Chapter 9: Adventuring
It didn't take Littlefoot long to get to the meeting place they had agreed on for that day. Although it was fairly close to his home, he was still the last to arrive.
"Hey guys!" the longneck called as his four best friends came into view, waiting or helping themselves to a snack in Spike's case.
"Took ya long enough, Sleepyneck!" To his utmost surprise, Cera was present as well in spite of getting rebuked and teased for her boldness the previous day. Whatever damage her pride had taken, the bossy threehorn wasn't showing it at all. If anything, she was about as normal as always. He could only guess that she didn't want to be reminded of her embarrassment and thus had decided to move on and act as if it had never happened - which was probably for the best.
"Hello, hello, hello!" Ducky chirped happily as his long neck came into view, Spike quickly looking up from his meal to nod and smile in his direction before picking up and finishing the large fern he was feeding on.
"Oh, there you be! Petrie already wonder if you wake up late, ehehe." Upon saying these words, the small flyer descended from his perch on a nearby tree to glide down and take a seat on his friend. Littlefoot giggled.
"Hehehe, nice to see y'all!" he answered happily. Yes, as expected seeing his friends was washing the last remainders of the nightly dream away like a refreshing downpour during the hot season. With much brighter spirits, he caught up to the rest of them.
"I haven't slept in, I've just been thinking about a sleepstory I had, that's all," the boy explained when he realized that Cera was about to reinforce what Petrie had asked him.
"That nonsense again, huh?" Cera deadpanned. "Oh well, you're not that late anyway, Petrie only turned up here a moment ago.
"Not me problem if you too early, Cera," Petrie chuckled from his new perch atop the longneck.
"Oh, what was your sleepstory about?" Ducky piped up curiously, walking a few steps towards Littlefoot.
"Oh, remember about yesterday?" Littlefoot began though then he remembered that he hadn't really told them about things after all.
"How could I forget?" The sarcasm in Cera's voice couldn't be more profound. "I only hit a rock because of the shit your mind is brewing when you sleep. Gee, I wonder if it's some ridiculous nonsense again?"
Littlefoot frowned for a moment, Cera's passive-aggressive comment momentarily concerning him, however Cera didn't show any real anger which reassured him soon.
"Well, I only got to tell you half of it the other day because a certain threehorn decided to prompt a small lie…"
"W-wait! So I didn't break that bloody rock after all?!" Cera shouted in slight panic which made everyone laugh immediately.
"Nope, actually, I've been having a certain sleep story each night for a while now, and it's the same for my grandparents." And so the boy recited the usual contents of his every-night horror. Needless to say, his friends were more than surprised.
"Oh, that too spooky for Petrie!"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh yes yes yes… Littlefoot, does it not bother you?"
"S...slightly," the longneck admitted hesitantly as his gaze wandered from Ducky to Spike to Petrie who had since changed his perch to the spiketail where Ducky was also sitting. "It sure is annoying! What's worse though is…" Wait, should he really tell his friends about that? Would they even believe him?
"What be worse?" Petrie prompted, tilting his head.
"Well, the thing is, my grandparents and I believe that there's more to those sudden night terrors that keep bothering us," Littlefoot began explaining with slight uneasiness. "It's making us feel restless… like… something deep inside me is sorta telling me to go somewhere…" Littlefoot stopped dead in his tracks. Just then, as his grandfather's word flashed up in his mind again, a horrible realization dawned on the longneck.
"We might be leaving tomorrow."
"Crap, how did I not think about this before?!" He would be going on an adventure but what about his friends? Surely they couldn't tag along?
"I suppose I'd better just tell them…" With that in mind, the boy picked up his explanation.
"Well, my grandparents told me tonight that we might be going on a journey soon… because we feel that something great is going to happen far away and-and we definitely don't want to miss it out. We believe that our sleep stories are guiding us."
This certainly was more than enough to get Ducky and Petrie to get up from their seats and walk right up to him, thrilled.
"What kind of journey?" Ducky asked.
"You mean like a trip?" Petrie wondered.
"Yeah, I guess so," Littlefoot confirmed. "Sort of like… like an adventure!" As he said this, Ducky gasped in amazement and a "wow" slipped from Petrie's beak, however there was one dinosaur not quite joining the hype.
"So let me get this straight…" Cera, who had been silent thus far, perching on a rock, finally spoke up. "You've been having sleepstories so you're going on an adventure but you don't know when and you don't know where and you don't know why but you just sorta feel when it's time to leave and then you and your grandparents will just sorta wander off." The words came in such quick succession that Littlefoot had a hard time keeping up with them. "Is that it?"
"Y-eah, that about sums it up," the longneck confirmed with a slight smile.
Cera gave a confused look which bordered an expression of stupidity but then she changed it in a whim.
"Ha! I'm glad threehorns don't have adventures like that!" With these words, she turned around and left the rock she had been sitting on.
Littlefoot was slightly downcast, however that changed when Spike, Ducky and Petrie exchanged a few glances.
