The Seven Hunters

[rhombus]

Fanfiction link:  https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9990125/34/The-Seven-Hunters

Chapter 33   Reunion of the flyers

I know how men in exile feed on dreams. ― Aeschylus

The flyer absentmindedly examined the scene around him.  A few blue-crested adolescents were arguing about something unimportant on the branch beside him, each of them obviously being of a cousin species of sorts.  A few other juveniles and young adults were on the branches above him in varying levels of conversation or contemplation.  Kelran, the unofficial leader, if there was a 'leader' in this group, was seating on the limb below him dosing in the evening breeze.  In past days he would have rather been the leader, using his charisma and charm to lead the others according to his vision.  But now, he was reluctant to seek out such power.  He remembered what happened last time he attempted to seek out its enticing but vengeful embrace.  His exploits had nearly cost the life of a small swimmer and he knew all too well that he had more than enough blood on his wings without another to tax his conscience.

He had been following this band of flyers for the better part of a month now.  It was the fifth such grouping that he had been a part of since his exile over two Cold Times prior.  Even though a full-grown flyer such as him was usually quite safe from most predators, it was still generally safer to stay in a larger group.  A group offered many more eyes to see advancing danger and a much more powerful threat to any sharptooth flyer that may be looking for a larger meal.  The main threat in these groups was competitive battles for dominance and mates.  Battles for mates were no longer a particular concern as the mating season had since come and gone.  The mothers would all have younglings at this point.  Likewise, dominance battles were often tied into battling for mates and territories, as none of the members of this band had either, there wasn't much to fight over.

"Sharpbeak!"

At the call of one of the juveniles, Pterano looked out towards the marshes where the juvenile was gesturing.  Pterano had to stifle a laugh.  It was just a small sharptooth flyer; far too small to be a significant threat to any of the assembled flyers, let alone a large group.  Nonetheless, it was good that the flyers were being vigilant.  He could not fault them for that.

"Oh come on!  Are you afraid he's going to bite your ankles of something?!"  Kerlan chided at the overly watchful juvenile.  At his joke at the small flyer's expense, the other flyers erupted in jocular laughter.  Pterano did not join in the laughter, however, as he saw the value in being watchful of his surroundings.  The small sharptooth flyer could very well have been a scout who was helping out another sharptooth flyer.  By being mindful of such small things one could avoid many dangers.  His own life had been saved on a number of occasions during his exile by catching such small details.  Perhaps he should give the other flyer some words of encouragement later?  Although he overreacted, his razor-sharp perception could come in handy later.

Lost in his own thoughts once again, Pterano caught a closer look of the flyer as he was flying parallel with the group.  The small flyer's eyes were fixed upon Pterano as if he had seen a ghost.  It was a most unnerving expression.  Although he was imposing, Pterano was certainly not the most threatening of his kind, nor did he have any dealings with sharptooth flyers since his exile from the valley.  He could not determine any reason for why the young predator stared at him in such a manner.  Something in his expression seemed to remind him of his young nephew who he left behind in the valley.  It was a look of confused befuddlement combined with a sense of innocence.  It was a very unique combination that he hadn't seen in over two Cold Times...

Shaking his head at the futility of his thoughts, Pterano turned his attention back to the makeshift herd of flyers that he now found himself.  The others had turned their attention to other matters.  Now would be the perfect time to discuss things with the chided juvenile.

"Don't feel ashamed, young one.  You can never overlook such things.  Even a small detail can indicate trouble."  As the juvenile listened, pleased to have someone praise his efforts as opposed to mocking him, Pterano continued.  "That reminds me of a time when I was in a similar situation..."

......

"So Pterano is still alive."  Littlefoot said without much enthusiasm.  He did, however, keep the venom out of his voice for Petrie's sake.  He realized that Petrie still cared for his uncle, even if the blatant hero worship had long since ended.

Cera was not so tactful, however.

"Oh great.  So instead of finding Chomper's parents we've found your uncle."  Petrie's demeanor turned cold as Cera walked forward and continued her verbal assault on the flyer.  "I guess that you can tell him that Ducky's a bit too heavy to kidnap now."

"He no do that!  The other flyers do that!"  Petrie protested.

"Flyers that he led!"  Cera retorted.

"Guys..."  Littlefoot cautioned.  "This will get us nowhere..."

As Petrie paced on his perch in his anger, Cera strutted off in agitation as well.  Cera knew that she did not help the situation, but she knew that her objections matched the views of the others.  Pterano had repented for his actions in the end, and he had tried to stop his minions from doing them actual harm, but the flaws of his character were obvious in her opinion.  She failed to see how any good could come from interacting with him.

Ruby and Chomper looked at one another awkwardly.  When Littlefoot and the others had first talked to them about the Stone of Cold Fire and the rainbowfaces they had heard about Pterano and his exploits.  Even though they knew the story, they still felt oddly left out as they were not in the valley during those events.  As a result, they abstained from the discussion but instead listened intently.

"He doesn't know about what happened to us..."  Spike offered.

"Who does?"  Cera retorted in annoyance.  With the exception of Ruby's parents and the rainbowfaces, no one else knew of their plight.

"No."  Spike corrected.  "That was not what I meant."  He then walked in front of the pack in order to look at them directly.  "All of our families think that we are dead... Except yours Ruby.  Maybe we could actually talk to him?  That is more than what we could do with our folks."

Cera grunted.  "What good could he do?  It isn't like our folks would believe him."

Ducky then spoke.  "No, but he is a flyer.  He is.  He is.  Maybe he could help us?"

Petrie jumped back into the discussion.  "Yeah.  He survive out here.  Maybe he could help?"

Littlefoot pondered this for a moment.  "I don't know, but I guess there is no harm in talking to him."  He bit his lip in concentration for another moment.  "But how would we convince him?"

Chomper then joined in.  "Maybe he had that dream that Ruby's parents had?"

Petrie nodded at this.  "Maybe..."

Littlefoot was skeptical of this.  Ruby's folks had the same dream, but who knows about the rest of the parents.  Furthermore, Pterano wasn't a parent.  They needed to rely on something else.

Perhaps seeing Littlefoot's skeptical look, Spike spoke again.  "Well, we know about what happened after we found the first 'Stone of Cold Fire'.  Petrie could mention that to him."

Ducky nodded and looked Petrie in the eyes.  "And you know the stories he told.  Yep, yep, yep!"

Littlefoot smiled.  Maybe they could talk to Pterano after all.  He was doubtful of what good it would actually do them, but at least it would allow Petrie to reconnect with one of his family members before Pterano heard a darker story about their fate.  Littlefoot knew that if he were in Petrie's situation, he would jump at the chance.  He would not deny him this chance.

"I guess that could work."  Littlefoot finally said with a kind nod.  "But it will all be up to you, Petrie.  I doubt that he will want to talk with a bunch of fast biters."

Cera grunted again.  "Fine.  I guess you can try."  She then looked at Petrie with an annoyed expression.  "But I still think that no good will come from this."

Petrie cynically muttered under his breath.  "Me not surprised."  

Littlefoot hurriedly spoke again to head off any retort by Cera.  "Alright then!  I guess that is settled.  Petrie will attempt to talk to his uncle and let him know about us.  If he has been here awhile then maybe he could help us."  He then cleared his throat for a moment as he was trying to change the subject.  "But before you head off, Petrie."  Petrie was already beginning to take flight upon Littlefoot's affirmation.  Littlefoot's sudden recall caused him to nearly crash into the ground, much to Cera's amusement.

Petrie landed with a thud.  "Huh?"

Littlefoot chuckled lightly.  "I was saying, before you head off: what else did you see during your flight."

"Oh, Petrie nearly forgot."  Petrie was embarrassed.  In his excitement over his uncle, he had forgotten the original reason for his scouting run: to actually tell the pack what was around them.

As the small flyer gave a detailed report to the pack, significant events were occurring in the Great Valley.

......

Meanwhile in the Great Valley...

"Okay so everyone is here."  Grandpa Longneck began.  Although the death of his grandson still haunted him and his mate, he had begun to resume his duties as an elder in the Great Valley.  One of these duties included presiding over the meetings and ensuring that the interactions remained constructive and cordial.  Needless to say, many of the valley's residents were grateful to see him retake these duties from the threehorn.  

"Yes."  Topps replied.  "But why are we here?"  Although he would not admit it, he was glad to see the longneck begin to act like himself again.  Despite his best efforts, he simply did not have the temperament to guide the herd discussions in a way that didn't border on imperious.  It was nice to have someone else do the more 'diplomatic' tasks.

"I'm not sure."  Grandpa Longneck began.  "The flyers have called this meeting."

There were hushed murmurings from amongst the assembled dinosaurs.  They were all having the same thoughts at the moment.  Did they find Chomper?  Is he back?  Who will protect our children from him?  Despite the best efforts of the dinosaurs, paranoia still reigned in the valley.  The security at the borders had become a habit at this point, but despite that all of the residents still had lingering worries.

As if on cue at Grandpa Longneck's statement, several of the flyers flew into the center of the circle of dinosaurs.  Flip had briefed the other flyers on what had been discovered and now they were going to share their information with the whole valley.  Volant, who had become an unofficial leader of sorts for the regular scouting runs outside of the valley, stepped forward.

"Vokal has found Chomper."

The mutterings in the crowd suddenly rose to agitated conversation.  Their deductions had proven to be correct: the flyers had found the hated sharptooth and his minions.  But where were they?

"Quiet everyone!  Quiet please!"  Grandpa Longneck tried to regain control over the agitated adults.  After a few moments the agitated mutterings became barely audible and the meeting could resume.  "Vokal?  Where were they?"

Vokal stepped forward and gave the best account of her findings that she could muster.  "I was traveling away from Hanging Rock to avoid the dreaded dry season, when I got trapped by a sand storm in the barren lands."

"The barren lands?"  Topps asked inquisitively.  Although he had heard of the location from land-walkers, he had never been there himself.  It was in the opposite direction from the path that the herds had taken to reach the valley.

Grandma Longneck had been there in her youth, however.  "I remember that place."  At seeing Grandpa Longneck's surprise, she continued.  "It was before we met, dear.  Back when I was in my mother's herd...  It wasn't the barren lands back then, though, the climate changed..."  She tried to get her thoughts back on track.  She had several distinct childhood memories in that place and in its vicinity.  "It is by the lowlands."

The swimmers nodded in understanding.  The lowlands were well-known to the travelling swimmer herds, as it was accessible via the rivers and tributaries that went through its interior.

Flip then resumed her speech.  "Yes...  Based upon the direction that they were traveling, I think that they left the lowlands and were heading towards the Land of Shallow Waters."

"Good!  They're away from us then!"  A domehead muttered.  Several in the crowd echoed his sentiments.  If they were that far away from the valley, then the immediate danger had passed.  But that was a sentiment that was not entirely shared by the parents who had lost children.  Some wanted revenge or, at the very least, closure.  They wanted to know why Chomper had done his outrageous deed and they wanted to ensure that his treachery would not be felt again.

Topps responded to the domehead's exclamation with annoyance.  "There will be no security while that sharptooth lives.  He knows our secrets."  He looked at the assembled crowd with a grim expression.  "We have to get rid of him."

"Are you serious?!"  A swimmer called out.  "We can't all go over there!  What about the children?  At least in the valley it is safe."

Another domehead critiqued her last statement.  "Yeah... For now."

The crowd was overtaken by agitated mutterings from the adults.  The silent rift that had opened up in the previous month was showing itself.  Many of the residents were tired of the entrance guarding and constant scouting that went on in the valley.  It made the peaceful confines of their home feel more like a stronghold than a refuge.  They doubted the small sharptooth would stick around after his dastardly deed, and Flip's findings seemed to confirm their suspicions.  Other residents, however, still thought it was a good idea to keep the new security arrangements.  There was no telling how much the small sharptooth would tell others.  Likewise, the sharptooth could come back later when they were least expecting it...  Finally, only the parents of the lost children seemed to want to seek out revenge, whereas most of the other adults simply wanted to move on.  Even Tria and Grandpa Longneck were of the opinion that they should move on with their lives... Topps and Grandma Longneck on the other hand...

"Silence!"  Topps commanded.  "One at a time!"

The crowd hushed for a few moments, but the angry mutterings continued.  Most of them were based upon the security arrangements and not on the actual issue at hand.  Topps then realized that the new security was probably not long for this world.  The result of the adults had turned against the measures for the most part now that they knew the sharpteeth were well away from the valley.  He could give on that front, provided that Chomper and his ilk were dealt with.  That was non-negotiable as far as he was concerned.

"Perhaps..."  Volant began to speak; at her words everyone became quiet.  "Perhaps we could send a group out in order to find Chomper and his friends?  There is no reason to risk everyone."

"That is true...  I will volunteer."  Topps offered.  Tria sputtered at this and proceeded to walk towards Topps.

"And so will I."  Grandma Longneck declared, causing her mate to look at her with concern.  Undoubtedly, he would go wherever she may go.  Even if it meant their end.

Tria then spoke up.  "Topps you can't!"  She protested his brashness.  "What about Tricia?  What about the other threehorns that depend on you?  What about me?"

Topps sighed.  "Tria...  Something needs to be done.  Chomper will be an even bigger threat when he grows up.  He has to be stopped now while we still have a chance."

"Wait a moment."  Another voice called out from amongst the crowd.  It was Bron.  "I can take care of it.  I have been there before."

Everyone turned to look at the brown longneck.  He had finally allowed his herd to leave without him several weeks prior, having felt that his deputy was more than ready for the task.  About three-quarters of his herd had decided to resume their roaming ways, while the remainder decided to stay in the valley.  Many of them had actually begun to help with the valley's defenses, becoming even more fanatical about security than the original residents of the valley.  They knew of the dangers of the outside world all too well.  Bron had never spoken at an assembly, nor interacted much with the others except to help keep watch over the valley's entrances.  His only other actions over the previous month were to help the Grandparents and to be a father for his son.  He was still an unknown as far as many of the valley's residents were concerned.

"Bron, you can't be serious!"  Grandpa Longneck chided.  "It is dangerous out there and you have Shorty..."  Volant also looked at the brown longneck.  She had a conversation with the longneck during his first journey... back when they had found the longneck corpse... had he forgotten everything?

"I don't have to go alone."  He offered.  "It is safer to travel in a herd."  He then looked at Volant.  "Volant, you mentioned the other day that there was a spiketail herd a few days away from the valley..."

"Yes."  Volant confirmed.  It was Tippy's herd, the loving friend of Spike...  But what did this have to do with searching for Chomper?  She had no idea what the longneck was going on about.

"They usually come around this time of year and then head to the Land of Shallow Waters, do they not?"  He continued.

Bron gave a determined look.  "Well then I could tag along with them until I find Chomper and his 'friends'."  He nearly sneered at the word "friends".  "I can simply follow the herd back during their return journey in the next Cold Time."

"But Bron...  Take us with you."  Grandpa Longneck offered.  "You could use the help..."  However, Bron shook his head at his offer.

"No, Grandpa Longneck.  Littlefoot wouldn't have wanted me to do that to you.  The sharpteeth are small and cowardly; I can take care of them."

Topps gave an appreciative nod to the longneck.  He now realized where Littlefoot had gotten his adventurous spirit from.  He still had a few questions though.  "How do you expect to get the spiketails to accept you into their herd?"

Bron gave a slight smirk.  "Well, they want to enter the valley in order to fill up before their long journey, right?"  At Topps nod, he continued.  "Just make including me part of the arrangement."

"And what about Shorty?"  Grandma Longneck asked.

Bron pondered for a moment.  "Let me talk to him."

......

Back in the Land of Shallow Waters:

Pterano was getting prepared to call it a night.  The bright circle was beginning to fall behind the distant horizon and the brightness of the summer day was giving way to the darkness of night.  As flyers relied upon their superior sense of vision in order to function, he would be of little use scouting or doing anything else come nightfall.  It would be better to get a good night's sleep and greet the new day tomorrow.

That being said, however, he could not get the events of the previous day out of his mind.  The juvenile flyer who had been mocked by the group when he called an alert on the small sharptooth flyer had reminded him of his beloved nephew in a way.  Petrie was always trying to be a brave, adventurous flyer even though it was against his nature.  What Petrie needed to learn, as did the juvenile he counseled, was to accept his nature for what it is.  They needed to use their own personal gifts in order to become the flyers they wanted to be, as opposed to simply trying to imitate someone else.  He noted, morosely, that it had taken him two years of exile to finally accept the flaws of his character and to attempt to address them.  He didn't want anyone else to repeat his mistakes.

Ah, enough self-loathing for today. Pterano thought to himself. I can't do anything to change the past now...  Had he have been thinking that same thought several years ago it would have been tinged with rationalization for his failings, but now it was simply an acknowledgement of reality.  He found that as he finally accepting his responsibility that the haunting dreams of the herd he led astray began to become less frequent, but he knew that they would never go away.  They were the price he paid for his own failings.

Looking in front of his perch, he noticed that he was by himself.  This suited him just fine.  The adolescents tended to keep to their own as did the blue-crested flyers.  Pteranodons males, on the other hand, tended to keep to themselves.  He supposed that such traits even persisted in a mixed-flyer herd.  In front of him he could see the slowly flowing river and the multitude of trees and vegetation that made up the Land of Shallow Waters.  It was this lush vegetation that made it a welcome destination for both leaf-eaters and sharpteeth.  Leaf-eaters appreciated the foliage as food, whereas the sharpteeth appreciated it as cover.  Pterano was quite glad that he, as a flyer, could avoid such dangers.  Only the occasional sharptooth flyer served as a threat.

Not like the one in front of me.  Pterano thought to himself.  Wait, what?  His eyes were not deceiving him.  In front of the brown flyer, perhaps twenty feet away on a nearby branch, was the same small sharptooth flyer that he had seen earlier in the day.  It was still looking at him with a curious expression.  What a strange flyer.  Knowing that the sharptooth flyer wouldn't understand a word that he said, he mused to himself.

"I'm afraid I am too big for you to eat, young one."  He chuckled to himself.  "You might have better luck with the smaller ones over there."  He jocularly pointed with his wing at the juveniles in the adjacent tree.  They were obviously also too big for a small sharptooth flyer to eat, so his follow-up comment was likewise made in jest.  As Pterano began to turn away from the predatory flyer, he heard something that made his blood run cold.

"Uh... Me think those are probably too big also."

Pterano turned back in stunned silence.  Did... It just talk?   He had known about some omnivorous flyers that were somewhat bilingual, but usually to the point of understanding a few basic words in leaf-eater, not a complete sentence.  Sierra and Rinkus were rare exceptions in that regard.  Pterano was at a loss of what to say.  What did this predator want with him?

"What do you want?"  Came Pterano's blunt response.

The small predator seemed to look around in confusion for a few moments, before finally responding.  "Me want to talk to you!  Petrie hasn't seen you in a long time."

Pterano paled.  What did this flyer know about Petrie?  Surely Petrie hasn't been making friends with sharptooth flyers!  Such a thing was ludicrous!

"How do you know Petrie?"  Pterano asked cautiously.  He flexed his muscles in preparation for possibly chasing down this sharptooth flyer if he ran away.  If he did anything with Petrie...

The predator jumped from his perch and took a short flight to the same branch that Pterano was on.  This flyer sure is a bold one.  Pterano thought to himself.  The small predator then began to speak.

"You don't understand uncle.  Me Petrie."  Petrie said this while gesturing at himself with his wings.

Pterano stepped back for a few steps.  This flyer is clearly insane. He made a quick inspection of the flyer's head from a distance to make sure that the blood-sucking buzzers were not around his ears.  Pterano had always heard that some flyers went mad when the infestation got too bad.

Petrie saw his uncle back away and realized that he had probably taken the wrong approach.  Deciding that it was too late to stop now, however, he continued on with his point.  "Me Petrie and me can prove it!"

Pterano looked at the small predator with a curious expression and laughed.  "Fine, meat-eater, prove to me that you are my nephew!  If you can do that then perhaps you should try convincing me that I am actually a threehorn!"  

Petrie ignored his uncle's mockery, as it was understandable in this impossible situation, and decided to tell his tale.

"It all started with the Stone of Cold Fire..."

......

"Now look!  I have no idea who you actually are, but I don't believe your story for a moment!"  

Pterano was livid.  He had no idea what was going on, but there was no way that this flyer's story could be true.  He had been taken in with the story of the Stone of Cold Fire over two years ago only to be led astray by his own expectations.  He was not now going to believe that this small predator was his nephew.  It was insane!

"How do you explain what me know then?!"  Petrie was livid as well.  His uncle was being unreasonable.  How else would a predator like him make up such a story?

"Who knows?"  Pterano mocked.  "Maybe you saw my nephew and decided to play a trick on me.  Maybe you honestly think that you are Petrie because of a head sickness.  Either way, I have heard enough of it!"

Petrie took in a deep breath.  Perhaps it was time to mention things that only he and Pterano would know.

"Me remember when you told me to find out where the Stone of Cold Fire fell."  He began.  "Me remember when your helpers took Ducky..."

Pterano was beside himself.  This flyer knew details that only a choice few would know.  There was no way some random predator from the Mysterious Beyond would pick up on these details.  But the story was too out there.  It was like some horrifying tale that adults would tell their children in order to make them behave.  How could it be real?

"Me remember when you save Ducky when she about to fall..."

