(Only 2 chapters, including this one, remaining! Hope you like it!)
Chapter 43: Final Round
The next morning came. All of the gang gathered around the waterhole just because they wanted to talk. “You look tired Chomper, you do, you do,” Ducky said from the water. “Did you have a bad sleep story?” asked Ruby, giving Chopmer a morning kiss when the rest of the gang wasn’t looking, even though she knew that Petrie and Littlefoot were aware of Chomper and Ruby’s love for each other.
“No, uh…my dad’s snoring just woke me up in the middle of the night,” Chomper lied, but it wasn’t a mean lie. I mean, how do you think everyone would’ve reacted if Chomper told them about Mage? Speaking of Mage, the rainbow face spirit decided to live in the Secret Caverns. At nighttime, he and Chomper would have talks, and Mage had always managed to avoid detection. So far, Chomper had no need for another use of Mage’s powers, and Mage was happy that Chomper did not get greedy or conceited because of this.
About a week after Chomper met the magical rainbow face, the gang was hanging out in the waterhole. “Ah, this is the life,” Petrie smiled. He could still fly perfectly well, be he decided to just lie on the little flotation device (Even though that’s not the term they used) that his friends had made for him back in chapter 21. “Yeah,” the gang replied in unison.
(Again, at this point, they would start singing Good Times, Good Friends, but I doubt you want to hear that one more time, am I right?)
Soon, they heard someone swimming close by. Tippy was quickly making her ways over towards her friends. “Guys! You’ll never guess what Tippy just heard!” the belly dragger smiled. “What is it Tippy?” Guido asked, the sharpbeak staring at her admiringly, but Tippy didn’t see this. “Tippy just overheard that there’s going to be another Pine cone tournament,” Tippy said.
“Cool,” Littlefoot, Chomper, Ruby, and Petrie replied. Cera sounded interested too, but she remembered the incident when she had to babysit Tricia and how she got into a big panic when she thought she had lost her, so she hoped that wouldn’t happen again. Tippy had one more piece of information about this contest.
“However, Tippy heard that only teams of 3 can compete in it,” the belly dragger explained. This posed a problem for the gang.
There was 9 of them, a number divisible by 3, but Ducky, being a swimming sharptooth, was not able to play this game. That left eight: Chomper, Ruby, Cera, Petrie, Littlefoot, Spike, Tippy, and Guido. Littlefoot was thinking of a plan. “Looks like 2 of us will have to not compete,” he said, not being able to come up with a way around this problem.
Ducky looked a little disappointed in her self, but she quickly smiled again. “I don’t mind, I don’t, I don’t,” she grinned. “I’ll keep you company Ducky,” Petrie said, flying towards the swimming sharptooth he had a little bit of a crush one. “Thanks Petrie,” Ducky replied.
“Guys, there’s still a week before the games you know,” Tippy said. The gang shared a little laugh. The friends then jumped it the water and gathered in a circle. “Yeah, as we work together, we’ll always do good,” Ruby smiled, the nine pals putting their hands/claws/fins together. What they didn’t see was that three bullies were nearby, listening to their every word……
“Those runts may have beaten us before, but they aren’t going to beat us again,” Hyp smirked to Mutt and Nod. “And I think I know how we can have an assured victory,” he added with a laugh. Nod and Mutt looked confused. “What do you mean Hyp?” Nod and Mutt asked confused. “You’ll find out….” Replied Hyp.
3.5 DAYS LATER……….
Chomper, Dein, Terri, Littlefoot, and Littlefoot’s grandparents came back with the rest of the t-rex hunting party, as it was their turn that day. “You’re really doing great son,” Dein complimented. “Thanks dad,” Chomper smiled. “Yeah, that clubtail didn’t stand a chance against the two of us Chomper,” Littlefoot smiled to his friend. The two young sharptooth seemed extra active these past couple days according to their parents.
“I remember how many times I played games when I was younger,” Dein said, remembering back when he lived in the Mysterious Beyond. “Yeah, you probably always lost,” Terri laughed. “Hey…” Dein said, annoyed but not offended. Chomper’s parents shared a laugh. Chomper smiled. Sometimes, he felt his parents acted like little kids (Especially after Terri told the story of how she and Dein met), but this didn’t bother him.
As Littlefoot and Chomper were walking back to the center of the GV, they noticed Hyp walking by. But the weird thing was, Hyp looked happy. Very happy, as he had an unusually noticeable smile on his face. “Hyp looks happy,” commented Littlefoot. The two little biters looked at each other. “Then it can’t be a good thing….” They said at the same time, knowing how Hyp was still a bit of a bully. “Well, let’s wait and see what happens,” Chomper said.
Littlefoot nodded in agreement. “Okay….race ya to the Secret Caverns!” he said, quickly getting a head start. “Hey!” laughed Chomper, following his friend.
