Yep, just took a look at those, Allicloud. I get it now.
Glad you brought them in, all the same. The RP is certainly going well I think.
Yeah. In fact, now that I'm a scaly, Redback's pretty much become my...whatever the scaly equivalent of a fursona is. Anywho:
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Where am I?
This was what instantly entered Littlefoot's mind. He found himself in a vast, green plain; with endless stretches of grass as far as the eye could see. A gentle breeze made the grass sway and dance, and caused the black grass hanging around his neck to flutter playfully around his snout.
He smiled to himself. What a peaceful place. It was as if he was the only person in this world. Just him, and the infinite plains of green grass.
As he wandered through this vast world, he spotted in the distance a faint figure. As he ran to get a closer look, the figure became clearer, and he saw that it was Redback. But he looked different; His trademark hanging blackweeds had vanished, and there were no dark circles around his eyes. He looked strangely naked without his blackweeds, Littlefoot thought to himself, but he still held his strange aura of combined adventure and security.
He smiled at Redback, and the sharptooth smiled back at him. It was a strange smile he had never seen the Redback make before; perfectly gentle and kind.
Not a word passed between the young dinosaurs. They just stood together, in this strange, peaceful world, gazing at eachother. As they stood, a sudden gust of wind blew, and sent Littlefoot's blackweeds flying off, into the sky.
Littlefoot made to chase after it, but was stopped by Redback's hand. Confused, the longneck looked up to his large friend, who shook his head, the smile never leaving his mouth.
"You won't want those anymore" The sharptooth said calmly.
He made to push past Redback's hand, but was pushed back himself, as Redback's other arm jabbed painfully into his side.
"OW! Redback, what are you doing?"
The sharptooth said nothing. Redback's face suddenly fell, his features changing from a calm serene expression, to a visage that almost seemed world-weary or mournful.
Littlefoot then watched in horror as the very flesh began to melt from Redback's face. His skin slewed from his head, revealing red muscle, glistening in the sunlight, which had turned from its sharp yellow shine to a harsh reddish glow.
His eyes grew wide with fright as Redback's face continued to melt and decay before him. His eyes dissolved from their sockets in his skull, which slowly became more and more visible, until all that remained of Redback's head was the skull itself, coloured a lightish brown by the red light that shone round.
Littlefoot tore his eyes from the gruesome sight, and found that all round him was desolation and ruin. Great shafts of rock sprouted from the ground before his eyes, and the green grass turned to a sea of flames. Balls of fire rained from the crimson sky, adding to the inferno all around him.
He felt another sharp jab to his side, as he turned to face Redback's face, or what remained of it.
The skull leered close to him, the mouth hissing with breath, carrying the rancid smell of decay. As Littlefoot's eyes moved upwards, he glimpsed behind Redback, a strange, thin shadow of some indistinguishable creature. The shade stared back at him with a pair of huge, green eyes, harsh, unblinking...
"Littlefoot!!!"His eyes snapped open. He gazed about and saw that he was in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. The sun was just peeking out from behind the mountains. He was back in the Valley, though it was not his usual sleeping spot.
He saw a small figure approaching him from the trees. Hastily wiping away the sleep-sand, mixed with tears swimming from his eyes, he was relieved to see it was Cera.
"Hmmph! So this is where you are!" She called as she neared him.
"Oh, *Yawn* Hi Cera... What are you doing up so early?"
He made to get up, and felt a sharp pain in his side. Looking over, he saw that just by his side, there lay a tiny pointy-seed, barely bigger than one of his toes.
He sighed. That must have been what that weird poking in my side was in that dream, he thought. He shuddered for a moment as he remembered the horrific images he had just seen.
"Looking for you, Littlefoot! What the heck are you doing out here? You're on the other side of the Valley from your sleeping place!"
Littlefoot looked around at the clearing he was in. It certainly wasn't his sleeping place.
"I guess...after I said goodnight to Redback, I made my way back to my usual sleeping place, and fell asleep before I got there..." He said, half to himself.
"Redback!" Cera cried in a voice that made Littlefoot jump. She'd nearly forgotten what she had meant to say to Littlefoot in the first place "Littlefoot, I need to talk to you about those Blackweed guys, it's important!..."
