(As usual, the next chapter is here.)
Chapter 15: A Leaf Among Meat Part 2
“That’s odd,” Chomper said, after hearing Cera’s description of the fast biter she encountered in the cavern of the Grounders. “What do you think about that Ruby?”
But when Chomper turned towards his girlfriend, he saw that she was standing perfectly still with her eyes and mouth wide open, as if in shock.
“Um Ruby, what’s going on?” Cera asked, now she was the one asking questions. Ruby still did not reply.
“Ok, this is bad,” Chomper whispered to Cera. Ruby was clearly in shock, and she wouldn’t tell them the reason.
Just then, the dark red/pink fast biter began walking forward, as if in a trance, as she didn’t interact (or seem to notice for that matter) any of her surroundings. She made her way across the Great Valley without coming into contact with anyone, having just one thought in her head:
“It couldn’t be…..there’s no way…..it has to be someone else.” That thought kept echoing in her mind until she reached Sharptooth’s cave, where she then found her regular sleeping spot.
“Night Ruby,” Rory called in the sharptooth language, but Ruby still didn’t reply. “That’s odd,” Rory said to himself, confused by Ruby’s silence. The threeorn decided to ask her about it tomorrow.
In Chomper’s cave, he was having even more unsettling feelings that the ones caused by Cera looking disturbed, but he eventually managed to fall asleep.
THE NEXT MORNING………..
All around the valley, the sharpteeth (as well as the 4 leaf eaters) were waking up from what was pretty much a good night’s sleep. “Well, this is it,” Rita said to her friends.
“What’s it?” asked Greg with a yawn.
“This is our first entire day spent in the Great Valley since we were younger,” Rita explained in response.
“We should try to make some friends here,” agreed Rory, “I’m sure some of the sharpteeth will like us, considering we know how to speak like they do.”
“We can only hope so,” concluded Myra.
ACROSS THE VALLEY………
Littlefoot noticed Shorty was already awake, but he had already left, possibly to catch breakfast for himself. Ducky, Spike, and the rest of Ducky’s family were enjoying breakfast, Spike eating a small threehorn (Don’t worry, it is not Rory or Myra) pretty quickly.
“You love to eat a lot Spike, you do, you do,” smiled Ducky. “Please, tell us something we don’t know,” one of her sisters said.
Petrie awoke with a start, his brothers playing a prank on him, by lifting him p and dropping him back into the nest. They then quickly flew off, laughing all the way.
“Jerks,” Petrie muttered, by then he formed a hypothesis. “Maybe I’ll try to work this into one of my future stunts,” the young sharptooth flyer figured, then set off to join his friends.
Guido managed to sleep out in the open, since he hated rain making his feathers all wet.
Tippy slept peacefully near the water with the other belly draggers.
Cera had a peaceful night’s sleep with her family, and she hoped Ruby was feeling better, but she doubted it.
Chomper soon awoke, had a quick breakfast with his parents, then went off to find Ruby and the rest of his pals.
The gang (Including Rory, Rita, Greg, and Myra) were gathered at the gang’s traditional story-telling space. Ruby still had that same expression on her face, it’s almost like she was a zombie. (Which the gang of course have never heard of nor do they exist.) But she was doing more things then she was last night, for example, she was paying attention to her friends, and with actions only, responded to what they did.
“What’s going on Chomper?” asked Littlefoot, looking at Ruby, “She looks even more freaked out than Cera did.”
“I don’t know what made her start acting like that,” Chomper responded, “After Cera told us why she was scared, Ruby started acting…..ya know, I wouldn’t say scared….it looked more like she was surprised by something.”
“Must be a pretty bad surprise,” commented Petrie.
At this point, Myra came over. “It was odd walking over here,” she said, “We could see some of the grownups looked angry at us.”
“It’s all Redfoot’s fault,” grumbled Greg, “If he wasn’t so desperate at trying to get this place back, which, in all honesty, really isn’t that greater than our regular valley, maybe sharpteeth and flatteeth around these parts would be able to get along easier.”
“Agreed,” said Rita. “I saw some belly draggers playing a game that looked interesting, but they seemed mad at me.”
Just then, much against everyone’s expectance, Ruby finally spoke up. “Don’t worry, give everyone here time, I’m sure they’ll grow to like you.”
Chomper was relieved to see Ruby talking again. “Glad to hear you again Ruby,” smiled Chomper. “Why were you staying quiet?”
“Oh, no reason, I just had something wrong with my throat,” she said with a laugh. Suddenly she brought her mouth close to Chomper’s ear and whispered “Met me at Saurus Rock tonight.”
Chomper nodded in reply. He felt that Ruby made up the throat comment, and this pretty much confirmed by what she just said. Suddenly, a large growling was heard.
