The Continuing Saga

[trulyfantasticme]

( It takes a darn lot of enery to take Pterano down. He sure is some fighter isn't he? Let's hope he'll be able to help kick Sierra's butt! )

Sierra fell to the ground with an "Ooof!" as Devon leaned down and took him by the neck.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!?!?!?" he boomed, as the angriest look crossed his face, and it wasn't the kind of look you would want to see from Devon. But then he saw Pterano struggling to stand up. As worried as he was for the old flyer, great relief filled his features. But in this situation, that was a bad thing.

Catching the blue flyer off guard, Sierra pushed him down, standing up on his feet. "Try all you want, Pterano, I'm not going anywhere." He wiped his beak and got into a fighting stance. "Awww, how cute. Four against one..." you could tell that comment was sarcastic. "Okay now...which one of you fools wanna come play? Come on! I can take ya!"

He would later regret that last remark...

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Cera felt the ground shaking and in her bid to jump out of the way she landed next to Littlefoot. She giggled for a moment before her face turned serious. "So, Littlefoot... what are we doing here exactly?" she asked with a grim tone in her voice.

Ruby for her part, stepped over to Ducky and sighed. "This day just won't end well. A day that ends well would end with us laughing... but no one is laughing." she commented with a frown.

~~~~~~~

Cyrix heart skipped a beat as he listened to Grandpa Longneck. Cyrix wanted nothing more than to tell the truth, simply because he knew that Grandpa Longneck was the only elder in the valley he  could absolutely trust. But now after everything he'd said and listening to Grandpa Longneck become defensive... Cyrix was scared. Not for himself, but for Longtail. For a single moment he looked to the young flyer with utter betrayal and sadness etched onto his face. Now it was Cyrix who was torn, between his love for his nephew, or his loyalty to the Great Valley.

Finally the Rainbow face came to the hardest decision he'd ever made. He took a single step back and shook his head. "I'm sorry my friend. But this is no longer something we can talk about." he found it easier to stare at the ground as he continued to talk. "I trust you with my life... there is no doubt about that... but Longtail... his trust in me is so bright, it almost shines. If I betray him now, he'll never see me the same way again."  He then rose his voice for a moment, not shouting but making his point clear. "And no there will be NO monitoring Longtail. As long as he stays blissfully unaware about all this, everything will be alright. I... I promise you." he said his voice both shaky but firm with determination.

[Allicloud]

Redback stepped in to join he fight. It was obvious this new flyer wanted to cause trouble, and they had had enough trouble for on day to be honest.

Stepping forwards, he put forth his challenge, baring his teeth "How 'bout you try yer luck against me, huh new guy?"

[Redtooth101]

"He seems cocky," Fang said moving to almost stand next to Redback, still drooling and with an ever more eager look in his eyes. He chuckled as a smirk that displayed sinister actions came to his face. "Two sailbacks shouldn't be too much, especially since I'm still hungry"

[Mama's Girl]

Ducky had been watching nervously both in worry for Pterano and also Fang, oddly enough now, since she felt almost responsible for the small sharptooth's health after she helped mend his tail, and she hoped he wouldn't aggravate anything. She turned as Ruby walked over and sighed, "Yes, I do not think this day will end well either" she said.

[Pterano]

Pterano shook his had in a sad fashion. He wasn't much of a fighter, and hated violence of any kind, though he wasn't above slapping Sierra and Rinkus around whenever they'd been following him, though stand up fighting was a different story. It didn't suit him, though he would fight to protect the ones he loved (though he had not yet had the chance to even attempt that in that regard), even if it made him incredibly uneasy.

"Are you going to be OK?" Littlefoot asked in a concerned fashion. Pterano nodded.

"I'll be fine in a few minutes... just have to catch my breath." He said, still rubbing his stomach.

"Well... I wanted to make sure everyone was OK." Littlefoot said to Cera, who was suddenly standing next to him. "Hmph... but if he wants to fight us... I'm willing to stand up to him!" the longneck said, bravely stepping forward and flexing his tail. Since he was a bit older, he was larger now, about up to Sierra's midriff.

"You're outnumbered Sierra... just fly away... please." Pterano stated resolutely, determination written on his features as he too stepped forward to join the growing line. "We stand together. We're a family... all of us." he said, narrowing his eyes (though of course, he wasn't sure if he considered ALL of them family, but close enough, as it sounded much more intimidating).

"Let's get him!" Norton shouted, and launched himself forward, his rock at the ready as he aimed it for a spot on Sierra's chest. He wasn't looking to kill the flyer, but roughing him up to the point where he'd run off would be good.

Turning the rock at the last minute to fake the flyer out (and avoid impaling him), he swung it down to whack the side of his head...

