Well, here it is, the latest chapter to my story.
Now, it didn't turn out as I planned. It has been expanded for several chapters. This part of the story is 3 to 4 chapters long, so I hope you're okay with that. Not to mention I wasn't able to put in a little something that I wanted to. It just didn't work out the way I wanted.
Still, hope you enjoy it.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Chapter 11
Girls Only Day
It was just at sunrise in the Great Valley. Hardly anyone was awake at this time of day, but one young anxious threehorn was up this early to initiate her plan. She started by heading towards a nest that housed a family of swimmers. Its location was underneath a tree that was near a pond. It was near there that she spotted what, or rather who, she was looking for.
Cera had spotted Ducky right where she thought the little swimmer would be sleeping, right near her large little brother, Spike. The two always shared the same sleeping spot. Cera quietly walked up to the nesting sight, ensuring not to wake anyone. She then snuck quietly towards the small swimmer. When she was close enough, Cera gently shook the tiny body in front of her.
"Hey! Hey Ducky! Wake up!" She whispered.
The little swimmer groaned and blinked her tired eyes open. She then stretched and let out a yawn. She then looked at the one that woke her up and looked surprisingly at the threehorn.
"Cera? What are you doing here?" She questioned. She let out another yawn as she was still very tired. "And why are you waking me up so early? Why?"
Cera shushed her, telling her to keep quiet. "I'll explain later!" She whispered. "Just follow me and don't bring Spike!" She said the final part rather sternly.
Ducky was surprised by this request. She was rarely told to leave her little brother behind. However, she knew that Cera would explain herself later and followed her, leaving behind Spike as ordered.
The two then headed towards a cave that was near the outskirts of the valley. The duo then walked into the cave and not that far into it, they spotted Ruby and Chomper, still fast asleep. Cera immediately saw her good fortune as she spotted Ruby only a few feet away from Chomper, meaning she could wake Ruby without running much risk at waking Chomper.
Cera turned to Ducky. "Wait here!" She ordered her in a whispering tone.
Ducky stayed behind as told while Cera walked quietly up to the slumbering fast-runner. Only inches away, the little sharptooth suddenly picked up on the scent of the sneaking threehorn. Cera noticed this and immediately froze, wondering if she woke up Chomper. However, the sharptooth got up and started walking around with his eyes closed. His natural instincts were functioning, but Chomper's eyes were still in sleep mode. Still, Cera knew that the moment Chomper reached her he would wake up and ruin everything.
She moved the last little bit and started to shake Ruby awake. "Hey, wake up!" She whispered in a small state of panic.
Hearing the threehorn, Ruby awoke and tiredly looked at Cera. "Cera?" She questioned.
Cera shushed her. "Look, just follow me, don't ask questions and don't bring Chomper along. I'll explain later!" She said.
Ruby obliged and followed. The three left the cave as quickly as possible, with Chomper in a slow pursuit, still sleep-tracking them. Cera led the other two females across a river and so that they would temporarily lose their scent. They then took off as quickly as possible.
It wasn't long until Chomper came to the brook. Just before reaching the tributary, the young sharptooth tripped over a small rock that was right in front of the canal, thus causing him to fall right into the water.
The immediate feel of something cold and wet woke the sharptooth right up. In a state of panic, he got up and went out of the shallow waterway as fast as he could. After shaking his body dry he curiously looked around and noticed he was in front of the river near the cave where he slept. Thinking he just sleep-walked to the river, he shrugged and walked back to the cave to get a little more shut-eye before it was time to wake up.
However, the moment he entered the cave, he noticed that Ruby wasn't there. "Ruby? Ruby, are you there?" He called out.
Meanwhile, sure that she had lost Chomper, Cera led the other two females to their next destination. They soon reached Littlefoot's nest. Cera looked and it was just as she had predicted. Due to yesterday's situation, not a single one of the longnecks slept even close to one another. She had a feeling they would be uncomfortable sleeping near one another due to the earlier events.
Cera quickly noticed, however, that Ret was the one who was closest to herself and she had to get past him just to reach Ali. She had no idea how much of a sleeper Ret was. So, feeling a little uneasy, Cera slowly moved towards Ali and did the best sneak performance of her life just to ensure that she wouldn't wake up Ret. The plan seemed to work as Ret was still slumbering away and not taking any notice of the threehorn that snuck right past him. Cera then reached Ali and started shaking her awake.
