Chapter 27: Night Blast
The sun had just started to set over the Great Valley bring colour to the sky with the shine and heat slowly pulling away for the night air and sky to set into place. Just over to the area near the largest area of woodland, Wayne and Cera sat talking with nothing much else to do since Mr Threehorn had put his foot down and told them straight to stay at the nest. Cera walked back and forth stopping for a few moments looking over at her dad before starting again in front of Wayne.
"Grr! I can't believe this! We barely survived by the scales on the back of our necks and all Daddy did was grounded us!" Cera snorted outraged, "It's not fair!" Cera looked at Wayne who was fiddling with something that she couldn't see clearly.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" Wayne looked at Cera.
"Sorry, I wasn't. I was finishing this off," Wayne trailed off focusing back on working on the thing which Cera couldn't quite see.
"What is it?" Cera asked walking up to Wayne.
"Hold on for one more second," Wayne replied and Cera stopped in her tracks with a raised eyebrow.
"Err right," Cera mumbled in a slightly confused tone curious to what he was doing. Wayne finished it off and looked at Cera.
"Close your eyes 'til I say open them," he told her playfully.
"What? No way! Let me see it," Cera protested trying to look but Wayne kept it out of her sight. He thrust a hand up in front of her face.
"No! You must close your eyes…" Wayne said and Cera gave a grunt. Cera took a deep breath of air and sighed.
"Oh…alright! I will do it," Cera closed her eyes waiting for the instruction to open them again. She felt something being put around her neck and as the fiddling finished, Wayne stood up and took a step back.
"OK…Now, open your eyes…"
Cera opened them and wondered what was it that he had done. Looking down a bit she noticed something swing a bit and gasped.
"Th-this is part of your mother's brace… what's it… why did you take that green thing out?" Cera said in a startled tone staring at him in half-disbelief.
"If it wasn't for you Cera, I would have jumped off the edge but your charms persuaded me not to do it. This is my way of showing how grateful I am. Thank you," Wayne said warmly pointing to the gem around Cera's neck, "It's also a sign of friendship; to show just how much of a great friend you are." Wayne knelt down looking at her green eyes with a smile.
"Wayne, I don't know what to say… I haven't been the greatest of friends though…" Cera said in a guilty tone lowering her head towards the ground and kicking a rock with one of her front feet. Wayne placed a hand on her head just above the eyes and Cera looking at him.
"No, it's not your fault. It's just the way you are and no one can change that. Not even me from far in the future." Wayne removed his hand and put it in his lap, "It's what makes you unique to everyone else… even your father."
"You can say that again," Cera said and both looked at Mr Threehorn who stopped eating some food noticing them staring at him. The next thing he noticed was Wayne and Cera, both on their backs, laughing hard.
"Kids…" Mr Threehorn mumbled shaking his head from side to side.
Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie and Spike all arrived at Cera's home shortly afterwards of their way back to their own nests for the night to see Cera and Wayne, but the scene they came to was one of Wayne and Cera in fits of laughter.
"Hello Wayne, hello Cera! We came to say hi, hi, hi!" Ducky spoke up first. Wayne and Cera looked over at them and rolled off their backs. Wayne stood up straight and Cera got up on all fours.
"What perfect timing," Wayne said with a happy look at Cera which made them started to laugh again.
"What funny?" Petrie asked with a perplexed look, "Why they laughing?"
"I do not know," Ducky shrugged, "maybe they are laughing at something before we came."
"That's probably the most likely thing Ducky," Littlefoot said bending his neck down to her before looking at Cera and Wayne again, "anyway we came to see you two since we know what your father is like." Wayne stopped laughing and glanced at Cera who had an unpleasant look on her face.
"What do you mean by 'your father'?" Cera questioned. Littlefoot noticed what he had said and fell silent.
"Oh Littlefoot mean your daddy Cera, not as you and Wayne," Petrie quickly jumped in. Cera looked at Ducky and felt a bit guilty.
"Oh sorry. It was just the way Littlefoot put that… made me and Wayne think that's what he meant."
"It's ok…" Littlefoot smiled. His eye then caught the gem hanging on some string around Cera's neck, "Hey Cera, where did you get that from and what is it?"
"Oh this? It's a shiny thing from his mother's brace-what's-it. He gave me it to me as a sign of our friendship," Cera said proudly showing it off. Wayne placed his hand in his pocket, pulled out another one and walked over to Littlefoot. Littlefoot flinched a bit as he felt Wayne fasten something around the bottom of his long neck and then feeling something softly rubbing against him. Wayne backed away and Littlefoot craned his neck a bit to get a better look at what was around his neck. He was shocked to find a blue gem hanging there.
"Wa-Way-Wayne?" Littlefoot said in a startled tone looking at Wayne not sure what to say next.
"Mine's Green and you give him a blue one. That suits him Wayne,"Cera said with a half smile watching Wayne place the last one around Spike's next which was yellow.