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

Grandpa Longneck let a sad look creep over his features. "I... see. I'm sorry to have brought this up Cyrix. I... will talk to you some other time." he said, turning away heavily and heading back to where he'd been lying down. He was now doubly worried for his children... both because they were with Pterano, and because Longtail, as he much as liked the lad, had some other mentality within him that he couldn't control. Would he even see Littlefoot again tomorrow.

Laying himself down, the old longneck closed his eyes, a look of consternation on his features as he tried to drift off to sleep.

[trulyfantasticme]

Sierra prepared himself for fight, as he was crazy enough to do so. He would not lose without a fight. He saw Norton launching himself at him with the rock in hand and punched the pteranodon in the stomach, pushing him over, taking the rock from him. "Ha! Is that the best you can do? Come on! I've seen better."

He turned to Pterano and heard what the old flyer said. "Is that so, old flyer? I'd like to see you pipsqueaks try. After all, it would only lead your "family" to thier deaths...not for the first time, right Pterano?"

(Uh oh...its getting steamy in here!   )

[Redtooth101]

Unlike the others, Fang wasn't connected to them. He had no idea who they where or what any of this was about. The only things driving him was the fact that he was hungry and angry, so when he attacked he aimed to kill. Hoping Sierra was too distracted to react in time Fang pounced forwards, aiming to get a bit down on the flyer's wing.

[Mama's Girl]

Ridge hadn't counted on this turning to an actual fight, at least not one where they were allowed to aid rather than ordered back, but he was fully prepared to lend what help he could to any fray that may ensue. "And you know you've all got the support of my fully defense ready tail" he nodded to Littlefoot, giving a test swing of his own tail. The way he saw it, he only lacked height on any advantages a full grown spiketail owned over him.

Ducky frowned, hoping this wouldn't come to a fight and Sierra would just see how he was outnumbered by the flyers plus Littlefoot, Ridge and Cera alone. She wasn't sure what the smaller of them could do really. Harper was working on that though. Once again, amidst the chaos, and rather than truly panic, she pondered options due to her worry. She flinched as Norton rushed in only to get swat aside. Yeah, they needed some better plan...she glanced about, searching for an idea. Her gaze locked on the pond behind them in the alcove.

"Hey Ducky..." she whispered, glancing to the swimmer with a random question, "do you think the pond could maybe have vines in it like sometimes they do?".

Ducky frowned over to the flyer in thought, "Maybe...but why...".

Harper flapped over closer to where both Ruby and Ducky were, "Well...I know for a fact if a flyer can't fly he's really...stuck. I just thought maybe if we found a way to trap his wings..." she shrugged, still not sure how to go about that part of the plan.

[Pterano]

Norton would not be deterred so easily however. Expelling the air from his lungs before Sierra struck him, there was consequently no stunning effect that had happened with Pterano. Getting back up, he now found himself behind Sierra, and his eyes blazed, as he already determined he didn't like this flyer much at all.

"Agh!" He yelled out, cupping his hands together and bashing them down against Sierra's skull, before kicking him viciously in the back, a move that would surely send him sprawling toward the others. "Pipsqueaks huh? Can a pipsqueak do this?" he asked, and wrapped a hand around Sierra's throat from behind, throttling him.

"Let's just see how well you do without any air!" he exclaimed angrily, having lost his admittedly short temper. Pterano's eyes widened at this, having been caught off guard by Sierra's comment about losing everyone... leading them all to their deaths. It had caused him momentary pause, and he'd been unable to act, but now, seeing his son furiously attack Sierra, he shook himself out of his frozen state.

"Norton!" he cried out. "Don't kill him!"

"Why not?" Norton demanded, eyes darkening, though at the same time, he seemed to realize what he was doing.

"Because... I'm willing to bet you've never killed anyone before... and it's not a good thing to start doing. You don't know what you're doing! You're angry, yes, we all are but..."

"I won't kill him." Norton said, maintaining his grip. "He'll pass out first... I know that much. Once that happens, you can do what you want with him."

"Sierra!" Pterano said, shooting him a look. "Yield now. Announce your submission, and we'll end this. There's NO need for this! Stop it at once!" the older flyer implored, looking at him with stern pleading in his eyes. "Please... you've crossed the line... but I'm giving you a chance... do the sensible thing!"

"There's no need to fight!" Littlefoot spoke up as well. "You'll only lose... and I agree with Pterano. You'll only hurt yourself this way. Give up! It won't help you if you keep fighting!"

Littlefoot muttered out the side of his mouth to Harper, whom he'd been listening to during the fight. "Hope you have a backup plan with those vines... just in case."

[trulyfantasticme]

(       YEAH!!! KICK HIS TAIL, NORTON!!!!! WHOOO!!!   )

