The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => LBT Fanfiction => Topic started by: DarkHououmon on October 29, 2009, 12:15:31 AM
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I had an idea for an LBT war story for some time and I was going through some ideas. Finally decided to start writing it. It's been a long time since I last wrote an LBT story.
I don't know how often I'll be working on this, especially since I plan on entering NaNo next month (write a 50,000 word story in one month).
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Ducky screamed as she dodged sharp ends of the horns as the threehorn thrust his head into the ground, attempting to spear her. There was a sickening crack as one of the horns broke under the pressure, and blood spewed from the opening in the horn. The threehorn stopped momentarily, bellowing in pain, before he resumed his chase after Ducky.
Ducky looked ahead and saw a big pile of rocks against a cliff. She looked behind her and noticed the threehorn was quickly closing in. She ran as fast as her small legs could carry her and climbed up onto the rocks. Once she was on top, she pressed herself as far back against the wall as she could. She looked down as the threehorn attempted to climb up after her. She couldn't help but be confused. What was wrong with this threehorn? She had never seen this kind of aggression from a threehorn, save for Cera's father, and even he didn't go this far.
“Why are you doing this?” Ducky worked up the courage to talk to the threehorn. “You are not a sharptooth, no, no, no.”
But instead of responding, the threehorn simply bellowed at her and continued to attempt to climb up. Ducky gasped and started to move along side the cliff sideways, being careful not to let her feet slip on the very narrow edge she was now standing on. Making painstakingly slow progress, she managed to put some distance between her and the marauding dinosaur.
The threehorn was relentless. In his constant efforts to climb up the slippery pile, he managed to get close enough to snap his beak at Ducky. The action was so sudden it took Ducky by surprise and she stumbled on her next step. Her foot missed its target and she found herself rolling across the side of the cliff.
“Oof!” Ducky hit the ground and shook her head. She looked over and saw the threehorn was closing in on her. Screaming, she quickly got up and tried to run, but the threehorn placed his foot on her tail and stopped her in her tracks.
The threehorn spoke his first words since he began the chase. “You're not going anywhere.”
“Help!” Ducky called out.
“Who are you yelling for? There is no one out here, swimmer. You should have stayed in your pitiful valley.” The threehorn said.
Ducky started to shake in fear. She had been with her friends not so long ago. She had become separated and ultimately ran into this fellow. She thought he would help her find her friends, but instead he chased her into the Mysterious Beyond. Outside the walls, she doubt no one had heard her scream.
“You're not like any threehorn I've seen...” Ducky murmured. “...who are you?”
The threehorn narrowed his eyes. “That does not concern you. Now why don't you hold still so I can...”
“Leave her alone!” A voice suddenly rang out.
A second later, something large and tan slammed into the threehorn, knocking him completely off Ducky. The little swimmer watched in astonishment as the threehorn landed on his back with a heavy thud. But she didn't have any time to take in what just happened as she felt herself suddenly lifted into the air by a large hand and the ground beneath started to move really fast as her savior started to run away from the threehorn.
Ducky looked up to see who had rescued her. Her eyes widened. “Ms. Maia? What are you doing?”
Ms. Maia looked down with a stern look. “Saving you, of course! What did you think I was going to do? Leave you there?”
Ducky didn't answer her question. She looked behind her to see the threehorn was catching up. Ducky let out another scream and clung to Ms. Maia's arm.
Ms. Maia smirked. “Don't worry, child. That threehorn isn't fast enough to catch up to me.”
Ducky's eyes widened again. “I think you spoke too soon...” She pointed forward.
Up ahead was a large wall. Ms. Maia suddenly came to a halt, and looked up. She then turned around and saw the threehorn charging forward, his horns lowered. After setting Ducky back on the ground, Ms. Maia took position in front of the swimmer and stomped the ground with one foot and let out a roar.
The threehorn didn't stop and made contact with the crestless swimmer. Ms. Maia quickly grabbed onto the long brow horn with one hand and the side of the frill with the other. She began to push the threehorn back, using all the strength that she had in her.
Ducky looked on in horror as she watched Ms. Maia take on the voracious threehorn. Of all the dinosaurs in the Great Valley, Ms. Maia was the last dinosaur she thought would come and save her. And it seemed she was losing. The threehorn looked much stronger and he was certainly proving it, having pushed Ms. Maia a couple inches backwards while she barely managed to make him move at all.
Worried, Ducky started to walk up towards the two fighting dinosaurs. Not the wisest thing to do, but she couldn't help herself. “Ms. Maia...? Do you need help?”
“Get out of here, child!” Ms. Maia snapped at her, startling her. “Run!”
“But..what about you..?” Ducky asked, reaching a hand out towards the crestless swimmer. She silently wished she could do something to help.
Ms. Maia suddenly struck Ducky with her thick tail, knocking her a couple feet back. “I said get out of here! I can handle myself, but you are just a child! Get out of here while you still can!”
Ducky picked herself off the ground and glanced back at Ms. Maia. Although she wished she could do something, she trusted Ms. Maia's words that she can take care of herself. Ducky turned around and headed towards a small opening that she could fit through. She paused in front of the tunnel and looked back at Ms. Maia one last time. “Don't worry. I will go get help. Yep, yep, yep.” With that, she disappeared into the tunnel.
Once she was certain that Ducky was indeed gone, Ms. Maia released the threehorn and immediately sidestepped, allowing the dinosaur to fall forward and into the hard ground. Before the threehorn had time to get up, Ms. Maia swatted him with her tail, nearly breaking one of his front legs. A large bruise slowly began to form where she had struck.
The threehorn groaned in pain and looked up at the crestless swimmer. “Why do you risk your life for the little swimmer? Do you care about her?”
Ms. Maia narrowed her eyes. “No...but I'd rather die than allow an innocent child to be killed by a monster like you.” Ms. Maia couldn't help it. Even though she didn't like Ducky, her maternal instincts were strong, and it compelled her to save Ducky's life. She couldn't just let the little swimmer die.
“That can be arranged...” A voice spoke from behind.
Suddenly, Ms. Maia felt an arm slink around her neck and she felt her head behind pulled to one side. Before she had time to react, she felt a single, sharp claw press against her neck. The mysterious dinosaur made a quick motion with his arm, driving the claw clean across Ms. Maia's throat. Then, he released her.
Blood spurting from the deep gash in her neck, Ms. Maia slumped to the ground. As she lay there bleeding swiftly, she felt sky water hitting her body and noticed it had gotten noticeably darker. Weakly, she looked up towards her killer. Despite the darkness, she seemed to recognize who, or what, her killer was. Her eyes widened. “H-How...” But she never finished her sentence. She quickly bled to death and her body went limp.
The threehorn slowly climbed onto his feet and limped towards the mysterious dinosaur. “I have done what your leader asked of me. Where is my end of the deal?”
The mysterious dinosaur chuckled. “Excuse me? You did none of the killing. As you remember, my leader wanted you to kill a Great Valley dinosaur and deliver it to him. You did not do the killing. I did.”
“I at least tried! That counts for something, doesn't it?” The threehorn said. “Why, if it weren't for me weakening that pathetic crestless swimmer, you wouldn't have a body to take back!”
The mysterious dinosaur reached towards the ground beside himself and held out a couple small, orange-colored treesweets. They were extremely rare in this part of the world. “I don't think you really deserve this. You couldn't even dispose of a little child...” He tossed the treesweets towards the threehorn. “But I suppose your little effort counts for something.”
The threehorn immediately gobbled up the treesweets and licked his beak. “You're darn right it does!” He said in an arrogant fashion.
“If you're quite done gloating, carry this dinosaur back to my leader.” The mysterious dinosaur said. “You are big enough.”
“Oh all right.” The threehorn said as he pushed the lifeless leafeater onto his back.
