This is just a little fic I wrote about Arlo and Spot learning to accept each other. It's slightly different than the movie.

"You little pest!" Arlo growled as he struggled to pull himself up the last few feet of the steep rocks. He clenched his teeth as his feet slipped over the pebbles at the cliff top. The little.. whatever it was continued to dance just out of Arlo's reach, occasionally making whining and grunting noises. Breathing heavily, Arlo finally hauled himself up over the edge. His glare deepened as the creature that had been taunting him since before his father's death stared back at him.

"What are you looking at?!" He snapped, then took a step towards the thing. It was small, much smaller than Arlo, and though it walked on four li,bs, it looked unnatural. Instead of being covered with hair or fur or even scales, the creature's entire body was bare, except for a mass of thick, dark fur on the creature's head. Arlo wrinkled his nose as the creature lowered its head to the ground and scooted towards him.

"What are you doing? Get away!" Arlo shut his eyes and backed up a few steps. "Hey!"

But the creature wasn't coming for him. He was already turned away, and heading into a nearby bluff.

"And stay away." Arlo muttered. Letting himself forget about the animal that had ruined his life, Arlo looked up towards the mountains in the south.

"Clawtooth." He whispered. He had to get there. From the base of the moutain, he'd be able to spot the river.

"If you can find the river, you can find your way home." His father's voice in his head made Arlo hang his head in despair. Had it been his fault? Maybe if he hadn't been such a chicken, his father would still be alive.

"You've got to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side, Arlo." Pa's voice made him more homesick than ever. Fighting off tears, Arlo closed his eyes, then opened them narrowly. He was going to make it home.

The setting sun was casting a golden glow on the surrounding foliage by the time Arlo had become too tired to continue. With a sigh, he flopped down onto the ground beneath a young birch tree. A cool breeze blew away the warm autumn air, and the apatosaurus shivered. Curling up into himself, Arlo's eyes began to close.

Hours later, Arlo blinked his eyes open. He couldn't see very well in the dim moonlight, but something was pushing against him. A familiar silhouette sat in front of him, staring back at him and shamelessly pawing at him.

"Would you cut that out?" Arlo snapped at the animal again. "Honestly, what do you want?" A short, sharp bark was the only response the animal gave him. "Ugghh." Frustratedly, Arlo laid his head down on the ground again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the animal edging closer. Rolling his eyes, he decided to ignore it for now. Before long, he was asleep again. As he dozed off, the little animal sat up and kept his eyes wide open, swivelling his focus every few moments. In the morning, Arlo wasn't exactly pleased to see that the creature had stuck around for the night. He wasn't about to chase him away, though. Clearly, he didn't want to leave Arlo alone. Sure enough, as Arlo stood and set off again, the tiny beast followed him soundlessly. When they came to a puddle, the animal wasted no time in barking and leaping into the shallow body of water. He splashed around, turning the clear water a silty brown.

"Hey!" As usual, the creature didn't realize he'd done anything wrong, and turned back to Arlo, grinning.

"Are you serious?" Arlo shook his head in disgust at the creature's immature behaviour. "Who knows when we'll find water again?" Or food, for that matter, he added to himself as he felt a pang of hunger. "Come on." Like he had the previous day, Arlo looked towards Clawtooth Mountain, trying to memorize its location. For now, they'd have to veer off course a little to try and find some food.

We must be getting close. Arlo's feet were caked in mud, and the ground squelched beneath his weight with every step. If he could just find the water source, it was likely he'd find some toots or berries. The nuisance that had made its temporary home at Arlo's side was having more trouble than Arlo in the thick, marshy ground, and kept grunting in frustration. Arlo made sure to look back every now and then to be sure he hadn't left his "companion" behind.

"Let's go, buddy." He gently coaxed the animal, who looked up in indignation. "Fine, be that way." Arlo muttered, turning away again. He smirked slightly as he heard rapid fire splashing noises. The noises got closer, and the smirk turned into a genuine smile. At least he didn't have to help it get through the muck anymore. Arlo's smile disappeared as he felt something cold and wet on his tail. He whipped his head around to see the boy scrambling up his spine to sit on top of his back.