"Well, me think it sound fun!" Petrie spoke up merrily.
"Uh-huh!" Spike nodded firmly.
"What kind of adventure do you think it will be?" Ducky questioned kindly.
Littlefoot remained thoughtful for a moment before he gave his reply.
"I… I just don't know."
"A trip down the deepest caves?" Ducky hypothesized in excitement.
"A climb into the highest mountains?" Petrie wondered, flying a looping in front of Spike and Ducky.
"A swim across the biggest waters?" Ducky added, even more hyped.
That was, when Littlefoot had a sudden idea.
"You know, guys, I really have no idea what to expect other than that this adventure is definitely going to happen! It'll be the first time I'll go on an adventure with uhh well… permission."
"Hahahahah," Petrie burst out laughing when he saw the slightly awkward and embarrassed face Littlefoot was making. Ducky and Spike exchanged glances meanwhile and Cera gave her famous "Humpf!" again.
"It is true that we never did go on an adventure with permission, oh yep yep yep!" Ducky giggled as Spike nodded beside her. "You are really lucky, yes you are."
"Actually, Ducky… I've just been thinking…" Littlefoot said thoughtfully, his gaze wandering from one friend to the other.
"That's dangerous," Cera mocked but Littlefoot knew better than to react to the stab.
"You know, what if we… if we all… go? I mean…"
"You take us on adventure too?" Petrie wondered.
"Well… yeah I'd be sad to leave you guys behind," Littlefoot declared eventually. "No fair going adventuring on my own, is it?"
"Uh-huh!" Spike nodded fiercely and the expressions of the others couldn't be clearer. Save for Cera.
"For once, Littlefoot, this is something completely different than our usual adventures!" the threehorn exclaimed loudly with clear anger. "Do you honestly think I'll readily tag along with your grandparents? There's no fun going on an adventure with grown-ups, they're so stuck up! Longnecks in particular!"
"Cera, I'm not so sure…" Littlefoot tried to soothe the growing argument but Cera simply rampaged on.
"Second, you may not have thought about it but we've always been super lucky on our trips! Just thinking how many sharpteeth almost ate me or spit on me makes me so ill! Sorry, I'd much rather keep my tail attached to my behind and not have some sharptooth nibble on it!"
"Is she still in a foul mood because Chomper bit her back in the days?" Littlefoot wondered as he puzzled about the threehorn's sudden anger. "Or is she salty because of what happened the other day? No, it doesn't seem like it…" Harsh as they might be, Cera's words weren't just aggressive but Littlefoot could tell that a small part of her actually genuinely cared about their wellbeing - he didn't want to deny it completely, dangers were just as much part of adventures as the unlimited fun of exploration, but still he didn't want to give up this easily.
"W-well, you got a point Cera but think of all the fun we could be having!" he replied with a genuine smile.
"Oh like your grandparents will allow us to have any of it! Wake up!" the threehorn shouted angrily.
"Well, at least they'd keep us safe, you know?" Littlefoot reasoned.
"Littlefoot, I am not so sure if they can… they are already quite old, yes they are…" Ducky spoke up, voicing her worries. "I would really really like to go on adventures but it is like Cera said… we could have been eaten a bunch of times before…"
"Me still get bad sleepstory about swimming sharptooth from Big Water sometimes, me no need to see any more sharpteeth!" Petrie said angstily as images of past sharpteeth floated through his mind.
"Even then, wouldn't it be cool to see more of the world?" the longneck tempted his friends. "The Great Valley is amazing and I wouldn't ever want to leave it but… the world is so full of amazing things yet to be uncovered and seen! I don't wanna be like old Thicknose, you know?"
"You raise a fair point, Littlefoot, but we have a whole life to do that!" Cera reminded him a little harsher than was necessary. "We can do all of that when we're grown-ups and able to deal with dangers ourselves!"
"You admitting you no can beat sharptooth?" Petrie teased the threehorn much to her dismay. "Petrie thought Cera always brag about how strong she is?"
"Bloody be realistic, rock-for-brains!" Cera grunted. "I'm amazing for my age, now shut up!" The resulting giggle from everyone helped improve the mood a little. Soon, the discussion returned to the matter at hand.
"Well, I know all of that, Cera, but… you don't understand the current situation," Littlefoot reasoned with a sigh. "Neither do I, nor my grandparents. We don't know why we are burdened with these sleepstories, or the urge to leave the valley for no apparent reason other than a faint promise… But those are instincts and you should know how hard it is to ignore them…"
"Well, maybe…" Cera sighed, tired of the argument as well. "But what are you gonna do now, Littlefoot? Leave the Valley just like that? It's your home!"
"I'm sure we'll be back," Littlefoot quickly assured though a grain of doubt remained. "One thing's for sure, I'm going to go no matter what. Can't help that, my grandparents are gonna drag me along even if I decided to stay here. Rather, why aren't we all going? I'd be missing you guys…"
"Me would miss Littlefoot too," Petrie quickly declared, the nods of Ducky and Spike backing him up.
"Uh-huh!"
