Okay, we are back! And with a brand new chapter to boot!

Sorry for the absence… again. But things had been really mad in the past few months, with the last year of my University, and my thesis and all of these stuff. Well, I'm glad I found time and inspiration to write this new chapter. It literally took me only three days! Can you believe it! On Sunday I was on fire! I took a break on Monday and finished it earlier today!

I tried to make a good job with this for all of my fellow readers, and I really hope that I do not disappoint any of you, who follow this story for all this time and who give me all the support I need to continue it.

Anyway, I'm blabbering too much; you all want the story, right? Okay them, let's go! As usual R&R, no flames, and please, enjoy the story.

(walks of the way as the curtains open)


The next morning came as a new day for everyone, and soon, the news of what had happened during the night had already spread all across the Valley.

Sure, they all already expected the Hollows to appear again, but after the three days without any sign of them or of danger of any kind, many had already relaxed, and some even thought that the danger was now over. The last night showed that it was not truth, and that the danger was still in there, and maybe that it was more present than ever. The fact that someone nearly got killed by the Hollows made it perfectly clear for everyone.

Sure, many were scared by this, thinking that maybe the Hollows could attack again. That was expected, of course, after all, it would have been strange if, in the same situation, people who never had experience with the Hollows before would not get scared by the prospect of another attack.

Still, the members of the Order did the best they could to calm down the residents and assure them that they would do all that they could to protect the Valley and keep everyone who lived in there safe and sound. This was enough to make most people feel safer, but still, there were some who were not going to relax so easily.

Among them, there was a familiar threehorn, who was now very keen into blaming the Order for what was happening. Old Topps was being very loud into saying that it was all the fault of these strange dinosaurs, with their magic and all of the like. He was saying that they were the ones who brought their own problems to their yards, and that they should leave the Valley and never to return.

While most other dinosaurs simply thought that he was overreacting, there were some dinosaurs who actually quite agreed with the threehorn, for they all considered the fact that, before these dinosaurs showed up in their Valley, all the things that were happening them had never even happened before.

While some of these dinosaurs were making as much noise as Mr. Threehorn was, there was enough dinosaurs in the other side of the argument to make sure that no one was going to chase the Order away, which included Littlefoot's own grandparents, who stood for their grandson and for the rest of his friends of the Order. Not to mention Littlefoot's friends (except for Cera) who were willing to stand their ground until the end and risk walking over a bridge above a river of fire for their friend and for the dinosaurs of the order, who they came all to like and admire.

Anyway, even if they were not on their side, many of the dinosaurs who quite agreed with the old bull would not openly voice their desire for the Order to leave, due to the fear of the dinosaurs and of what they could do. After all, it was already a bad idea to make a sharptooth angry with you, and it was surely an even worse idea to make a sharptooth who could throw fireballs from his claws mad at you!

So, the Order didn't faced as much trouble as it was expected, but still, they noticed from that day on that some of the residents were more mistrusting of them, and shooting them glares as they passed. They faced it as maturely as possible, including Swift, who answered to that with a mean glare and a snarl as answer to anyone, what was usually enough to make everyone look away and leave him alone, once they knew that they didn't wanted trouble with him.

While some dinosaurs were less friendly towards the Order after that night, Littlefoot noticed what seemed to be a new change in attitude towards Cera.

He noticed that, after that night, she was a bit less hostile towards him, and that she actually seemed to be following him a bit more, but now, she seemed as if she was worried with him. He could see that in her eyes, and he noticed that there was some kind of worry in them. It was like she was almost feeling sorry for him, as if she was worried that something bad could happen.

Could it be because he saved her in that night? Littlefoot could only guess, but still, the look in her eyes, as if she was truly worried about him, and about his safety, made him think…

Soon, the time was passing, and the event of the night had already been two days ago, still, everybody was more alert than ever, specially the members of the Order, who were ready to act at any sign of danger, for they were not going to allow their guard to drop again. Even Littlefoot and Nettle, who played with Littlefoot's friend from time to time seemed to be always looking over their shoulders, as if they were waiting for Hollows to jump out of the bushes behind them at any moment.

They were worried with the safety of everyone, and that was clear to who knew Littlefoot, and knew that all he wanted was to keep his friends and loved ones safe from all harm. This only made his friends and family admire the young longneck even more, for they all saw him as a great hero now, with powers and everything.

"One treestar… two treestars…" Nettle was counting as she had her eyes covered and everyone around was starting to move to hide. Spike was hiding with Ducky behind a bush, while Petrie hid into a hole into a three. Chomper hid behind a big rock while Ruby climbed up a tree and hid among the foliage that was in there. Littlefoot, on his turn, hid himself behind a big tree, and remained perfectly still, and it almost seemed as if he was disappearing into the shadows. The longneck had to thank a lot for the lessons he had at stealth with the other members, for it made him very good into hiding and camouflaging his presence.

"…Eight treestars… nine treestars… TEN TREESTARS! Ready or not, here I go!" Nettle said, as he looked around, searching for any clue of where Littlefoot and the others could have went. She also received training from the Order, what meant thatr she was almost as skilled as any of the other members in the needed tasks, which included tracking.

She was surely not as good as many other members, like Swift, but still, she was good enough so she was able to easily track down a regular dinosaur by the traits that they left, like footprints and slightly crushed leaves. So, it was only a matter of time as she walked before she found the dinosaurs one by one.

