The Sudden Strike
#18 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
Part 18 is now online.
Chomper watched the display of volcanic activity as the leaf-eaters fled back into the Great Valley. As he noticed something fall down, his curiosity overwhelmed him. If something fell down, that meant that something was destroyed. And if something was destroyed, perhaps it left a new vulnerable area. The thought pleased him and he clearly showed it with a sneer on his face. Using his strong feet he easily scaled the hill despite the earthshake. As he closed in where the leaf-eaters had been, he noticed a large pile of boulders. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at it. It was low enough to cross over, yet looked a bit too unstable.
"This might be too dangerous for a sharptooth to cross..." He said to himself. Then he thought it over. While this gape was still a bit unstable, the leaf-eaters still crossed it. They would have had to, to get back inside. If a lumbering leaf-eater like Littlefoot could cross it, why not a sharptooth? Sharpteeth weren't as heavy and could move faster than some of the large leaf-eaters.
Chomper smiled. "This'll have to do, I suppose." He closed his eyes. "Another way into the valley. Perfect. I couldn't have wished for a better present today." He laughed coldly and walked away.
Back in the valley, Littlefoot and the others rushed down the steep hill back into the valley. Many lost their footing and began rolling down instead. Ducky, for instance, couldn't handle the speed that picked up in her gait as she headed downhill and ended up tripping over her own tail. Littlefoot was one of the few lucky ones. He used his feet to grip the ground as he slid down, which provided enough traction to keep himself from collapsing.
As the group made it to the bottom, some struggling to their feet while others regaining their senses, they looked around slowly, and they could quickly see Smoking Mountain spewing up lava and, of course, smoke. They had events like this before. They just had to stay away from the volcano until it settled down.
"I do not know when Smoking Mountain will stop, no no no." Ducky said quietly as she stared at the fiery red glow.
Rex shook his head. "Nobody ever does. But shouldn't we be heading to a safer place?"
Littlefoot said, "No, this is the safest place, Rex. Nowhere else to go."
Petrie gulped and flew up to Littlefoot. He landed on the longneck's head and hugging him tightly. "Me too young to die." The longneck rolled his eyes.
"Relax, we just have to keep our distance."
Chomper walked among the boulders that had fallen during the earthshake. He grumbled as he constantly shifted left to right. It took him so long to find the path that led back to Fortress Valley. Once he found it, he continued along. He had to return to tell the others the good news. As he reached the wall of spikey plants, he took one last look in the direction of the Great Valley. As he stared, his heart panged with hatred. "Soon, the valley will be ours..." He hissed between his teeth.
It was his life-long dream to enslave the Great Valley and make it the second Fortress Valley. It would be another sharptooths' paradise! "Sharpteeth are the true masters." He had said once. His father had taught him well.
"Rex was a fool to mock my father." Chomper sneered. "If my father was still alive, he'd rip that stupid meat-eater into shreds!" He curled his claws threateningly.
When he reached the boulder, he pushed it aside and stepped in. While the path was pitch black, he knew it well and could make his way blindfolded. He stepped back into the light, and walked among his fellow sharpteeth. Some greeted him while others ignored him. When he looked one way, he could see a small longneck being herded into the Feeding Area. He smiled coldly. That is what he had in mind for Littlefoot.
(A/N Bladebacks are Spinosaurus, Finbacks are Dimetrodons, btw.)
The Feeding Area was a large area near the side of the valley. There was only one way out and it was guarded by two of the largest sharpteeth of the area, Bruce and Wren, who were two bladebacks. Bruce was red with pale yellow spots while Wren was green with black stripes. They would make sure that no leaf-eater escaped the Feeding Area. The area was closed off as best as they could. The leaf eaters herded inside there were knocked out with a boulder, and they were gathered in the middle.
Sharpteeth can see perfectly well in the dark, but most leaf-eaters could not. The sharpteeth were at an unfair advantage, and they loved it. The young ones would cower together to give each other support, and the sharpteeth would pick them off one by one. Some of the meat-eaters made sure to make their victims suffer a long time. One of them actually ripped off the limbs of the child and left him like that for ten minutes before ending his agony by swallowing him whole!
Chomper was always amused by the Feeding Area. It was also a good place for torture. Chomper looked at his claws as he imagined the whole thing. He could imagine his claws deep inside Littlefoot's skull, smashing his brain open. He could imagine him ripping his throat out with his large sharp teeth. He could imagine breaking Littlefoot's legs with a single kick from his leg. The mental picture was so soothing for the sharptooth that he started drooling.
"Chomper?"
Chomper snapped out of his dazze. He opened his eyes and looked around. He couldn't see anyone in front of him. "Hello? Who's there?"
"Down here."
Chomper looked down. "Oh, it's you Blueye. What do you want?" Chomper still found her a bit annoying, but after living in Fortress Valley for so long he's grown used to her company.
Blueye cleared her throat. "The troops have trained just as you wished, sire. They're ready when you are!" She saluted Chomper, and then walked away. She had done her job.
Chomper smirked inwardly. He had told Blueye to train a pack of a couple sharpteeth to invade the Great Valley. He does not expect to win, but after the battle, win or lose, he would gain more knowledge of their fighting abilities and be able to work out counterattacks for each one! The group of sharpteeth were mainly the same sharpteeth his surrogate parents were. They weren't incredibly strong but strong enough to defend themselves if need be.
