The Swimmer Trials
Prologue: A peaceful day.
The Bright Circle blazed high in the late morning over The Great Valley.
In a clearing near the Secret Caverns seven young dinosaurs played. One was a brown Longneck by the name of Littlefoot and it was he who had possession of the pinecone at the start of there game of toss the seed.
Beside Littlefoot stood two over dinosaurs. Petrie, the small brown Flyer on his right and to his left stood a purple Sharptooth called Chomper, to many other leaf eaters the sight of Chomper so close to the children would be a cause for alarm but in the Great Valley this was considered normal for the small Sharptooth to hang around with his small group of friends.
Facing the three boy's was the girls team led by Cera the proud orange Threehorn and beside her stood the small light green Swimmer Ducky and the tall pink Fast Runner, Ruby.
Nearby the six friends stood a plumb green Spiketail called Spike who was Ducky's adopted brother and at the moment he could not be less interested in the game his friends were playing, he was focused on biting the leaves off the large bushes that stood on the edge of the clearing. All the dinosaurs in this clearing are known as The Gang of Seven.
Each of them where firm friends and they had all been on many dangerous adventures in the past from finding the Great Valley to outmanoeuvring Red Claw in the lands outside the Valley known as The Mysterious Beyond.
"Alright are we all ready?" asked littlefoot to the gang who all nodded in anticipation for the kick off. Littlefoot raised his tail but stopped and looked around at his friends until he spotted Spike on the edge of the clearing. "Hey Ducky isn't Spike playing today?" he asked.
Ducky turned to look at Spike before responding "No no no he is eating now" said Ducky "He won't play till he finishes his breakfast yep yep yep".
"Well lets gets started then" said Cera impatiently "Spike will join us when he is ready"
Littlefoot nodded and raised his tail.
"WHACK!"
The seed flew off indirection of the boy's goal and each team started running to get the seed before the other team scored.
The game was on.
At the edge of the clearing a lone adult Swimmer was watching the game intently. Her eyes on her young daughter Ducky.
Sura smiled as she watched the friends playing it reminded her of what being young was like. Of course she was reminded all the time by the rest of her children but watching The Gang really brought back memories.
Sura sighed and pushed aside her past to focus on the present, she had been really restless for the past few day's ever since she realised that her children would participate in The Swimmer Trials in a few more seasons. "The Swimmer Trials are very similar in contrast to The Great Day of The Flyers" Sura reflected as it required the younglings to prove their abilities in a range of different challenges designed to test each of the abilities a Swimmer must know in order to survive. But the Trials were also a contest as all the Swimmers participating will be ranked according to there abilities and upon completion word of the Trials are taken to other Swimmer herds in The Mysterious Beyond. Swimmers who performed well usually ended up in good herds or in leadership positions. The Trials are always taken before the younglings reach The Time of Great Growing and Sura's oldest children were all ready to face the Trials.
Sura had the brightest hope for all of her children to do well in The Swimmer Trials "Except Spike of course". Sura turned to look at her adopted son who was happily munching away on some green food. Sura knew that the time would come for Spike to leave and learn the way's of his own kind soon and she dreaded that day. She remembered all to well what had happened the first time Spike left with a migrating Spiketail herd during the first cold time that the Valley had seen snow. Spike having to leave was especially hard on Ducky who had followed him into The Mysterious Beyond alone. In the corner of Sura's mind she hoped that Ducky would be more understanding the next time this inevitable event occurred. But for now she just concentrated on how happy everyone was today, then a dark thought entered her mind which caused her to feel a cold shiver run up her spine "What if one of my babies is chosen"
Sura took a deep breath to calm herself. That thought had terrified her for the last few day's but her mind quickly pushed those dark thoughts away.
Sura resolved that she would not think of that today it was a pleasant day so she might as well enjoy it like her happy go-lucky daughter was just a few metres away, Sura smiled again as she watched the friends play it was a very pleasant day.