"Can it wait?" Littlefoot interrupted. "I need to make sure my grandparents aren't worried."
Littlefoot trotted off towards the other side of the Valley. Cera groaned and followed as best as she could. Always rushing about, she thought. Why couldn't he just wait and hear what she has to say? There wouldn't be much time soon!
"Oh Littlefoot! There you are!"
Grandma Longneck Lowered her head to embrace her grandson as he returned to their sleeping spot.
"Where have you been?!" The old longneck asked, relieved that he was alright.
Littlefoot hesitated for a second, thinking up a convincing story "I, er, think I was sleepwalking. I just woke up and I was over near the Tall Trees."
Cera caught on "Yeah, he was walking around in his sleep. I was getting a drink and I saw him, so I followed him. You know, to make sure he didn't get into trouble or anything. Then he woke up, and he had no idea what was going on."
Grandma Longneck smiled "Well, thank you Cera. Sleepwalking can be quite dangerous sometimes. You did the right thing."
Cera smiled proudly.
"So, can we go and play now?" Littlefoot asked.
The old longneck nodded with a smile, and the two young dinosaurs ran off together.
Once they were out of sight and earshot of Grandma Longneck, Cera skidded to a halt and headed towards a nearby copse of rocks, with a covering of small trees. Confused and intrigued, Littlefoot followed her in.
"Now what did you want to say?" Littlefoot asked as he joined Cera in the copse.
Cera’s face became serious “Littlefoot, we need to talk. Last night, when you went to see Redback during the night…”
“You followed us.”
Cera was surprised “H-how did you know?”
Littlefoot frowned “Redback spotted you. That’s why we ran.” There was a slight hint of contempt in his voice.
“Oh” Cera was hesitant to continue. It was obvious Littlefoot was not impressed, “Well, after you and Redback gave us the slip…”
“You know, it wouldn’t hurt if you’d trust someone new, sometimes.” Littlefoot interrupted again.
He turned to face Cera, who wore an expression of pure shock.
“What?!”
“Well think about it.” Littlefoot explained “How often have we met a new person, and have you not trust them?”
“But Littlefoot, this is different…”
“Remember Mo? The moment you met him, you started interrogating him about where he was from!”
“THEY’RE GONNA DESTROY THE VALLEY!”The words hit Littlefoot like a slap to the face. Right out of nowhere.
“…What?”
“You heard me!” Cera cried, suddenly very serious “It was their plan all along!”
Littlefoot sat down as his knees gave way. The sheer shock had taken all feeling from them.
Cera became slightly calmer, and continued “As I was saying, after you and Redback gave us the slip, I was heading back to my sleeping place, when I heard voices. Naturally I was curious, so I went to get a listen. It was those other three Blackweeds, Celya, Rheddo and Tero.”
Littlefoot could only nod. He was speechless.
“So, I listen, and they’re talking about some big plan…”
The scene was clear as water as she recounted what she had overheard:
“So, we’re gonna go through with this then?” Celya asked.
Rheddo nodded “Of course! We’ve come this far, why’d we back out now?”
“Well, Redback… Shouldn’t he be here, if we’re gonna plan this now?” Celya muttered.
“Ehh, he’s grown soft. It’s that longneck kid.” Rheddo explained “He’s grown really close to him. Dunno why though, he’s no different from the other kids he’s done in before, every time we do this. It was his big idea, anyways.”
They both looked to Tero, who stood by their scratched plan of the Valley. Mute as ever, he simply drew a claw across his throat.
“Right.” Celya nodded “If he’s not goin’ with the plan, he goes down with them. So, for starters, we burn the forest.”
“There’s a firepit pretty close to the Tall Trees. We can set some big branches on fire there, and carry them to the Trees, and let them do the work.” Rheddo added.
Tero held a wing to the air and stood still for a moment. He then nodded as something became clear to him, as he knelt by the plan and pointed to a small patch of trees, near to a dense forest.
“So if’n we set the fire there, the wind will carry it over to the other trees.” Rheddo interpreted. “Then we’ll make our getaway into a cave here” He pointed to a spot near the trees on the map. “I can remember the way round those caves from when that tiny sharptooth showed me round ëem.”