Spike and Ducky were the first ones, of course, and soon after, she found Petrie hiding inside a flower, next she found Chomper hiding behind the big rock, and finally, she douns Ruby up the tree. The only one left was Littlefoot, and he was proving to be the real challenge of this whole game. Littlefoot had just as much training as her, even though he was in the Order for less time than she was, and he was very skilled. The others said that he was a rare natural talent.

Littlefoot only remained perfectly still where he was, while Nettle continued to try finding any clue of him, however, the longneck was proving to be better than many other dinosaurs in the art of hiding and covering completely his tracks and his presence. As a result, Nettle could not find him as easily as she did with the others. She continued to search for him still, as she looked in all the places she could think of. She did, however, failed to notice that a shadow of one nearby tree was had slightly more volume than it was to be expected.

She lasted fro a while looking for Littlefoot, while the rest of his friedns watched, and they also were looking around, but they were failing to see the place Littlefoot was.

"Littlefoot got better in hiding." Petrie said as he hovered near Chomper's head, and the blue sharptooth agreed with him. "Yeah, I cannot see him anywhere." He then sniffed the air slightly, "I can still feel his scent, but I cannot see where he went."

None of them gave attention to the volume into the shadow of the tree, resting perfectly still as the other dinosaurs were looking around, and even when Nettle came really close to him. At some point, the horned head finally gave up, and she said, "Okay, Littlefoot, you won, come out now!"

The longneck sighed, and he finally came out of his hiding place, and it was almost as if he had suddenly appeared from nothing. It startled the nearby dinosaurs, specially Nettle, who was just by the side of his hiding spot as the lognenck finally appeared.

All his friends were admired that the longneck was able to hide so well, and Littlefoot took all of that as a big compliment to the skills he had learned into the Order. So, with this over, they all were able to laugh at that, all admired with Littlefoot's skill. Of course, they all failed to notice another dinosaur, watching them from a distance. That was, until Littlefoot had a sudden feeling, as if a sensation that he was being watched, and he looked over his own shoulder-blade to see a very familiar set of eyes, before the owner of these eyes turned around and left quickly into a yellow blur.

Littlefoot looked as Cera ran from there, and he was still unable to shake away the feeling of sadness that it came from seeming that Cera was no longer able to trust him, and that he was somehow losing a good friend of his'. The others still seemed to not have noticed, as they were still complimenting Littlefoot for all of his skills, and for all that he was able to do with his new abilities. Their friend really had turned into someone who was truly awesome, and they were all super excited due to that, but Cera, however, seemed to be just worried about it all, and that bothered Littlefoot to a great extent.

Howver, their trail of thoughts were interrupted as they all heard Swift's voice. "Littlefoot! Nettle!" And all of the young dinosaurs turned their head to look at the sailback, who was walking in their direction calmly with his arms crossed, as it was regular for him. He simply walked to them, and he said, "Terry is searching for you two, it is training time."

The two dinosaurs shared a look, and they both nodded at Swift. Even though they still preferred to spend more time with their friends, playing, they both understood that they had responsibilities as members of the Order, and the others also understood that. And sure, like usual, they would follow their friends to watch that training. These training sessions were already becoming famous into the Valley, and some dinosaurs went in there to watch, and they always got amazed by the ability that the dinosaurs showed. However, even as Littlefoot was able to leave most of his worries aside as he was already on his way to another training session with his fellow members of the order, he could still not shake away the feeling that came to him from the feeling of being in bad terms with Cera. Having one of his friends seemingly acting like it was mad at him was the kind of thing that made Littlefoot deeply worried, and almost depressed. Even if he put this feeling aside into the time of training and focus only on the task in paw, as he was taught to do so during the trainings and all the serious matters of the Order, that thought would still remain in the back of his head and plague his thoughts as he went his way, and Littlefoot knew that it would not go away definitively until he was finally able to talk to Cera and short things out.


Cera had to run in the moment she saw that Littlefoot had noticed her and was looking deeply in her eyes, seeming to be surprised. It was amazing how Littlefoot had changed in the time he was away with the order. She never had seen Littlefoot like that.

It was not only the skill that he had acquired while he was out and the new magic powers that he had. No. It was something more. It was something about the way he stood and the way he was acting, as if he was not afraid of the world anymore, and was ready to face anything that it could throw at him. It was easy to notice by the way he acted and the look into his eyes that now he was much more confident and much more determined.

She had already been at Littlefoot's side in many situation before, and saw him be brave and strong in several different moment, still, Cera never saw Littlefoot like that before. So confident and so determined.

She never saw him so strong.

While it was something that made she admire him, it was still also that puzzled her in how much Littlefoot had actually changed in these past few night circle cycles. It seemed that the Order had somehow being really good to him, and that was easy to see in how much more confident Littlefoot had become and how it was easy to notice it since he returned to the Valley.

Still, as Cera had already easily noticed, not all the changes were good. The longneck was still with secrets, but still, Cera had a feeling that she already knew what it was all about.

This new kind of enemy seemed to be after Littlefoot for some reason, and Cera had already wondered all the reasons for that.

