The Continuing Saga

[Pterano]

((So here it is! Also, please note, that if you want to join this RP, you need to post in the discussion thread I have for it first so that I can add you to the list. Everyone who is already on the list can post away! Sorry for the length, but it IS the inaugural post after all. ))

Twilight was washing over the outer environs of the Great Valley, bathing the sheltered coulee in the soft light of the blueish hues that came from the reflection of the Bright Circle's rays on the atmosphere after it vanished below the horizon. The stars would be appearing soon, and the day was winding down for many denizens of the valley.

Littlefoot was out with the Gang as usual, enjoying the cooling sensation that was coming on with the evening. It was one of the best times of day to play in the Summer, particularly when there was a cool breeze such as the one that was currently blowing in over the grassy hills.

The oncoming darkness also bolstered the concealment of already convenient hiding places, and this evening hide and go seek was the name of the game. Littlefoot was "it", and it was his turn to seek out all of his friends. Littlefoot had to admit that he much preferred hiding over seeking, as there were some in the group (Cera) that were much too good at it, and it could sometimes be a very long time before a certain yellow threehorn was discovered. Still others (Chomper) had the benefit of their noses, and could usually locate the hiders with relative ease.

Littlefoot stopped a moment to see if he could hear something, and craned his neck from left to right. He scanned the trees, the bushes, and the grass. "Mmmm... alright, ready or not!" he called out. "Here I come!" Starting to move forward, the longneck kept his eyes and ears peeled, looking and listening for even the slightest signs that might give his friends away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out in the Mysterious Beyond, the ground was shaking in uneven beats as a large, wandering herd moved over the dusty surface of the Earth. It was the time of year when the farwalkers would be sojourning within the walls of the Great Valley. This particular group was a bit more unique than the standard farwalker herd that sought out shelter each year, however.

Contained within this bunched up herd were several familiar (and not so familiar) faces. One in particular was currently soaring through the darkening skies, wings spread wide as he banked and began to head lower towards the ground walkers. Already he had seen the looming palisades of the Great Valley rising up ahead in the distance, and he knew that was his cue to start descending.

Upon the brow of this flyer previously rested much pride, duty, and a sense of purpose. Now there was consternation and deep contemplation. He was a burnished red in coloration, almost like rust, with a light brown underbelly and brown wings. A mighty, horn-like crest swept backward from his head, creating a very graceful appearance for the flyer.

This particular fellow was none other than Pterano, Petrie's long lost uncle. But he was anything than eager to make his presence known at the moment. He wished to conceal himself for the time being, as he didn't feel like facing the Council at the moment. He was burning with desire greater than he had ever felt to see his nephew again, as well as his sister and her family, but he needed to keep a low profile. He knew that legally, he had every right to return, as five cold times he had been keeping a very close eye on had passed. But to be extra safe, he had waited an extra half a year, as he had been up to other things, and did not wish to hurry his return, as painful as it had been for him to wait.

He started flying among the walking dinos now, looking about for the blue skinned flyer that had been accompanying him as of late. The blue skinned flyer that went by the name of Devon... the son of his old nemesis Sierra. The young flyer had gone on ahead of him, Pterano telling him he would catch up in a few moments. He could feel his heart twisting into knots the closer they got to the walls of the Valley. How would his return be treated? Would he be welcomed back, or be treated like the exile he was?

[vonboy]

In a nearby hole in the ground, a little sharptooth and an older fastrunner were hiding.

"Ruby, I can smell Littlefoot. He's close!"

"Then keep it down Chomper. Littlefoot can't find us if he can't hear us."

The two dinosaurs crept deeper into their little hidey hole, hoping Littlefoot wouldn't think of looking there.

[Pterano]

Littlefoot thought he heard something off to his left, and turned his head in that direction, squinting. From what he could see, there was nothing whatsoever there. Just more hill. But he THOUGHT he had heard something... and that was good enough for him, even if it was just the wind.

Littlefoot advanced up the hill, not noticing the hole that Chomper and Ruby had concealed themselves in. His foot suddenly caught in it, and with a cry of surprise, the longneck was tumbling forward, and landed flat on his underside, his face planting into the ground.

