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Night had fallen on the valley. A small breeze encircled the dead leaves that had fallen. The stars twinkled in the light. The moon was completely round and white. The moonlight reflected onto the ground, illuminating whatever it touched. It may have been night, but the moon provided enough light for any nocturnal creature to see. The wind picked up again, stronger this time, and a rock or two rolled from its resting spot, making clattering sounds as they bounced downward. Dark clouds were rolling across the skies, and seemed to devour the stars as it continued moving forward. The moon then seemed to be swallowed up, and everything became dark again. Among this darkness, just outside the valley walls, a group of animals marched away, some battered and beaten, others with deep gashes, and bleeding heavily. All were bipedal, and all had their heads bowed in shame.

It was the sharpteeth who invaded the valley not that long ago.

They were marching to a safe place for healing. They weren't the only sharpteeth whom Chomper had brought. Their friends could deal with the leaf-eaters. For the moment, they needed rest. When they did reach a safe haven, they sat down on the ground. The area they had picked was about 5 miles away from the Great Valley. It was among large walls which seemed to form some sort of "false" valley. Large tooth-like structures hung low, and others seemed to grow from the ground. These were strange because everyone thought that these kind of structures only formed inside caves. Then they looked up and they could see how it was probably possible for these to be formed outside a cave.

Running along on top was a deep river. It curved along the edge and avoided going over. It seemed almost cowardly in its behavior, not forming into a waterfall like most rivers end up doing. A bird suddenly flew by, and landed in the water. A few drops of water splashed downward, and landed in Jade's eye.

The female sickleclaw shook her head furiously, and wiped her eye with her arm quickly. She growled in frustration, and blinked her eye rapidly, restoring her vision. She looked up, and gave a loud hiss of disapproval. She quickly moved away to avoid being hit again, and sat down next to her daughter. She looked tenderly at one of Freeze's wounds she recieved on her arm. Freeze was struck by Spike's tail. His sharp spikes had pierced her arm, and left a deep gash going from her elbow to her wrist. Jade pressed her nose against the wound, sniffed, and started to lick the wound gently.

While this, Sylvia aproached the river, looking at her reflection. She hadn't killed any leaf-eater herself, but she had a few droplets of blood in her face and claws. She stared at the sickleclaw looking her back from the water, before picking up some water in her hands and washing over her body, clening away the blood. Many sickleclaws already knew this habit of her, so no one gave her a second look. Maybe that was no one noticed that she seemed anxious to get te blood out of her body.

(A/N The ridgeheads are dilophosaurs.)

The group was made up of about eiht sickleclaws and about four ridgeheads. That made a total of twelve dinosaurs. The ridgeheads were youngsters, and not fully grown. For the time, they were about the same size as sickleclaws, but their species grew larger than a velociraptor. All the large sharpteeth stayed in the valley. They hid to heal themselves as well, but they refused to leave. The smaller sharpteeth, especially the sickleclaws, knew from experience that when one can't fight, it is wise to flee the area immediately. The large sharpteeth were asking to be attacked without defense, just like they had attacked the leaf-eaters without warning.

The ridgeheads were only about the age that Littlefoot was when he met Chomper. But these kids tagged along with the adults for a very good reason: they looked venomous. Most leaf-eaters believe that dilophosaurs were venomous because they never saw an adult before. They thought that tiny dinosaurs like ridgeheads needed venom to kill their prey. And young ridgeheads were brightly colored with red, yellow, and black, which further makes the distinction that they are venomous. But dilophosaurs and other sharpteeth know the truth. No ridgehead was actually venomous. But making the plant-eaters believe they were was an advantage.

By showing up, they could spook a herd, and single out an individual, and the large adults attack it. And never once do any other dinosaur see. That's because ridgeheads have yet another secret. Like a few horned sharpteeth, they could camouflauge themselves, and completely disappear in their environment. An adult ridgehead could walk among a plant-eater and not get noticed. Only the youngsters were brightly colored, because they do not possess the camouflauge technique.

One of the ridgeheads, Axe, spoke up. "What is going to happen now?" He was the smallest in the group and the weakest. But he was the fastest, and his speed was essential in hunting. Axe was yellow with a red head and tail and black limbs. His eyes were bright green-yellow.

His sister, Firr, giggled almost playfully. She was the smartest in the group. "Silly, we sit and wait. The large dinosaurs will tell us what to do." She was red with yellow limbs and a black head and tail. Her eyes were dark blue.

"Yeah, so why don't you relax?" That voice belonged to the largest and strongest in the group, Knight. He was black with a yellow head and red limbs and tail. His eyes were a red-violet.

The final ridgehead, a female, stood up. "Well you can't blame him for being a bit cautious." She was named Cote. Cote's body was red. Her head was yellow and her tail was also yellow. Her limbs were black and her eyes were a pale blue.