She remembered well that the Order had said that Littlefoot's abilities were rare and that they were very efficient against the forces of evil. So, it would make sense that this enemy was after Littlefoot since the longneck could be a dangerous threat to its plans. It would make perfectly sense that this dangerous enemy would want to get rid of Littlefoot before he could actually get on his way, just like Red claw had tried to get rid of him long ago, and so did other of their enemies in the past, some of them really dangerous.

Still, there was the fact about what that sharptooth spoke to her, about Littlefoot and the others being famous. It was also possible that this could have at least something to do with the personal gratification that it would come from eating one of them.

Anyway, Cera knew that the enemy, whatever it actually was, was after Littlefoot, and that would explain all of the things that had happened.

If the thing was after Littlefoot, it would make sense that it would come after the Valley and of all that Littlefoot held dear, so it could lure the young longneck right to it. That would also explain why Littlefoot, despite looking far more confident and far stronger, seemed to be constantly worried, especially with his friends and loved ones. And, of course, there was the detail of the members of the Order wanting to keep it a secret from everyone. If they knew that Littlefoot was actually the reason why all of that was happening, especially her father… Cera shuttered visibly into thinking what they would all do to Littlefoot. At the best case scenario, they would chase him out of the Valley along with all of the other members of the Order, and anyone who could try to stand on his defense. In the worst case scenario, they would do what was once suggested before, to capture Littlefoot and give him to whoever this enemy was, and let him do to the longneck whatever it wanted, this thougth made Cera deeply afraid. And, of course, there was the case in which her father was probably going to incite the other dinosaurs to do something unimaginable with the young longneck. Anyway, all of these options meant that Littlefoot could be gone again, and this time it would be forever. This was enough to make Cera deeply worried.

She was never going to admit it to anyone, and she was going to be eaten by a sharptooth before she let the others see her weakness. Still, she could not avoid getting worried with Littlefoot. The time the longneck went missing was a very hard time for her, as well as for all the others.

Littlefoot had been gone for a long time, without warning, without any news, and seemingly without any trace. It was all so sudden and so strange, and it was like the longneck had simply vanished in the air. The times that they passed without finding him, and without having any kind of news of him, it was a time that had been stressful to all of them, and Cera had felt it as much as all the others, once Littlefoot and her had been close for a real long time, ever since the first adventure they got together.

It was comprehensible that she got deeply worried with the longneck, as he was a very dear friend to her. She just didn't thought that she would be strong enough to feel the sensation of losing someone so close and so dear to her again. She didn't wanted to pass by that again. She didn't wanted to feel like she was losing Littlefoot once again. However, it seemed that it was nothing that she could do about it, once Littlefoot seemed more distant than before, and Cera suspected that she already knew the reason for it too.

With the knowledge that there was something after him, and that this thing already having shown that it would not hesitate in going after his loved ones to induce Littlefoot to go straight at his claws, it would make sense that Littlefoot would want to keep this information from said people, once this could lead them to be deeply worried, and it could very well put them into greater danger. That could be the perfectly reasonable motive for Littlefoot acting the way he was acting, and keeping thgins from his friends and acting the way he was. It was not about not trusting into his friend anymore, it was only that he cared about them, and he didn't wanted to see them hurt or in danger, and he was willing to do so in order to keep them safe.

This thought was a good one, compared to the ones that Cera already had, and it somehow made her admire her longneck friend more, for he was willing to risk damaging his friendship with others in order to be sure that they were going to be safe and sound. Still, she could not shake away the bad feeling about what Littlefoot was doing it, and the feeling that came from being left in the dark like that.

Once again, she felt like she was being left out of something important, as well as the others. Even if it was for their own safety, Cera always hated to be left out of subjects that were so important and that were directly related to her and her friends. It was like Littlefoot was their own parents, keeping things from them without giving them information because he thought that it was better for them and for their future. It was basically the same thing as her father having ordered her to stay away from Littlefoot because it was "no safe". Bah! It was all driving her crazy.

It was almost as if Littlefoot still didn't trusted his friends enough to know that they would be able to deal with this kind of information, after all that they have been through. As if they were not mature or experienced enough to be able to deal with this kind of information, after all the dangers they faced and after all the times that they had already been almost eaten and were able to actually escape nearly unscathed from all of these dangers. With this kind of thing Cera was almost to the point of feeling offended.

She was perfectly able to deal with this information! And she knew that the others could too. Well, maybe Petrie and Ducky would get somewhat scared by this, and she was not sure of how Chomper would react, but she was sure that they all were able to be able to deal with it calmly. It made sense that he would hide this kind of information from her father, but hiding it from her too? Cera really hated to be left off of these important matters like that, as like the adults always did.

Littlefoot was acting more like an adult; it meant that somehow the order had granted him to mature, and to become more responsible for before. But of course, that could not be a good thing if that meant that Littlefoot was now going to treat his own friends as if they were babies, just like the adults had already done many times. That was making Cera so dawn furious.

Still, the worry that she had for her friend and for his well-being was far greater than any anger. She was still worried with Littlefoot, and she wanted to talk to him, so he could confirm all that she was thinking and imagining, and so he could give her confirming words that were going to make it all okay. Cera knew that it would not solve anything, nor nothing of the like, but she was totally knowing that if she heard the longneck say these words, that everything was fine, and that it was all going to be alright, even if these words were unsure or even empty, it would make her feel better and feel more secure, just like it had already made many times in the past. She knew that it was childish, but still, she could not shake away the feeling that she needed to talk to Littlefoot.

