Part II:
“What happened next… were you guys okay?” asked Xavier eagerly. The young longneck had been listening on Mr. Sky’s every word, just like all the other children present.
“No they all died horrible deaths,” blurted Landar, who looked slightly bored and was pulling at the bark of a nearby tree to get the insects out. He must have inherited his sarcasm from his mother.
“Well it was a bad earthshake… they could have gotten hurt!” replied Xavier, before turning to Sky and asking, “…did they?”
“Of course we didn’t, but it certainly wasn’t a normal earthshake,” reassured Sky, “and it had been caused by–”
“Hold on!” called a voice from the shadows, “You can’t tell the whole story without the whole story to tell.”
Sky, Littlefoot, and all the children looked to see who it was, and from out of the dark bushes came an older and more mature Ruby. She had lost the innocence and timidness of her childhood, but her adult features revealed that just like her father she was a natural born survivor. Despite this there was an aura of tragedy about her – a lingering guilt for events in the past. Like Sky and Littlefoot she had witnessed the Black Dawn and it had eternally scared her. Such a sight does not easily die in memory. Another desire also lingered within her – she wanted to have children of her own. Because there were no suitable mates in the valley for her she simply lived on without one, and put her effort into raising the young ones that belonged to others. Having spent so much of his life alone, Sky could relate.
“If I may?” interjected Ruby as she entered the story telling area. Sky understood what she wanted.
“Of course.”
Sky moved out of the way to made room for her. She took position over the glowing cracks so the fiery light would cast shadow over parts of her face. It was good for one of her signature scary stories, but today she wanted to tell something more real in her memory.
“The day of the earthshake,” Ruby began, “me and Chomper were in the woods…”
…
“Keep down,” a younger Ruby whispered as she pushed Chomper’s head below the bushes. It was important that they remain hidden for what was coming next.
“Crunch low, arms spread out. Feel the earth beneath your feet.” Ruby wiggled her toes in emphasis.
“Got it,” Chomper replied as he felt his predatorial instincts kicking in. In front of him just next to the river sat his prey, ripe for the taking.
“Let your hunger guide you… you are the sharptooth.”
“I am the sharptooth.”
“Breathe in slow… and let it out.”
Chomper obeyed and his nostrils flared briefly. Ruby licked her finger and put it up, to check the wind. It was important that it was blowing towards them so they could not be sensed.
“Now,” whispered Ruby as she crouched down low, “GO!”
Chomper bolted through the low hanging plants, pushing them aside as he ran as fast as he could towards his target. A burst of wind covered his sound of motion through the bushes so he could not be heard. At the final moment he leaped up and landed on Cera’s back.
“Gotcha!”
Caught completely by surprise Cera cried out in fear and rolled over to get him off. As quick as this began Chomper hopped off to avoid his friend’s wraith. She rolled over again onto her feet, and faced him with eyes full of shock and anger.
“What was that for?” Cera yelled as she caught her breath.
“I was just practising,” Chomper shrugged, “Ruby was teaching me how to hunt!”
“I’m proud of you Chomper,” Ruby laughed as she slid out of the forest purposefully, “Someday you will be a better sharptooth then you are right now.” Chomper smiled at the compliment.
“Do you see what you’re doing?” accused Cera as she lunged forward and butted Ruby back with her horn, “You’re teaching him to eat us!”
“I won’t eat my friends!” returned Chomper as Ruby attempted to regain her balance. It was a good thing she had such good self control otherwise she might have fought back.
“And besides… the alternative to not eating is, well… not eating!” added Ruby as she shrugged.
“I guess your right,” Cera grumbled, “as long as he doesn’t use it on us.”
“Uh oh,” stated Chomper as he felt vibrations with his feet.
“What is it now?” moaned Cera.
“It’s a… earthshake!” yelled Chomper as the ground began to vigorously quake. The three children screamed as the trees around them rocked and threatened to come crashing down. They slumped to the ground and covered their heads to wait for it to pass. Finally, it did.
“Has it stopped?” asked Chomper as he timidly raised one of his hands and looked around. He was answered by an earth shattering wave of seismic force that tore through the ground and caused nearby trees to collapse, narrowly missing them. Sensing the danger Ruby dove on top of Chomper to protect him – with her own body if need be. Luckily, the unnatural earthshake came to an end almost as suddenly as it had begun. They were safe.
