouldn't want to hear of it. The plan to reach the treestars, having a feast, was already firmly cemented into her mind so the child didn't waste her time worrying and began wading into the water.

Shallow and flowing gently at the edge, Sucky soon stood in the fast, dangerous part of the river reaching up to her waist. Progress from here on was more laborious and Sucky knew the next two longneck-lengths would take her everything. Determination had helped her to overcome many things in the past (though sometimes also supporting the bad luck haunting her) so Sucky, despite the heavy toll on her body to withstand the constant push from the water relentlessly rushing downstream, struggled forward inch by inch.

Sucky made some great progress within the next few minutes but things surely were going a little too smooth up until now for Sucky to keep her reputation. Just a few meters away from the little islet, the little swimmer suddenly stepped into nothingness, immediately submerging as she was left without footing in the fast water and floating downstream. Whether the next event could be considered good or bad luck wasn't entirely clear. In Sucky's path stood one of those ragged rocks, firm as a wall and basically screaming not to be touched with its sharp edges. Sucky was swept right into it, her left arm and flank colliding with the obstacle. A shrill shriek escaped from the child's beak as part of her arm and hide were impaled, pain erupting everywhere both from the cuts and from the impact, however keeping her from floating down any further. Actually, Sucky had somehow managed to get closer to the island so, with her last efforts, she fought her way through the remaining few meters of the riverbed, finally crawling on shore, panting and flinching from the stinging and throbbing pain. But despite all that, the swimmer managed to put on a smile, albeit a grimacing and distorted one.

"I am Sucky because I suck suck suck... but I made it here!" The realization alone was enough to replenish her energy and, mostly, ignore her bleeding, walking up to the tree with the treestars. The tree was of such a tall kind that even a longneck wouldn't quite be able to reach its top. Its branches were also very broad, spending shade for most of the small island. It was certainly one of the oldest and biggest trees Sucky had ever seen.

Her plan still firm in mind, Sucky began climbing. The lowest branches of that tree were still hanging several meters above her head so the swimmer would have to climb in order to reach the food. Truth be told, she wasn’t good at climbing trees but this one had a strongly ragged bark. Maybe she’d be able to keep holding onto it until she was high enough?

About an hour and a few bruises later, Sucky still hadn’t quite reached anything edible though she’d gotten higher and higher with hard earned practise. Every muscle of her body hurt at this point but Sucky wasn’t one to give in easily. One more time she climbed, using her knowledge gained through several mistakes and fails, avoiding slippery parts and concentrating not to lose her grip through lack of attention. Finally, the lowest branch was in reach! Her arms stretched out and managed to find a good grip on the wood, pulling herself up onto the thick branch that was safe to walk on as long as balance wasn’t off.

The girl cheered shortly before tip-toeing above the ground until a particularly green bunch of treestars entered her vision, saliva forming in the child’s mouth as she set her sight upon the delicious green leaves.

“They look so yyyyyyyummy!” Sucky chanted, trembling in excitement. Though, the swimmer knew that she couldn’t have her feast up here for she knew the odds of bad luck causing her injury were high as it was. Thus, to avoid falling off the tree, Sucky plucked all treestars she was able to reach - certainly more than her greedy mouth could eat, until she was satisfied with the amount, letting them sail and dance downward where they gathered on the grassy ground below, forming a loose carpet of leaves.

“That should do,” the girl spoke, however that was when the odds, again, were turning against her. As the duckbill tried to walk back to the main trunk of the tree, balancing along the tree’s thick arm, a sudden breeze threw her off balance. With a mighty scream, Sucky cursed the mere existence of gravitation as she fell several meters to the ground, shielding head and belly with her arms and legs as she landed ungently on said extremities. The impact hurt but, luckily, the fall hadn’t been high enough to break anything that wasn’t already battered as was.

“Phew, that was a close call, it was,” Sucky panted as the shock of falling down slowly dissipated. Now she had a feast to look forward to after all. But wait…

“Hey, where are my…” That was when Sucky realized in horror that she hadn’t been the only thing to be impacted by the breeze. Except for a selected few leaves, the treestars were dancing about on the surface of the river, slowly being carried away from the child.

