Stone Compass

Littlefoot ran as fast as his legs could carry him, while Aylene held onto his back with all the strength she had. All around them, the grown-up dinosaurs were starting to gather up the damaged plants and put them in piles. The two had to dodged around and weave through the work areas.

The only thing they could think of was finding the rest of the Gang and devising a plan.

However, they would soon have something else on their mind.

"Mighty strange how things have been happening lately," said a large Ankylosaurus. "Take this storm for instance."

"We've had whirling winds before," a female Maiasaura replied.

"Yes, but," the club-tailed dinosaur lowered his voice suspiciously, "it seems to me that we've had more than our fair share of misfortune since two certain strangers came to Valley."

At the sentence, Littlefoot jolted and came to a sudden halt. Aylene almost flew off his back, but she had tightened her grip when she heard what the Ankylosaurus said. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth dry.

"Now that you mention it," the Maiasaura said, "we never had disasters until they came up. But surely, just the arrival of a long-neck and human couldn't possibly…"

"I agree with club-tail here!" shouted a nearby Corythosausus, who had been listening nearby. "Life was good in this Valley just fine! Then they show up, and everything falls apart!"

This caused an uproar among the others nearby.

"That's right!"

"Our luck has turned!"

"It's the strangers' fault!"

"They're bad luck!"

Littlefoot could hardly believe his ears.

They were talking about Doc and Elaine!

How could they say such horrible things about those two?!

"HOW DARE YOU!"

Littlefoot jumped at the sudden scream from behind him. He turned around in time to see Aylene get off his back and storm over to the group of dinosaurs. They snapped their attention to the small human storming towards them. Her blue eyes were blazing with anger, her fists were clenched so tightly her knuckles were white, and her stride was with purpose. In a few seconds, she stood in front of them, completely immovable.

She might have been small, but the dinosaurs seemed to feel a powerful aura coming from her. One that was fueled by offense.

"THAT'S MY GRANDMA YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Aylene yelled. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY SHE BROUGHT BAD LUCK!"

"Now, look Aylene—" the Ankylosaurus started, but Aylene cut his sentence off like a knife.

"THEY'RE NOT TO BLAME! DON'T YOU DARE SAY THEY'RE GUILTY!"

"Aylene, calm down!" said a voice beside her.

Aylene turned her head sharply over to her right. Littlefoot was standing next to her with a concerned expression. That was enough to make calm her ire just a bit. She released the tension in her arms. But her fists still remained tight.

As soon as he saw his friend calm down a little, Littlefoot turned back to the gossiping dinosaurs with a glare.

"She's right, though!" he said to them sternly. "Doc saved my life twice! He's a real hero! And Elaine is kind and caring! She saved me, too! There's no way they would bring bad luck with them!"

"Well," the Anklyosaurus said unsurely, "you have no way of knowing that. They might have been cursed with…"

The club-tailed's voice trailed off when he looked at Aylene again. Her face had contorted into rage, even more than she had shown before, and she seemed to swell with fury. She looked like she wanted to vaporize the large dinosaur with just her stare.

Littlefoot saw it, too. He soon became more worried about what Aylene would do next. He had seen her when she was mad before, and he knew all the signs leading up to her unleashing her fury. At this point, she looked like she was going to lash out. He understood why, of course. As much as he was disgusted by the horrible rumors the grown-ups were saying, he knew Aylene was feeling it worse than he was. They were insulting her grandmother. How could she not take that personally?

But now was not the time for a fight. Littlefoot was at least aware of that fact. He had to do something.

"Aylene, let's just go," he said as commandingly as he could. "We gotta find the others, remember?"

Aylene clenched and scowled deeper for a moment before abruptly turning away and walking off. Littlefoot immediately ran after her.

"You okay?" he asked as soon as he caught up.

Aylene grunted.

"Don't listen to them, Aylene," Littlefoot said. "We know that Doc and your grandma are innocent."

"Yeah, but that's just it." Aylene replied, frustrated. "We do, but they don't. And if they spread this rumor around, then who knows what might happen. But I bet it won't end well. They might end up chasing Doc away, and Grandma won't be able to come back to this world."

