Chapter XIII: Perils under the Moon and Sun
In which trouble brews for one asleep and some awake.
"The body- it's- his. He's- dead- gone. He's not warm- at all. Is this- for real?" An adult, female Sharptooth stood in a pool of water, gazing at what floated right before her. She put her hand on his head. He could be sleeping, the way his face looked so peaceful. All that was missing was the rising and falling of his chest; he was motionless.
She roared in disbelief, and the sound echoed over a great distance. She was confused, for his body bore no marks. No tears from teeth, claws, or horns. She couldn't begin to fathom what had befallen him. She dragged him out of the water gently. She then walked to some nearby trees, and tearing them from their roots, she brought them over and covered his body.
She nuzzled his face one last time, then put the last tree on to completely cover him. She had been trembling, ever so slightly from the beginning, and continued as she turned to leave. As she walked away, she said aloud, "My brother will be a meal to no one."
She suddenly heard a noise, a slight rustling. She quickly turned to see a hand protruding from the pile of trees.
Menta sat upright immediately and gasped. She was panting hard, and Dusk's voice rang out, "Menta? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I- I'm fine," she replied. "I just had- that dream- again."
Dusk, who had been lying beside her, noticed that she was shaking. "You're not fine," he said, "You're cold, aren't you?" He put his hand on her cheek, only to discover that she was actually warm. He then realized that she was shaking only from her nightmare. Menta had had that dream often, but she had never woke up with the shakes before. Having it so often must be taking its toll.
Dusk was unsure of what to say. He didn't want to ask her to stay awake, because he knew she needed her rest. The part of the Night Forest Coaley was able to take them to Dusk had decided was unsuitable to spend the night at. They all had walked until they found a place less open, with thicker clumps of trees and higher up. Menta was already worn out from her emotions of earlier that day, so the walk had really taken everything out of her. Dusk wanted to say, "Just try and go back to sleep," but he did not want her to suffer again from her night terror.
Dusk stood up, and walked over to where Ceit was nestled. "Pst. Ceit."
"Eh?" he replied drowsily. "Oh! Yes, ma lord?"
"Have you gotten enough rest?" Dusk asked him.
"What is it you would have me do?" Ceit asked in return.
"Menta is still having those nightmares. Do you think you could- just for tonight?"
Ceit hesitated, then turned to the Long Neck who was sleeping nearby. "To be honest, I am still a bit weary. I'll have to let her go for a while."
"I understand," Dusk replied, and he too turned to the Long Neck. "I'll stay up with you, and keep an eye on her." With that, he got up and went back to where Menta was lying. "It's alright now. You can go back to sleep."
"I can guess what you and Ceit talked about. Thank you." Then she curled up back to sleep, and Dusk and Ceit sat together, keeping a constant vigil.
"I'm almost afraid to ask," Dusk began with a chuckle, "but what are you filling her head with?"
"My apologies, but I'm a bit too weary for anything extravagant. You and her are watching the bright circle set together, sitting atop a cliff over the ocean," Ceit explained.
Dusk patted him on the shoulder. "That's just perfect. She loves doing that, and it's been so long since we've been able to."
xxxxx
Several hours earlier…
"Hang on, kids," Rey instructed. The entire grouped vanished from sight, and reappeared a great distance away.
"Uh, this isn't the forest," Cera pointed out.
"Agreed," Rey replied.
"Aren't we going to the Night Forest?"
"Indeed."
"Then why are we he-"
"Such limited thinking," Reina muttered. "Have you already forgotten Rey's explanation of our power? We can only move as far as we can see; we have to move bit by bit.
"Fine, but why did we stop here? Can't you just keep doing it over and over till we get there?" Cera inquired further.
"Many powers come with what's known as a 'cool down.' A cool down is a period of time after an ability is used that it cannot be used again. Different powers have shorter and longer ones. Transport's is only a few seconds. Unh." Rey clutched his arm in pain.
"Are you alright?" Littlefoot asked quickly.
