Author's Note: I don't own Dinosaurs. That would be Disney. Henson's Creature Shop made the characters. Earl's parents, to the best of my knowledge, are never named or showed, so these things I made up. Other than that, I'll be using mostly characters from the show, just younger, as this is a prequel to the show. All dates are based off of remarks from various characters, though the show is inconsistent in some spots. Also, this fic, like the show, treats animal-like violence rather casually.
PROLOGUE
(60,000,046BC)
"Bump, bump, bump, bada bump, badump, bada badada bada-tadada," sang quietly a strong male dinosaur with mottled brown and green scales as he bobbed and weaved through the forest, sniffing out his wife. "Bump!" he shouted as he jumped up and stomped a small little mammal, which he promptly picked up and threw down his gullet. He laughed, enjoying the little pancaked mammal as it slid down his throat.
He was a newly wed dinosaur, the first of his family to do so. His wife had looked so wonderful on that day, a slender aquamarine reptilian goddess with flowers around her neck and a small white blouse with a just a hint of a frill on the collar. He finally caught the light scent of her perfume: lavender. He followed it, grinning as widely as his megalosaurus jaws would let him.
"Cayla, my darling," he began when he finally spotted her in small thicket under the full moon, his eyes twinkling.
She shot up from her spot lying restfully on the ground. She dusted herself off, her eyes wide and her jaw agape. "Amir!" she exclaimed. "How – how – when did you get back?"
He walked over and clutched her tightly. "Yesterday. Those four-footers were ready to listen to my plan to save the trees around the Great Swamp. Isn't that great?" He caressed her smooth head.
"Lovely," Cayla agreed sheepishly.
Amir sighed happily. "Cayla, you truly are my crown. You are the most radiant dinosaur I've ever met! When you finally lay our first egg, I'll be able to die happy!"
"Well, you're in luck, pal," shouted a beefy orange dinosaur with six tiny horns on the sides of his head. Amir could barely put himself in front of Cayla before the intruder leapt and came down on Amir, forcing him to the ground. "I'm movin' your happiness up a few years!" he growled confidently as he snapped Amir's neck.
The victor stood and caressed Cayla. "I thought he was coming back next week."
Cayla pushed him away angrily. "Jeez, Dominic – did you have to jump him so close to me?" She kicked the body. "I don't care that your challenge was legal under the Code of the Wilderness – I could have been hurt." She turned and slapped him. "If you don't want to be pinned by a tree right now, you need to apologize!"
"What's your problem?" Dominic exclaimed. "You couldn't stand the little eco-whiner." He batted his eyelids and tiptoed around with clasped hands, his voice stereotypically girlish, "Ooh, look at me! I plant seeds for a living! I am one with the sacred environment!" He blew a raspberry. "Big deal. Now he's compost for this whole thicket. He got his wish. Ooh," he continued seductively, trying to stroke under her chin, "unless you want to bring him back home for supper."
Cayla stared at him in disgust.
Cayla and Dominic, sometime later, stare at a pale egg with green bands as it hatches. To their surprise, two rather tiny green dinosaur babies, both looking a bit frail, use their combined strength to break free of the egg before spilling out over a table and into their parents' arms.
(60,000,040BC)
The two green dinosaur siblings, each with large disproportionate jaws and a brown stripe going down their backs, throw a talent show for their parents. The boy dinosaur, distinguished from his sister by red and black plaid pajamas, is yelled at by his father, causing the son to hang his head and cut a dirty glance to his sister, dressed in pink pajamas, who is getting kisses and hugs from their mother.
(60,000,036BC)
The son, now wearing a red and plaid tank top, stands in front of a blackboard in a one-room schoolhouse, grumbling as he writes "Earl will not protest the use of bulldozers" repeatedly.
(60,000,034BC)
Earl is sitting on the floor watching "Mr. Ugh", a black and white TV show about a talking caveman with shaggy black hair, in his parents' sparse apartment, while his sister strums a guitar on a nearby sofa with floral cushions. He cringes at her apparently bad attempts at playing. Finally, he jumps up and kicks in the television screen, causing it to go dark.