As the two dinosaurs started to make the trek back from where ever they came from, they didn't notice a flyer standing in the shadows, looking at the scene in horror. After a few moments, the figure slowly moved out of the shadows, their eyes never moving from the retreating dinosaurs. The little light that remained barely made the figure out to be Rinkus. Standing next to him was another flyer, Sierra, who eyed the scene with a calm expression.
“What just happened?” Rinkus asked, holding his tail nervously.
“Who cares?” Sierra said as he spread his wings. “Let's just leave. I hate being near the Great Valley. Too many memories of those little brats.”
Rinkus was hesitant. “Shouldn't we..tell someone about this?”
“Why? What have they ever done for us?” Without saying another word, Sierra took off into the air.
Rinkus glanced at the Great Valley for a couple seconds before reluctantly turning away and taking off after Sierra.
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I like it! A high octane and gritty battle opens up a new novel.
Looks like I have to change my signature! :lol
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That threehorn is such a coward for goin' after a kid, especially Ducky :rolleyes:. Poor Ms. Maia. I can't stand her, but that was still sad to see her give her life for Ducky. Looks like an interesting story goin' on here :yes.
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I like this story.
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I like, I like... :DD
I can't wait to see what happens. Great beginning, it's got me fired up.
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Ooh, bloody violence - me likes. :p
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Hey, not bad. I like it. I felt bad for Ms Maia, dying in such an awful way. But if it wasn't for her Ducky would've been killed.
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Thanks for the compliments. :)
Here's the next chapter.
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“Do you see her yet?” Littlefoot called out.
Petrie, who was flying overhead, looked from side to side. “Me no see her yet!”
Littlefoot frowned, worried. He and the others had been trying to find Ducky for a while now. She had disappeared earlier, but he didn't know why. It wasn't like Ducky to just run off like that. Where could she have gone to?
“What about you, Guido?” Chomper, who was standing next to Littlefoot, called out.
Guido circled around, arms outstretched, as he searched for Ducky. “Not a thing!”
Littlefoot bit his lip. Thinking of a different plan, he turned to Chomper. “Can you find Ducky with your sniffer?”
Chomper shook his head slowly. “I'm sorry, Littlefoot. But I'm still recovering from flowing sniffer.” He wiped his nose with one hand and looked at the clear water-like material on his hand. “This stuff blocks my ability to smell any smells. I can't find anyone with this sniffer.”
Littlefoot let out a sad groan. He should have known better than to ask Chomper for help at this time. After inhaling some yellow puffies a few hours ago, he had been sneezing and his sniffer got red and swollen and clear liquid dripped from his nose. He was told Chomper would recover but it would take a while.
While Petrie and Guido continued to search the skies, Littlefoot, Cera, Spike, Ruby, and Chomper continued their ground search. They split from each other to cover more ground.
Ruby walked over to a log and peered inside. “Ducky! Are you in there?”
Cera noticed a low rock with a small space underneath. She looked underneath. “If you're in there, Ducky, come on out!”
“Ducky?” Chomper pulled back a thick bush. “Not here.”
Spike walked up to some tall grass and chomped away at the vegetation with his jaws, easily creating an opening in the patch. He looked inside and let out a moan of despair.
Littlefoot glanced over at Spike, noticing his sad expression. “She's not in there either, Spike?” Upon seeing Spike shake his head, Littlefoot started to become even more worried. “She's got to be here somewhere!”
Ruby walked up to Littlefoot. “Do you think we should tell Ducky's mom about this?”
“No way!” Cera said before Littlefoot could say anything. “If they found out we lost Ducky, we'll probably be grounded!”
“I'd be more worried about Chomper. You know how Cera's dad is with sharpteeth. He'll blame the Ducky's disappearance on him.” Littlefoot explained. Cera shot him a look. “What? It's the truth.”
“Hmph!” Cera turned her head away without another word.
Just then, there was a loud scream. The groundwalker dinosaurs looked up to find the source of the scream.
“Did you hear that?” Ruby asked.
Then another scream came, followed by the sounds of rocks falling. This time the scream was loud enough for them to recognize who it was.
“Ducky!” They shouted in unison.
The group took off running towards the source. Petrie and Guido flew out ahead of the group. They soon came to a dead end, coming face to face with a wall. They looked up and saw Ducky rolling down the slope. Horrified expressions came over their faces.
“Ducky! Me catch you!” Petrie dove in as fast as he could. He gripped onto Ducky's tail and started to flap his wings rapidly. But the momentum of Ducky's fall caused Petrie to fall down with her despite his efforts.
“Don't worry, guys! I gotcha!” Guido glided underneath the two falling children. He landed on the ground and opened his arms wide.
Seconds later, Ducky and Petrie slammed into the glider. For a couple moments, Guido managed to hold them up, arms shaky. Then he collapsed, landing on his back. The others quickly moved towards the trio.
Groaning, Petrie lifted his head and said, “Thank you.”
“Oh yes, yes, thank you.” Ducky said.
Guido lifted up his head and said, “D-Don't mention it, guys.” His head fell back to the ground.
“Ducky! Are you all right?” Littlefoot asked as he lowered his head to help Petrie, Guido, and Ducky back onto their feet. When Ducky nodded her head, Littlefoot smiled, feeling relieved that she was all right.
Once the three were back on their feet, Spike rushed towards Ducky and gave her several licks on the face. Ducky chuckled and wrapped her arms around the spiketail.
“Where have you been?” Ruby asked. “We were worried about you!”
“Yeah! Why did you sneak off like that?” Cera said.
Upon seeing Cera, Ducky's eyes grew wide with fear momentarily. “No reason..”
Cera's face got a puzzled expression. “What?”
Ducky immediately shook her head. “Oh, nothing!” Then she let out a gasp. “We must go find the grownups! Oh yes yes!”
The others looked at each other briefly and looked back at Ducky.
“Why?” Littlefoot asked.
“It's Ms. Maia! She's in trouble!”
Elsewhere, out in the Mysterious Beyond, a group of eggstealers were making their way towards the Great Valley. One was further out ahead and showing more enthusiasm about going towards the valley while the other was hanging back a tad.
“Ozzy...” The lagging eggstealer said. “Are you sure you want to go back here?”
“Well of course I'm sure!” Ozzy responded, licking his beak. “There's so many eggs, Strut. We'd feast forever!”
Strut tilted his head. He couldn't understand Ozzy's obsession with eggs. “But couldn't we pick a safer target to eat like green food?”
Ozzy looked at his brother with a disgusted expression. “No! We are eggstealers, not leaflickers!”
Strut shook his head. “Just because we are eggstealers doesn't mean we have to eat eggs. We are halfteeth.” He glanced at the valley's walls and shuddered, remembering what had happened the last time they were there. “And besides, this place gives me the creeps. Remember the sharpteeth?”
“They're long gone!” Ozzy said. “Good thing we found that mud pit!”
Strut grimaced. “And it smelled horrible too.”
Ozzy said, “At least it covered our body smell!”
As the two eggstealers were talking, a pair of yellow eyes peered at them through a shadowed place against the cliffs. It watched them intently, its body motionless. The only sound that it emitted was its own breathing, sounding raspy. It moved quietly along the side of the cliff, careful to stick to the shadows. It took a step forward and raised its head up.
The eggstealers drew closer to the valley. And as they got closer, so did the shadowy figure. When the two eggstealers stopped at one of the smaller entrances to the Great Valley, the figure seemed to take this chance and moved in quickly behind them. It got just a couple feet away and quickly slowed its pace. Again the only sound coming from it were its harsh breathing.
Strut's eyes went went when he noticed another shadow on the ground. He felt hot breath hitting on his body and slowly turned to his brother. Judging from Ozzy's expression, he had also noticed there was someone else out here with them. “Who is that?”
