Bugs, small animals like lizards and prehistoric mice, and possibly fruits and vegetables.  One thing about food is that if you go hungry long enough you get to a point where you will eat almost anything, and I think this logic could apply to Ozzy and Strut (more likely the former due to his insistance on eating eggs).

Part Four: A Long Time Ago


“Tell me again what your people saw Dyreen,” remarked Littlefoot cautiously as he ran his gaze down the massive screen filled with orbital photographs, subsurface seismograms, and atmosphere diagnostics programs.”

“Central Net picked up what appears to be a Claw Volcanic test in the desert… and this one is like nothing we have ever seen before,” continued the Great Haven’s Chief of Intelligence.

A massive scarlet mushroom cloud cascaded up into the atmosphere on the replay, causing a bright flash on the screen. The flash faded, but the enormous blast wave rolled across the barren desert landscape as expected.  It was typical to see these things during a Volcanic detonation, but what was atypical was what happened next.  The blast sucked back in on itself and appeared to back-build, initiating a second and third explosion that lit up the darkness of the night.

“Some of our scientists theorise that Claw has developed a self-sustaining Volcanic Warhead,” continued the advisor, “were that the case, it would double or even triple the concentrated yield on a tactical level.”

“We cannot be entirely sure this is Theta’s doing of course,” corrected the massive longneck, “it is not fitting to blame our neighbours for every anomaly our sensors pick up without just cause… especially when our peace is as fragile as it is.”

“As you wish High Councillor,” acknowledged the longneck advisor by video screen, “I will update you when I receive any more information.”

Littlefoot gave him an assuring nod, and the link was terminated. With a sigh, the longneck issued the computer another command.

“ALI, call home please.”

“Uplink pending,” answered the computer in a mechanical female voice.

Silently the great longneck waited, taking a moment to think about all that had happened up to this point.


…


Prior to his death, the Great Haven had been ruled by Grandpa Longneck for decades.  His words were both of wisdom and caring, and they resonated with the leaders of all the other Havens intensely to the point where he carried enormous influence.  When the Sharpteeth attacked suddenly and brutally thirty-two years ago, he was calm and collected… trusting the defence of the city to its VDF retainers.  His leadership saw the leaf-eaters pursue a humane and regretful military campaign against Claw, with success after success heightening public opinion and slowly changing him from a simple elected leader into a worldwide hero.  All Littlefoot wanted to remember was how much he hated it.

Grandpa and Grandma were always busy attending meetings, dinners, events, or inspections as required so they had almost no time for their grandson.  On top of that casual neglect, he despised having to travel with armed bodyguards everywhere and having his every move watched and scrutinized by the media.  Looking back, he honestly would not have survived it without his mother.

The High Councillor smiled as the memories came back to him.

His father died fighting the sharpteeth when he was very young, but mom was always there for him no matter what he needed.  Being in such a privileged position meant he had never met any other children his age and she had recognized this, so instead of private tutoring she put him into a normal school with other normal dinosaurs.  It was the single greatest thing she had ever done.

The Great Circle Arborium was a great forest grown within an artificial glass dome.  It was filled with plant-life, insects, flowing rivers, and even simulated weather.  Leaf-eater parents would send their children there during the day if they could afford it, for it was an oasis of life in a sea of concrete that was necessary for the proper development of their offspring.  There he met Ducky and Petrie, both just as friendless and new as he was and both just as eager to have fun.  Cera and he initially didn’t get along, but soon things settled down and she became part of the group.  They had tons of adventures each day, from the day they found Spike’s abandoned egg to the day the proto-seed went crazy during a game of toss the seed and started chasing them.  Ah such good memories…

Not that they knew it but a few had very important parents, which meant that things weren’t safe for them anywhere else.  His Grandpa was the High Councillor, Cera’s dad was the head of some top secret organization called ëSection 4’, and Petrie’s uncle Pterano was one of the four Air-wing Admirals in the VDF. Eventually things caught up with them and they were parted… but the five of them remained friends to this day.


…


The older Littlefoot sighed with a massive breath as the silver VDA symbol rotated on the screen over and over again.  He had seen it so many times now it was only a step above sitting and watching plants grow…

“… Call received, uplink established.”

The face of an old female longneck appeared on the screen.  She was turned away from the camera and was speaking to someone else.

“It’s your mate on the TV dear, I think he is expecting you,” she was saying.  

  In the background there were pieces of furniture specifically manufactured for longnecks, and white domed glass that comprised all the walls and the side widows.  Littlefoot waited patiently, though a blinking light in the top corner of the vision indicated that someone else was calling him (as usual, he was expecting about ten different ones today).

“Yeah I know they are a handful,” commented Littlefoot’s mother, “just be firm but fair.”

