Impractical Dino: Yes

UnionRags: No

Questions asked: 3

Right I got something in mind for my turn. Let the guessing begin!

Thanks for the votes guys and well done everyone. I'll take the Littlefoot and his mother banner.

I find Chomper to have incredible potential as a character considering his unique position. It's a pity that this was a missed shot in the movies and tv series even in Journey of the Brave they underused Chomper. I do like him equally in both the movies and the tv series though the 14th movie was a bit of a let down. I think that they've done a good job at flushing out his relationship with other members of the gang but once again they fall a little short when it comes to Littlefoot. Chomper has so much potential cause there are so many possibilities for backstory and ways for his character to grow and develop and a lot of it is just up to speculation which leads to some interesting fanfic ideas.

In the 2nd and 5th movies I think Chomper aside for his ability to speak leafeater without an explanation is strongest. You can see he cares for his friends and how deeply hurt he was by Cera's comments and he is shown to have a small amount of wisdom when talking with Littlefoot. In the tv series I find Chomper can be a bit to childish at times like when he loses his tooth and he has a lot more enthusiasm, though I'm not quite sure why. I also really like his bond with Ruby, Ducky, Spike and Littlefoot who he seems closest to and has provided comfort and been comforted by each.

I overall like how he turned out but his character could have been so much more interesting if they had taken the time to develop him more. Also great artwork Flathead! 

My first impression of Shorty was that he was a bully but over the course of the movie that changed somewhat, he was wasn't my favourite character as he didn't have as much character development as he could have had, granted the backstory we got was decent but it leaves a lot unspoken, granted it is rather useful for fanfic ideas (looking at SDP).

I found him to be far more relatable by the end of the 10th movie and in some small way, he reminds me of Doc, just at a younger age, someone who had to fend for himself as a kid and other kids in a dangerous land. I think Shorty's character took a step back in the tv series and also eluded that he and Littlefoot spend time together when they had the chance. He was very tough to swallow and rather arrogant and dare I say it, a little stupid which didn't seem to fit with his character from 10.

I think what my biggest problem with Shorty is the wasted opportunity for more development on him during the 14th movie which he is completely absent in for some reason. He has so much potential as a character but has not been that well flushed out but the series.   

Aquarius took a deep, shaking breath and held onto Wyoh's back as tightly as he could. He didn't have any vine so his safety was entirely dependent on his own hold on Wyoh's back. He didn't dare think of the worst case scenario, he'd already suffered a great fall when The Great Wave tossed him like a rock into these barren lands. He remembered the tumbling, the sense of disorientation, the pain, the helplessness and the breath that he had held. He didn't want to go through that again!

As Wyoh started crossing the bridge Aquarius kept his head in a stiff forward position, looking over to the over side of the crack where Buko and Rinen waited safely. The little Swimmer felt a little reassurance that his plan so far had worked and if the vines held so far all Wyoh would have to do is keep her balance while he kept his grip.

The vines rocked precariously as Wyoh reached the most unstable part of the structure; the centre. The fastrunner wobbled and grabbed the vines tightly and swerved to the right. This sudden movement caught Aquarius off guard and he almost lost his grip but a sudden wobble to the left put Aquarius back on centre of Wyoh's back. Aquarius tightened his grip on the fast runner, holding on for dear life. 

Aquarius was trembling like mad through fear and it took a lot of conscious effort to stop himself from having an 'accident' which would do him any favours but as Wyoh passed over the last of the vines and onto the other side Aquarius released the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. He slid onto his back, panting. It was only after a minute of blissful relief that Aquarius realised that his idea had worked, they had all gotten across.

"Haha! We did it! We got across! I can't believe that actually worked!" The little Swimmer held his arms up triumphantly, a bright smile crossing his beak. He had a chance now, they all had a chance and it was all thanks to his idea! Aquarius laughed out loud but his short fit of mirth didn't help him keep hold of Wyoh's back and he fell off onto the ground, the hit wasn't hard but it he had landed right on his infected wound and gave a loud hiss and short cry as he doubled over holding onto his side, trying desperately to keep his tears at bay and his wound concealed. 

Ducky’s First Day’s; Day 2:



The early morning was dry, unlike the night before, which had several showers - which was a huge relief for everyone in the land due to the harsh drought and heat that had been scorching everything and everyone relentlessly for over a year. Yet the clouds were still about and they sheltered the Swimmer herd from the Bright Circle’s rays, which was a mighty blessing. The moderately sized herd had made its home near a long winding river that was surrounded by dozens of lagoons, some large and some small. The land had lots of tall grass and reeds and shrub but there were few tall trees around. This meant the only way for anyone to cool down here was to stay in the water. It was to a cooler morning that Sura awoke.

She was the first of her family to awake. She raised her head slowly, yawned and blinked a few times. She took a look around at her surroundings, she spotted Ruphus still sleeping in as usual a few paces from her and beyond him was Merri who was also sound asleep. The next thing Sura turned her head to was the nest expecting to see her eggs but all she saw was an empty nest with broken egg fragments inside it. It was enough to almost make her jump in horror at the thought of her eggs being snatched from right under her nose by egg stealers but thankfully the memories of the previous day had started to come back and she managed to calm herself before any panic attack could happen.

Sura turned her head to look down at her side and saw a broad leaf which was rather wet that shielded her newborns from the rain. While Sura might be more willing to let her new children get wet she could not forget that many babies didn’t survive their first few weeks due to sickness, and being drenched by a storm was sure to bring sickness which her little ones had never had to deal with and nor would all of them survive if that happened . So Sura had placed the leaf back over them after she felt the skywater start falling last night.

Now however the leaf was no longer needed. With her hand she carefully pulled the leaf off and placed it to the side and rested her gaze on her sleeping children. Once again Sura felt her heart melt at the sight of her sleeping babies. They were all sleeping together; Echo and Ray were resting with their heads laying on the backs of Diver and Rapid. Sandy was sleeping on her back with her head up against her mother’s body, while Spinner was also laying on his back with his head up on Sandy’s gently rising and falling belly. Opal was sleeping on her belly next to Ducky, who was nestled between her twin’s body and her mother’s.