Even if it was going to only hear him say that the situation is bad and that he cannot talk about it, or even to hear him say that he had to stay at a distance in order to keep them all safe. She only knew that she had to talk to him. A long, honest, serious talk, to settle all of her doubts and to be sure that everything was going to be okay, or to at least have complete sure of what she was facing in there and what was going to happen in the future.

Even so, she knew that it was hard, first of all, because Littlefoot himself was not willing to talk, and she knew that his fellows of the Order were not going to allow that, since they all seemed interested in keeping secret about this whole situation. Not to mention her own father, who wanted her to be away from Littlefoot and all of the other dinosaurs of the Order, and all of the like. Still, Cera was too determined. She had inherited her stubbornness from her father, and she now had set a goal in her head and she was not going to back away from it, for she wanted to be with Littlefoot for this long talk, and she was not going to let anyone get in her way.

She already was setting a plan to be able to settle this all, and she was going to put it into motion yet that same night, and she was not willing to let anyone else get in her way. She had been in the dark for too long, and if Littlefoot was really one with power of the light, then she was going to force him to give her light into that situation that same night!

She was done being left out!


Littlefoot cried out in a mighty shout as he charged against Uri. In his head it was his Light Sharp Horn, shining and ready for the fight, while Uri had his Night Horns ready to fight. He had a smug grin in his face as the longneck charged at him, and soon, the horns of light and shadows connected.

Due to his greater size, Uri was not easily shaken by the attack, even with the power that Littlefoot was able to pack into his horn of light, for Uri was too able to pack a good amount of power into his horns of blackness. However, the first blow was merely just the start of the battle. Immediately, Littlefoot gave a step back and he swung his head, making his horn move in a diagonal way to slash the target, but Uri was quick to parry it with his horns made out of darkness, parrying the attack and pushing the longneck back a little.

Littlefoot quickly recovered, and started to tumble into the ground as he tried to land a decent blow into Uri, but the threehorn was able to easily parry it with his horns, as he was showing to have far more experience than the little longneck, enough to counter the younger dinosaur's natural talent. Uri danced along with him, almost as if it was a tango, as he dodged the attacks and tried to land his own with his horns, while Littlefoot continued to tumble to dodge the attacks and continued to attack with his horn of light.

While they fought, Terry was watching, and he was making some remarks into the way their fought as they went. "Littlefoot, keep the speed up. Uri, stop messing around, focus on the defense." He gave these advices to them that were lessons about how to fight better, and the two dinosaurs took them gladly as they continued to fight, as if they were in their own world that could not be disturbed by anything coming form the outside.

Which included the dinosaurs who were all watching their fight.

They all were interested into watching the training and into seeing what was going to happen, and to see who was going to win. Some were already making bets, and some were actually cheering for their favorite among the two. Littlefoot's friends from the Valley, of course, were cheering for him and giving him encouraging words. Nettle was, as usual, indecision about who to cheer for, so she cheered for both, while Swift remained with his usual neutral and stoic demeanor as he watched the fight unfold in front of him, not taking any side as he simply watched them, and only hoping that the fight was going to make its purpose, and prepare them good for when they were going to face a real fight when it came to them.

Not all the dinosaurs who were watching were making their presence know, though. There was one that was watching from a distance from which he considered he was not going to be noticed. The grey threehorn remained still and silent as a shadow as he continued to watch the dinosaurs train with their magic powers, and he took a particular interest into the fight happening between the longneck and the relatively small threehorn.

Mr. Threehorn had been doing this for a while now, sneaking at a distance and watch the dinosaurs of the Order have these training sessions. It was a good chance to see exactly what they were capable of doing, and to see the limits of their powers and how they fought. It could be useful to realize their weaknesses and to find out ways of defeating them if there was ever the need of that. After all, he was still very far from trusting them or wanting to have any good relations with any of them.

Still, he could not avoid get slightly impressed when he saw what they were able to do when they were into a fight, and also getting a little intimidated by the power they showed. However, there was one that could always get to make him just the slightest of admired, and it was that younger grey-colored threehorn.

He was smaller than it was supposed for his age, still, the old bull knew that he was impressed by the confidence that he exhaled, as well as the persistence into the fights that would make any threehorn proud of him. The young man had some courage and some skill, and that Mr. Threehorn had to give him.

He could lack the size, and he could not charge right away like most threehorns did, but it was easy to notice that he had his own particular way of fighting, and much of it involved using his small size as an advantage to him. It was an perfect example of someone who seemed to be able to make the most of a bad situation, and he also showed to be very skilled in fight, even without his magic, as the old Topps could notice rather clearly by the way he was able to fight.

Of course, there was still the fact that this little longneck was able to keep up with him, what would hurt the pride of most threehorns, but this one seemed to little mind, and he just continued to fight with certain confidence as he was keeping up with him as they both seemed to be putting a good effort into that fight.

That only serve to the old threehorn as more of a proof that the Order was not around for jokes, and that they were dangerous. Still, he could not help but admire that threehorn, and the way he did things. He was clearly inexperienced, actually, sometimes he seemed to be almost childish, but he had the spirit and the will of a respectable threehorn.