“I think it’s over…” commented Cera as she rose from the ground and gazed with wonder at the destruction around her. The entire landscape had changed, and the Great Valley was nothing short of a mess. Over half the trees around them now rested on the ground, some being snapped in half by the sheer might of the event.
“Oww,” Chomper complained as he rubbed his jaw, “I think I lost another tooth.”
Chomper gagged and sure enough he spat out another tooth. It was a good thing that Ruby had told him that it was perfectly normal for young sharpteeth to loose their teeth, otherwise he might have had another panic attack.
“We had best find the others to see if they are okay,” Ruby suggested as she too absorbed the full scope of what had happened to the valley. She looked worried, and both Chomper and Cera agreed with her. Soon they were off to look for their friends.
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“What was that?” asked Littlefoot as he got up off the ground. Ali was right next to him, and she looked just as disoriented as he was. As the world slid into focus he noticed that Sky was already on his feet and was scanning the area with his eyes through the Occular, apparently surveying the damage.
“According to my observations it was a very big earthshake,” Sky chuckled as he replaced his all important eyeglass within his wing, “we were lucky to be so far out in the open.” His point was made all the more obvious when a nearby tree cracked and fell to the ground with an earth breaking thud. The group of them couldn’t help but flinch as they heard the sound.
“Oh, my head feels like I got a rock in it,” announced Guido as he rose to his feet. After a quick dust off he added, “Hey where’s Petrie?”
“I down here!” Petrie called out faintly from the tree that had just fallen, “and I think me stuck in here!”
Sensing his friend’s danger Littlefoot jumped into action and peered into the tree where Petrie was. He sure was stuck in there tight – the thicketed branches had pinned both his wings tight.
“Hang on I’ll get you out!” Littlefoot proclaimed as Ali joined him at the tree.
“What should we do Littlefoot?” she asked desperately.
“Hmm…” muttered Littlefoot as he thought about the problem, “I know! We can eat him out.”
Both Littlefoot and Ali started pulling at the leaves and munching on them as they came loose. This went on for about a minute before Sky finally lost patience. The young longneck had a right idea, but perhaps he needed a little bit of help to get things done faster.
“May I suggest a better solution?” asked Sky politely. The two longnecks stopped eating and turned to glance at him.
“Sure,” replied Littlefoot after swallowing a mouthful of tree stars. Taking his lead, Sky did a quick assessment of the situation.
“I can likely reach in and grab your friend, but you will need to pull me out.”
Sky parted the branches and carefully observed where Petrie was positioned. The small flyer looked kind of frightened at his current predicament, and unfortunately didn’t know who his rescuer was. This could be difficult. Willing to take the risk, Sky deftly pushed himself into the tangled foliage and was eventually within reach of Petrie.
“Grab a hold of my wing if you want to live,” stated Sky, and he laughed slightly at the dramatic nature of his comment. His amusement faded as he attempted to move his wing, only to find that it was caught in the branches too. He jerked it several times, but the only reward he got was a coarse pain up and down his wing muscles. Frustrated, Sky snapped at the tree branches with his jaws.
“No… me too young to be eaten!” cried Petrie in fright. Sky just rolled his eyes and pushes his long neck forward as far as he could until finally his nose was within reach of the stranded flyer.
“Just grab me then,” impressed Sky. Petrie didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled against the leaves that pinned him as hard as he could and latched his fingers around the small fork on the top of Sky’s nose. Sky called back to the two longnecks.
“Littlefoot, Ali… now would be an excellent time to pull me out.”
Littlefoot was scrambling about with Ali to fit into Sky’s new plan, and looked the situation over to see what they could grab onto. The only thing they could get a grip on was Sky’s tail, which was swaying slightly as the diamond shaped tip stuck out of the outside of the tree. Both Littlefoot and Ali glanced at each other and knew what needed to be done. Sky wasn’t going to like it.
“Sorry Sky.” Littlefoot apologized. Sky raised an eyebrow at the comment.
“Sorry for wha – YEOWW!”
Sky cried out in pain as both longnecks clamped their jaws on his tail and pulled. He jerked and wacked his head on the branch above him, and Petrie’s feet slid into his nostrils. Clearly this wasn’t Sky’s day.