“Spike, I’ve never heard your belly growl that loudly,” Littlefoot said with a little smirk. Spike made a noise suggesting “That wasn’t me.” The growling was heard again, revealing that it was Greg’s belly whose was rumbling.
“I guess I’m hungry,” Greg said, “What’s the best place to find treestars?” he asked.
Ducky turned to face one direction. “Over there, oh yes, oh yes,” the swimming sharptooth said. “I’ll go with you,” Rory said.
As the two boys left, Myra let out a little smile. “Ah Greg…body of a spiketail, stomach of a belly dragger.” Neither Spike nor Tippy looked offended by this comment.
“Tippy wonders what we should do next?” she asked.
Chomper turned to the longneck and threehorn who stayed behind. “You guys ever play Pine Cone?” he asked. Chomper knew that his friends indeed played that game in the past reality before he made his wish, but wasn’t sure if that was still the same case in this reality.
“We’ve heard of it,” Rita said, “I’m told it’s very popular with sharptooth kids, is that right?”
All the sharpteeth nodded yes. “Come on, we’ll show it to you,” Ruby smiled, finally managing to look happy again. And the gang set off to their little arena.
MEANWHILE………..
Greg and Rory managed to find the trees Ducky was talking about. “I take my previous comment back,” Greg said, looking up at the massive amounts of treestars, “This place is paradise compared to our Valley.”
“But we’re still going to reclaim it,” Rory said, hoping this wouldn’t distract Greg from their main goal. “I know, I know,” Greg replied apologetically. As they began digging in, they noticed Hyp, Nod, and Mutt a short distance away.
Hyp had been spending more of his time with his buds, mainly to avoid his father and his brother Silo. Today, he, Mutt, and Nod gathered up a lot of little leafeaters for a little eating contest.
“I’m the best eater here in the valley, and probably the best compared to those in the Mysterious Beyond too,” Nod bragged. “No way, me and Mutt could eat more than you,” Hyp retorted.
This gave Rory an idea. “What don’t you join that competition Greg?” he suggested only half-sarcastically.
“You know I won’t eat meat!” Greg replied. Rory laughed. “I know that….but why don’t you try entering with your own personal favorite: treestars?”
Greg looked up and noticed that indeed that the amount of green food in the immediate area was comparable to how much prey the trio had caught. “Good idea,” Greg said, and he and Rory quickly gathered up a lot.
ELSE WHERE……….
Chomper, Littlefoot, Petrie, Ruby, Cera, Tippy, Spike (Non-verbally of course), and Guido explained to Myra and Rita the rules of Pine Cone. “Sounds pretty fun,” said Rita.
“How about this, boys vs. girls?” said Littlefoot. “It’s a game,” Myra replied confidently. Myra, Rita, Ruby, Cera, and Tippy got on one side while Chomper, Spike, Littlefoot, Guido, and Petrie got on the other. Ducky, as usual, had to watch from the waterhole, but that didn’t bother her.
The game soon began. The girls got an early lead when Ruby employed a new tactic she created in her head: She called it the “Wait Till Chomper Has The Pine Cone, Run Up To Him, Give Him A Warm Smile, Thus Distracting Him Long Enough For You To Steal The Pine Cone Away From Him And Run Towards The Goal And Score A Point, And When The Other Team Isn’t Catching On To This, Keep Using This Method Over And Over Until Victory Is Ours” plan. (Catchy name, ain’t it?)
Littlefoot and Petrie managed to bring the game back in the guys’ favor with double the effort from both of them. But the game was soon come to an abrupt stop when Guido noticed something a short distance away.
“Hey, what’s that?” the sharpbeak asked, seeing Mr. Belly Dragger tending to someone. “Nice try Guido, that’s not distracting us,” Cera commented, thinking it was all a part of the game.
“No, I see something too,” Rita said, recognizing Mr. Belly Drager, having worked with him during the showdown at Black Roc. “I’m gonna go see if he needs help.”
“Help?” Guido asked confused, “Where did she learn healing stuff?”
“Oh, it’s something she learned about back home,” Myra explained, “She said that information could be very handy when someone’s sick or hurt.”
MEANWHILE…….
“Aren’t you some of those flatteeth who came here yesterday?” asked Hyp. “The very same,” replied Rory. “My friend here wants to join your eating contest.”
“But he’s a flattooth,” Nod laughed, “I’m sure meat isn’t exactly his forte.”
“I’m aware of that,” replied Greg, showing the huge pile of leaves he and Rory collected. “That’s why I’ll enter with these.”
“You’re on!” Nod laughed, certain he would win.
A FEW MINUTES LATER……….