Ozzy slowly turned his head around to see who was there. He suddenly screamed. “Run!”
Strut quickly looked behind him. Upon seeing the mysterious figure, he screamed, “Sharptooth!”
The two eggstealers quickly ran towards the tunnel. Unfortunately they ran in at the same time and were stuck for a few moments. But they quickly managed to get unstuck and squeeze through the opening.
The stranger, who turned out to be a horned clawhand, walked up to the tunnel and examined it. It was too small for it to fit through. It snorted and turned around. It glanced back at the wall, its expression more perplexed than angry. It scratched its head in confusion and started to walk around the outside of the valley, looking for any larger openings it could squeeze through.
The horned clawhand craned its head upwards and noticed a large opening higher up on an overhanging cliff. Narrowing its eyes with determination, it began to climb up the steep slope, using its claws for traction. It nearly fell down a few times, but it managed to reach the top. It shook its body a couple times and then ran through the opening.
It seemed to take a moment to be sure it was in the right place. Then it quickly ran off into the distance.
The threehorn that had attacked Ducky earlier dragged Ms. Maia's body into a cave. He was now in a wide open area, covered with trees and grass, but absolutely no surrounding walls. There were some tall rocky hills, some much larger than others, but no protective wall like the Great Valley. And yet in spite of this, there were a lot of leafeaters in the area, happily munching on green food.
The threehorn let go of the crestless swimmer's body and took a step forward. He slowly lowered his body to the ground. “I have brought what you asked of me.” He said. Up ahead, he could see a shadowy figure and immediately recognized it as the leader. “I hope you are pleased.”
“Oh yes, I am pleased.” A feminine voice coming from the shadowy dinosaur said. However, she didn't get up from her spot. “Well done, Tric.”
Tric said, “Thank you, Rona.”
The dinosaur, Rona, chuckled softly. Still not moving from her spot, she said, “Of course, I was more interested in a young Great Valley dinosaur. But this crestless swimmer will do just fine. I must say I am rather impressed you managed to take her down.”
Tric didn't know whether he should take this as a compliment or as an insult. Either way, he didn't want to anger Rona, so he remained quiet.
“Now for your next task.”
Tric's eyes widened slightly. “But I thought killing a Great Valley dinosaur was all you wanted me to do...”
“True, but I changed my mind. This doesn't only benefit me..it benefits you.” Rona explained. “If you can complete this task, you're ready to truly be a part of my group.”
“All right then...what do you want?” Tric asked.
“Bring me back a Great Valley sharptooth.” Rona said.
Tric's eyes widened in confusion. “But, Rona..there are no sharpteeth in the Great Valley!”
Rona chuckled. “According to the rumors, there is. Oh yep..yep..yep...”
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Pretty good DarkHououmon keep up the good work.
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Looks like Chomper's gonna need some extra protection now :unsure:.
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I find it EXTREMELY creepy that Ducky's trademark "yep, yep, yep" is spoken by a villain.
Still, I love the way this is going.
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I find it EXTREMELY creepy that Ducky's trademark "yep, yep, yep" is spoken by a villain.
Still, I love the way this is going.
D'oh! I did not think about that before. That is very creepy :blink:!
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Yeah, that last line actually sent a chill down my spine... :lol:
This is getting very, very interesting. Patiently awaiting new developments... :D
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Ozzy and Strut continued to run along the tunnel. After a couple more moments, they finally stopped and rested, leaning against the tunnel walls. Their breathing was slightly raspy from the running and from them panicking.
Ozzy spoke, “Is..Is it still..following us..?”
Strut looked behind him. “No, Ozzy. I guess it couldn't fit through the opening.”
Quickly recovering from the shock of seeing a sharptooth so up close, Ozzy started to walk calmly down the tunnel. “Good. Now let's make our way into the Great Valley. I'm starving and I want to get my claws on one of those delicious eggs!”
Strut sighed. “Well you can go on and do that. I'm going to get some greenfood and...”
Immediately he was cut off by Ozzy. “Oh no you don't!” Ozzy gripped his brother by the neck loosely. “No family member of mine is going to behave like those lowly sapsuckers!”
Strut pointed at Ozzy. “You mean the leafeaters?”
“What's the different?” Ozzy said. “It means the same thing!” Strut opened his mouth to speak, but Ozzy quickly clamped his hand around his mouth, keeping it shut. He looked up as if he had heard something. “Be quiet! I thought I heard something.”
The two eggstealers remained motionless for a while, looking around the tunnel to try to find the source of whatever Ozzy had just heard. A few times they looked behind themselves to make sure there wasn't anyone sneaking up on them. The tunnel had grown very quiet with the only sounds they could hear being their own breathing.
After a while, Strut freed his mouth and said, “I don't hear anything.”
Ozzy scratched his head. “I could have sworn I heard footsteps. Maybe I was just imagining things. Come on!” He broke into a run with Strut following close behind.
As they disappeared, a shadow appeared on the wall. As it drew larger, the distinct shape of a flyer emerged, the long beak with jagged teeth visible even in the shadows. Then a moment later, a second shadow appeared, looking slightly taller than the first shadow. After a couple more seconds, voices could be heard, talking in soft tones.
“Why do we have to go this way?” Said a voice.
“Because we don't want to alert the grownups that we're here!” Said another voice.
“But we want to go the elders anyway, so why not...” The other voice tried to say.
“Are you nuts?! They'd chase us out as soon as they get the chance!” Said the other voice. Finally the figures stepped from the shadows, revealing themselves to be Sierra and Rinkus. Sierra shook his head. “I still can't believe you convinced me to come here! If I so much as see one of those little whiny brats again, I'll....!”
Rinkus took a step forward. “Maybe we won't run into them.”
Sierra growled. “Fat chance!” He still couldn't believe Rinkus wanted to tell the elders about what they had seen. What had gotten into him? Rinkus didn't care so much before. Why is he suddenly worried now? Sierra had thought of asking, but thought he'd get a stupid answer and decided not to question it.
“By the way,” Rinkus said, holding up a finger. “Did you hear something earlier? I think there's someone else in this tunnel with us.”
Sierra said, “The only thing I can hear is you!”
“Hmm..maybe I am just hearing things...” Rinkus murmured to himself.
“Well let's get a move on! You wanted to get into the valley so badly. Let's go.”
With that, the two flyers continued on their trek through the tunnel.
“That is crazy talk!” Topsy shouted, glaring at the group of children.
Littlefoot and the others had arrived at the watering hole next to the thundering falls, where their family members were at, bathing, eating, or getting something to drink. Ducky had just explained what had happened. Topsy's reaction didn't surprise anyone.
“But it's the truth! It is! It is!” Ducky insisted.
Topsy narrowed his eyes. “No threehorn would act in such a manner! I'd understand if it was a domehead. You know how irrationally they behave.”
A domehead that was standing nearby looked offended. “Hey!”
Topsy shook his head. “But I know for a fact that no threehorn would behave in such a despicable manner!”
“Well you seemed to act in a similar way when we first found out about the tiny longnecks!” Tria, who was standing next to Topsy, said, glaring in his direction. “If I recall correctly, you wanted to seal the poor things up in their own underground home, and for what? Eating treesweets?”
“I made up for it, didn't I?” Topsy said back at the female threehorn. “And at least I didn't try to put a horn through them!”
“I wouldn't be surprised if you did.” Kosh the clubtail said, turning his head away.
“And besides, my Ducky wouldn't just make up these lies.” Ms. Swimmer said. “If Ducky says there's a crazy threehorn out there, then there's a crazy threehorn out there. Whether or not you believe it, Mr. Threehorn, I'm not going to call my own daughter a liar.”
Topsy growled. “I'm telling you, she must be..”
Grandpa Longneck took a few steps forward, putting himself between Cera's father and Ducky's mother. “Now, now. Let's not get into a big argument about this.”