However, no amount of admiration that he could feel because of that threehorn would be enough to shuffle down the mistrust that he had for these dinosaurs, who had brought their own problems into their lives, and put everyone in danger. The old bull was keeping an eye open for all of them, and he was not going to drop his guard for nothing. He would find out what was that secret they were holding, and once he did, he would make all the other residents kick them out of the Great Valley for good. The old bull had already settled his mind, and he was going to the end with it. And nothing was going to make him give up.

He could only think of that as he continued to watch the training going between the threehorn and the longneck, even though he knew that, deep inside, he was somehow cheering for the threehorn and hoping that he would be the one to win, even because of a species pride. It would be utterly humiliating for all of the threehorns in the world if a threehorn his age was defeated by a young and small longneck.

Sure, the battle went on, and the two dinosaurs continued to fight against each other, parrying and they continued to exchange blows with each other, each one showing great skill in close combat as they were showing to be both able to hold on a fight with the combination of their magic and their own physical prowess. They stumbled and danced across the battlefield as they both continued to keep up the fight and to refuse to give in.

Littlefoot used his smaller size and greater agility to stumble around Uri, swinging his horn of light to hit the threehorn in every way he could, trying to score good hits in him, and actually managing to do some. He was able to open a few wounds that leaked the crimson blood that stood out in the middle of his grey scales.

Some of the watching dinosaurs flinched, but most of them were already used to the kind of wounds that could come from these fights. The Order was not the kind that was for kidding when it came to their training, which many considered to be questionably extreme. The sights of blood were rather common in there, just as much as the bruises that could clearly look like they would be painful into the following morning. However, it was soon clear that they didn't minded these wounds, for they had the horned head, who knew how to make these wounds heal amazingly quick with her healing recipes. Also, it seemed that the members of the Order needed to be ready for this kind of training, for it was a practice for when they were about to fight these horrible monsters, they would need to be ready to survive that kind of thing, and even more to be ready to win this kind of challenge.

As Littlefoot danced around Uri and was able to score some blows at him, Uri didn't stayed behind. He flinched each time he suffered a wound, but he continued to fight with all that he could against the smaller longneck. He was able to easily follow him as he stumbled, and he was actually able to stumble a little too, as he was able to quickly and swiftly jump from one place to the other to keep up with the longneck, and he parried many blows, which was the only reason why he didn't had many more wounds. Actually, Uri was able to fight back and to score some wounds at him with his horns made of darkness. The horns were jagged, and this made the wounds slightly worse, and they were so sharp that a simply brushing into the skin of the longneck was enough to open a cut. If the threehorn was really trying to fight him to death, he would only need a very well place slash of his horns would be enough to cut off a leg or even the head of the longneck if he did hit him hard.

Littlefoot also flinched each time a wound was opened. It burned and the cuts were powerful, but Littlefoot had learned during his time in the Order to control his pain and not let it prevent him from fighting with all he got, and he was always ready to shake away the feeling of pain and not let it prevent him from giving a good fight. He knew that the Hollows would not stop to let him recover from his wounds, so he couldn't afford to have this time during the fight, and so, he needed to be able to push his body beyond his own limits, and to keep fighting even if he was in pain. As it was the case right now. His wounds were aching like crazy for they had just been opened, and he was bleeding, but he was not going to stop fighting only so he could check his own wounds and recover from the pain. This was a training for the real deal, and in the real deal he would not have this time.

They both continued to change blows and to dance together for a while, occasionally opening a wound into each other's skin. None of the wounds was too deep, though, since they both always remembered that this was not a fight to death, but just a training. Still, they didn't hesitated too much into opening wounds near to vital areas, even though they purposely avoided to open any wound that would surely be lethal. Still, Nettle was ready to intervene and to quickly act to save their lives, for in these cases, it was not rare to hear of trainings that had gone out of paws to quickly, and of members of the Order who had got seriously hurt into that and were only saved due to the quick interference of a healer.

Still, despite all of the wounds they were inflicting to each other, the two dinosaurs seemed to be far from thinking about surrendering. At a given moment, both their horns clashed, and they both gave a step back. Uri retreated a few steps while Littlefoot jumped back and landed far from him. They both continued to look at each other, with their open wounds still leaking fresh blood, and both feeling a bit tired, but not to the point in which they would be panting. Another good thing in doing this kind of training everyday was that it helped to build their stamina, making them far more resilient than others would be, as Littlefoot had found out in the first days of his trainings of the Order, once he soon was seeing himself able to withstand more than he could before with each passing day.

They looked at each other, both ignoring the stinging pain of their fresh wounds, as they seemed both to be ready to continue with their fight despite all of these blood-leaking wounds, at least until someone broke their fight before they had the chance to kill each other.

"Getting tired?" Uri asked with a smirk to the longneck. Littlefoot was able to smile back at him, and he said "I'm good… You?"

"Pretty well." Uri said, with his usual confident demeanor. "I can do this all day."

"All night, you mean?" Littlefoot asked, and Uri looked at him, wondering what he meant by that, and only then the threehorn looked around, and he saw that the Bright Circle was almost setting. Wow… they had been fighting the whole day?

But, on second thoughts, they had really started their training into a late moment of the day, but still, for them to be almost in the time of the Bright circle setting, they must have stayed in their fight for a good while, and Uri didn't even realized it. Man, time really did flew when you was having fun.