“...tree...stars…” A dull expression on her face, eyes twitching, Sucky collapsed to her knees in defeat. The sight of her dinner being carried out of reach after everything she’d done broke the swimmer girl. It was one of the rare times that she allowed herself to cry, a profound feeling of sadness overwhelming her.

*sob* I am S-s-sucky b-bec-cause I suck suck *sob* suck so so so *sob* muuuuuuuuch…”

Sucky had to sleep with a (mostly) empty belly that night and only after several more attempts the other day she’d finally get to eat her treestars.

*

Spike could be heard sobbing quietly as Ducky concluded the story, prompting several responses.

“Silly Spiky…” Ducky giggled as she gently patted her brother’s head.

“If there’s a damn thing moving Spike, it’s always food food and more food!” Cera lamented though her intention was to sound witty. Littlefoot decided to complete the statement.

“It even moves him emotionally, oh wow.”

“Well, what you expect? ‘tis Spike we talking ‘bout…” Petrie added nonchalantly though he couldn’t help but break into a burst of giggles that everyone but Spike joined to various extents.

“In all seriousness though… working hard and then seeing the product of your hard work being washed away by the river is truly heart-breaking…” Ruby admitted. “That wasn’t a dream, a dream it wasn’t, right?”

“Well, he had a nice idea for a story,” Chomper admitted, Spike licking him as the sharptooth gave feedback.

“Indeed,” Littlefoot agreed.

“Yep yep yep!” Ducky chirped.

“I still remember how Tricia cried a whole day because the sculpture made from white ground sparkes she built during the last Cold Time melted away…” Cera suddenly mentioned. “Being robbed of the rewards of hard work is humiliating to be honest…”

“Even for threehorns?” Petrie teased.

“Yes, even for threehorns…” the girl spoke through gritted teeth.

“Well, does that mean it is Ruby’s turn now, huh?” Ducky wondered once the argument died down.