One of the male velociraptors, Red, turned his head towards the youngsters. "You two be quiet. We all had a rough day." Red was dark red in color with a light blue belly. He lacked stripes, though. He had long feathers growing from his head, which only the strongest of males possessed. The feathers were as sign of strength and won them a lot of females. Red himself fathered many children, one of which was Freeze. But since sickleclaws don't mate for life, Jade was not Red's only mate.

"We all know." answered Shadow, a smaller male. He was pure black in color with bright yellow eyes. He, too, lacked stripes. He had no feathers either. "We could attack at night, because most herbivores can't see that well in the dark. We would have the advantage.

Red swatted him on the head. "Are you mad! Blueye told us that it would be better if we came out here!"

"Then why didn't she come out with us?" Jade asked cautiously.

Her former mate shook his head. "I do not know, Jade. I do not know. I think it's because she went with Chomper. He probably had something planned for her." He looked into Jade's green eyes. "And you know what will happen if any of us defies one of Chomper's orders." Jade shuddered as she thought about it.

Freeze spoke up. "I may be loyal to Chomper, but hasn't anyone else here besides me wondered why he never ranks anyone other than himself as a general?" The group muttered and some nodded. "I mean, I understand if he hasn't found a suitable sharptooth, but still, with all these sharpteeth at his command, you'd think he'd appoint at least one other sharptooth to be a general like himself."

Freeze lowered her head. "What if he is hiding something? Why else would he deny any one else the title of general? Generals are allowed any place at any given time. They are the only ones who can act without Chomper's say so."

Jade gently nuzzled her daughter. "Freeze, you shouldn't accuse Chomper of such things. I'm sure he has a pretty good reason why he's not appointing anyone general."

Freeze glared at Jade. "And what would that be, mother!" Jade couldn't say anything. She was at a loss of words.

"I can tell you." A medium sized raptor walked a bit closer. Other than a few green stripes along his back and limbs, he was solid light tan. Everyone called him Sandstorm. Sandstorm's light red eyes looked at Freeze's worried face. "You have the right to be cautious of General Chomper, little one.

"And what do you know, Officer Sandstorm?" Red asked. Sandstorm was the only officer among the group.

Sandstorm didn't move, didn't blink. He just kept looking at Freeze, the pale blue eyes slightly wide. The tawny sickleclaw then gave a small smile. "There's a lot about General Chomper that you guys don't know. The truth is he's not greedy, and he knows well that a few sharpteeth are worthy of the title. But why doesn't he do so, you ask? Well the answer is simple really." He sucked in a deep breath, and let it out. "General Chomper doesn't want anyone screwing up his plans. He knows that if one individual commands a troup, and they attack without him knowing, they could screw things up for him. If General Chomper gave such power to another individual, it would mean disaster for him and his cause."

"And that's a bad thing...? I mean if we follow a strong leader..." Firr began, but he was interrupted by Sandstorm.

"Listen child, it is a bad thing." He hissed almost angrily. "You see, if General Chomper does not appoint any other generals, then he would control everything. That might not sound like a bad thing at first, but think about it. When one gains too much power, he would become a threat to everyone, including those who work for him. If he gains too much control, he would send out minions while he sits down and watches!"

"But he's not like that now..." Jade said softly, her head turned away from Officer Sandstorm's face.

Sandstorm nodded. "Well he's not...yet... But whose to say that he won't become like that?"

"Only time will tell."

"Of course...only time." Sandstorm said softly. "But I'm warning you, if all these sharpteeth continue listening to General Chomper, bad things will happen! Not just to the leaf-eaters, but to us as well!"

A cruel laughing could be heard as a dark purple figure walked towards them. He was covered in black stripes and had a light red stomach. His piercing yellow eyes almost glared at Sandstorm. He was Sandstorm's older brother. "Why Sandstorm...why should we care about the plant-eaters?" He folded his arms. "You're beginning to sound like those weakling sharpteeth who lived in peace with the leaf-eaters that we've been told about."

"Those sharpteeth weren't weak, Gasher." The light tan raptor snarled. "And without leaf-eaters we would die! If we kill every leaf-eater we come across, what does that leave us to eat? Each other?"

"Man, that is gross!" A female sickleclaw grimaced. She lacked stripes as well and was just solid white. Her eyes were ice blue, just like Freeze's. She was given the name Snowbound. "Don't even go there!". "I don't wanna even thinking about doing this" agreed Sylvia.

Cote giggled. "Look, Snowbound and Sylvia are scared!" She was given the shock of her life when Snowbound and Sylvia large heads smacked against her face, and the large ice blue and turqouise blue eyes seemed to bore through her own.

"I'm not scared, you got that!" "Neither am I."Cote nodded. "Good." She rose her head up. Snowbound and was the strongest female in the pack, while Sylvia was know for being the most hardcore sickleclaw of Fortress Valley. In fact, they were the strongest ones in the group, period. Female sickleclaws were larger than the male sickleclaws and stronger, too.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Jade asked Sandstorm.

"I can tell you what we can do..." Sandstorm said softly. "We leave the war."

"Leave the war...?" Jade looked shocked.

Sandstorm nodded. "We must..."