Fanfiction.net Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12535668/3/We-...Hold-On-ForeverNotes: This one's longer, at under 40 pages. The next two chapters will be posted sometime in August hopefully. Yeah, this'll be monthly. I'll see if that changes in anyway.
--1/2
We Will Hold On Forever
by
The Analyzer
Chapter 03: Forgotten LessonsChomper tried to stand tall. He and his friends were in a cave, being menaced by a bellydragger the size of a sharptooth. He didn’t know how or why they got there, he only knew he had to protect his friends. Despite his fear, he gave a mighty roar and charged in, only for the bellydragger to smack him into a wall. Dazed, Chomper could only watch in horror as the monstrous bellydragger bore down on Littlefoot and the others with its mighty jaws…
He shot up from his sleeping spot, eyes wide, breathing hard. Ruby walked from where she slept, rubbing her eyes.
“Bad sleep story?” she said gently.
Chomper nodded, rubbing at his eyes. “Sorry I woke you.”
“Hey, you didn’t wake me.” Ruby put a supportive hand on his shoulder. “I had some bad sleep stories too. Let’s eat together so we can banish those bad sleep stories together.”
He smiled thankfully at her. Even if he wasn’t having a good morning, at least he had some company.
Chomper and Ruby had breakfast while they walked to meet with Littlefoot and the others. The bright circle was in its early morning shine, bringing out the best of the grub. While Ruby occasionally paused to pluck berries and sweet bubbles, Chomper nosed around for bugs. He snapped up a couple of crawlies, chomped on buzzers before they could ascend too high, and even slurped up a few worms hidden beneath the dirt. The effort required much of his concentration, and was almost fun. He didn’t have much brain space to think about yesterday’s scary adventure. By the time his stomach felt full, Chomper patted it proudly.
“Ah, that was good. Are you full, Ruby?”
“I sure am.” Ruby eyed some of the remaining sweet bubbles speculatively, also in higher sprits. “I sure want to save some of these for lunch, though. They would go well with snapping shells.”
Chomper chuckled. “I wish I can save for lunch too, but my food likes to crawl off.”
“Then we have something sticky that might be helpful for you!”
The pair looked up but several small purple fruits were already sailing toward them, splatting upon their faces. The fruits left behind gooey globs connecting their heads to their arms and shoulders, like thick, colorful versions of spider threads. Chomper and Ruby uttered cries of dismay.
“Hyp, what do you think you’re doing?” Chomper said indignantly.
Hyp, along with his cronies Nod and Mutt, emerged from a set of bushes a bit far off, guffawing.
“Just demonstrating how to use those Tree Sweets.” Hyp said. “You don’t need to look so indignant. You can wrestle out of that goop, can’t you?”
Chomper glared, and wrenched his arms out. That stretched the goop into thin poles but they didn’t break. Some of the fruity remains had got into his mouth and he spat hard, almost gagging from a taste not fit for carnivores.
“Come on, Chomper.” Ruby said. “Let’s find somewhere to wash up.”
Hyp snickered. “Oh, need your nanny to save you? Wimp.”
“Yeah, wimp.” Nod laughed. “He’s not so tough.”
“Who knew there were sharpteeth who could be such little weenies?” Mutt chuckled.
Chomper gave a wounded look. “How can you say that, Mutt? I thought we were friends.”
“Friends?” Mutt repeated. He blinked with confusion. “Uh, when did that happen?”
Ruby smoothly stepped in front of Chomper.
“What are you three trying to accomplish?” she said calmly.
“He’s going to become big and try to eat us someday.” Hyp shrugged innocently. “We must teach him to know his place while we can.”
“Hyp, if he’s going to become as dangerous as you claim, why do you want to give him an excuse to go after you first when he does become big?”
Hyp and his friends’ amused, cocky expressions faltered. There was a long pause in which they appeared unsure and wary of the wisdom of their actions. Then Nod scowled.
“Don’t think you’re smarter than us just because you’re from the Mysterious Beyond,” he said.
Ruby blinked, thrown. “Huh?”
“Yeah,” Hyp said, “just because you have some special knowledge from there doesn’t mean you’re right all the time. Your plans must be imperfect if you still don't know how to deal with that Redclaw yet.”
Ruby winced. “That – that’s not the point. The point is…” But words escaped her as she remembered the close calls of her plan against Dil when Littlefoot’s tail got bitten and the slow underbelly of guilt that she spent many cold times within the Great Valley’s safe walls without finding the secret in this community to taking down Redclaw.
Hyp and his friends’ ugly laughter filled the air.
“See?” Hyp smirked. “You’re knowledge isn’t so special after all, so stop trying to act better than us.”
“Oh, she doesn’t need any special knowledge to be better than you.”
To Chomper and Ruby’s relief, Cera led the rest of the gang through a set of bushes to stand in front of the pair, glaring at Hyp and his posse. The five had apparently grown bored of waiting and went to see what kept up their friends.
“Move along, Hyp.” Cera said. “Isn’t there a rock you should be having a quiz with? Guess not, since the rock would win.”
“Watch it, hatchling.” Hyp growled. “You’re not starting on the right foot with us.”
“You rarely on right foot to begin with.” Petrie said, crossing his arms from his perch on Cera. “You bullies.”
“And we should take you seriously because you’re so well spoken.” Hyp said sarcastically.
“It’s not about speaking, it’s about not being mean.” Ducky said. “And right now, you’re being very mean to Ruby and Chomper, you are.”
“We don’t even meet you guys much, Hyp.” Littlefoot asked. “Why are you so fixed on bothering us?”