“Certainly!” Littlefoot confirmed, grinning at Ruby who proceeded to the center of the circle to enrich the gang with another hilarious tale about Sucky…

~~~~~~

Well, it was about food after all, huh?  :OhYou

Next story has slight gore though nothing over the top, don't worry! Still, Sucky is in for some heavy bad luck  :exactly
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 11:40:37 AM
Chapter 7: Ruby’s story: Crabs, clams and sea urchins… Screw them all!

A few days later, Sucky was in for the next round of bad luck. It all began when she waded along a curve of the river that must have once been the main path but now was merely a broad, more or less shallow pond where water movement was insignificant since the water had since discovered a more direct path. As always, the young swimmer was on the lookout for anything that looked edible. The terrain had been slowly ascending over the past few days and the river had thus been more of a fast-flowing type which didn’t allow her to dive for underwater food. However, the situation luckily changed here. The swimmer hadn’t had a proper meal in a long time, being very thin and skinny after all the torture that she’d been put through. She’d be damned if there wouldn’t be anything major to gobble down. The occasional small underwater herb that she saw sprouting here and there wouldn’t do.

Sucky didn’t notice the creature eyeing her cautiously. The swimmer was walking into the direction of its nest after all. Oblivious to both its presence as well as the nest’s, dangerous or not, the creature had to act preemptively. Clicking with its pincers, it sprinted quickly across the sandy and muddy riverbed towards the source of possible danger, approaching diagonally from behind lest to be seen prematurely. Luckily for the creature, the swimmer decided to stand still for a moment, allowing it to catch up completely. It opened its pincers, aimed for the wagging tail… and shut them with all might.

*click*

“Waaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!” Sucky leaped high up into the sky when an unknown force took a firm, painful hold of her tail, so firm in fact that shaking it around erratically had no effect whatsoever. The sharp edges began cutting deeper and deeper into her flesh, causing her to scream in pain.

“Let go! letgletgoletgoletgoLETGOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

But it was no use, whatever had grabbed her didn’t think a single moment about releasing her precious tail. Eventually, it occured to the child to turn around and actually take a close look at her severed tail. Small drops of blood were trickling into the water below and the source was a huge crab about the size of her face clinging with all its might to her tail. Sucky was pretty sure that these creatures didn’t consider her as food but still it somehow decided to get attached to her, much to her dislike.

“GET OFF, AHHHAHHHAHHAHHHHHHH!!!”

Frantically, Sucky began racing around in random directions, taking all sorts of sudden turns, even attempting to do somersaults into the water but all that happened was that the thing clenched its claws even more, drawing more and more blood, the stinging pain driving the girl into a frenzy. Eventually coming to the conclusion that nothing like that would get her tail free, pain clouding her mind, something snapped in the child. Sucky reached under water and heaved a fist-sized rock with dulled edges to the surface, swinging her arm far up and back to prepare a merciless act of freeing herself when the crab realized that its victim was finally getting serious about fighting back, thus retreating quickly, crawling out of sight before Sucky could chase after it.

“Yes, RUN!!!” the swimmer yelled in wrath, panting heavily as her aggression slowly gave way to humiliation and pain.

“I am Sucky because I suck suck suck… YOU SUCK TOO!!!” But the crab was already far away.

Reluctantly, Sucky waded over to the shore, sitting at the edge of the water holding her bleeding tail into the water to wash the wound and wait until the bleeding would stop.

About thirty minutes later, Sucky was once again searching the sandy river floor for edible plants but all she found was old rubble and strangely formed rocks, some even coloured in such distinct ways that it was impossible assuming them to be your everyday good ol’ pebbles. The swimmer decided to investigate further.

Upon a closer look underwater, Sucky was able to distinguish two shells that seemed to be forming what reminded her of her mouth. Currently, all stones around her had their mouths closed, however Sucky, curious as she was, was suddenly fire and flame. She would not go away until she knew what these pebbles hid inside. Choosing the biggest and prettiest of the bunch in her immediate vicinity, she began fiddling about, trying to open the two halves. Sucky’s suspicion that these were no normal rocks got confirmed when the object began actively resisting her force, shaking and struggling to remain closed, however the young swimmer wasn’t one to do things the half-hearted way that day, hunger and frustration giving her the strength and endurance she needed to defeat the mysterious living rock. Finally, with a popping sound, the thing opened.

Sucky marvelled at the sight that greeted her. The object she was holding in her right hand had a shiny juwel hidden inside!

“Preeeeeeetty!!!” the child exhaled, awe-struck. Who’d know that such a treasure was hiding within something so simple and unimpressive? Obviously, now that she’d unearthed (unrocked?) it, the swimmer intended to possess the shiny object as well. Without further ado, she lunged in with her free hand, about to steal the pearl when all of a sudden…

*snap*

… the clam decided to shut again, locking the swimmer’s hand inside while applying terrible pressure on her joints.

“OWW!!!” Sucky howled in pain, rage quickly taking over, as she shook her arm furiously in order to shake the clam off. However, that didn’t have the desired effect.

“NOONE NIBBLES ON MY HAND!!!” The child was screaming aggressively, storming towards the shore of the river where she hammered the shell against a rock until it shattered into a thousand pieces, grabbing the juwel and throwing it far far away, out of sight.

“I am Sucky and that was the last hand you tried to bite, stupid rock!”

For a while, the swimmer simply walked along the shore, her temper which was testy due to hunger and frustration, taking a long time to cool. Eventually, Sucky discovered a bit of a ledge - a rock which had been partly undermined by the river over time. Suddenly, an idea popped up in the swimmer’s mind. Wasn’t that ledge perfect to do some fun jumps into the river? Having a respite from the banalities of life and all the sucky aspects of it surely mightn’t be too bad of an idea so the swimmer took a run-up, sprinting to the edge of the rock and jumping as high as she could before heading into the water feet-first.

*shluck*