But yet here was a flyer, who identified himself as Petrie, who knew details that only he could know.  He had believed the stories about the Stone of Cold Fire prior to his exile to such an extent that he betrayed the trust of the valley yet again and earned their reprisal.  After his faith in the stories of the original stone were proven false, he had felt betrayed.  Not only by the stories but by himself as well.  His own arrogance had made his believe that he alone could secure a glorious destiny for the flyers.  He had wanted to believe so that he could have a chance to redeem himself after his botched leadership in the original journey to the valley.  Maybe if he could succeed in that then the dreams would stop...  The haunting memories of those he doomed to die...

"Me remember when you told me and siblings about..."

"Stop."  Pterano asked in a strained voice.  "Please stop... I."  He then looked at the sharptooth flyer a bit closer.  His chest was puffed out in a powerful gesture and his body language communicated indomitable confidence.  It was very unlike the mannerisms that his nephew would have.  But those eyes...  His brown eyes seemed to have innocence in them.  They also displayed a curious mixture of concern and confidence.  Just as one would expect from someone who had gained strength after a long struggle, but still retained the mental scars of what came before.  Pterano now realized the truth of the flyer's words.  The sharptooth obviously believed every word that he said.  Words could be faked, but the eyes could not lie.  "I believe you."  Pterano finished, before bringing Petrie into an embrace.

The moment was interrupted, however, by a sudden cough from the adjacent tree.

Both Petrie and Pterano quickly looked in that direction to see a flyer shift slightly in his sleep.  It did not appear that any of the rest of the herd had seen their display, but they needed to avoid detection.  If Pterano was seen talking with a sharptooth flyer then the others would suspect that he was up to no good.  They needed to cut this short.

"Petrie..."  Pterano began.  "I think that we need to talk later.  If we wake the others..."

Petrie nodded.  It would be very unfortunate if they awakened the others.  It was also possible that Pterano's sudden departure might wake the others as well, as he was a much larger flyer than Petrie and the branch would surely make noise upon him taking flight.  So moving to another area was not really an option.  Besides, Petrie needed to give Pterano some time to process what he had learned.  Even though he had come to accept the story, signs of shock and concern were fresh on the flyer's mind.  "Me be with my friends.  One is a sharptooth and the others fast biters."  He waited a moment to make sure that Pterano had made note of his description of his herd.  Then with tenderness in his voice, Petrie spoke one more time.  "Me be waiting for you uncle."

Without another word, Petrie jumped from the branch and took flight.  He was certain that he had made his point to the flyer, but it was obvious that he still needed time to overcome his shock.  He wondered if it would be this difficult to convince their parents.  If so, then it was highly possible that such a reunion would not be possible.  The only reason that Petrie was able to approach Pterano was on account that he was not perceived as a threat to his uncle.  If Pterano had known that the adults in the valley think that Petrie was killed...  This reunion would not have been possible.  

With great turmoil in his mind, Petrie flew off in the direction of his friends.  He would assure them of his safety and then proceed to sleep.  Whether his uncle could help them or not, they had work that needed to be done.  The food wasn't going to catch itself, nor was the shelter going to find itself.  With those thoughts in his mind, Petrie flew home in silence.

~~

So now the pack has another adult which knows the truth about the children. In the next chapter we will see where this new development leads.  The next chapter (a 11,000 word behemoth) should be posted sometime on Monday.

[CeraTheRed]

OMG, what a twist! I eagerly await your next chapter! I'm loving the direction this is going in so far, though what a shock for Pterano there. Still this was a great chapter.

[Ducky123]

So Pterano isn't roaming the Mysterious Beyond all alone... The lesson he gives the juvenile flyer is a very important one if living in such a dangerous environment I wonder how Pterano takes what ought to happen... Petrie meeting him...

Cera's probably just getting warm Well, Petrie trying to tell Pterano about their fate and, moreover, convincing him of his true identity will be a difficult task as Pterano isn't dumb and, as we have seen, vigilant.

The discussion at the valley takes an interesting turn. I wonder who will set up his mind to go/stay

The interactions between Petrie and Pterano are well written Both were totally believable in their words and emotions.

Littlefoot's sudden recall caused his to nearly crash into the ground, much to Cera's amusement.

"him"...

Howe else would a predator like him make up such a story?

How...

An 11000 word chapter? I'm afraid I will have to read two posts again

[rhombus]

Thanks for the reviews, everyone!   I have made the corrections that you have noted, Ducky.

I should have next chapter posted sometime later tonight.  It will take me a while to get the formatting right for posting onto the GOF.  In the meantime, I have found something rather interesting.  Last night I decided to make a tag cloud (also called a Wordle) of my story in order to assess the words in the story by their frequency.  This is what I got:



There were a few surprises, but overall it seemed to match my expectations.  I am sure that everyone can see the two characters who are focused on the most in this story.  

[rhombus]

Fanfiction link:  https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9990125/35/The-Seven-Hunters

Author's note 1:  I will be using Chomper's sharptooth name, "Path", at certain points of dialogue in this chapter where it makes sense to show a distinction.  However, I will use his leafeater name afterwards (Chomper) in order to avoid confusion.

Author's note 2:  This chapter will be in two posts, as it exceeds the character limit on this forum.

Chapter 34   Search for the parents

"There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child." ― Henry Ward Beecher


"Sharpteeth!"

"Run!"

"Stay together, everyone!  We have to guard the..."

"Fast biters!"

"Ahhhhh!!!"

"Run dear!"

"Fiona!  No!"

"Someone help!"

Pterano awoke in a panic.  He breathed heavily in shallow gasps until the bitter, metallic taste of adrenaline left his mouth.  It was that dream.  That same dream.  Ever since his failure to safely lead the dinosaurs that had trusted in him so long ago, he had been haunted with their likeness nearly every time that he slept.  At times he could sleep and the bad sleep stories would be held at bay, or at the very least would be short in duration.  However, there were times when events would remind him of his failure and the horrific sounds and images would return to him.  This was one of those times.

He sat up with his wings curled around him in an almost infantile manner as he attempted to catch his bearings again.  As he finally began to regain control over his emotions, and the shaking of his wings and limbs subsided, he could finally focus on what had caused his worst sleep story in recent memory.

Petrie.

Had he really heard what he remembered from the night before?  His intellect and memories both told him that he had indeed heard the small sharpbeak identify himself as Petrie and say things that only his nephew would have known.  However, his emotions were rebelling at the possibility.  It's ludicrous.  Pterano mused to himself.  Perhaps my exile has finally begun to turn me mad?  

Pterano had suffered mentally from his isolation in the Mysterious Beyond.  When he had first left the united herd after his failure during the great journey, he had filled his time trying to fulfill his ambitious plans.  As long as he could tell himself that he was not at fault, that he was the great leader that he thought he was, then he could keep the guilt at bay.  Finally he had found two useful minions, Rinkus and Sierra, who were willing followers in his plan to capture the recently fallen Stone of Cold Fire.  He was so blinded by his own sense of grandeur that he did not notice that the two flyers were playing him for a fool.  Pterano had an amazing ability to sway other people with his words and mannerisms, but his own arrogance was his downfall.  When one played him with flattery he was just as gullible as those who followed him.  After the first 'Stone of Cold Fire' turned out to be a useless rock and he was exiled, he was again faced with his inner demons, but now he could no longer distract himself with illusions of greatness.  He had to accept his faults and live with the aftermath.  As a result, the bad sleep stories were his constant companion in his lonely existence.

Pterano shook himself. I need to find that flyer...  Petrie.  He allowed himself for a moment to believe that the visitation last night was true and not simply some hallucination produced by his haunted mind.  Then I can get to the bottom of this.  The flyer then jumped off of the branch with both wings outstretched.  He was airborne within seconds.

As he flew past the tall trees which his new herd had called home for some weeks, he allowed his mind to continue to wander.  What if his vision from the night before actually happened?  What then?  His nephew would have been changed beyond all reckoning and be unable to return to this old life.  In a way Petrie would be existing in an exile just like Pterano was, albeit one based upon biology as opposed to punishment.  It is just a flight of fancy, anyway. Pterano tried to convince himself.  It had happened in your own head, Pterano you fool!  Leaf-eaters do not change into sharpteeth!  Nonetheless, his intellect was telling him something different despite his internal pleading to the contrary.

It was still relatively dark out.  The bright circle was just beginning to rise above the horizon and conditions were only now becoming suitable for flight.  Nonetheless, Pterano could see well enough to spot the various slumbering dinosaurs on the ground below.  He would be able to see the seven sharpteeth if the vision from the night before truly occurred.  The only question was: where would a pack of sharpteeth hide in a place like this?  It would obviously have to be someplace with a good vantage point over the rest of the area.  Sharpteeth were quite keen, Pterano found, at maintaining an elevated position.  Likewise, if it was a pack of children then they probably wanted a somewhat camouflaged position in order to avoid larger predators.  Such place would be like...

Like that.

Pterano could see a large area of very dense foliage atop a small hill.  Such an area would provide cover for the children while they slept and would also provide a spot for Petrie to perch.  Lowering his altitude, Pterano decided to fly by the curious formation in order to get a closer look.  

The thicket of trees which covered the hill made any sort of detailed observation next to impossible.  What the interlocking branches and limbs partially obstructed from view was completely blotted from observation by the green leaves.  If only there was something that stood out. Pterano thought morosely.  The flyer then began to criticize himself.  Perhaps he had only dreamed about the weird sharptooth flyer.  You're wasting your time Pterano.  You're really beginning to lose it.  He considered turning back, but that was when he saw it.  A small patch of brown.

It was the flyer.  The same flyer from last night.

He was perched, still asleep, on one of the numerous limbs that extended from the confusing tangle of trees.  From that perch he could obviously see the land around the 'pack' and alert them to any approaching danger.  Or food.  He reminded himself.  As his friends were predators.  Pterano considered waking the small predator, but immediately thought better of it.  What if he was simply imagining the conversation from last night?  Or what if it were a sleep story?  A product of a guilty mind that had finally begun to snap under the relentless pressure.  No, he would creep into the thicket, being careful to be above the ground, and investigate the flyer and his companions from the cover of the foliage.  The actions of the flyer would confirm his identity.  He knew Petrie and he knew how the flyer acted.  Only if he were satisfied of his identity would he venture forth and make himself known.

Finding an appropriate spot where he could spy on the sleeping flyer, he waited for him to awake.

......

"Hey beak-face wake up!"  Cera's jocular shout emanated from the ground.

"Huh?"  Petrie awoke suddenly and immediately propelled himself into the air, causing him to slam into the branch immediately above him with a resounding thud.  Groaning slightly at his mishap, he shook his head before responding to his summons.  "Me up!  Me up!"  He wasn't going to let Cera get the better of him, by letting her know that she had spooked the flyer.  Luckily for him, Cera could not see his actions from her vantage point.  Otherwise she would have undoubtedly had a laugh at his expense.

Cera looked up at where the flyer's voice emanated and smirked.  "Sleeping all of the way up there?  Surely you don't think that lowly of us."  Back when they were herbivores this type of banter would seem mean and petty, but since their change each member of the gang had taken on more vitriol in their responses to one another.  This was not hateful.  It was as if the amount of insults they could hurl at one another was a testament to their friendship, as the same words from others would result in immediate attack.  Being hateful in order to show one's love, it was another sign of the inherent contradictions of a carnivore's existence.

"Me not think that!"  Petrie protested.  "Me like being high up!  Me see more up here."  

Cera had to smile at the flyer's innocence in a way.  He had misinterpreted her jocular statement as a serious criticism.  It was meant to elicit a joking response back.  Such was the usual interchange between the fast biters during their down time.

"Also..."  Petrie continued.  "If something big and nasty eat you all, then Petrie still safe!"  

Cera humphed at the flyer's response.  It seemed that he did get the purpose of her taunt and had made a good retort back.  She disliked losing at their word games as she was quite adept at dishing out playful remarks, having been a threehorn prior to her sharptooth days, a species not exactly known for social niceties.  It seemed that the others were catching up in verbal sparring skills, however.  She grumbled as she walked back towards the others.

After a few moments to catch his bearings, Petrie finally began to fly down to where the others were sitting.  

Littlefoot's brown form was sitting next to Ruby, who were in the middle of a conversation about the rainbowfaces.  It seemed that they were both somewhat concerned about their wellbeing in this place.  It provided many areas for predators to hide...  Such as themselves.  The others were listening to the conversation in relative silence.  Ducky and Spike were whispering to one another about something that Petrie could not discern from his location, whereas Chomper was munching on a leftover ground fuzzy a few paces away from Cera.  Upon the flyer's approach Littlefoot directed his attention to him.

"Morning, Petrie.  Any sign of your uncle?"  The brown fast biter asked.

Petrie frowned.  "No.  Me no see him.  Maybe he wake up late?"  The small flyer did not even consider the possibility that his uncle would not show.  After all, he had acknowledged his nephew's identity last night.  This was what he had reported back to the entire pack, who had all stayed awake awaiting the flyer to make sure that he was alright.  Even Cera had given him encouragement when she saw his overwhelmed expression.  She obviously didn't care about Pterano, but she cared for Petrie.  That was true regardless of how much she may have hidden it on other occasions.

"Maybe he thought it was a sleep story?"  Ducky offered.  "Our story must sound really strange!"  Spike nodded at his sister deduction.  He had to agree that if he had heard such a story immediately prior to sleep, he would think that the entire thing was a sleep story as well.

Cera grumbled, but decided to offer some constructive advice to the flyer.  She realized that he was still in emotional turmoil over the recent discovery of his uncle.  "Well, maybe if he doesn't show up then you could talk to him again?"  Her voice was gruff and annoyed, but the intent was not malicious.  "That was he wouldn't think you were a sleep story."

Ruby nodded.  "That sounds like a great idea, Cera!  If Petrie tells Pterano that he is not a sleep story, then Pterano would know that he was not a sleep story."

While this conversation was going on in the sharptooth language, Pterano was crouched within a tangled web of branches watching the exchange between the sharpteeth.

They match the description exactly. Pterano observed with a mixture of relief and horror.  His nephew was really here, but he had been changed beyond all reckoning.  He continued to watch the scene in stunned silence.

He watched as the flyer, which he now knew was Petrie, gave a few high-pitched screeches at the fast biters and sharptooth below.  In response the brown fast biter nodded.  So sharpteeth can talk...  He was aware that the sharptooth flyers had their own language of sorts, but he was unaware of that ability in sharptooth land-walkers.  In fact, it was an ability that he would have laughed at as ludicrous if he weren't seeing evidence of it before his very eyes.  His mind raced.  The brown one must be the leader then?  Littlefoot was his name...  Pterano tried to remember Petrie's friends from his journey to the valley over two years prior.  

Then the yellow one seemed to strut into the center of the pack and gave a few spaced out grunts and growls.  The brown one that Pterano had deduced was Littlefoot then rolled his eyes overtly, while the pink one and purple sharptooth seemed to chuckle.  A horrible, haunting sound coming from carnivores.  That one must be Cera.  Pterano deduced. She never liked me very much.  He stated the obvious.  Many of the other children may have been skeptical of him or distrustful, but the yellow threehorn had always been the most vindictive about his character.  It was haunting to now see her as a sharptooth.

Pterano sighed.  He supposed that it was time to make his presence known, as he was now sure that the flyer in this pack was certainly his nephew.  He was the same flyer that he had seen the night before.  He was most certainly not a hallucination or a sleep story.  Taking two steps on the branch he was on, he jumped and began to glide down towards the assembled sharpteeth.  The sharpteeth then looked up, with Petrie making an excited screeching sound at his uncle's discovery.  Pterano then steered himself to a nearby branch around ten feet above the dinosaurs and landed.  He wasn't taking any chances with Petrie's friends.

"Petrie, my boy!"  Pterano welcomed his nephew.  "I thought it was all a sleep story until I saw you here!"

Petrie flew up to meet Pterano and emitted a few high-pitched squeals and grunts until he heard a call from below.  

"You might want to talk in leaf-eater, beak brain!"  Much to Pterano's surprise Cera was talking in fluent leaf-eater, although she had an obvious accent.  Petrie looked embarrassed at her chiding, as he obviously had forgotten what language he was speaking in the excitement of having his uncle keep his promise.  It was nice to see an element of Petrie's personality remain intact despite the horrific changes that he had gone through.

"Me...  Me glad to see you uncle."  Petrie spoke slowly, obviously in an attempt to calm himself.

"I am glad to see you too, nephew."  Pterano embraced the small flyer.  "Although I wish it were under better terms."

The two flyers embraced for several moments as the emotions of the instant overwhelmed them.  During the previous night, Pterano wasn't sure about what he was actually seeing.  He wasn't sure if it was a dream or reality.  He was also shocked by the shear amount of information and how outlandish it sounded.  Now, however, he knew the truth and was confronted with the full implications of the horrible reality that faced his nephew and his loved ones.  It was a truly overpowering situation.

Littlefoot finally spoke.  "Well...  It's been a long time hasn't it, Pterano?"

Pterano broke his embrace of his nephew and looked down at the brown fast biter.  The dinosaur had an unreadable expression on his face, but Pterano could hear the hint of annoyance in him.  Littlefoot still harbored resentment at the dinosaur that had misled them all so long ago.  Pterano supposed that he couldn't blame him.

"Yes."  Pterano answered simply.  He usually was not at a loss for words, as his reputation for fast-talking preceded this meeting, but he found himself speechless in light of their current situation.  Finally, however, he found the will to speak again.  "How are you children doing?"

"Oh just fine!"  Cera spoke in a sarcastic tone.  Her sharptooth accent making her retort sound threatening.  "We had to kill a few dinosaurs to fill our bellies, be chased by our own families who want us dead, and left alone out here.  Nothing that would cause too much trouble."

Pterano looked down, as Littlefoot was muttering something in sharptooth at his companion.  He knew that his actions had hurt them all in the past and he knew that their current situation was damaging to them to a far worse degree.  He couldn't fault Cera for her vindictiveness at him, but he didn't know how to help her or anyone else.

"I know..."  He tried to speak again, which made the others stare at him.  "I know what you have been through, based upon what Petrie told me last night."  He then looked away for a moment as he didn't want them to see the sadness in his eyes.  He had to be strong.  "I don't know how I would have handled your situation...  I don't know if I could handle it..."  He shook his head.  "It is too horrible to contemplate.  I just wish there was some way that I could help."

Cera remained silent this time, as a purple sharptooth rose to the front.  "Well...  You can help us find my mommy and daddy."

Pterano looked at the small sharptooth with a curious expression.  "Forgive me, little one, but which of Petrie's friends are you?"

"I'm Chomper!"  The purple sharptooth spoke in a friendly way.  It was almost creepy.  Pterano almost wished that he had a gruffer, more frightening accent.  At least that wouldn't sound so incongruent with the fact he was a sharptooth.  "I didn't change like the others, but their mommies and daddies blamed me for their..." The sharptooth paused for a moment.  "...deaths."

Pterano was taken aback by this.  "You were friends with a sharptooth in the valley!"

Petrie spoke up at this point.  "Yes!  Chomper friendly sharptooth.  He never hurt anyone!"  Petrie then paused for a moment.  "Um... Except for when we had to...  But he never hurt anyone in valley!"

Pterano couldn't believe this.  The adults of the valley had actually allowed a sharptooth to live amongst them.  How could they have done that after all of the pain that sharpteeth had caused them?  He was still haunted by the actions of sharpteeth to this very day...

"Well, we are all sharpteeth now so it isn't important."  A dark green fast biter spoke.  It was Spike.

Pterano pondered for a moment.  "I guess that I could try to talk to your parents, but..."

"No one will believe you and they will kill you if you enter the valley before your exile is up?"  That retort came from Cera, who made quick work of his overture.  She was not prepared to trust Pterano in the slightest.

Pterano sighed.  "Yeah, that pretty much covers it."

"But..."  The pink fast biter spoke up after looking at Littlefoot for a moment.  "If you could help us find Chomper's parents, then they would be found!  They could help teach us what we need to know."

"Yeah!"  Chomper excitedly affirmed.

Pterano cleared his throat.  He was not exactly thrilled with the task of tracking down sharpteeth, but he would do it for his nephew and his friends.  "I guess that I could try to find them... um..."  He tried to recall the purple sharptooth's name.  "Chomper...  Can you tell me what your parents look like?"

Chomper was enthusiastic at the flyer's acceptance.  "Sure!  Mommy is kind of light green and daddy is darker.  Both are big!"

Pterano looked uneasy at this.  "Yes...  I am sure that they are..."  He then considered his options.  "I have only seen a darker green sharptooth of your kind, Chomper.  He is quite a distance from here.  I don't know if it is one of your parents or not..."  How could he, after all?  He had better things to do than catalogue the sharpteeth of the area, like flying away from them, for instance.  "But I guess that Petrie and I can go looking for them."  Petrie nodded approvingly at his uncle's plan.

"Alright then!"  Littlefoot affirmed.  "I guess that will work.  We all will try to catch some lunch..."  Pterano visibly recoiled at that reminder of what kind of dinosaurs he was now dealing with.  Something would have to die in order to satisfy the children's hunger.  "While you two try to find Chomper's folks.  We will catch some food for you, Petrie!"