"Wake up, Ali!" Cera told her.
Listening to her call, Ali blinked her eyes open and yawned. She then stood up and stretched out her stiff legs. She then turned to the one who woke her, pretty much expecting a longneck of some kind, but then noticed that it was a threehorn that she was looking at.
"Cera?" She questioned.
The threehorn shushed her. "Keep quiet, don't ask questions and follow me." She said.
Ali obeyed. Cera quietly snuck past Ret, but Ali just casually walked right past him. Cera took a quick glance and noticed that Ali didn't even try a sneak tactic of any kind to get past Ret. It seemed like the riskiest thing to do. However, Ret didn't even wake up. Cera was a little shocked, but figured that Ali would explain once they reached their destination, so Cera quickly led Ali to the bushes to talk with her.
Ali followed the threehorn and once they reached their destination, noticed that Ducky and Ruby were there waiting. Seeing this really confused her and she turned to Cera to question her. However, the threehorn spoke up before she could say anything.
"Continue following me, girls. We've got a lot to do today." She said. She was about to move on ahead but a voice stopped her.
"Cera, I am not moving one step further, no, no, no." Ducky enraged in an out of character fashion.
"I am not moving as well. Not until you tell us what is going on that is going on." Ruby told her sternly.
"Cera, if you don't tell us what is going on right now, I am breaking up our friendship for good!" She said with a face that showed she was serious.
Cera was quite surprised by how the three of them acted. It was rather out of character for the female friends she had known for so long. She quickly figured that it was best to tell them and sighed in defeat.
"Okay, the truth is that I had gathered all of you for a 'Girls Only Day' and I wanted to surprise ya." She informed them.
The trio that questioned her were rather surprised, but they all just smiled at her, not showing one bit of their bewilderment.
"See? It wasn't so hard to tell us." Ali said showing a sly smile.
Cera was quite shocked. "Wait, none of you are mad at me?" She questioned.
Ducky giggled at her. "Oh, no, no, no, we are not, not at all." She said.
"We just wanted to know what was going on that was going on." Ruby said. "Ducky came up with the idea she came up with."
"We decided to just act mad and so that you would tell us. We did!"
"You mean, you tricked me just so I would tell you?" Cera asked. Ducky and Ruby nodded at her. Cera then turned to Ali. "And what about you Ali, would you have ended the friendship we have if I didn't tell you?"
It was then that Ali laughed at her. She went into such a fit of the giggles that she started rolling on the ground, unable to control her amusement. It was a while before she stopped letting out guffaws and got herself under control.
"I can't believe you actually thought I was going to end our friendship!" She said as she started laughing again.
"Well, I actually did." Cera confessed, now feeling rather embarrassed.
She soon got her laughter under control again. "I would never do that to you, Cera. You're one of the best friends I've ever had." She smiled truthfully.
Cera just smiled back at her, grateful that she had a friend like Ali.
"So, where are we going to that we are going to today?" Ruby asked.
Cera just smiled mischievously at the trio of girls in from of her. "Follow me, and you'll find out." She answered as she led the way.
The girls didn't question her and followed, not knowing of the day that was in store for them.
~Author's note: Cera's POV~
I must admit that it wasn't easy pulling this off. I actually had to sneak away just to do this with the girls. On top of that, I didn't think any of my plans of getting the girls together with me through. I was lucky enough to get Ruby away from Chomper as it is. I should've known that sharptooth's sense of smell was that good.
However, what I don't understand is how Ali got past Ret like that. I mean, come on! You should at least have a strategy of some kind, anybody knows that. I'll have to ask her when we make it to the special place.
I'll be even more lucky to keep this place only I know of a secret much longer. That's right, I'm the only one out of us who knows about where we are going today. I just stumbled upon it one day when I wanted to be alone, away from my friends and family. I guess I could call it my thinking spot. A place to go when I need to cool off or something within that area.