“Yes, I agree.” Grandma Longneck lowered her head towards Ducky. “Now, where did you say Ms. Maia was?”
Ducky looked towards the great wall and pointed. “Out in the Mysterious Beyond, past Threehorn Peak.”
“That means she's probably near where I got separated from my family.” Ruby said. “Does that sound right, Ducky?”
Ducky shrugged. “I do not know. Oh no, no, no.”
“Since it's only one threehorn, I'll go out myself and see what I can do to help Ms. Maia.” Grandpa Longneck said. While a few dinosaurs nodded their heads, Topsy just looked away disapprovingly.
“It's a threehorn, so I should be the one to go!” Topsy said sternly.
“But you heard Ducky. This threehorn sounds more tenacious than even you!” Grandpa Longneck exclaimed. “Do you think you could handle him on your own?”
“Well,” Topsy said, stammering slightly. “Yes, of course I can!”
“Well I..” Grandpa Longneck started to say, but stopped as a shadow fall across him briefly.
Then someone spoke from behind. “Well, well..I wouldn't be going out there if I were you. There's nothing there to find.”
The dinosaurs all looked to see the source of the voice. Immediately, their reactions were negative. Many of them recognized the flyer as one of the flyers Pterano had been with. Ducky's mom immediately picked up her daughter protectively, glaring at the flyer. Many of the other dinosaurs merely glared at the flyer, some moving their children back.
Tria tilted her head. “Who is this?”
“I'll tell you who he is. He's nothing but trouble!” Topsy took a few steps forward. “What are you doing here, flyer?”
Sierra chuckled. “Well now. Is that anyway to treat an unexpected guest?”
Rinkus flew in from behind and grabbed onto the branch next to Sierra. “Don't agitate them, Sierra.”
“Why have you come back to the Great Valley?” Grandpa Longneck said calmly, although his expression was stern.
“I didn't want to come, but Rinkus here wanted to.” Sierra pointed at the pink flyer. He glanced in Ducky's direction. “And no, we didn't come back to take you again, if that's what you are thinking.”
“Then why have you come back?” Grandma Longneck asked.
“You aren't going to find that crestless swimmer anywhere.” Rinkus said, holding his tail with one hand. “Because she's dead.”
Silence fell upon the group of dinosaurs. Some looked at each other with shocked expressions. Others were murmuring to each other, some shaking their heads slowly.
“Poor Ms. Maia..” Ducky said softly.
Ms. Swimmer set her daughter on the ground near her friends. “Why don't you kids run along and play? The rest of the grownups and I will talk to these flyers and find out what happened.”
As the children slowly walked away from the watering hole, the adult dinosaurs moved closer to the branch where Sierra and Rinkus were perched and began talking to them. Littlefoot glanced behind him, looking as if he wanted to stay and listen in. But he immediately turned around and ran to catch up with his friends.
After they were a good distance away, Chomper started to sniff the air. “What's that smell?”
Cera stopped in her tracks. “Whatever it is, it's not me.”
“It smells kind of like..a water scaly.” Chomper explained. “But I never smelled it away from the water before.” Chomper sniffed a few more times before taking off. “It's coming from this direction!”
Immediately, the others followed Chomper, jumping over twigs and rocks as they did so. Cera tripped over a vine, but immediately got back up again and ran to catch up with the others. Petrie and Guido flew up into the air and scanned the area with their eyes. Chomper stopped in front of a thick collection of vines. Using his jaws, he tore them apart and continued on ahead. Suddenly he slammed into something soft and fell back down. The sudden stop caused the others to frantically try to stop themselves. But they didn't manage to do it in time and slammed into Chomper, piling up on top of each other on the ground.
Cera was the first one to get out from the pile. “What's with you? Why did you do that?” But Chomper wasn't looking at Cera. His eyes, widened, were staring at something just in front of him.
“What's wrong, Chomper?” Littlefoot asked. Before Chomper could answer, Littlefoot looked out in front and saw what Chomper was staring at. His eyes went went. “Oh no!”
The other children, who had gotten up off the ground, all immediately took notice to what had startled Chomper and Littlefoot. There, standing only about a foot away, holding a water scaly in its hand, was a sharptooth, specifically a horned clawhand, not large enough to take on their parents but certainly large enough to take them on.
“Run, you guys!” Chomper said. “I'll try to hold him off!”
“But what about you?” Ruby said.
“That sharptooth's too big for you to handle on your own!” Littlefoot said.
“Just get out of here! I'll be fine!” Chomper said urgently. The others hesitated at first, but they followed Chomper's orders and ran away to hide. Chomper bared his teeth and growled at the sharptooth challengingly. But surprisingly, the sharptooth didn't growl back. Instead, it took a step forward and held out the water scaly to Chomper. And as Chomper looked up, he could have sworn he saw the sharptooth smiling.
<Hello.> said the sharptooth.
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Good...good...really good. Keep it up - me is liking this story more. X3
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This is great so far. Really liking how it's coming along.
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THIS...
IS...
AWESOME!!
:smile
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Tension mounting!
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Great job Kacie! :)
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Generally, dark LBT stories (and especially war stories) aren’t really my thing, :p but I have to say that so far, I’m finding this one to be excellent. It’s all so well written that I’m actually having trouble picking out the parts I like the best. (The scene with Petrie and Guido saving Ducky and the adults’ argument in the third chapter stood out, though.)
By the way, is Tric’s name pronounced “trike” or “trick”? :confused :oops
Also, what do the “<>” symbols in the last line of the most recent chapter represent? Is that an error? Or is it meant to indicate that the character is speaking in Sharptooth?
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The <> is intended to show that the sharptooth is speaking in sharptooth language. Originally he was going to speak leafeater but I thought that was a bit farfetched so I stuck with him speaking sharptooth.
Tric's name is pronounced "try-s". Probably a weird pronunciation for it, I admit. But that's the pronunciation I had in mind when I came up with the name.
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Next chapter. This will most likely be the last chapter for a while since starting tomorrow I'll be more focused on writing for NaNo.
* * *
Littlefoot ran around a large tree and hid behind there. Once the others had joined in, he said, “Do you think he followed us?”
“I don't see anything.” Ruby said as she used her longneck to peer out from behind the tree.
“Should we go tell the grownups?” Ducky suggested.
“They have enough to worry about with those two evil flyers around.” Cera said, narrowing her eyes. “Besides, I'm sure Chomper can handle himself.”
The others seemed to agree with her, but Littlefoot couldn't help but feel worried. It had gotten eerily quiet since they ran away. All he had heard was Chomper growling at the other sharptooth, and then silence. Perhaps Chomper had managed to chase away the sharptooth, but then, why hadn't he come back? He wondered if the sharptooth had gotten him.
“We should go back.” Littlefoot said as he walked out from behind the tree.
“But Chomper told us to get away.” Ruby said.
Littlefoot looked back at her. “But what if something terrible happened? Didn't Chomper's parents tell you to make sure he remained safe?” Ruby opened her mouth to speak but Littlefoot cut her off. “How do you think they'd feel if they found out you didn't keep your promise?”
“Chomper's a sharptooth, Littlefoot!” Cera said. “They don't need as much protection as we do.”
“But Chomper's only a kid, like us.” Littlefoot, turning around to face his friends.
Petrie spoke up, “Cera right. Chomper has sharp teeth he can use. Him have strong bite.”
Ruby nodded. “Strong enough to break stone teeth clean off.”
Guido looked shocked. “He can do that?” He glanced over at Petrie, who gave him a single nod. “Wow..remind me not to get on his bad side.” He chuckled nervously.
Cera's eyes narrowed slightly. “You see, Littlefoot? If anything, it's going to be that other sharptooth that's going to be in trouble, not Chomper.”