"Yeah.  If I don't eat it all first!"  Spike threatened, his reputation for overeating preceding him.  He wouldn't do that and deprive Petrie of sustenance, of course, but he had to make the mock threat as a matter of course.  His unstoppable hunger had become a running gag in the pack.

"Thanks!"  Petrie affirmed.  "But also save some for Pt..."  He stopped himself when he realized his mistake.  As Chomper had often offered his friends buzzers when he forgot that they were not sharpteeth back in the valley, Petrie had momentarily forgotten that his uncle was obviously not a meat-eater.  "Uh... Never mind."

Cera and several of the others laughed at this, while Littlefoot still had a somewhat anxious expression.  He gave one final statement of encouragement before letting them attend to their task.

"Good luck out there, Petrie."

Petrie nodded, as both he and his uncle took flight away from the pack's shelter.  They had a search to attend to.  But before they could begin to search for Chomper's parents, Petrie decided that he should check on some old acquaintances first to make sure that they are alright.  After all, he hadn't seen the rainbowfaces since his scouting run from the day before.

......

"Just what are you doing, Chronos?"

Logos was staring with surprise at her companion.  He had gone missing for a few hours, while she was finishing preparing a makeshift shelter by laying limbs in an interlocking fashion in order to make a lean-to on some large trees.  He had now returned with several makeshift spears, literally little more than sharpened sticks, clutched in each hand.

"Well..."  He said with a tone that indicated that he was pleased with himself.  "I remembered our survival training from the academy..."

Logos interrupted at this point.  "Well I should hope so...  We have only been using it since we were stranded here."  Her words were dripping with sarcasm.

Chronos smiled.  "Of course!  But this is the first time we have been in a place like this..."  He looked around at all of the thick foliage around him.  "Running from predators might be rather difficult in this terrain and the Repressor probably only has a few more charges left."

Logos finished his thought.  "So you thought it would be a good idea to make some spears."  She seemed to ponder this for a few moments.  "That actually is a good idea..."  She admitted.  "However, we need to make sure that the children don't see your handiwork.  If we inadvertently show them how to make tools..."

Chronos sighed in amusement at Logos's steadfast dedication to non-interference.  Surely she realized that they had already broken that rule beyond all recognition by their previous actions.  "Of course..."  He simply said and handed Logos one of the large spears.

Logos looked at the spear that was now in her hands.  It was about her height from foot to head and roughly one fifth of a hand in width.  She turned the weapon over in her hand.  She could notice that it was definitely made of swamp wood, as the bark was still present in a most places, but it seemed that the majority at both ends had been scraped away.  The point of the spear was razor sharp and the hilt had noticeable grooves carved into it, obviously to aid in providing grip for the spear holder.  Considering the number of spears in Chronos's hands, this was quite a bit of work to conduct in a mere two hours.  If Logos could access Chronos's records on this planet then she would have sought out his academic assessment from the academy.  He must have been quite proficient in his survival training.

"This is quite nice, Chronos."  She admitted with a praising tone.  "What did you use to sharpen the spear?"

Chronos shrugged.  "There was a skeleton of some sharptooth by the stream that we passed, as you may remember."  At Logos's nod, he continued.  "I scraped these sticks on its teeth in order to sharpen them.  I think that it worked quite well."

Logos nodded.  "We should probably make more of these... We could make a palisade out of these sticks!  That would keep up safe from the smaller sharpteeth."

Chronos seemed to consider this for a moment.  "I guess those sticks wouldn't need as much work...  We would just have to sharpen the ends is all..."  He then thought to himself for a moment.  "And what do we do about the larger sharpteeth?"

She considered this for a moment.  "Well, we have areas of dense thickets around here.  We could use those as emergency shelter if it came down to it...  Our main threat will be from sharpteeth that may suddenly sneak up on us.  That is when we would need to use our spears."  She raised her spear for emphasis.

Just then a rustling could be heard from the trees above.  Each rainbowface tightly gripped their spears in preparation for a sudden attack.  They had underestimated how much paranoia their change in scenery was causing them.  They were used to being in areas where they could easily run or seek refuge in larger numbers, but here they were in a thick swamp with little in the way of escape routes.  As a result, the instinctual drives of their current species began to override the rationality of their previous forms.  After all, in threatening times sometimes it is logical to be the bigger threat.

The rainbowfaces moved side-by-side with their arms reared back, spears in hand, ready to throw at any threat.  The effects of adrenaline could be felt in each of them as their minds were racing with the possibility of combat or retreat.  It was an unpleasant experience to the two dinosaurs who thought of themselves as being more advanced than their counterparts on this planet.  In the heat of the moment, they were subject to the same passions and fears that affected 'real' rainbowfaces.  It was humbling in a way.

The rustling continued and got louder as whatever was up there was trying to find a way down through the thick cover.  Chronos began to breathe heavily as the unknown threat still refused to show itself.  Feeling protective of Logos, he moved slightly in front of her, but on the opposite side of the spear-holding hand, not wanting to be in the way of an attack from his companion.  That was when something fell from the canopy.

"Ahh!!!"  Screamed Petrie as he misjudged the strength of the branch he was on and it gave way.  The fact that vines had tangled around his wings made any maneuvering by the flyer very difficult.

Not clearly seeing what was under the tangle of vines, the two rainbowfaces threw their spears at the intruder and then backed away suddenly in order to grab more spears and continue the assault.

Petrie saw the sharpened sticks flying towards him and immediately took evasive action.  He clutched his wings to his chest, which caused him to fall at a faster rate.  This was barely enough to evade the two spears, as they sailed past and became impaled in the foliage behind where the flyer had been moments before.  Finally extending his wings again, Petrie was able to half-glide, half-fall to the ground below.

"Why you attack Petrie?!"  The flyer protested at the two dinosaurs, understandably being upset at being fought against when he was simply checking on their wellbeing.

The two rainbowfaces stood in surprise, the 'threat' that they had panicked over was simply Petrie.  How could they have let their fears get the better of them?  It seemed that their new home had spooked them more than they had realized.  Finally, Logos decided to apologize and explain herself.

"Sorry, child.  We only heard noise from above us and we thought something was going to attack us.  We didn't mean to threaten you!"

Chronos immediately agreed.  "Yeah!  Sorry about that."

Petrie shook himself off and took flight again, taking a closer look at the spear from the air.  He then settled onto the spear, which he used as a perch for the remainder of the conversation.

"Alright, me guess.  Me can't blame you for being scared.  You are food."  Petrie responded.  He was unaware that his comment about them being food did not exactly place the rainbowfaces nerves at ease.  It was a sign of how much the flyer had changed since his transformation.  "Me making sure that you okay.  You all safe?"

Chronos thought for a moment in order to think about how to answer coherently.  "Yes, we are safe.  More or less."  He then looked at his companion who was mouthing and gesturing at him not to mention the spears.  "This place has spooked us a bit.  There are many places for sharpteeth to hide."

Petrie seemed satisfied by this answer.  "Yes, Petrie notice that.  My friends like it here!  Prey don't have chance!"  Despite the fact that the gang had only caught ground fuzzies since their arrival here, Petrie and the others were sure that the extensive cover would come in handy when they went after bigger prey.  It would give them a distinct advantage.

Logos sighed.  "Yes, I'm sure the prey doesn't."  She spoke without enthusiasm, as she was in the category of 'prey'.

Petrie then looked at the spear he was sitting on for a few moments.  "Well, me glad you all doing well.  Me will tell others."  As the rainbowfaces said their thanks to the small flyer, he said one final thing before he flew off.  "Pointy stick good idea!"  Petrie had an expression as if a brilliant thought had just crossed his mind.  "Pointy sticks could help us get bigger food!  Thanks rainbowfaces!"

As the flyer flew off to where Pterano was waiting to resume the search, Chronos nudged his companion.

"So much for avoiding cultural contamination, huh?"

Logos looked at Chronos with a cross expression.  "Oh!  Just help me gather these spears, will you?!"

Chronos smirked slightly and said with a jocular tone and a crisp salute: "Aye, Commander!" which caused Logos to simply shake her head and fume to herself.

Despite their embarrassing faux pas with the flyer and potentially pushing the pack on the road to tool use, Chronos couldn't help but feel slightly pleased with himself.  It had been a long time since he finally gotten the last word in.

......

"I take it that your friends are okay?"  Pterano asked as soon as his nephew appeared from the canopy of leaves.  He was still finding it difficult to accept that the relatively confident sharptooth flyer in front of him was the same flyer who listened to his stories in wondrous attention.  

"Me check.  They okay."  Petrie replied.

Pterano flexed his wings as he prepared to disembark from the branch he was resting upon.  Well at least he still has his unique speech pattern. Pterano thought to himself. It definitively is him.  

"Who are they anyway?"  Pterano asked inquisitively.  He had simply heard of these dinosaurs referred to as 'the rainbowfaces' as if there wasn't an entire kind of dinosaur with that designation.  Why made these dinosaurs so special?  Why did they believe the children's story while others would not?

Petrie landed on the branch beside Pterano and sighed heavily.  "It long story..."  He was obviously reluctant to go into detail.

Pterano shrugged at this.  "Well then, perhaps you can tell me the story as we fly to where I last saw the sharptooth?  It will take us awhile to get there anyway."

"Sounds good uncle!"

With a few flaps of their wings, the flyers were once again airborne in search of Chomper's father.

......

"I just don't trust the creep!  Sure he loves Petrie, but that didn't stop him from using him, now did it?"

The pack had finished a pretty successful hunt.  Every member of the pack had caught at least one ground fuzzy, with Ruby being the 'winner' of the day, catching a grand total of eight.  She had not so subtlety pointed out her hunting prowess to both Littlefoot and Cera.  The bragging had simply made Littlefoot roll his eyes, but in Cera's case it caused her to go into a foul mood.  Pterano was simply the most inviting target on which to vent her anger.

Chomper shrugged.  He couldn't get too upset about the topic as he didn't know the flyer.  Likewise having a full belly tended to resolve any agitation that the small sharptooth would have felt in any case.  As a result, the question was given with a certain laziness and lack of concern.

"What harm could he do?"  Chomper really couldn't see the problem.  The flyer was exiled and the pack knew full well about his past failings.  Likewise, Pterano would never do anything to harm his nephew.

Cera sighed.  "I just don't trust him.  What good could he do?"

Littlefoot decided to interject at this point.  "Well, Cera, he is helping us find Chomper's parents."

Cera then replied in an exasperated tone.  "Well what about after that?"

"What about it?"  Littlefoot replied.  "Even if he can't help us after that, he is still Petrie's uncle."  He then looked at the rest of the pack, as if scrutinizing each of them.  "If one of our parents knew our story and believed us wouldn't we want to keep them around?  Wouldn't it be nice just to have that?"  Littlefoot sighed in sadness.  "Except for you, Ruby, all of our parents think that we're gone forever.  It would be nice just to talk to them again."

Ruby nodded sadly at this.  She was thankful that she could still communicate with her parents via Petrie's periodic flights in that direction.  It was a luxury that the others did not have anymore.

Cera nodded sadly.  "I guess I get that.  But I don't have to like the guy."

Littlefoot looked at Cera with an understanding expression.  "Don't worry, Cera, I don't like him either.  But he is our best hope for finding Chomper's folks."  He then looked up at the sky for a moment, as if searching for something.  "I just hope that we find them.  We have been able to find ground fuzzies and eggs, but we are still new at this."  He looked down as if considering his situation.

Spike gestured towards Littlefoot.  "We have hunted well enough until now.  I am sure that we could get by even if we don't get trained..."  His words were confident, but his tone was not.

Littlefoot looked at the green fast biter for a moment before responding.  "What about the next Cold Time, Spike?  There will be no eggs, few ground fuzzies, and as for younglings..."  He thought for a moment.  "If we went more than a few days without a youngling then we would be in bad shape...  You all remember how we got before Rhett..."

Ducky shuddered at the memory.  "That was terrible.  It was.  It was."

The others gave affirmative grunts at their leader.  No one wanted to revisit those dark times.

Littlefoot sighed.  "We have some time to find Chomper's parents, but if we don't..."  He then turned his attention to Chomper, who was not relishing considering the possibility that his parents wouldn't be found.  "Then we may need to consider our options.  We could join up again with Skytail's pack."

Ruby considered this for a moment before responding.  "But what if there wasn't enough food to be found?  What if we couldn't find enough food?"

Littlefoot nodded at this.  Ruby realized why that option would not be a panacea for their problem.  "Exactly, Ruby.  Skytail would help his pack before helping ours."  Then he added absentmindedly.  "Just like what we do in their place.  We need to become better at hunting larger dinosaurs, because that is what we will need to do one day."

The other ruminated on this idea with uneasy mutterings.  Each knew that the words were true and that they would soon have to make the periodic takedown of a youngling into a regular occurrence.  Likewise, if not enough younglings could be found, then they may even have to take down juveniles or adults.  They had never hunted prey such as that before.  Any mishap in such an enterprise could result in death.  They had survived up until now, but their continued survival was by no means certain.

Littlefoot continued to look towards the sky.  Much rested on the wings of the two flyers.  He hoped that they would give them good news soon.

......

"Well...  That is certainly some story, Petrie."

Petrie had just finished giving his uncle a truncated version of what the rainbowfaces did.  He had remembered his promise to not openly share some of their explanations, however, and as a consequence he left out their explanations of 'sky logs' and 'pain rocks'.  He could tell that Pterano was overwhelmed with enough details as it was.

"Yeah.  Me think so too."  Petrie affirmed.  "It even weirder living it."

The two flyers were talking as they flew above the canopy of the swamp below.  They had traveled for about half an hour since Petrie's check up on the rainbowfaces, which translated about three hours of walking for a land walker.  They were following a long and winding river that Pterano mentioned led to the territory of the green sharptooth.  The flyer had seen him chasing a longneck during Pterano's initial entry into the Land of Shallow Waters.  Following his herd, however, he continued into the heart of the swamp.  As a result his first sighting of the sharptooth was also his last.  He never imagined that he would intentionally seek him out.

Pterano looked away from the direction he was flying and instead took a good look at Petrie for a moment.  The eyes were the same, but everything else was different.  His fuzzy plumage was a much darker brown and he had large talons on each of his two feet.  His eyes also had a sterner look to them.  The look of a killer.  Pterano sighed.  He supposed that it was time to ask some pressing questions to the young flyer.  He was not comfortable asking them due to his horrific memories of what sharpteeth had done to those he had led, but he knew that he needed to ask them.  He had a sinking suspicion that the answers to those questions probably haunted his nephew to a tremendous extent.  Pterano knew that they would haunt him if he were in Petrie's place.

"Petrie..."  Pterano's voice was soft and apologetic.  This was very unlike the confidence that his voice usually projected.  The change in tone was noticeable to Petrie, who turned towards his uncle.  "You told me that you had to kill before..."  Pterano noticed that Petrie filched noticeably at the mention of killing.  This was obvious a point of great pain for the flyer.  "Do you want to talk about it?"  To be honest, Pterano had no idea what to say to his nephew, but he figured that at the very least he could listen to him.  He couldn't imagine being forced to kill in order to survive.  As prone to self-preservation as he was, Pterano highly suspected that he would starve himself if he were ever forced to make that choice.

Petrie swallowed hard.  "Me don't know what to say, uncle."  The small flyer then sighed heavily.  "Me only kill ground fuzzies until now, but..."  He looked away for a moment, averting his eyes from his uncle's.  He didn't want to see his disapproval.  "Me had to help kill a mama flyer."

Despite his best efforts, Pterano let out an audible gasp that could be heard over the rushing air.  My poor, poor nephew...

"Me had to...  The pack was starving."  Petrie swallowed again, still averting his eyes.

Pterano decided to intervene at this point.  "Look at me, Petrie."  His voice was soft, but firm.

Petrie reluctantly looked towards his uncle.  He knew that he would see disapproval in those eyes.  How could he ever be forgiven for taking the life of another flyer?  However, when he actually looked at Pterano, he only saw sad eyes meeting his.  

"Take your time, Petrie.  We still have plenty of time."  Pterano was depressed to see that Petrie looked surprised.  The poor kid thought that I was going to yell at him.  Pterano thought morosely.  "You can't leave these things inside, otherwise they can ruin you."

Petrie then looked forward for a moment as they continued their flight.  He took a few moments in order to compose himself, then he resumed his retelling of that fateful day.  "Me lead pack to flyer and babies.  They confuse mama, while I break nest."  Pterano's heart was breaking, not only for Petrie, but also for the flyer family.  "Babies fell and my friends got them, but mama chase after me."  He then looked at Pterano.  "Me nearly die, but Ducky saved me."

Pterano blinked.  "Ducky?  As in the one that I..."

Petrie nodded.  "Yeah...  She kill mama before mama could kill me."

The flyers were silent for several moments.  The only sound was that of rushing air and flapping wings.  Each was lost in their own thoughts on account of what had been said.  Finally, Pterano broke the silence.

"You're not the only one who has killed, Petrie."

Petrie was taken aback by this.  His uncle had killed?  Not noting the flyer's reaction, Pterano resumed his confession.

"I may not have been the one to kill them, but I was the one who led them to their deaths."  Even as he said this, the images and sounds of that fateful day repeated within his mind.  Those dinosaurs had depended on him, but he led them to death.  He was the only survivor.  The only one who had the ability to fly away.  "I let my arrogance... my pride... get the better of me."  He then bowed his head and visibly shuddered.  "Their voices haunt me to this very day."

Petrie interrupted at this point.  "But that not all your fault!  You did what you thought right!"

Pterano interjected abruptly.  "Yes it is my fault!"  Petrie was startled at his uncle's outburst.  Pterano noticed this and answered in a softer voice.  "Yes it is my fault.  I should have never put my pride over the lives of others."  He then looked at Petrie.  "You did what you had to do in order to save your friends.  It was either that or starvation, right?"  At Pterano's question, Petrie simply nodded.  "You didn't want to kill that flyer.  I can see it in your posture.  It still haunts you doesn't it?"  Petrie gave another sad nod at his uncle's query.  "You put your own feelings aside to help others."  Pterano shook his head.  "You're a far better flyer than me, Petrie, I put my own feelings over the wellbeing of others."

Petrie sputtered at this.  "How can you say that, uncle?"  After all, he was the sharptooth.  Pterano was still a good leaf-eater.  "Me monster!"

"No you are not, Petrie!"  Pterano affirmed.  "I am!  What I did was monstrous and inexcusable."  It was now his turn to look away in shame.  "My exile has taught me that.  I can't hide from my faults anymore."

Petrie looked at his uncle sadly for a few moments.  Finally, he decided to speak.  "Even if you monster then, you not monster now.  A monster never admit they wrong."

Pterano sighed before looking at Petrie again.  "I guess you are right, Petrie."  He then turned his head in a forward position in order to again monitor his path through the air.  "I guess as long as we learn from our mistakes then we won't be defined by them."

The two flyers were still in mid-flight so an embrace was impossible.  Knowing this, they simply gave a low nod to the other.  Each may have done harsh things in the past, but if they continued to value others then their faults would not overtake them.  It had taken Pterano several years to learn that lesson.  Petrie had already learned it during the hunt of the flyers.

The tender moment was interrupted, however, by a loud roar to the left of the two flyers.

"There he is!"  Pterano called to his nephew.

Petrie looked in the direction that the sound came from and noticed a large tyrannosaurus approaching a group of longnecks.  His hide was a dark shade of green.  They had found their candidate for Chomper's father.  Now the only question was how to ascertain his identity?

"Me have idea, uncle.  Me talk to him and ask his name."  Petrie thought that this was the most straight-forward idea, as Chomper had mentioned his father's name and exploits on several occasions.  If the sharptooth is named Dein and knows about Chomper, then it is his dad.  Otherwise, he would be something to avoid.

"Do you think that is a good idea, Petrie?!"  Pterano asked in a panic.  

Petrie nodded.  "Me can fly away, but others can't.  Safer for me to ask than them."  He thought for a moment, as he saw the sharptooth prepare to charge at the longnecks.  "Me wait though.  It rude to interrupt hunt."

Pterano shook his head.  He hoped that his nephew knew what he was doing.

......

[rhombus]

Here is the continuation of the chapter...

Dein looked in the distance at the expansive longneck herd.  There were numerous adults in the mass of dinosaurs, so many that their necks almost looked like an endless thicket of trees within the greenery of the swamp.  The area where the dinosaurs were situated appeared to be relatively dry, as the streams were further to the west, and relatively sparsely populated with trees.  Undoubtedly this allowed the longnecks to have a better view of the area around them and of any approaching predators. Longnecks may be stupid, but at least they know that much.  Dein thought glumly to himself. Surprise won't work for me here.  

As if to confirm his thoughts, several of the longnecks turned their gazes in his direction and emitted several warning calls.  They weren't panicking, as the paths of carnivores and herbivores often intersected here, but they were putting both him and their cousins on notice.  It alerted the other members of the herd that they needed to be mindful of the massive sharptooth approaching from the east and it alerted the sharptooth to the fact that the longnecks were well aware of his arrival.  It was a warning for him to not start any attacks, because the herd would be ready.

I won't be dissuaded that easily.  He derisively thought.  He immediately began to assess the specimens in front of him.  Too healthy...  He immediately decided that five of them were not suitable for a solo hunt.  These were the group of large, young adult males who had made the warning call.  They obviously were trying to impress the female longnecks and were among the strongest of the herd.  If he could catch one of them during their courtship rituals then that would be an easy kill, but prior to that...  Not a good idea unless you are desperate for food.

