A.N. Hey sorry for the long wait. This is the thirteenth chapter, and things are getting more crazy. Anyway, here's the story.
It was the next morning, and everyone was still asleep. Until, a loud noise woke everyone up.
Everyone was surprised by the morning wake up call. They turned to see it was Buck blowing into a conch shell, like a bugle.
"Rise and shine mammals!" Buck greeted them as they woke up.
"Do you have to do that!" Nick said irritated.
"Sorry about that, but we have a long way to go if we want to get to your friend," Buck pointed out. "Plus, I found you breakfast." Buck pointed to the pile of fruit that was on the ground.
Everyone then went on to have breakfast before continuing on to Lava Falls.
"So, how much further till lava falls?" Panton asked Buck.
"Well, we still need to pass the Plates of Woe," Buck pointed out as they continued to walk.
They continued their track through the dinosaur jungle. But then, when they reached an area, Buck stopped everyone.
"Everybody stop," Buck commanded the group, which they did. He began sniffing around in the air. "I smell something."
"Probably us because we've been hiking in this jungle," Nick commented, which earned him a slap from Judy.
Buck was on all fours sniffing around, until he found some brown fur on the ground. Buck picked it up with his knife and sniffed it.
"Quite a unique combination," Buck stated as he began to smell what was on the fur. "Smells like a combination of, (sniffs) termites, (sniffs) chemicals, and (one big sniff) dandelion conditioner?"
"That's Marcus!" Panton concluded.
"He always did like that conditioner," Nick reminded everyone.
"Mammals, we have ourselves a crime scene," Buck announced while looking over the area. "A tuft of fur," Buck pointed to the piece of fur on his knife. "Half eaten carcass," he pointed to the big bone that looked like the meat was just eaten off it. "A hunk of…" Buck went over to the river and pulled out something, which made him squirm. "Oh no, broccoli." Buck covered his mouth, as he was disgusted by the broccoli.
The group were looking at each other.
"Yeah, I've had that disgust of broccoli when I was little," Nick said, knowing from past experience about hating broccoli.
"Here's what I think happened," Buck said as he began to tell everyone his theory. "Dinosaur attacks Marcus, Marcus fights back with piece of broccoli, leaving dinosaur… a vegetable."
Everyone just looked at each other with confused.
"First off, Marcus wouldn't do a thing like that," Panton said to Buck.
"And second, if he did kill the dinosaur, where's the body?" Bogo asked, raising an eyebrow.
"All right, all right. Good point," Buck said, admitting defeat. He then turned to them with a smirk. "Theory two; Marcus' eating broccoli, dinosaur eats Marcus, dinosaur steps on broccoli, leaving broccoli, a vegetable."
The group looked at each other again.
"Buck, quick question here," Panton began asking. "When did exactly did you start losing your mind?" Buck quickly thought for a second.
"30 years ago," Buck answered them sounding jolly. "I woke up one morning married to a pineapple. An ugly pineapple. (Sigh) But I loved her."
"This is just so sad," Snarlov whispered to the others, which they nodded in agreement.
"When this is over, maybe we should bring him with us," Panton quietly suggested.
"Are you sure that's wise?" Snarlov asked.
"What's wise?" Buck asked, overhearing a bit of their conversation. But Nick called out to him before he could answer.
"Uh, Buck!" Nick called out to him. "I think you missed a little clue over here!" Nick pointed to what he was facing. Everyone looked over to what he saw.
"Well, your friend might be alive, but not for long," Buck said as he saw it. A bunch of plates that were held up by branches that made a path. But there was a giant pathway that looked like it was knocked down by a giant dinosaur. "Rudy's closing in."
"Woah," Judy said as she and the others saw the destroyed land.
"You got it, the Plates of Woe. Or what's left of them," Buck said as he observed the area.
Everyone just observed the wrecked area, until Buck interrupted them.
"Alrighty then," Buck casually said. "Let's get a move on." Buck began to walk on the side of the plate that wasn't damaged.
"Whoa, Buck, you sure these things are stable," Judy asked with concern.
"Yeah, they might not be able carry some of us," Mchorn suggested to himself and the other big mammals.
"Oh don't worry, they'll be able hold all of you. Now come on," Buck ordered them.
They all began to follow Buck towards the end of the Plates of Woe in a single file, since the plates were narrow a bit. The plates weren't as sturdy as they thought, as they had to tread lightly to cross them.
"Single file everyone, head to Lava Falls!" Buck instructed everyone. The wind was making a strange noise, causing Nick to shudder.
"Do you guys here that?" Nick asked everyone.
"It's the wind, it's speaking to us," Buck said as he listened to the wind.
"What's it saying?" Nick asked.
"Don't know, I don't speak wind," Buck answered, which caused Nick to roll his eyes.
The group continued to walk across the plates. But they weren't alone. Down below, Guanlong dinosaurs were watching them.
As she was walking, Pennington heard something down below from below. She looked down to see nothing.
"You okay Francine?" Mchorn asked her, noticing her looking worried.
"I'm fine. I just thought…" Francine explained, but was interrupted as the plates began to wobble.
The Guanlong's were shaking the branches that held the plates up, causing them to topple down to the ground, which caused the others to fall down to the bottom of the crate.
They all landed down at the bottom.
"Is everyone okay?" Judy asked as she and the others picked themselves up from the rubble.
"I'm okay," Nick relied.
"Good here," Bogo answered.
"Feeling nimble in the back, but had it for years," Buck said, which caused everyone to roll their eyes.
Everyone came out feeling okay, but Snarlov noticed something.
"Wait, where's Pennington?" Snarlov asked, noticing that their elephant wasn't around.
"Francine!?" Bogo called out.
"Francine!?" Judy called out as well, worried about her. But much to hers and everyone else's relief…
"Up here!" her voice called out. They looked up to see Francine at the top of the ledge, proving she safely landed there after the plates fell.
"You okay!?" Nick called out to her.
"I'm fine, no…" she said as she tried to move. Her trunk was caught inbetween some boulders. "My trunk is stuck!" Francine tried to get it out, but no luck.
"Can you still breath through it?" Bogo asked, concerning is she and still breath.
"Yes, I can still breath," Francine replied.
"Just hold on, we're coming!" Mchorn reassured her.
The group began to make their way up. But as they did, they heard a loud roar coming from the distance. They turned to the direction what it was. Buck then made a serious face.
"Rudy."
A.N. Well, that was the thirteenth chapter. The group is attacked, Francine is stuck, and Rudy's not far. Things are getting intense. Tune in for the next chapter.
See's ya.