Disclaimer: I don't own the Land Before Time; it's sequels, or any of its characters.
Song: If We Hold On Together composed by James Horner and Will Jennings, sung by Diana Ross, for original Land before Time
Land Before Time: War of the Worlds
Chapter 7: Sea Strike
Littlefoot sat eating his food. Less then 24 hours ago, the Great Valley dinosaurs had met Zero and several other sharpteeth had turned traitors and also joined them. And all that wasn't including the fact that many leaf-eaters, too, had joined in. Littlefoot had also used the skeleton of another longneck as armor, so that now Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Chomper, each had one set too. Now as he walked with Ali by his side, he could only begin to imagine what might happen next.
"Littlefoot! Ali! Mo hear that sharpteeth are planning another attack." Mo called from the water. "Maybe we could overhear their plans."
"How can we get there?" Littlefoot asked.
"Ooh, only swimming." Mo replied.
"Then I might have an idea." Said Littlefoot.
After explaining the plan to the adults, Littlefoot and Ali, along with Petrie, Spike, Cera, Ducky, Hyp, Nod, Mutt, Tippy, Chomper, and Shorty, practiced how they would make the trip. With six hanging on to each side of Elsie, the practices went along smoothly.
Later that night, the children, along with Elsie, King, and Zero, met by a river. "Alright, our practices went great and we found that holding our breaths, we could approach undetected underwater." Littlefoot said.
"With that, we'll be to find out what those sharpteeth plan without putting you kids at much risk." Zero added.
"And Mo can lead the way since he knows it best." King put in, as Mo nodded.
"I guess that's everything," Said Elsie. "This meeting is done." Before anyone could leave, Littlefoot noticed Ali looked sad.
"What's wrong?" He asked her.
"I don't know why the sharpteeth keep fighting, this war only gets both sides hurt, like my mother was in the last battle." Ali said. Everyone gasped.
"She wasn't hurt bad, was she?" Asked Littlefoot.
"No, but the fact that she could've been is very frightening," She said. "I wish that this would all just end and that there'd be peace again." Littlefoot felt sorry for her. He remembered a song his mother used to sing him that might comfort Ali.
"Don't lose your way, with each passing day," He began. "You've come so far, don't throw it away. Live believing, dreams are for weaving, wonders are waiting to start. Live your story,"
"Faith, hope, and glory, hold to the truth in your heart." King and Zero joined in. "If we hold on together, I know our dreams will never die, dreams see us through to forever, where clouds roll by for you and I. Souls in the wind, must learn how to bend,"
"Seek out a star," Ali herself started singing. "Hold on to the end. Valley, mountain, there is a fountain, washes our tears all away. Waves are swaying, someone is praying,"
"Please let us come home to stay." Everyone else was now singing too. "If we hold on together, I know our dreams will never die, dreams see us through to forever, where clouds roll by for you and I."
"Don't lose your hopes, this will end." Littlefoot told Ali when they had finished. Ali nodded. As the group broke up and left to go home, Ali licked Littlefoot's cheek.
"Thank you." She said.
"Alright children, hang on cause were about to dive." Elsie said, and the twelve dinosaurs
held their breaths. Mo showed them the way, and soon surfaced along with Elsie.
"We here." Said Mo. The twelve children climbed out of the water and looked around. They were in an opening with trees a few feet in the distance.
"Come on, we can't miss out on the meeting." Littlefoot said. And so the children, six of whom had skeleton-armor on, crept towards the trees.
"And when they're at a loss for what to do next, we strike." Chomper had been quietly translating what the sharpteeth said. Hyp took an involuntary step back, right onto a twig, which snapped loudly. The others looked at him.
"Uh oh." He stated noticing the sharpteeth had also. "I suggest we run real fast." Slowly, the rest of the group turned to see the sharpteeth right behind them.
"Run!" Shorty shouted. The children screamed as they scrambled away.
Shorty knew on of sharpteeth was onto him. He jumped, ducked, and dodged his way through heavy foliage, still the sharptooth followed. Shorty saw a fallen log that might be his only hope. Ducking he managed to squeeze through, though a loud wham, told him the sharptooth hadn't managed due to its shoulders.
Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Nod, Mutt, and Tippy, ran as fast as they could, the sharptooth keeping pace, through the large trees. Thrice the sharptooth pounced only to get air missing by inches. Petrie flew ahead to warn his friends of obstacles, when his saw a drop big enough to prevent climbing out through one side.