He then turned his attention to the several groups that permeated throughout the open space.  Each was made up of an adult male, one or more females, and several younglings.  The adults.  He noted.  Those are a possibility. However they were not an enticing possibility as the family unit would fight as a team against any threat to their younglings.  He may have been far more powerful and cunning than the stupid leaf-eaters, but he was not foolish enough to pick a battle that might turn out to be his last.  He would only have a few seconds to make a kill before the rest of the herd would mount a defense.  He would have to make those seconds count.

He looked to the periphery of the herd.  This is where stragglers and the injured would be found.  These longnecks would not have the support of the herd, necessarily, and they might not be part of the herd itself.  A weakened longneck without allies would be a very tempting target indeed.  But he would have to investigate further.

He began to approach the stream in a haphazard fashion, as if he were simply getting a drink.  The herd reacted to this by continuing their defensive postures, but otherwise allowing the sharptooth to pass around the outskirts of the herd.  Meanwhile, Dein was examining those very outskirts for a suitable victim.

There!

Dein's attention was suddenly fixated on a large elderly longneck that was situated by the stream.  He was well away from the rest of the herd.  As such, he was probably a straggler who hung out at the outskirts of the herd for protection in numbers, but who wasn't welcome in the herd itself.  The signs were all there.  Not only was he on the outskirts of the herd's grazing area, but he also lacked a mate or any younglings in his vicinity.  

He took a closer look at his future victim in order to ascertain his faults.  He needed to know the adversary's strengths and weaknesses if he was going to ensure victory and prevent serious injury to himself.

He is placing more weight on the right front leg.  Obvious injury to rear leg. His mind deduced quickly.  This meant that a rear attack would be most suitable.  As the elder grazed upon the low hanging leaves of a nearby tree, another thought came to his mind.  He isn't going for the tall leaves.  Neck injury.  He quickly incorporated this new information in order to revise his strategy.  He would feign an attack to the dinosaur's front and then...

It will be flawless.  Dein smiled to himself as he began his assault.

Roar!

The longneck immediately stopped his meal and raised his neck halfway at the sharptooth's advance.  Dein had been correct in his deduction about a neck injury.  This would seriously affect the longneck's mobility.  As Dein roared again he went into a stalking posture and took deliberate steps at the dinosaur.  The longneck was far too large to fit through the thicket of trees behind him, so he would either have to flee to either side or stand in fight.  Fighting the sharptooth would play right into Dein's plan, whereas running to either side would invite an attack of opportunity.  Either way the elderly longneck was at a serious disadvantage.  Finally, when Dein was within a longneck's length away from the prey, the longneck prepared to whip at the threat with his tail.  The longneck had chosen to fight.

Perfect. Dein thought to himself as the tail began to approach him.  What the longneck had not anticipated was that Dein was planning on that sort of defense.  The longneck's neck injury and bad leg caused him to focus on the sharptooth's lower extremities and not see the bigger picture.  This caused him to misjudge the sharptooth's strategy and as a result the tail was squarely aimed for the sharptooth's legs.  Dein then put his plan into action.

Pushing off with his massive legs, Dein leaped and went airborne over the advancing tail of the longneck.  The longneck would have raised his neck in surprise if he had retained the ability to do so.  The longneck's tail thwack had exposed his hindquarters to the veteran sharptooth.  A fatal mistake.  Dein then landed upon the longneck's exposed backside with a sickening sound.  The sound of ripping flesh and gushing blood could be heard as several tons of pure carnivore tore through the backside of the longneck.  The longneck screamed in agony as Dein allowed his own body weight to do the work for him, and he raked his feet down his unfortunate victim's hind quarters.  Within a few seconds the tendons, muscle, and sinew that made up the longneck's hind legs were torn asunder and rendered useless.  In one superb move the longneck was now helpless.  All that was needed was the final blow.

Without wasting any time, Dein quickly advanced to the longneck's front and bit down upon his unprotected neck.  With a quick shake of his head, Dein put the longneck out of its misery.  Only seconds after it had started, the hunt was over.

Not taking anything for granted, Dein immediately turned towards the rest of the herd.  He could see that some of the young adults had begun to move towards the battle, but had now stopped as they saw that it was already over.  Knowing that any bravado would accomplish nothing here, the longnecks began to return to their original positions.  They would simply have to accept that they had lost another herd member today.

Dein gave a triumphant roar at the retreating longnecks, before beginning to rip into the flesh of his kill.  He would eat his fill first and then he would drag the rest for...

"Good hunt!  Longneck not have chance!"

Dein looked up in surprise.  He had not seen any other sharpteeth in the area.  How could a competitor sneak by him?

"Show yourself!"  Dein demanded.  He was not going to tolerate another sharptooth violating his territory.  Perhaps he would have to make two kills today...

"Me up here!"  

Dein looked up at where the sound came from and noticed a small sharptooth flyer hovering over Dein's meal. Oh, it is just a sharpbeak!  He thought to himself.  For a moment I thought I was going senile. Despite his momentary relief, however, Dein would not let any of that show in his interactions with the annoying pest.

"What do you want, flyer?!  Planning on taking any pickings for yourself?"  It was a common strategy of flyers to take the 'leftovers' of a large kill before other scavengers got to them.  It was a winning strategy for sharptooth flyers in that they got the rewards of the hunt without risking anything, but it earned them the disgust of most of the larger sharpteeth.  As a result, sharptooth flyers were seen as pests or, at best, useful tools to find leaf-eater herds.

"Uh... Well maybe..."  Petrie admitted.  He was not against getting free food.  "But that not why me here!"

Dein grunted as he took another bite from the longneck's hindquarters.  The soothing taste of flesh and blood calmed his nerves and alleviated his hunger, but even so, the flyer was quickly annoying him.  In annoyance, he spoke.  "Then why are you here meat-stealer?  Do you need help hunting that big flyer up there?"  Dein was referring to Pterano, who was hovering some distance away.  He would obviously not know that Petrie and the Pterano were family.  "If so, get lost!  You can catch him yourself!"

Petrie was quite flustered.  This sharptooth rude!  He thought in annoyance.  Oh!  Me better get to point.

"Me have message for Dein and Terri!  Do you know them?"

Dein looked up at the flyer, his expression suddenly serious and cold.  The flyer had called them by name so this was an official summons.  His annoyance was replaced with concern.

"I am Dein.  What is your message, flyer?"

It be Chomper's daddy!  Petrie thought in excitement.  We finally find them!  Petrie cleared his throat, as he thought about how to relay his message.  "Me have message from Path."  Petrie used Chomper's actual sharptooth name, which caused Dein to open his mouth in shock, dropping the flesh that he had been in the process of chewing.  "He be in this swamp and look for you!"

Dein sputtered at this.  "My son is here!  I told him to stay in the valley where it is safe!"  He roared in frustration.  Why would his son travel all of this way from the valley?  For that matter, how could he make it all of the way over here?  There are many full-grown sharpteeth who wouldn't risk the journey.

Petrie reacted to this even though Dein wasn't expecting a response.  "Uh...  Valley didn't stay safe."  That be understatement. Petrie noted internally.  "He and Ruby had to leave."

Dein gritted his teeth.  Damn it!  I wanted him to be safe!  I already almost lost Terri...  I can't risk losing him.  He regained control over himself momentarily.  He had to bring this food to his mate.  They couldn't afford to have another sharptooth lay claim on their catch while he went searching for Chomper.  With only one of the two being well enough to hunt, they were already becoming far too thin...  He knew what he had to do.

"Flyer!  You will lead him here!"  He commanded in an imperious voice.  "I will hold you responsible if anything happens!"

Petrie gulped at the sharptooth's command.  Dein was obviously very protective of his son.  Petrie had no doubt that if he failed in his mission that Dein would make good on his threat.

"Me will!"  Petrie thought for a moment.  "Me will bring Path and his friends."

Dein looked befuddled by this.  "Friends?"

Petrie nodded while hovering.  "Yes!  His friends help him get here!"

Dein thought about this for a moment.  Anyone who could safely bring Chomper all the way over here would be a worthwhile ally for Chomper... He then decided on what to say.  "Very well!  We will be waiting!"

Without another word, Petrie again entered soaring flight and rode the thermal updrafts in order to gain lift.  His wings were exhausted from making him hover for several moments, but he had to communicate effectively with Chomper's dad.  After a few moments he reached his uncle.  

Pterano had a rather disturbed look on his face.  Petrie realized that his uncle couldn't understand any part of the recent conversation and was probably concerned for his nephew's life.  Being roared at by a giant sharptooth was often one of the last things that happened to a flyer after all.  Petrie decided to brief his uncle on what happened.

"It Chomper's dad!  He wants us to bring Chomper!"

Pterano looked somewhat relieved, although the look of concern was still the prominent expression on his face.  He was hopeful that Chomper's parents could help out Petrie in his new life, but the reality of what that life now entailed still horrified him.  He could almost forget about that detail even when looking at Petrie's new form, but when Petrie was talking with the same kind of sharpteeth that killed his followers so long ago...   It was much harder to ignore.

"That's good, Petrie."  Pterano began.  "But it will nearly take your friends the entire day to get here.  Should we wait until..."

"No!"  Petrie protested loudly.  "Me no want Chomper's dad mad at me!  Me no want to be eaten!  That no be good!"

Pterano sighed.  He supposed that he wouldn't want to upset a sharptooth either.

With no further delay, the two flyers began their journey back to the pack.  

......

It was much later in the day when Dein finally was able to finish dragging his quarry to the heart of his territory.  It was much harder to do this with only dinosaur doing the carrying, but it was up to him now.  Ever since Terri had gotten sick again he had to be the breadwinner.  Her survival depended upon it.  He would simply drop off the corpse and then look for his mate, who was probably either sleeping or drinking water or...

Terri!  No!

In the clearing where he had left her was the static form of Terri, lying motionless on the ground.  He had left for a few hours in order to catch some food, surely she couldn't be gone!  It couldn't end like this!  In a panic and full of rising grief, he sprinted towards his fallen mate.

"Terri!"

The body stirred.  Oh thank goodness!  Dein was nearly to the point of breaking down.  For several moments he had thought that she was gone.  The love of his life extinguished for good.  It was unbearable.

"Huh?"  The weak reply came from the prone sharptooth.  She was still lying on her side and her head rested upon the ground.  Her breathing was shallow but steady.  "Is it time to get up, dear?"

Dein looked sadly upon his mate's face.  Back when she was in better health the two would often exchange playful insults and taunts to one another.  Their vitriol and dark humor was a show of how much they loved one another.  If anyone else had talked to him the way that his mate did, then he would rip out their throat.  But when she did it...  He felt at home.  Now, however, neither was unwilling to make such verbal jabs at one another.  Neither had the strength for it anymore and, although neither said it, none of them wanted their final words to one another to be anything vitriolic.  Now was not the time for that.  Dein suspected that that time would never arrive again.

"Yes."  He replied in a soft grumble.  "The bright circle is about to fall."

Terri looked surprised before slowly using her minuscule forelimbs to right herself and rise upon her two massive hind legs.  "I slept through the entire day?"  She asked in confusion.  At Dein's nod, she continued.  "I... do feel a little better."

Dein had to repress an angry roar.  He was not angry at her, far from it, but he was furious at their situation.  He was angry at the lingering sickness that threatened to take her in the land of the parted.  He was angry at his inability to provide enough food for both of them.  Finally, he was angry at the one dinosaur that started this entire mess...

However he knew that would not solve anything, so he restrained himself.  Softly he growled a response to her.

"That is good."  He paused for a moment.  "Do you feel well enough to eat?"

Terri laughed at that.  It was a jocular laugh that suddenly turned into a ragged cough.  It was a lingering symptom of the breathing sickness that had afflicted her ever since the attack.  She finally recovered enough from her momentary fit to respond.  "Of course I am well enough to eat!  The day that I am not will be the day I die!"  It was meant to be a bravado-filled statement, but each secretly feared that it may prove to be accurate soon enough.  Terri was looking dangerously thin, with both the difficulty of hunting alone and the stress of the illness taking its toll on her body.  Dein quickly redirected the conversation, before his emotions overwhelmed him.

"It is longneck, dear... and... I need to talk to you when you have had your fill."

Terri looked up at this.  "You didn't do something stupid, did you?"  Her expression was one of supreme coldness that would have scared anyone else, but her eyes gave away that she was simply having some fun with him.  Dein had to smile at this.  If she was feeling well enough to joke than that was a good sign.

"Not anything more than I usually do...  But it can wait until after you eat."  He knew full well that if he told her about Chomper than the meal would be forgotten about and she would insist on finding him personally.  He didn't want her to threaten her recovery and he knew that Chomper wouldn't want that either.  Chomper... What are we going to tell Chomper? He thought morosely.

Terri noticed the change in expression, but decided not to press the matter.  She began to dig into the back of the longneck as she tried to eat her fill.  It was the most substantial meal they had in several days.  She soon forgot about the delayed conversation as her hunger was being resolved by the badly needed meal.  Dein knew that the fact that Chomper was here would greatly concern her.  He wanted to make sure that her spirits were lifted and her hunger resolved before he delivered the news.

......

"Chomper is here?!"  Terri shouted.  She was just as surprised by this development as Dein.  "What happened?!"

Dein sighed.  A thunderous sound coming from a sharptooth of his size.  "I do not know.  A flyer stopped me after the hunt and said that he had a message for me."  He paused for a moment in order to allow for one of Terri's coughing fits to pass before continuing.  "He said that he was going to bring Chomper and his friends."

"Why didn't you follow him to Chomper, Dein?  It is dangerous out there!"  Terri demanded.

Dein took on a grim expression.  He knew that this was coming.  "If his friends have led him this far from the valley, then he is in good shape.  We haven't smelled or seen Red Claw since..."  He paused for a moment.  "And if I would have left then you would have gone another day without food!"

Terri interjected.  "I know.  But you should have helped Chomper..."  She coughed again, a bit more violently than the last bout.  "I think...  I think we both know how this is going to end."  

Dein paled upon realizing what Terri was getting at.  "No!  Don't say that dear!"  He then moved closer in order to allow her body to rest upon his.  "You will pull through this!  We have pulled through worse..."

Terri gave a toothless smile at Dein.  It was an expression of sadness and recognition, not happiness.  "You're a terrible liar, you know?"  Dein took on a morose expression in response to her retort.  "I have only gotten worse... And you have had to hunt in my place..."

Dein gulped as he took on a pleading look.  "I'm sorry...  I should do better...  I will hunt more..."

"Hush, dear."  Came the growled interruption.  It was given in kindness, despite the fact that it would have sounded menacing to any leaf-eater.  "It isn't you.  One sharptooth can only do so much."  She then paused for a moment, as she noticed that her mate was making an odd noise.  He was sobbing!  But he was trying very hard to hide his emotional outburst.  She leaned against him to show support.  This was a gesture that was reciprocated by her mate.  "At least Chomper will be here."  Terri noted.  "I can talk to him again before it's too late..."

"Dear..."  Dein responded sadly.  He couldn't think of anything else to say in order to cheer up, or for that matter, save his mate.  For one of the first times in his life, he felt just as helpless and alone as the leaf-eaters that he killed on a regular basis.  It was a humbling experience.

Their moment of intimacy was soon interrupted, however.

"Me find them!"  Came an excited response from the air.  It was the flyer!

Dein looked at his mate, who was attempting to rise to her full height.  "Are you sure that you're up to this, dear?"  She was still shaky on her feet, a testament to what the sickness had done to her.

Terri looked at her mate and gave a toothy smile.  Her lungs burned and it hurt to breathe, but she repressed any expression of discomfort.  "I'm not dead yet!  Let's go see our son."

As the two sharpteeth rose from their positions and began to walk towards the sound of the flyer's voice, they could see a band of sharpteeth approaching in the distance.  Five young fast biters were joined in a broken line, each staring at the two massive sharpteeth, whereas a single purple sharptooth walked in front of them.  It was a face that they had thought they may never see again, but yet here he was after over a year in a strange land.  They had no idea what their son had been through in the intervening year, nor did he have any idea of their trials and tribulations, but each knew that none of that mattered now.

The family was soon to be reunited.

[CeraTheRed]

Well, that was actually pretty dramatic, and a little sad, but sweet. Though, there WAS a funny little moment with Petrie and the Rainbow Faces. Dang, you good, cruel writer!
Seriously, great, but emotional chapter.

[vonboy]

I'm still following this story, and really enjoying it, even if I can't really find the time to review it,

...or just about anything else on this forum. >.<

Anyway, keep it up, I'm still loving it!

[rhombus]

Well, that was actually pretty dramatic, and a little sad, but sweet. Though, there WAS a funny little moment with Petrie and the Rainbow Faces. Dang, you good, cruel writer!
Seriously, great, but emotional chapter.

Thank you for the review.   I am glad that you felt that it was an emotional installment.  In the next chapter we will see what happens when the pack finally is reunited with the sharptooth family.

I'm still following this story, and really enjoying it, even if I can't really find the time to review it,

...or just about anything else on this forum. >.<

Anyway, keep it up, I'm still loving it!

Thank you for the kind words.  I am glad that you are still following this story.  I hope that you enjoy the next installment on Saturday.  

[CeraTheRed]

Well, that was actually pretty dramatic, and a little sad, but sweet. Though, there WAS a funny little moment with Petrie and the Rainbow Faces. Dang, you good, cruel writer!
Seriously, great, but emotional chapter.

Thank you for the review.   I am glad that you felt that it was an emotional installment.  In the next chapter we will see what happens when the pack finally is reunited with the sharptooth family.

I'm still following this story, and really enjoying it, even if I can't really find the time to review it,

...or just about anything else on this forum. >.<

Anyway, keep it up, I'm still loving it!

Thank you for the kind words.  I am glad that you are still following this story.  I hope that you enjoy the next installment on Saturday.  

You are welcome. Saturday?! Awwww...
Yes, I really AM fake whining about a new chapter a few days before it'll be posted. Seriously, I'm really excited for the next one.

[rhombus]

Fanfiction link:  https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9990125/36/The-Seven-Hunters

Chapter 35   A parent's love

"Health is not valued till sickness comes." ― Thomas Fuller

"Mommy!!  Daddy!!"  

Upon seeing the hulking forms of his parents, Chomper sprinted towards them with unrestrained emotion.  It had been well over six seasons since he had last seen his parents and he didn't realize the full emotional impact of their absence until he finally saw them again.  The rest of the pack stayed behind, walking slowly towards the family.

For their part, Dein and Terri immediately noticed the form of their son advancing rapidly from the pack.  They gave roars of welcome as they prepared to meet their son.  The rest of the pack stopped and simply looked on as they witnessed the three sharpteeth tearfully meeting for the first time in many seasons.  They realized that this was a special time for the family.  They could wait to explain themselves until after the sharptooth family was finished.

Finally catching up with his father, Chomper allowed himself to be lovingly nuzzled.  It had been so long since he had felt his parents' touch.  After a few moments, Chomper's mother then gave him the same gesture.  In his happiness and exuberance, Chomper did not notice his mother's terribly emaciated state.

Chomper's father then rose back to his full height and stared at his son with a curious expression.  "It is nice to have you back, Path.  But why are you here?  We told you to stay in the valley where it was safe."  Chomper's mother then rose as well, much more slowly than her mate had done, and awaited the answer from her only child.

Chomper paused for a moment, still a bit overwhelmed by the homecoming that was so long in the making.  He knew that his parents would have a difficult time understanding, or for that matter believing, the events that had taken place over the last few months.  However, he knew that even the most amazing story began with a humble beginning.  For that reason, he addressed the easiest to understand problem first.

He answered his father in childlike grunts.  "There was a misunderstanding and the adults chased me out."  That was technically the truth.  But sometimes the truth without context was as bad as a lie.  Knowing this, Chomper continued.  "I didn't do anything, but...  I understand why the adults didn't believe me..."

Chomper's father growled in anger, not at his son, but at the leaf-eaters.  "We entrusted you with Ruby.  She wasn't able to persuade them?"  It was a question, not a statement.

Chomper sighed.  "No...  They suspected her too..."

Chomper's mother then looked around at the pack that had stopped some distance away from the family.  It was, with the exception of a sharptooth flyer, made up entirely of fast biters.  That opened up a disturbing possibility.  "Son?  Where is Ruby?"

Chomper gulped.  He wasn't quite ready to go into explaining the transformation just yet.  His hesitation was noted by his parents.

"Son?  What happened to Ruby?"  The question was from Chomper's father.  He and Ruby's father had an agreement that Ruby would look over his son.  If Ruby had died in the attempt, then Dein would be honor-bound to give him the sad news.  That was not a possibility that he relished.  "Did the adults get her?"

"No!"  Came Chomper's panicked reply.  But they nearly got me!  He thought to himself.  He then looked back towards his friends who were waiting somewhat nervously some distance away from his family.  Perhaps it was time for the pack to relay their unbelievable story one more time.  He gave them a wave, a gesture telling them to join him beside his parents.

"My friends..."  Chomper began and then paused.  He was still unsure how to relay this information to his parents.  "My friends were with me when all of this happened.  Let us tell you the story..."

......