Sucky’s mind exploded in unbearable pain as both of her feet were impaled by countless sharp needles, ramming into her feet as deep as the bones lay. A tortured cry escaped the swimmer’s mouth as soon as she had surfaced, paddling to the shore just in time before the cruel pain slowly transmuted into a numb sensation and then nothing. The child saw dozens of needles sticking to her feet and nearly threw up at the sight. The fact that after the initial shock the pain quickly turned into numbness that slowly seemed to extend to parts of her legs, made the girl panic. Frantically, she tried to pull them out but they were stuck firmly. Some broke off with their ends remaining impaled into her feet.

“Oh no, what do I do?! WHAT DO I DO?!?!” Panic began to manifest itself in the swimmer, her heart racing, snapping for oxygene, her head beginning to feel dizzy as the numbness continued to spread. From her previous experiences, Sucky concluded that she had most likely been poisoned again. Unable to remove the poisonous spikes and unable to walk, the child remained where she was, resignation taking hold of her body and mind. There was nothing the swimmer could do now but experience her little strength slowly dissipating as was her conscience. Soon, she had fallen into a dreamless sleep from which she would only wake up days later…

*

“Excuse me, what in the name of the Mysterious Beyond did just happen to her?!” Cera inquired as curiosity got the better of the threehorn.

“It sounds as though she stepped-ed into sea spikes, yes she did,” Ducky hypothesized in an attempt to answer. “One of my siblings once almost died when they stepped into one, oh yes yes yes. His foot swelled-ed up a lot and we weren’t able to remove the spikes until the foot got so thick that they kind of flushed out with lots of disgusting juice…”

“Yikes…” Littlefoot commented with a frown.

“That gotta suck for Sucky then,” Petrie frowned as well.

“Well, how did the story end anyway, huh?” Ducky wondered curiously.

“Hmm, let’s see…”

*

When Sucky regained her consciousness, it was in the middle of the night. The first thing she noticed was that the numbness still hadn’t vanished, however she was able to make uncertain movements with her arms. Still, they wouldn’t quite do as she commanded. The pain from her feet was dulled but ever-present, coming in with the rhythm of her own heartbeat.

It wasn’t before dawn when Sucky managed to get a good look at her injury - and this time she did throw up at the sight, barely avoiding to spill all over herself again. Her feet had swollen up to several times their usual size, part of her legs affected as well. The spikes were still impaled though Sucky could swear they had been squeezed out of the wounds a little already. Just touching them sent a wave of pain through her body that almost took her conscience from her though, so all the swimmer could do was inch away from her puke as far as she could and wait eternally for the situation to resolve itself for she was utterly powerless without her feet.

Two days later, the numbness was mostly gone though that was far from a blessing. The pain was basically screaming at her all day and night and, if anything, her feet got even bigger. Fevers were plaguing her as well despite the cold nights and chilly days, as her feet got infected severely.

Finally, that night, when Sucky couldn’t bear the throbbing anymore, she sat up and attempted to pull one of the spikes out. With surprise, she noted that, after the initial shock of pain that went through her whole body, she was able to touch and pull on the spikes, a yucky, awful smelling goo coming out of the wound when she removed the first spike which triggered another instant throw-up. But that didn’t stop Sucky this time. With grim determination, she worked herself to the bones that night under the light of the Night Circle, screaming and crying in pain each time she managed to pull another one out, seeing more and more goo mixed with her own blood gushing out of each and every injury upon removing the spikes. Her fever increased extremely fast but the pressure in her feet was finally relieved, the swelling becoming a little less severe as the swimmer made progress.

At last, under the light of dawn, Sucky took a good look at her finished work, her feet a bloody, gooey mess which was also all over herself at this point, her fever raging, her feet slowly reducing in size. No less than 41 spikes had gotten stuck in her feet after all and it was a miracle that she managed to survive the intoxication and following infection despite her already weakened and hungry state.

The girl slowly crawled over to the water, slipping into the shallow, cool water to wash herself and get a respite from the heat that was radiating off her. While the water managed to wash the remaining infectious goo from her injuries, it helped little to reduce her fever. Soon, Sucky fell into a long slumber from which she wouldn’t wake for another three days as she caught up on lost sleep and defeated the infection.

When she came to again, she was even more gaunt, feeling extremely weak at the prospect of her hunger. Her fever was still there but it was barely above normal at this point. Her feet were only twice their normal size now and the injuries had closed and crusted over. The girl was able to move her legs just about enough to attempt swimming through the water a little. By miracle, the area she was currently residing at held a little underwater food, not really enough to survive with for long but just about enough to keep herself alive.

Recovery went awfully slow and it took a full circle of the Night Circle until Sucky was able to walk again, terrible scars remaining and her ability to walk forever sabotaged as she couldn’t do so without feeling pain. The Cold Time was approaching fast and the swimmer finally left her residence, devoid of food at this point, slowly limping further upstream where a distant mountain range soon came into view. With little choice, the girl headed there, weak and rather hopeless…

*

“That scarred her for life…” Cera commented with a sudden lack of emotion, just imagining having to go through that kinda taking all wit from her.

“Yeah, I hope your sibling didn’t have it quite as severe, Ducky…” Littlefoot mumbled quietly.

“Well, he eventually recovered fully but he still has some scars on his feet, yes he does,” the swimmer replied.

“Hey, I just realized something…” Cera then spoke up thoughtfully.

“Me wonder what that may be…” Petrie commented, faking cluelessness while, in truth, he already knew what was about to be said.

“It’s finally my turn!” Cera proclaimed triumphantly. “Get ready for the best story, guys!”

“Well, we’ll just have to listen and see for ourselves,” Littlefoot replied mirthfully, which earned him a playful push from the threehorn.

“You better listen, flathead!”

With that, Cera prepared herself to tell her self-proclaimed masterpiece of a story that she dreamed of the previous night - threehorns did have sleep stories after all.