“Awww, why do they have to be so beautiful? I’ve seen so many hatchlings before yet none of them are as lovely as my little ones” thought Sura with a wide smile on her face. She brushed away a tear of pure happiness, as pure as the innocence that her children now had. With her hand she stroked each of her babies with a finger. Ducky gave contented sigh as her mother stroked her back. She received similar responses from everyone until she stroked little Sandy on the belly. She giggled happily at the touch, which in turn caused Spinner to be dislodged from his rest. Sura really should have been a bit more careful with Sandy because her tickling had prompted her daughter to start wetting in the wrong position. To avoid getting her daughter’s siblings wet Sura gently turned Sandy onto her belly, which woke Spinner and Sandy.

The two awoke with adorable twin yawns, their mouth staying wide open for a few seconds before they drowsily looked around and squeaked, waking their siblings. In just a few seconds the nest was filled with yawns, stretching and squeaking infants, already wide awake. “Hello my little ones” Sura lowered her beak over her children who all made their way over to it so they could be nuzzled.

They were led by Ducky’s squeak. “Mamayy!” she said, it may have been a vocal butchery but it still caused her mother to chuckle as she greeted her children.

Sura raised her head. “Ruphus?” she said turning to his sleeping form “Ruphus, come and look at this” she said but when she looked back, her mate was still sleeping. Rolling her eyes and smirking she placed the end of her tail over her mate’s nose so he couldn’t breathe. After all, one good thing about Ruphus was that he hardly ever snored. Ruphus on reflex pushed her tail aside with his arm only to have Sura ‘politely’ hit his beak with her tail. “Wakey, wakey daddy” she said to him loudly.

Ruphus groaned and opened his eyes and rubbed his beak. “Why did I become your mate? You never let me sleep in” he said as he slowly pushed himself up onto his legs and rubbed his eyes with his normal morning scowl on his face.

“Well if you weren’t my mate then you never would have had these beautiful children, now come along they want to see their Daddy” said Sura.

Ruphus yawned and made his way around Sura and laid down parallel to her so his children could see him and they were ecstatic. “Dadayy!” cried Ducky as she ran over to her father’s body. Ruphus felt his weariness vanish and his heart soften at hearing that. He lowered his beak just in time for Ducky to embrace it with a content hum. Her brothers and sister followed by crawling but Echo had to the amazement and joy of both parents was walking on his hands and feet and got to his father seconds after Ducky.

“Oh my Echo, you clever boy,” Ruphus and Sura nuzzled the laughing boy who was loving the attention, while Ray gave an envious squeak as he wanted attention as well and crawled faster over to them. In a few moments. The whole clutch was being nuzzled on either side by their parents in a heart-warming display of love.

“You all look perfect together” Merri was up and standing over to the side watching them all with a wide smile on her face and her hands held together by her head.

“Get down here Merri, you’re also a part of the family and that means that you’re included too” said Sura. She was silenced by the shrill squeak of Opal as her mouth hung open in an obvious plead for food. “Looks like you have the pleasure of feeding the little ones” said Sura to Merri. “Some of the Water Greens should do, they liked those yesterday.” Her sister nodded and walked off to the river. 

While Merri was off getting breakfast the sound of footsteps approaching got Sura and Ruphus looking in the distance to see their current herd leader approaching them. He was a very elderly Swimmer and looked upon the world with tired eyes but he was known for his wisdom that was why no one had that heart to say that his time had come, he would die before he would be replaced. His body was almost dark brown-blue shade and his steps were slow but not weary. He looked upon them with a smile when he spotted them.

“Good Morning Sura, Ruphus. I must say that I’m glad to see you both alive but I heard today that your eggs have hatched” said the old herd leader.

“Arron, I’m not sure if Ellie has been spreading the word but yes, my eggs have hatched. Come take a look” said Sura, she was still lying next to her nest with Ruphus. Usually they’d be standing to give him a welcome but today they were keeping an eye on their children. Arron approached and couldn’t help but smile when he saw Sura and Ruphus children. “Are you happy now Sura?” he asked.

Sura nodded in response. “The happiest I’ve been in so many cold times.”

“You’ve moved past your fear of motherhood; I remember how fearful you were when you first heard that you were going to have children” said Arron.

“Oh boy, do I remember” said Ruphus with a shake of his head. It was a period of panic for Sura. It had taken years for Ruphus to work up the trust with Sura to actually make love with her but soon afterwards Sura started acting different. She became obsessed with keeping a clean nest and there were also her giant cravings for massive amounts of food. It didn’t take long for the other members of the herd to notice and Ellie confirmed that Sura was pregnant much to the latter’s horror.

There was a reason why Sura had never made love with Ruphus despite being mated with him for a few years and her fear had come true. Sura at this time was terrified of the prospect of being a mother. Ever since her early adulthood she had convinced herself that her mistakes throughout life - including the deaths of her siblings Bright and Clover and her being driven from home by her father and nearly being killed in a river - would mean that she would be a terrible mother. The prospect of somehow killing her own flesh and blood or raising them to be failures in a harsh world was something that she swore to never do but in making that oath to herself she had also made an oath to never ever have children.
 
So, when Sura found out that she was pregnant she started spiralling down into panic and emotional turmoil. Over the years she had convinced herself that she would be a terrible mother and that she was doomed to live her years as a childless female but now she was actually producing eggs. Sura began a fierce struggle with her instincts, trying to contain her cravings and cleanliness and trying to stay away from the Sand Creepers. It was a fact that she hated about Swimmer’s. That to produce eggs they needed to eat the shells of crabs or they would not produce eggs. She could not bear to take another life like that and she also thought that if she couldn’t produce eggs then she would never have children.

But Sura could not hope to win this fight, her battle was fruitless, her instincts victorious. An unpleasant secret of Swimmer pregnancy was the need to eat Sand Creepers, whose shells provided the material they needed to make eggs but Sura never ate any living Sand Creepers. She only took the dead and discarded shells from moulting Sand Creepers and she did so as little as possible for the idea had always sickened her to the core. Sura’s cravings were unmatched; she tried to starve herself but she couldn’t stop herself from uncontrollably salivating when she saw any green food and it took all her will power to reject the food that was offered to her but after Ruphus cheekily teased her with some red tree stars which just happened to be her favourite food the poor Swimmer found himself overrun almost instantly by his mate whose instincts went wild as she tried to snatch the tree stars from Ruphus and rather successfully too. After that she made no attempt to hold back her cravings but the next challenge came after she had finished laying her eggs.

