The Great Valley wasn’t feeling great these days. Not for an ever-shrinking set of dinosaur friends, that is. The magic and wonder of the luscious environment was all-but-lost on dear Littlefoot. The longneck, who’d originally arrived with four special friends, was now all that was left of that original group. Chomper the baby sharptooth, who’d joined a little while after, was a good close companion of his, but Littlefoot almost never saw him anymore. With the core so fractured, the two had simply drifted apart. The longneck occasionally thought about what happened to his other friends. First it was Ducky and Petrie who disappeared; then Cera, while searching for their two littlest companions; and finally Spike, who one day just stopped coming home. With Chomper growing larger by the day and spending all his time with Ruby, Littlefoot had settled for spending time with other fellow longnecks. His, and other, grown-ups within the Great Valley were thankful for this: They’d gotten extremely wary of the safety of the place… and had qualms about having any contact with Chomper the sharptooth.

For Chomper was no longer a baby. Not even an adolescent. Almost half a year had elapsed since he ate Spike and impregnated his dear love Ruby, and he was now about as large as a full-grown sharptooth. Relations with the other adults were strained, though they never treated him in an unfriendly way. His diet was still a secret, the adults assuming sharpteeth just grew that quickly, even on a crawlies diet. Despite that, the tension in the air whenever Chomper tromped in was palpable, leading him to hole up in his homely cave with Ruby, who still loved him. Though in recent days even that relationship was strained: The eggs, laid a little while back, required a lot of attention and care. And Ruby was frustrated with Chomper in a lot of little ways, most of which weren’t even his fault. His bulk got in the way, or his heavy steps disrupted the nest built in the cave, or he’d disappear for long stretches as he (unbeknownst to her) hunted down a fresh dino meal.

Things reached a breaking point with Ruby. She kicked Chomper out of the cave when his snores woke her up, and she’d been keeping longer hours to nurse the eggs. Chomper had offered to help but he was too big for most tasks (although they were 100% sure nobody was going to mess with a sharptooth nest with him around). Alas, with sleep interrupted and his love shouting at him to leave, Chomper stomped right out of the cave (having to duck pretty far now to do so) and left in a huff, tail flicking irritably. The annoyed sharptooth made it a fair distance from the cave before cutting loose with a frustrated roar. If it were night instead of mid-day, it would’ve woken half the valley! Chomper snorted and peeked down at his center of calm: That same shiny rock, whose necklace was frayed but functional, sat between his fores against his chest. The light wasn’t as bright as times past, but still provided warmth and optimism to the sharptooth.

Thirsty and feeling he needed to cool down, Chomper made his way to the lake. He got there in short order, happy to see the place unoccupied. With no little ones swimming about, he was able to step right in, marching up to the waterfall that continually fed the lake and his favorite place to have a drink. The constant stream of fresh water was delicious, and Chomper was so big that he could rest his chin at the top and just let the water flow right in! His spirits perked some, Chomper positioned himself at the edge of the waterfall, its roaring current masking the sounds of other dinos at play, further upstream.

Littlefoot was playing with a couple longneck friends of his: Ali, a cute girl who was playful and brave, reminding him of Cera from time to time; and Rhett, another friend who competed with Littlefoot for Ali’s affections, but was still a loyal companion… who reminded Littlefoot of Cera in other ways, being stubborn and boastful. All three had grown some since Littlefoot first arrived in the valley, maybe twice their size from back then. But, they looked the same, and weren’t anywhere in the same league that a certain sharptooth had managed. The three were happily splashing their way up to the point in the river that flowed fast with foam churning against stone, leading right down to the waterfall and into the large lake. They’d heard of this place before but haven’t yet taken the plunge themselves and were eager to give this water slide a go!.

When the longnecks got to the starting point, wide enough just for one at a time. The rapids made the three pause, nervousness shared between them. Who’d be brave enough to go first? Rhett gave Ali a sly look, and stepped forward. “I’ll go first. After all, I’m brave,” he declared, smirking to Littlefoot and letting the implication settle. But the courageous Littlefoot wouldn’t stand for that, and shouldered up to him, nose to nose.

