Chapter XXIV: Time to Go

In which the world's visitors enjoy their stay a bit longer then say good-bye.

"Wake up!" a loud voice rang through the hallway.

Everyone opened their eyes, but Petrie was so startled that he jumped into the air at the loud awakening. As the group flooded into the hallway, pleasant aromas filled their nostrils. They hurried down the stairs and entered the dining room to see it covered with food and drink, and there were Rainbow Faces all over, some sitting down at the table, while others were up and chatting away.

"Before the fun begins," Rey began, "we feast!" Everyone cheered, took a seat, and began tucking away at the wonderful food. "And nobody forget to thank the great chef who was brought here all the way from Sandwind City, Cocinero!"

Freund and Fiirawen, who had seen and greeted each other, looked up in surprise to see the Rainbow Face they had saved enter the dining room.

"It's nice to see you kids again," he told them.

"Likewise," Fiirawen replied politely.

Freund didn't speak at first. He was disappointed that he used magic to make his food taste good. His dream of being a great chef like him was shattered so hard that he was still unsettled. Finally, he spoke up, but the agitation in his voice was evident.

"This food tastes really good. It must have been hard to prepare."

"You bet it was! I realized back then that I was just an illusionist, not really a chef at all. So, I've been taking cooking lessons from some other chefs, and things are going well."

"Y- you mean, you made this food without any magic?" Freund asked in disbelief.

"I sure did. What do you think of the roast Silence Stalker?"

"It's great!"

"And the candied fruit?"

"Marvelous!"

"And the white bread?"

Freund hadn't tried that yet. He reached over, grabbed a piece, and took a big bite. It took every ounce of his strength to keep from regurgitating the morsel.

"It's- nice."

"I'm so glad to hear how much you like them! Ooh, I need to get back to the kitchen. See you around!"

"See ya." Then he spit the food onto his hand and subtly dropped it under the table. "Two out of three isn't bad for a beginner. At least he's finally a true chef. I want to be like him after all."

"Please pass me something to drink," Coaley requested. An old, male Rainbow Face lifted a skin up and poured some colored liquid into her glass. As she quenched her thirst, she began to giggle slightly, but no one took notice of it at first.

"Don't you think it's time you let your husband go?" Cera asked Agatha.

The old Rainbow Face sighed. "You are right. I'm sure he's learned his lesson by now." She looked at Fluffy and a white circle appeared below him. In moments, a male Rainbow Face stood before them.

"Whew, it feels so good to be me again!" he exclaimed.

"Choose your company wisely, or your pleasure will be short-lived," Agatha muttered to herself.

"It's just so nice to see you again, Fiirawen," Freund said to her. "I really missed you."

"I missed you too, buddy. And here's something to remember me by." With that, the little dragon leaned forward and kissed Freund on the cheek. His face turned as red as Fiirawen's scales.

"Oh boy! The guys back home will never believe I got kissed by a real dragon. Aw, but who cares? I'll know it's true, and that's all that matters. So, where do you live?"

"My tribe was killed, so the king is going to look after me," she explained.

"Oh… Well, I may have a better idea."

"Oh?"

"Live with me and be my sister! We'd have all kinds of fun together. I'm sure my dad would take you in."

"I- I'm speechless. I don't know what to say."

"Then let me help you. Say, 'Yes.'"

Fiirawen grinned from ear to ear. "Yes," she finally said. "After the party, we'll go talk to your dad."

"Yahoo!" Freund called.

Niah had heard everything and looked sad. It was going to be boring living in the castle with no one her age. Fiirawen was laughing with glee, but then she noticed the downcast Rainbow Face. The dragon whispered in Freund's ear, then he pulled back and nodded.

"Niah?" Fiirawen asked.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to live with Freund and I in Sandwind City?"

"Would I ever!"

"This is a day I'll never forget," Freund said aloud. "I get two sisters, and one of them is a real life dragon!"

"What's so funny, Coaley?" Chomper asked, noticing her light giggling.

"I dunno hic. It just is, silly."

"Um, okay. Did you eat too fast, or something? I see you've got the hiccups."

"I do! Hicca! No way!"

As Coaley flailed around excitedly at the news, Chomper quickly reached back to keep her from falling off the chair. Chomper didn't have to wonder any longer about her hiccups. He sighed sadly, but also in relief. He knew that he couldn't spend much quality time with a drunk Sharptooth, but he also realized that at least Coaley wouldn't be thinking of the future so she could enjoy the party without being depressed. As the food passing came finally to a halt, Rey stood up.

"Attention! Now that our bellies are full-"

"Nuh uh!" Coaley interrupted. "I'm still hic I'm still hungry!" Chomper placed a hand over her mouth so Rey could continue.