2.5 DAYS LATER……………..
It was nighttime. Hyp had told Nod and Mutt to meet him by the trees where the stinging buzzer’s nest was. “So, what are we supposed to do?” Nod asked, because Hyp hadn’t told his friends what his intentions were. “Yea, what is it Hyp?” asked Mutt.
Hyp let out a sly grin. “Simple, help me with this,” he said, climbing into one of the trees and began picking out berries. The fast biter and belly dragger looked confused. “Uh….Hyp…..why are you getting those tree sweets? You know they are terrible,” Nod commented. “Exactly,” Hyp replied.
“You see, the night of the games, when we get to the Semi-Finals for sure, we’ll just secretly put these in the other team’s food, and when they eat this, they’ll get belly aches, and they won’t be able to play right!” Mutt thought this was a good plan, but Nod looked unsure. “But Hyp….we’d only be playing 3 at a time, couldn’t we win normally?” Hyp started to look mad.
Hyp jumped down. “Do you know how my dad reacted when we lost last time?!” he asked angrily. “He called me a weak wimp who can’t even hunt properly!” Nod stayed silent. “Ok…..I’ll help you,” he said finally. “I just want my dad to stop picking on me”! Hyp said, picking out more sweet bubbles.
THE NIGHT OF THE GAMES……………
The Gang of Nine decided how their teams would work:
Sitting out: Ducky, Petrie, Spike.
Playing, Team 1: Chomper, Littlefoot, Ruby.
Playing, Team 2: Cera, Tippy, Guido.
“You guys can do it, yes you can, you can!” Ducky smiled to her friends. “Thanks Ducky,” replied Chomper. Chomper was glad that in this reality he had more time to play games with his friends. In addition to the gang’s two teams, there was the trio of Hyp, Nod, and Mutt, and 5 other teams, leaving a total of eight.
Sharptooth, Littlefoot’s grandfather (Whose name was Allister, and this is the name he’ll have in SV 2 and in the previous reality.), Watra (From chapter 16), and Cira were serving as the referees/commentators. (IE, they roared what was going on like a modern day sports broadcast.)
Sharptooth went over to Ruby. “Good luck,” he whispered to the dark-reddish pink fast biter and her friends. “Thank you,” Ruby replied to her legal guardian. “And be sure to play fair. One thing in life I know is that cheating is one of the worst things you can do,” he said. The gang nodded. Sharptooth was full of wisdom, which was good as he was the leader of the valley.
“So, when do we play?” Guido asked the gang. “We’re not in the first match, the first match none of us are in,” Ruby responded. “But me, Ruby, and Littlefoot go in the second,” Chomper added.
“Cool,” said Petrie, who was sitting on Spike’s back. “Anyone want a buzzer?” he offered his friends, holding a nest of the insects. “Sure,” replied Ducky and Cera. Soon, the gang heard Sharptooth let out a roar, which signified the competition was about to begin.
The 6 members of the gang who were going to compete were doing some last-minute warm-ups. Cera and Ruby were running short distances, Littlefoot and Chomper doing push-ups (Ya never know, it might be possible for sharpteeth to do this.), and Guido and Tippy were sharing a pre-game snack.
Hyp, Nod, and Mutt were doing exercises too. Even though Hyp still had every intention of cheating, he would wait until the semi-finals to do so. Õ can’t lose,” he kept repeating to himself. Nod and Mutt were almost concerned about this.
The tournament began. None of the gang’s teams or the bullies were in the first match, so they could just watch. One of Petrie’s siblings was, however. “Go Glider!” Petrie said, cheering on his sister. One of the rules in the competition was that the sharptooth flyer players could only fly a limited height off the ground. Glider managed to dodge a tail swipe from a belly dragger and scored a point for her team. “Yeah! All right!” she cheered. “No sweat at all!” Soon, Glider’s team which consisted of her and two fast biters who were her friends won their match.
“We’re up,” Littlefoot smiled. The two sharpteeth and fast biter did last second warm-ups, and headed to the ring.
The team Chomper, Littlefoot, and Ruby were playing consisted of 3 t-rexes, and since you know the main characters are just going to win the match anyways, I’m just going to skip typing that match, OK?
Hyp, Nod, and Mutt were in the 3rd match of the quarterfinals. The opposing team consister of two belly draggers and one bladeback, all smaller than the trio of troublemakers. “This’ll be no problem,” Hyp laughed to himself as Sharptooth and Littlefoot’s grandpa roared to signal the start of the game. Mutt was the first to grab the pine cone. The young bladeback dived down to trip him, but it didn’t work. “Darn,” he said competitively.