"It was easier to ignore the pain when I had so much energy. Transporting so many is really taking it all out of me- making my throbbing harder to ignore."
"Your body needs rest, rest is just what your body needs," Ruby said. "Let's wait a bit for Rey."
"He's fine," Reina said impatiently. "We need to keep moving. Transport." The group disappeared again, and again, and again, eventually coming to a thinner section where ample bright circle light shone down.
"Must you move us so abruptly?" Rey complained.
"Would you rather me not move you all? I'd be happy to leave you behind."
Rey grew silent.
Reina was about to move them all again when a Flying Sharptooth suddenly swooped down, picked Ducky up, and flew away. It happened so fast that everyone was stunned for a moment, then Petrie shouted, "Me get her!"
He took to the skies in hot pursuit. The adult however, was much faster than he was, so she quickly made a lot of distance between them.
"Ooh!" he exclaimed in frustration. "Me never catch up to her," he thought to himself. "Unless…" Petrie flapped his wings abruptly, focusing hard. A gust of wind emitted from behind his body and he shot forward with a great burst of speed.
"Go Petrie!" Littlefoot encouraged.
Petrie was moving faster than he ever had before, and he was nearly upon them, but he was flying too low, and many tall trees were coming up. Petrie was used to maneuvering around them, but he was not accustomed to doing so while flying so quickly, so his timing was off. "Me got her. Me got her. Me- oomph!- don't- got her- ughhh…" He slammed right into a tall tree and began sliding down.
"She's getting away!" Chomper shouted.
Littlefoot knew something had to be done, and fast. "I'll handle this!" he called out.
"Wait!" Rey shouted.
Recalling that everything ended up alright the last time he did this, Littlefoot called out, "Darkness, burn within my body!"
There was an explosion of black light, and Littlefoot again donned skin as black as night. Sharp claws extended from his feet, and he began climbing a tree, them digging into it sharply. When he reached the top, he leaped over to the top of another, then another, and so on as he began closing the distance between him and the Flying Sharptooth with Ducky. He finally reached a point just shortly below them. He let out a terrifying roar, and the flying beast looked down just to get her head smacked aside by the butt of Littlefoot's foot. The shock caused her to release her hold on Ducky and she began falling to the ground below. Littlefoot, however, paid his friend no heed. Fortunately, Ducky managed to grab a hold of a branch on one of the trees and safely climbed down. She looked up to see her friend still fighting.
Littlefoot jumped up again, landing on her back. She screeched in pain as he dug his now-sharp teeth into her neck. He slashed into her back, and she began loosing altitude from the weight and her injuries. Rey and the others finally caught up after a few transports, and watched Littlefoot tear into the Flying Sharptooth mercilessly.
"Littlefoot, please stop!" Chomper cried.
"You are not the you you used to be, but a different you! You need to change back!" Ruby added.
"If this keeps up," Rey thought to himself, "He'll became more of a burden than an asset. He needs to find a way to control that power, or he's going to hurt more than just foes."
The Flying Sharptooth could no longer sustain herself and began plummeting to the ground.
"Oh no, Littlefoot!" Ducky cried. She quickly looked around her, and spotted a small creek. She lifted her arm, and pointed it towards the water. It suddenly shot upward like a geyser, then jolted diagonally until it was spraying towards the two falling dinosaurs. The strong spray caught them, and slowly lowered them to the ground.
Ducky rushed over. "Littlefoot, are you alri-"
He turned and glared at her fiercely. "Did I ask for your help! Did I say to interfere! Raw!" He started to pounce on her but was abruptly knocked back into a tree by Chomper.
"I-I'm sorry, Littlefoot, but I can't let you hurt any of our friends. If I have to fight you to bring you back to your senses, then- I will," Chomper told him bravely, though he was shaking.