Sura was in emotional turmoil. She told herself again and again “I can’t be a mother”. Her words got stronger and stronger and her mind filled with memories of all her various mistakes. Soon the tipping point was reached, and during the middle of the night Sura stood over her nest with her foot raised over her eggs. Another battle of will versus motherly instinct took place with more ferocity than The Killer Storm itself - and all within Sura’s mind. She stayed in that precarious position, her mind on a tether as she gazed at her eggs and tried to force herself to end her fears then and there… but she just couldn’t. How could she harm her own flesh and blood? She would be a killer of her own children! But she couldn’t be a mother! 

Sura’s will eventually broke and in full turmoil she fled the herd in an attempt to escape motherhood. However, her absence was noted in the morning and it wasn’t long before a search party was gathered and with such clear tracks, she was easily found by Ellie, Arron, Ruphus and Merri. This was the breaking point for Sura. The poor Swimmer had run herself to the point where her legs refused to support her and she was battered with exhaustion. Upon seeing the search party find her, she burst into tears next to the river bank and confessed everything to them. Her fears and insecurities about motherhood and her battle with her instincts and eventually her desertion. To say that her story was received with shock was an understatement. No one had known just how much turmoil Sura had been in, she had hidden her secret with such determination but it was their comfort and support that eventually brought her back to the herd and to accept her situation.

Arron even set Sura up with looking after the other children within the herd over the next year till she soon felt confident with handling children at a multitude of different ages. Now Sura’s eggs had hatched. While she still felt the fear of letting down her children, she had it firmly under control and even then her fear was overwhelmed by the sheer joy and love that she felt for her newborn hatchlings. It made her wish that she had known that motherhood wasn’t as bad a prospect as she had led herself to believe. 

“I have moved on” said Sura to Arron with a smile. “And I am glad I have; they are so beautiful” she looked at the nest and her children, who were enjoying breakfast now. Sura held a hand over her heart and felt a single tear of joy fall down her cheek.

“That is why I have come to offer you a new position to you Sura” Arron said, breaking Sura out of her train of thought. She turned to him with a curious expression, along with Ruphus.

“I think that you should be the herd’s Chief Mother”

“Hmmm” said Ruphus with a smile, but Sura looked rather startled by this sudden offer of promotion of position within the herd. The structure of Swimmer herds was far more complex then they seemed from the outside. There was a Herd Leader which could be either male or female and their mates would also have a large say in how the herd was run. The herd also had a suitable number of deputies who were given charge over certain portions of the herd to look after. The other positions in the herd included the High Elder, who was the keeper of traditions and wisdoms and was usually one of the older more experienced members of the herd. There was also the Swimmer’s Defensive Command which belonged to the Swimmer who was best fighter and most experienced in combat, they were in charge of the defence of the herd; This was Ruphus’s position. The Herd Healer had the most knowledge of curative plants in case of sickness and injury. The Chief Mother however, was also one of the higher positions and it belonged to the best and most experienced mother of the herd and they were responsible for overlooking, taking care of and teaching all the children of the herd as well as keeping all the other parents in check and helping resolve family issues. It was not a position to take lightly and this is what Sura was offered.

Parents and elderly were also important for the herd dynamic. The lowest members of the herd were generally Swimmers with no family. They were still looked after by the herd. However, depending on the herd size and complement these positions were not always available which was why herd mingling and sometimes merging would happen. Children started to have a small tasting of herd ranking positions after they finished The Swimmer Trials as the elders would be able to tell what role they could perform in the herd and those that did well had far more opportunities and were hence sought after by different Swimmer herds.

“Chief Mother…. But I’m not experienced I-“

“Sura,” cut in Arron “There is no child that you haven’t looked after in the herd, no family that you don’t know, no parents that are aren’t friends with you. You understand the children, their parents and now you understand the importance of family. I only held off giving you this offer because you weren’t a mother till now. It is a valuable way to gain experience and it will allow the other parents to help you too, it’s not just about you helping them” 
   
Sura sighed “I’ll have to think about this Arron, just give me some time” Sura said after a few moments to consider her leader’s proposal.

Arron nodded, “I wish you and your new family well, Sura, Ruphus, Merri. I’ll see you all later” he turned and trudged slowly away as the family called out their farewells briefly before going back to their children.

The children only had just finished their meal when the water from the river stirred and Elliot surfaced as quietly as he could and pulled himself up onto the bank and hit at the base of the nest. He poked his eyes over the rim to see the children but as soon as one of them or the adults looked at his direction he ducked down behind the nest. It caused a little head scratching from Ducky, she kept on thinking that she saw something outside the nest but there was nothing there. However, her parents were not fooled.

“You can come out Elliot” said Sura.

Elliot poked his head up over the nest looking a little embarrassed but it was with an excited cry that Ducky and indeed all her brothers and sisters headed over to him. Ducky leapt into Elliot but he fell back with her extra weight and he fell on his back with Ducky sitting on top of him. 

Ducky was jumping up and down happily on Elliot’s belly. “Oof…Du-oh…” Elliot could not say anything with Ducky jumping and knocking the wind out of him. Ducky soon stopped jumping on him but she still stood on Elliot with her tail wagging as she licked his face making Elliot chuckle. He tried to get his head away but Ducky kept coming to lick him.

“He-e-elp” giggled Elliot. “I’m being licked!”

The adults laughed at his expense and Sura grabbed Ducky’s tail in her beak and lifted her up, off of Elliot. Ducky squeaked in surprise as she felt herself being pulled into the air but she didn’t really like the feeling of being upside down so she pulled herself up and grabbed her mother’s bottom lip and pulled herself up till she stood on her mother’s lip and lay on her beak. Sura chuckled as she looked into the eyes of her little one but she didn’t release her tail yet, at least until she put her hand around Ducky’s back and placed her in palm of her other hand.

