Brace the Storm
Ducky is sitting on a rock with both her arms and legs crossed in the Great Valley, her back towards her friends. She can hear her name being called under laughter in a coaxing way, but she shrugs them off after looking to them then looking away.
"Humph!"
With the sudden reply all her friends look at her in confusion, instantly stopping the laughter and the attempts at getting her to play with them. Spike decides to head to Ducky, but soon realises she will not move and walks back looking depressed as Cera's attempt for a reason simply fails.
"Ducky?" Cera questioned still in her confusion.
"No!" Her reply was pretty quick.
"Huh!"
"How many more times? No, no, no!" After replying in her strop, she looks away and sulks.
"Hnn!" Cera instantly becomes annoyed and seems to strike back double the strength that Ducky's minor words had already reached. "Fine! We'll play without you!" She turns away and stands with her head held high. "Humph!"
Littlefoot then walks a little forwards towards Ducky, hoping she would change her mind. "But Ducky. It's no fun without you."
"But does it have to be tag." She looks towards him in her sulk. "You know I cannot catch anyone. I am too little, too slow." She then looks away again, swinging her legs back and forth in her boredom as Petrie flies over to try and change her mind.
"It never stop you before!"
"Yeah but still!" She looks to Petrie in hope the game will change. "I can never catch up!" Looking ahead again, she rests her head in her hands just wishing something will be different.
"Please Ducky! Like Littlefoot say. It no fun without you!"
"Yeah!" Cera looks back towards Ducky and calms herself down. "I agree!"
"Well!" Ducky begins to think. Maybe I should play the game, though I do hope they would not always play it.
"Please!" All of them stare at Ducky with a silent plea, in hope she will consider playing the game.
"Okay fine!"
"Yeay!" Petrie flies back to the others who are jumping for joy, as Ducky jumps off the rock still not amused. She casually heads towards her friends with her head down.
"I promise we'll play a different game next time Ducky!"
"Just as long as I am not it, at least not straight away!" She then runs away laughing as the others look at Cera.
"Well I'm not it!"
"Me no it neither!" Ducky stops and looks at the others, wondering why they are not running away.
"Hee!"
"Why look at me?" Cera replied before suddenly realising that it is her they want to be it. "Oh no you didn't!"
"Cera's it! Cera's it!" Littlefoot jumps for joy and laughs before running away as Petrie flies in Ducky's direction.
"Can't catch me!"
"Hey!" Spike then runs away laughing as Cera jumps and turns ready to pounce. "Come back here?" She then charges after them with the intention of making someone else be the chaser. They all run around the playing field, having fun and paying no attention to the black clouds that suddenly started gathering a short distance away. Within minutes, the sky is blackened by the obscure embrace and a streak of fork lightning is unintentionally disregarded. A few moments afterwards, the bellow of a thunderclap screams through their ears and they all look up at the dark sky wondering what they heard.
"Uh!" All of them reply as they start to stare towards the sound that was heard from above somewhere, looking around the sky unsure where it came from.
"What was that?" Petrie was a little worried.
"Oh I heard it too!" Ducky for some reason was happy after the sound.
"Me three!" Cera then looks to Spike in question. "Spike?"
"Mnn!" Spike replied while nodding.
"Littlefoot you too?"
"I sure did Cera! It sounded like..." Then Littlefoot is cut short as a bolt of fork lightning forces them all to scream and cower in fear tight like a ball in fright at what they saw, before another thunderclap roars amongst the sky.
Running towards the children's playing field, Topps is worried for both his daughter and her friends surprisingly as though he knew the storm was going to hit. After hearing news that the young ones had screamed, he instantly charged in their direction. As he continued, he bellowed in worry. "Cera! Kids!" His speed could be evenly matched by other fast runners, but he is one of the fastest. As the clouds filled the sky above the river, there still was no sign of rain.