"Do I get one?" Ducky asked Wayne with a look of promising faith.
"You have that watch still don't you?" he promptly reminded her. Ducky took a thought and remembered the sticky thing that unstuck and stuck together.
"Oh I do! I am sorry, I forgot," Ducky said a little sheepishly.
"Don't worry, keep it! It's all yours," Wayne replied. Ducky jumped up and down clapping her hands.
"Oh thank you! Thank you thank you!" Ducky said with joy. Wayne took out the bracelet which was missing the gems from it and looked at Petrie flying just above them all.
"And I have this for you Petrie. It might be a bit big but hey; it's the thought that counts right?" Petrie landed on Wayne's right shoulder and Wayne handed it to him.
Petrie held up a bit looking at the gold texture on the bracelet and hugged it.
"Me like it! And it not heavy either," Petrie gave a cheerful hum swinging to and fro as he cuddled it.
Spike hummed with a happy tone looking into the watering hole seeing the yellow gem sparkly in the setting light of the sun.
"Thank you Wayne, this is a big surprise," Littlefoot said with a pride in his voice. Cera then nudged him with her side, "What?"
"Oh nothing. Just hearing the sound of being proud of being a friend to Wayne," Cera said with a smirk walking by Littlefoot to the water beside Spike looking at the Green gem.
"Wow! It is pretty," Cera chirped staring at the water's reflection of herself.
"Why give us these?" Petrie asked looking at the gold bracelet, "Me your friend even without shiny, light thing."
Wayne took a minute to think of an answer. Walking a little way up the hill until he was standing near the top, he turned around looking at them all, except Petrie who was still on his shoulder.
"You all, in your own ways, have given some trust to me who shouldn't be here in the time of physics and my thanks is a gift from me. Something that you all will be able to treasure for years and years." Wayne spoke with a calm voice but it he had a dangerous edge to his words.
"Whoa hold it!" Cera butted in catching on to something, "You're talking as if you're not gonna be around anymore. Are you trying to tell us that you are not going to stay?"
"I can only stay here for a time… I wish I could but a human doesn't belong in this world. I have to keep in mind that this is a time where dinosaurs reigned. Humans shouldn't even be around for another few million years!" Wayne said sadly walking down the hill past Cera. She turned as he strolled past without even glancing at her. Wayne knelt down and put a hand under Littlefoot's nose and lifted it up a bit for him to look Wayne in the eyes.
"When the time comes, I will leave to return to my own world but I will remember everyone of you as the greatest friends in the world," Wayne said as they all gathered around him, Littlefoot and Petrie, "If we remember each other and keep each other in our hearts, our friendship can never be broken," Wayne said moving his hand away putting on the soft ground, "Friends forever." Littlefoot gave a smile and placed one of his front feet on Wayne's hand gently replying,
"Friends forever."
Spike placed his foot on top of Littlefoot's, Ducky and Petrie did the same.
"Friends," Petrie said with a smile.
"We will also be. We will, we will," Ducky said with a tear in her eye. Cera took a few moments and said,
"This isn't fair… I don't want you to go ever… but… Friends forever!" Cera cried out placing her foot on top of the rest. Suddenly, a bright flash erupted knocking everyone to the ground. Mr Threehorn saw this and started to run to the children.
"Ow… what was that?" Cera mumbled as she stood up with Spike and Littlefoot. The gems began to hum and three wide beams of light came out of them forming an image in the middle of a large ball.
"Wayne…" Ducky said shaking in fear. Petrie flew to Wayne hiding behind him where he laid.
"W-w-w-w-w-w-what is…" Petrie trembled in fear. Spike shook with fear unable to move. Littlefoot stood there bewildered yet scared at the large ball that now floated in the air between him, Cera and Spike showing a mass of tiny zeros and ones that appearing from the top and going downwards in binary coding.
"Wayne? What is it?" Littlefoot asked in a shaky voice. Wayne stood up and slowly walked towards it.
"It's a holographic image of some type of coding," Wayne said rather calmly which made Cera annoyed at him seeing how unshaken he was.
"I knew that!" Cera said sharply.
"How did you Cera? Wayne never said anything thing like hol-holo-hologapic before," Ducky pointed out.
"Humph!" Cera grunted and was going to look away but something prevented her, "I… I can't move!" Cera said alarmed trying to move her legs. Littlefoot and Spike tried as well but even though they were trying with all their might to get free, they were completely immobilised.
"Wayne! We can't move!" Littlefoot cried out panic-stricken. Wayne took a look at them and the holo-ball.
"No wonder you can't. These three gems are in some type of alignment which is creating some sort of force," Wayne said with a unwavering voice running over to Cera and trying to pull her free only to have him slip and fall over losing his grip, "Ow that didn't work…" Wayne moaned rubbing his backside.
Suddenly the zeros and ones changed to a rotating image of the planet Earth.