Ducky lay on her back and looked up at her mother with a big smile, her tail wagging from side to side like mad, she laughed loudly as her mother licked her belly and nuzzled her before placing her back in the nest with her brothers and sisters.

“And just what are you doing sneaking around our nest Elliot?” said Ruphus with a slide snide in his words.

“Um….”

“Your mother, know your here?”

“I…er…no”

Ruphus sighed at the youngster. “You know I’m going to have to tell your mother about this don’t you?” Elliot grimaced. “And you know full well that she doesn’t like it when you sneak off, it really stresses her when she’s worrying where you are all the time” said Ruphus.

“I just wanted to say hello to you” said Elliot quietly, still looking down.

“More like you wanted to say hello to my little ones” said Sura. She picked him up by the tail with her beak just like she had with Ducky and placed him in the nest with her little hatchlings, who almost instantly swarmed him.

“If you so desperately want to spend time with my children then you might as well get in the thick of it, like a big brother” said Sura with a grin as Elliot fell on his back as Sandy jumped on his belly. Ducky was trying to nuzzle his face again and Echo was offering Elliot some of his breakfast while the others crowded around him all trying to get his attention.

“Help!” cried Elliot, he half laughed the word as Sandy tickled his belly.

“Oh, I don’t think so. You had this coming for running away from your mother, naughty little Elliot” said Sura in a stern tongue but with a humorous smile on her face. “You want to be with my hatchlings so much, so be it but they are my babies and I might not be responsible if I get too caught up in looking after you too”

“Truce please! I’m sorry I sneaked from home! You happy now!?”

Sura just grinned at him and Merri chuckled. “You apologised to the wrong mother Elliot” she said.

“No please don’t leave me in here the nest needs cleaning!” Elliot begged. His legs and arms and indeed his whole body was being pulled every which way by the curious hatchlings.

Sura’s conniving grin grew larger and Ruphus could tell that she was planning something devious for Elliot “You are right and I’ll have to clean it. Right after I let my children finish greeting you”

“Noooo!” Elliot cried out, he knew he probably was getting off rather light from running away from home but that still didn’t mean he wanted to be swarmed by a pack of ruthlessly adorable hatchlings or lay on his back on the rather wet leaves at the bottom of the nest.
 
The adults around him laughed at his expense. What was worse was that Rapid was mimicking Elliot’s loud noise. Only furthering to increase the laughter and joy of the adults. However once Sura was done drying off her tears of laughter and calmed herself down to a reasonable point, she picked up Elliot and placed him in the small pond next to the nest. Elliot gave a sigh of relief but it was only short lived. Sura had carved out a smooth slide from the rim of the nest, it was something that her children were eager to try out and they all crowded and pushed and shoved each other to be the first one down.

There were loud annoyed speaks from Ray and Spinner, Diver and Rapid as they all piled at the entrance that their mother had carved out for them but ended up getting themselves stuck. It was a tangle of limbs and tails as they struggled to move out. Echo, Opal, Ducky and Sandy watched them from behind, obviously not eager to get into the fray. Besides, there were four tails to get past if they wanted to get even close to them.

Sura gave them a helping hand, literally pushing them all through, they slid down the slope head first, on their bellies. Spinner and Ray came to a stop but Rapid tumbled to the side and rolled onto the ground looking rather dizzy and teary eyed. Diver was the only one that managed to make it into the water. Sura had to go and help Rapid, he had bumped himself quite a bit when he was tumbling and was now crying. His mother was there in an instant, she lifted him into her embrace and licked him. “It’s ok, Rapid dear, I’m here” she said Rapid’s cries quickly dropped off thanks to the comfort of his mother and she carefully lowered him into the water of the small pool which was already filled with splashes from Diver and Ray as they had both made it to the water but Spinner looked up at his mother and squeaked loudly. “Ma…Ma!”

The little Swimmer was obviously after the attention of his mother after seeing Rapid getting it all he appeared rather flustered. To make up for the lack of attention from his mother, he made Rapid his splash target.
 
Sura was already back to making sure the rest of her children made it to the water. Ducky took the slide down next with a loud cry of exhilaration as she slid into the water followed closely be Echo and then Sandy but she was a bit too slow to get out of the way as Opal slid straight into her sending both girls into the water with surprised squeaks. They surfaced and didn’t seemed harmed, to their mother’s relief. 

“Help” said Elliot, he looked up helplessly at Sura from the middle of the pond, he was now the target and shield for all of Sura’s children.

Sura laughed heartily “Ruphus dear, come and have a look at this”

Ruphus began laughing when he saw Elliot “Well, Elliot seems to be in the thick, it shouldn’t be a big problem, it’s only water and he’s no hatchling”

“What are you talking about?” said Sura turning to her mate “He looks adorable! Just like my little ones!”

“Guuuuyyysss!” whined Elliot he had a blush on his face. The two new parents laughed at his expense; he was fun to tease.

Sura smile only grew wider as she turned back to the nest and then to Ruphus. “I believe it’s your turn to clear the nest dear”

Ruphus smile vanished as he looked at the nest which really did need to be cleaned out. “I hate you” he muttered under his breath as he got to the task at hand. Sura laughed louder at her mate’s reaction. “The father does all the crappy work and the mother has all the cuddles” grumbled Ruphus.

“I cleared the nest the last time Ruphus so don’t be the mother and hog all the children because that role clearly doesn’t suit you”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are the worst female Swimmer alive?” asked Ruphus.

“You seem to love saying it” counted Sura.

“Yuck!” Elliot let out a fake retch at the antics of the two parents.

“If you want to have that attitude Elliot then I’m fine if you clean the nest” said Sura.

Elliot cringed. Ruphus grinned at seeing an opportunity to get out of the dirty job. “That’s the first good idea you’ve all day Sura, well how about it, Elliot?”

“Actually, I think I’m all good here not cleaning the nest, you can do that big daddy”

“I’m not your daddy” replied Ruphus in a deep voice

Elliot let out a nervous laugh. “You-you’re not-yeah you’re not!” he said quickly wearing an uncomfortable smile. Ruphus turned away chuckling.

“I’m messing with you Elliot,” he said as he went to work.

