Thundering Falls
Well, things were a little better in the morning, aside from feeling a little stiff after sleeping against a rock all night.
Derek slowly got up and stretched his limbs. He looked out over the Valley and saw that the sun had just begun to rise above the giant rock walls. Thin clouds wisped across a pale blue sky and a gentle breeze swept across the land. The boy blinked as he remembered that he wasn't in his world anymore. He was in a world that was only known by his younger sister.
Aylene slowly opened her eyes and sat up. Yawning, she stretched her arms and turned to her friend.
"Hey, Littlefoot," she said, shaking him slightly, "wake up."
The longneck groaned and slowly raised his head. His eyes drowsily opened and he looked back at his friend.
"Ugh, good morning, Aylene."
"Good morning, yourself," the human smirked.
Aylene then looked over at her brother as he stood up and brushed some dirt off his arms.
"Sleep alright, Bro?"
"Oh yeah," Derek rolled his eyes, "there's nothing more comfortable than a solid rock."
"A dinosaur is more comfortable, you know." Aylene folded her arms across her chest.
"I find that hard to believe." Derek frowned.
"Try it next time," his sister replied rather snobbishly, "you'll thank me later."
"Yeah, right," the boy rolled his eyes.
"Alright, that's enough." Grandma Longneck said as she and her husband walked over to the group. "Now c'mon, it's time to go to Thundering Falls."
"Thundering Falls?" Derek raised an eyebrow.
"It's the Valley's main waterfall." Aylene explained. "It provides the majority of the water supply. It's also the largest one in the Valley."
"Well, I guess coming here a lot, you would know all about it, wouldn't you?"
"You bet. So if I were you, I wouldn't doubt my knowledge."
Littlefoot shook his head slightly, but kept quiet as the group made it's way toward the Thundering Falls.
As far as the Apatosaurus could see, these two humans really didn't get along very well, which greatly confused him. They were brother and sister. A family. Shouldn't they be getting along instead of arguing all the time? Ducky and Spike had more siblings than Aylene, and he never saw the swimmer argue with them as much as Aylene argued with Derek.
As far as Littlefoot could see, the only thing they didn't argue about was their names.
Then again, Littlefoot didn't have any brothers or sisters, so what would he know about feuding siblings? Aylene was the closest thing to a sister that he had and even then they never really had any major arguments. Sure, they had small disagreements, but that's as far as it went. Maybe it was because the two had so much in common that they had no reason to argue.
As for Derek, Littlefoot didn't want to be judgmental about the boy. At the same time, he didn't want to excuse what he saw him do to Aylene or that fact he almost exposed the longneck to other humans back in that world.
However, he did see how concerned Derek was when they were telling him their story about Sharptooth, which he couldn't blame him for that. When Littlefoot and Aylene told the longneck's grandparents about their encounter with Sharptooth, they were both proud and worried at the same time. The only difference was that Derek kept looking at the danger aspect while Grandpa and Grandma Longneck focused on the fact that Sharptooth was gone and the kids were okay.
But yesterday, Derek stood up to Hyp and his gang when they started disrespecting his sister. This gave Littlefoot the notion that he's just very protective of his sister and wants to make sure she's okay. However, he still seemed distant and sour about being here.
At the moment, the Apatosaurus didn't know what to think of Derek.
A few minutes later, the small herd reached the Thundering Falls where they found many other dinosaurs. Some were wading around in the water, either enjoying the coolness of the water or eating the vegetation that grew below the surface, while others were standing on the edge having a drink. Swimming around under the rippling waves large fish that looked vaguely like salmon.
While the longnecks grazed on the greens in the water, Aylene caught a fish for both her and her brother to eat. As every minute passed, Derek became secretly impressed with his sister's skill and knowledge. She knew which fish to catch, she knew how to build a cooking fire, and she knew which spices to use for flavor. This really started to make him realize just how often she had been to this world.
After Littlefoot had finished his breakfast, he began to playfully splash around in the water, laughing happily. Aylene smiled as she watched her friend.
"This place is really peaceful," she randomly said.
"I admit it is pretty cool," Derek shrugged, "but I still have reservations about it."
"I thought you would," Aylene frowned, "but what's it going to take to change your mind?"
"You know I'm just as stubborn as you are."
"Oh, I know that."
"I'm just here to make sure you stay out of trouble and…"
"SHH!"
"Aylene, you can't…"
"No, quiet! Listen!"
Derek stopped and did what his sister told him to do. There wasn't a sound to be heard except for a slight rippling of the water. Other than that, it was rather quiet.
"I don't hear anything," he said.
"Exactly." Aylene turned around and pointed.
At that moment, all the dinosaurs turned and looked in the same direction. They all gasped in horror when they saw the Thundering Falls was rapidly drying up. Strands of water trickled down the rock and gradually got less and less until all that was left were wet stones.