But Littlefoot still wasn't convinced. It was true that Chomper did have a strong bite, but that wasn't saying much when his opponent was a lot bigger than he was. Before Chomper would even land a bite, the sharptooth could easily snag Chomper in its jaws and shake him until he died.
“Well I'm going back there. If you guys don't want to come, you can stay here.” With that, Littlefoot turned and ran back to where Chomper was.
The remaining children looked at each other, unsure of what to do. They wondered if they should chase after Littlefoot, if they should tell the adults, or if they should remain where they were until Littlefoot and Chomper returned.
“Oh dear..I do not know what to do, no no no.” Ducky said as she climbed off of Spike's head.
Cera shook her head. “If Littlefoot wants to get himself into trouble, let him! He might learn a thing or two from this.”
Petrie looked at her with a shocked expression. “What you say, Cera? We can't let Littlefoot go there by himself!” With that, he took off into the air and flew after Littlefoot.
Cera seemed surprised by Petrie's sudden show of courage. “Since when was he ever brave?” But the others ignored her response.
Spike frowned momentarily. Then he kicked at the dirt. Ducky quickly climbed back on top of him and, as soon as she did so, Spike broke into a run. The spiketail's sudden charge took the others by surprise, quickly stepping out of his way as he ran towards where Littlefoot and Petrie had gone off to. Ruby and Guido glanced at each other and nodded.
“Wait for us, guys!” Guido said as he jumped into the air.
“We are coming too!” Ruby said as she broke into a run.
Cera remained behind for a few moments, shaking her head in disgust. But after a while, her initial feeling faded away and, against what she considered to be her better judgement, she chased off after the others. “Me too!”
When they caught up with Littlefoot and Petrie, they were frozen in place. Petrie was standing on Littlefoot's head, eyes glued on something straight ahead. They were hiding behind a bush, watching something. Curious, the others approached cautiously, peering through the bush to see what they were looking at. What they saw took them by surprise.
Chomper was sitting on the ground, making a lot of squeaks and chirps, and they knew he was speaking sharptooth. Next to him was a partially eaten water scaly. In front of him was the horned clawhand, who had also sat down. When it talked, it made relatively low guttural sounds similar to what they'd hear from a bellydragger.
What struck them as oddest of all was that the sharpteeth looked like they were having a normal conversation, like they'd see with the adult dinosaurs of the Great Valley. Neither side was showing any kind of aggression, and, judging from how the horned clawhand appeared to be laughing, the horned clawhand seemed almost playful.
After finishing another sentence in sharptooth, Chomper looked towards the bush and noticed his friends there. He smiled and said, “Don't worry, you're safe.” He gestured for them to come out.
The leafeaters glanced at each other nervously and hesitated to come out. After a while, Spike pushed his way through the brush and walked out into the open. He looked up at the sharptooth for a moment, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. But after a few seconds, his expression changed to happy.
Ducky chuckled. “It seems Spike trusts this sharptooth, yep, yep yep.”
Although they still looked nervous, the other children walked out and stopped next to Chomper.
Cera frowned. “How do we know we can trust this sharptooth.”
“He says he only eats water scalies and other water meats.” Chomper explained. He pointed to the water scaly beside his foot. “He gave this to me as a gift.”
Petrie said, “Why?”
“To show he's harmless.” Chomper said.
“That's exactly what he wants you to think.” Cera murmured softly.
Littlefoot nudged her roughly with one leg. “Cera, don't start.” He looked back over in Chomper's direction. “Why has he come to the Great Valley? Did he say?”
Chomper shook his head. “No, not yet. He was just finishing telling me how he tried to get directions from a couple eggstealers, but they ran as soon as they saw him. He said he didn't know why they ran off without saying anything to him.”
In response, the horned clawhand shrugged his shoulders and shook his head slowly. <I don't know what they have to worry about anyway. Their horrible stench is enough to drive even the hungriest sharpteeth away. They'd probably think they were very ill or something.>
Chomper chuckled and immediately translated, “And he says their smell alone would drive away any sharptooth.”
This statement caused the kids to laugh briefly. But they quickly became serious again.
Littlefoot moved towards the horned clawhand nervously. “..are you sure he's safe to be around? His teeth look very big...”
Chomper nodded his head. “Don't worry. He said his kind don't eat other dinosaurs. They only eat water meat.”
Littlefoot seemed a bit more relieved and he got a little closer to the sharptooth. Although it was clear the sharptooth didn't understand leafeater, Littlefoot spoke slowly. “Umm..hello..my name is Littlefoot and what is...” Before Littlefoot had time to finish, the sharptooth suddenly licked Littlefoot across the neck and face.
“He's tasting Littlefoot!” Cera exclaimed.
Chomper shook his head. “No, he's just saying hello. If he wanted to taste Littlefoot, he would have bitten him.” He turned towards Littlefoot. “Oh and his name is Tator.”
Ruby took a step forward. “Excuse me, but aren't you going to ask him why he's in the valley?”
Chomper nodded. He looked back at the sharptooth. <Why did you come to the Great Valley?>
Tator paused for a moment. <I came for you.>
Chomper frowned. <Me? Why?>
<It's your parents.> Tator said. Chomper's eyes grew wide. <They're in trouble. And I'm afraid they are not the only ones in danger...>
Back in the Mysterious Beyond, close to where Rona's plains home was, a blue female fastbiter was running across the floor, carrying something bloody in her jaws. She moved through a thick vegetated area before reaching a small nest area. She dropped the thing in her jaws and let out a couple chirps.
Almost immediately, a group of three small fastbiters, one green, one purple, and one blue, came stumbling out from the nest and immediately went for the meat. The mother sharptooth laid down on the ground as she watched her offspring gorge themselves on the meat she had given them.
The female fastbiter kept her head up and looked around for any signs of danger. Although this was her first brood, her instincts told her danger could be lurking around any corner. And she wasn't going to let her guard down, even if they were at the nesting site.
It didn't take her long to sense approaching danger. She immediately got into a protective posture in front of her babies. Although they were still very young, the babies seemed to sense something was wrong and they immediately laid low to the ground, as if to use their stripes to help themselves blend in. The mother looked around, her eyes narrowed and her teeth bared, trying to find what she had detected. But upon seeing nothing, she seemed o grew confused.
Just then, she heard her babies squealing and she whirled around to see what was going on. A horrified expression appeared on her long face as she saw a giant scaly nofooter wrap its tail around all three of her offspring and lift them high into the air.
Immediately, the fastbiter leaped into the air and used her hand claws to latch onto the scaly nofooter. She bite down hard onto the scales and skin, and she managed to drive one of her sickle claws into the body of the creature. Her babies continued to shriek in fear and instinctively began to bite as well, although their small teeth couldn't penetrate the skin.
Hissing loudly, the scaly nofooter bit down onto the mother's body and easily pulled her away. It released the fastbiter and let her fall onto the ground several feet below. It then turned and immediately started to flee the scene.
The mother fastbiter wasn't about to give up. She got back onto her feet and was about to leap again, but then howled in pain as something struck her in the side, something sharp. Several deep lacerations appeared on her right thigh and she fell back to the ground, blood seeping from the wounds. As she looked up, her eyes widened.
Standing in front of her was a leafeater, more specifically a sharptail. The sharptail's eyes narrowed as it stared down at the wounded sharptooth. “Now now...” it spoke in a masculine voice. “We can't have you doing that.. Don't want to make Rona upset, now do we?” The fastbiter tried to get up, but fell back down due to the pain.
The scaly nofooter noticed this and spoke in a feminine voice. “What shall we do with her?”
“Leave her. She's as good as dead.” The sharptail responded. “Rona wanted a couple fastbiters alive.”
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Sorry for the delay. Here's the next chapter.