"Sharp turn, sharp turn!" He warned. Three went left, the other three, children went right, and the sharptooth, who'd pounced for the fourth time, sailed into the air and fell. Cautiously they approached the edge. The sharptooth jumped up and down, but couldn't reach high enough to escape.
Littlefoot found his path had quickly turned into an uphill dash, and that in trying to lead the sharptooth from his friends, he'd lost not only the sharp tooth, but Ali, Hyp, and Chomper too, and a strange scent of meat started reaching his nose. Soon though, he heard screaming. With a sudden burst of speed faster then he'd ever run before, he followed the noise to his friends. Before he knew what happened the ground fell away. He'd run straight off the hilltop, and landed on the sharptooth head. With a sharp twist, the sharptooth attempted to dislodge him. The sharptooth however, only managed to hit one of the thick trees. Littlefoot land ahead of his friends and led them to safety.
As twelve young dinosaurs crashed out of the trees, they nearly all collided.
"Come on," Said Elsie. "We'd best get going now."
"Take the others back first. There's something I want to check something out." Littlefoot said. Since no one was hurt, he figured the meat he'd smelled earlier was something else.
"Then I'm staying too." Said Ali.
"It might be too dangerous." Littlefoot tried.
"That's why I'm staying. I'm not going to let you face any danger alone." Ali countered. Littlefoot smiled despite himself.
"This way!" Littlefoot called. They were back on hill he'd climbed earlier, the smell of meat hanging in the air. As they cleared some bushes, both gasped. Before them was an enormous food cache. As they stared at it, a thought crossed their minds.
"If we can get rid of this, the sharpteeth might not be able to continue fighting to their fullest abilities" Littlefoot voiced the thought. Ali nodded. As they left a sharptooth hidden amongst the trees, hissed something to another sharptooth, whom took of towards the huge sea.
"So, their storing food." Said Elsie. "Something big will probably happen soon." They were on their way back to the Great Valley, when something started violently tossing the water. Littlefoot and Ali fell from Elsie's head, and were swept far from her by the churning water. As they struggled to stay above the surface, Littlefoot nearly swallowed a mouthful of water as he noticed a gray fin slicing the water towards them.
"Swimming sharptooth!" He yelled. It was nearly upon them, when the swimming shaptooth dived under."
"Where did it go?" The panic evident in Ali's voice.
"I don't know," Littlefoot responded. "But I want you to climb on my back. It'll keep you above water, and almost out of danger." Ali didn't want to, but was too tired to argue. As she climbed on his back, the fear of being responsible for possibly drowning Littlefoot, adding to her fear of the swimming sharptooth. The swimming sharptooth attacked from behind, but missed when Littlefoot sank into the water. It quickly turned to attack again.
They saw first its fin then back appear out from the water. Ali squeezed Littlefoot's neck slightly as the swimming sharptooth lifted its head out of the water, jaws wide open. It was almost on them. But the only to hit them was water. The two longnecks looked in surprise to see that a second swimming sharptooth had slammed into the first. He let the first go and swam under Littlefoot and Ali.
"Come on kids, we've gotta go now." He called the surprised longnecks on his back, before starting towards shore. The first swimming sharptooh's interception was quickly ended, when Elsie surfaced in front of him. The second swimming sharptooth was nearly at shore when the first, diving and using its speed, dodged Elise and continued pursuit. As it opened its mouth to attack, a rock hit him in the head.
"Leave my brother and friends alone!" Shorty yelled from shore. Along with several grown-ups on land, and Elsie in the water, the first swimming sharptooth, attempting a last strike, which proved futile thanks to Zero, decided to swim away under more rock bombardment.
"Whew, close one." Said the second sharptooth. "By the way, I my name is Grey Fin, and I see you've met my friend." He nodded to Streakclaw.
"Yeah but, who was that other swimming sharptooth?" Asked Littlefoot.
"Oh, that's Tip-Nose, he's no one's friend." The group laughed at that. "And with an attitude like his, who can blame 'em." Grey fin added under his breath, causing more, harder laughter.
"Well holler if you're ever in need of help, can't go to your valley since it's freshwater, though. So you'll have to come here."
On the way back to the valley, Littlefoot and Ali explained about the meat they'd found."
"Hmm we'll have to look into that and consider a strike on their grounds for a change." Doc said. Those close enough to here looked at him in surprise. Not including this last one, they'd taken attack in or near the Great Valley.