Chapter 9: Chase and surprises
After gathering up as many of the flowers they can take, the gang loaded them onto Spike's back to carry back to The Great Valley.
"If we keep on like this, we can make it back by morning." Said Littlefoot. Until,
"Surprise!" Ichy shouted as he popped out from behind a bush. "You're not going anywhere but the inside of our stomachs! Right Dil?"
The moment Dil walked over, the gang screamed as they ran away from the dangerous biters. Ichy flew around to find them. And he knew where they were.
"They're hiding around here somewhere. And I bet it's behind that boulder."
"What boulder?" Dil asked.
"Never mind. I'll flush them out and you nab them."
He was right. The gang was indeed behind the boulder. They were keeping quiet so Dil and Ichy wouldn't hear them.
"You think they're gone?" Chomper asked.
They were not. Because Ichy swooped and grabbed Petrie by his neck.
"Petrie!" Ducky and Ruby shouted.
Ichy then flew away from the gang and then back to Dil.
"Looky what I got Dil!"
Dil tried to bite Petrie, but Ichy moved out of the way.
"Hey! What'd you do that for?!" She asked in anger.
"Because this skippy snack is barely enough for me!"
"You are so selfish!"
"I am not! You're the one who's selfish!"
"What do we do?" Cera asked in fear.
Tickles then began to make some battle movments as he ran to Dil and grabbed her by her tail.
"He's mine and that's final!" Ichy said as he was about to bite Petrie.
But before he did, Tickles moved Dil's tail in front of Petrie. Making Ichy bite that instead. And he bit hard enough to make Dil gasp in pain. That got Ichy to release Petrie as he was spitting out the teast. Just as Petrie get back to the others and they began to sneek away.
"Dil. I didn't mean it." Said Ichy.
"He!" Cera laughed out loud. Making Dil and Ichy see them. "Oops!"
"It's them. They're over there."
The gang once again made a run for it. Just as they ran across a log over a river, Littlefoot said,
"Stick together everyone."
However, one of the flowers fell off of Spike's back. And Ducky was the only one to see that.
"Oh no." She said as she ran back to grab it. "Come back flower. We must stick together."
But as she grabbed it, Ichy flew by and was about to grab. She screamed as she ran back to the others. Only for Ichy to catch her. But she screamed loud enough for the gang stop and look at what was happening.
"Ducky!" Chomper shouted.
Petrie flew up to Ichy to get Ducky back. But he kept on dodging him.
"Petrie!" Ducky shouted.
"Get away from me! Shoo! Shoo!" Ichy deanded.
However, Petrie managed to grab Ducky by her tail and tried to pull her off of Ichy's grip. But he was too strong.
"Let go!" Petrie demanded.
"No! You let go!" Ichy shouted back.
However, both of them pulled so hard that Ducky slipped off both of them and fell to the river. Everyone gasped as she landed in the water with a big SPLASH!
"No." Said Ruby.
"Ducky!" Petrie shouted as he flew to the river. "Ducky."
"Oh no." Said Littlefoot.
Ducky's body then floated out of the water.
"Ducky!" Ali shouted.
What made things worse, she was on top of Dil's nose as she also floated out from underneath.
"Put my friend down!" Petrie demanded. Only for Dil to blow him away.
"You got her Dil." Said Ichy.
"I did? Then she's mine."
Dil then tossed Ducky into the air as she then opened her mouth to bite her.
"Ducky!"
"Wake up!"
"Look out!"
Petrie tried to catch her. But he missed and fell to Dil's open mouth.
"Ducky!" He shouted.
"Ducky!" The others shouted as well.
"Duck...Duck...DUCKY!"
Everyone gasp as they turned over to Spike. He talked. He said Ducky's name.
That got Ducky to open her eyes long enough to see a stick near by and grabbed it. And it flung her up as Dil missed her chance to bite her. The stick then began to hit Dil on the head countless times until it stopped and went back to where it was.
"We're coming Ducky!" Littlefoot said as he was about to climb down to her. But,
"You're next my little diet Longneck." Ichy said as he was about to bite him.
"Oh no you don't!" Chomper said as he grabbed another stick and hit Ichy with it. Making him fall into Dil's mouth.
Petrie then flew over and grabbed Ducky as he took her back to the others. As for Dil on the other hand,
"Don't swallow Dil! It's me! Ichy!"
"Ichy?" She asked as she opened her mouth. Letting Ichy out.
"You almost ate me."
"It was an accident Ichy. I didn't see you."
"Of course you couldn't see me! You can't even see your own nose at the end of your face! You're useless!"
"Useless?! Without me you'd starve!"
"I would not!"
"You would too!"
"Would not!"
"Would too!"
"Would not, would not, would not!"
"Would too, would too would too!"
"Not not not!"
"Too too too!"
Finally, they both had it.
"That's it Dil!"
"I've had it with you Ichy!"
"For now on," Ichy started.
"I'm going it alone!" They both shouted in each others faces.
Ichy was about to fly away. But before he could,
"No!"
Dil swang her tail on him. Knocking him all the way into the forest.
"That'll teach him." Dil said as she began to swim away. Only to bump into something. "Huh? Who's there?"
Ajusting her eyes a bit, she was able to make out a brown long neck. Dil gasped as she looked up and saw that she had bumped into a Swimming Sharptooth Longneck (hydrotherosaurus). And it was hungry. It tried to bite her be she kept on dodging it as she swam away.
"I...I...ICHY!"
"Ducky. Are you okay?" Littlefoot asked her.
"I think so. But I thought I heard Spike talk."
"He did Ducky. Spike talked." Said Chomper.
"Oh Spike. You talked. Yep yep yep. You did. You did." She said as she hugged him.
As the gang rached the cave they came from, they stopped as Tickles didn't want to go with them.
"Are you sure you don't wanna come with us Tickles?" Ruby asked him.
Giving a sad squeak, Tickles nodded his head yes.
"You think we'll see him again Ali?" Chomper asked her.
"I think so." Ali answered. "The land is still changing. Maybe we'll all live together someday."
"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Said Littlefoot. "Thank you for all the help you gave us."
As the gang said goodbye, Tickles turned back to The Land of Mists and left.