* * *
At the river, the grownups had continued their discussion with the two flyers. In addition to telling them about Ms. Maia's death, they had also relayed information regarding the attackers. When they described one of them, the adults realized it perfectly matched the description Ducky gave regarding the threehorn. Grandpa Longneck was unsettled by this. He had never heard of any threehorn more aggressive than Topsy.
He was puzzled by something else from the flyer's story. They had described a dinosaur he had never heard of before. Was it a flattooth? A sharptooth? A halftooth? But such information wasn't going to get him anywhere. What he did know was that this dinosaur, along with his accomplice, were potential threats. And it was made worse by the fact that they had been dangerously close to the valley.
Grandma Longneck moved her heads towards her mate. “Do you think they could be telling the truth, dear?”
Grandpa Longneck looked back at her. It was difficult for him to come up with a response, but he didn't want her to worry. “They haven't shown any immediate reason to question what they say.”
Ms. Flyer, who was perched on an adult spiketail's back, looked upset by what the longneck said. “I still wouldn't trust them. Let's not forget what they did the last time they were here.” She turned her head towards Ms. Swimmer, who had an apprehensive expression to her face, despite Sierra's previous assertion that they weren't going to capture her daughter again.
Grandpa Longneck nodded his head. “Yes, but...”
Topsy interrupted. “I'd say we just run them out! They've done nothing to win trust from anyone here!”
Many of the other adults nodded in agreement. Grandpa Longneck looked around at the group of dinosaurs. He was worried they were going to start a riot. And if what the flyers said was true, that was the last thing they needed.
“Get them out of here!” A duckbill shouted.
“They don't belong here!” A clubtail said.
“Now, now,” Grandpa Longneck spoke aloud. “Let's not carry ourselves away.”
Topsy narrowed his eyes. “You know what? I'm getting sick of this disposition you always seem to have.”
Grandpa Longneck was confused. What was the threehorn talking about? “Pardon?”
“You know what I'm talking about, longneck!” Topsy spat. “You always seem to look on the bright side of things, never think negatively about any of our unexpected guests, with the exception of Pterano. And while your hunch is often correct, I admit, it's not always right!” He pointed his head towards Rinkus and Sierra. “And you yourself are aware about what these two have done. What makes you think you can give them a chance and everything will be just fine?!”
Most of the adults were shocked by what Topsy said. A couple others seemed to agree, nodding their heads slowly. Grandma Longneck opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She looked at her mate, who was just as shocked, if not more so, about Topsy's words.
Grandpa Longneck didn't know what to say. He had never seen Topsy get worked up like this towards him. The worse was when the threehorn mistakenly believed that he was using his height advantage to make his opinion more important than the threehorn's.
He did understand Topsy's frustration. He understood why many of the dinosaurs were not happy with the idea of trusting two flyers. In truth, he himself didn't like it too much. But he didn't want to look like the bad guy by chasing out the flyers unprovoked. It had been a long time since the flyers were last at the valley; it would be pointless to chase them out for something they hadn't done recently.
Grandpa Longneck decided it wasn't wise to stay on the subject for too long. He turned his attention back to the flyers. Even if the information were false, he felt it'd be a good idea to get as much information as he could from these two before they leave, either on their own or forced out by the resident dinosaurs. “Where did you see them drag Ms. Maia's body?”
Rinkus replied, “Out into the Mysterious Beyond somewhere.”
“Yes, but where, exactly?” Grandpa Longneck said. “There are many places out there.”
“We didn't follow them, actually.” Rinkus said. “But we did see the direction they took her.”
Sierra crossed his wings. “Not that it'll do you any good, but they went towards the direction the bright circle falls every night.”
Grandpa Longneck frowned a bit. This information was too generic. Although he's traveled many times through the Mysterious Beyond in his younger years, he couldn't get an idea of where the intruders were from if he didn't have any specific details on the location. Still, it was at least better than nothing. He wanted to ask more, but the other dinosaurs were getting agitated by the flyers' presence, so he decided to end it.
“Well thanks for the information.” Grandpa Longneck said. “Was there anything else you wanted to tell us?”
“Not me.” Sierra said. “I'd be happy to get out of this wretched valley.”
Rinkus, holding his tail with one hand, hesitated. He looked as if he wanted to say more. But when he got a glare from Sierra, he quickly said, “Yeah, yeah, that's all we wanted to tell you. If you want us to leave, we will.”
Topsy growled, “Please do. I'll be happy to give you a 'boost' if you want it.”
Rinkus clenched his teeth worriedly. “N-No, we can do it on our own.”
“Good luck with your problems.” Sierra said in an insincere voice. He and Rinkus took off and flew away.
Grandma Longneck watched them fly away. When they disappeared, she glanced at her mate. “Dear, what if they were lying?”
Grandpa Longneck sighed. “And what if they are right? I don't want to take that chance.”
“Well, until I see it for myself, I'm not believing a word from those stupid flyers.” Topsy snorted. He was about to continue, but Tria stopped him.
Tria looked towards where the children had run off to earlier. “The kids are coming back.”
Ms. Swimmer turned around. “Kids? Why did you come back?”
Grandpa Longneck watched as the kids stopped at the river bank. They all looked tired. They probably were doing a lot of running while they were up there and tired themselves out. But he noticed they had worried expressions on their faces. He lowered his head towards his grandson. “Littlefoot? What's going on?”
Littlefoot panted a couple of times before saying, “Grandpa, something strange is happening in the Mysterious Beyond!”
Grandpa Longneck said, “Oh? What would that be?”
“Sharpteeth have been disappearing!” Littlefoot said.
This caused a bit of murmuring among the adults, but they didn't seem too worried about this, especially Topsy. He just snorted and said, “Well that's a good thing then! That just means less sharpteeth to worry about!”
Chomper glared at Topsy. “No, it's a terrible thing!”
Topsy looked at the small sharptooth. “Yeah, terrible for you, given that you're one of them.”
Littlefoot took a step forward. “But it's not just sharpteeth, Mr. Threehorn. Flatteeth and halfteeth have been disappearing as well!”
At this, the dinosaurs began chattering worriedly among themselves.
Grandpa Longneck wasn't sure what to make of this. The thought of dinosaurs disappearing, even if they were sharpteeth, worried him. This was never a good sign. Could this have anything to do with Ms. Maia's death? “Where did you get this information, Littlefoot?”
Chomper pointed behind him. “He told us.” After he said that, Tator came into view, causing the adults to gasp in shock at the sight of a sharptooth in the Great Valley. Before anyone could react, Chomper quickly said, “Don't worry; he is not going to hurt anyone.”
Topsy said, “Yeah right. If I won't trust a couple of flyers, what makes you think I'll trust a sharptooth?”
Tria nudged him gently. “Let's at least hear what he has to say. It wouldn't hurt. Besides, we outnumber him.”
Tator let out a couple of growls. Chomper immediately translated. “He said that he had escaped the place where the dinosaurs had been taken.” After Tator growled again, he said, “There are some dinosaurs trying to fight back, but they are failing. My parents are among these dinosaurs.”
“Where are they being taken?” Grandpa Longneck asked.
Chomper said, “He claims that they were taken to a place in the Mysterious Beyond called Sinking Sand Flats.”
“Sinking Sand Flats?” Grandpa Longneck asked softly. Chomper nodded his head.
A clubtail longneck was carrying Ms. Maia's body on its back. It was walking out in a large field with sparse trees. It was heading towards what looked to be soft grass. Alongside it was a false longneck, who was helping to guide the clubtail longneck to their destination.
The false longneck stopped abruptly in what seemed like a random location. It turned its head around. “Drop her off in here.” It said in a feminine voice.
“How do you know this is the right spot?” The clubtail longneck said in a masculine voice. “All this ground looks the same to me.”
The false longneck glanced at the ground. “It takes a skilled eye, but there is a difference between this ground and that ground. That is why I was sent along with you. Rona wouldn't want to lose any of her soldiers to this place.”