Elliot wiped the sweat from his face and for good measure dived beneath the water.  Sura’s children followed suit, however they could only hold their breath for a few seconds at a time so they often went up for breaths and Elliot stayed under. Ducky kept swimming down and trying to pull him up to the surface, she could not move him.

There was a sudden commotion from above the water. Elliot and Ducky could hear it and they turned towards the sound. They both surfaced but Elliot was a little alarmed by what he saw. “Oh crap” he groaned.

“And what do you have to say for yourself my naughty youngling?” demanded his mother sternly. The whole pond became silent as the hatchlings seemed rather intimidated by Ellie’s stern gaze.

Elliot tried to duck under but his mother was too fast and he quickly found himself being hoisted up by the tail, held firmly in his mother’s beak. What made it even more degrading was that his mother saw fit to put him in the nest and it was only half cleaned. He scrambled to the dry side as soon as his mother released him. Ducky was approaching, she was climbing up the side of the nest but she was having a lot of trouble moving up hill on sand and she kept slipping and falling on her belly and sliding back down into the water. Ducky squeaked in annoyance and pushed herself up again and tried again and again.

Elliot however was on the spot. “A fitting place for someone who was acting like a hatchling” said Ellie.

“I’m not, I just wanted to see how Sura was doing” said Elliot. His mother raised her eyebrows, clearly unconvinced. Elliot stuttered “I-I-I….oh…I’m sorry mom I….”

“Just wanted to see your new friends, who may be hatchlings but have made more of an impact - in a good way that is -than all the other children in the herd” Elliot sighed and nodded. His mother had read him easily and she was dead right. At this moment Ducky finally made it up into the nest and was standing next to Elliot and held his hand.

Even though Ducky was standing and Elliot was sitting, she only came up to Elliot’s chest. “Well since you like your new friends so much and since you also really like sneaking away without telling me, you can help Ruphus by cleaning out the rest of the nest for him” said Ellie in a way that Elliot knew he was not getting out of this punishment.
 
Ruphus sighed. “I’m saved, sorry Elliot but it looks your tail has been caught”. The young Swimmer groaned and drooped not only cause of the punishment but also Ruphus’ figurative statement which was now very much real as Ducky had found it fun to chase and catch Elliot’s tail whenever it moved. Ducky seemed to be really enjoying this as she let out happy squeaks as she grabbed and jumped on Elliot’s tail. This only amused the adults even more.

“Why am I the one being picked on!? These guys made the mess, why can’t they clean it?” Elliot gestured at Ducky and her siblings which made her reel back at Elliot’s unexpected gesture. He folded his arms and went into an adorable pout which his mother had not seen for years, however as much as she loved seeing her son come out of his shell, she still needed to set some boundaries.

“You know why, they are not cleaning it up and you know perfectly well why it’s your job. Talking is not going to get the task done any faster now is it?” said Ellie
.
Sura gently lifted Ducky up into her arms, she seemed to be rather excited about the prospect of going up while Elliot under the close supervision of his mother began to clean the nest. “Ewwww, I hate this job!”

Sura put Ducky back down in the pond with the rest of her children then turned back to Ellie. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard the news yet?” she said to Ellie.

“Heard what?”

“That I’ve just been promoted to head mother” said Sura.

“When?!?” Ellie said, she recoiled her head in surprise.

“Just before you arrived….”

Elliot groaned miserably as his mother and Sura chatted about things that he totally didn’t care about and besides, listening them would not get the nest cleaned any faster. He finished replacing the leaves and looked past Sura’s tail to see the children still happily playing in the water. “Wait a second? Where was Ducky?!” Elliot thought so loudly that he almost thought he heard the words come from his mouth however he didn’t need to look far to find her. Ducky was dipping her head in the river to look about at the creatures in there and the adults were too busy talking to notice!

Ducky pulled her head from the water with a gasp, she certainly was adventurous and coupled with the curiosity of a hatchling, could be a life-threatening combination. Ducky would’ve put her head back in the water had it not been for the beautiful multicoloured butterfly that happened across her and with a squeal of amazement she bounded after it, in the direction of the tall grass. Elliot suddenly gasped. He had seen something that Ducky was oblivious to. Laying low in the grass was the outline and glowing eyes of an Egg Stealer, patiently waiting for Ducky to come close enough for him to strike.

“Not on my watch!” thought Elliot.

“Sura! Egg Stealer!” Elliot shouted, pointing to the devious sneak with a finger, however that was not what caught Sura’s attention when she looked. She felt a lump in her throat.
 
“Ducky! Ducky come back!” she cried out, raising herself quickly. Ducky gave her a confused squeak and turned her head to face her mother but the Egg Stealer had chosen that moment to make his move. He dashed out of his hiding spot the same moment that Sura lunged for her daughter.

Her dive brought her close enough but the Egg Stealer was just looming over Ducky and already bending to grab the little Swimmer! Sura desperately made a grab for Ducky’s tail and caught it in her beak but the Egg Stealer had just grabbed Ducky with his hands. Sura refused to let go and a fierce tug of war started but it only lasted a few seconds. The Egg Stealer’s hands were moist from the muddy bank and he was unable to keep a hold over Ducky and with a strong pull Sura pulled her daughter free of the ugly fiend’s grasp. The Egg Stealer snarled furiously and sprinted away empty handed while Sura pulled her rather frightened daughter into her arms and held her as tightly as it was safe to. Gently nuzzling and cooing to her in order to calm her down. It didn’t take to long for Ducky to finally calm down.

Sura got to her feet and walked backed to the nest and sat on her haunches, she was panting and the overwhelming smell of sweat could be detected by her mate as she placed Ducky back into the cleaned nest and dusted herself off. Silently she lifted all her children back into the nest.

“You alright dear?” asked Ruphus, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Sura let out a long sigh and took a deep breath, “I’m fine now”

“That was too close” said Elliot, he stood on the rim of the nest in front of Sura.

“It wouldn’t have been close if it hadn’t been for you Elliot” Sura nuzzled. “I guess I still have a lot to learn about being an attentive mother.”

Elliot rubbed Sura’s beak with her hands and beak. “Thanks” He broke into giggles as Sura licked him in thanks.

“If you hadn’t warned us then I wouldn’t have saved Ducky in time, I didn’t even notice she’d gone” Sura said with a grateful smile.