Chomper looked up at the skies and realized it was already getting a bit late. But he knew a night strike would be great. It would catch Littlefoot off guard. Chomper chuckled coldly. The others must be so tired that they wouldn't be prepared for a sudden attack!
"Troop Zeta!" He shouted. Without a word, a pack of up to six sharpteeth showed up. Some were darkly colored while others lightly colored. They remained quiet as Chomper marched back and front in front of them, his red eyes glued on them and their every move. "Tonight, you six will be sent to the Great Valley to test out the strength of our enemy." The sharpteeth nodded. "But don't hesitate to kill if you need to."
The sharpteeth nodded once again. "Before I dismiss you, please note that if you find the longneck named Littlefoot, tell him that he's mine. He and I will fight each other...to the death." He smiled as he said the word 'death'. He finally waved his arm at them, dismissing them. The sharpteeth knew the routine and left for the Great Valley. Chomper told them of one way in, and sharpteeth never forget.
Unbenownst to the sharpteeth, a pair of watchful eyes stared at what was going on. The figure, in the shadows, seemed to be panicked. "Oh no! They're planning some sort of...invasion!" The shadowy creature, turning out to be a flyer, spread out his wings and jumped off the tree branch. His wings caught the wind and he was carried off high into the air. He changed course and headed straight to the Great Valley. "I must warn them!"
As the figure fled Chomper noticed. He narrowed his eyes "You!" he said turning to a flyer sharptooth who was flying near. "Follow that and grant it will not arrive in the great valley." he said gesturing to the flyer who had just leaved. The flyer sharptooth replied with a "Yes, sir." and started the pursue.
Then Chomper was left alone with Blueye. "So, how Sylvia is going?" He tried to put aside the problems. Blueye suddenly seemed to become sad.
"Yeah, I'm getting really worried about her." She said "She is very skilled at fighting and all, but she is having a lot of bad luck in the hunting."
Chomper could only nod. In the past time Sylvia had really showed to be a very bad lucked sharptooth. Not only she had troubles finding her preys, but even when she found one, even with a partner, the prey almost always give it's way to escape. Many had recommended her to train in the feeding area, but she always refused, saying that she doesn't needed any training. Not only that, but she always ate outside the feeding area, and out of everyone's sight. If Chomper didn't knew he would be very suspicious about her behaviour.
Back at the cave that smashed in, a sudden moaning was heard. Well only heard by the little creatures that scurried over there during the earthshake. Something was moving inside the cave. The earthshake had busted the rock wall completely, allowing whatever was inside to come out. A figure drugged itself out, and collapsed due to exhaustion. As it opened his eyes, a red glow filled the orbs inside its head.
Then something else stumbled out as well. It was much smaller than the other, and instead of red eyes, this one had yellow. The second creature shook itself off, and looked over at the exhausted figure. "We must find them, Dil..."
Back in the Great Valley, Littlefoot had walked off with Ali. He said he wanted to alone with her for a while, to calm down a bit. He was going to talk to her about a bit more of his past. Ali seemed to be very understanding of Littlefoot's situation. In fact, like how Littlefoot lost his mom when he was young, Ali lost her dad when she was young. She said he wasn't killed by a sharptooth. She claims it was some sort of illness that killed him. Unlike Littlefoot's grandpa's illness he had that one time, this illness had no cure. Ali could only watch in horror as her father slowly died in front of her eyes.
Ducky and Petrie sat down together. The Smoking Mountain had finally stopped erupting. But smoke still came out of the volcano. The smoke filling the air made it look like clouds were forming. But the two knew better.
"I wonder what's gonna happen now..." Ducky whispered.
"Me no know..." Petrie murmured.
Suddenly a scream tore through the valley. Petrie and Ducky jumped to their feet as something zipped past them. They quickly turned around to find two creatures struggling with each other across the floor. They couldn't tell who they were, but they could tell one of them had sharp teeth.
Ducky narrowed her eyes and charged forward. Using her strong tail, she struck the sharptoothed creature. It squealed and squawked angrily. She struck it again, this time knocking it out. As she observed, she realized what it was. It was a flying sharptooth. They were very vicious, sometimes even more so than land sharpteeth. Then she looked at the second creature. It too was a flyer and had sharp claws, but its beak was toothless.
She took a step closer to get a better look. When the flyer turned around to look into the eyes of its savior, Ducky could not believe her eyes. "It's you..."
Neither did Petrie. "Uncle Pterano!" He yelped in surprise.
Pterano smiled, but brushed himself off as he stood up. "No time for introductions, my dear nephew." He opened his wingspan. "Your valley is in grave danger!"
Ducky looked confused. "In danger? From what?"
Pterano heard something roar very close by. Ducky and Petrie heard it too. "That! Sharpteeth, coming this way!" He panted as he caught his breath. "Flying sharptooth attacked me, tried to make sure I couldn't warn you in time!"
As the roar sounded out again, this time much closer, Ducky looked in the direction Littlefoot was in. She looked back at Pterano and Petrie. She couldn't believe how much they looked alike now. "You two, warn as many as you can! I'll find the others!"
Petrie and Pterano nodded and they flew off. Ducky watched them leave. When they were gone, she heard another sharptooth roar. She panicked and fled, letting her fear take over...