The clubtail longneck hesitated, and then moved forward. He stopped where the false longneck was and turned around. He reared up on his hind legs, allowing the crestless swimmer's limp body to roll down his back and land on the ground. He turned around. It didn't take him long to realize the false longneck had been right.
It only took seconds before the crestless swimmer's body to sink into what appeared to be short green grass. There was a gurgling sound as she disappeared under completely, and the ground settled down, taking on the appearance of solid land once again.
The clubtail longneck flinched at the site. “You'd think that, with these sinking sands here, someone would do something to make it more noticeable.”
The false longneck said, “That will upset Rona. You know how she is.”
The clubtail longneck shook his head. “Well let's go and tell her we've done the deed.” He shuddered a bit and said, “I hope she doesn't have us deliver any more dead dinosaurs here. The thought of being this close to sinking sands that are pretty much invisible..it's scary.”
The false longneck smirked. “It's not so bad...once you get used to it. But I agree, let's go meet up with Rona. We don't want to keep her waiting.”
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Another great chapter! :yes I really liked how, during the grownups’ discussion with Sierra and Rinkus, you provided an insight into Grandpa Longneck’s thoughts on the situation, and allowed Mr. Threehorn some credible criticism. :p I’m liking your portrayal of Sierra and Rinkus as well.
I take it the “clubtail longneck” is a Shunosaurus and the “false longneck” is an Iguanodon (correct me if I’m wrong). But what’s the “sharptail” from the preceding chapter supposed to be? (I forgot to ask earlier. :rolleyes:)
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Thanks for the comment. :)
The false longneck is actually a brachytrachelopan. It's rather strange for a sauropod because it does not have a long neck.
http://www.dinoart1.narod.ru/gallery5/brachytrachelopan.jpg (http://www.dinoart1.narod.ru/gallery5/brachytrachelopan.jpg)
I originally thought of calling it a shortneck longneck but that sounded too strange, so I went for false longneck instead, since it looks like a longneck but lacks the long neck.
The sharptail is a gastonia. For those who don't know what a gastonia is, here's a picture of one: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...ei_dinosaur.png (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Gastonia_burgei_dinosaur.png)
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^Ohhhh... :o I assumed it was Iguanodon because, by coincidence, "false longneck" is one of the LBT-style names that has been suggested for that dinosaur (see the LBT Glossary). But it works for Brachytrachelopan. By another coincidence, I had also thought of "shortneck longneck" as a possible LBT name for Brachytrachelopan, but like you said, it's a bit awkward-sounding. Alternatively, it could simply be called a "shortneck", but since there were a number of dinosaurs with short necks, that's not much good either. (Don't mind me; I'm just thinking out loud at this point. :p)
Are you planning to post artwork of any of the characters in this story?
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Yeah, I may post up pictures some time in the future. Any particular character you want to see?
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As a matter of fact, I'd really like to see your renditions of an LBT Shunosaurus and Brachytrachelopan. ;)
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Here's the next chapter. I apologize for the delay.
* * *
The female fastbiter groaned as she slowly picked herself up off the ground. Her vision was blurry. She shook closed her eyes and shook her head. She could still feel the blood from the assault drip down her side. She reopened her eyes. Her vision had sharpened, but still remained somewhat blurry.
Her head ached as she tried to remember what had happened. She wasn't even sure how long she had been out of it. The last thing she remembered was being with her babies and...then it dawned on her. Her eyes went wide as she searched around for her babies. Upon not seeing them, memories came flooding back, of the large scaly nofooter, a blow out of nowhere...
She let out a few loud screeches of anguish and looked around. She could make out the tracks of the scaly nofooter clearly on the ground, but another pair of tracks were present, following close beside the scaly nofooter. The tracks were not of a sharptooth, but of a leaf-eater.
The mother fastbiter was perplexed. She would have expected a sharptooth to take her babies, but not a leaf-eater. Those types of dinosaurs would rather run than invade a sharptooth's nest. Then she recalled something else; the blow from behind came from a leaf-eater... What made this leaf-eater so different, so bold...?
But she knew now wasn't the time to think about why this happened. Doing her best to ignore her own physical pain, she began to follow the tracks, growling softly. Whoever took her children were not going to get away with it.
Meanwhile, the scaly nofooter and the sharptail were continuing towards Rona's home. They had just reached the edge of the forest where the sinking sands were located. They didn't know the exact location, so they took great care in avoiding the middle part of the forest. It was a relief to them knowing that Rona's place wasn't far from here.
The only sound they could hear, aside from their own breathing, was the baby fastbiters screeching loudly for their mother. They were biting the scaly nofooter's tail, but their attempts had no effect on the legless sharptooth.
The scaly nofooter quickly turned her head towards the kids. “I have been nice to you during this whole journey by not eating you. But if you continue to bite my tail..I can't hold any promises...” She hissed, squeezing the children tighter. The babies chirped in pain.
Immediately, the sharptail intervened. “Don't squeeze them so hard, Mad.” He said. “You don't want Rona to find out you killed them before she gave the order, do you?”
Mad hissed again and slightly weakened her grasp on the young ones. “I'm not afraid of Rona. But I will do as you say, for now.”
The sharptail narrowed his eyes. “You should consider yourself lucky that Rona allowed you to join her.”
Mad looked down at the sharptail. “And she should consider herself lucky that I honored her by joining. The only reason I decided to join her in the first place was because of those...unusual promises she made. If she breaks those promises...”
The sharptail looked angry. “How dare you speak of Rona like that! She is the one who gave you a purpose! And she offered you the chance to get revenge on that fastbiter for what it did to you in the past!”
Mad recalled how the fastbiter had gone into her nest and took her eggs while she was away. Not long after she met Rona, she was given the chance to hunt this particular fastbiter, and she had no objections to it. “Still, Gast, I see no reason to remain loyal to any leaf-eater unless there's something in it for me. What am I going to get when this is all over?”
Gast growled softly. “Impatient, now are we? You'll get what's coming to you, don't you worry.” He paused for a moment as he looked forward. “Ah, we're here.”
Out in front of them was a large, lone hill with a large boulder at the top. The two started to make their way up the hill. In a few minutes, they reached the top. Mad used her head and thick neck to push the boulder off, revealing a large hole in the ground.
Down below, there was a large, cavernous room. But it wasn't empty; it was populated by several dinosaurs, most of them being sharpteeth. At least one flyer was present, but its wing was broken. As soon as the dinosaurs found that there was light coming through, they looked up and began to make a commosion when they saw the scaly nofooter glaring down at them.
“We've brought some newcomers for you all!” She said as she held the baby fastbiters above the hole. She released them and watched as the babies fell down into the deep hole and landed on one of the leaf-eater prisoners, a small longneck.
When the boulder was pushed back over the opening and the light dimmed, the prisoners could hear the scaly nofooter and her partner make their way down the hill. When they were sure they were gone, they turned their attention to the babies.
The babies were frightened and immediately ran off into the corner, shivering. The prisoners remained quiet, watching the babies, most with saddened expressions. The dark room remained quiet, the only sounds being heard were breathing.
After a while, the longneck the baby fastbiters landed on spoke up. “Hello there...” The longneck was female and didn't look very old. She slowly approached the babies. “..it's all right. We're not going to hurt you.”
Another prisoner, the flyer, spoke as well. “We're all in the same predicament together. There's no reason for us to fight..unless we want to doom ourselves faster.” The flyer said in a masculine voice. He moved his wing and winced. “If only those scoundrels didn't break my wing...”
“Not like it would have made a difference...” Another young longneck, a male, said in a low growl. “They have flyers on their side as well..they would have stopped you.”
“Now there...” The female longneck said. “Don't be so negative.”