Littlefoot fell silent, suddenly feeling horrified. That thought had never occurred to him until Aylene voiced it.

"I'm not going to let my Grandma suffer because of a superstition!" Aylene went on, her voice rising in force. "I'm gonna clear her name, no matter what! And Doc's, too!"

Littlefoot narrowed his eyes and nodded in agreement.

At the same time, a familiar voice suddenly called out.

"AYLENE!"

Aylene and Littlefoot stopped and turned in the direction the voice came from. The human girl's face lit up when she saw her grandmother hurrying over a nearby hill. Following close behind her was Doc.

"GRANDMA!"

Aylene sprinted towards Elaine with Littlefoot running after her. As soon as she reached her, Aylene wrapped her arms around her grandmother, and her grandmother embraced her tightly.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Elaine whispered with relief. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine, Grandma," Aylene replied. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm alright, dear. And don't you worry, your brother and friends are, too."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just glad everyone's alright."

As the two humans parted, Doc lowered his head down to their level. His expression was as stoic as usual, but his eyes were kept darting back and forth between Littlefoot and Aylene.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked. "You both look distressed."

Aylene paused. She frowned as she glanced down at the ground for a moment. She turned back to Littlefoot, who was mirroring her expression.

"Grandma," she said, facing her grandmother, "we heard some of the dinosaurs talking. I think you should know that they are starting to blame you and Doc for all of the stuff that is going on."

Elaine stared at her granddaughter. She took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

"I'm not surprised," she said calmly. "It wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened."

"You mean you guys have been blamed for accidents before?" Littlefoot asked, surprised.

"Not really, but we've seen it happen to others before," Doc said dryly. "When dinosaurs get scared of things they can't explain, they still try to. Unfortunately, that often leads them to make irrational conclusions. Especially in a world where we understand very little of it. As a result, they put the blame on someone, rather than something. I've seen what paranoia and fear can do. It never ends well."

Aylene swallowed hard. Littlefoot scuffed the ground with his paw uncomfortably.

"So…what did you do?" the little Apatosaurus asked.

"Well, if there was a problem, we tried to fix it," Doc replied. "If we couldn't, then we would just have to move on."

"But that's the same as giving up, isn't it?!" Aylene interjected. "You can't just give up!"

Elaine place a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Aylene, you must know that there are times when you need to walk away," she said wisely. "I know you believe in never giving up and see things through to the end. I believe in that as well. However, you also need to learn when it's okay to walk away from things, no matter how painful that might be. The sad truth is that you can't fix everything on your own. There is only so much a single person can do. You have to know when you can fix something, and when to move on."

Aylene opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She shrunk back as her grandmother's words started to sink in.

It made sense to her, but it didn't feel right.

"Now come, we need to help clean up the valley," Elaine said. "We'll worry about this later. For now, we should just pitch in. You should also find your brother, my dear. I'm sure he's worried about you."

"Yeah, I know," Aylene mumbled.

"It'll be alright, Aylene. Trust me."

Aylene could only nod slowly.

Elaine gave a small, sad smile before turning to leave. Doc looked down at the young girl for a second before turning away and following his human friend.

For a few minutes, Aylene just stood where she was, her head hung down, and her hands limp with defeat.

"Are you okay, Aylene?" Littlefoot asked caringly.

Aylene shook her head.

"I just don't believe in giving up," she said sadly. "I mean, we never gave up in the past, even when the odds were stacked against us. But we always worked together and everything turned out fine. Same with Grandma and Doc. You heard their stories. They always kept going even when times were tough. They didn't give up, even when they faced Sharptooth. And neither did we. It's how we've gotten this far, right?"

"You do make a point, Aylene," the long-neck replied thoughtfully. "And I do agree with you. We've always kept going, no matter what. And I think we can change the luck of the valley if we—!

Suddenly, the Time Stone flashed a brilliant light, making both Aylene and Littlefoot shielded their eyes. A second later, the ground beneath them shook again. They staggered and swayed to try and regain their balance. Then, just as soon as it came, the tremor was gone.

