Cera was walking down a path in the Great Valley. Trailing behind her was her swimmer friend, Ducky.
By a stroke of extremely bad luck, Ducky was the only other member of the gang that showed up at their meeting spot. Petrie was suffering from a cold, Spike got sick from eating a strange plant in the cave Ducky's family used during yesterday's storm, and Chomper had a broken leg, so he and Ruby couldn't come.
Oh, and Littlefoot is still missing, which is why Cera and Ducky were currently out here: To try and find where he probably went based on where Cera last saw him. The two dinosaurs were chatting while they searched.
"Gotta admit, the thing that happened to Chomper was sort of hilarious." Cera said.
"I don't think it was. No, no, no," Ducky said, "he would be dead if Ruby wasn't there to stop the domeheads."
Cera sighed. "Maybe you're right. If I had to go into a cave to escape a storm and discover a little thing with pointed teeth staring at me down there, if I bashed its brains out, never knowing it was friendly, what would that say about me?"
"If I was its sister, I'd say you'd be like ol' Sharptooth! Yep, yep, yep!"
"Exactly."
Suddenly, a distant sound entered Cera's ear, causing her to freeze. It was a series of four high-pitched whistles, and it came from the direction of the Great Wall.
"Did you hear that?" Cera asked Ducky.
"Oh, yes I did!" she said, "It sounded like a hollowhorn panic whistle!"
"And it's coming from just behind the Great Wall."
"Do you think we should go and help?"
Cera began to think. Going into the Mysterious Beyond to help a dino in distress definitely sounded like something Littlefoot would do. The longneck left the safety of the valley countless times, and his friends, Cera included, were certain to follow. And each time, the gang managed to dodge every sharptooth the Mysterious Beyond threw at them. They would always return home without a scratch. Cera wondered why this time would be any different.
"You know what, why not?" Cera said. The two friends rushed to the nearest valley exit, which was conveniently nearby. They zipped past the two clubtails keeping guard.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" one of the clubtails shouted.
"No time to chat, duty calls!" Cera said before she and Ducky slipped out of sight.
The two ran through the mountain pass and down the path leading to the Mysterious Beyond. Pretty soon, the source of the noise they heard came into view and both dinosaurs skidded to a stop.
In front of them was an adult hollowhorn, with a child clinging to the top of him. Both were cowering in fear at a medium-sized dinosaur blocking their path, who was also threatening them.
"GIVE THE CHILD!" The dinosaur said angrily to the adult hollowhorn.
Cera looked at the dinosaur making the threats. He resembled a yellowbelly, creatures that she and the gang encountered some time ago. However, while yellowbellies typically have, well, yellow bellies, the belly of this one was bright red. It would probably make him a "redbelly" more than anything.
"You keep your hands off Tenner, vile beast!" the adult hollowhorn said.
"Boy saw a thing he's not supposed to," the redbelly said, "he must be punished!"
Cera turned to Ducky, with a smile on her face. "Heh, this will be easy," she said.
"Any way I can help?" asked Ducky.
"Sure."
"If you don't hand me the child, your gut will be stabbed!" said the redbelly.
"NEVER!" the adult hollowhorn shouted.
The redbelly extended his talons. He was about to charge at the hollowhorn when he felt something hit him from behind. He turned around to see a small Saurolophus girl further down the path. The little swimmer then pulled her mouth wide open and stuck her tounge out.
Thinking he could quickly remove this new annoyance, the redbelly began to charge at the swimmer. Before he could reach her, a small threehorn sprinted from behind a nearby bush. the threehorn rammed him on his underside, sending him flying over the nearby cliff.
"See, Ducky? Easy." Cera said with pride in her voice.
The adult hollowhorn rushed over to the cliff's edge and looked down. He saw the form of the redbelly roll down the rocks before coming to a stop at the grassy floor below. After a few seconds, the redbelly picked himself up and limped into a nearby grove of trees, disappearing from view.
The hollowhorn turned to the two young dinos that saved him and his son. "I don't know who you are, but thanks for saving us."
"No problem," said Cera.
The adult hollowhorn began walking towards the entrance to the Great Valley.
"You heading to the Great Valley?" Ducky asked.
The hollowhorn paused and turned around. "Why yes, actually," he said, "I'm searching for green wings. My mate is suffering from 'The Crazy' and green wings are the only thing that can help her."
"'Green wings'? 'The Crazy'? what are you talking about?" Cera asked.
"Green wings are like tree stars, but are shaped like wings," Tenner, the little hollowhorn said. What he described was something we know as the leaves of the Ginkgo tree.
"It's a key part of the hollowhorn diet," his father continued, "go too long without eating one, and you open yourself to illnesses like 'The Crazy.' My mate got afflicted with 'The Crazy,' and it's now eating her brain!"
"A sickness that eats your brain?" Ducky said, "I don't want to catch that, no no no!"
"It's pretty rare..." the hollowhorn said. Then he looked into the distance.
"...Rare like the green wing trees are starting to become, and they are my only hope of curing my mate of this dreaded sickness."
"I don't recall the Great Valley having green wings," Ducky said, "but the hollowhorns already living there never complaineded about being sick with 'The Crazy', so... maybe it does?"
"Wait, do you two live in the Great Valley?" Tenner asked.
"Um, yeah?" Cera stated.
"Most of the people here are really nice, yes they are!" Ducky said.
The father hollowhorn turned his head to his son. "I told you they were nice people."
"By the way, who was that guy that attacked you?" asked Cera.
"I don't know," the father said, "He was demanding I give him my son because he apparently 'saw something he wasn't supposed to.' I have no idea what it could be, though."
Tenner spoke up. "It's the secret door! The strange part of the wall with the wet plants under them!"
"The what?" Cera said.
"There's a part of the rock wall next to the bottom of this path that is jutting out and has loads of wet plants under it," Tenner explained, "I tried to push it, but couldn't. Then I heard a voice telling me I shouldn't be snooping around. I thought it was my father, but I swear it didn't sound like him!"
"Did it sound like that... red-bellied yellowbelly that you got attackeded by?" asked Ducky.
Tenner compared the two voices in his head. Then he gasped. "It did! It actually did sound like that guy!"
"Huh." said Ducky.
"Seems like the redbelly was trying to keep that thing hidden," Cera said.
The father hollowhorn stood up. "I'd like to stay and chat, but we really need to hurry."
"Oh, ok." Cera said.
"Before you leave, it would be nice if we got your names." said Ducky.
"Barri," the father said, "and this is my son, Tenner."
"I'm Ducky, and this is Cera," the young swimmer said, "It was very nice to meet you, yes it was. I hope you find the green wings you are looking for."
"I'm confident we will," Barri said, "take care!"
"You too!"
With their goodbyes said, the two hollowhorns continued their trek to the Great Valley. As they walked away, Cera turned to Ducky.
"That redbelly seemed awfully suspicious," Cera said.
"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky said, "he's probably hiding a skeleton behind that fake wall of his!"
"Well, yeah, that. But it would lead somewhere into the Great Wall. And if there's a cave behind it, the cave likely has an opening into the Great Valley."
"Do you think he has something to do with Littlefoot being gone?"
"Possibly. Tell you what: The bright circle is already going down. I say we stay out here until midnight. The red-"
"YOU WILL NOT BE STAYING IN THE MYSTERIOUS BEYOND, CERA!" a loud voice interjected. The two dinosaurs looked behind them and screamed.
To be continued...