Chapter 4: A Howling Discovery
Sonic and the kids continued searching for Cera's twin nieces. They all saw new kinds of trees. The trees were very tall. They also saw other plants as well. Littlefoot then remembered something.
"Hey, did any of you guys hear a loud noise last night?" asked Littlefoot. Sonic and the others thought for a moment. Cera raised an eyebrow. Sonic, though, didn't remember any sounds last night.
"Actually, yeah. It sounded strange" said Cera.
"Yes, it was very strange and scary. Yep, yep, yep" said Ducky as she felt uneasy. Spike nodded in agreement.
Petrie shook a little. "Petrie thought it very scary."
Littlefoot nodded. "Yes, but I wonder what it was. I never heard of a sound like that before. It sounded like a roar but it also sounded like something crying too."
Sonic scratched his head as he thought about what Littlefoot said. He tried to remember the 'howls' but he couldn't remember much. Only parts of his dream. Littlefoot then looked at Sonic.
"Sonic, do you know what that noise was last night?" asked Littlefoot. Sonic then looked at Littlefoot.
"I'm not sure yet, Littlefoot" answered Sonic. Littlefoot raised an eyebrow at Sonic. Sonic looked unhappy to Littlefoot.
"Are you okay, Sonic?" asked Littlefoot. Sonic gave Littlefoot a small smile.
"I'm fine. Just had a bad dream" Sonic answered as he rubbed his head. All the kids stopped walking and looked at Sonic.
"What's a dream?" asked Littlefoot. Sonic raised an eyebrow and also stopped walking.
"Well, you know. The weird things you see when you're asleep" said Sonic. The kids then said, "Oh."
"You mean Sleep Story" said Littlefoot. Sonic thought for a moment.
"So, that's what they call dreams. I wonder what they call nightmares" thought Sonic.
"Uh, yeah. It was just a bad sleep story" said Sonic. They all started walking again. Sonic then remembered that he did howl in his dream and that the kids mentioned the weird noises in the night. Sonic then went a little wide-eyed.
"It was only a dream. It didn't really happen. Did it?" thought Sonic. But then Sonic shook away the thought. He wanted to focus on helping the twins. They all walked closer to Saurus Rock. Littlefoot admired the tall trees.
"Whoa! Not even Grandpa could reach those tree stars" said Littlefoot.
Cera frowned. "My dad could."
"How?" asked Petrie.
"The Three-Horn way. He'd just knock it right over" answered Cera.
"One of these trees? I don't think so" said Littlefoot.
Sonic agreed. "Yeah. Knuckles could knock these trees down no problem, but I don't think your father would be strong enough."
Cera frowned again. "Oh, yeah? Watch this."
Cera then charged towards a weird tree. She hit it but nothing happened and she fell on her back. Sonic shook his head. Well, she managed to convince the others that the tree was really sturdy and that she wasn't too strong. Cera looked very confused.
"That sure didn't feel like a tree trunk" said Cera. They all examined the strange tree, but they were frightened to see that it was actually the foot of the Allosaurus. It finally broke free from being stuck in another tree. It growled and then roared at the kids. The kids screamed. Sonic glared and got into his fighting pose.
Meanwhile, the twins made it to Saurus Rock. They both went 'Whoa!' when they saw the tall monolith. They thought that it was great and amazing.
"Rocky go-go" said Dinah.
"Go-go us" said Dana. Both twins ran over to the very tall rock statue. But they stopped running when a metal bird landed in front of them. It was Ichy. Both twins had frightened expressions.
"You're not going anywhere little ones" said Ichy. Both twins looked behind themselves when they heard growling sounds. It was revealed to be Dil. The metal croc licked her lips.
"Because you're about to become lunch" said Dil. The metal croc then bared her teeth. Both twins gasped.
"Teeth Sharpie no-no!" exclaimed both twins. Which meant 'Sharpteeth are bad.'