Littlefoot got to his feet, shaking his head a few times in the process from the blow, then grinned. "I'm going to enjoy this," he said as he licked his lips.
xxxxx
"So what do you plan to do now, ma lord?" Ceit asked. "I have a wee doubt that Coaley and Menta will ever agree to help you with your wish." He paused. "If I may be so bold as to speak, why not just ask those Rainbow Faces, or some of those kids. I can't imagine what complaints those two would have to such a wish, and I'd think that those leaf-eating children would be more than happy to oblige to a desire such as yours."
"A while back," Dusk began, "Before I was at odds with that male Rainbow Face, I made a reference to my wish without him knowing. I told him, 'I wonder what life would be like without meat-eaters.' He questioned my comment, but I only relayed that I was curious. He told me that that would be disastrous. Though that made no sense to me, I did not ask for further explanation, as I did not want to arouse his suspicion. In any case, that situation told me that he would most certainly not assist with my ambition.
As for the children, I'm sure they have already been warned against helping me. Those two think something bad will come of my wish, but they're just crazy. What harm is there in no more hunting for food? Anyway, I may have gained Chomper's trust. Even if he can't be swayed to join us, perhaps he would help me make the wish. If so, I'd only need to find one more dinosaur."
Before Dusk could continue, the young Long Neck began to stir behind him, but neither Dusk nor Ceit took immediate notice. The child awoke and drowsily got to her feet.
The two quickly turned. "Careless," Dusk thought to himself in dismay.
"Huh? Where- where am I? Mother? Mother! Where are you?" She began looking around her in a panic. "What's going on!" she shouted, then she screamed all the more when she saw the Sharpteeth around her.
The others, Menta, Agu, and Coaley, all woke up from all the noise.
"Ugh, what's with all the noise? Can't you see we're trying to sleep?" Agu whined. "Go shout somewhere else."
"Don't be mean," Coaley told him. She walked over to the panicky Long Neck. "Did you have a nightmare?" she asked her gently.
"I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming," the Long Neck said to herself repeatedly. "I'm surrounded by talking Sharpteeth who aren't eating me. Come on, wake up, wake up!"
"But you are awake, silly," Coaley tried to reason.
"Ceit, get her again before she gives away our location!" Dusk exclaimed.
Ceit closed his eyes and concentrated very hard, but nothing happened.
"What's the matter?" Dusk asked.
"Sorry, ma lord. I just need a minute. Menta's dream and little sleep has worn me out."
The Long Neck started to run deeper into the forest, terrified.
"What's wrong with her?" Coaley asked.
"Ceit's connection with her is gone. We have to catch her!" Dusk told them.
"I got this," Agu said. "I'll hold her until Ceit's rested enough to do his thing, but after this, she so owes me. Copy!" Suddenly, there were not one, but three Agus. They all took off running towards her, and quickly caught up. They tackled her to the ground, two holding her legs, and the real one sitting on her back. She struggled very hard though, so the copies really had their hands full. "Hurry it up, will ya?" he called back.
Finally, The Long Neck ceased her struggling, and the group all gathered around her. Agu's copies then vanished.
"M- my lord? What's going on? What am I doing way out here?" she asked him.
Agu however, took it upon himself to "explain." "You were sleepwalking, duh. I had to come chase you down so you wouldn't get hurt. You owe me now."
"Fine. Thank you for your help." As she walked passed him to get back to their resting area, she licked him on the cheek. "There, we're even now," she said with a giggle.
"Yuck, a kiss doesn't count for anything! You still owe me for helping you!" he said, cheeks red.
"I think she more than made up for your help," Menta said, smiling as she winked at the Long Neck. "I guess that means you owe her now." Then the whole group started laughing.
"Ugh, this is so unfair!" Agu whined.
"I think we've had enough excitement for one night," Dusk told them. "Let's go back and finish our sleep. The bright circle will be up soon."
They all walked back to their spot and lied down to finish resting, except Agu. He first glanced over at the Long Neck, put a hand on his cheek, blushed once more, then said, "Girls…" And with that, he too went back to sleep, and they all slept soundly till daylight came.