"We can enjoy some festivities. So our food can digest a bit, I've decided to start us off with things that require minor physical participation." When he finished speaking, two strong Rainbow Faces brought in a wide bucket full of water with a few pieces of fruit bobbing up and down in it. "The game is easy. Just reach in and pull out a piece of fruit- with your mouth only."

"Simple enough," Dusk remarked. He went first, leaning his head in, but try as he might, he couldn't get a grip with his teeth.

"I wanna go next!" Coaley exclaimed. She wobbly rushed to the bucket and put her head inside. However, every time her mouth got near a piece of fruit, she'd hiccup and it would push it away. "Come on hic!" she shouted in frustration.

"Is she-" Ruby began whispering to Chomper.

"Yep," he replied. "But I think it's for the best.

Coaley kept trying over and over again, but she had worse luck than Dusk had.

"Let me try, Coaley," Menta said to her.

"No hiccup! I gotta get one or I'll hic I'll lose!"

Menta smiled in thought. Subtlety, she moved a piece of fruit into Coaley's mouth with her telepathy. Coaley jerked up to reveal the fruit and raised her arms in triumph. Then a strong hiccup made her drop the fruit back in the bucket causing a big splash of water that soaked Coaley's face and upper body. Everyone laughed, and Coaley laughed right along with them. Rey handed her a cinnamon bun which she wolfed down. Nearly everyone tried, but the only other one to win was Menta.

"Next, you have to pin this picture of a tail to this portrait of a Silence Stalker."

"Heh, too easy," Cera sneered. "The only way someone would have a problem is if he or she was blind."

"Exactly," Rey said with a smile. A Rainbow Face handed him a blindfold, then he asked, "Who wants to go first?"

"Me me me! Hicca!" Coaley exclaimed. Her eyes were covered up and she was handed the tail photo with the pin on it. She waved her arm around frantically trying to stick the tail where it belonged. She managed to pin it alright- right on Chomper's rear!

"Ow!" he cried as it fell out, immediately putting his hand to the hole and wiping away the tiny drop of blood.

"I did it!" Coaley shouted victoriously, taking off the blindfold. She looked at the picture, but didn't see the tail. "Huh? Where'd it hic where'd it go?"

"It just fell off, Coaley, right over here," Chomper explained, picking up the tail picture.

"I can do it, no problem," Cera declared, and she was given the picture and blindfolded. She confidently stuck it in and took off the blindfold. She glared angrily at the tail in the Silence Stalker's eye. The others present chuckled slightly.

"Ooh, me want to try!" Petrie called out. He got a lot closer to the rear end than Cera had, but still not good enough. Ali got closest of all, just slightly too high for where the tail should be. Littlefoot grinned with an idea.

"I'll go next," he announced. He brushed his face against the picture, then pinned the tail perfectly.

"How-" Cera wondered in disbelief.

Littlefoot grinned but remained silent. He knew Ali had made a hole just slightly too high, so he felt for that hole and put the tail just a bit lower than it. The cinnamon rolls were starting to run out.

"One more game before the more physically taxing ones," Rey announced. "Someone has to think of something then reveal what it is without using words. We all have to try and guess what it is. The first correct answer is the winner."

"I'll pick some- hiccup something out!" Coaley exclaimed. The others hesitated. It would be hard making anything out from a drunk child.

"Um, Coaley may I please have the honor? I'm sure you'd be so good at acting that the game will be over too fast. My poor skills would keep them guessing longer."

"Oh, hic if that's what you wan- hic want," she replied.

"Okay, I got something," Chomper announced. He lifted both arms into the air and slowly brought them down wiggling his fingers in the process. No one had an idea yet. Then he bent over and starting acting like he was sucking at the ground. Then he stood up and started acting confused.

"You fell down a hill then sucked up a berry that didn't taste as good as it looked?" Cera guessed.

Chomper shook his head and laughed.

"Ooh, I know!" Coaley shrieked. "It's rain- hicca raining and you bent down to hic drink some water, and when you looked up hiccup I was gone?"

"Uh, great guess, Coaley, but not quite what I had in mind."

"Awww! Hic!"

No one else had a guess in mind except for one dinosaur. Rey waited a bit longer, trying to give someone else a chance. When no one moved, he gave his opinion.

"You're at the Forgetful Falls and you took a drink and lost your memory." Rey didn't phrase his answer as a question. He was sure to be right. Chomper shook his head. "What!" Rey asked in disbelief.

Chomper laughed and said, "Nah, I'm just kidding. You're right."

Rey grinned and took a cinnamon roll for himself.

"Okay, now that we've all had a nice rest, onto the race!" he called. "It starts at the front door of the castle and ends when you've run all around and returned to the front door."

Chomper grinned, but it didn't last.

