Author's note: Sigh... Okay, first things first- I'm really really really really really sorry for not uploading for such a long time. I have no excuse, so I'm not gonna make one. I also apologize especially to my most loyal reader, Brekclub85, who is the original creator of Rory, Myra and Rita, for taking this 'break' on the story I promised to write for him/her. Anyway, to all of my loyal readers (If I still have any, lol.), please enjoy the next chapter, and again, you have my sincere apologies. All comments are welcome! (As long as they're not stupid. xD)
Part 4- Adjusting to a New Life
Chomper and Rita hugged each other in fear of what was coming, closing their eyes.
Suddenly, 2 bumps were heard, and the two Rexes opened their eyes to see what happened.
Screech and Thud, completely confused, were lying on the ground, nearby a Longneck and a Spiketail, their tails raised up in attacking position. At the entrance of the cave were a few more dinosaurs, who were approaching them as well.
"Looks like we made it just in time, didn't we?", Cera asked Chomper with a grin.
"You sure did!", Chomper answered, smiling.
"Remind me to be angry at you later, Rita.", Rory told her with a grumpy expression.
"Did you hear it all?", Rita asked him, concerned. "Yeah, but I guess I could forgive you one day.", he joked.
Myra came closer to Rory and whispered in his ear: "I told you they'll like each other!", though the two Rexes heard it clearly, answering unanimously "We do not!", blushing at the same time. Both Rory and Myra laughed.
"So those are your friends?", Rita asked Chomper somewhat angrily, staring at the gang.
"Yeah, and once you get to know them I'll sure they'll all be good friends!", he answered confidently.
"Hmph! I still don't trust leaf eaters!", she called and turned to the other side, especially to not look at Littlefoot.
"I know we probably have a lot to talk about, but we have a situation here!", Myra called them, and just barely managed to avoid Thud's claws.
"Hey! Watch out where you point these dangerous things!", she shouted angrily.
"And you're calling yourself a fast biter?!", Thud taunted with a smirk and tried to slash again, but Cera head-butted him a distance away. "Hurry up and go!".
"Rita doesn't understand you!", Chomper tried to explain.
"Whatever! Just grab your girlfriend and go already!".
"She's not my girl- Ugh, why do I even try? We need to get out of here fast, Rita!".
"Is there anything else I should know?", Rita asked Myra angrily, while they were all running.
"The Canyon is going to be flooded soon!", Myra shouted in reply.
"Just great! Did you mess up the pond again, Rory?!".
"Hey! It wasn't me this time!", he answered angrily.
"It was kind of the Leaf Eaters' fault. But they apologized.", Myra explained to her.
"Wanna eat them later for that?", Rita suggested. The other Sharpteeth rolled their eyes in response.
"Ouch!", Rory and Chomper shouted at the same time. They ran into Spike and Cera from behind.
"Hey, what gives?!", Rory demanded.
The answer came from above them: "I guess when you want something to be done, you have to do it yourself.".
Red Claw was already waiting for the little Dinos at the entrance of the cave, blocking their exit.
Surprisingly, he lay down, as if bored, blocking the entrance, leaving only a tiny opening, which not even Ducky or Petrie could go through.
"I heard what you said. Since the Canyon will be flooded soon, you have only 2 options: try to go through me, or wait until you've all drowned.".
Chomper angrily translated it for the rest of the gang.
Ruby, Cera and Littlefoot already seemed to be thinking of a plan. Ducky and Spike looked terrified, while Petrie looked like he was gonna pass out.
Rita, in this short while, already came up with a plan, and she whispered it to Chomper.
Chomper explained the plan in Flattooth, which Red Claw didn't know, of course..
"Rita, are you going to be fine?", he whispered afterwards, as water started gushing through the crack Red Claw left, soaking the ground.
"I'll be fine! Just concentrate on getting out of here!".
Rita walked over to the wall of the cave, and looked at it thoroughly. Red Claw's eyes followed her, when she suddenly came to a stop with a grin on her face, not far from the passed out Screech and Thud.
She then faced Red Claw, and said "I'm sorry.".
"Beg all you want. I won't forgive you for betraying me.", Red Claw said indifferently.
"I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about this!", she called and pulled a vine embedded deep into the cave's walls.
Around the vine, the stone began to crumble, and the cracks began spreading throughout the entire cave, causing it to slowly but surly fall apart.
"Are you mad?!", Red Claw roared and stared, horrified, as rocks began falling down.
He got up and kicked the unconscious Screech and Thud, who woke up immediately.
"Get up, you morons! We're leaving now!".