"Yep yep yep!"
Littlefoot smiled. Maybe he still had a chance to convince them?
"Well I wouldn't miss you!" Cera declared proudly but her expression wavered soon. "Still… it'd be slightly boring without you…"
"I know, right?" Littlefoot said with a grin. "So why not tag along? I'm sure my grandparents wouldn't say no to that."
"You sure about that?" Cera deadpanned. "Remember that we need our parents' consent too! My dad would never agree to such a ludicrous thing!"
"That's right, me Mama no like Petrie being away from home!" Petrie reasoned.
"Oh yes, oh yes…" Ducky sighed.
"Oh, come on, don't be so negative, I'm sure it'll work out!"
That was when the nearby trees rattled with heavy steps approaching the group. Littlefoot and his friends whirled around to see a familiar face poke out of the trees.
"Littlefoot, it's time to go."
It might not sound like it but this chapter has given me a terrible time. You have no idea how hard it is to try include a song into the narrative. _ Since after several attempts I couldn't figure it out, I simply decided to cut the song from the story. I hope you don't mind. "Me and my Dad" certainly won't have a place in this story either though "bestest friends" just might because it is so impactful haha. Though I guess I'd have to write another 100 chapters first before we even get there ^^
So Littlefoot wants the others to tag along actively despite the obvious obstacles. Out of the gang, he sure is the most adventurous I guess and he's the one who's usually been initializing adventures in the movies, taking the lead. I feel this aspect fell a little short in the movie.
Cera is obviously against going, she just wouldn't be Cera if she readily agreed to something xD Unlike at the end of the adventuring song, I have no clear line in my narrative that suggests her readiness to tag along directly though her saying that it'd be boring with him hopefully is enough to indicate that. Cera can be a little unwilling to admit things openly as we all know after all ;)
Ducky's and Petrie's concerns from the song fell a little short in the narrative. I came up with the discussion quite spontaneously and the flow of dialogue just worked so I think all I'd have achieved by adding more lines indicating their concerns about the dangers of adventuring is a worse flow of the conversation. Either way, I think they got their point across and despite that they do want to go.
And Spike is just Spike :P
But now Littlefoot's grandparents are calling Littlefoot in anticipation of their departure. Unlike in the movie, I will not cut directly to the departure but I'll have another scene there but... you'll see all of it in chapter 12 whenever that's out. The next chapter will feature Ali's storyline again. It's already been written a while ago so I hope I can get it posted by the end of the week.
Guest chapter 9 . Jan 18
"This is probably the shortest review I've ever given, since we discussed my analysis of this chapter in private, but I thought I'd reiterate that this chapter fundamentally changed my perception of Bron. The on-screen excuse he was given was poorly executed and immediately brushed aside, so I viewed Bron in a negative light for years until now. I will go into more detail when he meets Littlefoot, but it's a testament to your talent as a writer that you were able to completely change my mind. Brilliant work evil swimmer."
You are welcome and your feedback has certainly helped me make this chapter as great as you say. Thanks! :D
The Rhombus chapter 9 . Jan 20
"This was quite a lovely chapter that elaborated upon not only Bron and Shorty's relationship, but also on the history of Bron's initial quest. With regards to Shorty and Bron we have caught sight in this chapter of Shorty's budding bullying and mischievousness, but also of Bron's ability to (thus far) keep him in line and to understand some of his misbehavior.
What really caught my attention, however, was the contrast between Bron's style of leadership and that of the Old One. In Bron's leadership we see a more dynamic leadership style with distinct votes and an attempt to reconcile those who voted against the consensus once the vote is done. I wonder how much of this is due to how his herd developed organically over time based upon his leadership as opposed to the Old One's more ossified leadership from (as of right now) unknown origins. I suspect this dichotomy is going to be important going forward.
As for what the others said about the "many years later" beginning, I do have to agree that it was confusing at first. Generally it is best to describe the timing of a scene relative to the prior one, even if the prior scene in question involved other characters. That being said, in stories such as this where there are quite a few flashbacks and several instances of shifting back in forth it is sometimes difficult to avoid some confusion. This did not stop me from enjoying this chapter however. I look forward to seeing how things go from here. :)"
Thank you very much! I'm glad that you've enjoyed the chapter!
About the leadership comparison, it has little relevance to the events of the story but it is just part of my characterization of Old One and Bron and their respective herds. Also, I guess you could say it shines a little light on the characters of Ali and Shorty and how they developed within their respective environments :)
OwlsCantRead chapter 9 . Jan 23
"I have to agree with the others regarding the "many years later" timeskip being confusing, because the last chapter was from Ali's POV and thus present day, which made the relative timeskip seem off. But once I remembered where Bron's segment left off, all was good anyway. :P
That said, the way that Bron left his family to hunt for the valley because of Littlefoot's grandparents is harsh and ironic in hindsight. I really did like it."
Thanks for the review, I'm glad that you liked the developments :) As I've already said, the issue you and the others have mentioned will be fixed eventually when I have some time on my hands.