“No way, Rhett, I’m going first! I’m brave too!” Littlefoot insisted, not wanting to appear weak in front of Ali. The girl longneck only rolled her eyes as the pair started an argument, bickering back and forth. She’d noticed Littlefoot a little more prone to these tiffs lately, though who could blame him? Most of his friends had disappeared, and he was probably in emotional turmoil at that notion. That didn’t stop Ali from being annoyed, however, as the argument between Littlefoot and Rhett turned into a splash fight. Getting caught in the crossfire from both, she marched past the two and rolled onto her back, at the top of the rapids. Rowing herself forward with her legs, she zipped into the flowing river, belly-up and tail swaying in front of her, and let out a girlish laugh as she zoomed down the very fun water slide! “Woohooooo!” she cheered loudly and laughed, breaking Rhett’s and Littlefoot’s fight up, the two gawking as Ali had just decided to go first, being the bravest of them all! An instant later the two were back at it, wrestling in the water to determine who’d go second (and thus prove one braver than the other), Ali going out of sight in the interim.

“This is great!” Ali exclaimed, slipping and sliding down the river speedily. Her cheers beat her to the waterfall, where Chomper was forlornly lapping at the water here and there, lost in thought. He snapped out of it when Ali’s voice reached him, peeking upstream to see the longneck sliding right toward him! Camouflaged by the foamy waves, he was unseen to her at first (not that she was looking), and Chomper’s stomach growled at the sight. It wasn’t Littlefoot, but he was friends with most of the dinos Littlefoot knew, Ali being no exception. Chomper grinned and licked his lips; a nice friend treat would be good for the lamenting sharptooth now, assuming she’d fill his belly to the brim and he’d return home sated and apologetic! Chomper stretched forward and rested his chin at the waterfall ledge, yawning his jaws wide open and laying out his tongue to the river floor. Water splashed beyond him, some guzzled down his throat, quenching his large thirst. Chomper gleefully awaited his first catch of the day to join that water and slide right down his gullet!

Ali happily sailed down the natural water slide, giggling and wiggling her upturned legs as she went. She lifted her head up to see how much longer until the big drop (something she wasn’t looking forward to but at the same time anticipated), stretching her neck high. She squinted through the splashing waters and saw not an open drop, but… a sharptooth! Its maw was stretched high and wide, and Ali realized she was sliding right towards it! Her laughter morphed into a squealing cry for help, the longneck trying to stop her sliding by cramming her legs down into the water. The waves kept on carrying her down though, Ali crying out for Littlefoot or Rhett to save her, but they were too far away. Chomper, hearing his meal come closer, drooled at the incipient dino treat, but it was quickly cleansed as the river water flowed in and around him, ushering Ali to her fate. She didn’t even know it was Chomper (not that it mattered), as all she could see were those deadly teeth, wide tongue, and fleshy insides, getting closer and closer by the second. “N-NOOOOO!” she shrieked, her back sliding from the river up onto the tongue, then right past those teeth and into the hungry sharptooth’s maw). When Chomper felt the girl’s weight on his tongue he clacked his jaws shut, letting the river wash around his snout while he began to taste and slurp all over his water-logged meal of Ali. “Mmmph!!”

Chomper remained where he was, chin resting lazily, one cheek puffing out then the other as he sloshed and slathered all over the scrumptious friend treat. Ali groaned and whined as the rough sharptooth tongue buffeted her from every angle. She had to fight for breath as there was more than enough water to sink under in that maw, it all sloshing and swishing about with her. She tried several times to beg not to be eaten alive, to call her friends for help, but most were stymied by either getting thrust and squished against the roof of Chomper’s mouth, or having her head plunged into the water momentarily, leaving her gasping for air and sputtering. The pitch-black wet confines of Chomper’s jaws provided no comfort for Ali, and despite her struggles Chomper’s tongue along was enough to overpower the tasty longneck.

Chomper continued licking her from head to tail and everywhere in between, thoroughly enjoying her flavors and mumbling contently about her. He would have kept at it a bit longer if he didn’t hear the sounds of two longnecks tumbling down the river slide together, the pair compromising and going down as one (by virtue of having wrestled their way into the rapids). The two were yelling and not paying attention but Chomper wasn’t going to take a chance. He rose his head, muzzle dripping with water, and tipped it backwards. Ali struggled and cried in despair as she was shoved up and back, the tongue sending her squealing form to the back of the throat along with all that saliva-infused lukewarm water.

GLORK!