Suddenly, the herd of dinosaurs erupted with worried voices.
"Where did the water go?"
"It stopped flowing!"
"How can that be?"
"What will we do without water?"
Littlefoot, who had already seen the situation, turned to his grandparents with and confused expression.
"Grandpa, why did the Thundering Falls stop?"
"I don't know, Littlefoot," the elder replied, masking his concern, "I don't know."
"Littlefoot," Grandma Longneck said, "go and play. Grandpa and I must talk with the other grown-ups."
"Sure, Grandma."
Littlefoot immediately raced out of the water and over to Aylene and Derek.
"Aylene," he said, "we gotta find the others!"
"You read my mind."
The girl then turned sharply to her brother.
"You stay here!" she forcefully ordered.
Before Derek could protest, Aylene leapt onto the longneck's back and he sprinted away. The boy clenched his fists in frustration and grunted. All he was trying to do was look out for his little sister and she was making things difficult. Now that she was in this world, she was acting as if she was the one in charge, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.
Frustrated, Derek turned away and walked over to the adults. Since he was stuck in this world he might as well try to help.
"Littlefoot," Aylene suddenly said," something just occurred to me: we haven't told the others about what Ozzy and Strut told us."
The moment the human said that, Littlefoot immediately remembered what happened that day. Or rather, what happened earlier the day before today.
"Let's just say that if they catch you two or any of your friends, YOUR defeat will be seen as a sign of honor among the sharp-teeth." Ozzy said.
"Sharptooth was known as the "Walking Terror." Strut replied. "And by defeating HIS defeaters, whoever does will be considered the next one."
"Yeah, I remember," the longneck moaned.
"We should tell the others right away." Aylene stated.
"But what about the Thundering Falls?"
"We'll tell them that, too. But we have to tell them about the carnivores hunting us immediately since it concerns all six of us."
"You're right. Let's find them."
Littlefoot ran up a hill and came to a stop. Just a little ways into a small, not-so-dense forest were Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. They were standing by a short hollowed out tree stump, looking at it with curiosity. Ducky, who was standing on Spike's back, leapt off of him and into one of the empty branches.
"Hey, guys!" Littlefoot shouted, running toward them.
When he came to a stop, Aylene slipped off his back.
"Guys, we gotta tell you something," she said with slight urgency.
"Shh!" Ducky whispered as she poked her head out of the hollowed out branch. "We are trying to find Cera. She had hided from us."
"But…" Littlefoot was about to protest when Petrie flew and perched on the stump.
"Ugh," he groaned, "me no find Cera anyway."
"Cera is a very good hider, she is." Ducky commented.
At that moment, a pile of large, palm tree-like branches rustled and a pair of eyes peeped out.
"BOO!"
Every jumped as the branches flew to reveal a large, yellow object. The unexpected surprised caused Ducky to fall out of the tree and Petrie to fly away, bumping into Aylene's head.
"I scared you!" Cera playfully gloated. "I scared you, I did!"
"You no scare me, Cera!" Petrie snapped. "Me unscareable!"
The flyer then gulped, trying to hide his fear.
"Petrie," Aylene said with a squished nose as the flyer tightened his grip on her skin, "you're hurting my face!"
"Oh!" Petrie shrieked, letting go of her. "Sorry, me no know my own strength."
The Pteranodon then swooped over and landed on Spike's back.
"Now who's going to hide?" Cera asked before looking over at the longneck. "Littlefoot."
"Okay," Littlefoot replied, "but first we gotta tell you something."
"Well hurry it up." Cera said. "We wanna play."
"Seriously, guys," Aylene stepped forward, "it's important. It's about Sharptooth."
The moment she said that name, Aylene knew that she had gotten the whole Gang's attention.
"What about him?" Cera asked, slightly nervous.
"Well," Aylene explained, "you know Littlefoot and I went to find Chomper, right?"
The group nodded.
"Well, it turns out that the T-Rexes were really here to find him."
"Wait, he's their son?" Ducky eyes widened slightly.
"Yeah," Littlefoot nodded, "we followed them until they got safely out of the Valley. We were then confronted by Ozzy and Strut."
"The egg-stealers?" Cera shrieked.
"Yeah," Aylene said, "However, since I unintentionally saved their lives from another pack of carnivores, they have stopped chasing us. But they also gave us a warning."
"What kind of warning?" Petrie asked.
Aylene glanced at Littlefoot for a brief second before taking a deep breath and saying:
"Carnivores in the Mysterious Beyond are hunting the six us."
Everyone froze.
"Apparently they DID find out about our victory." Aylene slowly continued. "And now we're seen as prizes if they ever catch us. I know this is a lot to take, but it's best if you all know now. And don't worry too much. As long as we stay in the Great Valley, we'll be okay. We have the adults to protect us and it's not very easy to find an entrance into here unless you know where to look."
"Still," Cera finally said, "that's still scary to know we're being hunted."