Sierra rolled his eyes, pushing Norton off him before standing up. "Sheesh, you've got some temper." he muttered, brushing himself off. "Okay fine, you pipsqueaks want me outta here, then I'm outta here." He then turned to Pterano and started walking towards him. "But this isn't over, Pterano. I'll kill Devon and you won't have to worry about protecting your precious "family" any longer."

He spreaded his wings and took off into the air.

Devon watched as Sierra finally gave in. He was relieved, but he was also scared out of his wits right now. His own biological father was going to kill him and practically everyone else around him. He moaned, sitting up. "Uhhh...Dad?"

Petrie had been on his way here on foot, since he couldn't fly. He missed everything, but he was able to see a brown dot flying away in the distance. "Ummm...Uncle? What going on?" he brought himself to ask.

(Well that was a quite interesting little encounter, now wasn't it? Now, I would LOOOOVE to see Pterano kick Sierra's butt. I wanna see him being all bad*** like he was with the sharpteeth in the Past that Yawns Behind! That friggin made me laugh!   )

[Pterano]

Pterano glared as Sierra took to the skies. "He won't be harming any of us." the flyer stated firmly. "No... not tonight... or ever. We'll return to the Great Valley in the morning. And there we'll be safe from him and his kind."

He moved over to Devon. "I hope you're alright... and that he didn't hurt you gravely." Pterano said, patting him on the back. "Norton has told me about himself... he did a good job with Sierra. Don't listen to what that windbag has to say. He's not going to hurt you... now come children!" he said, turning around to face them.

"I see NONE of you listened to me." he rolled his eyes. "Eh... I suppose that is alright. You're getting old enough now that you really don't need to worry about following orders. I just... heh... call it protective instinct." he said, smiling now. "Now let's all get back to that alcove... and try and get some sleep... though I think I myself will be up a bit talking to my two boys." he said, wrapping his wings about Devon and Norton.

Sighing, Littlefoot made his way back to the alcove, relieved that that was finally over. Sierra was pretty bad news after all, and it was good to see him gone. The young longneck was really looking forward to seeing his grandparents again tomorrow, and getting back home.

Wandering over to an already sleeping Chomper, Littlefoot decided to curl up next to the sharptooth, smiling at his friend as he did so. "Goodnight... Chomper." Littlefoot said, even though he was sure the sharptooth couldn't hear him, and he was soon slumbering, his sides moving in and out as he steadily breathed.

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

Morning brought some ill omens for the adults of the Great Valley. Expecting to return to their tranquil home, they were greeted with a most disturbing sight. The Great Valley was completely blanketed with a thick, black mist. It hung everywhere, unmoving, and choking both to the lungs and the eyes.

Grandpa Longneck surveyed the scene, a look of uncertainty upon his features. "What... is going on here?" he asked aloud. "Our Valley... what's happened to it?"

He could barely see more then a few feet in any direction, and he turned away to look at the others. "It seems as if our valley is uninhabitable for the time being!" he said, raising his voice so that everyone could hear. "We also need to find our children... who are out here somewhere with Pterano. Longtail... you may go searching for them... and as for the rest of us... I think we should try and find food... but not until we locate our children first. I know we're hungry, but moving now without us all being accounted for is not wise." Looking down at Cyrix, he gave the rainbow face a nod.

"You may let Longtail go and search... and any other flyers who want to join him may do so." he said, saying that last part. "The rest of us will wait here for their return."

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

((Some fun with Chomper here. XD))

Littlefoot opened his eyes, feeling something sharp on his neck. "Mrrph?" he mumbled, blinking a few times to see that he was in the jaws of a sharptooth. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, darting his neck away, his heart racing. He had rolled his neck in his sleep into Chomper's open mouth, the sharptooth having opened it sometime in the middle of the night.

"Jeez... sorry about that." he said to Chomper apologetically. "Didn't realize that... um... yeah." he gave off a nervous chuckle.

Pterano was stretching his wings and yawning as the morning dawned over their alcove. "Ahhhh... good morning everyone!" he exclaimed. He had been up late, talking to his two sons, swapping stories and getting to know Norton a bit better, but had gotten enough sleep. "I suppose..." he paused to yawn again. "Suppose we should get back to the Great Valley. Let's get some breakfast here, and then be on our way." he suggested, noticing the Rainbow Faces approaching him.

"We have something we need to tell you." the female said, a grave look on her features. "But go ahead and eat first. We'll tell you in a little bit."

"Very well." Pterano said, nodding. "It's not something too serious, is it?"

"It could be... but we'll just have to make due... as we always do." she said with a sigh.