"Sorry, Chomper. Your super speed makes it unfair. You'll have to sit this one out," Rey explained.

Chomper looked disappointed but Coaley came over to kiss him. She hiccupped in his face and he frowned at the strong smell of alcohol in her breath. She finally managed to find his lips though, and he went along with it despite the odor.

Everyone took a position at the door and tensed to bolt away as fast as possible.

"Um, Rey?"

"Yes, Ducky?"

"May we use our powers for this?"

"Sorry, but no."

"Then I think I'll sit with Chomper and Coaley. I couldn't keep up with everyone else with my short legs."

"Me can fly, right?" Petrie question. When he got a no, he slumped down beside Ducky.

"Get ready!" Rey exclaimed. "Go!" Everyone took off like a shot.

"Would you four like a cinnamon roll?" Rey asked.

"But why? We did not win anything, no no no no no," Ducky replied.

"It's to make up for the fact that you can't compete in this."

"Then sure! Thank you, Rey, thank you."

Everyone got one and Coaley wolfed this one down like the last. She hiccupped right as she swallowed though, so started to choke. Chomper immediately hoisted her up and jabbed his fists into her stomach. She spit off the blob of dough all over Petrie.

"Yuck!" he shouted, starting to wipe himself off.

"Thanks for saving me, hic Chomper!" Coaley said, giving him a big hug.

Everyone turned as the runners were nearly back. It was close, but Ruby managed to reach the door first.

"I'm not called a Fast Runner for nothing," she said victoriously as she was handed a roll.

The day continued with a rock throwing contest which Dusk won, a swimming race which Ducky won, a jumping contest which Ruby also won to Cera's jealous dismay, and finally, a game where everyone had to stand on one leg as long as possible (except the four-legged ones which had to stand on two). To everyone's surprise, Spike was able to stay that way the longest, and he nearly swallowed his roll in one gulp.

"That's all for today's festivities!" Rey called out.

Agatha, in her old age, had grown very tired and decided to head for home. She began looking for her husband and found him- talking and smiling to a younger girl. She approached them angrily.

"Kotto!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, uh, hi dear. This is-"

"Save it! I'm not blind." A black circle appeared below his feet.

"Wait!" he called out, but he was too late. When the circle faded, a Silence Stalker stood before her. She scooped him up and headed for home.

"No third chance," she whispered. The beast whimpered pitifully all the way home.

They returned to the castle to find Rane, Clowd, and Winndia stuffing bags with leftover food.

"So here you guys are!" Fiirawen exclaimed happily. "You're late."

"Sorry, even though the governor gives us free food, it can take a while to get an audience with him sometimes, so we've still been hungry every once in a while. Then we figured there'd be food here, so we hurried along," Rane explained. "It took us a bit to find our sister, but we did and found all this food waiting for us as hoped."

"You don't mind us taking any, do you?" Clowd asked Rey.

"Not at all. It would go bad if no one eats it up," he replied.

"It's good to see you three again," Fiirawen told them. "Sorry I didn't take you up on your offer and visit you, but I was on a mission I needed to get done."

"It's perfectly alright, dear," Winndia replied. "Is the party over?"

"Yes, we just finished," Fiirawen replied. She gave the three Rainbow Faces a big hug and waved good-bye to them as they made their way back to their hungry family.

"I thank everyone for making this festival possible," Rey told to her servants. They bowed politely in response. "This is all to commemorate these fine dinosaurs. Oh, and the dragon. They went through a lot, an epic struggle, to put things right. Littlefoot's struggle between his heart and mind, which he fought in vain, should also be acknowledged."

"Huh?" Littlefoot asked, confused.

Realizing his mistake, Rey quickly added, "Just kidding. I wanted to make sure you were paying attention."

"Oh."

"And now, it's time we said farewell to this courageous group."

Everyone from Earth took turns hugging Fiirawen, Niah, Rey, and Reina.

"We'll never forget you," Niah said, starting to cry again.

Chomper stepped forward and wiped her tear away. He recalled Coaley's theory of there being no memories of this adventure if everything returns to how it was, but he felt that now was not a good time to bring that up.

"You all take care of yourselves," Fiirawen told them.

"We will," Littlefoot replied.

"Okay, Rey, no more stalling. It's time we all went home," Cera declared.

"I agree," he replied. "Everyone come with me."

Everyone, including Niah, Fiirawen, and Reina, made their way to the stone's holding room.

"I hope you don't get too lonely without us," Ducky told the king and queen. "We've been through so much together."

"We'll be fine," Reina said slightly. Rey glanced at her curiously from her tone, and she added, "You see, I'm pregnant. Our family is going to grow very soon."

"What!" Rey asked in disbelief. "Are you sure!"

"Rey, I think I know my on body. Now let's get this wish over with."

