(After A Long delay, the next chapter of Sharptooth Valley II is here at last!)
Chpater 25: Rita’s Unlucky Break
Three days later, Rita was treating Rory and Littlefoot again, their recoveries were making serious progress.
“Hold your breath for a few seconds, this might sting,” the longneck advised, applying some more plants in the area of their wounds.
Her note proved to be true. The threehorn and sharptooth tried their best not to scream. “Do you have…anything less….painful?” Rory asked between his teeth.
Rita thought about that. “I think I might, while not on hand anyway…” she responded with a dash of uncertainty, “well, I remember Mr. Belly Dragger telling me about plants that don’t give off that painful sensation, even if they don’t make you guys better as quickly.”
“Do you know where you could find some of those?” Littlefoot asked hopefully. “Out in the Mysterious Beyond,” Rita replied.
Without using words, Rory and Littlefoot were able to express their wanting for this plant just with the expressions on their faces. They hade a giant expression of “PPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!”
Rita let out a light laugh, those expressions being downright goofy, and said “Yeah, it won’t take me long to find some, I’ll head out soon.”
“Thanks Rita,” Littlefoot grinned gratefully. “Don’t mention it guys!” the blue longneck called as she headed towards one of the exits.
“And no more of that stinging too,” Rory added. “that was even worse than stinging buzzers…”
Rita was almost at the exit when she heard a voice call out. “Hey Rita, wait up!” It was Ruby. The fast biter made her way over to the longneck.
“Oh, morning Ruby, I was going to get more plants to help heal our friends.” “Can I come with?” Ruby asked. “Sure, I don’t see why not,” smiled Rita.
ELSEWHERE……..
“Something on your mind Chomper?” Cera asked, noticing the purple rex obviously had something on his mind.
“Not much,” Chomper responded, “It’s just that my mom and dad acted very weird last night.”
“What did they say Chomper, oh what what what?” Ducky asked, the swimming sharptooth doing some flips in the water.
“Well, they looked very happy,” Chomper recalled. “Why is that odd?” Petrie pondered.
“Well, they seemed VERY happy, more than I’ve ever seen them before,” Chomper explained, “And they were laughing a lot, like something was funny, but when I asked if they had heard any good jokes, they said it wasn’t a joke.”
“Then how come you spent the night at my nest Chomper?” the predatorial flyer questioned.
“Well, they said they wanted to be by themselves tonight, and when I asked why, they said they couldn’t tell me, and asked me to spend the night with one of my friends, so I did.”
Spike let out a noise suggesting “I wonder what that was all about.”
The gang would find out when they got older, of course…..
OUT IN THE MYSTERIOUS BEYOND……..
“I love wide open spaces,” Rita sighed happily, looking up at the sky. “You can see for miles out here with no disruptions.”
“Yeah,” Ruby nodded in agreement, sniffing the fresh air. No scent of prey, well, besides Rita, but she wouldn’t eat her of course, was in the immediate vicinity.
“So where are these plants we’re looking for?” Ruby asked. “Not too far,” assured Rita.
AT CHOMPER’S CAVE………
Dein and Terri were sharing their delicious lunch of 2 yellow bellies. Terri turned to her mate with a question.
“If I do have another egg in the near future, what are you hoping for?” she asked with a curious smirk.
Dein gave a mischievous grin to his mate. “Another boy, of course,” he grinned.
“I’m surprised,” Terri chuckled sarcastically, giving Dein a poke in the side. “Well, we should see what our son’s up to.”
“When do you think we should tell Chomper about our plans?” Dein wanted to know.
“When I lay an egg, maybe wait till then to surprise him,” Terri explained. “Gotcha,” Dein nodded in response.
BACK OUT IN THE MYSTERIOUS BEYOND…….
Ruby noticed something peculiar: Rita was looking in every direction with an odd expression on her face. “Something on your mind?” Ruby asked.
“One thing: You ever get the feeling there is something you should notice right in front of you, but you just don’t not…..” “LOOK OUT!” cried Ruby, but it was too late.
Since the two girls were walking on an upward incline, they couldn’t see in time that they were on the edge of a 20-foot cliff. Ruby managed to halt herself just in time, but Rita wasn’t so fortunate.
“AGH!!!!” Rita yelled as she lost her footing and was sent hurtling to the ground below. She landed with a not-so-nice thud.
“Oh crud, I’m coming!” Ruby called, seeing a path should go safely down. When she reached the young longneck, she could tell damage had been done.
“My leg…” Rita grunted, indicating her back left leg. “Don’t tell me it’s broken..” Ruby deduced.
“I…think so….” Rita grunted between her teeth, like Rory and Littlefoot had earlier.
“I need to get you back to the Great Valley!” Ruby said, trying to help Rita back up.
IN THE VALLEY………
Mage was by himself, lying down in the small cavern he stayed in that was deliberately isolated from the rest of the Valley inhabitants.
“I just hope Chomper knows what he’s doing,” the rainbow face spirit sighed to himself, thinking about any possible consequences of the adolescent t-rex’s strategy to save Flattooth Valley.
Mage had used up more of his extreme magic powers again with that wish and the reality-traveling stones, so now he could only do basic spells, such as lifting objects or creating small objects, like a snack that would be able to satisfy only a young flattooth or sharptooth’s appetite.
THE MYSTERIOUS BEYOND……..
Ruby and Rita were trying to think of a way to get the blue longneck back to the valley.