Hyp rolled his eyes. “Geez, do we have to go through this again? We’re bigger, we’re smarter, so we have the right to order others around and show them their place. Duh. Isn’t that the natural thing to do?”
“It sounds pointless to me.” Cera said. “Why don’t you go back to kicking around big rocks and other weird games? When you’re doing that, at least you’re stupidly likable.”
Hyp bared his fists. “You’re really asking for a pounding now, threehorn. Are you ready for it?”
“I’m ready if you’re ready for a jab from my horn.” Cera scraped a foot in the grass. “Do you want to risk the scars? I’ve broken many boulders with my horn, so you won’t come out unscathed.”
Hyp rolled his eyes. “Stop bragging. I doubt someone like you can slice me up. Geez, with how much you threehorns bang on about hating sharpteeth, you do like to brag about doing stuff those meat eaters usually do.”
Nod and Mutt laughed, but a few members of the gang couldn’t stop themselves from making a few amused breaths and squeaks. Littlefoot felt guilty that he had to resist the temptation to smile, but he couldn’t deny that Hyp’s observation wasn’t that far off the mark. Glaring at her friends, Cera lowered her head and gave the grass another scrape.
“Well, one thing we threehorns can brag about that we have ourselves is that we have hardy heads,” she said. “I can hit that small noggin of yours pretty hard. Do you want to risk the headache?”
“Oh, I’ll give you a headache.” Hyp said, incensed by the ësmall’ remark. He swung an arm demonstratively. “With a good right hook!”
“You think you can do that much damage?”
“Yeah, you’ll not be able to think for days!”
“Bring it on, I can’t wait to hear you whimper and cry after I fill your hand with-”
“What is all this racket?”
The children squealed and ducked as several rocks were thrown at them, narrowly missing their heads and arms. A few nicked Hyp’s cheek and arms, causing him to grunt in pain.
“Hey, are you okay Hyp?” Nod asked.
“Don’t baby me.” Hyp said impatiently. “This is far from the worst scratches I – hey!”
A few more rocks came flying in, forcing them to dodge again. An elderly flyer was perched on a tall rock formation not that far off, still holding a handful of stones and glaring angrily with all the years he wore.
“You kids have no respect for the rest your elders need!” The elderly flyer shouted. “For Wing Father’s sake, when it’s morning, you keep your voices down. If you can’t even do that simple courtesy, you’ll face our wrath!”
“Pop it, old man!” Hyp snapped. “What flyer uses the phrase ëWing Father’ anyway? Why should anyone respect such a weirdo?”
“Oh, giving me lip will have consequences, boy!” The elderly flyer said. “I hear you’re scared of flying rocks. Well, here come some more of them!”
The elderly flyer lobbed several more stones at the youths, unconcerned about whether they hit Hyp or not. The children yelped and cried out in dismay as they dodged. Hyp tripped and fell flat on his face while scrambling away. Mutt grabbed his hand to attempt to pull him up but Hyp wrenched his arm out with annoyance.
“Hey, I can get myself up,” he said.
Hyp indeed got himself back on his feet but in the rain of stones, it was hard to stay balanced and uninjured for long. Eventually, they scattered from the area to get out of the line of fire. Hyp lingered long enough to point angrily at elderly flyer.
“Ah, who cares about a crazy coot anyway? Let’s get out of here, gang!”
Littlefoot and the others eventually regrouped nearby a small pond, panting and sweaty. Littlefoot’s tail tip twitched. Since yesterday, a bit of visible bruising had come in from its encounter with Dil’s jaws. He now examined the tail tip with concern that it got additional damage from the elderly flyer’s onslaught. But he shrugged with relief as he saw no new cuts or bruises. In the chaos, Chomper had almost forgotten how messy he was, but now he looked over himself and grimaced. In addition to the goopy strands being more spread around after running, some pebbles and small rocks have attached themselves to him.
“How am I going to get this stuff off me now?” Chomper muttered.
“We have some water to help wash it off, Chomper.” Ruby said. “Here, let me help.”
Ruby reached out, but Chomper stepped away to dab himself with water.
“I can do some of it myself,” he muttered.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t.” Ruby replied, wilting a bit. She sighed. “I know my suggestions aren’t always good but we are both goopy, so I was suggesting we could become clean together.”
Chomper stopped and gazed at Ruby’s face, wincing guiltily before gently touching her hand. “Sorry.”
Ruby smiled appreciatively. While the pair stood and helped wipe the goop off each other, Littlefoot sat down with the others and sighed.
“What’s with them lately? I thought they really got better this time.”
“Wait, you mean they went back to being mean before?” Chomper asked.
“Remember that story about when the Thundering Falls got blocked up?” Littlefoot asked. “Hyp and his gang were bothering us during that time but they became nicer after we unblocked the water and we did our first Time of Great Giving. I thought they learned their lesson but at some point they just went back to their old ways. It’s confusing.”
“It is.” Petrie nodded. “Me thought they really changed after they help us with fast biter eggs, but it not stick either. Me thought when you grow up, you become better person, but it not happening for them.”
“That is strange.” Ruby murmured. “Then again, it isn’t so strange for people to slide back as they grow up.”
“That’s kind of sad.” Ducky said. “I mean, I kind of like them when they aren’t being mean. Right, Spike?”
Spike nodded, looking morose Hyp and his friends couldn’t just kick back and enjoy life in a manner that didn’t hurt anyone but made others happy as well. Chomper also appeared faintly sad, as though letdown that his fledgling friendship with the trio, especially Mutt, didn’t live up to its potential. Cera’s surveyed the depressed reactions from the others and scowled.