In one powerful, deep swallow, Ali was eaten alive. Chomper was so big that she didn’t even make a dent in his throat, her body squelched and squeezed down the gullet with so much water, diving headfirst down into the stomach below with a loud SLORSH! Ali sputtered and tried to get her bearings, but the belly was so full of water and some stomach acids that she found herself neck-deep in the fluids! “Help! Heeeellp!” she cried, voice unable to escape the groaning gut. Chomper licked his lips delightedly as he turned to focus on the waterfall again, ready for another bite… until he noticed one of the longnecks was Littlefoot! Littlefoot, the dino who more than anyone has been hurt by the disappearance of his friends. Said thoughts often kept Chomper up at night, and he hesitated. In a split second decision he lifted his head up and away before the others saw him, and before long Littlefoot and Rhett tumbled from the waterfall, screaming (happily) along the way, and plunged into the vast lake below. Chomper loomed above the two, curiously staring as his bulgeless stomach churned quietly.

Rhett was the first longneck to break the surface. He shook his head dry and barked out a confident laugh. “Hah, I was first,” he crowed, looking smug at a just-now surfacing Littlefoot, who was upside-down. Rhett rolled his eyes and casually stared up… at a big sharptooth staring right down at him with a grin. Rhett’s lip quivered before he bellowed out a squeaky scream! “Sharptooooth!”

Chomper, for his part, looked confused at the reaction, blinking innocently. Sure, he just ate Ali, but they didn’t know that! He raised his stubby little arms in a placating gesture, recognizing this other longneck. “Hey, hey Rhett take it easy, it’s me Chomper!” Rhett at least stopped his shriek, but it was quickly replaced by the sound of laughter. Littlefoot, having recognized Chomper instantly, couldn’t help himself.

“W-Wow Rhett, you’re not brave at all! You’re just a coward!” he guffawed.

Rhett blushed at the misunderstanding, face going pouty. “Am not,” he retorted, sticking his tongue out at Littlefoot before staring up at Chomper. Chomper himself never took his eyes off Rhett, and had been starting to drool a little. Ali ended up not being nearly enough, and Littlefoot’s other friend was looking might scrumptious. “I was just looking to protect Ali is all,” Rhett added, convincing nobody at all. Littlefoot and Chomper shared a knowing look and grin, the longneck following up with a question:

“Hey Chomper, where’d Ali go? Didn’t she make it down the river before us?” As if to respond herself, Ali wavered and struggled in the sloshing stomach, so much that Chomper felt it that time. What did her efforts amount to? “Urrp. Erf, o-oh she just went back up to the top of the waterfall. Think she wanted to go down again.” Both the longnecks seemed to buy it, Chomper relieved. So relieved he didn’t care Rhett was wading away, heading for shore to go after Ali. He almost made it to the shore when he felt a sudden tug on his tail. Rhett glared back to find Littlefoot holding him back!

“Hey, what’s the big idea Littlefoot? Just gonna go check to make sure Ali’s okay, you know?” Littlefoot let go of Rhett’s tail tip, but not after giving him a smile. Rhett quirked an eyebrow.

“You keep saying you’re brave, Rhett, but I don’t think I’ve seen you prove it yet! But I know how you can prove it.”

“Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?” Rhett asked, abandoning any pretense of leaving to ‘check on’ Ali.

Littlefoot glanced up at Chomper. Being such close friends, Chomper knew exactly what Littlefoot had in mind. He winked his way, and Littlefoot looped his neck around Rhett’s, guiding him closer to the large looming dino.  “All you have to do is go into Chomper’s mouth! Do that and I’ll admit you’re a brave longneck! If you actually are brave that is.”

“Fine!” Rhett barked instantly, but there wasn’t as much bravado in his voice as before. He looked nervously up to Chomper, the big tail behind him slowly swaying. Was that drool?...No, just a trick of the sunlight, right? Rhett flinched and backpedaled, splashing loudly, when Chomper suddenly lowered his head down to the surface of the lake water. This was too good to be true for Chomper! Rhett was actually going to feed himself to the still-hungry dino! Chomper grinned, and slowly, steadily opened his jaws nice and wide, just in front of Rhett, whose knees were quivering. Chomper opened wider still, stringy thick lines of drool dripping from those razor incisors at the front of the jaw, down onto a ladled out tongue. Rhett squinted against Chomper’s stale breath each time it puffed out, trying his best to muster up a bit of courage. It was Chomper, after all. A friend! This sharptooth wasn’t going to eat him!

Rhett shakily stepped forward until his legs brushed against Chomper’s chin, just shy of the protruding tongue. He gulped nervously, and steadily edged his neck in. “Th-th-there!” Rhett squeaked, legs shaking but keeping his head in the heated maw. “See? I’m brave!”