Back in the playing field, Littlefoot and his friends valiantly look back at the sky. They watch as another bolt of lightning strikes at a boulder by the edge of the valley walls. This causes both Cera and Littlefoot to back away a few steps, but the other three stared and did not move. A thunderclap booms as a breeze begins to blow around the young dinosaurs, as if to direct them away from the danger.
"I, think we better, go! Sky Fire can be dangerous!" Littlefoot warned through the silence, but then Topps' loud voice is suddenly heard.
"Cera!"
"Huh! Dad!" She looks towards the sound of her father, but then another thunderbolt strikes a nearby tree as the thunder rolls. The tree is forced to split in half and collides with the ground ablaze, causing the young dinosaurs to flee in fear.
"Aah!" Spike is the first one to flee.
"Aah! Run, hurry!" Littlefoot directs both Ducky and Petrie before he runs himself.
"Cera! Cera! Children!" Topps' voice repeated.
"Hurry! Find my dad!" Cera charges ahead of the gang towards her father as the rain begins to fall rapidly on the already moist earth. A thunderbolt strikes a large tree ahead of the gang as the thunder booms, causing it to fall ablaze right in the path of Cera. Cera sees the falling tree and tries to stop, but the ground now dangerously lubricious causes her to lose her footing so much, that she cannot recover her basal stance. As the tree falls ablaze Cera slides towards it uncontrollably, screaming in fear as her friends turn around and watch in horror after suddenly realising she was not running with them. Littlefoot gasps and stops as he turns around with the others.
"Cera! No!" He cried as he tried to run to her aid, but instead slipped and crashed on the ground. "Ah!"
"No, no, no! Cera!" Ducky stares in horror as Petrie covers his eyes with his wings in fear.
"Me can't look!" He starts to shake rapidly as Spike turns away almost in tears, as Topps suddenly appears from behind the trees gasping, before charging to save his daughter.
"CERA!" He slides to a stop ahead of Cera while balancing his weight, before bringing his head down and catching the blazing tree between his horns, tightening his neck and forelegs. With the strength of the tree under strong forces, Topps slides back a way with the power, as Cera crashes into his foreleg finally able to stop. She cowers underneath him shaking in total horror at her near damaging experience, as Topps throws the blazing tree further afield. It rolls to a stop against a large rock, and Topps brings his head down to comfort his daughter despite his heavy breathing. Littlefoot gets up and runs towards Cera as the others run.
"Uh! Cera!"
"Oh no, no, no! Cera!"
"Cera! Are you alright?" Topps' question is ultimately replied with silence, due to Cera trying to calm herself down. As her friends reach her they can see she is shocked to tears, but Cera eventually manages a few words before the tears return.
"Oh dad!"
"Aww!" He rubs his head with his daughter's, in order to calm her down. "It's okay! No need to cry! You're safe now!"
"I'm sorry dad! I'm sorry!" She is still upset and blames herself for what happened, as the rain dissipates the roar of the flames.
"There's no need for an apology!"
The peace however, only lasted for a few seconds before another bolt of fork lightning occurs with a roar of thunder and strong gusts of wind. Topps instantly started directing the children away from the danger, staying behind them in case any more hazards suddenly happen.
"Hurry kids! Get to the Hide! We must wait out this storm!" Topps ordered as he helped them run ahead. Littlefoot quickly runs with the others in the direction of the Hide, but then a strange voice stops him in his tracks saying words he did not understand.
"The Keepers, have recurred!" The voice seemed masculine, but it repeated once as it rode along the wind that blew by before the silence manifested.
"Huh! What?" Littlefoot replied in his confusion as he followed the direction of the voice with his head. Cera then turned her head to face him before shouting at him in order to hurry along.
"Littlefoot! Come on!"
"Oh, uh. Coming!" He goes back to running, but is now in thought as to what he just heard. Strange! The storm rages on as they reach the large cave Hide, where Topps stays outside ensuring all youngsters were safely inside.
"Hurry kids! Get inside!" As the storm closes in on the location they are now, Topps runs in after a bolt of fork lightning streams the sky between two clouds. The thunder rolls like an echo, as the downpour worsens turning the outside into a hazy mist.