“Look, maybe they will change for good, maybe they won’t. I have my bets on won’t. But being moody about it isn’t going to make them turn over a new leaf any faster. Let’s just have some fun today, okay?”
“That right.” Petrie said. “This is job for their parents.”
“And as we learned from Chomper, we’re too young to be parents.” Ducky chuckled. “So what do we play now?”
Chomper and Ruby cleaned up the last of the goop and walked over from the pond, a bit wet but otherwise clean. Chomper actually smiled at Ducky’s silly comment while Ruby considered the question.
“How about something relaxing, like hide and seek?” Ruby said. “Okay, the seeker might not do much relaxing and the hider mightn’t find hiding a relaxing thing to do but after all the running we did yesterday, I think we deserve the break.”
“That sounds good to me.” Cera said.
“Me second it.” Petrie said.
“Eh, eh.” Spike nodded, obviously eager for a game with the thrill of adventure minus all of the dangers that were usually packaged with it.
“I don’t want to be the seeker, here.” Chomper said. “I’m still tired. So who else should play?”
They considered the problem for a second. As one, everyone slowly turned toward Littlefoot with knowing smiles. Littlefoot stepped back.
“You want me to be seeker?” he asked. “But I’m tired too.”
“You’re the one with the clever brain though.” Cera said. “If you’re the seeker, hiding will be a lot more challenging.”
Despite knowing he was being flattered, Littlefoot couldn’t help perking up. “Oh…really.”
“You help us outwit sharpteeth and all sorts of bad guys.” Petrie said. “If you seeker, it be more fun. Scary…but fun.”
“We’d have to find really good hiding places for you to find us.” Ruby said.
“You would have fun too, Littlefoot.” Ducky said. “C’mon, please? Please?”
“Please, please, please?” Chomper said.
The others walked toward him with wide pleading eyes. Littlefoot’s resolve held until Spike gave his shoulder a few expansive licks, and he laughed.
“Alright, alright, I give up,” he chuckled. “You sure know how to flatter. Now I know what Ducky felt when we asked her to lure that sharptooth into the pond.”
“That’s exactly where we got the idea to persuade you.” Ducky teased. “Now go and start counting.”
Littlefoot shook his head but smiled as he turned to press his nose against a tree.
“One treestar, two treestar, three treestar – I don’t hear you running! – four treestar, five treestar…”
He heard the others hastily scramble away, the sound of their footsteps disappearing with the rustle of shrubbery and tumble of pebbles. He was surrounded by nothing but silence in the last ten treestars he counted down yet when he turned around, he was nothing but high spirits.
“Ready or not,” he said with playful menace, “I’m going to find you!”
--
Ducky wasn’t that far away when she heard Littlefoot’s declaration. She stifled her giggles as she patted through bushes, attempting to find an opportune earthy nook or tree cubby to squeeze herself into. She loved the image of Littlefoot walking unsuspectingly by and getting startled by a “boo!” That would be a good laugh for everyone. She was so distracted by her mission, she didn’t notice one of her sisters walking in from the perpendicular direction until she nearly bumped into her.
“Oh, hello.” Ducky said, stepping back. “Nice to see you here. What are you doing?”
“Trying to find berries.” Ducky’s sister replied. Ducky recalled her name was Bitty. “They’re going to be used to teach the younger set how to swim. I can’t wait to be done with this.”
“I know that feeling. Teaching others to swim is fun, but not as much fun as swimming with them without worrying if they flipped in the water or made funny faces because it was fun or because they don’t know what they’re doing.”
There were giggles of agreement and Ducky found her spirits rising. She gave Bitty a considering look. Now that she thought about it, she remembered Bitty was a sibling from the second batch, particularly from her favored speckled egg that got taken by egg stealers and ultimately led them to hatching and becoming friends with Chomper. Ducky had enjoyed being with Bitty and her other new brothers and sisters but at some point she fell out of close contact with them in her many adventures with her friends. For most of the time, Ducky hadn’t thought enough about it to be bothered by this arrangement with her family, simply enjoying the time she had with them. But her memory of her close brush of death with Ichy yesterday and her sad thoughts about the siblings she didn’t get close too rose to prominence in her mind. Suppressing a wince, Ducky shook her head and forced a smile at Bitty.
“Hey, speaking of fun, maybe you can join me and my friends in hide and seek,” she said eagerly. “Littlefoot is the seeker and we look enough alike that we can confuse him. Spike is also playing. It would be fun, it would.”
Some of the energy left Bitty. “Uh, that does sound fun. But…” She hesitated, gazing around, suddenly unable to meet Ducky’s eye. “As I said, we need to teach the younger ones how to swim and that’ll take a while. Not to mention Cen promised to teach me to whistle another funny tune today and I don’t want to break his promise. Sorry.”
In spite of herself, Ducky deflated. “Oh.” A brief second of awkward silence. Then, with an effort of cheer, she added. “Well, it’s okay. Promises are important, so you should keep them with your brothers and sisters, you should, you should. Say hi to them for me. Maybe we can play some other time. You’ll at least have excitement, oh you will.”
Bitty perked up, buoyed by Ducky’s encouragement. “Um…just as long as the only sharptooth that comes around to bring excitement is Chomper,” she said with a giggle. “He’s cute. Anyway, see you!”