“Uh uh uh!” Littlefoot tutted, walking forward. “That doesn’t count! You gotta be in all the way, your whole body, including your tail!”

“Wh-what? You didn’t say that before!”

“Well,” Littlefoot grinned smugly, “I guess you’re not as brave as you thought you are then.” That was precisely the motivation Rhett required. He flushed again, muttered to himself, and turned back to stare, right towards the back of Chomper’s throat. His face fell into worry once more, but managed one, then two feet, onto the squishy, rough sharptooth tongue. Then he froze, half his body still out of Chomper’s mouth. He leapt a foot in the air when a sudden pressure built up behind him.

“Yikes! …Littlefoot!” Rhett’s friend was trying to nudge him inward. “Knock it off, I’m going alright? Stop pushing!” Littlefoot, obeyed and sat back to watch. Eventually, after a few moments, Rhett managed to get completely in, curling his tail against his hindlegs to complete the transition. “There, you happy?” Rhett said, turning around to face outward. “I’m all the way in!” Rhett grimaced at some saliva dripping from above landed on his head and trilled down his neck. “Eugh, see? I’m braver than you! That means Ali likes me more!” He hated to admit it, but Rhett actually found it kind of nice here in the yawning jaws, with the warm air on his back a pleasant breeze of sorts.

Littlefoot’s face scrunched in irritation at Rhett’s declaration, but he recovered quickly. He smiled back and his voice was dripping in sarcasm. “Oh yes, so brave,” he admitted. Then he looked up and winked to Chomper. Rhett gave Littlefoot a stare, then his eyes widened as Chomper’s jaws suddenly slapped shut with no warning.

“Hrph? Littlefooooot!” Rhett cried out in a panic, before the tongue under his feet suddenly thrust him up to the roof of the mouth. Littlefoot was lost in gales of laughter, on his back in the shallow water, legs kicking, unable to stop. He was blind to drool emerging from Chomper’s lips. Then he pressed that rough tongue flat to the second longneck snack of the day… Eugh! Wow, Rhett tastes awful! Chomper lamented as he raised his head out of the water and into a more neutral position. “Chomper? Littlefoot! Ugh… let me out already!” an angry voice roared from inside Chomper’s maw.

“Okay okay okay,” Littlefoot admitted, brushing tears of laughter from his eyes. “Chomper you can let him out now.” When his vision cleared, he found himself staring at a pair of sharptooth legs. “Chomper?” Littlefoot looked up, seeing the sharptooth, mouth full of Rhett, tongue protruding in disgust… not looking to free anyone. “Chomper!” The sharptooth couldn’t stand Rhett’s taste, but that didn’t stop his belly from requiring more to eat! And he was a friend after all! So, Chomper solved this dilemma instantly: His head rose a bit higher, he flicked his head back, a squealing Rhett guided to the back of the mouth, and…

ULRK!

“Chomper, no!” Littlefoot, aghast, hollered. He saw a small bulge quickly appear and recede in Chomper’s neck, as the devoured Rhett was messily squelched down into the belly below. The two longnecks within managed to bulge it out visibly. “Rhett! Rhett!!” Littlefoot couldn’t believe his eyes… Chomper swallowed Rhett whole! The devoured longneck plummeted into the stomach, splashing in and inadvertently shoving Ali down beneath the surface of the acids-enhanced water. Not knowing who he was standing on, Rhett kept his own neck above water and started pounding the walls, terrified out of his mind. Ali beneath the surface held her breath, wanting to protest or wail but unable to do so!

“Chomper, how could you?!” Littlefoot cried. He could only stare in shock. Chomper bent down and instantly ran his tongue through water several times.

“Wow he tasted bad… but at least he filled me up!” Chomper mused, temporarily forgetting Littlefoot was there, in a post-eating daze of sorts. Then he looked at Littlefoot, saw his terrified gaze, and smiled awkwardly.

“Chomper… why?”

“Oh, friends just taste way better is all,” Chomper answered the wrong question, before lapping at the water more.

“Y-you mean…” Littlefoot stammered, everything clicking at that moment. “Ducky? Petrie? Spike? ...Cera? Y-you ate them all?” Chomper, knowing the jig was up, just nod-nodded and raised his head out of the water. Littlefoot was too scared to move, but he had to know the question burning on his lips. “A-are you…” he said with a squeak to his voice, “g-gonna eat me too?” His eyes quivered and whole body shook, waiting for the answer. Chomper seemed to consider it!