Shrugging off the conversation, she turned towards him on the view.

“Ali will just be a moment… she isn’t finished bathing all the children.”

Littlefoot’s face contorted into a smile.

“If you’re still like the mom I grew up with, everything is under control I’m sure.”

His mom nodded back heartily, her old features adorned with the joy of helping to raise hatchlings once again.  Littlefoot and his mom got along well now as mutual understanding had developed between them, but it hadn’t always been this way.  


…


A long time ago his father went away for service in the VDF.  Littlefoot was barely above a hatchling, but he still remembered watching him go.  Unfortunately the Sharpteeth attacked his garrison a few months later, and he didn’t come back with the rest of his unit.  His mother and he waited, but when the military representatives came to the door the truth finally sunk in… his dad was never coming back.

Littlefoot thought about his dad a lot and growing up he had always felt a void within him like he needed to know exactly where and how Bron had died.  Upon finishing normal school Littlefoot was offered a position in Commander College but he refused, following in his father’s footsteps and joining the VDF regulars instead.  The night his mother found out, all hell broke loose.

She was absolutely furious at him, and he could sense the bitterness and anger within her about her husband’s fate rising up where it had previously been suppressed.  Eventually after an entire hour of arguing, Littlefoot packed all his things and left.  They wouldn’t speak again for almost ten years.


…


The older Littlefoot shook his head, burying the old memories back to where they belonged.  Things were different now, as were his responsibilities.  The blinking light on the corner of the screen started up again, showing that he had yet another call to answer.  This one was blinking blue, which meant it was a time-appointed conference call.  The massive longneck looked at the time, and silently swore in his head.  Major-General Longtail was waiting.

“I apologise mother, but I have pressing matters to attend.  Tell Ali I’m thinking about her.”

“Do what you need to do,” she replied sincerely, and the link was terminated.

“Receiving incoming call,” stated ALI in the computer’s synthetic female voice, “Uplink Pending.”

Littlefoot took a moment to compose himself for the head of the Valley Defence Forces.  Suddenly the weathered face of Longtail appeared on the screen.  Everything about him looked elegantly cleaned and prepared, like he had all his attendants ensure he was looking his best for the leader of the Leafeater world.  Littlefoot got that a lot.

“High Councillor… I trust you’re in good health today,” commented the grizzled longneck unusually kindly.

Littlefoot laughed lightly.

“Who are you and what have you done with Longtail?” he answered.

“Alright then, all pleasantries out of the way let’s get down to business,” replied the Longneck as he picked up the lit cigar he had placed just out of sight of the video screen and put it in his mouth, “Grisson isn’t doing as well in Commander College as we had hoped… his test scores are alright but his attendance and completion records are sloppy.  Given that I don’t think his continued enrolment is a wise decision.”

Littlefoot shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m sure you’re well aware of how much of a ticking bomb this issue is Longtail?” questioned the High Councillor with authority.

Every runner in the world was watching Grisson’s schooling progress, and even now more hopefuls were submitting their applications to Commander College praying for future consideration.

“Of course,” answered the Major-General, “I’ve been doing my best to keep things normal for Grisson but if he is unsuited for the position I’m not going to baby him through.”

“Nor would I expect you to,” replied Littlefoot, before addressing the computer, “ALI, bring up Grisson’s records for me, listing the offending portions for me to view.”

“Request received… accessing Commander College Data records.”

After a moment everything was listed that the High Councillor desired, and he spent a few minutes sifting through the information.

“Longtail, all of Grisson’s ëlate’ notices were entered only minutes after class entry time.  Does this not strike you as odd?”

The green longneck took a long smoke from his cigar.

“Instructor Iris insists that all students attend her class on time and prepared for her lessons.  Other students have been written up as well.”

“But none as often as him,” commented Littlefoot with unease.  

Something simply wasn’t right here.  When he knew her Ruby wasn’t anything like that… she was intense and highly intelligent, often impressing the longnecks who commanded her.  She would never be late, at least repeatedly, to something so important.

“ALI,” began the High Councillor, “locate and display any instances of hazing or bullying of Grisson by his teacher or his fellow students.”

“Request received… accessing Commander College Surveillance records,” replied the computer.

Longtail looked on with discomfort as well.  If it turned out that Grisson was being treated unfairly, it would look bad on him.  Suddenly a flood of video files filled the screen, catalogued into a neatly arranged menu on the top of the screen.

“ALI, play the videos four at once on the outer screens.  Do the same for Major-General Longtail.”

The computer obeyed, and all the videos started playing at once.  Some where a few seconds long and others lasted minutes, but all were highly incriminating.  There were cases of Grisson being tripped in the hallways, having the cords of his training unit pulled out in the middle of a session, and other more devious cases.