Waving, she cheerily bounded off. Ducky watched her leave, feeling an unpleasant stinging in her stomach. It was understandable, she told herself. Bitty and her siblings had their own social lives, of course they wouldn’t be available right off the bat and that didn’t change how they still loved each other. Nevertheless, Bitty’s hesitant reaction when Ducky brought the suggestion up hovered in her mind…
Ducky threw her concentration back to finding a hiding place. She poked around prospective plants, holes, and rocks in the area until she eventually chose a narrow tree with plenty of branches to get a good grip on. That would be a good place to scare Littlefoot, get the jump on him or go “boo,” an undistracted part of her mind thought. She scaled the tree easily, almost like a lizard. It was a good workout, and she was making much progress. She was a swimmer by heart, but spending time with her friends had taught her how to climb with nearly as much skill.
But not perfect skill. She missed her next grab of a branch and shrieked as her balance on a lower tree limb wobbled. Before she could fall, a three-fingered hand grabbed her. With a great amount of effort, Petrie helped tug her up to the branch he was perched on.
“There you go,” he gasped. “That close one. You should be more careful.”
“Thank you Petrie.” Ducky said.
She settled beside him. Normally, she would find something to say, especially since she really liked Petrie, but all she could think to do was kick the air distractedly. As the silence stretched on, Petrie glanced at her and fidgeted.
“You know, you not have to climb far. You could sit in leaves on branch above Littlefoot’s head and he won’t see you. Great place to give him a good scare. Me would find it funny.”
“I know,” she said mournfully. “I just kept climbing and before I knew it, I was high up. I wouldn’t think to jump on him now, oh no, no, no.”
Petrie hesitated, facing forward as his eyes darted to her. “Did – did something happen that make you want to be quite high?”
“I met one of my sisters.” Ducky said. “I invited her to join the game, but she was busy.”
“Ah, okay. That too bad but why it make you sad?”
“Because it’s another sign my brothers and sisters don’t seem willing to play with me when I’m with you guys.”
“She say that?” Petrie said, surprised.
“She didn’t say anything,” Ducky sighed, “but she had the same expression my other brothers and sisters get when they do say something about it.”
“Strange.” Petrie murmured. “You all seem to get along. They don’t look like they hate us.”
“It’s not that they hate you guys.” Ducky said quickly. “They admire what we do, they do, they do. And they love being with me and Spike. We talk and play a lot when we’re together. They find Spike so much fun to be with. It’s just… they don’t want to risk joining us just before we get involved in dangers.”
“What? But we don’t get involved in danger that often.” Petrie protested. On further consideration, he sheepishly added. “Well, it sometime feel like we get in danger often…”
Ducky giggled. “Yeah, I feel like that sometimes too,” she sobered up a bit. “But, well, all of that…the caves, the Mysterious Beyond, the sharpteeth…they don’t think they could put up with that stuff. It’s too scary and weird. So to avoid that, they don’t hang out with us.”
“Huh.” Petrie scratched his head. He then admitted. “It is really scary to go on adventures with us. But me brothers and sisters like to talk about adventury things they do with friends after they get back to nest. That not like our adventures but…maybe your brothers and sisters only like to have adventures with friends. ”
“That’s just it.” Ducky waved helplessly. “Many of them have friends but they don’t wander far from home. It’s always me and Spike that run off to be with you guys wherever you go. They don’t always understand why we get involved in weird and dangerous things. Since it can be hard to talk about,” she blew out a breath, “sometimes it feels like my family is only me, Spike, and Mama. I like all of them but I wish they can be closer to us, I do, I do.”
“Oh.” Petrie said. “Me never knew about this. It didn’t seem to bother you before.”
“It actually didn’t.” Ducky admitted. “I thought their refusal to join us was kind of funny at first and it was just silly preferences. But after that sharpbeak nearly got me yesterday, it made me think I really didn’t get to know them.”
“That is sad.” Petrie said comfortingly. “You no need to stay with us all the time. You can have family time too.”
Ducky welled up a smile. “Thank you, Petrie, but…when you have a lot of siblings, you need a lot of time to get to know them and that might mean me and Spike mightn’t be with guys as much. We want to be with both our family and friends, but there isn’t enough time and I don’t want to have to ignore you guys, oh no, no, no.”
“I see.” Petrie said. He considered a thought. “How does Spike feel about this?”
Ducky shrugged, with flickers of fondness. “Oh, you know Spike. It does bother him a bit but he doesn’t linger on his worries, oh no. He uses the time we have our brothers and sisters to play with them to the fullest. He doesn’t much like the dangers we get into either, but he likes adventuring so long as it doesn’t worry Mama too much.”
“Me don’t want to worry Mama much either.” Petrie giggled a bit. Then he calmed and looked down sadly. “And about that ignoring thing. Well…uh…me do not want you or Spike to be away either.”
“Exactly.” Ducky gave another sigh. “Though it might be tough to get closer to them if I do spend more time with them anyway. Not all of them stay with Mama. Many of them stay with Papa. Mama seems sometimes sad that all of us aren’t together but she also seems happy when only a few of my siblings are around. It’s pretty rare when all of my brothers and sisters are together in one place. And whenever the two of us bring up our adventures with you guys, talking can become awkward. I know they all love me and Spike, and we love them, but that they aren’t always interested in what we do…sometimes, family can be confusing. It is, it is.”
“Yeah, it can be.” Petrie then sighed. “Sorry.”
Ducky blinked. “For what?”
“You having hard time with this brothers and sister issue, and me not know what to say to help. Me not doing good job at being friend.”