~~~~~~

Things are starting to ramp up a bit, huh? Things are looking bad, cold time approaching, hunger torturing - and we mustn't forget that the last story belongs to Cera  :bolt
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 11:58:14 AM
Chapter 8: Cera’s story: Sucky’s luck runs out!

The following week was utter pain for the young swimmer. There was no food along the way and the terrain was constantly ascending, slowly but surely. Moreover, it got colder and colder every night, Cold Time about to hit. The fact that Sucky was headed towards a bunch of mountains where it was even colder didn’t exactly help but where else was she supposed to go? Water meant life even if there was no vegetation growing along its path.

Progress was awfully slow, her injury causing her pain and distress. Sucky had to take many breaks and quickly lost weight again - and with the weight loss came a continuous decline of strength. Never in her life the child had been so devoid of determination and hope, merely dragging herself on for the sake of it.

Once the swimmer reached the outskirts of the mountains, the weather changed dramatically, the dry and cold weather being replaced by heavy snowfall. How the hell was she supposed to find any food now? More than once Sucky felt inclined to turn around and try her luck elsewhere but she had already lost all strength, her brain not receiving enough energy to do sufficient thinking.

After a day of this weather, the girl was frozen to the bone, barely able to move her stiff joints anymore. If it weren’t for a cave she discovered by the end of the day, she might have very well frozen to death that night as the continuous heavy snowfall turned into an outright blizzard, dumping endless amounts of snow everywhere. Even on the next morning, it was still going strong, the entrance of the cave blocked by snow piling up many meters. Though that didn’t worry Sucky in the slightest. She’d already scouted the cave in the morning, finding that there was no water nor food to find nor any paths leading somewhere. The swimmer spent much of the days sleeping to preserve her remaining energy though her situation didn’t improve.

One night, when another furious blizzard chilled her to the bone despite her cover from the worst of it, a distant rumble woke the girl from her uneasy slumber. It seemed as though the whole mountain was shaking and vibrating, the noise increasing fast to a murderous thunder that seemed to be approaching her position. Curiously, Sucky walked up to the entrance of her cave as far as the storm allowed her to.

*crash*

Suddenly, a white mass crashed onto the floor with unimaginable force mere meters in front of her, sending a wave of snow and ice after her which pushed her to the far end of her cavern, leaving very little space open. Immediately, everything turned dark. Completely dark. There was no light, just snow, cold and darkness. Groggily, Sucky got back on her feet, wondering what had just transpired in front of her own eyes. It all happened so quick, so sudden, that her burdened mind couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

The temperature around her dropped quickly and it dawned on the swimmer that she was trapped here, trapped by unbelievable masses of snow and ice cutting her off from the outside world. Starved, freezing and without food, Sucky knew that this was a trap she would never be able to escape from. Tears fell from her eyes, freezing instantly as they hit the ground, when the harsh reality caught up with the child. She was going to die here sooner or later, that much was certain.