Both twins ran while screaming. Dil roared as she chased them. The twins then jumped and started climbing Saurus Rock. Dil bumped into the big monolith. She shook her head and growled. She saw that the twins climbed a little too high for Dil. Ichy flew to Dil.
"Even with those new teeth and claws, you still can't catch anything!" exclaimed Ichy.
Dil growled at Ichy. "Watch it Ichy! Or you're next!"
Ichy and Dil argued some more again while the twins climbed higher up the rock statue. Eggman's spy bot flew over to the metal dinos. Dil tried to bite Ichy.
"Will you 2 knock it off?!" Eggman yelled through his robot. Both Dil and Ichy stopped arguing and looked at the hovering robot.
"Listen, Sonic and those rotten kids are coming. So I want you to get rid of those 2 little Three-Horns before Sonic comes to ruin the plan" said Eggman. The metal bird and croc nodded.
"Uh, sorry Doc. We'll get those little animals" said Ichy.
"Yeah" agreed Dil.
"Good. Now get going!" commanded Eggman. Ichy and Dil nodded. Then the spy bot flew away. Dil and Ichy saw that the twins were almost to the top of the monolith.
"Let's get 'em" said Ichy.
"Yeah!" agreed Dil.
Ichy then flew up to the twins. Dil used her metal claws to start climbing the tall rock. Normally, Belly Draggers wouldn't be able to climb high cliffs, but Dil was now able to. Thanks to upgrades from Eggman. The twins made it to the top and they admired the sight from up high. They saw many things and they saw the Great Valley from afar. But their joy ended when they saw Ichy flying towards them. They both ducked down just in time as Ichy swooped on them. Dil continued climbing up the rock statue.
Back with the others…
The Allosaur stumbled backwards as Sonic used another Homing Attack. Sonic then told the others to run to safety. The kids listened and ran off through the woods. Sonic continued fighting the orange Sharptooth. The Sharptooth shook its head to clear itself and then growled at Sonic. Sonic then jumped up and kicked the Sharptooth's eye. It growled in pain. Sonic then used another Homing Attack on the Allosaur's chest. It roared and fell on its back. Sonic landed and grinned. The Blue Runner then zoomed off after the others. The Allosaurus struggled to stand back up. The dino kids stopped running near some trees and waited for Sonic. The Blue Runner arrived in a few seconds.
"You guys alright?" asked Sonic. The kids nodded while panting a little.
Littlefoot then looked around but then he went wide-eyed. He saw that they finally found Saurus Rock. They admired the tall monolith. Sonic couldn't believe that the rock statue did have sharp rock teeth around its neck, just like in the stories.
Littlefoot smiled. "Saurus Rock DOES look Doc!"
The others raised an eyebrow. They were a bit skeptical. The monolith does look like a tall Longneck but they weren't sure if it really looked like Doc.
"Sort of" said Sonic.
"Maybe" said Petrie.
"A little" said Ducky.
Cera then spotted the twins on the very top. She was glad that they were okay. But then she saw a Flyer circling them. Sonic knew that it was Ichy. The kids also gasped when they saw Dil climbing the rocks. Dil was almost to the top.
"How is it doing that? Belly Draggers can't climb that high" Cera said with a confused expression.
"Well, they can now. Thanks to someone we all know too well" Sonic said as he glared at Dil. The kids nodded.
"Eggman" said Littlefoot.
Dinah and Dana then saw Sonic and the others.
"Cerrie! Help! Flyer scary meanie!" exclaimed Dana.
"Flyer meanie!" added Dinah.
Cera then looked at Ducky. "What did they say?" asked Cera.
"They said 'The Flyer is scary and mean to them, and they need help'" explained Ducky.
The kids gasped. Sonic was thinking of a plan while they ran towards the monolith.
"Hold on, we're coming!" Littlefoot shouted to the twins. The twins were by the very edge of the top. Ichy almost hit them with his sharp beak. Sonic then looked at his dino friends.