"I smell no deceit in them, Dein."  Terri affirmed.  "They believe their story."

Chomper, with the help of Littlefoot and Ruby, had finished telling his parents the story of how they had gotten to where they were today.  It was an unbelievable story to be sure, but the pack had one thing on their side.  

A sharptooth's sense of smell.

In much the same way that the fast biters of Skytail's pack had come to accept their story of events, Chomper's parents were also aware of the lack of dishonesty in the pack.  Their sense of smell was even more refined and powerful than that of fast biters, having an entire nasal apparatus dedicated to the detection and interpretation of smell.  On a day with strong winds they could detect the smell of carrion from miles around.  In the case of the pack, one strong sniff of the dinosaurs told them all that they needed to know.  They were covered with the tell-tale scent of apprehension and fear, a logical emotional state considering their proximity to far larger sharpteeth.  However, all of the other signs pointed away from any sort of dishonesty.  Regardless of whether their story was true or not, each dinosaur now before them believed it with all of their being.

"But how can that be!?"  Dein roared in confusion.  This caused the pack to retreat somewhat.  The scent of fear increased greatly in the vicinity of the sharpteeth.  "I have never heard of such a thing!"

Chomper interjected at this point.  "I hadn't either, dad, until I saw it!"  Chomper looked down for a moment before pointing at the rose colored fast biter, who he had identified earlier as Ruby to his parents.  "I nearly killed her when I thought that she was a pink fast biter who had killed Ruby."  Chomper's voice cracked at the unpleasant memory.

Chomper's mom lowered her head again to nuzzle her son.  "I'm sorry, son.  That must be horrible...  But you have to understand that this is hard to accept..."  Her speech was interrupted by a violent coughing fit, which caused her to back away from her son.

"Mom?!"  Chomper yelled in confusion.  The small sharptooth was deeply concerned about seeing his mom in severe distress.

The coughing fit continued, as Dein tried to use his body in order to stabilize his faltering mate.  His actions were wise, as she nearly immediately fell against his body with a thud and collapsed to the ground.  Only then did her coughing stop and gasping breaths begin to take their place.

Chomper was horrified by this turn of events.  However, while Dein was busy trying to tend to his mate, Chomper took a closer look at his two parents.  Dein had an emaciated look to him, with a very noticeable decline in his muscle tone.  Previously, his father looked nearly as menacing and strong as Red Claw, but now he looked like a much reduced figure.  With an expression of horror at that realization, Chomper then turned his gaze back towards his mother.  The details that he saw there made him even more concerned than before.  His mother looked deathly ill.  There was little plumpness to her figure and her ribs could be clearly seen under her skin.  Her eyes also had a haunting look to them, as if the sparkle of life was about to leave them.  Some part of his mind cried out what the signs all indicated.

Death.

"Daddy...  What is going on?"  Chomper was now on the verge of tears, as his voice carried extreme sadness and fear.  He looked at his mother with pleading eyes, to which his mother shared in his gaze for a moment.  However, after a few moments, she turned again to her mate and gave a slow nod.  Dein closed his eyes and gave an affirmative grunt.  It was time to tell Chomper a difficult truth.

"Son...  Your mother is very, very sick."  Dein looked at the small sharptooth with the kindest expression that his form could muster.  He did not relish this conversation at all.  In fact, it was one of the most difficult conversations that he could recall in his life.  He was now going to tell his son a truth that even Dein was hesitant to speak about openly.  Some part of his mind feared that if he said these things in the open then they would become reality.  "She hasn't been able to hunt for the last several days..."

Chomper gasped at this.  The ability of a sharptooth to hunt was the most basic of tasks for any sharptooth.  If she was unable to hunt then that did not bode well for the future.  That explains why daddy is so thin.  Chomper deduced.  He has been trying to hunt for both him and mommy...

Dein saw the change in Chomper's eyes when he heard these words.  Chomper's eyes went from tearful pleading to recognition then, finally, to profound sadness.  His son obviously had gotten the implications of his words.  "She has a breathing sickness and we..."  He was hesitant to speak the next words, but he forced himself to do so.  "Son, we don't know how much longer she has."

"No!"  Chomper protested.  He knew what he had heard and what his instincts were now telling him, but he refused to accept this horrible reality.  His mother couldn't be dying!  It was too horrible to contemplate.

"Son..."  Came a soft voice.  It was from Terri, his mother.  This surprised the now distraught sharptooth and he ran to nuzzle the massive bulk of his mother's snout.  "I am glad to see you again..."

"But mommy, you can't go!"  Chomper pleaded pitifully.  "It isn't your time!"

Terri laughed softly, a sound that was sadder than the most distraught sob.  "I'm afraid that my body may have other ideas..."  Upon hearing Chomper's cries, however, she added in a weak voice.  "But I will try..."

Meanwhile, the rest of the pack was looking upon the scene with distraught expressions.  Ducky cried at seeing the tearful scene, as did Spike upon hearing Chomper's pleas.  Both of them had 'lost' their parents when they were chased from the valley and now it seemed that Chomper was going to experience a far more permanent loss.  Petrie watched the scene unfold while resting upon Ruby's back.  Both of them had grim expression on their faces.  For Ruby it was an especially hard scene to witness, as she had cared for Chomper for over a year in the Great Valley.  To see him be put through such a terrible ordeal was unbearable to her.

For Cera and Littlefoot, however, the scene was reminiscent of something else.  Something much more direct and personal.  Cera had lost her mother during the great journey to the Great Valley.  She had only learned about the fate of her siblings and her mother after she rejoined her father in the valley.  It made the homecoming bittersweet for both threehorns.  For Littlefoot, of course, it brought back horrific memories from his past.  He was actually there when his mother was attacked by the great sharptooth and he witnessed her final moments in the land of the living.  Seeing this scene, with Terri saying heartfelt words to her only son, spoke to something deep inside the former longneck.  He had lost a mother and now Chomper was about to lose his.  In the list of similarities between the two dinosaurs, it seemed that one final black entry was about to be made.  Despite the control that he usually had over his expressions, Littlefoot began to cry as well.  He grieved for the small sharptooth that he considered a brother.

Terri slowly rose from her prone position.  Her breathing was still fast and shallow, but it was enough to sustain her.  She could see that Chomper's expression turned slightly more hopeful at her change in posture.  It broke her heart to know that there was nothing more that she could do for her son except to try to survive the unknown malady that was affecting her.  She knew that it was an unwinnable task, but she hoped that she could prepare her son before the inevitable happened.  Death was a fact of life that he would have to accept sooner or later.

She slowly looked back towards the fast biters.  These were supposedly the same dinosaurs that had helped her son back when they were on the island, several years prior.  She remembered their individual likenesses: the brown longneck, the yellow threehorn, the green stegosaurus, the swimmer, and the brown flyer.  They were again here, but they were not the same.  Regardless, they had helped her son on their undoubtedly difficult journey through the unforgiving Mysterious Beyond.  She owed them a grant of gratitude.

"You are all Chomper's friends..."  She began.  The six other dinosaurs all seemed to focus their attention upon her when she started to speak.  "I can't thank you enough..."  A cough emanated from her mouth but, to the relief of all present, she was limited to only a brief moment of respiratory distress.  She then looked upon them again when she recovered enough to speak.  "Please continue to watch over my son.  If he remains with you, then I know that he is in good claws."

Littlefoot gulped at the direct address.  She was putting a lot of responsibility into his hands, albeit a responsibility that he had shouldered for several months now.  He nodded with determination.  

"We will, Mrs. Sharptooth."  Littlefoot addressed her with as much respect that he could bestow.  "Please don't worry about us...  Just try to get better."

As the sharptooth family continued to talk and comfort one another, Littlefoot gestured for the rest of the pack to let the family have its privacy.  He considered the pack to be family, but there were certain matters that Chomper and his folks simply needed to discuss amongst themselves.  In the meantime the rest of the pack now had an important matter to discuss.

......

"I can't believe this!  We get all of the way out here, just to find more death!"  Cera was livid.  Not at any particular dinosaur, but rather at their situation.  Their journey had been beset by one tragedy after another and she was getting quite sick of it.  "Chomper doesn't need to be put through this!"  She had experienced the loss of a mother and she didn't wish that experience on anyone.  She knew that Littlefoot was of like mind on that issue.

"I know, Cera.  I know.  We all feel the same way."  Littlefoot was also distraught by recent events.  It seemed that fate was unwilling to let them have a moment of happiness.  Even Chomper's much delayed reunion with his parents had to be marred by the impending death of one of them.  It was extremely cruel.

"But surely there is something we can do!"  Ducky protested.  She was ever the optimist and this often shown through even when the reality of the situation showed otherwise.  

"I don't know what we could do, Ducky.  If I did know then I would suggest that we do it."  Ruby interjected.

Spike considered the situation for a moment.  If there was anything that he had learned since the group had transformed into the pack that they were today, it was that they had to consider all of their options carefully before deciding on a course of action.  This was a throwback to his more deliberate and slow thinking style that he had as a leaf-eater, except that it was specialized for quick action after a decision had been reached.  Usually, however, Littlefoot was the one who kept everyone on task.  He was far more extroverted and outgoing, making him more able and well-suited to the role of leader.  However, it now seemed that the possibility of Chomper losing his mother had made the brown fast biter freeze up and become indecisive.  He remembers his mother. Spike thought to himself.  He had not been with him when that particular tragedy had occurred, as Spike hadn't even been hatched yet.  However, he had remembered very well the times that Littlefoot had mentioned her passing.  It wasn't something that Littlefoot brought up often, but Spike knew that it still resonated with him deeply.  Perhaps it is time for me to help Littlefoot out.  With that in mind, he decided to try to get everyone on track.

"Well..."  Spike began.  He still was not accustomed to long monologues, even though the transformation had given him the gift of speech.  However, he knew that he would have to break out of his habit of silence here.  "I don't know if we could do anything to help... but we could think about it..."  He noticed that Littlefoot had turned his glance towards him, whereas before he was looking towards the ground with a downcast expression.  "We need to think about if we have anything that can help."

Cera grunted at this.  "Have what that can help?  If we had something that could cure her sickness then we would have given it to her, you know?"  Cera did not raise her voice while raising this objection, as she didn't disagree with Spike's line of reasoning.  She simply had no idea how it could lead to anything productive.

"Well we have allies..."  Spike began.  "Skytail's pack, Pterano..."  Cera huffed at the mention of Pterano's name, but Spike continued.  "...and the rainbowfaces."

"The rainbowfaces!"  Littlefoot exclaimed for a moment.  "They know a lot of stuff!  Maybe they could help?"

Ruby pondered that for a moment.  "Maybe...  But they told us that they came down here with a 'pain rock' and a 'talk rock'... I don't know if either of those would help us..."

Petrie sighed at this affirmation.  He had been silent during the entire conversation, but he had been listening intently all the same.  "Me no know if it help, but me could get them."

Littlefoot nodded.  "Thanks, Petrie.  But let's think about this a little more..."  Littlefoot's mind was now looking at possibilities again, instead of lumbering in a state of despair.  Spike's interjection had helped steer the group in the right direction.

Cera was also carefully pondering the possibilities.  She had always been the practical one of the group.  She could even be considered cynical or pessimistic at times, but her heart was always in the right place.  Misguided hope could often lead to even greater disaster and she had grown quite adept in her leaf-eater days in steering Littlefoot back to reason when his plans became too idealistic.  The interchange between the longneck and the threehorn had become a kind of self-regulating system.  Their friendship was often beset by angry disagreements and tensions, but each played a critical role in counteracting the excesses of the other.  Even though they were both fast biters now, she still fulfilled this role to the pack's leader.  The second-in-command often needed to correct the leader when he made an error and without knowing it, she had settled into this role by instinct.  Of course, second-in-commands would usually air their grievances in private in order to not discredit the leader, and Cera was anything but discrete.  But like the rest of them, she was adapting into her new role in her own way.  Well...  If our allies are no help then what else do we have?  The yellow fast biter thought to herself.  We haven't exactly had this problem before...  Or have we?

Cera jumped up.  She knew what they had to find.  She looked right into Littlefoot's face and exclaimed loudly.  

"The night flower!"

Littlefoot blinked twice before the implication of what Cera just said dawned on him.  Of course, the night flower!  It helped my grandfather when he was ill, maybe it can help Chomper's mom! Smiling for the first time in a long while, he grasped Cera's shoulders and exclaimed.  "That's brilliant, Cera!  That is exactly what we need to do!"

Without stopping to see Cera's slight smile at being praised, Littlefoot looked directly at Petrie.  He was firmly back into his role as leader.  They may not be able to save Chomper's mother, but they were sure going to try as hard as they could.

"Petrie, go get Pterano if he is available..."

Petrie shook his head.  "Pterano with his herd...  If they see Petrie..."

Littlefoot shook his head.  "Okay, never mind that... Go find the rainbowfaces and ask them if they have seen the night flower.  They know a lot so they may know where it is found around here..."  Littlefoot remembered that they had found the night flower in another swamp, The Land of Mists, back when they were trying to save his grandfather.  It was a reasonable deduction that the curative plant would also be found in a swamp such as this one.  "If not, then you can help us search from the air."

Ducky interjected at this point.  "It will be night soon.  It will.  It will.  Should we wait until morning?"

Littlefoot shook his head.  "No, we only found the night flower the first time because they opened at night, remember?"  At Ducky's affirmative nod, he continued.  "We need to look tonight if we are going to find them... Also if we wait then Chomper's mother..."

The others looked down as Littlefoot reminded them of the stakes that were involved here.  They needed to act quickly if they were going to succeed in their mission of healing.  If they had to forego sleep on this night then so be it.

"We should go get Chomper.  He will want to help..."  Spike wasn't able to finish his thought.

"No, Spike."  Littlefoot simply said, before sighing.  "He is spending some time with her and we shouldn't take that away from him."  He remembered how very precious his final moments with his mother were to him and he would not deprive Chomper of that.  "We also might not be able to find the night flower and... I don't want to get his hopes up if that happens...."

Spike nodded at Littlefoot's words.  He couldn't fault his reasoning.

"Petrie, tell Chomper that we will be nearby if he needs us."  Littlefoot ordered his flyer friend.  "Then return for the rainbowfaces.  We need to get started."

......

Chomper nodded mutely, as Petrie softly told the sharptooth that the pack was there for him if he needed them.  The flyer looked back at that small sharptooth for a moment, with a sad expression on his face, before flying off.

"Son..."  Dein called down to his son.  "Son, are you alright?"

Chomper looked up at his father before shaking his head.  No, he most certainly was not alright.  His mother was now asleep, with short shaky breaths emanating from her body.  However, for how long could that body last?  For all Chomper knew, this could be his mother's last night on Earth.  The sharptooth was distraught beyond all reason.

Dein sighed.  "I know that this is a hard lesson, son... but what the night circle gives it will eventually take away."  He looked at his sleeping mate with sad eyes.  "We sharpteeth must take from the living in order to survive, but eventually the day comes when it is our turn to die...  then we become food for the grass and the leaf-eaters in turn eat us..."  Dein was not an especially articulate sharptooth, but even he knew the basic lessons of life and death.  These were lessons that Chomper was sheltered from in the valley, but it seemed that his time of innocence was about to end.  "It is a cycle we must all complete one day."

Chomper sobbed softly at his father's words.  He didn't protest them because he knew them to be true, never mind how unpleasant they may be.  However, the suddenness of his mother's illness was jarring to him.  Just under two years ago when he had last saw her, she had looked vibrant and energetic as ever.  What had happened to cause this change?

"Why is mommy so sick?"  The question was innocent enough.  However, Chomper did not know that by asking it he was inviting a story which would only hurt him further.  In most cases sickness simply came like a thief in the night and took the life of a dinosaur, with the elderly and the weak being more likely to suffer that fate.  But in Terri's case there was a distinct cause of her troubles...

Dein cleared his throat.  He needed to tell his son the full truth, but he did not relish the fact that this would be difficult on both of them.  It would undoubtedly make Chomper even more upset and it would make those feelings of rage again rise within Dein's chest.  He motioned for Chomper to follow him away from Terri, so that their conversation would not disturb her sleep.  Finally, as they moved some distance away, Dein began his story.

"It began just like any other day..."

Terri gestured at Dein with two clinches of her forelimb and a downward tilt of her head.  This meant that there were two dinosaurs in view and one of them was noticeably ill.  A suitable victim.

Dein nodded at Terri's findings, as he prepared to make the initial charge.  He then gestured at her to take her position.  They would attempt to kill their prey in a pincer movement.

"But then something went horribly wrong..."

Dein began his charge.  His legs burned with energy as he could see the sickly looking threehorn falter in front of him.  It was moving so slowly that Dein felt that he might be able to catch up to it all by himself.  However, his assault was cut short by a pained scream from some distance in front of the threehorn.

It was Terri!

Dein ignored the threehorn and advanced towards his mate with all of the speed that he could muster in his hulking form.  He was horrified to find that his made was on the ground, clutching her side.  There was significant blood loss.  What could have caused this?

That was when he heard the roar.

It was Red Claw!  

"The damn bastard ran off!  He wouldn't stand and fight.  He probably saw his chance to hurt one of us and simply decided to take the chance."  Dein took a few deep breaths, as Chomper looked at him in horror.  Retelling this story made it feel as if Dein were reliving those horrible days.  He continued after a few moments.  "We...  had to leave the island.  I could protect myself from Red Claw, but if he were to find your mother in an unprotected moment..."  He paused for a moment.  "Your mother seemed alright at first, except for a sore side.  But... her wounds caused more problems than we originally thought..."

Terri coughed violently as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Dear!"

Terri recovered for a few moments.  Finally she spoke.  "This is the breathing sickness..."  Her voice cracked with the horrific memories that those words brought back.  "I remember this...  this is what killed my father after he got hurt."

Dein was distraught.  He could protect her from violent threats and he could provide for her in the event that she couldn't hunt for a few days, but he couldn't slay the enemy from within.  Sickness was the great equalizer and it seemed that it was ready to humble the poor sharptooth.

"She got better, eventually.  Then we finally arrived here about a year ago...  But she kept on getting the same sickness."  He then looked into his son's eyes.  "She keeps on getting worse every time...  and son...  I think this might be the last time."

Chomper screamed in rage.  "I will kill him!"  He began to claw and stomp at the ground in a fury.  Red Claw had attempted to kill him on numerous occasions.  At first it was simply because of Red Claw's feud with his family, but it then became due to his association with the residents of the valley.  But to finally hear that his mother might die because of Red Claw's actions was simply too much for the little sharptooth.  He was blinded by unspeakable rage.

Dein knew not to interfere with such a reaction, as it was simply something that had to run its course.  That was part of the reason why he gestured for Chomper to go some distance away from his mother.  

Finally, however, Chomper exhausted himself with his rage-filled tantrum and simply broke down into tears.  Dein was there to nuzzle the distraught sharptooth.  It was about the only comfort that he could offer his son from the cruel hand of fate.

......

Chronos was intrigued by Littlefoot's words.

"A flower that shines, but it only opens at night?  Fascinating..."

The pack was informing the rainbowfaces of their plan.  The two dinosaurs were not too pleased with being awakened in the middle of the night, nor were they impressed that the pack bypassed their palisade wall that they had spent all day building by simply lifting the pikes out of the ground, but they were always interested in a new discovery.  

And this discovery was proving to be quite fascinating indeed.

Littlefoot continued.  "Yeah... And this flower helped save my grandfather when he was sick."

Chronos pondered for a moment.  "It almost sounds like an antibiotic...

Logos cut him off before he said much more.  "Curing plant."  She then looked sternly at Chronos, who gave a weak smile.  "It sounds like a curing plant.  A plant that helps cure sickness."

Cera decided to interject at this point.  "Yeah... if a curing plant is what you call plants that heal people then this flower is definitely one of them.  But we need to find it first!"

Littlefoot nodded.  "Yeah!  We know that it grows in moist fields.  That is where we found it the first time back in the Land of Mists...  But we don't know where those fields might be around here...  We were wondering if you knew of any."

Chronos and Logos looked at one another for a moment while whispering at one another.  It seemed that they were having an argument of their own.  Finally, after a few moments, it seemed that the duo had reached a consensus.  Logos spoke for them both.

"I don't know if it has the flowers you need, children, but I think that we know of a field nearby that matches your description..."

Littlefoot smiled.  "Great!  Show us the way!"

......

It had been several hours since Dein had told his son about how Terri had been injured by Red Claw.  He had finally settled into a shallow sleep when he heard some commotion near him.  Waking from his fitful sleep, he could see that Chomper had apparently woken up.  He was sitting down with his small forelimbs crossed.  A morose expression was upon his face.

Dein looked beside him to see that Terri was still sleeping peacefully.  Her breathing was ragged and shallow, as it had been for many days, but she was still alive.  She is a fighter. He affirmed mentally.  In some ways she is stronger than me.  He always figured that if he had become sick like that he might have simply wandered off like many sharpteeth do in their final days, in order to meet his end on their own terms.  However, Terri had decided to fight her sickness until the end.  There would be no willing starvation or self-induced mortal wound.  There was no shame in sharptooth society for choosing either option, but Dein always assumed that she had chosen to continue fighting for his benefit.  They loved each other very much and neither would depart from one another until fate gave them no choice in the matter.

Dein then turned his attention to his son again.  "Did you have a bad sleep story, son?"