“We’d better keep an extra good watch on the kids if we want to stop something like this happening again” said Ruphus… and if only he knew how many times his kids would sneak away from him and Sura, he would see himself as a very bad parent, and in terms of Ducky, she was only starting to get herself into these ridiculous life or death situations that would become very common for her later in her life.

Sura had to keep a constant vigil over her daughter for a while as Ducky had been rather frightened by her encounter with the Egg Stealer and would cry and squeal if she left her mother’s arms. She was also constantly trembling despite the reassurances of her mother. It took until Ducky was too exhausted to keep awake for her to calm down. The fright had taken a lot out of her and while she slept her siblings were happy to play around in the nest. Elliot stayed with them and while he was still the subject of attention for the little ones, his attention was focused on Ducky. He kept a hand on her back at all times while she slept calmly.

Out of all the kids Ducky was the first to truly connect with Elliot on a personal level simply because of the near-death experience that she’d gone through. It was something all too familiar to Elliot. All over the herd he had a reputation amongst his peers to be either extremely lucky or unlucky depending on how one looked at it. He was always at the place of action right when there was action, whether that be Sharptooth fights or rescuing kids or high-speed swimming races, he was always there for them and he never even tried to be like this, it just seemed to happen to him. The result was that he was somewhat looked up to by the kids his age and even the older kids admired him. However being where there was action came at a cost and for Elliot it was the loss of innocence.

He had now seen combat and blood and ever since he witnessed Sharptooth’s attack he had not been the same.  Then again, it was a herd changing experience.  Much of the herd was simply dead and he was one of the lucky survivors. This led to a disdain for the games and fun that kids like him usually enjoyed, he had grown up way too fast but only now in the presence of pure innocence in the form of these hatchlings was he starting to remotely come back to the fun-loving kid he used to be.
 
“Dear, I think perhaps we should introduce our little ones to the herd. The sooner we have every eye in the herd watching them, the sooner we can breathe easy” Ruphus said and his point was a very good one. Most of the time when new children were born to the herd each individual member would introduce themselves at the parents nest rather much like Ellie had done but this herd had its numbers more than halved and Sura and Ruphus had their nest further away from the others and with danger still around perhaps it was best to move the nest to the middle of the herd. That would guarantee the most safety for the hatchlings.

Sura nodded in agreement to her mate’s statement. “I don’t see why we can’t do that now and maybe it would be best to move in with the rest of the herd now that we have our children” Ruphus nodded and so did Ellie.
 
“I can make a hatchling nest for you while you introduce the herd to your children. It’ll be close to my nest so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding it”

Ellie received a warm smile from Sura. “Thank you very much Ellie, we’ll meet you there when we are done” said Sura. “Shall we?”

Ruphus nodded and gently picked up all the boys and held them in his arms while Sura picked up all the girls.
 
“Let’s be off” Merri said and started to lead the way through the shrub and long grass towards the herd.

“Wait for me!” Elliot called as he ran after them and entered a walk beside his mother. It was time for the herd to meet Sura and Ruphus’s children.


*


The small group made their way slowly along the river side upstream where the vegetation was less dense. This short journey however was made so much more interesting by the hatchlings, nearly all of them were poking their heads over the edge of their parents’ arms and in some cases nearly falling off, had Sura and Ruphus not pulled them back by the tails.

“And this is why we shouldn’t move around with hatchlings” Ruphus said as he pulled Echo back to stop him from tumbling out of his arms. It would be a rather unpleasant fall and there was no way either one of these new parents were willing to see if their children could survive such a fall. Soon the main herd came into sight. It was far smaller and compact now. Nearly every adult was present and arranged within a circle of about six fully grown males. Ruphus had chosen them himself to be guards around the herd, they would keep look out for any danger from afar and let the herd know if there was any threat close by.

The majority of nests were located near the water as that was where the Swimmers felt most comfortable. It provided a quick escape route should they be forced to run. Their herd had colonised both sides of the river with a sentinel at each point. The herd leader had done this for two reasons, one was to make the circle of protection wider and not have to worry about Sharpteeth trying to cross the river and cut the Swimmer’s off from the water. The other reason was a little more personal; the most fertile side of the bank was for herd members that had status within the herd. It was a subtle division but all the nests on the right side of the river were now abandoned. Sharptooth’s attack had limited their numbers so much that the herd only gathered on one side as their numbers were far smaller than they felt safe.

It was into this smaller congregation of Swimmers that the new family walked. There were a lot of relieved faces to be seen when the herd noticed them. Sura, Ruphus and Merri had not been seen since the attack so to see them walk in without wariness or wound was such a relief. Those smiles suddenly became gasps and coos of joy from some of the mothers as they noticed Sura’s new children.

Arron grinned when he saw them. “A little early to show your kids around don’t you think?”

“They are safer here than in our nest” replied Ruphus, to which everyone nodded.

“Sura! Over Here!” Sura turned in the direction of Ellie’s voice and walked over to her, she was sitting by her nest but she had dug out a new nest for Sura and her children. That earned her a grateful smile from Sura.

“Thank you, Ellie you’ve been a great help” Sura said when she arrived and carefully lowered herself down to individually place each of the children in her arms into the new nest. Ruphus did the same on the other side. Once all the little ones were safely in the nest the rest of the herd began to congregate around them to see the new additions to the herd. 

“Oh. My. Goodness.”

“Look at those little hatchlings”

“They. Are. Sooooo cute!”

The older females said as they crowded to look at the hatchlings.

“What did you name them?” Arron asked.

Sura smiled and put a hand of Ducky’s back. “This is my first hatched, her name is Ducky. She’s already more trouble than the others.”

“What do you mean?” asked one of the males of the herd.

“She could walk and even talk just after she hatched and nearly got herself eaten too”

“Wow, keep an eye on her then.”

“This is Rapid” Ruphus said stroking his son belly making him laugh. “Our first hatched boy.” 

Arron nodded thoughtfully, “He could be mistaken for a little tail”

“It’s a good mix of blood” said another one of the males, Arron’s second; Parian.

