The Lone Dinosaur Return
#25 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
Part 25, enjoy.
"Look out!" A sudden voice boomed. Petrie turned around and shrieked when he saw a flash of claws and teeth in front of him. Then just as suddenly, a flash of something else zipped by him. A scream from an enemy could be heard. As Petrie tried to make sense of everything that just happened, a voice calmy asked him, "Are you all right?"
"Who there?" Petrie asked, bobbing his head up and down, searching for the voice.
"I'm over here, Petrie."
Petrie shuddered. "How you know me name?"
"Surely you remember me." The voice laughed from behind him.
Petrie swerved around and gasped at what he saw. "Doc! That you?" He flew closer. The old longneck hadn't seem to age a day. Petrie could still see the scar that snaked along the side of the dinosaur's neck.
"Yes." Doc smiled, but it turned serious. "Petrie, I need to find Littlefoot."
At the mention of Littlefoot's name, Petrie's heart boiled in anger. "What you want him for?" The anger in Petrie's voice puzzled Doc. "He cause this mess!"
Doc thought about that. "I don't think he meant to, Petrie..."
"But he still cause it!" Petrie yelled, startling the Lone Dinosaur. "He trust Sierra, then sharpteeth come early! We no prepare for battle! If Littlefoot listen to Pterano, this no happen!" Petrie gasped between breaths. "It all Littlefoot's fault!"
Doc took a step back. Petrie's attitude reminded him almost of Stepper, whom was lost before he even got to the valley. Stepper was also angry with Littlefoot and blamed him for what happened. She left to find help, and she found Doc.
Doc looked at the angry flyer. He wondered if he should be more afraid of him than Gorjak, whom he knocked away with his long tail. The plant-eating flyer's eyes seem to have fire inside them.
"Now look Petrie..."
"Why!" He snapped.
The Lone Dinosaur sighed. "In times like this, one sometimes must make hard choices, Petrie." After not getting a response, Doc continued, "I don't think Littlefoot meant any harm, little flyer. He was only trying to help."
Petrie snarled, "But his so-called help is destroying the valley!"
"You may be upset, Petrie. But how do you think Littlefoot feels? How do you think he feels, knowing what he did? The mistake he made?" Doc asked softly.
Petrie's glare softened a little. But he still wasn't convinced. "He should pay..."
"And pay he will, if this repeating of thep past is true." Doc realized too late the words he was saying and before he knew it, they were out. "Ooops..." He murmured.
The puzzled flyer drew closer. "What you mean...?" Petrie asked, his head tilting to one side. "What you talking about?"
Doc closed his eyes. "Petrie, there's something that you should know about this battle..." Then he opened them and looked at the flyer in the eyes. "I'm a ghost, Petrie." Petrie's color drained from his face. "I really am the Lone Dinosaur. Anyway, when I was still alive, there was a war, Petrie, much like this one. The sides were the same. Sharpteeth against Leaf-Eaters. The point of the war was stupid, really. I don't even remember it."
He paused to take a few breaths, and continued, "Anyway, it took place away from here, in some sort of canyon. Forgot the name. Been so long." He sighed. "The battle was just as devastating. I was the only survivor, or so I had long thought. There was a sharptooth who was still alive. He had horns."
Petrie shuddered as he remembered Chomper's long white horns. "Go on."
"He suddenly attacked me, from behind. He was the leader. He threatened to build a bigger army and attack the Great Valley, which at the time supported both leaf-eaters and sharpteeth."
Petrie interrupted. "Sharpteeth used to live in the valley?" Doc nodded. "Why they leave?"
"I can't say for sure. Anyway, this horned sharptooth hated the sharpteeth in the valley. It was because these sharpteeth believed in balance and agreed to only eat the sick, weak, and injured to help the leaf-eater herds stay strong and live longer. The horned sharptooth wanted to put an end to this, and wanted to attack the valley." Doc closed his eyes. "I knew I had to stop him, at any cost. See, it was my fault the sharptooth knew about the valley, so I had to pay...with my life."
Petrie gulped, and he could feel his heart racing. "You...died?" Doc nodded. "Sharptooth kill you?" Another nod.
"He died as well." Doc said with a small smile. "I pushed him off a cliff."
The flyer lowered his head. "What this has to do with Littlefoot...?"
"Littlefoot...is my reincarnation."
A wave of shock almost knocked Petrie right out of the sky.
"I will never forget that horned sharptooth. His horns weren't that impressive at all. Puny actually. But he was definitely different... and those red eyes...those piercing red eyes." He winced as he recalled the horrible memories.
Petrie's eyes snapped open. "Red eyes...?"
Doc nodded. "Yes. He had red eyes. Olive green skin too, and sharp fins on his back..."
"Chomper has them too!" Petrie chirped suddenly. "Chomper try to kill us because of his father!"
Doc lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? What was his father's name?"
Petrie thought about this for a minute. "It was Slasher!"
"Slasher..? But...that's impossible..." Doc muttered, eyes wide in shock.
"Why?" Petrie asked.
"Slasher...was the name of the horned sharptooth who I killed...all those years ago..."
Sometime later, back in the hideout, Littlefoot and Ali nestled beside each other. They both had fallen asleep.
"Littlefoot! Ali!" A voice suddenly woke them up.
"Who...what?" Littlefoot muttered as he and Ali groggily opened their eyes.
"Rex?" Ali whispered.
"What are you doing here?" Littlefoot asked, though he knew it was a stupid question.
"The sharpteeth have disappeared!" Rex said happily. "They're gone!"
"But don't be happy for long..." They all turned to see Doc standing there. Petrie helped him find them.
"Doc...?" Littlefoot and Ali were very confused by all that was happening.
Doc glared at Littlefoot. "This is only the eye of the storm."
Somewhere else, the two-crested swimmer Zera was with two companions, one grey sickleclaw with light-blue colored eyes and a pink fast biter. Both were females and all of then were using bracelets with the symbol of a treestar with a sharptooth's tooth carved.
Zera opened her eyes "Some of the invasors sharpteeth left the valley."
The pink fast biter looked at her friends. "Well, this is already a good thing. Right?"
The sickleclaw sighed "Yes Hanna, it is a good thing. But of course they will come back, and in bigger number."
The fast biter named Hanna only looked back at her friend. "Are you sure Melissa?"
"It is happening like last time, all those time ago." Melissa, the sickleclaw said with disgust. "And again we keep here without doing nothing." she finished with anger and grief.
All the females lowered their heads in sadness "What the council is waiting to act?" asked Zera. "They're waiting for a signal of the spirits or something?"
Melissa only could answer "If we want to do something before is to late, we better hope that they decide to forget the spirits."