Chomper turned slowly to meet his father's gaze.  "Yeah..."

Dein smiled sadly.  "Was it about your mother?"

Chomper slowly nodded his head before looking down in sadness.  His worries about his mother's health had followed him into his sleep stories.  Not even there could he find any comfort.

Dein thought for a moment.  If his son was being haunted by memories of the present, then perhaps memories of a happier past could bring his mind some relief.  But which memory should he call upon?

After a few moments, he had an idea.

"Son, have I ever told you how I met your mother?"

Chomper shook his head slowly.  He had never heard of that particular story.  He could only deduce portions of his parents' history from their playful banter and periodic bickering.  Both of which his greatly missed now.  His father's offering of that story interested the little sharptooth deeply.

Dein smiled.  "Well then...  I think that it is time that you heard the tale.  It all began when I was hunting a longneck one day..."

......

Many years ago:

Dein looked upon the scene with a predator's attention to detail.  He was approaching the deepest reaches of the Great Swamp as the sharpteeth called it.  Here there was lush vegetation and large pools of sticky mud.  Both of these greatly reduced the mobility of both prey and predator, but the pools were the biggest threat.  If a dinosaur was not careful and waded into them then he could sink into the muddy depths.  He had to be careful here.

He could see several longnecks congregating around the scattered trees.  Many of the females were eating hungrily from the treetops, while their mates helped them protect their younglings.  However, many of the adolescent males were in the process of fighting for dominance.  This was a frenzied activity as the number of unpaired females was much smaller than the number of males.  Dein could clearly see this and decided to use this knowledge to his advantage.

There!

In the distance he could see two male longnecks approach one another with lowered necks.  This was a sign of aggression as Dein had learned from years of watching prey in action.  He knew that the two males would soon slap their necks together until one of them either collapsed or backed off.  Stupid leaf-eaters!  Dein thought to himself.  But this will be useful...

As the two males began to square up their bodies to one another, Dein sprinted at an oblique angle from the combatants in order to have a clear shot of the action.  He would wait until they were both engaged in battle before commencing his attack.  Then, while both of the foolish longnecks were otherwise occupied, he would make his move.  He licked his lips in anticipation.

He didn't have to wait long.

Smack!

The two longnecks began their assault, brutally attacking each other with their powerful, muscular necks.

Smack!

Dein decided to keep waiting to see which one would tire or become injured first.  That would be the most promising target.

Smack!

One of the longnecks faltered, but then quickly righted himself and resumed his attack.  But Dein could see that the other longneck's posture was now all wrong.  He was leaning towards his left. Possible neck damage... Perfect!  Deciding that now was the proper time to strike; he decided to make his move.

He sprinted as hard as his two massive legs would carry him.  He could feel his heartbeat thump in his chest as he exerted himself to the limit.  He could feel the burning in his legs as they were being called upon to work more strenuously than they had been in quite some time.  He could feel the tension in his lungs as they struggled to supply him with enough oxygen.  However, none of that mattered because he knew that his prey didn't stand a chance.  His plan was flawless.

The other longnecks, upon seeing the massive behemoth approach, cowered into their respective family units.  Those were not his concern, however.  The two longnecks were still engaged in their battle for dominance and mates.  As a consequence, their minds could focus on little else.  They both knew that only one of them would have the honor of mating this year.  They did not know, however, that Dein would be the one who determined the winner.

And more directly, the loser...

Crash!

With little warning, Dein sunk his teeth into the right hind limb of his desired target, shattering bone and rendering the entire limb useless.  The longneck was now doomed to death, even if its mind didn't register that fact yet.  The blood which entered Dein's mouth only made him hunger for more.  The predator was now completely in his element.

The longneck screamed in agony as he abruptly gave up on the dominance battle.  His counterpart immediately broke away and sprinted towards the remainder of the herd.  It appeared he would win by default.  The injured longneck, however, would meet a far different fate.

Dein was somewhat amazed to see the injured longneck run unsteadily away from the sharptooth.  However, he knew that the panicked flight of his wounded prey would not save him.  Dein simply went back into a stalking stance and resumed his chase of the longneck at a leisurely pace.  There was no way his prey could escape.

The longneck seemed to have no idea where to go.  He couldn't return to the herd because the sharptooth would catch up to him first and he couldn't leave the area, because the sharptooth was right behind him.  As a result he simply continued to run in the direction that he found himself traveling.  He didn't even slow down as he ran straight into the mud pool.  

Splash!

Dein was not happy with this development.  The longneck had managed to run nearly two longneck lengths into the mud before he finally became stuck.  This left Dein with two rather unpalatable options: he could write off the prey as lost, in which case his entire hunt would have been pointless; or he could wade in after the prey in order to dispatch it and drag it back to land.  The elder Dein that had a son and a mate would have chosen the safer option of leaving the prey to its fate.

However, Dein was significantly more courageous in his younger days.  Or stupider, depending on your viewpoint.  As a result, he began to wade into the mud pool.

......

"Son?"

"Yes, dad?"

"Never.  Ever.  Wade into a mud pool.

......

Dein had made it and with a swift bite to the longneck's neck, the beast was dispatched.  He was quite pleased with himself.  He had secured enough meat for several days after only a few hours of effort.  His previous misgivings about wading into the mud seemed to have been premature on his part.  Now all he had to do was go back...

That was when he discovered that his feet were stuck.

"Crap."

......

"Finally, however, an even more stubborn sharptooth discovered my plight."

"Was that mommy?"

"Yes.  Why yes it was."

"Did she help you escape?"

"Well...  Not exactly..."

......

"Help me, female!  I will offer you part of my catch if you do."  

Dein was not going to admit that he was out of his league.  He was a sharptooth and he wasn't about to admit that he needed a female's help in order for him to survive.  After all, this was just a temporary setback...  He would get out of this unfortunate situation.  Right?

Dein was anticipating the female's acceptance of his offer when he heard something that he neither expected nor wanted.

Laughter.

The female was laughing at him!

"How dare you!"  He raged.  His attempts to walk out of the mud, however, only caused his feet to become more entangled in the stick mixture.  "I am not so lowly to be mocked by the lacks of you!"

The female's laughter actually grew louder as she knocked down a tree, which fell into the mud.  Then she felled another.  And another.  Dein was perplexed by her actions.  What was the female trying to accomplish?

......

"You didn't know how to make a bridge, daddy?"

"A bridge?"

"The path that mommy was making in the mud.  Littlefoot always called those things bridges.  They're easy to make..."

"Oh, don't start, son.  Your mother spent the next hour mocking me on that very subject..."

......

"You know youngling..."  Terri mocked.

"I am no youngling!"  Dein raged.

"Well, you must be...  Even a youngling would know not to walk into a mud pit..."  Terri chided in a jocular tone.  "But if you're a big boy then I suppose that you don't need any help..."

Dein raged.  "That's right!"  He was still sinking in the mud, and he could barely even move his legs anymore, but he was damned if he was going to allow a female to talk down to him like this.  "Hey!  What are you doing?!"

Terri stopped eating for a moment to look at the hapless sharptooth.  "Who me?  I am just enjoying some of your catch."  She then smiled mockingly.  "But then again, if you are a big boy then I suppose that you can protect your own food..."

Dein raged, which caused him to become even more lodged into the mud.  With every turn and flex of the leg the mud became more impenetrable.  Meanwhile Terri continued to eat her fill of Dein's catch.  Dein continued to yell insults and demands at the female as she greedily ate to her stomach's content.

Finally, after several hours, Terri was finally full.  She took a final look at the rude male and began to travel back to dry land using the trees that she had felled as a kind of makeshift bridge.  It didn't keep her clean, nor did it prevent her from sinking in the mud, but it gave her something to use as leverage in order to avoid sinking as Dein had.  Dein was humbled by this experience and he didn't want to meet his end out here.  For that reason, he finally swallowed his pride.

"Please help me."

Terri looked back at the male with a curious expression.  "Why should I help you?"

Dein swallowed.  Why was she making this so difficult?  "Because I am asking it.  I am a fellow sharptooth in distress."

Terri looked unimpressed.  "Well another sharptooth is simply more competition for me.  Wouldn't it be better to simply let you die out here?"  Dein looked at the female with a horrified expression.  "I could always eat you later.  You would be far less annoying as an appetizer."

Dein struggled more furiously in the mud, but he continued to sink.  The mud was now to his hips and he knew that if he sunk any further then he would never be able to escape again.

"What do you want from me?  An apology?  You can have it.  I'm sorry."  Dein asked in desperation.

Terri smiled.  "An apology?"  She mockingly seemed to consider that for a moment.  "I don't know, that offer seems a little light to me."

Dein was at wits end at this point.  "I, Dein, will give you food.  I will help you defend territory.  I will do whatever you want, woman, just get me the hell out of here!"  His roar echoed throughout the swamp.

Terri smiled.  "That sounds nice, Dein."  She put emphasis on his name in a mockingly sweet way, as one would do to a pet.  "But the apology was enough."

Dein gritted his teeth.  Damnit woman!  You just had to bring me low, didn't you?

Terri pondered for a moment.  "Just place your forelimbs on the tree limb next to you."  Dein slowly reoriented himself and placed his forelimbs on one of the trees that Terri had knocked into the mud.  "Put all of your weight on that and then push your legs up..."

Dein tried to do as the female said.  Nothing happened at first as a distinct slurping noise could be heard from his legs.  Then...

Plop!

His legs were finally out of their muddy prison!  He was free!  He looked back in the direction where the female was previously, but found no sign of her.  He was curious why part of him actually found this development to be sad.  She had insulted him and forced him to offer up everything before she would let him escape.  Why then did he care?  That was when he heard the roar.

"I am Terri, ruler of Great Swamp!"

Dein was amazed by this.  What in the hell is she doing?  There are three other sharpteeth here!  If she wants the territory then they will come to her and she will have to fight them.  She looks strong, but not that strong... [/COLOR]

"I challenge all challengers!  I will show mercy to none!"

Dein blinked.  That woman is insane!

"And my consort will fight with me!"

Dein then recalled his final offer to the female:  "I, Dein, will give you food.  I will help you defend territory.  I will do whatever you want, woman, just get me the hell out of here!"  As he recalled those words, he realized what was coming next.

"Either best Terri and Dein, or flee for your lives!"

Dein cringed at those final words.  Oh crap.  What have I gotten myself into?

......

"I can't believe mommy did that!"  Chomper exclaimed.  "She is so nice."

Dein laughed.  "She may seem nice, Chomper, but your mother is a master tactician."  Dein shook his head.  "She knew that with two sharpteeth we could take control over the Great Swamp and then I would be honor-bound to leave whenever she demanded it.  She was under no obligation to keep me as a mate."  Dein closed his eyes.  "She knew that I was prideful and that I would defend my promise to her until my final breath.  She had played me magnificently."  He sighed.  "Finally, after all of the challengers had fled or been otherwise dealt with, only the two of us remained..."

......

"So..."  Dein began.  His body was covered with the scars of battle.  Two of the other challengers had left without a fight.  The might of a coupled pair being too much of a threat to justify the risk.  The other sharptooth had been less tactical, however, and the two had been forced to kill him.  The gutted body of the defeated sharptooth lay prone before them.  The fact that he was a sharptooth of their kind did not dissuade the two in the slightest.  Each had partaken of a hard-earned meal.

"So?"  Terri mirrored.

"So..."  Dein began again.  "I guess that you have had your use of me...  I will depart."

Terri looked at him with sympathetic eyes.  "You are correct that I do not want you as a mate."  Dein did not change his expression as his suspicions had been confirmed.  "But you may stay..."  She then sighed.  "You have earned this territory as much as I."

Dein looked at her oddly.  "Two sharptooth claiming the same territory without being mated?"  He asked with incredulity.  "How would we settle disputes?"

Terri smiled.  It was the same smile that she had given him earlier.  It was a smile that said that she had him right where she wanted him.  "Well, I would win the disputes, of course..."  Dein groaned.  "Just stay out of the way when I am hunting.  And stay out of the mud pools..."

......

"This continued for several seasons.  Food was plentiful in the Great Swamp and the arrangement worked out well for both of us.  But I was curious why Terri never sought after a mate.  She was obviously of age, intelligent, and devious.  A perfect catch for any male.  So why did she live an unmated life?"  Dein paused for a moment.  "That was a question that lingered in my head for quite a while, but I never asked her.  It was obvious that she had no interest in me.  That was until one day..."

......

Dein had not seen Terri for several days.  This was an odd occurrence, as the two usually would at least see one another during their attempts at scouting or hunting.  Initially, he tried to convince himself that he thought little of the development.  After all, he hated the woman's arrogance, didn't he?

But he had to admit to himself that that was a lie.  He had grown to accept this female as an essential, if eccentric, part of his life and he respected her as both a confidant and a friend.  They had indeed helped one another in discouraging challengers from encroaching on their territory and they had participated in a few joint hunts when it proved to be convenient.  However, not even Dein could convince himself that she shared the same sentiments as him.  He may have viewed her as a friend, but it was obvious that she wanted nothing to do with him as a potential mate. Perhaps I am not good enough for her. Dein morosely thought to himself.

However, by the third day without seeing Terri, he decided to seek her out.  He carefully walked throughout the swamp and sniffed the air at every step.  Finally, he caught the slightest whiff of her scent and he began to track her with as much precision as he could muster.

......

"I eventually found Terri behind a nearby mud pool, but I was surprised to find her crying."

......

"Terri, what's wrong?"

Terri was startled by the sudden presence and retreated back towards the trees behind her.  She did not want to be found in this condition.  She reacted angrily.

"Nothing is wrong!"  She roared.

Dein stopped and hesitated for a brief moment.  Her face was covered in moisture from her tears and her figure showed signs of emaciation.  She must not have eaten since the last time he had seen her, during the hunt three days ago.  He answered sternly.  "Something is wrong.  I know that you don't like me in that way, but... but I am rather fond of you."  

Terri paused at this admission.  Something that looked like guilt appeared in her eyes.  Something that Dein couldn't quite piece together.  Undaunted, Dein tried again.

"Please tell me what is going on."

Terri looked down.  This was a secret that she had held from him for the last several seasons, she supposed that it was time for him to know the full truth.

"Dein...  I feel the same way."  She laughed for a moment, a sad laugh.  "You maybe an arrogant braggart, but I consider you 'my' arrogant braggart."  She then looked away.  "But it will never work..."

Dein was confused by this entire conversation.  "Huh?"

Terri sighed.  "I guess you can't tell, but it is my time."  Upon seeing Dein's confused expression, she continued.  "My time... I am fertile... or at least I would be..."

Dein now comprehended what she was talking about.  She was now in a condition to lay eggs if a suitable male could be found.  No wonder she was staying away from him.  She must really find him to be unsuitable as a mate.  With his tail dragging behind him, he began to walk away slowly.  "I... am sure you will find someone one day..."  He muttered as he retreated slowly.

Terri saw his reaction and protested.  "No!  You don't understand!"  Dein turned around in confusion at her affirmation.  "I would be with you, Dein.  I would like that very much...  But even though I am in the fertile time, I will never lay eggs... Because I'm..."  She paused as she prepared to tell the shameful truth.  "I'm barren."

Dein blinked for a few moments.  He realized that being incapable of laying eggs was seen as a shameful trait in some sharptooth families, but he didn't see the reason for that.  Even if a dinosaur could not have children, that did not detract from their value as friends or family.  Perhaps it was that same dullness that didn't allow Dein to see how to escape from the mud pool, but he simply didn't see the problem.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Terri."  He soothed.  "You don't have to hide away."

Terri looked at him in disbelief.  "How can you say that?"

Dein shrugged.  "Because it is the truth."

"My..."  Terri began as her tears continued to flow.  "My previous mate left me when I couldn't bear him children...  That is why I went here..."  She paused for a moment.  "The reason why I hid away is because I didn't want to hurt you anymore."

Dein looked at Terri in confusion.  "Hurt me?"

Terri nodded.  "It is obvious by the way that you look at me, that you desire me for a mate."  

Dein blinked at this, was he that transparent?

Terri continued.  "I have been pushing you away ever since you helped me fight off the challengers...  I didn't want to have to push you away during my fertile time."  She choked up at this admission.  "We would end up mating and then I would betray you the same way I betrayed my first love..."

Dein stomped the ground in frustration.  "Quit saying that!  You betrayed no one!"

Terri looked at Dein in confusion, but then Dein continued.

"Your mate was an idiot for leaving you!  Eggs or no eggs, you're a female worth dying over."

Terri couldn't believe her ears; surely Dein would not be foolish enough to waste his time on a barren female like herself.  He was a vibrant male; he could find good companionship elsewhere.

"I want you to be my mate."

Terri sat in shocked silence at Dein's offer.  My making his offer at the expense of his possibility of children, he had proven himself to be an excellent would-be mate.  However, she could not force that upon him.  "You should not sacrifice your happiness on account of me."  She answered tearfully.  

Dein persisted.  "If being with you is what you call unhappiness, then I would rather be unhappy with you than happy somewhere else."

Terri did not reject his offer a second time.

......

"We never thought that a child was possible, until you finally came along two years later."  Dein smiled at his son.  "I have been mated to your mother ever since, and I never regretted that decision."

"Wow."  Chomper was amazed by the story of his parents.  They were truly extraordinary sharpteeth who had been united together against all odds.  "I never knew..."

Dein smiled.  "Well now you do.  You can ask your mother about it tomorrow."  Both sharpteeth then looked at the female sharptooth with somewhat subdued expressions.  "We both need to get some sleep, Chomper.  If you are well-rested then you could help me find some food tomorrow.  Your mother needs all of the help that we can get."

Chomper yawned.  The story had finally done the trick; his mind was now prepared to enter the world of dreams.  "Sure thing, daddy.  I will help..."  Chomper blinked.  "What are my friends doing?"

Dein was confused by the sudden question and looked in the direction where Chomper was looking.  A curious sight greeted him.  Several sharpteeth appeared to be approaching with daylight coming from their backs.  Squinting his eyes, Dein could see that these glowing things were plants of some kind.  What was going on?

Suddenly a flyer landed near Chomper's head.  Chomper greeted him groggily.  "Petrie?"

Petrie answered apologetically.  "Sorry, but we find healing plants for your momma.  Me no know if they help, but they worth try."

Both Chomper and his father looked at one another with surprised expressions.  Neither of them knew if the plants would help or not, but they were willing to try anything to help the sharptooth that they both loved.  Each of them began to rise in order to wake Terri and allow her to take the strange plants.  Now only time would tell if their efforts would be successful or if the night circle would finally claim the dinosaur after a year of sickness.

~~

Thanks for the reviews, everyone!  As always, I appreciate any feedback that I receive.

I hope that you like the latest chapter, as there are only two more chapters in the second Act.  I should have the next chapter posted on Thursday.

[CeraTheRed]

I knew it. I KNEW it'd be a cliffhanger! That was a great chapter, though. And I LOVE your back story on Chomper's parents. I am now going to anxiously await your next chapter. I also liked seeing the...well, pack's reactions, and it was great to have a chapter with the Rainbow Faces again.

[Ducky123]

Pterano is still having sleepstories about "the incident". He does see the flaws of his character and seems to accept his fault and the logical consequences. It is quite reasonable that he considers the possibility of having met Petrie in his sleepstories as the story sounds pretty strange to any outsider.

The scene with the Gang and, later, Pterano was really nice I really like these "normal" conversations that don't have a common aim in the plot. You always manage to make me smile because the characters are acting so very in-character So instead of informing the Great Valley residents, which is of course impossible, Pterano has the task to find Chomper's parents. At least he's aware of the change in species.

I like the part with the Rainbowfaces They are seemingly developing a sort of paranoia which, in their situation, isn't a bad thing after all. The visit of Petrie didn't go well

Hmm, I wonder if the flyers will find Chomper's parents... I doubt that joining up with Skytail will be what you have in mind (though I have my suspections )

The talk between Pterano and Petrie is very emotional! You seem to emphasise that both of them have done things that they're not proud of and that they try to learn from their mistakes. I'm happy seeing Pterano criticising himself all the time as opposed to Petrie's encouraging words and the fact that he is supposed to be the "bad guy" since the change in species.

Well, good insight in the process of killing a Longneck Dein appears to be very skilled and not hot-headed if it comes to hunting unlike could be expected. Reading between the lines, it reads like Terri is not well. I'm looking forward to finding out how the meeting goes

The next scene is nice. Dein must love Terri dearly. Yet again I read things between the lines... There must have been a fight... who fought? Who won? Redclaw? Well, I can tell for certain that Dein is complaining about Redclaw at least

Terri sure has some humour left. I'm not sure whether she's going to die or make it but it doesn't sound too bad to me... though her death would be a powerful moment...
Now let's see how the meeting goes... in the next chapter since evil you has used a cliffhanger

Long chapter, long list of typos

Sharpteeth were quite keen, Pterano found, as maintaining an elevated position.

It should be "at" here.

Only if he were satisfied of his identity would be venture forth and make himself known.

This sentence sounds funny to me. Maybe there's some word missing?

He sharptooth accent making her retort sound threatening.

Her.

"Ahh!!!" Screamed Petrie as his misjudged the strength of the branch he was on and it gave way.

Should be "he".

Pterano looked away from the direction he was flying and instead took a good luck at Petrie for a moment.