“Oh, don’t say that Petrie.” Ducky said quickly, putting a companionable arm around him. “You’re being a very good friend, you are. These issues are hard. I don’t expect them to be fixed quickly. Just having someone to talk to about it helps a lot.”
“Oh. Okay, then.” Petrie said. “Me wish me can help you make it right so it won’t make you sad.”
“Don’t worry,” she patted his back. “It’s sad but I can deal with it. I’m sure we’ll find a solution at some point. It just takes time. I can still have fun before it’s solved. I still have a lot of fun with my brothers and sisters and some of the best fun I have is with my friends, yep, yep, yep.”
Petrie cautiously smiled. “Okay. If you sure.”
Ducky leaned against Petrie, already feeling in higher spirits. She hadn’t been lying to Petrie when she said merely talking about the problem made her feel better. As she learned from her tiff with Spike that terrible cold time, just being angry and not directly talking about the problem only made it worse. As she settled, though, she noticed he wasn’t so at ease in ways that couldn’t be attributed to his usual nervous nature.
“Uh Petrie, is something bothering you? Do you want to talk about it. Uh-” Remembering how Cera snapped at her when prodded too many times, Ducky hastened to add. “Not that you need to talk about it, you don’t, but I’ll try to help you like you tried to help me.”
“It nothing.” Petrie said hastily. He looked down. “Me was just thinking…at least you see them more often.”
Ducky glanced at him curiously. “What do you mean? You see your brother and sisters a lot too. Do they still bother you?”
“No, they don’t,” he waved his hands with emphasis. “They not nearly as bad as they used to be. No, this more about-”
Just then a crested flyer sailed by high above, making a beeline for one of the distant Great Wall mountains. He was too far way for Ducky to glimpse particular details but Petrie seemed to recognize him. He jerked and quickly averted his eyes from the sky as the adult flyer disappeared out of sight.
“It about him.” Petrie continued lowly. “Me Papa and Mama.”
“That was your Papa?” Ducky asked, surprised. She eyed the sky, thoughtful. “Huh, I never really heard you talk much about him or even seen him before.”
“That because he isn’t around much.” Petrie sighed. “Well, flyer fathers aren’t around much but...”
“They aren’t?” Ducky said, confused. “Wait, I don’t think I’ve seen many flyer mamas and papas together before. What is up with that?”
“From what Mama says, many papa flyers think their only duty is to help make eggs and not get in way of the mamas. They don’t see their duty is to be papa. Some nice about it and some don’t care. Uncle Pterano didn’t like that. He thought papas should be closer to the kids, and help the mamas.” Petrie gave a bit of laugh. “It one of few things he actually wise about. Anyway, Papa not that bad. Me brothers and sisters can visit him a lot and he visits the nest to talk with Mama. He can be nice. But problem he not couple with Mama anymore. They…separated.”
“Separated?” Ducky repeated. “You mean, not together, like Cera’s Dad and Tria or like Littlefoot’s grandparents are together? That separated?”
“Me know, it confusing.” Petrie nodded. “Me can understand a new parent like with Cera, or a missing parent like with Littlefoot but a parent who don’t want to be with other parent...” he shook his head. “They together before we got to valley. He liked us. But Papa and Mama argued a lot, about everything. He wanted me to practice flying more but Mama said some flyers struggle and need another approach, and Papa said it too dangerous to wait for that approach and…you get idea. By time we get to valley, Papa and Mama said they can’t be together no more.”
“I see.” Ducky said. “I don’t know how that feels but my parents aren’t together much, even if they’re still together, and that sometimes makes me sad. That must mean you’re even sadder, but it didn’t sound like it bothered you much before.”
“It didn’t.” Petrie admitted. “Me was a bit sad but shrugged it off, as I had you as good friends. Sometimes brothers and sisters stay with him, or visit, but Mama so nice, me happy to just be with her. But few days ago, Papa stayed with us for long time, laughing and having fun. There some arguing but it still fun. By the time he left, me was sad. When me asked why he can’t stay, she said it wouldn’t be good for anyone.”
“Why wouldn’t it be good for anyone?” Ducky asked curiously. “If it’d make everyone happy, they could try it again, they could.”
“That what me say, but she say there would only be fighting. She try to explain that some couples can’t make up and remain couples but they still seem to get along. Me, you, and our friends fight and make up all the time, so why can’t they? Me wonder what problem that cause them to split, if it have to do with me going missing but-” he waved in frustration.
“What would you going missing have to do with them…?” Ducky trailed off and then covered her mouth, “Oh, Petrie! Do you think it’s your fault?”
Petrie shook his head. “Mama say me going missing only made them realize they can’t work. Even Papa say not to blame myself. But that only more confusing. And all that confusion only remind me...me don’t understand so many things. Me get scared and confused so easily. While on adventures me panic, you guys think of way out of dangers or show they aren’t dangers at all. At home, if something weird or scary happen, me get scared while Mama keeps good head. She make mistakes like other parents but she make lots of smart decisions too, which helps me calm down so much. Me wish not to bother her with my stupid fears and be more like her, but me have hard time, especially with Papa issue. They seem more like bickering friends than couple, and with all of this being too sad and confusing…” he sighed. “This happen two days ago. Me thought that scary ghost thing would make me forget about it, but it won’t go away.”
Ducky stared at him thoughtfully. “Is that why you were so into exploring those caves yesterday? You seemed very interested in it – and tried to give ideas to escape when that sharpbeak found us.”
“Yeah. Me was trying to not think about those problems and show me can have good ideas. It only made things worse though. It might have been better to not say anything at all. Me wish me can be smart and understand things like Mama and everyone does but sometimes I’m scared that’ll never happen.”