“Just head on back without me, I’ll be fine,” Rita assured. “No, if I leave you out here, some sharptooth who doesn’t know you will eat you for sure! And what if those bad dinosaurs see you?”
Rita realized the fast biter was right. “But what can we do?”
Ruby paced back and forth for about a minute, trying to come up with decent tactics. Her face brightened when she devised her plan.
“If you can keep that leg lifted, with my help, I think we can get back to the valley, back to the valley we can get, even though we’ll be moving slowly.”
“Good thinking Ruby,” Rita complimented. Carefully and steadily, Ruby helped Rita lift up the injured leg and she held it up with her tail. Then, working in tandem, the girls began their journey back to the Great Valley.
IN THE GREAT VALLEY…….
Lunchtime had come. Tera had caught a threehorn for her family, and she let Petrie’s friends share in the feast.
“You two want any?” Cera asked Myra sarcastically. “You want a horn in the face?” Rory retorted. The three just laughed.
“If it makes you guys feel any better, threehorn meat is very tough,” Chomper smiled.
“It does actually,” Myra spoke up surprisingly, “That means that even after we’re dead, we make it hard for sharpteeth to eat us!”
Everyone got a laugh out of that. Ducky then brought up. “I wonder what’s taking Ruby and Rita so long, they have been gone for a while, they have, they have,” the swimming sharptooth noted.
“Littlefoot said Rita left to find some flowers that could help their wounds without stinging so much,” Chomper recalled, “Ruby must have gone with her.”
“But that was hours ago,” Ducky said, “It shouldn’t take them that long, it shouldn’t, it shouldn’t.”
The group realized Ducky had a point. “Maybe we should sniff them out and see if they need help,” Petrie suggested.
Spike made a noise suggesting “Good idea Petrie.”
THE MYSTERIOUS BEYOND…….
“Can we take a little break?” Rita panted, getting a little tired. “Sure thing,” Ruby replied, the two stopping beside a tree with plenty of tree stars. Ruby carefully set the longneck’s injured leg down, afterwards she helped get lunch for her friends.
“Thanks,” Rita smiled to Ruby, chomping on the green food.
“You don’t have to mention it,” Ruby said, clawing a few insects for herself. During the friends’ lunch break, Rita wondered about a question for a few moments before she finally asked it.
“Hey Ruby?” asked the longneck. “Yeah?” the fast biter replied. “Can I ask you something? I hope you don’t find this weird..”
“Sure Rita, go ahead,” Ruby encouraged.
“Do you and Chomper…..like each other?” she finally blurted out.
Ruby blinked her eyes in surprise, thinking up a response in her head. “Of course I do, we’re good friends.”
“I know….but do you like like each other?” Ruby thought about how to answer that. Some of her friends already knew that, but she didn’t know the best way to explain it in words, so she said what should could.
“Yeah….I guess you could say that,” Ruby smiled, thinking of the purple sharptooth. “He’s always nice, he’s funny, he’s cute, and well, he’s always been there for me.”
Rita let out a sigh. “I know what you mean,” the longneck commented. “There are times I wish I knew more longnecks my age. I mean, I have plenty of friends, great friends, but I wish there was someone out there, someone for me, ya know?”
Ruby put her claw on Rita’s neck. “You don’t have to worry about that, I know that in this world, there’s someone special for everyone.”
“Really?” Rita asked, ignoring her leg. “Believe me, that’s the one thing I’m absolutely sure of in this world Rita,” Ruby responded.
Rita smiled at her friend’s words, than said. “Well, we probably should be getting on our way again.”
“Ok, let’s try this again,” Ruby said, ready to help escort her friend when they found that her efforts would not be needed.
“Ruby! Rita!” Chomper called as he, the rest of the gang, and even Mr. Belly Dragger showed up.
“We’ve been looking for you guys, what happened?” Guido asked concerned. “Rita’s hurt her leg,” Ruby explained.
“Goodness, is your leg broken?” Mr. Belly Dragger asked, examining the wound.
“Yeah, but it’s not too bad,” Rita said.
“Ok, I’ll help you back to the Great Valley,” the adult belly dragger said, lifting Rita up with Ruby, Chomper, and Myra’s help and setting her on his back.
“I guess Rory and Littlefoot will be disappointed to hear we didn’t get those plants,” Rita sighed with a slight laugh.
“Well, Tippy thinks they’ll just be glad to know Rita’s ok,” Tippy commented, the group heading back to the Great Valley.
“Thanks for your help Ruby,” Rita smiled, turning to the fast biter.
Chomper’s curiosity was piqued. “Did you guys talk about something today?” he asked, noticing the two began to laugh, as if they knew something funny.
“What? What’s so funny?” he asked. The two girls just kept laughing to themselves. “First my mom and dad, and now you two. What’s next?” Chomper groaned in disbelief.
The others began to laugh at that comment.
“Hey, where’s Greg?” Rita noticed, not seeing the spiketail around.
Greg came running up at that point, sounding tired and out of breath. “Sorry…was eating lunch….” He panted.
“You eat too much Greg,” Rita commented, and now everyone got a little chuckle, including Greg.
“But seriously, that can be a bad thing,” Myra whispered to her friend.
(There! At LAST! Read and Review! I apologize greatly for not updating, I had a computer virus for a while, and even after it was removed we lacked a word processor, and I was temporarily unmotivated for a while, I hope to keep a more steady pace of updating from now on.)
Next time on Sharptooth Valley II: The gang tries to think up a new game to play while Redfoot, Strut, and Zidane continue their quest to find help to save Flattooth Valley.