“Come on Littlefoot, pull!” cried Ali through her teeth. With one finally reef they dislodged Sky and Petrie, and the two of them came speeding out of the bush and on top of the two longnecks. In a moment all four of them were on their backs in the grass.
“Me thank you.” Said Petrie as Sky opened his eyes to find the flyer still on his face. He quickly exhaled and Petrie fluttered away and landed nearby.
“Yeah thanks Sky,” commented Littlefoot, “We couldn’t have done that without you.”
“You’re most welcome Littlefoot… but I think this goes down as an experience I would not like to repeat,” Sky bemused as he picked out the leaves from his feathers. In the process, he suddenly noticed that his left wing was a lot lighter then it should be. The Occular was missing! He whirled around to face Littlefoot.
“My eyeglass… have you seen it?”
“No…sorry,” answered Littlefoot truthfully, albight looking confused about what the strange flyer was talking about. Undaunted, Sky began to crawl on the ground to feel for it amongst the grass.
“He’s talking about the clear rock he uses to see distant things,” explained Ali, “It’s very important!”
Littlefoot took a step back to make some room, and there was a sickening crunch as he stepped on something fragile. He shut his eyes tightly in guilt, knowing full well what he had just done. After a moment he looked back, and saw that it was just a pinecone. Unnoticed to the others the longneck breathed a sigh of relief.
“Aha! Got there you are.” Sky proclaimed as he picked the small lens out of the tree where he had entered a minute or so before. He breathed on it and polished it with his wing, before slipping it back to where it belonged.
“I’m sure you all wondering about me, as I have yet to properly introduce myself,” Sky said, making sure they could all hear him, “You may call me Sky, and I am a wingtail. My far away home is a place called the Feral Forest.”
“Hey…didn’t you tell me you were a creator?” pushed Guido.
“That I did… but I wasn’t talking about my species,” replied Sky as he pointed to himself. “The creators are more so a grouping than a kind.”
“So that means you make things, right?” asked Littlefoot, “what do you make?”
“You certainly are sharp,” commented Sky as he laughed, “Alright… the creators are a group who seeks to learn, discover, and above all else – create.”
Littlefoot, Ali, Petrie, and Guido couldn’t gather exactly what he was talking about. Why would they ever want to create more when they had everything they needed in the Great Valley? The rest of the conversation was spared when the large longneck who had been feeding on the other side of the meadow came to address them.
“Are you kids alright?” He asked. Littlefoot nodded for the group. “Good… come with me to the gathering place and we’ll see how the valley fared.”
“Sorry, I kind of have a prior commitment to umm,” Guido sighed, “…my lovely.” He left as the other children turned to follow the longneck, feeling that it was the right thing to do. Sky decided to tag along too… it could be interesting to see how this valley handles a crisis.
…
On the way to the gathering the full extent of the damage to the Great Valley became evident. Watering holes had dried up through cracks in the earth, rock faces had collapsed into massive heaps, and whole groups of trees had come crashing down upon the unsuspecting dinosaurs. Sky began to note these things out loud, and Littlefoot took an interest in what he said. Before long it turned into a conversation. First it was about the trees and how they grew, and then about the earth, followed by water as they reached their destination.
“Where does the water go when it dries up?” asked Littlefoot.
“One of two places,” replied Sky, “it either goes up in the sky or back down into the ground.” He soared past Littlefoot and did a loop in the air, landing perfectly on his feet. It was a trick he had been practising.
“So if it goes up into sky… does that mean it makes the sky puffies?” Sky eyed Littlefoot curiously, before giving an impressed smile and crossing his arms.
“You are a very gifted young longneck Littlefoot,” Sky exclaimed, “I would very much like to meet your parents.”
“They’re… not really around,” Littlefoot said as he looked down at the ground. Sky could see it was a sensitive subject. He did not speak more of it and they reached the meeting place as the early afternoon began to kick in.
The entire Great Valley was assembled there, at least what was left of it. The meeting place was known for it’s coliseum like appearance and the archway that opened into it, but today it was in terrible shape thanks to the earthshake. Long ago Pterano had been exiled here, and just prior to the Storm Tide it was here the parents imposed their curfew upon the children. Once everyone had gathered, Grandpa Longneck spoke out above everyone else.