Anyways, we soon reached a cave and I noticed that the girls were becoming even more curious as to where we were going. Of course, I knew we would be okay. Sure, the secret place was in the Mysterious Beyond and all, but I had never seen a single sharptooth in there, so I'm sure it's pretty safe. We soon reached what looked like the end of the cave, but I knew better.
"It's a dead end!" Ali said, pointing out what seemed to be the obvious.
"Are you sure we are going the way that is the right way to go?" Ruby questioned.
I answered them by getting in front of a large rock that was nearby and pushed with all my might. It soon rolled out of the way and let light from the Bright Circle in. From here, let's just say what they saw next definitely surprised them.
Within this small field, surrounded by a great wall of it's own, much like the one in The Great Valley, it had bubbling water that had many trees with treesweets growing out of them. There really wasn't much else to it. Still, not a bad place to go and think, huh?
"This... this place is beautiful!" Ali said in awe.
"It is beautiful! It is! It is!" Ducky agreed.
"I've never seen a place so beautiful that is as beautiful as this place before." said Ruby.
Well, let's just say that I wasn't surprised that they would react pretty much the same way. It was pretty much my reaction when I first saw this place too. Looking at how they were reacting though, a part of me felt a little guilty for not telling them sooner. In fact, a part of me wanted to invite the guys now. However, I immediately shook that idea out of my head. This was a special day for us girls only and I wasn't going to let anything ruin it.
~End Cera's POV~
All of the girls then ran off to the oasis to enjoy their time there.
Meanwhile, back in the Valley, Littlefoot was waking up. He stretched his stiff body and so that the muscles would start working. He looked around and noticed that Ali wasn't around. He continued to look around and saw that Ret was still asleep. He immediately went over to Ret to wake him up and so that they could find her.
He started to shake the sleeping longneck, but Ret stayed fast asleep. Littlefoot then tried a more persuasive method.
"Hey Ret, wake up! Ali is missing!" He said while shaking him, but Ret continued to sleep.
Ret was proving to be a heavy sleeper. He started to wonder if stepping on his tail would be the only way to wake him. Before he could do that, Chomper came through the bushes and came running up to Littlefoot. The little sharptooth looked to be in a state of panic.
"Littlefoot, Littlefoot!" The little sharptooth said in a tone of urgency.
"What is it, Chomper? He asked.
"It's Ruby! She's missing!"
This shocked him completely. First Ali was missing and now Ruby. He decided to not waste any more time.
"Okay, help me wake up Ret and we'll look for both her and Ali." He decided.
Chomper noticed what he said. "Ali's missing too?" He questioned.
"Yeah! This is starting to get strange."
They started to try and wake Ret again, but regardless of how much they shook the snoring longneck, he still slept on. Littlefoot then chose to take drastic measures.
"Okay Chomper, give him the scariest roar you can." He instructed.
"Um... Okay." Chomper then took in a deep breathe and let out a mighty roar.
This woke Ret right up. "Ah! Sharptooth!" He screamed and quickly hid behind the nearest bush.
The reaction made Chomper and Littlefoot laugh in hysterics.
Noticing the laughter, Ret looked up and saw the two culprits who were behind the joke. He left the bush and angrily walked up to them.
"Oh, you two are just a laugh riot, you know that?" He said sarcastically.
The two stopped laughing, but were still smiling. "Sorry about that, but we really had to wake you.." Littlefoot said as his smile faded.
"And why is that?" He asked. He then took a quick look and noticed something. "Hey, where's Ali?" He asked.
"That's why we had to wake you. Her and Ruby are missing." Chomper said.
"What? Ali's missing?" He questioned in fear.
"Yeah, we have to find them. Come on!" Littlefoot ordered as he led the way to gather the rest of the gang so they could find the missing females.
Meanwhile, back at the oasis, the girls were relaxing within the hot water. Ruby was submerged up to her chest and was nibbling on one of the pear shaped fruits. Ducky was sitting at the edge and only having her feet in the water, figuring it was too deep for her and that she didn't feel like dunking into the hot water. However, she did get a little inventive with one of the fruits. She had taken one of the hollow weeds that was around and jammed it into one of the fruits, allowing her to slurp up the juices within.