“Oh, Petrie, it will.” Ducky said, patting him assuredly. “Don’t put yourself down like that. You had a hard time learning to fly, but you fly so well now. You still get very scared but now you don’t let that stop you from doing very brave things, including save me so many times. You’ll get smarter too. We all will. We’re smarter than we were when we first met, yep, yep, yep, and I’m sure we’ll be smarterer when we grow up. I don’t think you bother your parents as much as you think, but I’m sure one day you’ll understand them and make them happy. Count on it.”
Petrie welled up a smiled. “Thanks, Ducky. Me still not sure but…maybe we can both figure out our family issues.”
“No problem.” Ducky said. “If there’s a way I can help a friend, I’m going to do it, I am, I am. I hope we can find a way to understand our families so we can have them understand our thoughts.”
The pair remained silent for a moment, a bit higher in spirits but wondering how to resolve their problems involving families they so dearly valued. Then there was the distant sound of bushes being rustled and Littlefoot’s voice called out.
“Are you there, Petrie? I know you’re somewhere high, but I’ll find you eventually.”
Petrie gasped but quickly grabbed his beak. Ducky also covered her mouth. They stayed that away until the distant rustling quieted and uncovered their mouths with quiet giggles.
“Me forget we play hide and seek.” Petrie said.
“We better be quiet or we would be founded, yes we will.” Ducky then smiled. “Thanks for listening, Petrie. I do feel much better now, I do, I do.”
“Me too. Talking to someone about problems can make you feel better. Anyway, let remember to play the game.”
With that, Ducky and Petrie waited for Littlefoot to track them down, keeping a close watch of the ground or looking around at the skies, content to be in each other’s presence and enjoy the nice day.
--
“No Spike there. Okay, then. Let’s look for a bush with his teeth marks…”
Littlefoot swept his gaze around speculatively, attempting to see any green that was slightly off from the rest of his surroundings. By some unspoken agreement, the group usually only went so far before finding a hiding place. Not only would it be unfair for the seeker to have to trawl the whole valley for six of their friends, but having to run that far was a bother for the hiders too. Littlefoot had some confidence he could track them down. He vaguely heard the directions their feet disappeared off to and he was sure Spike went this way. Littlefoot’s eyes settled on a big clearing in the distance.
“Maybe he’s somewhere around there.” Littlefoot said.
Littlefoot slinked there, keeping his ears peeled for any telltale chomping of a hungry spiketail. He already decided he didn’t want to be out in the open where Spike could see him, so he searched around the clearing’s edges. He was so focused on his query that he didn’t realize there were people in the clearing until a stern voice came out.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to harass others, Hyp? Do you have any idea how this is making us look?”
Littlefoot froze for a moment and darted behind a particularly thick tree. He had no doubt what the argument was about and he had no intention of inflaming the matter any further by getting spotted by Hyp and his family.
“What – what are you talking about?” Hyp said with a bit of a tremor, intimidated by his father’s tone.
“Don’t play dumb with me!” Hyp’s father snapped. “I heard about it all from that elder flyer Don. He was raving about it even before he landed to tell your mother and I. Bullying children…have you no shame?”
“Why should you believe him?” Hyp said hastily. “He’s old, you know, he might be going senile. Not to mention he likes to say ëWing Father’ all the time. Can you really trust someone weird like that?”
“I don’t care how weird he is.” Hyp’s father retorted. “He might be so curmudgeon he would only speak to us from a distance, but he was put together enough to tell an accurate tale about what you might be up to. Judging by your reaction now, he’s right on the mark. You can’t lie yourself out of trouble, Hyp. Why are you doing this to Littlefoot and those other kids? They have gone through enough without you adding more pain to their lives.”
“I was just having fun.” There was the surly sound of a pebble being kicked. “We only threw goopy Tree Sweets at them. Me and my friends do that sort of stupid stuff all the time. If we really wanted to mess with him, I’d pretend to be a sharptooth and snort up bones in front of him, that squirt really loves sniffing all the time.”
There were a few snorts and intakes of breath, followed by a strangled pause.
“That – that’s not the point.” Hyp’s father replied, voice wavering as though trying not to laugh. He forced anger back into his tone. “What you do with your friends is different from what you do to those kids. They don’t want your pranks. They don’t want your taunts. Yes, Don mentioned the taunts. What you three said to that Chomper child is cruel. I’m disappointed in you, Hyp. Why can’t you be good like the other children?”
“Why do I have to be like the others?” Hyp muttered. “I thought growing up means becoming more of your own boss, but I’m still being bossed around like a baby.”
“Because you’re still acting like a baby.” Hyp’s father growled. “One day, you’ll learn there’s more to being an adult than being your own boss. I – we’re tired of the complaints from the other parents. We didn’t raise you to be this way and if you don’t start changing your tune soon…”
The crack of something long and narrow hitting the ground followed, causing Hyp to yelp.
“Don’t make me return to the tail.” Hyp’s father said quietly. “It doesn’t fit this peaceful valley.”
There was a tense, resentful silence. A third person in the clearing gave a worried, soft gasp and Hyp grunted with the quivering tone of someone unexpectedly massaging his back.
“Listen,” said a strained, concerned voice that must be Hyp’s mother. “We aren’t asking you to change completely. You have positive qualities, ones we love – ones we see your friends adore about you…”
“Sometimes a bit too much.” Hyp grumbled. “They’re been starting to baby me too, asking if I’m okay or trying to help me up.”
“Now that sounds like they want to be better friends to you. They’re growing to care about you.”