“I am Sucky *sob* because I suck suck suck…” *sob*

Never during her terrible, short life had the child felt so lonely, so helpless and sad. Nobody would ever cry, nobody would care or even be aware of her fate. Here she was, an insignificant little runt who had tested death one too many times, noone knowing, noone caring. Whether she was alive or dead, it literally didn’t make a difference.

After hours of quiet sobbing, the cold finally lifted. Sucky didn’t know why but she suddenly felt such a pleasant warmth inside her that it made her all sleepy, all worries forgotten as she curled herself up on the hard ground. Maybe death wouldn’t be too bad after all? What did she have to lose here anyway? Her adventures had a lot of ups and downs but still she got to see so many things others could only dream of and she accomplished that all alone! The swimmer suddenly felt awkwardly at peace, a smile creeping up her face as she closed her eyes, falling into an eternal slumber. Her adventures were finally over but who knew what adventures were still waiting for her…

*

Loud cries erupted from the twins’ corner when Cera concluded her story but Ducky had tears in her eyes as well.

“Poor poor Sucky…”

“Poor poor Sucky…” Petrie repeated after her. “That horrible death to die, maybe not as bad as being stabbed by Cera but me think you get idea…”

“Giving me ideas, are we?” Cera boasted, to which Petrie quickly fled the scene to higher ground.

“Well guys, that was fun wasn’t it?” Littlefoot asked, looking at his friends, the twins still bawling their eyes out but nobody really paid them any attention.

“It was alright,” Cera shrugged. “Guess it’s better than listening to your folks talk about the old days… don’t get me started!”

“Yep yep yep! I liked-ed it very much, I did, I did!” Ducky stated happily, having already recovered from her short burst of sadness. “And Spiky too, weren’t you? Spike?”

Spike had quietly sneaked away to eat the nearby underbrush.

“I guess all the talk about how hungry Sucky was made him hungry as well, hehehehehe,” the swimmer chuckled.

“Nothing wrong about that, there’s no such thing as too little appetite!” Chomper grinned, rubbing his belly.

“Me no like it when you say that…” Petrie commented from above, causing everyone to laugh.

“Well, it was really nice, nice it was,” Ruby admitted, smiling into the circle. “Now I guess it is time to play? I think a certain sharptooth can’t wait to get started…”

“You bet!” Chomper exclaimed with silliness.

“Sure, let’s play now haha,” Littlefoot agreed. “What are we playing?”

“How about we play the Sucky game?” Chomper promptly proposed, earning a few confused glimpses.

“What on earth is that?” Cera inquired with a doubtful expression.

“Well, basically, we play games as usual, only that the worst player actually wins!”

“Oh, that sounds like fun, yep yep yep!” Ducky giggled.

“We are trying to suck, trying to suck we are,” Ruby chanted with a silly laugh.

“I’m not sure about that…” Cera pondered.

“Hey, you actually might get to win that way, y’know?” Chomper promptly teased, Petrie jumping on the train as well.

“No, threehorns be best at all things they do, Cera no be able to suck.”

“We should totally play something she’s good at!” Littlefoot witted.

“Oh shut up all of you!” Cera shouted though she couldn’t help but join the laughter that erupted.

“Let’s go! Not it!” Chomper took the initiative, starting a game of Catch and running away towards the Thundering Waterfalls.  Of course Spike didn’t pay attention so he ended up being the catcher, happily chasing after his friends into the afternoon sun.

*

In the end, Sucky wouldn’t be completely forgotten for she was now forever engraved into the minds of the seven friends and the twins. Surely, one day her sucky adventures would be shared with the next generation and the generation that followed until one day her story would become a legendary tale of the unlucky swimmer by the name Sucky.