"Yes, boss!", they answered simultaneously and the 3 ran towards the other, darker side the cave, as the entrance was far too small for Red Claw.
The gang and the Sharpteeth ran out of the cave just in time.
"Where is Rita?!", Myra called in shock as rocks covered the entrance completely.
"I'm over here, but I can't move!", she called back from inside the cave.
The water level rose too high for even Myra and Rory to stand in, and only Littlefoot, Cera, Ruby and Spike could remain standing.
Ruby got closer to the blocked entrance. "I see her!", she exclaimed, and then gasped.
There was still a hole remaining in the blocked entrance, and Rita was stuck at the end of it!
"Hang in there, Rita!", Chomper called out to her.
"It's no use! My arm is too short to reach her!", Ruby called, discouraged.
"I have an idea! Everyone, go to the vine. I'll save her!", Littlefoot said.
"I'm staying with you!", Chomper said and climbed on his back from Spike's.
The others ran back (or flew, in Petrie's case), as Littlefoot lowered his tail and shoved it into the hole.
"Rita! Grab Littlefoot's tail so he can get you out!", Chomper called to her desperately when there wasn't a response.
"I don't need help from a Leaf Eater!", she called angrily, and tried to push herself out, but to no avail.
Water started gushing into the hole, and time was running out.
"Sorry!", Littlefoot called desperately, pulled his tail out and shoved his head in, and then grabbed her by the tail with his mouth, to her scream of surprise.
"I could have done it myself...", she mumbled angrily, but climbed on Littlefoot's back anyway.
"She said 'thank you'.", Chomper lied, trying to break the ice between the two.
"No problem.", Littlefoot answered and smiled to Rita, who just turned away from him with a 'hmph'.
He didn't notice it, however, as he struggled against the gushing water, while carrying Chomper and Rita on his back.
After a while...
Littlefoot managed to get to the vine, despite that the water level was so high that he had to swim now, thanks to Chomper's and Rita's paddling with their hands.
"I'll hold it for you to climb on!", he called and held the vine with his tail, and the small sharpteeth simply walked over it to reach the vine.
Rita started climbing up the vine, but Chomper lost his balance and fell into the water!
"Chomper!", both Rita and Littlefoot called at the same time, and Rita jumped after Chomper, and caught him with one of her hands, grabbing the wall of the canyon with the other.
"Thanks, that sure was a close one!", Chomper called, relieved, just as Rita lost her hold at the wall, and the two Sharpteeth screamed in horror.
But they weren't washed away by the gush of water- Littlefoot managed to grab Rita's tail with his mouth again, and pulled them to the vine. "Are you enjoying this or something?", she asked angrily, though she was actually grateful that he saved her again.
"Thanks...", Chomper said and smiled to Rita a smile that said 'I-told-you-that-Flatteeth-are-nice'.
"I still hate Leaf Eaters, though.", she added, but smiled at the same time as she started climbing the vine, followed by Chomper and Littlefoot.
"What took you so long?!", Cera asked them angrily as they finally made it back to the Great Valley.
"Nothing much.", Littlefoot said and smiled convincingly.
"We made it! We're finally outside!", Rory and Myra called joyfully. Even Rita couldn't help but smile. Cera pushed a large rock on top of the opening so that no one will fall in.
"Welcome to the Great Valley!", Chomper called happily.
"This is so beautiful!", Myra whispered and sniffed and a nearby flower.
"It's okay, I guess.", Rita muttered. The other Sharpteeth laughed in response.
"I don't want to ruin the mood, but if anyone finds out that there are 4 sharpteeth in the Valley now instead of 1, it won't be pretty.", Cera said gravely, thinking how badly her dad would respond to this fact.
"So we can't stay here?", Rory sighed.
Chomper meanwhile explained everything that was said to Rita.
"We can't go back to the Canyon of End. So where will we go?", Myra asked sadly.
Before anyone could answer, the sound of stomping was heard from not far away.
"Uh-oh.", everyone except for Rory, Myra and Rita muttered.
"What is this sound?", Rita asked Chomper.
"Those are my friends' parents! Hide, everyone!", Chomper called, and Rita, Myra and Rory hid behind the rocks that were the Great Wall in response.
Soon enough, the gang's parents came into view, all looking either worried or angry.
A few minutes later, after some yells, scoldings and arguments...
After Petrie told the Sharpteeth that the coast is clear, they came out from behind the rocks and walked back to the others. (Rory explained to Rita.)
"I thought he'll never stop yelling!", Cera said angrily after their parents left.
"Well, what did you expect? We broke the rules.", Littlefoot sighed.