After settling down from the news, Rey began to get the wish sorted out.

"Okay, we'll have to be very careful with the words used for the wish. The stone takes everything literally."

"How about we ask that everyone on our world was alive again?" Littlefoot asked.

"Two problems with that. One, it would get too overpopulated because everyone that ever died would be back, not just who died from Dusk's wish, and two, Sharpteeth would still be altered, so the death would happen once again."

"I think I know," Chomper declared. "How about we wish that nothing from your world ever came to ours? If that thief hadn't come to our world with the stone, none of this would have ever happened. I mean, then not even you guys would have come here, right?"

"Correct," Rey replied. "However, with a wish like that, Dusk will be dead, and Littlefoot and his friends may have never found the Great Valley. It was the spirit of his mother (thanks to the stone) that guided you all to there, and it was the power of the stone that brought Dusk back to life."

"Oh," Chomper replied.

"I know!" Coaley exclaimed, and everyone turned to her. "Oh, maybe I don't sorry." Then she giggled and hiccupped as everyone sighed.

"I think I may know," Rey finally said. "You all could wish I had found the stone instead of Dusk. Then no harm would have come to either of our worlds."

"Wait!" Fiirawen cut in. "That would mean that Niah's and my family would still be alive."

"Correct," Rey replied.

"I was looking forward to living with Freund, but I like my family being back a lot more," Niah commented.

"Freund will be so saddened," Fiirawen said gloomily.

"Not so," Rey replied. "With this wish, none of you would have met him. You won't remember him at all."

"Well that's depressing," the dragon admitted. "I really liked him. But, this is for the best. Let's get this wish made."

Agu was depressed as well, but he said nothing. He knew that he'd forget all about Ali, but he had grown close to her, so knowing he'd never see her again made him sad for the time being. He walked over and hugged her, but she backed away.

"What are you hugging me for?" she demanded.

"What? I'm just sad I won't get to see you again. Aren't you?"

"You're a fool, Sharptooth."

"Eh!"

"If you really cared for me, you would have told me the truth long ago, not kept me in the dark about all that happened. I hate all of you. Now leave me alone."

Agu looked angry and walked away with his back to her, but when he was certain she couldn't see or hear him, he let himself cry harder than he ever had before. No one else noticed, so he was left to sob alone.

Niah turned to the Aerial Screecher and gave him a big hug. "We won't know each other more, Aeri, but at least you'll have your mother and brother back."

Aeri whimpered and nuzzled against Niah then perched on her shoulder.

"Okay then, most of you have made a wish already. Out of our visitors, only Cera, Littlefoot, Petrie, Spike, Ducky, and Ruby haven't made a wish. Reina and I have already, so either Niah or Fiirawen will have to."

"They don't need to use up their wish on us," Chomper pointed out. "I can still make a wish." Rey stared at him curiously. "It's a long story, but trust me. You won't hear me say anything, but I'll be wishing right along with everyone else.

Rey wanted to understand what Chomper meant, but he knew his guests were in a hurry, so he just nodded.

"I was referring to you," Chomper thought to his heart. "You're separate from me now, so you can make a wish all of your own now."

"Ah, I hadn't thought of that. Brilliant, master!"

"We all ready?" Rey asked everyone.

"Ready," the group said.

"This is good-bye, master," Chomper's heart whispered.

"What!" Chomper thought back.

"Without the power of the stone, I'll be a regular heart again."

"Aw…"

"But worry not. I'll always whisper to you; it just won't be so loud anymore."

Chomper smiled, knowing his heart was right.

"Good-bye, everyone. I wish I could miss you, but with everything changed, neither Reina nor I will have any memory of this."

"That's not true, Rey," Reina corrected. "I spoke with the chronicler earlier. We'll always be able to enjoy this adventure."

"The chronicler, of course! You're the best, dear!'

"Aren't I, though?"

"Indeed. Now, it was an honor meeting you all. You won't know this after the wish, but the seven of you are heroes," Rey said to Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Ruby, and Chomper. "Your combined efforts are going to save your world. The prophecy didn't work out, but you seven are saving the day nonetheless."

"Well, we couldn't have done it without our new friends," Chomper replied, and everyone the gang of seven had met along their journey smiled.

"Okay," Rey continued, "those who are making the wish, say, 'We wish Rey had found the Stone of Cold Fire instead of Dusk,' when I give the signal."

Then Rey motioned with his hand, and the wishers all said it at once, including Chomper's heart. The stone glowed, then the room was empty.

Character Bio Number Twenty-Four

Name: Heritor, the author of this story

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Personality: Perfect, creative, and awesome

Power: Epic Creation- The ability to create the coolest stories around.

(Hee hee, I'm just kidding. I'm not THAT conceited.)