You're My Ugly Pineapple

Chapter thirteen

"You did what?"

"I tamed a Rhamphorhynchus, I named her Ava. I tested if we could tame Dino's and, if we have a trust bond with it, it works."

"Yeah, but we don't exactly have Rudy's trust now, do we?" 

I rolled my eyes at Buck and picked up a figure of Rudy, him and I. Placing them on the ground, with Rudy in front of me and Buck to the side, I started acting out a scene with them. "Rudy doesn't know me. If I get his trust we might just be able to turn him around so that he trusts me, and he can learn to trust you," I explained, using my character to pat Rudy's head, mount him and then get him to re-meet Buck again.

"You wise weasel you," Buck smiled, picking me up and twirling me around the den. I smiled and laughed loudly as he sat me back down on the ground. 

"Technically we don't have a name, hun," I giggled, nuzzling his cheek with my nose. He chuckled and stared into my eyes lovingly, a love-struck grin on his face. For some reason, he loved it when I was a smart-alec. Especially to someone else. 

"Anyways, we have to get on top of his Rudy business before he goes on a murderous rampage," He exclaimed, shaking himself out of his love-struck daze. I nodded and collected the reinforced vines I had made from the corner, hauling them onto my shoulder. I crawled out of the den and started climbing up the tree where Ava was perched. She'd constructed a little nest up there out of twigs and leaves, and was sitting in it and happily eating some fish. She looked up at me and cooed, eyeing Buck as he climbed up behind me. 

"I'll be driving, I wouldn't trust Buck with driving yo if it cost me my life," I giggled, running my paw down the base of her beak. "Just kidding," I whispered, winking at Buck as he gave me a sad puppy-dog look. I climbed onto Ava's back and hauled Buck up behind me, leaning forward to put a vine in Ava's mouth. She smiled and got up on the edge of her nest, leaning forwards. I yelled out a battle-like cry as she started soaring towards the ground, holding my knife up in the air as the wind blew through my fur. Buck yelled out in fear as we neared the ground and I smirked, pulling the reins so that we leveled out into a fast soar. 

"Calm down, hun," I laughed, running my hand behind Buck's ear as I leaned back and stared into his eyes cheekily, a teasing smirk playing across my lips. He gulped and leaned forward, wrapping his paws around my waist. I smiled and cracked the reins and Ava sped up, leaning slightly to get back on track. 

A few minutes went by and we landed softly a little ways away from a massive cave in the side of a mountain, even bigger than the one Rudy had come out of when Manny, Ellie and the others were about to leave and he attacked. I motioned for Buck to go away and he took Ava with him, hiding behind a tree with his eye on me. I winked at him and approached the cave, taking a deep breath in.

"Hello?" I called, my claws digging deep into my palms as I tried to retain a relaxed pose. A growl came out of the cave and Rudy's breath blew my fur back, his long snout appearing in the dark. His tired eyes opened slightly and he moved to attack me, but I held my paws up. 

"I'm not Buck! See, no eye-patch!" I exclaimed, pointing at my two eyes. "Look, I came here not to fight with you, but to befriend you. I don't want to steal your tooth or turn you into a female, I just want to be friends," I smiled, holding my paws up to calm him down slightly. Rudy sighed and collapsed back to the ground and I slowly walked up to him, placing a paw on his nose. He was covered in cuts and bruises, the gashes in his skin etching deep. It was obviously from the fall, and they  were festering horribly. I frowned and grabbed a lead from beside the cave and started wrapping the wounds in bandages, smearing a plant antibiotic from the native plants around me on the wound before placing the leaf and vines on top.

"Now, I'll come back tomorrow with Buck so that he can apologize and so I can check how your wounds are going, and I'll do the same to the crack in your gums and lip because that doesn't look so healthy," I cooed, stroking him softly. "There's no need to feel threatened by me and him, we just want to help you," I added, smiling into his pained eyes. He seemed to nod as if he understood me and I smiled, backing away. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, Rudy," I smiled, scampering back over to where Buck and Ava were. Buck gave me a questioning look and I smiled, jumping onto Ava's back and motioning for him to do the same.

"So, how'd it go?"

"He's really really hurt, but I managed to get him to trust me. I warned him that you'll be coming tomorrow so you won't be giving him a scare," I smiled, whipping the reins to send the three of us soaring into the air. "He seems to trust me, so I think it'll be fine," I added, smiling back at him.

"He's not going to try and eat me, right?"

"Hm, not if I bring him some fish. God knows how long he's been in that cave without food," I sighed, staring off into the distance as my empathy for Rudy grew. I always saw him as a frightening creature that could end the lives of whatever he wanted, but really he was just a damaged Dino that needed some TLC. I landed Ava and used a vine to swing down to the den, landing at the entrance and using the momentum of the fall to propel myself down into the hole below, landing softly in the main room with my fur ruffled. I looked back as Buck caught up with me and smiled, climbing into the now-finished hammock to finally take a break after the interesting day.