“ALI, pause videos please,” the massive longneck requested.

The computer obeyed, the four screens filled with misdeeds and mistreatments.  On one it showed a young longneck student erasing Grisson’s name on an assignment, and on a different screen it showed another student surrounded by his compatriots pissing through one of the vents on Grisson’s locker during class time.  

“High Councillor,” stammered Longtail, “…I had no idea any of this was going on.”

“I’m disappointed in you,” continued Littlefoot heedless, “Grisson clearly isn’t being treated the way he deserves.  If these videos were made available to the Office of the Runner General, the College and sub sequentially you would be in a lot of hot water.”

“I understand,” replied the old longneck with conviction, “I’ll remedy the situation immediately.”

Littlefoot nodded, hoping that the two of them had reached a mutual agreement.

“Just out of curiosity, what do you plan to do?” asked massive longneck in a friendly, unofficial manner.

Longtail thought about it for a moment, puffing on his cigar.

“I will send one of my bodyguards to ensure things run smoothly.”

“Unarmed I would hope?” asked Littlefoot.

“In a matter of speaking yes,” replied Longtail deviously.

If Littlefoot knew what the Major General had planned, Grisson’s education was about to become a lot more hassle free really quickly.  Longtail’s bodyguards were intelligent, obedient brutes that had a knack for setting other dinosaurs straight.  Littlefoot hoped silently there would be no permanent injuries.


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Are you ever going to answer this question?  

What a great star day present... thank you Sky!

I like a bunch of things that you did in this one:

1) The colour of the fish are brown, which is the one that the wingtails describe as being the best kind.  

2) Cloud apparently inherited his mother's fishing skills  

3) Glide looks older in this picture thanks to the brilliant shading, and his expression shows more of a passive awareness as opposed to the alarm that his younger self might have felt at such a sudden event.

His face clearly says 'Meh, I knew this would happen' which is good  

4) The background is forested and thick, which is perfectly reminesant of the Feral Forest, where I descibe the Wingtails as coming from.  It appears you like it as a setting as well!

All that being said I did notice a couple of things that you missed or left out:

1) Glide is missing his left arm.  At the angle the picture is drawn at one would expect that his hand would likely be on his knee, but it looks slightly not right because not even a single piece of it is visible.

2) Cloud is missing a thumb on his left arm... unless he was born without it  

Anyway its a great picture and I look forwards to seeing more of your works.

Caustizer

Happy Star Day Rat Lady!

I've started the next chapter of Far Away Home, though it seems like I won't make the 'end of the summer' deadline since they are all so long!

I think the problem is that as I wrote new chapters I got better at it so I wanna try more things, throw in more plot twists, etc. to keep it interesting to me, but now that its so close to being done I just have so so many ends to wrap up its overwhelming!

Anyway, after I'm finished this story I'll get back onto 'Ruby In the Jungle' before doing "Into Blacksun"... though I think it will be markedly shorter then this one.  I don't wanna spend another 2 years writing it!

Caustizer.

Have you ever been to Gettysburg or experienced the US Civil War museum?

Because of your high interest in history. do you play any civilization building games like Age of the Empires, Rise of Nations, or the Civilization series?

What debt do you think Siak owes Aizon, so much as to make her feel obligated to take care of a bunch of total strangers for him?

I have to say, I didn’t expect Star would be the one to kill Eybron.  I believe that scene qualifies as her Crowning Moment of Awesome in this story.  And fantastic job giving Eybron a spectacular death scene. One thing I’m a little unclear on, though, is why Star wasn’t severely harmed by the Eye of the World when it was focused on her. Was Eybron only aiming some of the lenses at her, and so the beam wasn’t as intense?

The beam was on Star for a lot shorter length of time then it was on Eybron.  The white wingtail didn't react to the attack before he was already catching fire, and by then it was too late.  She was lucky that the Cloud saved her!

Ooh! This was intense! Like... super awesome! My heart was pumping like crazy while reading this chapter.
The last part was nice. It was a little weird that Sky and Star are going lovey dovey all of a sudden after the fight (or did I skip a part?). Anyways, loved the quote from Star telling her brother she doesn't love him anymore. Quite some powerful words!

This scene was the big makeout scene for Sky and Star after beating the villian that had done them so much wrong, but I think you guys are a bit saturated with that whole 'lovey dovey' thing from FAH: Another Day.  Perhaps I chose to write it too soon in that regard.

I'm glad you like the chapter, and I hope to see some good art from you Sky soon!

Caustizer

I have another chapter in the works for this.

It is going to focus a bit on Littlefoot and how he has progressed differently in a futuristic and advanced world so different from the original one.

Let me know if you are following this, or are simply interested in it enough to read it when it is completed!

Caustizer