"Earth…" Wayne said looking at the image walking over to it. Mr Threehorn arrived behind Cera.
"Cera! What's going on? What is this?" Cera's father demanded at once looking down at her.
"Wayne says it's some kind of holo-gaptic thing which he call an image of Earth but that's not important," Cera said not turning around facing her father.
"Other than you not looking at me?"
"No daddy! I can't! This alignment thing is stopping me, Littlefoot and Spike from moving," Cera cried out in a distressed voice. Wayne turned around putting am arm on the image and it changing into a view of the present day United Kingdom.
"The thingy! It changed," Ducky pointed out. Wayne looked at the image of the United Kingdom closely.
"Britain…" Wayne gasped looking at it.
"What is this Britain?" Mr Threehorn asked Wayne.
"It's the land which I was born. This is what I could call my homeland or what's left of it…"Wayne told them but he was quickly drawn to a specific point on the map, "hey! I know this point!" Wayne pointed to a location near the southeast of England and the image zoomed in on it with numbers starting to count down from ten.
"Err why are those funny things moving down?" Littlefoot asked looking at it and taking a step forward, "Hey! I can move!" Littlefoot beamed and Spike moved as well running to Ducky licking her with a happy hum.
"I am glad you can move too Spike," Ducky giggled. Cera turned around and went up to her dad nudging her head against his with a happy smile.
"Daddy I'm free!"
"That's good but I think Wayne doesn't look so happy," Mr Threehorn said staring at Wayne taking fearful steps away from the glowing image.
"Get out of here! We've got five seconds until something but I don't know what will happen!" Wayne shouted at them waving at them to get going.
"What about you?" Cera shouted back turning around to face Wayne.
"GO!" Wayne shouted but it was too late.
The numbers reached all zero and a ripple appeared below their feet moving faster and faster with more and more coming out of it. Soon it reached a limit of about hundred metres in all directions, a glow came from below them and all their feet started to lift off the ground.
"AHH! What gives? I can't touch the ground!" Cera said trying to move her legs so she land on the ground but only ended up kicking air around her. Even Mr Threehorn had trouble being far the largest. It was impossible for him to get his feet back on the ground.
"This is impossible! I'm no flyer! Nothing can make me fly like this!"
Petrie flapped his wings but he couldn't move from where he was floating
"Me can no fly! My wings not moving me!"
Spike did a few flips and bumped into Littlefoot.
"Ow! Watch it Spike! You went into me!" Littlefoot complained but his anger melted when her read the unhappy look on Spike's face, "I'm sorry. It's not your fault Spike. I can't move as much as you can," Littlefoot said doing a few tumbles, "I wish I can stop that; it's making me dizzy."
"I do not like this. It is scaring me. Oh no, no, no," Ducky whined managing to get a hand to Wayne and pull herself on his arm with her tail partly wrapped around it as well. Wayne looked at everyone and looked at the area around them as the view started to change.
"I don't know what going on but this is hell not right!" Wayne said looking at the view disappearing in a blaze of ripple after ripple.
Grandpa, Grandma, Ducky and Spike's mum and Petrie's mum were all waiting for their children to get back. They were talking about the day but they were interrupted by a blast that rang out. Looking to where the sound had come from, they faintly heard the cries of their children including a deep roar.
"Littlefoot!" the grandparents cried out making a move to the source of the blast and cries.
"Petrie! I'm coming!" Petrie's mum cawed taking off and flew to the area close behind Littlefoot's grandparents.
"Ducky! Spike!" Ducky's mum cried making a run to the area.
They all arrive to see a large column of ripples and behind it, the children with Mr Threehorn. Just as they all made a move towards it, the ripples totally blocked the view of the children and then disappeared with a silent blast of wind. They shielded their eyes and then looked back at the area to see nothing.
"Littlefoot!" Grandma gasped in shock walking over to the area. Grandpa was ahead and placed a foot on the ground where the children had been a second ago with Mr Threehorn. As his foot touched the ground, nothing happened.
"They just vanished… poor Littlefoot…" Grandpa said with a sad tone looking down, "He's gone…"
"Don't say that dear. Littlefoot is probably somewhere safe we have to keep our hopes up," Grandma said putting her head against Grandpa's head rubbing gently.
"You're right Grandma… but seeing Littlefoot disappear before your eyes I can't…" Grandpa said with tears forming in his eyes making it impossible to finish his sentence.
"Petrie's gone…" Petrie's mum said and looked at Ducky's mum.
"My Ducky and Spike are gone too…" Ducky's mum said in tears touching the ground with her hand. Petrie's mum wiped a tear away and looked at the others.
"We all have to stay strong and work together to get them back. Maybe will we find out where they went," she said nobly. The other adults gave a nod looking at the spot they watched their children disappear. Their silent thoughts filling the air as they hoped for the best for their children and their safe return…