"You guys help the twins. I'll handle the Belly Dragger" said Sonic. The kids nodded in agreement. They all started to climb Saurus Rock. Sonic did a few jumps up the monolith and the kids climbed as fast as they could. Spike lost his footing only a few inches from the tall rock and fell back to the ground. Petrie flew up to Ichy to get his attention away from the twins. Ichy then growled at Petrie. Ichy then tried to bite Petrie but Petrie managed to avoid him. Sonic was now on the back of monolith. He spotted Dil who was one step away from the top. Sonic then shouted at Dil.
"Hey, Big Snout!" shouted Sonic. Dil stopped climbing and looked at Sonic.
"Come and get me!" Sonic shouted with a grin. Dil then growled and bared her teeth.
"YOU! I remember you!" growled Dil. The metal croc started climbing over to Sonic. She then landed close to Sonic and growled.
"You stomped on my snout back in the misty land, you spiky thing! Now, you're gonna pay!" growled Dil.
Sonic grinned and got ready to fight. "Then come get me you mean lizard!" exclaimed Sonic.
Dil tried to bite Sonic but he managed to avoid her. Dil tried a few times but still missed Sonic. Dil then growled and used her mace tail. Sonic still dodged the attacks. Cera climbed onto the tooth necklace. Littlefoot was right behind her. Ducky followed Littlefoot. Petrie kept avoiding Ichy's attacks. Ichy got really angry.
"That's it! Try to avoid this!" Ichy growled as he stretched out his wings. Little spikes formed on the edges of his wings, making his wings look spiky and sharp. Petrie gasped. Ichy then flapped his wings forward and the spikes were thrown. Petrie moved to one side quickly and the spikes missed him. But the spikes were flying towards the twins! The kids gasped. The twins screamed. They moved to the very edge of the monolith. Luckily, the spikes missed them when they landed, but the twins lost their footing and fell off. Cera caught them on her back. But Cera lost her footing and nearly fell off the rock. She clung to one of the rock teeth. Suddenly, the rock tooth cracked and broke apart. Cera and the twins fell to the ground as they held on to the rock tooth. Spike went wide-eyed as he saw the rock tooth falling. Fortunately, the tooth missed Spike by a few inches when it hit the ground. Spike sighed with relief. Cera and the twins got off the tooth. Cera frowned at her nieces.
"Uh oh, oops" said both twins. The others started climbing back down. Ichy then flew down near the rock tooth, and glared at Cera and the twins.
"Why you little…" started Ichy. But before Ichy could finish, the rock tooth cracked and crumbled on Ichy. Ichy groaned in frustration.
"I hate it when that happens" grumbled Ichy. Cera and the twins laughed a little.
Meanwhile, Sonic kept fighting Dil. Dil still kept missing Sonic with her mace tail. Dil growled and bared her teeth at Sonic. Sonic looked behind himself. He grinned and thought of an idea. He taunted Dil to come get him with his hand. Dil then snarled and ran towards Sonic. Sonic waited for a moment and jumped to one side. Dil then went wide–eyed as she ran off the cliff. She wasn't able to stop herself in time and fell. She rolled in mid air and landed on her back. She then got back up but only to be stomped on by Sonic. Dil moaned in pain and fell to the ground. Sonic dusted off his hands. He grinned and hmphed. Sonic zoomed over to Cera and the twins. The rest of the kids climbed off the tall rock.
"You guys okay?" asked Sonic. Cera and the twins nodded. The twins replied with an 'Uh huh.' They all started on the journey back home. After a few minutes, Ichy started getting back up. He brushed some rocks off and shook his head a little. Ichy then grumbled because Sonic and the kids got away again. Eggman's spy bot came by. Dil started to clear her senses as well. Ichy and Dil saw the flying bot.
"Can I trust you guys with anything?! You still failed to stop Sonic and those kids!" exclaimed Eggman.