“This is Opal, Ducky’s twin” Sura said. She held up both Ducky and Opal and from a distance they were identical but if one were to look closer, they’d see the difference in their eyes. Ducky’s eyes were a light aqua blue while Opal’s were a far darker shade of blue like that found on the crystal that she had been named after.

“I hate it when that happens” Ellie said. She never had twins but she’d seen it more than once and it was so easy to get confused when trying to keep track of them or even identifying them and if Ducky was as much of a handful as she had been it would make keeping an eye on her very difficult when Opal looked so much like her. “Better than Natalie’s second clutch at least. I could not tell a single one of them apart”

There was a light chuckle through the herd but it quickly took on a sour tone and eventually translated to a sad silence as everyone thought about all those that they had lost during Sharptooth’s attack.
 
Ruphus cleared his throat. “This is Echo, Ray and Spinner” He put a hand on each boy as he called their names.

“I would’ve named Spinner, Echo” said Parian in a gruff voice as he looked over the youngling “He looks just like his father.”

“Only in looks” Ruphus said.

“And Echo acts like you?”

“Yep”

“Ok I can live with that” Parian said with a smile.

Sura picked up her last two unintroduced girls. “This is Sandy”. Everyone ‘aawed’ as they looked at the small light mustard coloured Swimmer as she lay on her belly and rolled about in the dust and reach up towards the sky puffies, her eyes wide with amazement. “And our youngest hatchling Diver”

Ellie squinted. Diver looked more like a boy, she was taller than the other girls and a bit bigger and there was also the fact that she and Rapid tumbled out of the nest but Diver who fell on the ground beneath Rapid only gave an annoyed squeal rather than crying out; she was tough. “She’s your youngest?” Sura nodded with solid conviction. “Sheesh, she doesn’t look like it. I’d have thought that she’d be the oldest girl” Ellie said.
 
“Looks are deceiving Ellie, she may look like a girl but Diver seems to be as tough as a boy” Arron said as he looked down at the hatchlings who were now being approached by the remaining children in the herd.

“And are you saying that we girls are not tough, that we are as delicate as a sweet-smelling flower!?” retorted Ellie, her gaze could set a forest ablaze.

“Nope” Arron said quickly, recoiling more then he cared to admit at the female’s fiery remark. “You could frighten a Sharpooth with that look.” 

“I’m glad we are on the safe side of the stream” Ellie said in a much sweeter voice.

“You girls are dangerous; you look gorgeous but you’re nothing but incredible maniacs on the inside” Ruphus laughed and dodged the playful swipe from Sura who wore a look that just screamed ‘Oh you!’

*


Everyone seemed to enjoy watching Sura’s new children, well almost everyone. While everyone’s eyes were magnetised to the hatchlings another set of eyes watched scornfully from further away in a thicket of reeds; her nest. She was close enough to have protection within the herd and far enough away to be unnoticed, the reeds themselves provided a good ring obscuring the occupant if they were laying down which was useful cover if one wanted to remain undetected by Sharpteeth.
 
Sculra watched Sura, Ruphus and their new children with a miserable expression though her eyes held the burning fire of rage and the black smoke of hate.

Sculra said no words, she was content to observe and stew in her own anger. Sura had birthed a clutch of children and not only that but a full clutch. A full clutch of healthy children. With Ruphus. “How. Dare. She.” Sculra raged internally. Ruphus was supposed to be ‘her’ mate. Those were supposed to ‘her’ children and that meddling sentimental Swimmer was ‘supposed’ to be dead.

But no and now they mocked her with a full family, not only that but Sura was now chief mother! One Sura was bad enough but what about a whole nest? A whole nest of her children? Her traditions would be thrown out the window and her power would be rendered obsolete and as existent as her current fantasies. It was no secret amongst the herd members that there was a little friction between Sura and Sculra. They got along well enough but there was something unseen. From Sura there was a clear sense of distrust and distaste for Sculra’s inflexible views on keeping old traditions and keeping them to the book.

Sculra radiated a sense of animosity to Sura and open hostilities to her more open views and less tradition orientated way of living. So far there had been no real confrontations or open troubles between them but that only keep their true feeling for each other buried and whether they associated with each other the other Swimmers would always feel a sense of unease from looking at them both.

However, there was one event that had happened which took Sculra’s hatred of Sura to a whole new level. Her mating with Ruphus; the one Swimmer Sculra desired more than any other. He was everything to her. He had the looks, strength, brains and even wit but the one thing that made him stand out was his firm upbringing to traditions, similar to her own upbringing though not as extreme.

Sculra wanted children but she was very picky about mates. Only Ruphus would do, and to make matters worse, not only was he mated with Sura and had…bred…with her but he also didn’t seem to like her either. Ruphus followed traditions and the only arguments they got into was about traditions and for Ruphus old habits die hard but over time he complied with Sura more and more. Sculra hated seeing this. To her eyes Sura was brainwashing Ruphus - the one mate she wanted - and she was going to make her pay.

But she couldn’t not now. She was the high elder and that was the only power she currently had and ever since that cursed attack, she was now a member of a smaller herd where practicality and those who could do proper jobs for the herd had the most power; Sculra’s power was but a mere figure head. She would have to wait, patiently and watch from the sides look for weaknesses and when the time was right, exploit them to her benefit. One thing was for certain….

Sculra looked back at Sura and Ruphus.  Both were receiving lots of praise and congratulations from the other members of the herd. In that moment Sculra knew that she’d get back at Sura in the vilest way she could hurt the new mother; by taking away her children! But the time was not right. Their numbers were too low and while Sculra hated to admit it Sura was competent and had done a lot in the herd and if this herd needed to survive it would require everyone. So not yet but one day.

One day. She would have her revenge and she would have her true mate. 


*


It was a busy day for Ducky and her brothers and sisters, being shown off to the whole herd. It was a little intimidating at first but she realised very quickly that there was no reason to fear. Everyone seemed happy and of course meeting the other children in the herd was a fun time for her. The youngest children in the herd were only at the age of little tails or toddlers and many of the older girls could not get their heads over the adorableness of Ducky and her other clutch mates.