A very painful kind of fun…

Uri looked back at Littlefoot, and he said, "Sure, why not?" as he smirked and he seemed to be getting ready to charge at him again, the horns of pure blackness in his head seemed to be growing in size and becoming more jagged and more mean-looking than before, as if he was ready to take this whole "game" to a new level. Littlefoot saw this, and he seemed to be ready to take the challenge, once his own horn of light seemed opt tunr brighter and also grow longer. All the ones around tensed as it seemed that the battle was going to get more serious, and some of them were actually starting to wonder if they were going to see someone's limbs flying off the body.

However, Terry was quickly to interfere. "Okay, that is enough."

The two dinosaurs stopped what they were doing and looked at the adult bonecrusher sharptooth, who looked down at both of them as he walked near. "It is enough for just one day, you two need to treat your wounds so you can both make the patrols tonight. I don't want any of you losing to a Hollow or fainting during a battle because you were too tired to fight."

Someone who heard Terry talking these things, and with the tune he was using, would actually think that he didn't cared about the well-being of his students. However, who knew him, knew that their well-being was his biggest priority in these moments, as well as the one of anyone who was under his responsibility. Uri and Littlefoot both knew it, and they both knew that what Terry really wanted was for them to stop before they got too carried away and ended up seriously hurting each other. Besides, he was right about them needing their strength in the case of the Hollows deciding to make an attack during the night, after all, you never know.

So, with that in their minds, both dinosaurs let out sighs as their horns of magic dissolved into nothingness, and they were both back to normal, but still with cuts and gashes in their bodies, and they sting stung up. Now that the battle had ended, the two dinosaurs were feeling the pain of the wounds a little bigger than before, since now they could properly focus in it instead of the fight.

They both winced in pain as they were both walking back towards the others, and Nettle was already waiting for them with handfuls of her herbs, ready to make some medicine to help their wounds close faster, and so, they would be as new in the next morning. The wounds were all superficial, and they were not deep, as the two were able to control themselves to a certain extent during the fight, but still there were many of these cuts, and some of them were near important veins. It was amazing how none of them had actually cut a big blood line by accident, as Nettle made sure to remark as she mixed the herbs with her special poison and applied it into their wounds, making them flinch and hiss at each time the mixture made contact with their bare flesh.

Littlefoot's friends all were around him, checking out his wounds and all of them worried for seeing Littlefoot so hurt, despite the longneck continuously affirmed that he was fine and that it was nothing to worry about.

"I'm fine too, thanks for asking." Uri said jokingly as he saw all the attention that Littlefoot was receiving from his friends and feeling just slightly left off. Nettle was quickly to confort him by giving him a hug in the neck, being careful not to hurt more any of his wounds; Swift simply rolled his eyes, and said something about Uri being too much of a whiner; Terry, on his side, could only chuckle about it, along with Littlefoot, since they both had grown really found into Uri's playful personality.

The other dinosaurs who watched were soon relaxing and going back to their homes as they saw that the fight had already gotten to the point where the wounds were all threated. These dinosaurs would be brand as new in the morning, and they would probably repeat what they did today. This was already starting to turn into a routine to the inhabitants of the Valley, and they were getting used to see this kind of thing, some of them were actually getting quite used to the sight of blood from the battles that they watched from the trainings. They could only image how much used to blood were the members of the Order themselves.

Mr. Threehorn also watched from his point as the others were going back to their usual spots. He continued to watch as the members of the Order stayed behind, as well as the other friends of the young longneck, and they all seemed to be now talking about less important things, like how great was the magic they had and how their wounds healed quick, and things of the like. Mr. Threehorn herself got admired by all of these stiuff, but still, it for him was also a source of worry, once he knew that the members of the Order were showing themselves to be amazingly strong, and that driving them out of the Valley, if he could convince everyone to do the same, was not going to be easy if they decided to actually fight to ensure their staying.

The old bull grunted as he already knew that there was little point into staying watching them for a while more. He already knew that he would not get any interesting or useful information from them now that their training was over, once the members of the Order most kept for themselves, and also, they seemed to have a knack for always realizing when he was nearby, almost as if they had eyes on their tails, especially the big grey sharptooth. Topps tried all that he could in the past days but he was still unable to get near him without being discovered and made fun off. Of course, he was never attacked, but they always made remarks about how he needed to train on being more furtive, and how he needed to practice more if he wanted to sneak in them without being noticed. The sailback even was very daring to say that he was way too old to be sneaking around like that… and fat.

FAT!

That was the closest moment in which Topps was of charging at him and ramming his horns into his chest only to see if he was still going to have a clever answer to give like that. Still, he knew that there was nothing that he could do about the Order and their members.

Yet.

For now, all he could do was head back and go back to his family, kiss his daughter goodnight and spend some quality time with his mate. Cera would not be there, she said earlier that she would be out during the night, to take care of "girl stuff". Topps had no idea what this meant, and he was really scared to ask Cera, for she seemed to be ready to come up with an explanation that he would most likely regret hearing.

Well, as long as she kept away from the Order and as long as she returned home early in the night, he had no problem with her being out for her "girl stuff", whatever it meant. He only knew that he had to get back home, and he was going to stay awake until Cera showed up, and if she took too long he was going to go after her. He knew that after what happened there was no way that he would leave her alone in the Valley for too long, and whatever "girl stuff" she was doing would have to be interrupted, for he was going to go there and drag her back home if she took too long.