"I know," Aylene nodded, "but it's going to be okay, I promise."
For a few minutes, there was a moment of silence as the group tried to absorb this terrifying information. For the longest time, they had always thought that no one except for those in the Great Valley would know about their victory. Now the realization that predators knew what they did was very unnerving.
But Aylene was right about one thing: as long as they stayed in the Great Valley, they would be okay.
"Well," Littlefoot suddenly spoke up, breaking the tension, "now that you know, we have something else to tell you?"
"What is it?" Cera groaned.
"It's Thundering Falls," the longneck explained, "something's happened to it and it's not giving us any water. Come and see."
The group was about to set out back toward the waterfall when a pair of familiar and rather unpleasant voices behind them mockingly said:
"Why don't you hatchlings go run and see!"
"Yeah, run and see, run and see."
The Gang turned around and saw Hyp, Nod, and Mutt walking up behind them. Well, Hyp was actually riding on Nod's back while Mutt holding a palm tree branch over the leader's head for shade.
After Nod had spoken, Hyp glared up at Mutt, waiting for him to say something.
"Oh," Mutt immediately answered, "uh, yeah!"
"Are you guys following us?" Aylene stepped forward, slightly angered.
"What if we are?" Hyp mocked again. "What are YOU going to do about it?"
"How much of our conversation did you hear?" the human suspiciously asked.
"We came in at the part when you said that sharp-teeth are after you guys." Nod replied in the same tone as Hyp did.
"That's none of your business!" Cera snapped.
Aylene, on the other hand, gave a small almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. At least they didn't hear the part about Chomper. At least she hoped they were telling the truth about their point of eavesdropping and they didn't here about the little T-Rex.
"I bet you guys just love the attention." Hyp said in a snarky tone. "After all, you six defeated the "Walking Terror"."
"We prefer to have normal lives, thank you very much." Aylene folded her arms across her chest. "Besides, it's not like we boast about it."
Hyp jumped off of Nod and landed directly in front of the human girl, while the others stepped back, Aylene stood her ground. The only thing she did was flinch a little.
"And one thing I can't figure out is why you want to hang out with these hatchlings." the Hypsilophon said firmly. "You're the oldest by several years."
"What's your point?" Aylene glared.
"You're just a protector for them." Hyp replied. "They're too small to take care of themselves so they rely on you for protection. Just like with the sharp-teeth that came through here yesterday."
"Tyrannosaurus Rexes, you mean." Aylene corrected.
"Whatever," Hyp shrugged, "I just know that you had to protect them again. I bet they're just using you."
"That's not true at all!" Littlefoot protested.
"You're darn right it isn't." Aylene stated. "We're a herd and that isn't going to change. I don't care what you say, Hyp: I'd rather face a pack of Velociarptors than turn my back on my friends."
"Besides," Cera marched forward, "you talk about us being small. But when you grow up you won't be very big at all. You're kind never gets very big. When WE grow up, we'll be much bigger!"
"Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" Ducky nodded. "Much, much, much, MUCH bigger."
"Oh yeah!" Hyp viciously glared. "Well, I'm going to see to it that you never grow up!"
"Is that a threat?" Aylene snapped.
"What do you think?" Hyp growled.
"If it is," the human jabbed a finger at the dinosaur, "you can bet that you'll have an unpleasant visit from me! And I'm not kidding! I've stood up to plenty of T-Rexes, and I'll stand up to you!"
Aylene then turned around and walked back toward her friends.
"C'mon guys," she said, "let's get out of here."
As the group walked away, the girl glanced back over her shoulder at the bullies.
"And you three better not follow us!" she shouted.
The Gang continued to stroll down toward the hill and towards the river.
"Thanks for standing up to Hyp, Aylene." Petrie said.
"I've stood up to at least four T-Rexes in my lifetime," the girl shrugged, "he's not that big of a problem. He and his friends think that just because they're big they can do anything they want. But I know that being big and growing up means being more responsible. Plus, my parents always said that growing up isn't the same as becoming bigger and stronger, and I believe them."
Aylene then started to giggle a little.
"What's so funny?" Cera asked.
"Oh, I was just thinking." Aylene replied. "When you guys said that you would be much bigger than Hyp and the other two. Well, you all are going to be bigger than me, too. I'm almost at the size of a full-grown human."
"Really?" Ducky said, slightly surprised.
"Yeah," the human girl replied, "and someday I'll be looking up to you guys, literally."
The group laughed at the comment.
"Still," Littlefoot then said, "you don't have a problem with being small, right?"
"Not at all." Aylene smiled. "After all, you should never judge a thing before you know what's inside it. I maybe small, but I'm far from weak."
"You got that right." Cera smirked. "We ALL are far from weak. And if we're strong now, we'll be even stronger when we've grown up."
The whole group nodded, feeling a small swelling of pride in their souls.