“They’re so weird and embarrassed about it, it doesn’t help much. It gets kind of suffocating.”
“Still, isn’t it nice that you’re friends care enough to risk embarrassing themselves to try making you feel better? They could try to, erm, give you more room to breathe,” The voice of Hyp’s mother briefly wavered on the last word, “but at least they don’t sound like they’ll abandon you in distress.
Hyp reluctantly grunted, as though conceding and even finding some solace in her points. Hyp’s mother decided to plow on
“Anyway, you have great positive qualities. Your wit, your energy…even that heart we occasionally get a peak of. We see how it brings joy to you and your friends. Just…leave the kids alone. They don’t bother you, so you don’t have to bother them. Please, consider our words. I don’t know how much more of this we can take.”
Hyp was quiet for a moment. “You’re saying there are parts of me that are bad.”
“Even the best of us have parts of ourselves that are less than favorable.” Hyp’s mother said hastily. “They only need to be tweaked…fixed. Something like that.”
“Fix? Why do I need fixing?” Hyp stamped a foot angrily. “I’m never good enough. There is always something you want tweaked or fixed about me. Why don’t you ask for a different son while you’re at it, for all you’re trying to change me?”
“Asking for you to change doesn’t mean we’re asking for a different son.” Hyp’s father said impatiently. “Don’t try to twist her words, Hyp. You understand exactly what we’re asking and you’re being petulant about a reasonable request.”
“You’re always piling ëreasonable requests’ on me.” Hyp retorted. “When are you going to stop controlling me? It’s like you want me to depend on you two for the rest of your lives. You’re still my parents, but I’m not a hatchling to be ordered around anymore. If you refuse to understand that, then you’re the petulant ones!”
“But you’re not a grownup yet, either.” Hyp’s mother said. “Even then, you have to compromise and-”
“So what? You never have to compromise with me.” After some hesitant silence, there was the grassy rustle of a foot. “Oh, not going to elaborate again? Coward.”
“Watch your mouth.” Hyp’s father growled. “Don’t take another step-”
“What, I can’t even move without your permission? Fine, I’ll be somewhere where you can’t see me move!”
There was the stamping of feet in a westerly direction and Hyp left the clearing, his father’s voice calling after him.
“Hyp, where are you going? Come back here this second, I mean it!”
“Oh, give it a rest dear.” Hyp’s mother sighed. “This is just leading to the same ineffective result.”
“It used to lead to the effective result of keeping him in line.” Hyp’s father retorted. Quietly, he added. “Granted, he’s still scared, but he didn’t talk back like that before. He’s getting used to the treatment. I don’t want to be get harder on him but if he continues to bully these kids…”
“We shouldn’t be going harder and harder in the first place.” Hyp’s mother said. “You don’t mean to, dear, but…he interprets your strict concern as domineering, and since that’s most of what he knows, he thinks he should relate to others by dominating them. He – he needs a different approach.”
Hyp’s father grunted. “What approach? I’m not denying a point is there, but if we go the nice route, he’ll only take advantage of us. It’s hard to trust him.”
“I’m not saying we only do the nice route. I’m only…oh, I don’t know. We need some way to teach him where the lessons will stick. I know the current way of doing things is a problem.” There was a sound of frustration. “Oh, but I can’t think of a solution. Just like always.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way.” Hyp’s father’s tone turned gentle. “In the meantime, we have to be certain about some things when raising a child. Here, I try to follow my instincts. They tell me where I need to go, and now they say our son needs strict boundaries”
“But instincts can be wrong.” Hyp’s mother said softly. “You can be so certain you’re doing the right thing, and then…I mean, Hyp seems certain about his actions. People have got hurt or worse by thinking they are right. I should know, my instincts nearly made me…” There was a shaky pause, and she rushed on as though to suppress an unpleasant memory. “How do we learn to know what to do so he’ll learn to know what to do?”
Hyp’s father grunted. “If we doubt our certainty too much, we won’t get anywhere. It’s because most of us migrating dinosaurs were so certain as a group that we made it to the Great Valley at all. Those who weren’t…well, they followed Pterano. Anyway, let’s go after Hyp. The lesson mightn’t stick this time, but if we’re consistent with him, then maybe someday he’ll look back on what we did with understanding.”
“I hope we’re consistent on the right things. Oh, parenting is such a challenge…”
With a strained yet concurring sigh, Hyp’s father led his mate out of the clearing. Littlefoot stayed where he was, listening to their footsteps vanish in the same direction as their son’s, absorbing everything he had overheard with a heavy heart.
*I thought Hyp and his parents were getting along better.* Littlefoot thought. *Why are they fighting again?*
With this family conflict on his mind, his enthusiasm for hide and seek waned. He continued searching for his friends but it became little more than rudimentary. He wandered around a collection of boulders and wasn’t watching where he was putting his feet. One foot caught on the edge of an oddly shaped large rock, and he stumbled. The rock yelped.
“Ow! Watch where you’re going?”
Littlefoot swiveled his head and blinked. “Cera?”
“Littlefoot – oh, I was…”
A brown form rose up on legs and turned around, blinking green eyes at him. Cera stood there, slicked from head to toe with mud, agog that Littlefoot had discovered her. He examined her, confused himself.
“Why are you covered in mud?” he asked.
“Um, only because…” Cera averted her gaze. “Tria told me how she disguised herself as a rock with mud during our trips to the mud pool, so I got the idea to try it out myself with a nearby mud pit. I thought it’d be a good way to trick you and…” she looked up. “What are you smiling for?”