"Puh! Puh!" He spit some dirt out as he slowly got back to his feet and looked down at the hole. "Huh... well who put that there?" he asked, peering down into it. "Hey!" he exclaimed, upon seeing Chomper and Ruby. "I found you guys! Alright!" Littlefoot was inwardly elated at finding Chomper, as Chomper of course had the superior sniffer of the group. Maybe this could be a secret advantage to the seeking team. "Alright... well we still have... everyone else to find." the longneck said, laughing now as he stepped back to let them out of the hole.

[trulyfantasticme]

Devon landed in the tree above where Littlefoot and his friends were playing, keeping silent as he waited for Pterano to catch up with him. Nice place...now I know why Pterano kept talking about it. he thought. No wonder its called the Great Valley.

Pterano perched himself next to him as Devon turned his head towards him. "Hey Pterano," he whispered in a quiet voice. He smirked in a teasing manner. "About time, old timer."

[vonboy]

"Aw, you found us; and first, even." Chomper looked kind of dissapointed.

"Oh, it is okay, Chomper. Now you get to have fun and find everyone else with your sniffer!" said Ruby.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Chomper. He put his sniffer on the ground, and started sniffing for anyone else in the area.

They were all still oblivious to the nearby flyers.

[Pterano]

((Remember to watch the autoing TFM. Try not to write what other characters you don't RP as are doing. I'll let it slide this time, but keep an eye on that. ))

Pterano had spotted Devon flying way off ahead of the herd, and this made him naturally nervous. The older flyer struggled to catch up, and tried calling out to him, but didn't wish to attract any attention to himself. "Devon!" he hissed. "Devon!" but the flyer was too far off to hear him.

This was not what he wanted so early on! It was making him more nervous than he usually felt, and he followed at a slower pace. When Devon finally came to rest on a tree, Pterano observed with much agitation that Littlefoot was right below him... and he was... playing... with a sharptooth?

Pterano's first reaction was that Littlefoot had stumbled upon a young sharptooth... but upon closer inspection, the sharptooth was speaking leaf eater! And the two seemed to be very familiar with each other.

Tapping Devon's side, Pterano nodded with his head back towards the herd and took off again, wheeling into the sky. "Devon! Come here!" he whispered. He wasn't ready... not yet. He couldn't face his nephew or the gang just yet. He wanted to surprise everyone... but more importantly, he didn't want the adults to know he was coming back to the Great Valley at this point in time.

Fortunately for him, Littlefoot did not look up, nor did he hear Pterano. He smiled as he watched Chomper begin sniffing about him. "Hahah! I wonder if that's allowed... but oh well. I'd say its advantage team seekers, now!" he exclaimed, beaming. "Let's see who else we can find." He began walking away from Pterano's direction, and towards a set of bushes he'd noticed earlier.

[trulyfantasticme]

(I'm sorry, I'm just used to controlling Pterano. You gotta admit, he's fun to control! )

Devon flew off the branch, flying next to Pterano. "What is it, Pterano?" he asked.

[Mama's Girl]

For young ones outside the Great Valley the oncoming of night would signal a time when one had to cut short playtime and head in to the safety of their nests. But the Great Valley was so safe that thankfully this was not the case. Ducky and her closest five friends (Spike being her brother and all) didn't have to be home until closer to their actual nesting times, which was good because right now they were in the middle of hide and seek and Ducky, while not holding out much hope for herself, wanted to see if Cera's record for being the last found would hold.

The little swimmer crouched down lower among the bushes she hid in with Spike, trying to stay hidden and quiet in her spot. She kept checking to make sure Spike wasn't eating their hiding spot. He seemed to be behaving, though it was possible for the spiketail to eat something around Ducky noticing. The swimmer covered her mouth though, a giggle escaping as she anticipated either staying hidden or being found.