However, through it all she had her family. Already the sibling bonds were being tried between herself and her brothers and sisters and it was with Ducky’s help and even Elliot’s that by the end of the day the whole clutch could walk, which made keeping them in the nest and out of harm’s way very difficult as the tiniest thing seemed to spark their curiosity and now that they could walk, they didn’t hesitate to explore everything around them. For the most part, Sura and Ruphus made a circle out of their own bodies. Some of the other children were inside the circle too while the adults watched from outside.

Another bond that had also grown was the bond between Ducky, her clutch mates and Elliot. He helped them walk, gave them encouragement and apart from their mother and father he was the one they’d go to when they found something that interested them. Unlike yesterday there wasn’t any rain just relentless heat. Thankfully for the hatchlings, their parent’s bodies provided enough shade and their Aunt continued to provide them with plentiful food and water. However, this would be the first day of another heatwave which were becoming far too common, although no surprise - after all this wasn’t called The Time of The Great Drought for nothing.

Soon the coming of twilight turned the sky a beautiful violet and a bright yellow sunset covered the sky and turning the clouds a bright red. The herd soon started to make their way back to their nests as dark approached. Ruphus got up from his spot. “It’s my turn to guard the herd tonight” he said. He trudged to a group of three male Swimmers that would be on guard duty tonight.

“Must you?” said Sura looking up at him.

Ruphus exchanged a quick nuzzle with his mate. “You know I don’t but I will now that we have our little ones. Who better to protect you while you sleep?” Sura sighed, looking down but nodded, she couldn’t fault his motive or logic.

“Be careful out there, dear” Sura said.

“You know I will” Ruphus said but before he left, he bent down and nuzzled his now sleeping children before walking off to his post.

Sura meanwhile looked back at her children and shook her head when she saw Elliot sitting next to the nest. “Sleeping time for you Elliot,” The young Swimmer groaned. His mother whose sleeping spot was only a Swimmer length away from Sura’s took notice.

“Come Elliot” She said. Her son reluctantly pulled away and went over to his mother. “You may think you’re the little one’s big brother but you’re still my son and you still need your sleep - honorary sibling or not”     

Elliot nodded silently as he curled up by his mother. Ellie, Sura and Merri briefly exchanged goodnights and one by one they all drifted off to sleep. However, Sura remained up. She didn’t want to go sleep. Protective instincts were hard to overrule but eventually she managed accept the lure of sleep and nuzzled her children one last time for the night. “Goodnight my little ones” she said.

However, as Sura let sleep embrace her she didn’t notice that her nuzzling had woken up Ducky. She opened her mouth wide and stretched out her arms as she yawned. Blinking a few times, she looked around the now dark landscape and couldn’t help but feel a little afraid. And she didn’t see her father anywhere. “Dada?” she asked but no one replied. Carefully getting to her feet and walking out of the nest with a few trips as her siblings were scattered all over the place and she could see as well in the dark.

Ducky walked down the slope of the small nest and walked a few paces. She had nearly made it over to Elly’s form when she saw the outline of a Swimmer standing in silent vigil on the perimeter of the herd and with the light of a waning crescent she was able to see that the figure was her father. Ducky perked up and smiled but before she could take another step, she heard a small sneeze. Drawn by the sound Ducky walked near Elly and found Elliot shifting a little restlessly.

Ducky walked over to him. She didn’t understand why he didn’t sleep with them but perhaps if he didn’t sleep with her then she could sleep with him. Ducky slowly walked over to him and curled up against his belly. It was cooler but the warmth was enough and she quickly fell asleep just as Elliot woke from her touch.

He looked down in surprise. “Ducky, what are you doing here?” His question was fruitless as Ducky was already fast asleep. Elliot smiled feeling truly touched. She was the first Swimmer kid that he felt he truly loved but not as a friend. “Goodnight…little sister”. He rubbed Ducky’s back and curled himself around her. He found sleep very quickly and the two little Swimmers had a peaceful night. The morning would be less than ideal, with Elliot waking up to a wet nest courtesy of Ducky and her mother in a bit of a panic when she found her nest missing one compassionate little Swimmer and Sura would only begin her laments on how many times Ducky would go missing from the nest in her life.






You asked for another Ducky chapter, you got another Ducky chapter. After 3 years. Well, better late then never. This is going to be the last of Ducky's that I'm going to be doing. Next character you can expect is Ruby. Hope you enjoy ^this and don't forget to give feedback and comments. Sorry this took so long.

Aquarius gave a triumphant cheer when he saw Rinen on the other side. His idea worked! There was hope for them yet! However they still needed to cross. Buko was preparing himself to go next and in response to his question Aquarius walked over to the taller Fast Runner. "I'll go with Wyoh" Aquarius said as he climbed up and onto her back. Aquarius was not looking forward to going across that dark pit. Heights terrified the young Swimmer. He found it unnatural for a Swimmer to be up so high when they should not be above ground but in or underwater so if he could put off going over the chasm a little longer then he would. "Talk about being stuck in the worst place for a Swimmer" Aquarius thought as he looked over the chasm and the single vine going across and had another idea. "Hey Buko when you get across could you tie your vine next to Rinen's? It'll make a bridge for Wyoh and I to cross" he asked the blue Fast Runner. 

Most of what has already been sums up my opinion of Ducky, I like her compassion and innocence. I think she grew as a character during the tv episode 'The Search for Sky Colour Stones' It acknowledged that she was not perfect and that she had a dark side and by the end of the episode Ducky had accepted and overcome her dark side. I also like her dynamic with Spike, it makes her more relatable, showing the bond they have with each other. However my opinion of Ducky has changed the greatest out of any of the main cast or any LBT character in general ever since I started writing my fanfic; The Swimmer Trials.

I can't help but see two versions of Ducky, the original as portrayed in the movie, sequels and tv series and the one that is in my story, I find them so similar but different at the same time.

And I also do have a my first attempt at a Ducky drawing which I have never put up.   

Well, in the original film I thought of Cera as a bit of an idiot with her prejudice ways and bragging attitude but over the sequels she really grew on my as a character into someone who was far more relatable. I personally found that we both had very strong tempers and were rather blunt and sceptical in some aspects. I really enjoyed her character however in regards to the latter films particularly Journey of the Brave I find that her character development has slowed almost to a complete stop which is a pity cause she has so much potential as a character. She's one of my favourite members of The Gang.