“Oh, nothing.” Littlefoot looked away, but his soft smile remained. “I just think it’s nice you’re so close to Tria now. From how you first reacted to her, I wouldn’t have ever thought you’d take up ideas from her.”
“She can have her good ideas.” Cera said defensively. “She says she almost never got found. You have to admit, the idea was impressive. But…” she trailed off, grumbly.
Littlefoot grinned slowly. “But I still
found you.”
“What a victory.” Cera rolled her eyes. “The great Littlefoot, clever enough to drown a sharptooth, found me by accident because he didn’t look where he was going. I’d hold back from bragging if I were you.”
Littlefoot laughed. “Alright, you got me there. Let’s go find the others. And while we’re doing that, I’ll tell you what I overheard…”
After Cera washed off the mud, Littlefoot informed her about Hyp’s argument with his parents while they searched for their friends. He began to repeat himself when he found Spike but Cera put her foot down and said she refused to have the tale regurgitated five times in a row, so he was compelled to put the story on hold until he found everyone. That forced Littlefoot to work a bit harder on the game, and he began to track down the rest of the others. It took a few hours, but he at last found Ruby hiding among some vines of sweet bubbles, having already helped herself to some of them. The sight of their normally whimsical but insightful friend tangled in vines and with sweet bubble juice around her beak caused a gale of good-natured laughter. After looking confused a bit, Ruby cottoned on and joined in. After that levity, the gang settled in tired but attentive as they listened to Littlefoot’s story.
By the time Littlefoot had finished, there was a range of reactions, from fascination to confusion to boredom. Littlefoot rolled over and contemplated how to amend his tale.
“I feel kind of sorry for them.” he said. “I mean, they do love each other, but all they seem do is fight, fight, fight. It’d be sad if they’ll always be like that.”
“Come on Littlefoot, we’ve been over this.” Cera replied. “Some people take forever to change and some never do. We don’t need to be everyone’s hero.”
“Besides, I’m sure Hyp’s parents will try to work something out, they will.” Ducky said. “We just need to let them.”
“Not to mention that people can change in strange ways during the Time of Great Growing.” Ruby said. “They don’t always want to go with the ways of their parents and that can make relations to those parents difficult. I’m sure Hyp’s relations with his family will work out before or just as he becomes a grownup, just as it often happens with other people and their parents.”
Littlefoot suppressed a wince. His friends were fortunate. If his grandparents could live on long enough to his first few years of adulthood, it would be a miracle. Even if they did last that long Littlefoot didn’t much like the thought of spending their last years clashing with them over this or that disagreement, making them unhappy and potentially spoiling their bond with him. Quickly, he shoved that thought aside.
“I know. I know all of that. It’s just…” Littlefoot sighed. “It makes me wonder...if Mother was still around, would I fight with her as much. She just accepted everyone stayed with their own kind. If I hung out with you, maybe she wouldn’t like it.”
There was an awkward silence.
“I mean, she can’t be that bad.” Cera said. “She went out of her way to save me. I’m sure she would have been fine with us.”
“She also visit you as ghost.” Petrie said. “If she have problem, she would have said something.”
“Besides, I’m sure you two could have patched things up like me and Spike did during that white sparkly cold time.” Ducky said. “We love each other very much and fixed our problems, we did, we did. You and your mother love each other too, so the same thing would have happened.”
Spike nodded and bayed at Littlefoot, normally laidback eyes filled with the reassurance that came with that difficult experience. Littlefoot smiled, his chest warmly soothed by his friends’ words.
Ruby rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Your grandparents parent you. Don’t you sometimes fight with them?”
“A bit,” Littlefoot admitted, “but they’re so patient it takes the fight out of you. They really try to help me when I have a problem. Even when they’re wrong, I can’t stay mad at them for long. They’re nice and gentle…sometimes even fun,” he smiled softly. “I’m really glad to have them.”
“Good for you.” Cera said. “Some of us have to deal with parents who aren’t so serene.”
“Ooh, that really true for your dad.” Petrie said.
“Budge off! He’s the dad I have,” she sobered up. “You’re also the friends I chose to have. Me and Dad fought about that a lot after we came to the valley. He thought you guys were a bad influence but I didn’t want to stick with only threehorns. You should have heard us shout. But I could out-stubborn him. Eventually, he stopped arguing with me and just accepted I wasn’t going to leave you guys anytime soon.”
“I did notice he went from being interested in protecting you to protecting all of us.” Ducky said.
“He will even protect me.” Chomper said. “And we all know what he thinks of me.”
“Tria doesn’t seem like the arguing type,” Ruby said, “but now I say it, you will say you do argue with her.”
“Not by much.” Cera replied. “We got into tiffs when she tried to help me with my problems in the beginning but that didn’t last long. She really wants to fit in,” she smirked. “She asked for ramming lessons from Dad since she wanted to better protect us. Dad objected but Tria said, ësince I’m going to be part of this family, I might as well prepare for this family’s unique challenges,’ or something like that.”
“She’s got a point, she does.” Ducky said. “We do find ourselves in danger a lot, right Spike.”
Spike nodded, not looking at all pleased that was the case but resigned to that fact. Ducky fidgeted.
“Yep, yep, yep, our mama doesn’t like the danger we get into either,” she said. “She didn’t stop us from going to you guys as much but she always asked about where we got up to and if it was safe. It kind of got annoying, but we understood. It’s stressful enough to look after all our brothers and sisters, without having to worry about some of us getting into extra danger. She still worries but likes we have such good friends.”