Eventually, Hyp, Nod, and Mutt won the match. “Yes!” Ha! In your face!” Hyp bragged. “Good game,” one of the belly draggers tried to reply but Hyp was too caught up in his victory to notice. “Let’s get something to eat,” the belly dragger smiled to his team.
Meanwhile, Cera, Tippy, and Guido started their match while Chomper went to go get a drink of water. As he was by himself, he heard a noise like a flash of smoke. Mage soon appeared beside him.
“Hi Mage,” he smiled to his friend. “I watched your first match from a distance,” the magic rainbow face replied. “I remember, even though it was very long ago, how I used to play games with my friends, before I even heard of all this magic stuff I had within me.” Chomper felt bad for his friend. “But I’ve gotten over it,” he replied, to make chomper feel better. “But….I am concerned about those bullies who are in the competition. I’ve got a bad feeling about them.” Chomper gave a tiny head shake of agreement. Just then, he heard noises suggesting the match was over. “We won!” he heard Cera call.
Meanwhile, when no one else was around, Hyp, Mutt, and Nod were gathering up a massive pile of berries. “So, where exactly are we going to put these?” Mutt asked Hyp confused. “Actually, we’ll be crushing a lot of them,” Hyp smirked. Nod and Mutt looked more confused.
The trio found where the other teams had caught food for themselves. “I heard that just the juice these berries make can give any sharptooth a bad stomachache,” he grinned, “And this’ll assure our victory.” He crushed the berries in his hands and let the juice they produced drip all over the clubtail Cera, Tippy, and Guido caught for themselves.
BACK AT THE TOURNAMENT……
The Semi-Finals had begun. Chomper, Ruby, and Littlefoot were facing off against Glider and her fast biter friends. “Go Chomper!” Dein and Terri cheered. “Go Littlefoot!” Gradma and Grandpa Sharptooth called to their grandson.
Ruby had grabbed the cone and was dashing towards the goal and was about to score a point when Glider flew by and grabbed it out of her hands. “Got to change my tactics,” Ruby thought to herself. They also had a problem: Glider was flying as high as the rules allowed, but it was higher then the friends could jump! But Littlefoot and Chomper had a plan…..
“Chomper! Now!” Littlefoot called to his teammate. Chomper ran beside Littlefoot who was right under Glider. Littlefoot stuck his arms out in front of him, and applied all the strength he had to them. Chomper jumped up…..and landed on Littlefoot’s hands, but it didn’t hurt. Thisw as something the two little sharpteeth had practiced. With all his might, Littlefoot gave Chomper an extra boost allowing Chomper to jump again and grab the pine cone out of Glider’s claws!” “No way!” Glider called amazed.
Elsewhere, the other 3 competing members of the gang were having a bite to eat before their next match. “We can beat those bullies,” Guido said confidently. As Tippy dug further into the clubtail, she suddenly commented, “This tastes funny to Tippy, does it to any of you guys?” the belly dragger asked. Cera took a bite, and nodded in agreement. Little did they know they had fallen into Hyp’s scheme….
The match was tied 3-to-3. The next point would decide the game. Ruby jumped out of the path of the other fast biter and hurried towards the goal. She tossed the pine cone and scored the point. “Yeah!” Littlefoot and Chomper cheered, Chomper hugging Ruby. :- ) “Good game,” smiled Glider, and the teams shook hands/claws.
Littlefoot’s belly rumbled. “I’m hungry, how bout you guys?” he asked. Chomper and Ruby agreed. “My grandpa caught a flyer for us,” Littlefoot smiled. Chomper licked his lips. Flyers were his favorite food. “Let’s eat fast so we can cheer our friends on,” said Ruby. As they weer going to get their meal, Cera, Guido, and Tippy were coming back from their’s…. and they didn’t feel good.
Getting into the arena, Cera was taking some deep breathes. “There was something wrong with that clubtail,” she thought to herself. She felt like she needed to puke. Tippy and Guido felt equally sick. Sharptooth roared signaling the start of the game. “Let’s go!” Hyp laughed, acting like he wasn’t aware of his opponents’ problems.
Meanwhile, Chomper, Littlefoot, and Ruby were taking a few bites of a longneck Terri had caught for them, when they began to notice something. “What’s that stuff covering the longneck?” asked Ruby, who had already taken a few bites, as did the rexes. “That’s sweet bubble juice!” Chomper realized in disgust. “Gross,” said Littlefoot, spitting the bite out he had just taken. “But it’s weird,” Ruby said, starting to get a belly ache. “The only way it could get completely covered in sweet bubbles is if…..someone else covered it with them.” There was a realization.
“HYP!” the all yelled. Meanwhile, the match was pretty one-sided. Tippy, Guido, and Cera didn’t feel well enough to play their very best. The semi-finals were over soon. Hyp looked in the crowd and saw his father, pleased with his son’s victory, but unknowing of his methods. “Something’s not right here,” said Guido.
