Chapter 43
Lava Flows and Other Dangers
The group saw the Kofo-Jaga quickly approaching them. There was no way to get around them, and the only other direction they could go was directly into a lava flow below. If the group thought this was bad enough, they thought wrong.
They suddenly felt the ground start to shake again. As the lava flow began to noticeably speed up, the rocky ledge they were trapped on began to crack. Before anyone could react, the whole ledge broke off, taking them down to the lava with it.
Fortunately, it remained intact and actually floated on the lava. As the lava carried the ledge away, the group looked back and saw the Kofo-Jaga had just reached where the ledge was and they were actually starting to climb down the rock towards the lava. It seemed that the Kofo-Jaga didn't care about walking right into lava.
"I think we're safe now," said Chomper.
"We may be safe from the Kofo-Jaga, but I don't think we're safe from that!" exclaimed Ruby as she pointed in the direction the lava was carrying them.
They could see minor rapids up ahead, which were already causing the rock they stood on to sway uncontrollably. Everyone tried their best to stay on the rock and not fall into the lava, but this was quickly proving to be difficult.
They soon came to a small lava pool in a cavern. The lava flowed into the pool from one side of the cavern, and flowed out of the pool on the side to the left from where it had entered. They could have passed though the cavern and continued being carried away by the lava flow, but their momentum caused them to slam into the rocky wall of the far left corner of the cavern, where the rock they stood on got stuck. Jala knew it wouldn't last long, so he looked at the rocky wall and realized that it wasn't too steep to climb. There also seemed to be a pathway at the top, not far away. "Quickly, everyone up the cliff!" ordered Jala.
Not wanting to be near the lava again, everyone quickly did as they were told and began to climb up the rocky slope. Although some of them had some difficulty, they all managed to at least get off of the remains of the ledge before it broke apart and was carried away by the lava. Within a minute, they all managed to reach the top of the slope, which happened to be relatively level. They now had time to notice a rocky bridge that crossed over the lava flow that led away from the cavern. There were also two underground pathways out of the cavern, one on each end of the bridge.
"I don't know about you, but I think I've had enough action for one day," commented Cera.
Suddenly, a loud roar was heard and it sounded like it came from the pathway on the group's side of the bridge. Everyone looked back and saw Redclaw, Screech, and Thud were approaching.
"Looks like us got more quick-action to do today!" exclaimed Petrie.
"It's Redclaw again!" exclaimed Littlefoot. "We have to run!"
"No!" shouted Jala.
"What?!" exclaimed Cera, who couldn't possibly see why he didn't want to run from someone like Redclaw.
Jala took his blade out of his backpack. "The Captain of the Guard never runs away," stated Jala.
"That's nice to hear, Jala, but Littlefoot said run!" exclaimed Takua. He then ran away from the Sharpteeth by running across the rocky bridge over the lava. The gang quickly followed him.
Jala looked at Redclaw and could see why the young dinosaurs would be terrified of him. Reluctantly, Jala put away his blade and ran across the bridge, knowing that even he had little chance against such a large Sharptooth.
Kapura, for some odd reason, chose not to use his skill to get across the bridge. Instead, he walked, which was clearly at quite a slow pace. The Sharpteeth were quick to catch up to him. Kapura simply turned around and faced them. They stopped very close to him with confused looks on their faces. He apparently showed no fear, or any other emotion for that matter. "You might think that by being slow I am at a disadvantage," said Kapura. "You are mistaken. By being slow, I am at an advantage."
The Sharpteeth had no idea what Kapura had just said, so they decided to just take him out while they had the chance. Screech and Thud charged at him, but before they could pin him down on the ground, he had suddenly and strangely disappeared. They looked around to find out where he went. They were quite surprised when they saw him standing on a small ledge on the wall of the cavern, high enough that only Redclaw could reach him.
Kapura had been carrying a throwing disk with him all day and now was the time to use it. He grabbed his throwing disk and aimed for the stalactites that hung directly above the bridge. Once he made sure exactly where to hit, he threw the disk. Since he was always slow-moving, his disk flew more slowly than a disk would normally fly, but it was still fast enough to hit its target and do the intended damage. It hit one of the larger stalactites and deflected towards the other side of the bridge. The impact was just enough to cause the ceiling to crack, which caused the stalactites to fall onto the bridge. The numerous impacts of these stalactites caused the bridge to shatter and fall into the lava below.
The group had been watching the whole thing and most of them were unable to believe what had just happened. "Nice shot," commented Petrie. Nobody else said anything.
The Sharpteeth were now unable to reach any of the group on the other side, except for Kapura. Redclaw immediately tried to grab Kapura in his powerful jaws, but ended up getting a mouthful of rocks. He spat out the rocks and looked towards the group. Once again, the Sharpteeth were surprise to see Kapura where he wasn't only a second earlier, only this time he was on the other side of the lava with the rest of the group.
Kapura picked up his throwing disk and looked at the confused and frustrated Sharpteeth stranded on the other side. "I am not one who makes fun of others," said Kapura. "However, I must admit that I find your misfortune rather amusing."
The Sharpteeth roared in frustration, then turned around and headed back the way they came.
Kapura turned around and saw most of the group still looked very confused. "Shall we continue our journey home?" suggested Kapura, who seemed to ignore their confused faces.
Everyone agreed and they began heading up the only pathway they could take. Jala was impressed by how useful Kapura's skill was. In fact, he couldn't help but point out that Cera had been wrong. "I told you it was a good idea to bring him with us," said Jala.
Cera said nothing.
The walk back to the surface was surprisingly short. Now that the group was no longer underground, the journey back to the Great Valley would be much easier. Everyone felt much more comfortable once they were no longer in the area of the Burning Mountains.
It was already sunset by the time the group came back into the Great Valley through the Eastern Pass. By now, Jala had given Takua back his lavaboard. Jala told everyone that he would give the Energy Stone to Turaga Vakama, once he got back to Ta-Koro. After, of course, he had a little talk with a certain Threehorn about smart decision-making. Cera knew that he was referring to her father.
Kapura said his unusual way of saying goodbye, then used his skill to quickly travel back to Ta-Koro. Although his skill was impressive, Cera still didn't like him.
By nightfall, everyone was heading home, except for Jala, who first had to have a talk with Cera's father. Takua still slept at Littlefoot's nest, so both of them were heading there.
As they were walking, Littlefoot couldn't help but think about the dream he had that had started off the whole quest. It had represented events that had happened and were going to happen. But there was something about that dream that made it different from the real events. He decided to tell Takua about it.
"Takua?" asked Littlefoot. "Do you remember that sleep-story I had that eventually started our search for the Energy Stones?"
"Yeah," replied Takua. "What about it?"
"Well, I think that the different colored rocks in that sleep-story actually represented the Energy Stones. But there's something about it that doesn't make sense. I've heard that we only need to find six Energy Stones, but there were seven colored rocks in my sleep-story."
"Are you saying there might be a seventh Energy Stone?"
"I don't know. I can't even think of what element that Energy Stone could be. We only know of six elements."
"I'm actually surprised that Makuta has allowed us to take the Energy Stones so easily. Too easily. If he didn't want us to find those Energy Stones, he would have tried harder to stop us, perhaps even succeeding. I have a feeling that if there is a seventh Energy Stone, it may be very difficult to find it and keep it safe."
Takua and Littlefoot then walked over to their usual sleeping spots, Littlefoot in his nest and Takua at the base of a nearby tree.
"I guess we will have to wait until morning to find out," said Takua. "Goodnight, Littlefoot."
"Goodnight, Takua," said Littlefoot. They both soon fell asleep.