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Cera had slept soundly... almost without making a sound from the fight the previous day and as a result the young Threehorn was still asleep, deep in a dream as she grinned and mumbled aloud about threehorns still being the best in the world. She then rolled over in her sleep and unfortunately nudged Petrie in the belly with her nose horn.

Ruby had slept rather peacefully the night before and rose with the bright circle. As she watched the others, she could not help but giggled aloud as she noticed the rather comical situation between Littlefoot and Chomper. She stepped forward as she spoke. "Sometimes sleeping with you mouth open means you should sleep with your eyes open too Chomper." she said as another giggled escaped her throat.

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

Cyrix could tell this was bad. Well in truth this wasn't even close to normal. Whatever this mist was, it was dark, foreboding and almost evil. He couldn't explain it, he honestly didn't want to try either. But as he stood among the other valley elders, he couldn't help but feel as if something bad was happening... and he knew it would be crucial to keep Longtail close at all times, but then he heard Grandpa Longneck speak, and address him, and in a simple reflex shuddered before he spoke. "O-of course." He looked down to his nephew, and then back up at the members of the valley that had assembled this morning, and made his choice almost immediately.  He turned to Petrie's mother and asked almost pleadingly. "I know this isn't an easy thing to ask, but Longtail will need someone to keep an eye on him... and I could think of no one better than you."

Longtail for his part wasn't just scared, or nervous... he was outright terrified. This mist... there was something wrong with it. While the child couldn't begin to put his wing on it, this mist was dark, almost sinister in a way. Then to make matters worse, the one voice he could hear at that moment was the malevolent voice in his mind... and it was.. laughing. Laughing almost as if it enjoyed what was going on... and it made the young gliders head begin to hurt. But he wouldn't DARE tell his uncle Cyrix this... then he would pull Longtail from the search and that was the absolute last thing he wanted.

[vonboy]

Chomper was already asleep when the whole Sierra incident occurred, so tired from the long day.

Cutter, also exhausted from the previous day, and from all the exploring he did while everyone else was away dealing with Sierra, found a nice sleeping spot...that just happened to be right in front of the face of a sleeping Hyp. He was still asleep when Littlefoot suddenly jumped up.

Chomper got up when Littlefoot pulled his head out of his mouth. "Wha...huh?...Littlefoot, you mean your head...was in my...mouth!?" He didn't really know what to think. "Well, that would explain that great dream I was..." He paused again, realizing what was coming out of his mouth. Not just the words, but all of the slobber and saliva that was on the ground, Chomper's face, and all over Littlefoot's head and neck. He just stared at Littlefoot in shock, not really sure what to say. "...Littlefoot...I...I'm...sorry about that. Uh...maybe we should go over to the water and get cleaned off?"

Cutter still was not awake.

[Redtooth101]

On the edge of the alcove where the same two kid sharpteeth, Fang and Nat. Nat was fast asleep but Fang wasn't, the sailback just crouched down on the ground staring at the group of dinosaurs but more specifically at Ducky. He hadn't slept the whole night, he still couldn't get her kindness out of his head. Even though he seemed to glare at her he was anything but angry, still hungry, but not angry. If anyone asked him he'd say he stuck around because he wanted to rest his tail but in truth he felt like he owed her something, like he now had a debt to pay. <Ugh...I hate feeling like this, she's just a swimmer that helped me. I don't owe her anything...> he growled to himself.

[Mama's Girl]

Things always looked better in the morning. It was a philosophy that Petrie's mother wasn't even aware she held to. Born of and held to due to experience always proving it right. Every time except now that was...

Crestfallen she just stared at their smoke filled home. It wasn't the first time the Gerat Valley was uninhabitable for a bit, but it did seem the worst somehow. Plus there was no time line to hope on. After the swarming leaf gobblers they had all known that they only had to await everything growing back. After that harsh cold time of frozen ground sparkles, only until that co,d time passed. This...there was no telling.

Closing her eyes she dealt with the disappointment, though, and moved on. Nodding to Grandpa Longneck's point, yes first came finding the kids and Pterano. She sighed again. "You said you'd do it, and I know you're capable of it" she whispered to just herself and in a statement to her brother he'd never hear, "please, make good on those promises of being better and please have kept them safe...".

She was just about to, of course, add her aid to the flyers going out to search, when Cyrix addressed her. Turning to the rainbow face, and caught of guard a bit by the request, she nonetheless nodded with a small smile, "Of course, Cyrix. I'll stay as near Longtail as I can without stifling or anything".