“Hmmm well, I really wasn’t going to Littlefoot. But friends are just so much tastier after all!” Despite two young longnecks devoured, Chomper was still hungry, and there stood his good friend Littlefoot. Slightly bigger, scrumptious-looking… Slobber began to build up and dribble from the sharptooth’s jaws. He licked his lips slowly, the sound of tongue sliding over scales echoing over the lake in a bit of otherwise-silence. Chomper’s teeth bared, upper lip quivering… Friends made for the best meals. Why couldn’t he devour anyone he wanted? They were delicious and were clearly good for him.

Why couldn’t a sharptooth enjoy a friend any less than a longneck enjoy a tree sweet?

Littlefoot couldn’t take it. He squealed, in fright, terror, revelation, shock. It was so loud it almost froze Chomper into a standstill… but instinct kicked in. Chomper’s jaws craned open, pent-up drool pooling down and around the frozen longneck. He lunged forward with a guttural roar, jaws snapping around the entirety of Littlefoot. He wrenched his head free from the water in an instant, leaving water and drool dripping, and calmed once Littlefoot’s spectacular flavors permeated his mouth. Now this is a tasty meal! Chomper thought to himself. Littlefoot continued to scream to not be eaten but his voice was much more pitiful and muffled now, the tongue buffeting him every which way, coiling around him, squeezing him dry, wringing down to his tail to squeeze out every bit of tantalizing flavors he possessed. He even heard Chomper gulp away excess drool, only to baste Littlefoot with a fresh batch. Drool flowed freely from his jaws as they worked side to side, squishing Littlefoot from one cheek to the other and back again. His mouth even opened and closed slightly to aid this, Chomper in absolute bliss as he ate Littlefoot alive.

If he had his way Chomper would spend the next hour tasting and sampling the shrieking longneck in his jaws, but a distant roar put a stop to that. Chomper glanced up to see several adults, most of which parents of those he’d eaten alive, charging right for him! Littlefoot’s cry had attracted them, and Chomper knew this was it. He had to go. The sharptooth flicked a squealing, flailing Littlefoot to the base of his tongue, scrunched his eyes shut, and swallowed Littlefoot alive. GLOURK! He could feel Littlefoot’s cries as he bulged down Chomper’s neck.

*	*	*

Littlefoot was in a tight, squishy darkness. The esophagus of his friend pressed in on him from all sides, ushering him one pulsation at a time down towards the awaiting stomach. Littlefoot sank down headfirst towards his demise, legs compressed together, tail flicking behind him the inch or two it had to spare, the longneck squealing in blind terror. It took just a moment for him to make it all the way down into that belly, tightly squelched through the sphincter of the tummy, and unceremoniously deposited atop his two friends in the sloshing, gurgling acids. Rhett yelped as Littlefoot squeezed in next to him, neither one noticing the twitching body of Ali beneath, who was fast running out of breath.

“No no NO!” Littlefoot squealed.

“Littlefoot? You idiot!” Rhett, despite everything, headbutted Littlefoot. Littlefoot lashed back, the two’s fight picking up once more. “This is all your fault, Littlefoot! You got us all eaten!!” Littlefoot didn’t say anything back, more angry at himself, regretful he didn’t see the signs earlier… And now he and Rhett were going to suffer the same fate as the rest of his friends. It was easy for Littlefoot to take all these frustrations out on Rhett, an easy target. Eight legs stomped and sloshed about the itchy water-and-stomach-fluid mixture, with Ali trodden on and on her last legs herself. Rhett and Littlefoot thrust each other back and forth, squashing from one belly wall to the next, having almost no room to maneuver, and also blind in the completely-dark stomach. 

Both fighting longnecks lost their balance when the whole stomach suddenly sloshed and swayed, acids and water pouring over them all. Ali got an instant to catch her breath before plunging beneath it all again, unable to get a word out. A loud, unforgiving glorrrrrrrrn rumbled around them all, but Littlefoot and Rhett were too busy fighting each other to realize how much digestion was kicking up, or that Chomper was on the move, fast, adding more pressure to them from all angles. Air was already a precious resource and the two fighting longnecks were squandering it. CHRRRRRLN! The stomach was kicking things up. Beneath their feet Ali was still, once more on the brink of running out of breath and unable to move. Not that there would be anywhere to move too soon. The water that Chomper had drank had mostly dissolved in the gurgling stomach, nearly all the fluids getting replaced with stomach fluids… and those fluids were rising higher and higher by the moment. The walls squelched inward, leaving the trio with even less room, and Rhett and Littlefoot were finally forced to stop. They held their heads up as high as they could, snouts against the ceiling of that belly. Realizing their predicament, they both squealed for help, for Chomper let them out.