Cera, meanwhile, was pretty relaxed in her hiding spot. Littlefoot was it, and so this was going to be another easy win. The threehorn got worried when someone like Chomper was it, not that she would ever admit to this though. But for once she didn't have to contend with the unbeatable sharp tooth sniffer, just Littlefoot, so, as said, this was in the nest. The threehorn laid her head down from behind her rock, almost bored as to the lack of challenge, at least in her mind.

~~~~

(Giving Ridge some history apart from my story)

When the herd of spiketails had first arrived in the Great Valley, there had been worry from some over the lush greens suffering as they had when the last herd of that kind passed through, but young Ridge's herd was actually pretty light eaters for spiketails.

One of the known five most rambunctious youngesters of the Valley, Petrie's, own siblings, Harper hadn't paid them much more mind than she did any others of the far walkers. But these hadn't turned out to be far walkers, the herd instead staying, and the pre-teen aged young one they had with them was actually quite interesting.

Well, honestly what had first drawn Harper to the older but still young spiketail was his saving her from when she had probably the biggest adventure she was like to have since the Day of the Flyers, getting her head stuck in a log she'd tried to fly through off a dare of one of the others of her brothers who stayed about the nest instead of wandering.

Harper had found both a pretty good friend and a lot more adventures as she hung around the spiketail who would sometimes wander over to see what Littlefoot and the others were doing, thus getting them caught up in the adventures that hit the gang.

"You're it!" Harper grinned as she all but dive bombed onto Ridge's back with a giggle as the two played tag.

He sighed, "I still say you have a better advantage in this game". Harper's giggling again proved him right. "Let's go see if your brother and his friend want to join in too" Ridge offered, partly to gain some competition he could catch better, even if Harper did a good job of not flying to high.

"They're all busy playing hide and seek" Harper informed the spiketail, "and trust me, even if she's younger than you, you don't want to interrupt Cera's winning that again".

"Yeah, probably not" Ridge agreed, "Ok, so what now".

Harper went to answer when she spotted something, a herd of far walkers coming into the Valley. "Hey Ridge, look" she pointed out. They both watched.

"Wow, they look interesting" Harper threw out.

"Yeah..." Ridge seemed to be thinking, all this with wandering herds and all reminded him. "Say...I know you mentioned how, well, that uncle of yours I kept hearing about was late in the time he was allowed back" the spiketail spoke carefully over this topic.

Harper was quiet, then spoke, "Yeah, and don't get me wrong we're all disappointed, but...well...living with Petrie hasn't been easy during the time" she sighed, sympathy for how hard she knew these past few seasons had been for her brother evident in her voice. "And mom pretends she's not surprised he's so 'irresponsible' but I can tell it's hard on her too".

"Yeah..." Ridge decided to change the topic he'd brought up. "Well, you're it now!" he tried to tag Harper, carefully of course, with his tail but she took off just in time with a laugh and flew off. The spiketail gave chase. Both kids giggled down the hill but sort of kept a wide berth of the wandering herd since they knew they shouldn't be annoying or anything before the herd officially introduced themselves.

"You're getting too high!" Ridge pointed out.

"Am not!" Harper argued back with a grin as she flapped along.

[Pterano]

((It's alright Nice intro there, Mama's Girl. ))

Pterano started flying back toward the herd. "I just... I'm sorry Devon. I know you're very eager to explore your new surroundings... and I know you're also eager to meet new faces, but I just... I wish to keep a low profile at the moment. There are those in the valley who don't... necessarily like me, you see. I don't want you going through any bad experiences on your first night. Now... that group that you saw just now... they are actually the best ones you could run into in the Great Valley, in my opinion."

Pterano smiled as he thought of the young and adventurous group. If he were... considerably younger than he was now, he might be very good friends with them, maybe even playmates. Of course... he did have a bit of an ego complex even back then, and had been told he'd been hard to get along with, but he'd had a personality like a magnet, and drew others to him even at that age as well, so it was sort of a trade off. He'd had many "friends", but now that he thought of it, there were very few that he could call "good" friends.

"If you wish to introduce yourself to them... I'll let you do that. But please don't mention me right away... OK?" he asked, smiling over at him. "I'll let them know I'm back... in due time." he stated, giving Devon a reassuring nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Littlefoot heard the giggle that emitted from the bushes, and he smiled. He knew that laugh! Pawing the ground in a mock aggressive manner, the longneck charged forward, and into the bushes, bursting into the clearing where Ducky and Spike were located. "Hah! Hey guys! I got both of you! That's more than half down! We just need Petrie and Cera. Um... speaking of which... Ducky... you didn't... happen to see..." Littlefoot lowered his voice to barely above a whisper now. "See Cera's hiding spot, did you?" he asked, lowering his head until it was right next to her, and trying to keep his voice as soft as possible.

[Mama's Girl]

(Thankyou )

As the bushes about her parted, Ducky all but squealed, but not so much scared, just startled. She giggled again though. "Oh, I went and got us found by being too loud, I did"she smiled. "Sorry Spike" she pat her brother's head.

Giggling again as Littlefoot asked, clearly still confused as to where Cera could be, if she knew where the threehorn was, Ducky shook her head. "No, I did not see where she went, only that she went that way" now that she was part of the seekers, Ducky of course helped out by pointing off in the direction she'd seen Cera run.

[trulyfantasticme]

(Excellent job controlling Pterano, Pterano. I like how he's all understanding Devon, just like how I would portray him. Coolness, let's move on shall we.)

"Thank you, Pterano." the blue cearadactylus smiled at his friend. Ever since Pterano took him in when he was sick, he's been kind of a father figure to him, now that he mentioned it. He nodded before flying towards the tree.

He perched himself on the tree branch, and straightened his back with pride. Then he stepped off the tree branch and yet it appeared to be the dumbest thing to do while he's up in a tree.

He ended up face flat on the grass below, muttering, "I hate it when that happens..." You couldn't really understand it, for his beak was burried into the dirt. He lifted his head up to see the children staring at him, chuckling nervously. "Heheh, how ya doin, folks..."

(Gotta add a little comedy to the rp. )

[LBTDiclonius]

Spike smiled as Littlefoot found him and his sister. Of course, he was never very good at this game, considering he just wanted to eat the whole hiding place. Speaking of that, he moved his head forward and pulled some leafy greens into his mouth and started to chew on them