~~~~

Ridge also felt like he'd slept like a log due to the many twists of the day before. Stretching as well, he smiled to Pterano as the flyer greeted them with a good morning and then scanned about to the others awake as well. Despite the fact that something seemed to be going on with Chomper and Littlefoot, the first thing the spiketail noticed was Harper and Ducky both up already and glancing over towards Famg and Nat again.

"Don't tell me you two got up early after all that?" he said with a smile, walking over.

"No" Harper gave a small laugh, "just now".

"Oh. So why are you glancing towards our maybe friendly maybe not sharptooth visitors?" Ridge went on.

"I was just hoping that little one didn't hurt himself again or anything" Ducky said.

"Oh yeah, Fang as I heard his name is" Ridge said. He would have gone on, commenting on how the swimmer's actions of before must have done something right since the sharpteeth next tried to help them, but the rainbow faces walking up drew all three of their attention.

Harper and Ridge at least made their way over as Pterano asked for and didn't get much out of them. Ridge sighed, "Yet somehow what they did say makes it sound like it is bad".

"Now Ridge we don't know that until they say so" Harper replied. Already she scanned about and found a pretty nice cluster of ground-stars. Flapping over she picked a few but with a grimace set aside some crawlers that were resting on the leaves.

"Ooh!" Ducky rushed over to pick them up, "I will go see if Fang and his friend want them! I will!". The idea had just suddenly hit the swimmer as a good one, since Chomper ate crawlers too.

[Pterano]

((I'll just be skipping Grandpa Longneck for now in this post, as it's really Longtail's and Petrie's mother's show from here on out. ))

"Yeah..." Littlefoot said to Chomper nervously. "We'd... better get cleaned off... and I guess... you should get the taste of longneck out of your mouth." he commented wryly. Walking over to the pool, he heard a shout as Hyp suddenly came awake.

"Gah! What... what is this little sharptooth doing!? Trying to eat me in my sleep?" he demanded, pushing himself up to a standing position and glaring down at Cutter. "Ugh... all these sharpteeth! What do they want!?" brushing himself off, he stared at Littlefoot, who was looking at him. "What are you looking at?"

"Er, nothing... sorry." the longneck apologized, lowering his head as he moved over to the pool and dunked his neck and upper body into the water to rinse off. Hyp angrily snapped off a branch of green food, and began chomping down on it roughly.

"Our... home is dying." the male Rainbow Face was saying, and was speaking in tones that everyone could hear. "We come from a faraway place... much farther than you could imagine." he explained. "And you see... our home can no longer support us."

"You mean like... the Land of Mists with Ali's home?" Littlefoot spoke up, unable to hold himself back, even though he suddenly realized the Rainbow Faces would probably have no idea about this.