"Ah- hey!" Arlo giggled and yelped at the feeling of the cold mud running down his back. "That's cold!" He yelled, still sniggering. As the wriggling on his back stopped, Arlo became more serious. "Alright." He relented. "You can stay there, but only because it's quicker this way." Suddenly, the back of Arlo's head was spattered with drops of water as the animal shook itself violently.

"You're a pain, you know that?"

Moments later, the sounds of the swampy area intensified. Birds chattered and the scratching of tiny claws became much more frequent. The air became even more humid.

"Water!" Arlo gasped, running towards the edge of the sparse marsh towards the sound of rushing water. The animal leaped off his back and did the same, bolting ahead and lapping at the water. When Arlo had drunk his fill, he sniffed the air. Nothing stood out to him. Being an apatosaurus, he didn't have the best sense of smell. The animal, however, did. When he began walking away from the water's edge, it was clear he had a destination in mind.

"Where are you going?" Arlo wondered aloud. He got his answer when his follower returned with a large branch full of berries. He set it down in front of the dinosaur and took some for himself. He quickly backed away though, and shifted his gaze from the branch to Arlo and back again.

"Thanks.." Arlo took a mouthful of leaves and berries. They were bittersweet, kind of like the berries that grew near the riverbank back home.

The riverbank?

Arlo started. For whatever reason, he hadn't noticed upon their arrival at the lagoon that the sound of rushing water had lead them here. And now they were eating the very berries that grew on the banks. They had to be close.

"Come on." Arlo set off again at a brisk pace. A scuffling noise behind him golf him the animal was following closely. The sound of rushing water was faint, but it was getting louder. When they reached the source, Arlo was less than thrilled. In front of him was a small stream that fed into the swamp. This could not have been the river that would lead him home. Arlo huffed and began to walk slightly uphill, following the river's course .

"It may have split off from some larger river, right?" He rationalized. The hill wasn't extremely steep in slope, and neither the dinosaur nor the boy grew tired. Along the way, Arlo watched his companion darting between the shrubs.

"You need a name." He decided. The animal lifted its head from tracking some obscure scent, and whipped his gaze over to Arlo. "Yes, you." Arlo grinned. "Hm... Nemo. Nemo! Come here, boy." There was no indication he'd even been heard.

"Okay then... Russell?" Nothing.

"Dug!"

"Stinky?"

Arlo continued calling out various names. Most drew no reaction, but once or twice he received a glare. Several names later, Arlo was about ready to give up.

"Spot." He called without expression. It got his attention. With wide eyes, the animal lifted his head and sniffed. "You like that? Spot?" Spot walked closer to Arlo. His eyebrows raised for a second when Arlo said his name.

"Spot!" Spot barked. "Alright, I guess that's it, then." Arlo grinned. For the first time, he was genuinely happy to have Spot by his side.

It wasn't quite an hour later when the sloping ground levelled off. All around the boy and the dinosaur, the trees stood extremely tall, but they hadn't thickened, and Arlo could see through the thin forest. A familiar peak of stone stood in the distance. It was Clawtooth Mountain. He'd found it again. Arlo imagined he could see the river snaking around the base of the mountain, and just beyond that, the farm. Momma. Buck. Libby.

"I'm still a long way from home." Arlo said sadly. Spot nudged his leg and began walking towards the mountain. When he'd taken several steps, he turned around and tilted his head.

You coming or what? He seemed to be asking. Arlo shook himself. Of course he was. He'd made a promise to himself that he'd make it home. He wasn't about to break that oath.

Eh. Wasn't my best piece of writing. Please, do me a favour and point out any typos.. I didn't go through and edit this.

I do realize that a marsh and a swamp are different, by the way. I only used the terms interchangeably for fluid writing's sake.

I'm so sorry these have been so short recently. I'm just trying to think of some actually decent ideas. The only good/ fully formed ideas I have are for the Cars franchise, and I don't want to exhaust (😏 haha car pun) the storyline, or the characters. I'll write a one shot for Cars sometime soon, though. 

I really want to write an MU one-shot, and I have half an idea.. we'll see where that goes. If you've got suggestions for an MU one-shot, please, tell me. Anyway, thank you guys so much for sticking around and checking these out, the support of you awesome people means the world to me! I'll be back next week (if camping doesn't interfere with writing XP) with a brand new one shot for you guys! Anything you want to see in particular?

Later!