Meanwhiel, Littlefoot, Chomper, and Ruby were starting to get stomach aches themselves. “We gotta tell Sharptooth about this,” said Littlefoot. “Yeah, he bullies are cheaters,” agreed Ruby. “I just wish we could’ve beat Hyp fairly,” Littlefoot said. Suddenly, an idea came to Chomper. “I’ll be back in a minute guys, wait here.” Ruby and Littlefoot agreed.
Chomper went off until he was all by himself and called “Hey Mage!” The raindowface spirit soon appeared beside him. “Hi Chomper, what is it you want?” “You were right about the bullies Mage,” Chomper said, “They covered me and my teammates’ food in sweet bubble juice, and now we feel kinda sick.” “So what is it you want me to do?” Mage asked. “Well, since unlike them, I’m not going to cheat, could you make it so me, Ruby, and Littlefoot would feel how we felt before we ate the stuff?” he asked, holding his stomach. Mage could grant this request. “Sure thing, just give me a sec,” the rainbowface replied. With a snap of his fingers, Chomper’s stomachache went away, as did Ruby’s and Littlefoot’s.
“Thank you,” Chomper smiled, running off to join his friends. “Don’t mention it,” Mage called back. When chomper caught up to his friends, they looked amazed. “I don’t feel sick anymore, because I do feel good now,” Ruby commented. “I gues….we just didn’t eat a lot of the sweet bubbles,” smiled Chomper. “Now let’s teach Hyp a lesson!”
AT THE FINAL ROUND……….
Hyp looked shocked to see the opposing team enter the arena, all looking fine and not sick. “Oh no” he said silently. “I can’t lose….I just can’t…” Chomper overheard this. He wondered why. The game soon began.
It was a VERY close match. The teams were equal in skill, despite the bullies being older. After what seemed like forever, the score was tied 5-5. The next point decided who won. As everyone was taking a quick breath before the play started, Chomper looked into the crowd, and noticed a sharptooth in it looking very serious. “That’s Hyp’s dad,” he realized. “That’s why he cheated, he just didn’t want to get his dad angry.” Just then, Cira roared, causing the start of the final play.
Hyp dashed for the pine cone, but Littlefoot was able to scoop it up. Hyp was in close persuit as Littlefoot headed for the goal, then Mutt pounced on Littlefoot, knocking it out of his hands. “I got it!” Hyp called, catching the pine cone, but then Ruby ran up. “No, I got it,” she laughed, jumping up and swiping it out of Hyp’s hands. Littlefoot got back up from Mutt’s pounce.
Nod was getting nervous, Ruby and Littlefoot were dashing towards him. (In this round, Chomper was his team’s goalkeeper.) Hyp tried a desperate last dive towards Ruby, but Ruby (If this was a sports movie, this would be in slow motion) jumped up and with all her might tossed the pine cone into the goal and over Nod, scoring the final point.
“WE WON!” Chomper, Ruby, and Littlefoot cheered. “No….” Hyp said in self-disappointment. As Cera, Guido, Tippy, Spike, and Petrie went over to congratulate their friends as the crowd of sharpteeth cheered, Chomper saw Hyp’s father come up. “Hyp, you lost again to these little biters?! How weak are you?!” This made Chomper mad, even if he wasn’t fond of Hyp particularly.
“Hey, don’t yell at him!” Chomper said, standing up for Hyp. “He did try hard!” Ruby, Littlefoot, and the rest of Chomper’s friends looked surprised, but moved by this action. “Yelling only makes things worse!” Hyp’s father was surprised by how this little biter stood up for his son. He took a deep breath.
“Hyp….I’m sorry,” he finally said. Hyp looked surprised, his father never apologized to him before. “Just be back at home soon,” Hyp’s father then walked off. At this point, Cera and the other’s stomachaches had gone away.
“Hey Hyp….we were going to get something to eat after the games, do you, Nod, and Mutt want to come along?” Littlefoot offered friendly. The bullies looked surprised. The Gang of Nine was being kind to them after they were jerks to them. “Sure Littlefoot,” Hyp and Nod replied. Spike had already taken off towards the food. “Come on, I think Spike’s already hungry for a clubtail that we can find nearby,” Littlefoot grinned.
Now, the bullies had become friends of the gang. “That was nice of you standing up for Hyp, Chomper,” Ruby smiled. Once again, the rex and fast biter shared a kiss. No one saw this, except for Cera, who was unaware of the little crush. “What are these two up to?” she wondered to herself.
(There, read and review. Only 1 chapter left!)
Next time on Sharptooth Valley: When Chomper and Ruby head to Saurus Rock again, Cera, as well as Spike, Tippy, and Ducky try to find out what’s going on between the two of them.