“Go Greg! Go Greg!” Rory cheered on from the sidelines, it was clear that either Greg r Nod would be the winner. Mutt had given up early into the competition, and even though Hyp tried his hardest, he eventually couldn’t fit anything else into his stomach.
Greg caught engulfing the leaves like crazy while Nod kept on eating his meat as fast as he could. Soon, both players were eating more slowly, signifying they were getting full.
“Just a few more….” Greg strained to himself. He leaned over and grabbed the last leaf he could with his teeth, and gulped it down. After that, he gave up, and Nod still had enough energy to eat one more of his food. “I won!” the belly dragger cheered, albeit weakly.
“Good game,” Hyp said, getting to be a lot nicer now, shaking Greg’s front foot with his claw.
“You guys are pretty cool,” Rory said, “Wanna hang out again in the future?” “Sure,” replied Nod, who just then let out a massive belch, followed soon by Greg. Soon, all 5 dinosaurs were sharing a big laugh.
ELSE WHERE……..
Mr. Belly Dragger did indeed want Rita’s help, he was treating a teenage fast biter who had gotten bitten during an unsuccessful hunt.
“I know just the trick for something like this,” Rita said, remembering similar incidents happening in her home valley, gathering a purple plant with her teeth.
“Rub this on the wound, and make sure he doesn’t get it wet, that could only increase the pain,” the longneck said in sharptooth.
“That’s correct Rita,” Mr. Belly Dragger smiled, impressed by her knowledge of cures and other medicines. He realized something now, and knew he had to ask this longneck the question.
“Rita,” the big belly dragger said, “For some time now I’ve been looking for an apprentice who can follow in my claw prints. Now, I don’t know how long you’ll live in the Great Valley, but until then, could you consider this offer?”
Rita thought about this for a moment. This would be a good opportunity to make friends with the sharpteeth. I mean, what better way to get to meet others than to help them with injuries or possibly save their lives? (AUTHOR’S NOTE: Actually, I’m sure that’s not the best way, but let’s just go with that for the sake of the story.) “Mr. Belly Dragger, I accept your offer,” she replied, trying to sound “all proper.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” the belly dragger smiled back, “Meet me in this area tomorrow after lunch.”
At this point, Rory and a pretty full Greg rejoined the group. “What happened to you?” Myra asked Greg with a laugh.
“Had an eating contest,” the spiketail replied, a bit weak from all that eating. “With 3 dinos named Nod, Hyp, and Mutt. They seem nice.”
“Wow, you got along with Hyp and his buddies, that is impressive,” Chomper said, even though they knew Hyp had gotten nice since Silo arrived, but he was surprised that the flatteeth befriended him so quickly.
Rita looked up to see the Bright Circle beginning to set. “It’s about dinner time,” she said, “We should be heading back to our sleeping places/families for a bite to eat.”
Everyone nodded yes, and the gang said their goodbyes and went separate ways.
As the 4 leafeaters headed towards the trees with many treestars, Rory smiled “I think we’re off to a good start.”
LATER THAT NIGHT………..
After Dein and Terri went to sleep, Chomper snuck out and headed back to Saurus Rock, where ruby was waiting at the top. “I’m here,” he called to Ruby, and began climbing up the big stone t-rex.
At the top, Ruby didn’t look shocked anymore, but she still looked rather serious and bothered. “So what’s bothering you?” Chomper asked his girlfriend.
“Cera’s story about what happened,” Ruby replied. “What part of it?” Chomper asked. “When she talked about the kids who helped her and Tricia out of there,” Ruby replied.
“So what bothered you?” Chomper asked again.
“When she talked about that little fast biter, she said he looked like me when it came to colors.”
“So why does that bother you?” asked Chomper.
“I’ve seen a lot of little fast biters in my life, and there’s only one I’ve seen that shares my colors,” Ruby gulped.
“Who’s that?” asked Chomper, when a theory of who it might be popped in his head, but it couldn’t be true….could it?
“My brother Howler,” Ruby finally said. “The one who I thought died when he fell down that crack in the Earth. I doubt it could be true, but that’s the only possible fast biter Cera could have seen.”
Chomper just sat their, shocked and wide-eyed. Was Ruby’s brother alive? And if he is, what was he doing with those evil dinos?
“That’s all I wanted to say,” Ruby concluded, giving Chomper a quick kiss. “See you tomorrow.”
Both carnivores headed to their homes, but this night wouldn’t be leaving their minds anytime soon.
(Read and Review! Hope you liked this chapter!)
Next Time on Sharptooth Valley II: After Littlefoot and Rory are badly injured in a tragic mistake, 3 members of the gang recount the events that led up to it in a 3-part chapter storyline.