"Something like that..." the female surprisingly said. "Think of it like the great earthshake that separated everyone... mountains that burn rose up from the ground, and started to make everything much hotter. Think of it in those terms. Our home is becoming unbearably hot... and soon it'll be so hot, we won't be able to live there."

"So, why not make your homes in the Great Valley, then? There's plenty of room." Pterano spoke up now.

"It's a bit more... complicated than that." the female stated, looking right at him. "We're split on a decision. Our council is unsure of what to do. You see... we have a lot of... hmmm... culture I guess you could say, and we'd lose it all if we decided to live among you. There are some who are not really happy with that. They feel we should forcibly take your lands from you... and move everything we possess and have created here. However... the majority of us are peaceful... and don't believe in taking things away from others. My companion and I feel that we should simply choose to live among you like this... and lose everything we have."

"Well why not? I lost my home and my mother in the great earthshake... we all lost something... even Pterano!" Littlefoot explained. "We'd welcome you here."

"It's... a little more complicated than that, Littlefoot." the male reiterated, giving him a warm smile. "Our 'herd' is very big, and we... have a lot of things. We could fit into your home, yes, but not if we brought all our... things with us."

Shaking his head, the longneck frowned. "I'm not sure I really understand." He didn't recognize the word "culture", nor its connotations.

"Ahem... yes... well... we can't expect you to. But your own council should know about this. We'd like to speak to them at the earliest opportunity." the male pressed.

"We'll be heading back to the Great Valley as soon as we can." Pterano reassured them once again. "We'll finish eating, and then I'll fly up and start directing them back. Perhaps they'll be sending out a search party for us." he said, brightening at the prospect. It wasn't that he didn't like the responsibility that he currently held... he just had to admit, it was rather a lot, and he wanted to share the burden with the others, like his sister.

Shaking himself dry, Littlefoot looked over at Chomper, smiling once more in an uneasy manner. "Uh... all rinsed out?" he asked, moving to munch on a fern that grew out of the ground.

Pterano looked over at his "family", which included Harper, Petrie, Devon, and Norton. Ridge was close by as well, sticking near Harper as usual. "Everyone sleep well?" he asked, picking some treesweets from a nearby tree and beginning to partake of them. "Ah yes... would anyone care for these?" he asked, showing them around to his gathered group.

[Redtooth101]

Even though he could tell there was a lot going on Fang didn't pay the others much mind, if it concerned him they'd have said something so he found it best to stay out of their business especially after what had happened yesterday. When he saw Ducky pick up a few crawlers he looked a tad confused. Why would a leaf eater want crawlers?

[vonboy]

Cutter woke up when he heard Hyp yelling. He shot up to look at the leafeater that was much bigger than him looking at him angrily and yelling. He ran over to where Littlefoot and Chomper were cleaning themselves off at the fountain. <Wha...what's going on, Chomper?>

<Oh, you just scared Hyp is all.> Chomper replied, before both of of the little sharpteeth started to laugh, finding it amusing that big bad Hyp was so scared of a tiny little fast-biter like Cutter, whom probably couldn't do much damage to him if he tried. Both of the sharpteeth then set out at a bush next to Littlefoot. They grabbed any ground crawlers they could find on the leafs before offering the leafs to the longneck beside them.

Chomper then started whisper to Littlefoot. "I know this won't be very filling for me, but I'm not really hungry anyway. Uh, it might sound kind of weird to you to eat when your not hungry, but for us it makes sense. You know, if you can only eat meat, then that means there's really not much to choose from. There's greenfood all over the place, but there's a lot less...um...meat around. We...just eat as much as we can whenever we get the chance, because we honestly don't know when we'll get to eat again. I mean, back when I was living with my parents, sometimes we'd have to go days without eating because we couldn't find anything."

He didn't know what Littlefoot would think of it. Maybe he'd find it kind of interesting, he didn't know. He just felt like talking to someone and letting some if this out. Maybe it would help Littlefoot to understand about him more.

[trulyfantasticme]

Devon watched as Pterano held out the treesweets in front of the group of flyers. "Hey, I'll take some!" he took a couple tree sweets, giving one to Petrie, knowing full well that is cousin would want one in the first place.