"Sorry Master, but it wasn't my fault. Dil wasn't fast enough" Ichy said as he switched his gaze from the robot to Dil. Dil raised an eyebrow and then growled at Ichy.
"Well, I didn't see you doing any better. You didn't catch them either" argued Dil.
"Oh yeah? Well, you couldn't…" started Ichy.
"Enough!" interrupted Eggman. Both Dil and Ichy stopped and looked at Eggman's bot. Eggman was already tired of their arguments.
"Quit acting like that or I'll send you both into the Mysterious Beyond where the mean dinos are!" exclaimed Eggman. Dil and Ichy straightened up because they were still afraid of the big Sharpteeth.
"Yes Master!" said both metal creatures.
Eggman then called his metal servants to follow him back to his ship. Eggman was deciding on the next plan. He was deciding on using his next weapons.
Meanwhile, Sonic and the kids were walking back to the Great Valley. The twins felt upset because they thought that they messed things up by running away and breaking the rock tooth. The twins sobbed a little. Cera then looked at her twin nieces.
"It's okay. It's not your fault Saurus Rock got broken" said Cera. She turned her gaze at Littlefoot. "It's yours!"
Littlefoot gasped a little and then frowned at Cera. Sonic also frowned at Cera.
"Me? What did I do?" asked Littlefoot.
"If YOU hadn't been talking about Saurus Rock, Dinah and Dana wouldn't have run away in the first place!" Cera said with her snobbish attitude.
Sonic sighed and got a little frustrated at Cera for her pride again. "You always have to blame somebody for everything don't you Cera?" thought Sonic. The twins then looked at their aunt.
"Cerrie says so" said Dinah.
"We bye-bye" added Dana. Cera asked Ducky to explain again.
"They said 'YOU are the one who told them to get lost'" said Ducky. The kids laughed at the words. Cera only frowned. Sonic then laughed too.
"You know, your nieces have a point" said Sonic. Cera groaned in frustration. Cera then told her nieces that she won't come to save them again the next time they run away.
"Got it?" said Cera. The twins turned serious and nodded a few times. Sonic then rolled his eyes because of how Cera mentioned that only she saved the twins. Cera then told her nieces not to mention what happened to Topps. The twins shook their heads a few times.
"Because you don't want to see Grandpa Three-Horn when he's mad" said Cera. Suddenly, the Allosaurus appeared again. The other kids started to shake in fear. Sonic then glared at the Allosaur. Cera then told the twins that whenever Topps gets mad, he's scarier than… but Littlefoot finished her sentence.
"A Sharptooth!" yelled Littlefoot. Cera raised an eyebrow.
"No, I think a Sharptooth's a little bit scarier. Maybe" said Cera.
"No Cera! Really! Behind you!" Ducky exclaimed as she pointed at the Allosaur. The kids started to back up in fear. Sonic stood his ground.
"Oh, come on! Don't try that old gag on me!" said Cera. Sonic frowned at Cera.
"We're not playing around Cera! Look behind you!" exclaimed Sonic.
Cera groaned in frustration and looked behind her back. Her upset expression turned frightful and she gasped. The Allosaur growled at Cera. Some of its saliva oozed off its mouth and landed on Cera.
"Yuck! Sharptooth drool!" yelled Cera. Sonic then told the kids to run to safety again. The kids took off running. Cera shook off the spit as she ran with the others. Sonic jumped and punched the orange Sharptooth. It growled in pain. Sonic then used another Homing Attack to knock the Allosaur on its back again. Suddenly, Sonic sensed something coming. He looked behind himself and saw a metal Dome-Head charging towards him. The Dome-Head had red robotic eyes and had metal armor on its shoulders and chest. Its horn was also metal and a few inches longer. The horn was quite sharp. Sonic dashed out of the way and the Dome-Head missed. But then Sonic saw another Dome-Head coming towards him. He jumped a little far away from it. The Dome-Heads chased after Sonic.
Sonic glared at the metal dinos. "How many dino soldiers does Eggman have?" thought Sonic. Sonic then began fighting the metal Dome-Heads. They snarled at Sonic.