THE END

~~~~~~

Yes, I'm totally evil and killed Sucky  :boohoo

Well, I have no clue how this story is going to be received. It's one of those you probably either praise or hate but I hope that the majority of you is gonna end up enjoying a silly read  :angel

I certainly had a bunch of fun writing this (and rushed a good part of it within the last two days haha) and I regret nothing  :nyah

Please let me know what you think and feel free to refer to the single chapters too since, basically, each chapter is a little story of its own  ;)



I'm not done yet? Well, yeah because there's still this...

The following stories didn’t make the cut because they suck suck suck!!!

to be continued...
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Sneak on June 16, 2018, 04:10:31 PM
emm...
*finds a time to read all sudden chapters*
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 16, 2018, 04:55:23 PM
Yeah, at first it wasn't planned to be separated into chapters but it ended up a lot longer than I originally intended haha so I had to :P
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Sovereign on June 20, 2018, 03:41:25 PM
As a whole, I was left with a positive view of this story but it had some faults too. While I honestly enjoyed the way Sucky’s adventures progressed and the way you built her story, the character itself and the feeling that I was left with after reading the story were a bit odd. Most noticeably, Sucky herself was, as in her previous story, a rather one-dimensional gag character and even if her hopefulness and unwillingness to give up were really fun to read, there seemed to be little character growth during the span of this story. 

Firstly, I once again liked the portions with the Gang and the way each of the small stories reflected its teller’s personality was quite priceless. Especially Chomper, Petrie and Spike’s stories were rather hilarious and the lack of substance in their tales was usually a great feature in those tales. Also, Cera’s willingness to just get over it all was also tangible even if she brought this fic to an early and even abrupt ending.

Even then, the lack of direction as well as the length of the fic didn’t really add to the story this time. While I liked to follow the adventures of one, simple character with no dialogue (except in the Pterano story) felt a bit awkward. (This could relate to the slice of life-style you mentioned in the other topic but it just isn’t my favorite). I understand that a crack fic doesn’t have to make sense but I was left with a bit hollow feeling afterwards. Yet, as before, the banter between the seven protagonists helped to keep my attention up throughout the smaller tales and that was once again a rather impressive feat. Funny stories are something I cannot do myself, though, so perhaps my criticism is ill-placed.

In any case, despite the mentioned flaws, I think this is a rather solid story as it gave me a few good smiles and raised my interest on what is going to happen next. While Sucky and her catchphrase never grew on me, she did a decent enough job to hold this rather incoherent fic together. In the end, you did quite a nice job with this one! :)
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: rhombus on June 21, 2018, 12:09:20 AM
In many ways this is a difficult story to review using my usual frame of mind, as this is both a crack fic story and a tale which also faithfully captures the banter and interactions of the gang.  That being said, I rather enjoyed this story though I must admit that the feelings that I had during reading were somewhat conflicted in how to view its events, which disrupted my suspension of disbelief at times.  Though, then again, this IS a crack fic – so a lack of suspension of disbelief is to be expected.  I suppose this is what I get for reading and reviewing the tale right after work.  :p

The strength of this story is truly the playful banter of the gang, which was captured faithfully, and the display of each gang member’s respective personality.  The tales from Chomper and Petrie were great fun to read, and the others were enjoyable as well.  The juxtaposition of the tragic end of Sucky, the bawling of the twins, and the rest of the gang totally ignoring them was also enough to make me spit out my coffee in amusement.  Though part of me does hope that this is not the last that we have heard of Sucky.  A sequel to this tale most certainly would not suck, suck, suck.  :yes
Title: Re: The Adventures of Sucky
Post by: Ducky123 on June 21, 2018, 07:30:25 AM
Thank you very much for the thoughtful reviews :)

@Sovereign

It is very nice to read your honest review (and I'm glad to see that what I pointed out on the other story also reached you, yep yep yep). Well, it certainly seems like we have quite a fundamentally different opinion on some things but in the end it doesn't keep us from enjoying each other's work :)

Your criticism here is certainly valid. If this hadn't been intended to be a crackfic, you might as well label it as poor writing on my end. Sucky is a bit of a one-dimensional character indeed and I honestly wouldn't know how to develop her character without breaking the crackfic  character of the story. Rest assured that my usualy work should be much better in terms of these things that you missed here :yes

@rhombus

Yeah, that is essentially how I interpreted the theme of crackfic for me. It doesn't need to make sense (and believe me when I say I could have picked something way weirder xD)

I'm glad you were able to find some joy in the story, yep yep yep! And as I said, I will spontaneously write more scenes though I may not flesh them out as much and it probably willbe Sucky only, no gang. :yes