~~~~~~~~

The Female Fast Biter looked around the Mysterious beyond with caution, using her sniffer to help her to try and locate any other Predators that might be in the area that she needed to watch out for. Surely enough, she couldn't catch the scent of any.

"Well, no other Sharpteeth around here, that's a good thing. Hmm...I wonder how far this Great Valley is..." she grumbled inwardly, walking briskly along the barren wasteland.

[Pterano]

((Thanks! I'm playing him how I'd picture he'd be after five years. ))

Pterano watched Devon fly off, and he sighed happily. "Just be safe. I'll be with the rest of the farwalkers." he said softly, knowing Devon couldn't hear him, but also knowing Devon didn't need to hear him at this point.

He leveled off and began heading back to the farwalkers, intending to lay low for the time being, and reveal himself when he felt the time was right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Littlefoot started to head in the direction Ducky was pointing, when all of a sudden a flyer crashed right in front of him. "Whoa! Are you alright?" he asked, concern flooding his features. "Hey! You look sort of like a flyer we ran into a long time ago!" Littlefoot declared upon seeing what type of flyer was in front of them. "So who are you?" he asked, curious as to this newcomer. "And where did you come from? I don't think I've seen you before in the Great Valley."

He would have been suspicious, but a sharptooth didn't generally crash into the ground like that. This guy just seemed... as if he wasn't a threat to them, so Littlefoot was lowering his guard. If anything, this guy seemed... almost funny in a way, the way he'd made an entrance like that.

[trulyfantasticme]

"Hey there, folks!" He hiccuped, shaking his head to free himself from any form of dizziness whatsoever. "I'm-hic-I'm Devon. Nice to meet-hic-you."

He reached for a tree to pull himself at least to his butt. "So uhh...I look like a flyer you ran into hmm? How's that?"

Edit: (Oh shoot! I forgot I was the one controlling Petrie! Oh, I feel so embarrassed! )

Petrie flew over to the new comer. "Yeah, you look alot like the one..." his voice drifted off, knowing that it was best not to mention his uncle and his comrades that kidnapped Ducky years ago. As much as Petrie missed Uncle Pterano, he didn't want to mention him in front of his friends for he knew if he did, he knew someone would bash out on him.

So he had to come up with something else. "...who gave us lots of treesweets, yeah! Gave us lots of treesweets." Of course, he sucked at lying and every one could tell what Petrie meant. But they went with it anyway.

"Lots of treesweets, eh?" Devon replied, chuckling. "I used to enjoy those when I was a kid."

[LBTDiclonius]

Spike tilted his head a bit at the strange Flyer that just dropped into their game. Although it seemed strange, Spike decided not to worry about it and kept eating his bush and let things roll out by themselves.

[Pterano]

((I'm really liking this so far. Everyone has got something unique to add to it. Very well done. ))

"Oh, well hey, Devon. It's nice to meet you too. I'm Littlefoot. This is Ducky, and Spike, and Chomper, and Ruby." He explained, nodding to each of his friends in turn. "We're playing hiding and go seek... though I'm still trying to find the best hider in the game." he said, shaking his head.