"I do not want to even think what our parents will say if they find Rory, Myra and Rita. No, no, no!", Ducky called.
"But Rita, Rory and Myra are nice! Nice they are!", Ruby said in surprise.
Myra suddenly spoke up, after translating the conversation to Rita and translating her response: "'It doesn't matter. Flatteeth and Sharpteeth will never be friends!', Rita says.".
"That's not true!", Littlefoot and Chomper immediately called, each of them in his native language.
"How can you say that after Littlefoot saved you?!", Chomper asked her angrily.
Rita only turned away from him with a "hmph". Rory and Myra sighed.
"Umm, anyway... I'm sure they can stay just for one day, right?", Ruby suggested.
"Fine, I guess.", Cera muttered, though she was still clearly unhappy with this.
*Growl* *Growl*
Everyone stared at Rory, who was the source of the noise. Spike, Ducky and Petrie took a few steps back.
"Sorry. I'm kind of hungry.", he chuckled.
"Don't worry, there's plenty of food around here!", Chomper assured him.
"Not including us." ,Cera said with a grin.
"Actually, I'm a bit hungry too.", Myra spoke up. "How about you, Rita?".
"Not at all.", she answered with a straight face.
*Growl*
Rita blushed as well as the other Sharpteeth broke into a laugh.
"We'll help you look for food too.", Littlefoot volunteered.
"We will?", Cera asked him, slightly angrily. He gave her a nudge with his tail in response.
"Okay, okay.", she muttered as a result.
The job soon began, but it was not easy at all- first of all, the gang had to make sure Rita, Rory and Myra won't be separated from them. Otherwise they would have gotten lost. Second of all, they knew they'll be at some big troubles if they were discovered. And lastly, was the fact that now they had to find about 4 times the amount of crawlers Chomper usually eats, and Rory and Rita were far from light eaters.
A few hours later...
Operation "Crawler Delivery", as Rory and Chomper nicknamed it, went through without a problem. Well, except for a dangerously close running into Mr. Threehorn and Tria (Tricia was taking an afternoon nap), but they were spared just in time thanks to Petrie, who saw the Threehorns approaching and warned the gang.
Myra ate a bit less than Chomper usually would, but Rory and Rita ate any crawler they got their claws on, despite the fact that Rita commented every third crawler about how gross they are.
After they cleaned an entire section of the Great Valley from crawlers, or so Spike confirmed, as he peacefully ate the bushes without a single crawler on them, they all set down to rest, but they didn't have much more time for chatting, as it was getting late. And soon, the gangs parents started calling them.
"See ya tomorrow!", everyone who left called. (Spike only grunted this, of course.)
Soon enough, only Ruby and the Sharpteeth were left.
"So, are we going to the nest?", she asked Chomper.
"Yeah.", he answered, and then explained it to Rita.
A few minutes later...
Ruby and the 4 Sharpteeth reached Ruby and Chomper's cave.
Ruby, Myra and Rory fell asleep right away. Chomper was happy to find out that his friends can be friendly towards other Sharpteeth besides him.
Rita claimed she couldn't sleep, so Chomper thought of teaching her Flattooth.
She was reluctant at first, but then agreed. The two moved to another side of the cave, so they won't wake up their friends.
"So how do you speak like a Leaf Eater?", she asked him impatiently.
"Well, when we speak like this, we use this part.", he explained, and pointed towards the lower part of his throat. "At least that's how it feels...", he added with a chuckle.
"Leaf Eaters speak from this part.". He pointed towards the upper part of his throat, just under his jaw. "Try saying anything!", he urged her with a smile.
Rita seemed focus all of her strength into her throat when she spoke: "Ra... Ba... Da...", she muttered, trying to make all sorts of sounds with her new ability.
"Great!", Chomper called. "Now let's try saying a word. For example your name- Rita.".
"Rida?", she muttered.
"Almost!", Chomper called. Rita showed a slight smile, and tried again: "Rita!".
"That was really good!", Chomper said happily. "Now, let's try saying a whole sentence. For example: 'The green food on the Tree is really yucky'.". The two laughed, and Rita tried to say it, after Chomper showed her how to do so in Flattooth.
Chomper's "lesson" continued for some more, until he felt that Rita has learned enough Flattooth, at least as much as Rory and Myra.
"Good Night!", the two said to each other (in Flattooth) before falling asleep, not far from Ruby, Myra and Rory.
Author's note: Unfortunately, until further notice, the chapters will keep coming at an irregular rate due to several reasons I can't specify here. I'll try to speed up the uploading, but I can't promise anything... Thanks again for reading, and I hope you'll read the next Chapters as well! =)