Meanwhile, the Allosaur got back on its feet. It followed the kids' scent again and it ignored Sonic since he was a little far from it. The kids ran and found a big log on the ground. They decided to hide in it. They all went inside it and sat still. They heard the Sharptooth coming close. The Sharptooth sniffed the air again. It then heard Ducky say, "Spike, don't poke me." The Sharptooth growled and lowered its head towards the log. Ducky peeked through a small hole on the top. She then saw the Sharptooth's face and screamed. She hid back inside the log. The Allosaur roared and grabbed the log with its mouth. It began shaking it back and forth. The kids tried to hold on inside the log. The orange Sharptooth then threw the log close to the big ditch. Fortunately, they did not fall out and the log landed. It made a bridge across the big ditch. It was now dark inside the log. Ducky thought that they were inside the Allosaur's stomach. The twins made yucky noises. But then Petrie saw a small hole and flew out of it. He saw that they were okay and that they could use the log to cross. The others started to climb out of the hole one by one. The twins admired the sight from up high. However, Cera and Ducky felt a little uneasy of high heights.
Back with Sonic…
Sonic continued fighting the Dome-Heads. Both metal dinos surrounded him. They charged at him. He waited for the right moment. He jumped high up and the Dome-Heads bashed into each other. Sonic then did a double Homing Attack on the metal dinos. They groaned and fell to the ground. Sonic then remembered that he still has to fight the Allosaur. He zoomed off to find his friends.
Spike was the last to climb out of the log, but he got stuck because he was a bit overweight. The others saw the Allosaur coming again and gasped. Littlefoot pulled at Spike's snout and Petrie tried to push Spike out of the hole. The Allosaur got really close to the 3 kids. Littlefoot and Petrie went wide-eyed and screamed. The Allosaur lowered its jaw towards Spike, ready to bite. Suddenly, Sonic arrived and kicked the Allosaur's snout. The Allosaur stumbled back a little. Littlefoot smiled. Sonic came just in time. Sonic then started pushing Spike out. Littlefoot pulled again and Spike finally got free. Sonic and the 3 kids ran back to the others. The Allosaur regained itself and ran after them. It jumped and bit down on the log. It almost got Petrie but it missed. But thanks to the Allosaur's bite, the log started to break apart. The kids got off the log just as the log fell into the gorge, taking the Sharptooth with it. It roared as it fell down to the ground. The kids stared in shock as they watched the Sharptooth hit the ground. Sonic tried to get their mind off it.
"Come on, let's head back before your parents find out that you're missing" said Sonic. The kids nodded. After some time, they finally made it back to the Valley. The sun was starting to set. Cera sighed with relief. She thought that they would never get home. Littlefoot then said that they all managed to protect the twins from danger.
"And your dad never knew they ran away" said Littlefoot.
"Ran away?" said a deep voice. It was Topps who spoke. The kids gasped since they now knew that Topps overheard them.
"Did the twins really run away?" Topps asked his daughter. Cera frowned at Littlefoot because Littlefoot spoke too loud and too soon. Cera told her father that the twins didn't go too far.
"Ussie go-go" said Dinah.
"Sorry Rocky far" said Dana. Topps was a little confused. Ducky translated: 'They went to Saurus Rock.' Sonic slapped his forehead because Ducky gave it away. Topps got very upset with Cera. He scolded her for failing to watch the twins more carefully. Sonic tried to defend Cera.
"But it wasn't her fault and we protected the twins" said Sonic.
Topps gave Sonic a big frown. "Still, it was Cera's duty to watch them" said Topps. Sonic sighed in defeat. Topps told Cera to head back to her nest. Cera had a very sad expression as she walked away. Topps and the twins followed.
Littlefoot had a sad expression. "Me and my big mouth."
Sonic gave Littlefoot a small smile. "It's okay. It's not your fault. Things like this happen" said Sonic.