Rhett sank under moments later, unable to take it. Littlefoot barely had room, and his last fleeting thoughts prior to joining Rhett and the now-unconscious Ali were those of his friends. Petrie, Ducky, Spike, and Cera… All of them had gone missing, but the explanation was so simple in hindsight: Chomper, the then-baby sharptooth they welcomed into their circle of friends, ate them all. And Littlefoot was about to suffer their same fate.

A second later Littlefoot sank under the roiling acids, thinking of his friends.

*	*	*

Chomper looked down at himself, giving himself a second to enjoy the feeling of fullness, belly now swelling out and grazing the lake water, swaying and churning diligently away. He smacked his lips as he looked to the approaching large dinosaurs, flicking his tail in thought. He couldn’t take them on. Not all by himself. So he turned and fled, out of the lake, and out of the water properly. Using tail for balance Chomper leaned forward and stomped into a run. For a split-second he thought to turn east back to his cave, to Ruby, to his eggs… but there wasn’t time. Instead, he headed the opposite direction, towards one of the exits that the Great Valley sported, to flee from the adults, and his newfound family.

Chomper discovered he could really move when he needed to. Even with a full, bulging stomach dangling between his legs, much like the lucky stone bounced and bobbled under his neck. His head was lowered and horizontal along with his tail, and he thundered through the Great Valley as fast as he could. He was getting closer and closer to the rocky mountaintops that practically surrounded the Great Valley, protecting it from outside dangers. Dangers, Chomper thought grimly, like himself. He once again thought of Ruby and their eggs, all left behind, but there was no way that they could join him outside the valley. It was an impossible situation all around, and Chomper ran from it all. He couldn’t hear the stampede of adult dinosaurs still chasing behind him. Either his own big stomps were clouding theirs, or he was peeling away from them. With a roar Chomper sprang upward, talon-like feet slamming into the sides of a somewhat-steep hill, and he raced up it, rocks dislodged and tumbling behind him. He nearly tripped at one point but managed to maintain his balance, going up and over the walls of the Great Valley. Another daring leap, this time downhill, and Chomper the sharptooth successfully escaped. Once out, he paused and turned back to face the valley, a tear in his eye. “Goodbye, Ruby,” he said in farewell to both his love and the eggs, before turning to run as much as he could, to truly escape.

Chomper left the Great Valley, and ventured into the Mysterious Beyond, running as long as he could, until his stomach had long grown still.

*	*	*

Ruby sat forlornly at the edge of the cave. Her head had been on a swivel ever since suppertime, with no sharptooth in sight. She’d heard a lot of commotion several hours ago, but after that there was nothing. After all that noise she went out (against her judgment, leaving the eggs unprotected) to see if Chomper went to the lake, but there was nobody in sight. She returned and sat guard at the cave, hoping Chomper would show up. The fast runner hung out at their home entrance until it got dark, before finally giving up and heading inside.

There wasn’t even the shiny rock to light the cave any more, and what star and moonlight there was barely made its way inward. Still, Ruby could make her way about, and the big nest that she and Chomper had built months ago shone the most, nestled in the center of the large cave. Ruby stumbled sadly beyond the various bones littering either side of the cave, those remnants reminding Ruby of her love. They weren’t anything that she brought into the cave, and Chomper never brought them up… but wherever he got them from, they were his, and just seeing them almost made her utter a tiny sob. “Chomper… where’d you go?” Sure, she threw him out earlier today for snoring too loudly. But it wasn’t the first time she’d done so. And Chomper always returned at least by evening, sometimes after feasting on what must have been a whole colony of crawlies with how full he looked, sometimes hungry. Regardless he always came back, ready to nestle in with his love, to coo and watch over their eggs, wondering what their future held together within the Great Valley in the coming times.