As he left, he could get a glimpse of the old Mr. Longneck, walking in direction to the group formed by Littlefoot's friends and the Order, and he snorted. The old one was way too found on the Order for his taste. Maybe it was because his grandson was one of them, and this was affecting his judgment. Anyway, Topps knew that, once he had all the information he needed, and once he uncovered all of the secrets that the Order was trying so hard to keep hidden, not even he was going to prevent him from chasing then away of the Valley for good.

Though he was easily able to notice the big form of Grandpa Longneck going in direction to the group of dinosaurs, he failed to see another, smaller form, coming from another direction but going to the same destination. A form that moved in four legs, was yellow, and the old bull would get really pissed off if he was able to see it going in direction to that group of dinosaurs who he simply didn't trusted one bit.


As Littlefoot was talking to one friend, his sharpened senses detected something coming, and he raised his head to see the familiar shape of a big longneck coming in his direction. He smiled as he recognized him immediately. "Grandpa!" He said, and all ther other dinosaurs looked to see the approaching longneck.

"Hey! Mr. Longneck!" Said Uri as he saw the big dinosaur approaching them, smiling broadly at him. "How yah doin'?" he asked him with a smile on his face, as if he was greeting an old friend of his family. Mr. Longneck nodded at him, and he looked over to Littlefoot, to see that the young longneck had many leaves in his body, and he already knew that they were covering wounds that he had gained in the training. Seeing this kind of wound was starting to get normal to him.

And that deeply worried the old longneck.

"So… another harsh day of training?" Grandpa said to all of the, but especially to his grandson, who simply smiled back at him, as he said, "Not much more than all of the others."

Grandpa could only nod at his grandson, trying his best to look neutral at it, when the truth was that, for Littlefoot considering these kinds of wounds normal, was something that made him really worried. For it only made him wonder in what kinds of dangers Littlefoot had to pass in order for him to mature enough to see these wounds that way. He knew well that no other child his own age would be able to take wounds like that so lightly, and still, there was Littlefoot, doing exactly that, as if these wounds were not the worst thing that ever happened to his body. This kind of behavior was normally only expected into very hardened adults, who had passed most, if not all of their lives fighting for survival in harsh and dangerous places, like the mysterious beyond. It just showed that, during his time out, Littlefoot had somehow matured in a way and speed that would leave most of dinosaurs completely shocked. Even Grandpa, who had seen all kinds of strange and impressive things in his live got really surprised with the speed that Littlefoot seemed to have matured, but at the same time, he was still seeming just like a child.

That was the effect that being a part of the Order had in a dinosaur?

"Well, I just hope they heal as quickly as the other ones did." He said to his grandson, hoping that his voice would not betray the deep worry in his heart, and he seemingly was successful, for the other dinosaurs simply continued to smile at him, as if it was a very casual conversation.

"Don't worry, Mr. Longneck." Said Nettle as she stood up, "I took care of all of their wounds, and they will close during the night. They will all be fine in the morning."

"That is very good." Swift said as he simply remained with his arms crossed over his chest and his usual neutral demeanor. "So they can continue to train and to keep up the patrols for the next days. After all, they need to be in shape in case anything happens, and they need to be in their best shape if they don't want to end up as Hollow's food."

Swift was just being Swift, but he seemed not to notice that his words were really making Mr. Longneck worried, but Terry noticed it, and he was quick to intermit. "Anyway, they are fine and they are really strong., these wounds are surely nothing."

His words were directed to all, but they were particularly focused into Mr. Longneck, who could not hide his worry from the old and smart sharptooth, who had long ago learnt to see through people and to discover what they were really feeling. To him, most dinosaurs were like water, very clear and sometimes obvious, still, there were a few dinosaurs that he simply could not read. Luckily, the ancient longneck was not one of these.

Grandpa Longneck looked at him, and he was actually able to smile back. He knew that Terry was trying to make him feel better, and he knew that the sharptooth could actually make that with a few words. Even though the sharptooth was a responsible for his grandson's transformation, he was still feeling a good vibe coming from him, for the sharptooth was very sympathetic, and he was very good for everyone. Also, Littlefoot seemed to deeply trust him, as much as he trusted Chomper, and Grandpa knew that Chomper was definitely worth of that trust.

That was all enough for him to give the sharptooth a good vote of trust.

"So… since everyone is okay, what about we get going?" He asked, and all the dinosaurs around agreed with him, specially the younger ones and Nettle, who all cheered. That night, they all had agreed to make another night that they would spend with Grandpa Longneck, hearing to the old stories that he had to tell about the past and the lore of the longnecks.

Littlefoot missed these stories while he was out, and he had told about them to his fellows of the Order. Some of them were really anxious to hear about them, and these included Nettle, who always had loved a good story. Even Swift was quite curious to hear these ancient stories of the longnecks. Of course, he was not the kind that easily believed in all he heard, which included these old tales, but he still was curious to hear what were like the stories of the old retired Tale Teller had to say. Terry too was curious about it, since he had already met Tale Tellers of other species, and he had heard many interesting stories coming from them, and they all were full of amazing stories that, even if he did not believed too much himself, were very nice to hear. Tale Tellers were usually ones with very good stories to tell and to share with everyone.