"Yeah, just bad luck" added Petrie. The kids then remembered that if Saurus Rock was damaged in any way, bad luck would come. Ducky then thought that everyone could get bad luck. Littlefoot shook at the thought.
"Bad luck" said Littlefoot. Sonic chuckled a little.
"Don't worry about it Littlefoot" said Sonic. Sonic didn't really believe in bad luck but the kids were still having thoughts about it. The others went back to their families. Sonic and Littlefoot headed back to the Grandparents.
Nighttime then arrived, and everyone was getting ready for sleep. Littlefoot had a short bad sleep story about damaging Saurus Rock and the dark creature from his dream. He woke up with a gasp. His grandpa comforted him and told him to get some rest. Littlefoot then asked his grandpa if bad luck would happen if Saurus Rock was broken. His grandpa confirmed it but he said that it was just a story. He told his grandson to get back to sleep. Before Littlefoot did go back to sleep, he saw that Sonic was missing again. He wondered again where Sonic was. But then he remembered 'bad luck' again and got a little worried.
Bad Luck… Bad Luck…(HOWL)
Littlefoot heard the strange noise in the night again. He shook in fear.
"Littlefoot" whispered a voice. The voice made Littlefoot gasp. He looked for the sound of the voice. He saw that it was Cera. Cera shushed Littlefoot.
"What is it?" asked Littlefoot.
"Come on, we're gonna found out what that sound is" whispered Cera.
"Now?" whispered Littlefoot.
"Yes now" said Cera. Cera told Littlefoot that they should wake the others. They all went to wake up Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. The others were a little tired but they decided that they should find out what the 'howl' was. Some adults did hear the 'howls' but they assumed that it was just some other dinos roaring in the night, so they ignored it and went back to sleep. The kids followed the sound in the night. Littlefoot told the others that he couldn't find Sonic. Cera said that they should find the sound on their own and find Sonic later. They agreed and followed the 'howl' close to some rocky hills near the Mysterious Beyond. They climbed some hills and looked over a big boulder. They suddenly saw a creature walking on all fours. They ducked down and watched carefully. The creature walked by an old dino skeleton. The kids went wide-eyed as they saw the creature stand straight up. It then walked on 2 legs. It grabbed one of the ribs off the skeleton and munched on it. It was some kind of new creature.
"What is that thing? How did it do that?" whispered Cera. She was very confused.
"I don't know" replied Littlefoot.
"It look scary though" said Petrie.
"It is very scary. It is. It is" said Ducky. Spike nodded. It was too dark to see the creature fully but then they saw that it had claws and sharp teeth. It was some kind of new Sharptooth. After eating some of the bone, the creature lifted its head towards the night sky, and howled. The kids now knew where the sound came from. Littlefoot then said that they should go wake the grown ups and tell them about the dark creature. They all went to walk away quietly so the creature wouldn't know that they were there. But Spike didn't watch himself and he tripped on a rock. The creature growled and lifted its head quickly when it heard Spike trip. The creature jumped by and saw the kids. It bared its teeth at them. The kids screamed in fear and ran. But the creature jumped high and landed in front of them. It walked slowly towards them while snarling. The kids gulped as they backed away. Suddenly, the faint moonlight revealed the creature's face. It had purple slit eyes. But Littlefoot looked closely because the creature had fuzzy spikes. Littlefoot then gasped.
"S-S-Sonic?" said Littlefoot. The others looked at Littlefoot.
"What?" said Cera.
"The creature is Sonic!" exclaimed Littlefoot. At first, the others couldn't believe it to be true. But then they looked closely too. The eyes were the same angles as Sonic's and it still had the same red 'shoes' but they were different. It had the same nose too. The others then gasped too.
"Sonic?" said Cera.
"Sonic a Sharptooth?" said Petrie.
"Oh no, no, no!" exclaimed Ducky. They were right. The dark creature was Sonic, the Werehog.
End of Chapter 4