At the same time, a creaking noise came from above the human and dinosaur. They turned in time to see a large tree that had been spared by the tornados snap off at the middle.

And the top was heading right towards them!

Aylene and Littlefoot screamed at that same time before leaping out of the way. The treetop fell to the ground, just barely missing Littlefoot's tail and Aylene's heel. Aylene tumbled across the ground while Littlefoot stumbled to a halt. They both stared in fright at the spot they had been standing just seconds ago.

They were almost crushed!

"Holy cow!" Aylene exclaimed. "That was close!"

"These earthquakes are getting worse!" Littlefoot said in the same tone. "And they're happening more often!"

As soon as Littlefoot spoke those words, and horrible thought crept into the front of Aylene's mind. It was so horrible that she couldn't help but voice in a low whisper.

"If this keeps up, the valley is doomed. And worse…"

Aylene slowly sat up. She had never felt so afraid before. Not even when she had fought Sharptooth, or any other predatory animal in this world. She could run or fight against those creatures. But this was something entirely different.

They were fighting against nature. A force that could not be fought by swords or arrows.

How could they fight against nature?

"Aylene, the Time Stone!" Littlefoot suddenly shouted.

Aylene blinked as she came out of her trance. She looked down at her necklace.

The Time Stone was still glowing! The light was fading in and out in rhythmic beat, but it was still glowing!

Aylene's eyes narrowed. Every time one of these disasters had happened, her Time Stone reacted violently. That reaction was lingering in its pulsating light.

"Littlefoot, remember what I said about the Stone trying to tell us something?" Aylene asked slowly.

"Yeah," Littlefoot said.

"I think its warning us off the disasters coming," Aylene theorized. "And if that's true, then it might help us find where the source of the disasters is coming from. I know it's a long shot, but it's our only shot."

Littlefoot paused for a moment. Then, he nodded in agreement. He had always known the Time Stone was mysterious and magical. If it was reacting to all of these events of bad luck, then he believed that it could help them find a way to help them stop it.

Aylene saw Littlefoot agree to her plan. She took the Time Stone in her hand and held it for a moment. She suddenly remembered what Ken had said to her that day in the coffee shop, about how the Time Stone reacts to the will of its holder. If what he said was true, then there was a chance that it could help her now. She didn't quite know what to do, but she felt a strong determination to try something.

Anything. No matter how crazy it might seem.

"Okay, Time Stone," she said to the necklace, "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but if you know what's causing all this, then please, show us the way."

The Time Stone trembled in Aylene's hand for a moment. The light became constant and bright. Then, it levitated off of the girl's hand. It floated away out in front of her, stopped by the metal neck-chain. It stayed hovering in mid-air, like it was being drawn to an invisible magnet.

Aylene and Littlefoot followed the direction the Stone was pointing. It was to northeast, and towards a mountain ridge shrouded in mist off in the distance.

"Is that where we're supposed to go?" Littlefoot said, his voice full of wonder.

"I have no doubt," Aylene replied, standing up with conviction. "C'mon, let's get going."

"But what about the others?" Littlefoot asked.

"I hate to say this, but I don't think we have much time. The more time we stay here, the more the Valley will be plagued with bad luck. I think that's what the Stone is trying to tell us. And if this keeps up, then Grandma and Doc will just keep getting blamed for everything that happens. I know she said there are times to walk away, but I know this isn't one of them. We have to act now."

Littlefoot looked uncomfortable. He then heard the sound of sliding metal and looked to see Aylene draw Fierce Loyalty.

"Besides, remember this?" she held up the sword. "We've got Fierce Loyalty and the Time Stone. We can take care of ourselves if there's trouble, just like before."

Seeing that mystical blade seemed to wash away any doubts the Apatosaurus had. His face slowly transformed into the determination he was feeling in his soul.

"Let's go. But we gotta hurry."

With that, Aylene sheathed her sword and mounted onto Littlefoot's back. Without any more hesitation, the two ran off towards the mist-covered mountains, following the light of the glowing stone compass.

There was no turning back now. All they could do was follow the Stone, hope that it would lead them to where they needed to go, and hope that they make it in time.