Celya nodded “Then what, Tero?”
Tero etched a line in the dirt, from the entrance of a cave on the map, towards a point across the fast-water in another large grove of trees. He tapped the point, then tapped the point in the previous trees.
“We do the same there. Right. There’s bound to be another firepit round there. If not, we’ll just carry some other burning branches from the other place.”
A toothy grin erupted on Rheddo’s face “Right. Celya, yer the fast one. You and Tero take care of the fires. I’ll deal with the grand finale...”
Tero drew their attention to a point along the Great Wall. With a single claw, he dashed a gap in the line.
“Yeah, we break open that wall of theirs! It’ll be around midday by then, there’ll be dozens of sharpteeth wandering around outside, lookin’ for some lunch. They won’t be able to resist.”
Celya licked her lips “I might just join them, you know. Indulge myself.”
The sinister planning session continued, with points marked off all over the Valley. Through their number and speed, as well as knowledge of the Valley’s layout, it would be a cinch. A fire here, a rockslide there. Heck, maybe they’ll even get lucky and get an earthshake at the same time! All the while, the sharpteeth from outside would be wreaking havoc among the dinosaurs. The whole Great Valley would fall apart.
“If all goes to plan, the Valley will be in total chaos by the evening!” Rheddo chuckled. He looked to Tero, to see what he thought.
He leaned over the map of the Great Valley, and with one clawed hand, wiped it clean from the dirt. The blank, emotionless visage of the flyer changed, if just for a moment, to a tight smile of malicious joy. Rheddo shuddered at the sight.
“Ooh! Don’t do that Tero! It creeps me out!”
The trio stood back as they looked into eachother’s eyes. Joking aside, determination was set in the visages of all present.
“So, we meet at the firepits by the Tall Trees tomorrow. If Redback’s not there, he’s a dead sharptooth. Then it begins.”
“…And then they just headed back to the caves!”
Cera stamped on the ground in fury “I knew there was something about those Blackweeds I don’t like!”
“I…I trusted them…”
“They used you, Littlefoot!” Cera countered “They used all of us!”
“Not Redback though!” LIttlefoot cried “He’s different!”
“He’s their leader! I bet it’s what they do!” Cera shouted back, emotions running high “They get a bunch of leafeaters to trust them and take them back to their home. They get to know the area, then they turn on them!”
“No, that can’t be it…!”
“WAKE UP LITTLEFOOT!” Cera screamed. “Redback’s no different! He might be backing out on this whole plan of theirs, but it was his idea from the start! He’s no friend, he's nobody's friend!”
“YOU’RE WRONG!”
Littlefoot stood up, stamping towards the threehorn until they were snout to horn. “YOU LISTEN TO ME CERA! Redback is different! He and I are friends! He’d never turn on us! Can’t you see that?!...He might be a sharptooth, but he’s like a brother to me…maybe even more than that…”
Littlefoot breathed heavy as he finished his tirade. Try as he did, he could not hide his feelings, as his eyes began to swim with tears. He bowed his head as he slumped back down on the ground, a particularly large, fat tear breaking and dropping to the earth with a gentle
plip.Cera was shocked. Despite everything Littlefoot had been through in his life, he was not one to let his emotions get the better of him. He'd get emotional, just like anyone, but to break down and cry? He had not done that in a very long time. She gently reached out a paw to comfort him. “Littlefoot…”
But Littlefoot knocked her paw away. He got up and headed towards the path through the trees. As he left, he turned to face Cera one more time.
“You never change.” He said in a low voice, hitting harder than any shout. With that, he left Cera alone in the grove.
She shook her head sadly. He really does like Redback, she thought to herself. He loves him like a brother, maybe more, he had said. Even if Redback had changed, she’d heard the other Blackweeds; he’s good as dead!
She stood up. Her mind was racing, what to do?!
Tell one of the grownups? No, that would lead to too many awkward questions, they’d take too long. Plus, she admitted to herself with a grin, she’d much prefer to get rid of those Blackweeds herself. She headed in the direction of Ducky’s home. She’d have to gather the others. If they could get to the firepits and stop the Blackweeds themselves, so much would be avoided.
If not, the Valley might be doomed.