Cera had only half her body in the water. She had also put one of the big leaves on her head and so that it covered her eyes from the bright sun. Ali though, she really got into the hot water and had put her whole body, even her long slender neck, up to her head into the boiling liquid. She was probably the most relaxed out of them all, and she was the one who needed it the most.
Cera noticed just how relaxed she was. "So, you enjoying yourself?" She asked.
Ali sighed. "Oh yes, Cera. This was a great idea."
Ducky slurped up some more of the juice inside the fruit before speaking. "Yes Cera, this idea was wonderful, it is, it is!" She agreed and went back to enjoying her drink.
Ruby took another bite of the fruit then spoke. "This was the greatest idea out of great ideas that you ever had, Cera." She said in agreement.
Cera smiled. She liked seeing how much her friends were enjoying themselves. "I'm glad you girls are having a good time. Especially you Ali, what with your boy problems and all." She said as she rolled her eyes.
Ali sighed as she tilted back her head to look at the sky. "I just wish I could set things right. Both of them are really upset now. They didn't want to sleep anywhere near me last night. Not that I don't mind, but it would've been nice if one of them kept me warm. It was freezing last night." She complained.
The two females were silent for a bit before Cera spoke. "Hey, Ali..."
"Yeah?" The female longneck questioned.
"After your herd returns and picks you up, how long will it be before you return?" She asked.
At this point, she brought her neck out of the water. "To be honest, I don't know." She looked away sadly.
"You don't know?"
"It could be a while. Maybe until I am all grown up." She then bowed her head in deeper sadness. "Or maybe never."
This stopped whatever activity the other females were doing, especially making Cera crane her neck at Ali and so the leaf on her face fell off and into the hot water, as they looked at Ali with shock.
"What? What do you mean 'never'?" Cera questioned.
"Old One's health is wearing. Few of the herd can tell, but me and my Mom have noticed." She confessed. She took a deep breath before continuing. "If I know Old One, she'll want to retire from her leader position when the time comes and will want the herd to settle down where they can be safe." She let out a sigh. "I just don't know where that's going to be."
"So these days that we have together could be the last days we have together?" Ruby asked.
She nodded in sadness. "Yeah." She practically whispered the next part. "And when I found out how I felt, I couldn't bear to tell Littlefoot."
Cera heard and she then looked rudely at the longneck. "You have to tell him!" She said as if it were a command.
"But I can't! It would only make him feel worse."
"Come on, Ali! He's your friend, and you care about how he feels, right?" Ali nodded. "Then how do you think he would feel if you didn't tell him? What do you think he would feel about you personally?"
"But, I don't want to hurt him." She begged.
"You're going to hurt him either way, Ali. At least before you go, do what you know is right." Cera said as she got out of the spring to search for another of the big leaves since the one she had was now soaked and emerged in the water.
The others got out as well to do their own little thing. This left Ali alone in the hot water to think over her dilemma.
Meanwhile, Littlefoot, Chomper and Ret had all arrived at the nest of Ducky and Spike and found Spike without Ducky. Littlefoot was finding this really strange and confusing.
"Where's Ducky?" Chomper asked.
"I don't know. Her and Spike are usually never apart." Littlefoot answered.
Spike whined, missing his big sister.
"Don't worry Spike, we'll find her." He reassured the spiketail.
Ret just kept quiet. He was silently spacing out away from them. At this point, a part of Ret felt it was his fault for Ali to go missing like this.
Littlefoot walked up to him. "Don't worry," he began, getting Ret's attention. "We'll find her." he reassured.
"Yeah, sure!" He said sorrowfully.
At this point they heard the sound of flapping. They looked skyward to see Petrie coming towards them.
"Hey, Petrie!" Littlefoot said as he saw the little flyer land and take a breather. "Well?"
"Cera no at her nesting place either!" Petrie informed.
This got them all concerned. "All right! This is really weird." He then turned to Chomper. "Chomper, sniff them out! We gotta find them." He said.
The tiny sharptooth obeyed and sniffed around. It wasn't long before he caught the scent of the females. "I found them!" He said.
Chomper led the way, the rest of the males following. They hoped they would find them soon.
---End Chapter 11---
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Uh-oh! Looks like the boys just might ruin their fun. Will they? Maybe.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed that.
Please review!
See ya later!