“Well what do you want me to say” The male longneck said, narrowing his eyes. “Our families don't know we're here. None of us have eaten in days. Who knows how long the sharpteeth in here will last before turning on everyone? And we've already tried to escape.”
The female longneck sighed and looked over at one of the prisoners, a bigclaw, who was leaning against the side, most of his large claws broken from the attempt at digging an opening out of here. She then looked at the sharpteeth, most of which were young fastbiters. They looked starved, but they hadn't yet tried to eat anyone in the room. The flyer had told them the sharpteeth were currently more interested in leaving than eating, but she knew they couldn't control themselves forever.
Before she could speak, the flyer spoke up again. “We aren't doing ourselves a favor by being pessimistic.” He said.
The male longneck glared at the flyer. “And you have some grand scheme to get us out of this?”
The flyer paused. “I've been through worse.”
The male longneck didn't look convinced. “Yeah right. What could be worse than being stuck in a dark hole in the ground and not knowing if you'll survive or see your family?”
The flyer was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Being physically able to see your family but having that stolen away from you due to being banned because of a mistake you made.” He turned his head away.
The male longneck's expression softened a little. “Oh. I'm sorry.”
The female longneck turned her attention back to the babies. She lowered her head and said, “As I said, no one here is going to harm you. Please come on out.” The babies remained where they were. She sighed. She couldn't blame them. Who knew what horror they had went through before they came here?
“We should be preparing for another young sharptooth soon.” The bigclaw, craning his small head up as he glanced up at the roof of the cave.
“What makes you say that?” The male longneck asked.
“While I was being taken away, I overheard one of them speak of a sharptooth their leader was interested in. A rare sharptooth that can speak leaf-eater.” The bigclaw said, swaying his short tail from side to side. “I imagine they reached him by now.”
It didn't take long for the two little longnecks to realize who they were talking about. They gave each other nervous looks and spoke at once. “Chomper..?”
Meanwhile, Tric had reached one of the entrances to the Great Valley. He had gotten a little lost on the way back, but was able to find his way to the valley. He walked into the opening, which lead into a large, sweet-smelling canyon filled with delicious fruit. But he knew he couldn't stop to eat now. He made his way towards the next opening and found himself in the Great Valley.
Him being a leaf-eater was the perfect disguise, or almost perfect anyway. He hoped the swimmer that got away didn't see him, or described him to anyone in the valley. To be on the safe side, he kept to the sections densely covered in foliage. His green body blended in almost perfectly.
He looked around, trying to think of where a sharptooth could hide in the valley. If Rona was correct, there was a small sharptooth residing in the valley. How she knew this, he didn't know, but he didn't question her about it. The last thing he wanted to do was give her a reason to be upset with him. Besides, how hard could it be to find one sharptooth?
Then he heard a familiar voice. He turned his heard towards one of the meadows in the valley. He slowly approached, taking care to get as close as possible without revealing his presence. He saw what looked like an old longneck talking with someone he couldn't see just yet. He moved in closer and when he saw who the longneck was talking to, his eyes went wide.
“Oh no...” Tric said, his voice low. He slowly frowned angrily, baring his teeth. “Not him... He'll ruin everything.” Before the dinosaur could see him, Tric immediately turned around and left. He had more important things to worry about anyway. He decided to look for some mud so he could disguise his coloration. That should make it easier for him to explore the valley without catching the eye of that little swimmer that got away.
The old longneck, who turned out to be Grandpa Longneck, continued to talk to the dinosaur before him, black and white skinned. The dinosaur reminded him of the mysterious dinosaur that the flyers had described, except this dinosaur had a clearly broken leg, fastened to its side by sticks and vines. Another difference was this dinosaur was clearly a four-footer, not the two-footer the flyers had described before. He decided the stranger was an unusual type of longneck.
“Well I hope you enjoy your stay here at the Great Valley.” Grandpa Longneck said, smiling softly. “Stay as long as you like while your leg heals.”
The black and white dinosaur smiled gratefully. “Thank you, sir. I'll try not to get in the way of things.” He said in a male voice. He paused for a second and continued, “And I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble lately. I hope a crippled dinosaur like myself won't be much trouble.”
Grandpa Longneck shook his head. “No trouble at all.” He pointed his head towards one of the watering holes. “Now why don't you go get yourself something to eat and drink? You don't look very good.” He said, noting how hungry and thirsty the dinosaur looked.
The black and white dinosaur smiled again. “Yes, I shall do that.” He turned around and started to walk away.
Grandpa Longneck spoke up. “Oh, I didn't catch your name!”
The black and white dinosaur paused. “My name is Ateo.”
Grandpa Longneck smiled. “Welcome to the Great Valley, Ateo.”
As he watched the dinosaur leave, he turned his attention back to other matters. It had been a few hours since Tator had given them the information. The sharptooth hadn't left the Great Valley yet; he was confined to one of the other watering holes so that he wouldn't potentially cause trouble, either deliberately or by mistake.
He was unsettled by the disappearance of the dinosaurs as described. He thought back to the threehorn Ducky had talked about. Could the threehorn have something to do with the disappearance? And if so, why? Why would a leaf-eater, or any dinosaur for that matter, capture all these dinosaurs? Not even sharpteeth behaved in such a way.
Even Topsy had to admit that such behavior was abnormal even for a sharptooth. This was one of those rare times the stubborn threehorn had actually agreed with the old longneck on something. But that did little to comfort Grandpa Longneck. Knowing that didn't do much to explain why dinosaurs were suddenly acting in such a way. Could it have something to do with Sinking Sand Flats?
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Sorry this review is a couple days late. I didn’t notice the story had been updated at first. :oops
First off, I’m glad the mother fast biter isn’t dead. (Though, considering the darkness of the story, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t survive to the end.)
Also, I love your Madtsoia character (to me she's one of the most original and intriguing OCs in the story so far), but her nameóMadósounds really strange, in my opinion. (No offense.)
Seems strange that the prisoners are being held without food, especially with sharpteeth being kept alongside prey species. Makes me wonder if the leafeater and halftooth prisoners are intended to be the food for the sharpteeth.
It’s rather obvious who the two longnecks in the prison are. :p (I’ve got a pretty good idea of who the flyer is, too.) And the fast biter family, I’m guessing, is the same one from “The Great Egg Adventure”. Other than that, though, you’re doing really well at keeping the story mysterious.
Didn’t you draw a picture of Ateo once? He’s a Plateosaurus, if I recall. Do you have an LBT name for his species?
Speaking of LBT names, I’m assuming the bigclaw is a therizinosaur of some type? Am I right?
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Actually I was hoping someone would guess who the little longnecks and flyer were in that sequence. Originally I had their names, but decided to change it so that the readers can figure it out themselves without names being mentioned.
Yes, the bigclaw is a therizinosaurus. Originally I was going to use longclaw, but decided to use a different name.
As for Mad, the name Mad resulted in me wanted to use a name derived from her species (or group in this case) and the first thing that came to mind was Mad. I thought it was strange too, but it did sound different and unusual compared to some other names I came up with, in my opinion anyway, so I decided to stick with it. Perhaps Mad could just be a nickname she prefers to be called by, for some reason.
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Well, I certainly had an idea about the flier *spazz*, but I hadn't realized about the longnecks until now. The flier's Pterano and the longnecks are Mrs. Mama and her babies.
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Perhaps Mad could just be a nickname she prefers to be called by, for some reason.
*shrugs* I was going to say, although it's a strange name, it sounds like it could be short for something. A nickname...I like that better. :p
My guess for the flyer was the same as Ptyra's, but I figured that the longnecks were Ali and Rhett.
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I apologize for not continuing this story. I haven't canceled it. I've just been busy lately, going to start another online college course, Computer Technology. It also doesn't help that I haven't had many ideas for the fanfic lately and have been contemplating starting over and rewriting the earlier chapters.