Should be "look".

He took a few moments in order to compose himself, then he resume his retelling of that fateful day.

Resumed.

You did what you though right!"

Thought.

He may have been far more powerful and cunning that the stupid leaf-eaters, but he was not foolish enough to pick a battle that might turn out to be his last.

The first "that" should be "than".

As the elder grazed upon the low hanging leaves of a nearby tree, another though came to his mind.

"Thought" again.

[rhombus]

Thank you very much, Ducky!   I have made the corrections that you have noted.

Pterano is still having sleepstories about "the incident". He does see the flaws of his character and seems to accept his fault and the logical consequences. It is quite reasonable that he considers the possibility of having met Petrie in his sleepstories as the story sounds pretty strange to any outsider.

Yeah, Pterano is considering the possibility that his guilt and exile might be causing him to go a bit... crazy.  Which, admittedly, I would begin to suspect as well if I were put into that position.

The scene with the Gang and, later, Pterano was really nice Dino_grins.gif I really like these "normal" conversations that don't have a common aim in the plot. You always manage to make me smile because the characters are acting so very in-character biggrin.gif So instead of informing the Great Valley residents, which is of course impossible, Pterano has the task to find Chomper's parents. At least he's aware of the change in species.

Thanks.  I try to add little scenes like this so that we can see that the basic personalities and characteristics of the gang are still intact.  I also find these scenes to be quite fun to write as well.  

I like the part with the Rainbowfaces Dino_grins.gif They are seemingly developing a sort of paranoia which, in their situation, isn't a bad thing after all. The visit of Petrie didn't go well dino_tongue.gif

Yep.  They appear to have accidentally taught tool use to Petrie.  So much for the prime directive.  

The talk between Pterano and Petrie is very emotional! You seem to emphasise that both of them have done things that they're not proud of and that they try to learn from their mistakes. I'm happy seeing Pterano criticising himself all the time as opposed to Petrie's encouraging words and the fact that he is supposed to be the "bad guy" since the change in species.

I am glad that you enjoyed that scene.  This scene was long overdue, in my opinion, as this is one of the first times that a member of the gang has had an opportunity to meet with their relatives and to give the "I am a monster" speech.  Pterano said the right things here, as Petrie cannot help his situation - he simply has to do what he has to do in order to survive.   It has yet to be seen how the other parents (if they find the kids) will react to their transformation.

Thanks for the review once again.   I hope that you like the next chapter.

[Zimba]

I finally caught back up.

I can't be bothered reviewing all the chapters so I'll just have one big comment.


This story just gets better and better,though I do get a bit confused at times at whats going on,however a quick re-read through it again fixes that,I tend to read to fast and end up 'reading' something way different then what is actually written  ,finally gang family arrives on the scene though it not such happy times.


Keep it up  

[rhombus]

Thanks for the kind words, Zimba.   I am glad that you are still following and enjoying this story.  I should have the next chapter posted in a few moments.  

[rhombus]

Author's note #1: To avoid confusion for when I use the pack's sharptooth names, here is a reminder of what they are:

Littlefoot: Seeker

Cera: Stern Claw

Ducky: Haven

Petrie: Spotter

Spike: Finder

Ruby: Ponder

Chomper: Path

Author's note #2: If any of you are fellow tropers, rejoice!  This story now has its own TV Tropes and Idioms page.    Feel free to visit the page and make any additions or corrections that you feel necessary.

~~~~

Now on to the story:

Fanfiction link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9990125/37/The-Seven-Hunters

 Chapter 36   An education in death

“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well." ― Alexander the Great

Chomper awoke seeing red.

After opening his eyes and rising, he could see that the bright circle had begun its journey across the horizon.  Its refracted light gave the entire sky an eerie, crimson glow.  It was the very beginning of morning.  Despite staying up most of the night talking to his father and then watching him try to feed the healing plants to his mother, he had awakened early.  It seemed that his preoccupation with his mother's condition had kept him from getting a restful sleep.

Mother...

Chomper turned towards his stricken parent.  She still looked very weak and emaciated.  The outline of her ribs was visible under her skin and her breathing still had a distressed quality about it.  As if all of her efforts were being spent trying to take the next breath.  It sounded exhausting and frightening.  It almost sounded like any breath could be her last.

"Son?"

Chomper jumped at his father's sudden query.  He had been so transfixed by his mother's form that he had neglected to check his surroundings.  That was a lesson that his parents had always cautioned him about and, were he in different circumstances, he had no doubt that his father would lecture him on the issue.  But now there were more pressing matters.  Without saying a word, Chomper turned and gave an affirmative grunt to his father.

Dein considered his son for a moment.  He had a somewhat disheveled appearance for a sharptooth, with dry eyes and an expression that conveyed a lack of energy.  Chomper was obviously taking his mother's condition hard.  He couldn't blame his son for his melancholy, as Dein had several months to come to terms with his mate's condition.  Poor Chomper, on the other hand, was only informed of the dire news the previous evening.  He knew that he needed to broach the subject again now that Chomper had had time to consider the implications.

"You seem to be deep in thought, son.  May I ask what is on your mind?"

Chomper seemed to consider his father's words for a moment.  Dein knew that in the little sharptooth's mind he was probably trying to determine whether to be truthful or to put on a brave face and pretend that he was alright.  Dein was always of the kind to pretend that everything was alright and to never project weakness, but his son was obviously on a different path.  He hoped for his son's sake that he would be honest here, so that the two could directly address the issue that each knew was plaguing the other.

"Mother..."  Chomper paused for a moment to think of how to word the next sentence.  He knew what he was going to say, but he was almost afraid to say it, lest the words become reality.  "What if mother..."  

Dein didn't want to force Chomper to say the words, so he interrupted his child.  "What if she goes to the Land of the Parted?"  He asked gently.

Chomper took on a grim expression and gave a simple nod.

"Son, my own father told me something right before he died..."  Chomper was now transfixed by his father's words.  He had never heard anything about his grandparents before.  "He was much more of a talker than I was... but I understood the wisdom in his words...  Well most of the time..."  Dein paused.  "He told me that it is only through first understanding what we have lost that we can begin to understand what we have not."

Chomper seemed to know where this conversation was going.  "But I have lost too much...  I can't lose her too!"  Chomper shook his head.  "She doesn't deserve this!"

Dein gave a weak nod.  "Indeed, Chomper.  She does not deserve this, but sometimes life is unfair.  We all must go in the end, but our memories, stories, and lessons carry on after we are gone.  If... the worst happens...  your mother will still be with you as long as you remember her."

Chomper nodded sadly.  "But I don't want her to be just a memory."

Dein nuzzled his son.  "I know, son.  We will just have to wait and see if your friends' treatment works."

......

Several days later:

"An interesting strategy."  Chronos muttered.

Now that the children had apparently found their goal, the rainbowfaces were curious about how they were holding up.  It had been nearly a week since they had been abruptly awakened by the pack in order to help search for the night flowers.  It seemed that although Chomper had found his long lost parents, his mother was in a dire situation.  In order to help Chomper's father get enough food to feed both himself and his mate, the pack had begun to assist him during his hunts.

Logos nodded.  "Yes... I wonder what they are planning."

As the rainbowfaces looked upon the scene from behind the trees they were sheltering behind, they could see the pack begin to put their strategy in motion.  A large herd of hadrosaurs were eating from the lush vegetation near the small stream.  The land here was moist, but sturdy, and there was a distinct lack of trees except for the area closest to the stream itself.  The vegetation closer to the main river was more prominent, but the river was also full of belly draggers.  Hence, many of the swimmers had decided to take their chances further away from the larger body of water.  This reduced their chances of being threatened by water-dwelling sharpteeth, but it also made them vulnerable to land-walkers.  

Ruby and Cera appeared about eight longneck lengths in front of the herd.  They seemed to be sizing them up.  The eyes of the two fast biters were fixed on various members of the herd as the two predators slowly began to pace around the mass of dinosaurs.  The concentration of the two rainbowfaces, however, was interrupted by the flapping of wings behind them.

"What are they doing?"  Came a confused and somewhat horrified voice.

Chronos looked behind him.  Ah... Pterano.  They had known of his exploits during their first visit to the Great Valley several years ago, but this was only the second time that he had addressed them.  Despite risking detection by the other members of his herd of flyers, he had ventured out at Petrie's urging and assisted them all in finding the night flowers.  Neither the rainbowfaces, nor the rest of the pack, seemed to trust the elder flyer.  However, Chronos had to admit, he had done his job admirably even though he risked social ostracization by his own herd if he was found missing and suspected of wrongdoing.  Now, however, it seemed that Petrie's uncle wanted to know what his nephew and his friends were doing.

Chronos smiled.  He supposed that he could be direct and to the point.

"Well, I'm only guessing at this point.  But I suspect that they are trying to spot the herd's weak points."

Pterano tilted his head in confusion, his mind not wanting to make the obvious connection.  "Why would they do that?"

Logos shrugged.  "Probably because slower food is easier to catch than faster food."

Pterano looked back at the female rainbowface and then made a horrified expression when the implications of what the children were doing came to him.  It was obvious what was going on, but he was slow to grasp the truth.  Despite what he had heard, he simply didn't think of Petrie in the others that way... as predators... as killers.  It was one thing to hear the truth, but it was quite another to see it in action.  With a somewhat sickened expression, he flew off without another word.

Chronos tilted his head at Logos.  "What was that all about?"

Logos shrugged.  "Who knows?"  She then pointed back in the direction of the two fast biters.  "Look!  It is beginning!"

Chronos looked back in order to see what was transpiring in the adjacent field.  Ruby and Cera both sprinted full speed at a juvenile swimmer.  Five longneck lengths... four longneck lengths... three longneck lengths...  Surely they weren't going for an outright attack on an adult?

Suddenly Ruby and Cera both turned in opposite directions, with Cera going left and Ruby going right.  Their timing was impeccable, as several swimmers left the main body of the herd at that same moment and attempted to give chase to the fast biters.  The speed and agility of the two fast biters, however, was more than enough to safely escape from the two bold swimmers.  After a few seconds of running, the fast biters were again where they had begun their sprint, but the swimmers were more scattered.

Chronos placed his hand on his chin.  "I wonder..."

Without warning, two additional fast biters came out of the vegetation.  It was Ducky and Spike!  They too began to sprint at the swimmers, but this time they were running at the herd from parallel to the stream.  Again, the swimmers scattered somewhat and the two predators turned back before any dinosaur could mount a defense against them.

"Scattering the forces."  Logos noted, thinking back to her classes at the academy.  "Not good if you are trying to eliminate an entire fleet... but effective if you are attempting to take out a single vessel."

Chronos nodded.  "And now that they know which of them are the slowest and the weakest..."

Littlefoot then appeared with Chomper at the other side of the swimmer herd.  The swimmers were now surrounded on each of the three sides, which only left the small stream as a possible avenue of escape.  It was unlikely that any of the pack could take down one of the adults even if they ganged up on one specimen.  There were simply too many to potential come to the aid of the others.  This made the tactics of the children rather confusing for the rainbowfaces.  What was the end game?

"I wonder..."  Logos began, but she was suddenly went silent when she saw that the three groups were in motion.

Ruby and Cera again sprinted into the herd, but this time they actually began to circle one of the herd members in a large arc, snarling and roaring at the hapless victim.  This caused some of the nearby members to begin to flee, whereas others began to run towards the swimmer in her defense.  A similar scene played out with the other two groups.  Each was antagonizing a particular herd member causing disruption in the herd's ranks.

That was when everyone heard the mighty roar.

The roar appeared to come from behind the stream, which was obstructed by foliage and trees.  This development seemed to not only confuse the swimmers, but the predators as well.  The bulk of the swimmers began to back away from the stream and towards the center of the field, while the fast biters began to head towards Littlefoot in an apparent attempt to regroup.  Something had not gone according to plan.  When the swimmers were scattered almost evenly in the field, with some bolting, that was when another sound echoed through the area.

Roar!

Dein rushed into the field through a nearby forest, knocking down two small trees in his wake.  He began to charge into the maelstrom of panicking swimmers.  In the resulting confusion, his job was simple.  A male swimmer, having been panicked by both the first sharptooth's roar and now the second from Dein, had gotten a poor start to his retreat and began to run towards the center of the open field.  He was gaining distance on the sharptooth when he suddenly saw the six fast biters in front of him.  They were running to the other side of the field in order to regroup.  The poor swimmer, misjudging the fast biters actions as an attempt at encirclement, tried to shift to his left in order to escape the perceived threat.

That proved to be a fatal mistake.

As the swimmer continued his headlong flight, he suddenly felt a searing pain in his left flank.  Dein had bitten down upon the hapless swimmer and dealt a crippling blow.  With a final bite to the herbivore's neck, it knew no more.

The rainbowfaces looked at one another with knowing expressions.  No words were exchanged, but each knew the meaning from the other.  The children were obviously doing alright in their new lives and neither of the rainbowfaces really wanted to see the aftermath of their hunt.  They were not herbivores in their previous forms, but even so, the rainbowfaces were in no hurry to dwell upon what the children's lives now mandated.  In silence they walked back towards their home.

......

"Good work, dad!"

Chomper and the rest of the pack ran up to the elder sharptooth as he proceeded to take the first bite out of his freshly killed meal.  He had done his part in bringing down the hadrosaur, and the pack had done their assigned task in spooking and breaking up the herd.  For the swimmers, on the other hand, recent events meant something else.  Upon realizing that one of their own was killed, the remainder of the swimmers resumed eating, knowing that the sharpteeth would not perform any further hunts today.  They had already obtained what they desired.  It was one of those contradictions that came with living in the Mysterious Beyond that the killing of a herd member could actually bring about a truce of sorts.  But that was simply how it was.  Now that the swimmers knew that they were off the menu for a few hours, and the sharpteeth knew that the hadrosaurs would avoid them, each could resume their activities in relative peace.  Only the distressed cries of the fallen swimmer's family broke the resulting silence from the herd.

Dein looked over at his son.  "You as well, son!"  He roared in a friendly fashion.  "You and your friends led the swimmers right into my grasp...  Your mother will appreciate this."

Chomper nodded and forced himself from shedding any tears.  With the help of the pack, Chomper's father had been able to catch prey in each of the last several days.  This meant that Terri could finally get a regular supply of food and as a result, each of his parents was beginning to look a little better.  Despite the progress, Chomper was still preoccupied about the terrible possibilities of what could soon transpire.  His mother was still ill with the breathing sickness and he was not certain that the night flowers they gathered from day to day were having the desired effect.  She was not appearing to become any sicker, but they had not seen much improvement in her breathing.  Something would have to give soon.

Littlefoot approached with the rest of the pack.  He noticed the awkwardness between father and son and decided to interject.  "We helped... but it seems that someone else helped too..."  At Dein's confused expression, Littlefoot continued.  "There was a roar from behind the stream...  we thought it was you at first, until you roared."

Dein's expression turned from confusion to horror.  "Another sharptooth?!  But Terri's out there!"  He began to move in a headlong sprint towards the stream.  If there was another sharptooth in the area then Terri was in danger.  She was in no condition to defend herself if that was required.  The pack then began to sprint behind the massive sharptooth as the realization began to dawn on them as well.  Panic permeated throughout the hunters as the hadrosaurs began to scatter at their approach.  They would need to cross the stream in order to reach where Terri was resting.  Dein hoped that they would not be too late.

That was when they heard an unexpected sound.

"I didn't spook you that bad, did I?"

Dein and the pack turned around at the sudden question and gawked at what they saw.  Slowly appearing through the trees was the figure of a female Tyrannosaurus.  It was Terri!  Dein paused for a moment before he could find the right words.

"Terri!  You're up!"  He nearly sputtered at the sight of her.  She was in no condition to be walking around, she needed to rest and regain her strength.  "You need to rest...  you're still sick."  He finished meekly.

Terri laughed.  "If I can roar loud enough to scare a herd of swimmers then I am strong enough to walk around again."  She could see the stunned expressions on her mate and her son's friends.  She smiled at their reaction.  "It seems that your plants are beginning to work, little ones."

Dein stood with his mouth agape at his wife's exclamation, whereas Chomper immediately began to run towards his mother while emitting happy grunts.  A sense of relief had descended upon the assorted dinosaurs.  If she was now recovering from her sickness, then perhaps the worst of the ordeal had passed her by.  

Chomper finally reached his mother and hugged her foot, which earned him a nuzzle.  Dein approached as well and nuzzled his recovering mate.  The rest of the pack was unsure what to do during this touching family moment.  After a few moments, however, Littlefoot gave the signal to depart for the time being in order to give Chomper's family some privacy.  That was when they heard Terri's voice boom in their direction.

"Just where do you think that all of you are going?"

The pack stopped their departure and looked at one another for a moment.  Then, beginning with Ruby and Ducky, each of them slowly turned back to face the female sharptooth in the distance.  After a pause, Littlefoot decided to answer.

"Uh...  We figured that we would give you all some family time..."  He answered meekly.

Terri snorted.  "You have helped Dein hunt for me for the last week, asking for nothing in return."  She shook her head.  "You went on a journey in an attempt to save my life and you protected my son through all of the trials you have been through."  She stopped herself for a moment, as she was getting too emotional.  Finally, she spoke again with a solemn voice.  "There is a saying: a family hunts together."  She then looked at Dein with a pleading expression.  Dein seemed to look confused for a moment before suddenly taking on a far more serious expression.  After a moment he gave a curt nod at his mate.  Meanwhile, Chomper observed his parents in confusion from his position at his mother's feet.  The rest of the pack looked on in uncertainty and anticipation as well.  Finally, after the nonverbal conversation between the two adult sharpteeth had concluded, Dein spoke to the pack.

"A family hunts together, Seeker."  Dein was addressing the leader of the pack by his sharptooth name.  As Littlefoot had told him of his herbivore name during a previous hunt, the use of his formal name was quite consequential.  He and the rest of the pack listened attentively.  "You are all family now.  Come to dinner."

As Chomper cheered on happily, the pack slowly began to walk towards the towering sharpteeth.  It was one thing to be accepted by Chomper's family, but it was quite another to be effectively adopted into the clan.  With happiness in their hearts and surprise showing in their faces, the pack of seven began to consume their hard-caught meal with the massive Tyrannosauruses.  For the first time in many months they finally had parents to watch over them.

Now their training could truly begin.

......

A week later, outside of Hanging Rock:

"Do you think something happened to them?!"  Pearl was beginning to panic.  She had not heard from the brown flyer in nearly a month and he was due for one of his regular visits.  It was their only way to communicate with their daughter and the delay was almost too much for her to take.

Detras sighed.  "I sure that he will be here soon, dear."  He placed his arm around her in a soothing gesture, which was a gesture that she reciprocated.  "The evening is early and he probably got delayed."

The fast runners had to carry the same burden that Ruby had to endure.  By the nature of her dietary needs, Ruby had to be apart from her family physically.  By their good fortune, however, there was a flyer in her pack that could allow them to talk to Ruby in a way and to relay their wisdom and well wishes.  They were together in spirit, but physically apart.  Such was the consequences of Ruby's role in life.

Caw!

The two fast runners jumped up and faced the direction of the sudden call.  They could just barely see a figure appearing at the distant horizon.  It was Petrie.  Pearl sighed in relief and Detras smiled.  "See, I knew the flyer would be here on time.  Now let's go see what our daughter had been doing."

Both of the fast runners then began to climb down from their perch on the high rocks and went in the direction of their cave.  This would provide them greater privacy and protection for the inevitable conversation.  In the half hour that it took them to climb down and reach their home, Petrie was able to meet them at their destination.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fast Runner!  Ruby sends greetings!"

Pearl smiled, whereas Detras had to give a good natured chuckle.  At first he had found Petrie's odd speech pattern to be weird and hard to follow, but now it was a welcome trait.  The flyer was placing himself under some risk and using a lot of energy in order to do his periodic messenger flights.  Both of them were deeply appreciative of his efforts.

"Tell her that we send her greetings as well."  Pearl began, while Detras presented a fish to Petrie.  "We have already eaten, little one, so go ahead and eat... You must be hungry."

Petrie gave a nod of thanks as he hurriedly swallowed the fish in a few bites.  As he was finishing his last bite, Detras asked the most pressing question that was on his mind.

"How is our daughter?"

Petrie stretched his wings for a moment.  In his multi-hour flight he had barely had any time to stop and take a break.  Therefore, he took advantage of the rest period that he had at his destination.  "She well."  He answered simply.  "We find Chomper's mommy and daddy!"

Detras's smile widened at that news.  "How did that go?"  He was hopeful that things had gone well, but there was always the possibility that Chomper's parents did not believe the story.  Thus, his hope was tempered until confirmation arrived.

Petrie answered after a pause.  "It long story but...  Daddy believe us but mommy was sick..."  Petrie then began to elaborate upon the events that led up to Chomper's mom recovering and the formal adoption of the pack into Chomper's family.  It took nearly half an hour before he was finished, but the parents were full of questions afterwards.

"Well... That is good!  They can give you the training you need now that you're... what you are."  Pearl began.  She had to acknowledge the irony that Chomper was entrusted to Ruby's care and now Ruby was entrusted to the care of Chomper's parents.  It seemed that there was now symmetry in the order of things.  But now that brought up the issue of training.  The main reason the pack was heading towards Chomper's parents was to get trained in how to do what they had to do during the next Cold Time.  Each of them would undoubtedly have to hunt larger prey.  With that in mind, she asked a question.  "But what about that training?  Is it going well?"

Petrie seemed to hesitate for a moment.  "Uh... yes... kind of..."

Detras tilted his head at Petrie's statement.  "Kind of?"

Petrie nodded.  "We try hard and Chomper's parents good teachers...  But training very hard...  Me have to train again in morning."

Pearl's eyes when wide.  "You're not even going to get a break?!"

Petrie nodded.  "Me training is to fly faster and longer.  Me fly to you and back tonight, then fly to you and back again tomorrow."  He then yawned.  "Petrie going to be tired."

Detras looked at Pearl with a concerned expression.  "Surely that isn't necessary..."

Petrie shook his head.  "Me no argue with Dein.  Dein big.  Me must fly faster and stronger.  Me the scout."  Petrie paused for a moment.  "He tell us that a pack only strong as weakest member.  All of us too weak!  All of us must get stronger!"

Pearl and Detras looked at one another again.  Finally Pearl spoke.  "Well... I am sure that he has your best interests at heart."  She then thought for a moment, with her hand at her chin.  "We could gather some food for you again tomorrow, Petrie.  Since you will be seeing us again."

Petrie smiled a bit at the offer.  "Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Fast Runner.  Anything you want me to tell Ruby?"

Pearl smiled and seemed to look at something far away.  "Yes, now that you mention it there is."  Her voice was distant, as if she was considering something deeply.  "...but it will have to wait until you get here tomorrow."

......

Littlefoot was utterly exhausted.  After being told that the pack would have to get their morning meal prior to the rise of the bright circle, each member had hurriedly tried to catch some fish before the fall of the bright circle the previous night.  Although each was successful, by the time that they had caught their food for next day the bright circle had long since fallen below the horizon.  As a result, each was severely sleep deprived by the time the bright circle finally rose.  That was when they all heard the sound that they were dreading.

Roar!

"Urgh!"  Littlefoot groaned at the interruption of his dreamless sleep.  The roar of Dein meant that another day of training was about to commence.  Another day of having their flaws pointed out and corrected.  Another day of running drills.  Another day of seemingly pointless activity.  

Another day of misery.

The others began to arise as well, none of them looking forward to the day that lay ahead of them.  Cera let out a rage-filled growl, but continued to rise anyway, whereas Ducky had to physically shake Spike despite the loud roar that had succeeded in awakening everyone else.  Ruby and Chomper both sighed as the wakeup call was given.  

"Time to rise and shine, slow biters!"  Dein called in a teasing manner.

Chomper cringed at his father's rude manner.  He would have questioned the harshness, but he remembered his father's lesson from when the training regime began.

"I must warn you that this will not be pleasant for any of you.  The Time of Training is meant to be hard and cruel."

"Why is that Mr. Sharptooth?"

"The Time of Training is when a sharptooth of my kind sheds his childhood weaknesses.  It is the time when a sharptooth must push himself harder and faster than he has ever gone before.  A juvenile two-footer will eventually need to join a pack, just like your kind does, Seeker."

"Really?  I though your kind was..."

"A bunch of loners?"

"Well, yeah..."

"We may become that way as adults, little one, but as young ones we have to improvise.  We have to learn to put up with one another without killing each other.  That is why the Time of Training is meant to be harsh, both physically and mentally."

"Daddy?  What do you mean?"

"It means that I will treat you all like dirt.  It means that you will have to find your food outside of training.  It means that you will have to rely upon one another for support, because you will obtain none from me."

"What if we can't find enough food?!"

"Then you will go hungry, Stern Claw."

"Dad... Do you have to?"

"Yes, son.  If you want your friends to be trained then this is the way in which our kind goes about it.  You are overdue for this yourself, Path.  You have been a child too long."

"But I thought that you said I had already past being a child when I killed for the first time..."

"Ha!  I said you were no longer a hatchling.  There is much more that has to be done before you are an adult, Path.  But... If you want to remain a child then...

"No!  I will pass this test!"

"Good, that's the spirit!  Now as for the others, if you don't want..."

"No, Mr. Sharptooth!  We will pass your test!  Show us how to take down large prey!"

"That's the spirit!  Now let's see if you still as enthusiastic when you are actually in the training..."

Chomper shook his head.  He almost wished that he had cowered out of the training despite the stigma that would have followed him, but he knew that this was for his own good.  Even if he already had experience in interacting and working with others that did not mean that he had the other skills that the Time of Training demanded.  He was far more sociable than other sharpteeth of his kind, but his speed, dexterity, and strength was stunted by his time in the Great Valley.  Skills that should have been well honed were instead atrophied from disuse.  He had to get better.

"Little ones..."  

Chomper turned and saw that his mother was speaking.  She had recently begun to feel well enough to participate in regular hunts again.  As a result her figure, which had been emaciated to the point of almost being skeletal, had now began to regain its plumpness and tone.  Her strength and feistiness had returned.  He was heartened to see that his beloved mother was now back into the shape that he remembered.  However, that also meant that her firmness had returned as well.  Terri resumed addressed the children.

"I wouldn't keep Dein waiting.  Remember what happened the last time that you slept in..."

Ruby shook her head at that memory.  "I don't want to be forced to run like that again!"

Ducky shared her sentiments and called out at nearly the same time.  "That was terrible!  It was!  It was!"  Spike, meanwhile, groaned in agreement, before forcing himself off of the ground.

Terri smiled.  "Then up you go, kids!  Good luck out there!"

......

"How is everyone feeling?"  Dein called out loudly.

"Urgh..."  Came the response from Cera or Stern Claw as she was named in sharptooth.  They had been made to run all morning and she was driven to the point of exhaustion.  She literally couldn't go any further.  It was a situation shared by the others.

"Can't... catch... breath..."  Chomper gasped out.  He couldn't run as fast as his companions, but he had insisted on running the same distance.  He had only finished moments before, whereas the others had finished several moments prior.  Therefore, his shortness of breath was more pronounced than the others.

Ducky and Spike both didn't say anything, but lay prone on the ground in a struggle to regain normal breathing.

Ruby and Littlefoot were in slightly better shape, but only slightly.  Each knew that they couldn't take much more of this abuse.  They had been pushed to far beyond what they are capable of achieving.  Finally, Littlefoot spoke.

"I don't think we are doing well, sir."  He answered truthfully.  He then looked back at the pack and noted the condition of their feet and lower extremities.  Spike and Cera both had signs of swelling from various incidental injuries that they had obtained and re-irritated during the several days of training.  He knew that any further training like this would cause more permanent injury.  With that in mind he continued.  "I think that some of us might get hurt if we go on, sir."  Something galled the brown fast biter about addressing anyone as 'sir', but he knew it was part of the training.  "Please let them rest."

"You would fail the training if we did that, Littlefoot."  Dein called Littlefoot by his herbivore name, a not so subtle reference to him being as weak as a youngling longneck as opposed to a fast biter.  For reasons unknown to Littlefoot, this angered him.  "Are you willing to do that just because some of your pack is too weak to go on..."

Littlefoot growled in annoyance and answered vehemently.  "YES!"  He began to pace as he took on a wild and crazed look.  "They are my friends and they are my responsibility and I will not let anyone harm them!"  His teeth were bared and drool was emanating from his mouth uncontrollably.  He was so livid that the foolishness of his actions didn't register in his mind.

The other members of the pack got up slowly and looked upon the scene in horror.  Was Littlefoot actually trying to challenge Chomper's father?  Chomper struggled to get up and tried to reason with Littlefoot.  "Littlefoot..."

Littlefoot looked back at the sharptooth with eyes that brokered no disagreement.  Chomper cowered back in an apologetic gesture and awaited his father's response, as did everyone else.  They did not know what to expect.  Anger?  Further punishment?  The retraction of their adoption by the sharpteeth?  However when they finally did her Dein's response it was not what they expected.  It was...

Laughter.

Uncontrollable laughter.

Littlefoot was livid and seemed to go in front of his pack in an almost protective, if futile, gesture.  The others went behind Littlefoot while thinking that both their leader and Dein had probably gone insane.  What was going on?

"Finally!"  Dein exclaimed while still chuckling.  "You all finally passed the first test."

Littlefoot blinked in a stupefied fashion.  "What?"

Dein smiled an approving smile.  "The pack to be or, in your case, the pack is to be worked until they are at the point of injury..."  He began to explain.  "The test is over when either the leader demands a stop to the training or a member suffers an injury..."

Littlefoot shook his head in a dumbfounded way.  "Why?"

The sharptooth smiled and continued explaining.  "If the leader cares about his pack, then he will see to their wellbeing.  If, however, the leader does not then he shouldn't be the leader.  Had you not stepped in to save your packmates then I would have named the first one to suffer an injury as leader..."

Ruby stepped up at this point to interject.  "Why would you do that?  Why would that be done?"

Dein nodded at the rose-colored fast biter's question.  "Because a leader will be willing to risk injury or worse in order to help his pack..."  Dein then turned towards Chomper.  "Remember that Path..."  Ruby had to smile at Dein's lesson, knowing that the sharptooth test of fidelity would one day force Chomper to make the same sacrifice that she had made in her test in order to prove his worth as a leader.  Chomper's father was seeing to it that Chomper got the lesson even if he didn't give away the test itself.  Dein, however, had again turned his attention to Littlefoot.  "By risking my anger, you have shown yourself to be a decent leader, Seeker, and your followers have shown themselves to be loyal packmates.  You are all ready to move on to the second stage of training."

"The second stage?"  Cera asked inquisitively.

"Yes."  Dein affirmed.  "Now it is time to see your tracking skills."

......

Meanwhile in the lowlands:

"You bastards!"  Skytail raged.  "How can you work for that fiend!?"

A tan colored Utahraptor walked out from amongst the pack of fast biters.  The pack seemed to include a wide variety of kinds from the small Velociraptor to the large Utahraptor.  It seemed that this tan-colored character was the ringleader.

"Fiend?  Friend?  What is the difference?"  The fast biter asked nonchalantly.  "He is the bigger sharptooth so it seems like a good idea to listen when he makes an offer..."

Skytail growled at the insufferable upstart.  "A good idea until he betrays you!"

The tan colored Utahraptor shrugged and looked at his minions to make sure that all of them were still in place.  A few had bailed from the makeshift pack earlier, so he had offered positions of authority to those who killed the deserters.  It seemed that his actions worked, as there was now no faltering in the ranks.  Fear and rewards.  The only way to ensure power...  The fast biter absentmindedly thought to himself.

"Red Claw won't betray those who are useful to him and I plan to remain useful.  Unlike... What is your name again?"  The tan-colored fast biter asked mockingly.

"I am Skytail you toothless fiend!"

"Ah, Skytail!"  The fast biter exclaimed in mock remembrance.  "I knew it was an uninspired name of some kind..."  He smiled as he could see Skytail and his pack begin to growl at his minions.  Time to have a proper introduction.  He thought to himself.  "Well, my name is Calin.  Hello!"  He said in an almost cordial voice.  "I will be taking this area now and if you and your bunch of fools wish to challenge us then you will be annihilated like the rest...  Red Claw has no need for competitors..."

Skytail spat.  "Only slaves!"

"Slaves?  Ha!"  Calin mocked.  "Red Claw has a grand vision that you are obviously too stupid to see.  For too long the strongest of us sharpteeth have been hindered by the weak... Taking food that could benefit the strongest... And worse yet the Valley of Herbivores that mocks the natural order from their impenetrable rock walls!"  Calin was now worked into a frenzy as if he were possessed.  "All of the weaklings must be purged to restore the natural order... and all who oppose must be destroyed."  Calin then began to walk towards Skytail's pack, which caused them to snarl at him.  He stopped with a shrug and spoke in a conversational way, which was disturbing in the context of their situation.  "You don't have to die right here."  He then looked towards all of them as if he were making his case before a judge.  "You could join with those supporting the natural order.  All you have to do is prove your strength... We have all joined by being the strongest converts in each of our packs..."

Skytail yelled in rage.  "After you all killed the rest, you honorless fiend!"

Calin shrugged.  "Such is the way of things... The strong live and the weak die.  Honor is simply a lie meant to protect those who are afraid of the strong.  I was proven to be the strongest in my pack when Red Claw and the others came for us and I was the only one who lived to be taken!"  He seemed to be looking up in the sky with a prideful smile at the memory, before looking back towards Skytail's pack.  "Are any of you strong enough to prove your worth?"

"Die in a dung heap, you monster!"  Taunt proclaimed loudly.  Skytail looked back at his fellow packmate.  "We are with you, sir!  Don't worry!"  All of the other members of the pack nodded at Taunt's affirmation of loyalty.

Skytail could only smile at the loyalty of his friends in this hopeless situation.  "I never doubted it for a moment."  He then turned towards Calin one more time.  "None of us are joining you monsters!"

Calin smiled a lazy smile.  "Call us what you will, but let's see if you can outrun my band of 'monsters'...  We are rather hungry and we haven't had a meal in days..."  He then simply pointed at Skytail's pack and gave a yelp.  His band of assorted sharpteeth then advanced en masse like an unstoppable force of nature.

Knowing that the pack had no chance against the massive assemblage of sharpteeth, Skytail and the others ran as fast as they could from the advancing horde.  Their very lives hung in the balance.

......

Back in the Land of Shallow Waters:

Ruby looked at the shiny rock in her hand that Petrie had given her that evening.  It seemed to shine like blood in the moonlight.  It was a blood stone.

The words that Petrie had relayed to her from her parents still echoed in her mind.  She found herself overwhelmed by the revelations that they contained.  Her distant mindset and fixation on the stone did not go by unnoticed.

"What is that, Ruby?"  Littlefoot asked suddenly.  The pack was getting ready for sleep as their tracking test had been completed hours before.  However, for the first time in several days, the pack actually had a few moments to socialize with one another.  The time of endless running, personal insults, and little food was ending and now the last day of the Time of Training was approaching.  None of the pack knew what that entailed, but each felt that it would more than likely be something unpleasant.  As a result, each relished this short amount of time before the final day of training.

Ruby looked at Littlefoot, before again looking at the jewel in her hand.  "My parents gave this to me."  She answered simply.  "They gave it to Petrie and he gave it to me.  Petrie gave it to me after they gave it to Petrie."  She then looked deeply into it as if she were trying to find something hidden within its crimson depths.  "This is the rock they named me after."

Littlefoot stared at the stone for a few moments.  It was most certainly a unique stone from Littlefoot's perspective, as he had never seen one before in his life.  "So... it's called a Ruby?"  He deduced based upon Ruby's words.

Ruby nodded.  "Yeah... The sharpteeth call it a blood stone."  She seemed to go deep into thought.  "My mommy named me after this stone because she found it when looking for nest building materials before my egg was laid...  She took it as an omen."  She sighed.  "My daddy said that he didn't believe in such things, although my mommy always did..."

Littlefoot was curious now.  "An omen of what?"

Ruby smiled and looked directly at Littlefoot.  "The sharpteeth called it a blood stone for a reason.  If they didn't have a reason then they wouldn't call it a blood stone."  She continued after her momentary lapse into repetition.  "It is an omen of bloodshed."

Littlefoot frowned.  "That doesn't sound like a good omen!  How did your mother feel?"

Ruby shrugged.  "She said that she was fearful of my future.  But after I found and taught Chomper the leaf-eater language, she suspected that the omen had something to do with sharpteeth...  Perhaps it was a sign that Chomper and I were connected..."

Chomper had been listening to the conversation from some distance away.  Hearing Ruby's words, he finally decided to get involved.  "Is that why they sent you to the valley?

Ruby smiled.  "I think so, Chomper.  Since me and you were connected, they thought that it was fate for us to go into the valley when your parents requested my help."  She sighed.  "I guess the stone was correct about us being connected... but not in the way that my mommy had in mind..."

Littlefoot took on a sympathetic look.  "It doesn't matter, Ruby.  We are here for you.  Even though we are what we are now."  He then hugged the rose-colored fast biter, a gesture that was replicated by Chomper.

Without breaking the hug, Ruby spoke.  "Thanks, guys.  But that was why my mommy and daddy gave me the stone."

Chomper and Littlefoot both broke away from the hug and looked at the fast biter with confused expressions.

Ruby smiled.  "They wanted me to know that it was my fate to be what I am and that I shouldn't be ashamed.  I guess when they heard that we were training that they knew that I needed a reminder that I wasn't alone."

Suddenly a voice called out from across the sleeping area.

"None of us are as long as we are together."

The others looked over to see Cera, who was getting lying down but watching the conversation.  Ducky, Spike, and Petrie were nearby listening attentively, having apparently heard the entire conversation as well.  Each then nuzzled the other in solidarity before huddling together in preparation for sleep.  Each knew that they had a big day tomorrow, so each wanted as much sleep as possible.

Before finally lying down to sleep, Ruby took one final look at her crimson stone.  It was as red as the richest blood, but it also had a distinct sparkle to it in the bright moonlight.  A symbol of doom, with hints of life from within its dark depths.  A perfect symbol of what they now were.  They may have to stalk, chase, and slay, but they still had that which gave life its meaning: love and companionship.  As long as they retained that, they were not lost.

Feeling a bit better after learning the lesson that her parents had undoubtedly wanted to teach them through the stone, the rose colored fast biter fell into the most restful sleep she had in many days.

[Nahla]

Just posting to say I still read this I just haven't really had anything to point out to make a real review...and I don't really make reviews as it is.


And thanks for the clear up on the pack names,it will save me some confusion..though I still may get confused anyway xD.

Love the part about the omen and how Ruby could be connected to Chomper for it,that was interesting and nothing I have seen before.


Littlefoot really takes on this leadership role seriously,he'll protect them no matter who he has to fight against,ain't nobody gonna mess with him and get away with it easily.He is willing to stand up for them for what he knows is for the best even if it might be considered wrong or weak by others. And thats why Littlefoot forever remains my faveorite,he'll stand up for what is right.

Also I read Logos name as Legos at first..don't ask.

Sorry no real review but I am not one to really review something I just put out a person comment about my faveorite parts and such anyway.

Keep it up.

[Ducky123]

Chomper's parents seem to be happy yet concerned due to Chomper's return. They even show some concern for Ruby (though I believe that they're only too lazy to journey to her parents in case of her passing).
I wonder how they take the story

Poor Chomper The revelation of Terri's sickness is very emotional. Not only Chomper but also some of his friends are tearing up which shows just how moving the scene must be. Makes me wonder how they would have reacted if they had witnessed the death of Littlefoot's Mother...
Terri and Dein are trying to cheer their son up, telling him that his mum is going to be fine but at the same time mentioning the possibility of her passing.
A good scene!

Same goes to the discussion the seven hunters minus Chomper are having. It's very imteresting to see how you portrait each character. Littlefoot is in a state of uncertainty and thoughtfulness. Cera is not the hard-headed troublemaker, submitting pointy remarks all the time, but a little more ponderous. Both are obviously haunted by the death of their mothers. (BTW: Nice seeing that you pick up Cera's Mother and her unknown situation in the movie). Ducky seems to be her usual self, always optimistic whereas Petrie is rather quiet (which changes after a bit). Spike seems to take the initiative, leading his friends in the right direction.
Ruby doesn't say much.
Who would've thought... the Night Flowers! If you continue like that, you're going to reference the whole 13 movies in this story I recall that vonboy used them in his story PAST-O-RAMA to cure one of Chomper's parents. I, however, can't remember the exact details...

Oh, storytelling time!
That's a reasonable story. Redclaw attacking cowardly, Terri being sick regularly since then... However, I wonder what kind of sickness Terri actually has... Is it a sickness known to mankind that can be triggered by an injury? It looks to me like she has a sort of flu with heavy coughing in particular. Nothing I thought people are getting due to injuries... Or maybe you were simply being creative?
Anyways, Chomper shows just the two emotions such a situation usually causes: Wrath and mourning/sadness.
Dein's lessons regarding the Circle of Life are very well explained... Some knowledge seemingly existed in the dinosaur world

Wonder if the Rainbowfaces are going to find the Night Flower... A journey to the Land of Mists might take too much time though it would be a great adventure

Oh, another story
A fanfiction within the fanfiction itself, so to say... It is certainly a moving story. It is often said that the relationships that start off really bad are going to be very strong. This is certainly true with Dein and Terri
I believe it has two important messages; maybe three...
1. Character weigths more than physical things (Terri's unability to lay eggs here)
2. Never give up. There's always hope (the two mating finally & getting Chomper at last)
(3. Help others whenever you can)
Chomper probably would have slumbered in peace after being told the story, if it hadn't been for his friends showing up with Night Flowers (so they must have succeeded )
Let's see if they will work...

Overall, this chapter is particularly well written!

The two dinosaurs was not too pleased with being awakened in the middle of the night,

Were.

but he was damned if her was going to allow a female to talk down to him like this.

Should be "he", not "her".

Dein smiled. "Well know you do.

Now

[CeraTheRed]

Awww, finally a sweet chapter. The pack's getting the training they need, Terri's better, the pack finally has parents again, and Ruby got a gift that helped her come to terms with the fact that she's part of a different family, now. Things aren't looking so good with Skytail's pack, though, and I hope things get better there. It was neat, too, how the Rainbow Faces recognized what the pack was doing, through memories of their former lives.