As that was settled, Mr. Longneck was ready to guide them all in direction to their usual spot, a one near a small opening of fire water that would grant them warmth and light during the night for the stories that the old longneck had to share, and as they were getting ready to go, Terry turned his head back and he asked.

"You are coming too, threehorn girl?"

This surprised the ones who were with him, and they got even more surprised when they heard someone cursing very slightly as a familiar form came out of her hiding spot.

"Cera!" Littlefoot said, happy for seeing his threehorn friend again, and she looked back at him, and she was able to smile back. That warmed Littlefoot's heart, as it was good to see Cera smile at him again. And most of his friends seemed to be share his happiness, once they all were happy for seeing her.

"Cera! You came!" Petrie said, hovering slightly as he was very happy.

"We missed you." Chomper said, and Ruby also said, "You spent a lot of time seeing us, and we were missing you for since you weren't coming to see us, we also couldn't see you."

"Yeah… sorry for that, guys." Cera said, smiling to all of her friends, "My dad was not letting me see you because… you know…"

Yeah, they knew. The old threehorn still didn't trusted them, and he wanted his daughter to be as far from them as possible. Swift snorted to himself, he was getting really annoyed about the old bull. Terry, on his side, understood that the old bull was just acting like it was to be expected when he was confronted by something strange that he didn't knew. He also knew that he was only tryignt o protect his daughter. After all, she was almost killed by the Hollows days ago, and the threehorn probably still was putting the blame of this on them, saying that they had attracted the problem by coming to there.

"And he let you come?" Ducky asked to Cera, and she simply smiled as she said, "I talked to him." Terry looked to her as he said that, and he noticed certain nervousness in her. She surely talked to her father, but the bonecrushers sharptooth was able to bet that she was not truly sincere to her about what she was going to do or where she was going to go and with who she was going to be.

"Ehhhh! Cera is here too!" Nettle cheered, and she said, "Now we can all be together to hear the stories of Mr. Longneck!"

All the others around could chuckle at it, and indeed, some agreed with her. "Yeah, Mr. Longneck said he would tell us many new stories tonight! He did! He did!" And Spike mumbled in agreement with her, and Cera was able to smile back at them.

"Yeah, it seems great, but…" She said, and she approached looking at Littlefoot, "Littlefoot, can we go somewhere else first?"

"Huh?" Littlefoot said, surprised and a bit confused by Cera's request. She simply continued to look at him as he was confused in what she meant, and in why she was wanting him to go somewhere else with her.

"Is that… I found a thing that I need you to see." She said to him, and Littlefoot looked back at her for a moment, before he said, "Oh… well, sure, we can all go take a look."

"Actually…" Cera cut him off, and she said, "I'd like if we two went to see it alone."

Once more, Littlefoot got slightly surprised, and so did a few of the ones who were nearby. "We won't take very long, and we will come back soon, I promise." She said, and Littlefoot could only look back at her.

Swift stepped forward, and he said, "And, why do you want Littlefoot to go with you alone?" He asked, sounding suspicious, and Cera looked back at him, and she returned the angry look that he had in his face, and for a while, they just stared at each other's eyes, before Terry said, "Well, I don't see problem."

The ones around all looked at him, and he said, "Littlefoot has the right to go to places with his friends, if he wants, of course." He looked down at the longneck, who loomed down back at Cera, who was still looking expectantly at him. Littlefoot knew Cera, and he knew that she was trustworthy. Also, she was a good friend to him, and if she was asking him something in particular, then he had no reason to deny whatever was it that she wanted to show him.

"Yeah, sure, I can go." He said, and Cera smiled as she heard it, and she said, "Good, come with me, I'll lead the way." She said, and she turned around, and Littlefoot was soon going after her.

"Just come back before all the good stories end!" Nettle said to them as they left, and Littlefoot looked over his back to say, "We will! Don't worry!" And he continued to move in the direction Cera was leading him. Soon, the other dinosaurs turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction. Swift was the last, as he continued to look in the direction that the threehorn girl, daughter of the old bull, was taking Littlefoot, away from them. He narrowed his eyes as a near scowl formed in his face, as he was finding it to be really suspicious, and he knew that he was not the only one…

As he finally turned around to walk away, Littlefoot continued to follow Cera to whatever place was that she wanted to take him, to show whatever was that she wanted to show him. Littlefoot was not worried at all, for he was very Happy that it seemed that Cera would finally go back to talk to him normally, since she wanted him to see something, and he just didn't had any reason to think that she was plotting anything.

However, the truth was that she was.

Cera was plotting to put Littlefoot against a rock and press him until he was totally honest with her. She was tired of games, lies and half-truths. She wanted a long, ho nest and serious talk, and she was going to take it from Littlefoot even if she had to press him to the ground to get it.

She wanted answers, and she knew that the night was not going to end, for none of them both, until she finally had them…


And that is it! I hope you have enjoyed, and I hope you are not too mad at me for ending it in yet another cliffhanger ^^;

Anyway, I guess it keeps you all interested into the story, right?

So, what will happen now?

Will Cera finally get some straight answers from Littlefoot?

Will the young longneck finally be totally honest with Cera?

And what stories does Grandpa Longneck will tell to everybody?

To find these and more answers, stay tuned for the next chapter.