Ruby settled onto the nest, taking care to hoist each egg up individually and rub them gently, to keep them warm and check on them to make sure they were safe and in good condition. She hugged each one gently, before settling them all back down in their respective positions in the nest. Ruby felt cold, from the lack of a massive warm body curled around the nest; without gentle caressing licks from Chomper, which she returned in kind with nuzzles and affection. “Hope you’re okay out there, Chomper, wherever you are…” Then, as if she just accidentally let something slip in front of someone she shouldn’t have, Ruby leaned down to coddle the eggs she was nursing. “Oh, oh don’t worry little ones, I’m sure Chomper is just fine. He’s a sharptooth! One of the biggest and best dinosaurs that exist. Nobody could harm him!” She again looked out of the cave, now pitch-black outside save for whatever tiny sky fires existed that night. More to herself than to the eggs, she added: “Daddy will be home soon… I’m sure. Little ones.”

She looked to the eggs once more, and loosed a sad sigh. Tomorrow, she would head out to the lake again, see if anybody else had found Chomper. Just like all his and her other friends, Chomper was now the victim of going missing. “Please be okay, my love,” she whispered, curling into herself and around her eggs, to try and get some sleep.

*	*	*

The Mysterious Beyond was massive. The Great Valley was a mere sliver on the world, and Chomper had only recently begun appreciating such a thing. Out in the beyond, Chomper had all the food he could eat: Dinosaurs big and small, including other sharpteeth rummaging about; even crawlies whenever he was in a mode of desperation. Nothing, though, came close to the flavors, sensations, memories, and feelings of eating his friends. Chomper got used to this new way of life, living in the Mysterious Beyond, and did so without too much trouble for, for a whole year. Living like a nomad, he traveled wherever he pleased, no idea where he was, nor caring. Some nights he thought back to where he grew up, especially of Ruby, and whatever might’ve become of his eggs. But most of the time he spent with himself, hunting when he needed to, growing to be a full adult sharptooth in the intervening months. And the shiny rock of his never left him, Ruby’s handiwork proving incredibly strong.

One morning, Chomper happened upon a familiar sight from his past: Off in the distance, there the Great Valley stood. A sudden flood of memories invaded his head, and he felt he would burst with the accompanying emotions within. He couldn’t take it once seeing the valley. He had to try and enter it again, if not just for a small visit, to get in touch with Ruby again. He tramped forward until coming upon a wide-open cave entrance that seemed to lead into the valley itself. Without hesitation Chomper entered, the dim glow of his lucky rock lighting the way. Inside the cave he found a huge underground fresh water lake, seemingly undisturbed, and nothing but stone all around it.

After a while he settled down inside the cave, curled up on himself, stone clutched in claws subconsciously. He heaved a sigh and said, more for himself than expecting an outcome, “I wish I could go back and meet my friends again.” In an instant the stone glowed and was hot to the touch, Chomper yelping and releasing it. The next second a blinding flash coated the whole cave, Chomper’s lucky rock shining far brighter than it ever had before. Like a shot the rock jettisoned free, breaking from the necklace, the blast and light knocking Chomper out cold! The rock plunked into the vast lake and sank below the surface, its telling glow still visible despite the depths. Moments later huge swaths of crystals were birthed from the water and quickly spread all over the cave. Not an inch of stone was left uncovered, even that which Chomper was now resting atop of. The whole cave was coated in luminescent beauty not long after, the stone’s power fully exhibited in that moment.

Chomper slept deeply from the influence of the rock. He had no idea how long he was out, even when a sudden loud splash and several squeaky yells woke him up! He didn’t move, too groggy to do so. Didn’t even open his eyes more than a fraction. With that, though, he could barely make out five small figures emerging from the water, dripping: A longneck, a threehorn, a spiketail, a flier, and a bigmouth swimmer. Chomper’s nostrils flared, and he confirmed what he already knew what was in his heart: Those were his friends! Somehow… standing there, bickering with one another about being lost… Chomper wanted to stand and race over to greet them, but he remained sprawled. Partly because he was still groggy.

But mostly because he was hungry.

It must’ve been a while since he’d eaten, as his belly growled greatly, and Chomper felt those hunger pangs. He sniffed again, and was once more reminded of how absolutely delicious all of his friends were, when he ate them up previously. And here they were again, with Chomper hoping they would wander over to where he was “sleeping.” They would understand, right?

Chomper laid there on the crystal cave floor, hearing the voices grow louder, and he fought the urge to grin. He had to look asleep, lure them in close… Chomper licked his lips slowly, before going still and waiting patiently for his incoming meal.

Best friends always tasted the greatest.