"As for who you look like... well you look like a flyer we ran into awhile ago. He was a different color than you, though, but he was the same kind you are. Do you want to help us find some of the hiders? We have two left. A flyer, like yourself, but well... not the same kind of flyer you are, and a threehorn." Littlefoot informed him.

[Mama's Girl]

(Hehe, sorry, Pterano's just so set on staying hidden, and Ridge and Harper are near the far walkers so probably between. I can't help making Ridge maybe a bit of a threat in that, being a little detective and all, but we can still keep him hidden )

"Ok, if you'd fly at what ground walkers consider a normal height..." Ridge threw out. Harper giggled, as she was flying above his height of reach with his tail.

She lowered just slightly, "Fine, better?" she asked.

"Yes, being that it's fair".

Harper laughed again. Ridge gained on the little flyer, preparing to tag her again safely with his tail. The two were still near by not "too" near the far walkers. Ridge stuck his tounge out in concetration as he was almost there...

Something caught his focus, making him suddenly come to a stop. It had been still somewhat far off, but...he could have sworn he just saw something...fly by, a figure of some kind, off in front of them.

Noticing Ridge pause, Harper did the same and turned back. "Ridge? You ok?" she asked.

The spiketail stepped closer, "I could have sworn I just...do the far walkers have flyers with them?" he asked.

"I don't think so, we'd have seen them when they came in" Harper answered, "unless they're hiding" the hatchling laughed at that silly thought. why would someone hide.

Ridge still frowned in thought, though, "I think we should go check, you know go meet the farwalkers".

"We can't" Harper pointed out, "not until they meet the council, if we just walk up now it'll be...well, we'll annoy them and we're not suppose to do that".

She had a point, still Ridge glanced to the far walkers herd, then off to where he'd seen the figure, "Fine, let's just...keep going, that way". The spiketail continued walking towards where he'd seen the figure.

"Ridge..." Harper didn't completely trust her friend's motives, so she followed him.

~~~~

Ducky gasped, wondering the same as Littlefoot, if the flyer, sharptoothed one at that, was ok, and then just wondering about him in general. He seemed friendly though. At where this conversation was going though and who she already knew the flyer looked like, she frowned, not really wanting to remember  Sierra or Rinkus right about now. She brightened up again as Littlefoot mentioned going on with the game.

~~~~

Cera smirked to herself, she was absolutely amazing at this game apparently, if Littlefoot was still going looking for her. "Ha, looks like I'll win this again" she said to herself. Then stopped that threehorn's didn't talk to themselves.

[trulyfantasticme]

(Actually Petrie's not hiding, he jumped out of his hiding spot when Devon landed. No autoing, Pterano! )

"Yeah sure, why not? I've got the time." Devon shook his head before getting up on his feet. "A threehorn you say?"

[Pterano]

((That's fine, Mama's Girl. You can pursue him I love how you're playing Cera by the way. XD And that wasn't autoing TFM. I just stated what Littlefoot thought Petrie was doing, as he didn't see him either. XD I didn't say WHAT Petrie was doing. ))

Pterano flew closer to the herd, and landed next to them, but on the outside of the plodding group. They were certainly getting close to the Great Valley. It was making his heart quicken the pace within his chest. The young ones would soon realize the farwalker herd was close at hand. If he could perhaps enter as he had the last time... then all would be well.

He wanted to see them. His chest burned with piercing fire, hotter than that which had streaked across the sky the night the "Stone of Cold Fire" had landed. But he must also tread carefully here as well. He wanted to get a feel for how the others would view him first. By now, twilight was melding into dusk, and the light was leaving the sky.

Pterano folded his wings a bit and sighed. Closing his eyes, he listened to the stomping of the farwalkers. Could he finally call this place... home?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Littlefoot nodded, and grinned. "Yeah! A threehorn! She's the best hider in the group. She always wins because she's last found. But I'm hoping things are different this time! So by the way, where did you come from? You don't live in the Great Valley, do you?" Littlefoot asked Devon, starting off once again in the direction that Ducky had claimed she saw Cera going.

[LBTDiclonius]

Spike had finished eating his little mouthful of greenary and started to walk in his funny little way beside Littlefoot, wherever he was planning to go, probably in the direction his sister had pointed out earlier.

((Having fun so far! ))