“Welcome everyone,” Grandpa Longneck said, “I’m sure you all have seen and felt that we now have a crisis on our hands.”
“Just look at the state of our beloved valley!” cried Ducky’s mother, “this is the worst earthshake we have ever had!”
All her children were with her including Ducky and Spike. Littlefoot also noticed Cera, Ruby and Chomper on the other side of the circle – the entire gang was here. Ali’s herd had filled the entrance to the circle just in front of the ruined archway because there was normally not enough room for them. To her credit, Ali chose to stand with him and Grandma rather then with her herd. She must be more comfortable with his family now.
“My nest was ruined,” moaned Tria. Many others in the valley had similar complaints, and some had even lost loved ones.
“It’s probably because of all these longnecks,” shot Topsy as he motioned towards the far-walkers, “the valley simply isn’t big enough to hold them all.” He got some dirty looks from Ali’s herd.
“No it wasn’t… it came from the mysterious beyond,” Asserted Littlefoot.
“Yeah,” added Ali, “right after Sky’s rock started ringing the ground just started shaking.” Ali realized she might have said too much when over a hundred eyes simultaneously turned to Sky, who was busy counting the varieties of species present and not paying attention to what was being said. He recoiled in shock.
“You… you’re a newcomer to this valley and nothing like this has ever happened before you got here,” accused Topsy, “explain yourself!”
“Mr. Threehorn be reasonable, earth shakes occur all the time without rhyme or reason. Its part of the Great Circle – not something that can be controlled by any one of us,” corrected Grandpa Longneck.
“Precisely,” stated Sky, “A mere sound cannot cause an entire earthshake… the rocks do it on their own.”
Sky didn’t know how wrong he was. At the moment he said the words the Occular began to vibrate underneath his wing. He pulled the wing closer to his chest to try and conceal the sound, but he failed. It kept getting louder and louder until everyone had to cover their ears to block it out. Then suddenly, as fast as it began it stopped and once more everyone turned their gaze to Sky.
“I don’t understand…” The wingtail was harshly interrupted by the earth as it shook and quaked from side to side. Many of the young children screamed, figuring the monster had come back. It was short and minor, like an aftershock, but it certainly made Sky look guilty. There was a moment of near silence as everyone started to whisper amongst themselves, the incessant hissing similar to that of the jury at a trail. It was the only fair trial Sky would get.
“You fiend you killed my sister!” shouted a young flier high in the trees.
“Get out of our valley you monster!” cried a Spiketail mother near the bottom. Suddenly a tide of insults and yelling erupted from the gathered crowd. Littlefoot could only watch as Sky retreated his face under the cover of his wings… he made no move to tell them down. A group of young swimmers decided words were not enough, and started chucking rocks at him. He was too high up to hit, but the gesture was hurtful enough.
“Grandpa,” Littlefoot begged, “You have to stop this!”
Littlefoot’s Grandpa sighed and looked at Grandma for a moment. The two of them seemed to reach a conclusion, and Grandma decided to tell their grandson what it was.
“Littlefoot,” said Grandma wisely, “sometimes it’s best to let things run their course, there is little we can do.” Like the others they were not sure of Sky’s innocence.
“You can’t do nothing,” Littlefoot pleaded, “We know Sky and he didn’t do it… you have to stop this before he gets hurt!”
Both Grandparents looked uncertain, and they could see that most of the other residents of the Great Valley did too, so they chose to wait.
“If you don’t leave we’ll make you leave murderer!” called out Mr. Threehorn. A group of flyers decided to act more directly, and swooped down on Sky with their talons bared. Pushing them aside with his massive wingspan, Sky thundered through them and away as fast as he could – and they followed him. Other members of the meeting moved to do the same, but they were blocked by Ali’s herd that refused to move. A shouting match ensued as all the anger and frustration of the day manifested itself.
All the while Ali was in tears… she couldn’t believe what she had caused – Sky was her friend she didn’t mean to implicate him. Littlefoot nudged her lightly, and she turned to him.
“Come on Ali… let’s go find Sky and make this better.”
“Thanks,” whispered Ali, and the two longnecks whisked off into the valley avoiding notice by anyone else. Seeing this, the rest of the gang followed closely behind.
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