Chapter 5: Adventuring with obstacles
With joyful and golly chit-chat, the group of adolescent young dinosaurs traveled through dense forests, wide meadows and passed by several watering holes as Cera lead them through the Great Valley. After roughly an hour, they finally stopped in front of a large meadow of slightly dry, yellow-ish grass which almost grew up to the longnecks' height.
"Are we there? I don't see a cave yet," Ali spoke curiously as her gaze checked her surroundings. Some of the group also didn't quite remember where the cave actually was. Given how many places they knew of, it was impossible to keep track of where they were and how to get there.
"Well, I do remember remembering where the cave is but now I forgot how to remember it..." Ruby exclaimed in mild annoyance.
"Same here, I got no clue," Chomper agreed with a shrug.
"Didn't we fall into a hole at some point or was that another cave I'm thinking about?" Littlefoot brought up. Certainly, he could tell that he'd been here before.
"Me no remember," Petrie piped up.
"Yes we did, we did!" Ducky yelled excitedly, naturally not forgetting about her misadventure the first time she visited that cave.
"Eeyup, we've gotta comb through this area until someone falls into the cave, more or less," Cera confirmed. "Let's get started!"
Some uncertain glances were exchanged.
"Well, then I will be the first to find a Sky Color Stone," she added with a smug grin before marching into the field of tall grass, disappearing from view.
"She no be first, Petrie look from above!" the flyer spoke to Ducky with sudden dedication.
"Yep yep yep, we cannot allow her to find them first!" the swimmer agreed, rushing into the thick vegetation herself, Spike taking a few bites before sluggishly following.
"Gee, I wonder if I can smell that opening..." Chomper puzzled, receiving an encouraging smile from Ruby.
"We won't know until we do," she said in her most mysterious voice, both sharptooth and fastrunner darting into the unknown as well.
Littlefoot and Ali exchanged glances.
"Would you like to search together, Littlefoot?" the girl wondered, giving the boy a wink now that they were alone.
"Sure, race me?" Littlefoot challenged.
"No, I don't want to fall into some hole, you go first. If you want to race, I'll let you win."
"Oh, that's fine," the boy responded with a chuckle. "We don't need to be first to get in in order to find these stones first."
"Really? Do you know where to find them?" Ali inquired.
"No, but I'd like to get back at Cera if I can," the longneck said. "You see, back then we had a disagreement about where to find these stones. I ended up being wrong and she was teasing me a lot afterwards - you know how she is."
"Yeah, a bit of a tomboy but she's a great friend," Ali agreed, instinctively walking closer and closer to the boy until their flanks touched.
Suddenly, the grass in front of them moved which caused them to scatter away for a second until a very familiar face appeared.
"Found something yet?" Cera barked half-heartedly, her curious glance lingering and swinging back and forth between the two longnecks. "Oh, maybe you weren't even looking? Excuse me for intruding then." With a mischievous grin, the threehorn went back into the seemingly endless forest of weeds and was out of sight soon.
"Uhm, I'm not really sure what that was all about..." Littlefoot commented somewhat drily while Ali was shrugging.
"She can't know we're..." just in case, the girl lowered her voice, "... that we're in love with each other."
"Yeah, but isn't it odd that she only starts to tease us today?" Littlefoot puzzled. "We've gotta be extra careful or we'll never hear the end of it once this is out..."
"Absolutely," Ali agreed with a firm nod. "Let's keep look..."
Just then, the scream of a certain threehorn echoed across the area...
Meanwhile, Rhett was following Ali's mother who walked seemingly without aim, strolling through the Great Valley with no hurry whatsoever, seemingly quite in an enchanted mood too though it didn't rub off on him at all. Quite the contrary in fact, it made him tremble in annoyance which quickly turned into an even stronger emotion of aversion.
"What the fuck am I even doing here? Is this what recon missions are like? The boredom of this is beyond terrible!" Truth be told, Rhett had never been tasked to participate in scouting an area for its value for the herd, however now that was hardly important. It wasn't unusual for members of his herd to get certain tasks from their leader, Old One, however it was rather uncommon for children like him to be given any (not that there were many to begin with). In this special case, he felt like he wasn't supposed to be doing anything but walk around the stupid green hell for the mere sake of it and he was beginning to puzzle why he, Rhett the most awesome longneck, had to waste his precious time with a stupideous task like this on a day where it was most inconvenient for him to be forced into running errands like that. Didn't he want to stalk his girl Ali to verify whether or not his words had changed anything, whether Littlefoot would keep away from the longneck of his choice or if he'd be forced to go to all lengths in order to claim Ali for himself, even if it meant beating up an unfortunate wimp? And moreover, was it really a coincidence when considering WHO was doing this task with him?
"I bet this stupid girl set this up to get rid of me... If that turns out to be true she'll need to be taught a lesson that sticks as well..."
Kicking a pebble here and there, he followed the grown-up... For now.
"What was that?" Ali wondered in mild apprehension which turned into confusion when Littlefoot began to laugh.
"Cera probably found it, come on!" he called, racing off into the direction of the scream and, indeed, about a stone's throw away, there was an opening in the ground well hidden from curious eyes.
"Should we go in?" Ali asked, scanning the opening with doubtful eyes.
"Sure, the others should arrive here soon as well, you go after Cera while I call them just in case they didn't hear Cera," Littlefoot responded.
"Okay." Ali climbed down, soon slipping and sliding the remaining distance because of how steep and muddy the earth at the entrance was. At the bottom, she bumped onto hard rock and then into Cera, Chomper and Ruby who were already down there. The cave, so far, was no more than a narrow crevice hardly big enough to stretch her neck to full height - one Cold Time from now she probably wouldn't fit in anymore if her current growth was any indication.
Soon, Littlefoot came skidding in followed by Spike with Petrie clinging to his slowly developing back spikes and Ducky somersaulting after them.
"Great, we're all here," Cera said drily. "We've got to walk a little bit from here, follow me."
The morning moved on and Rhett was getting ever so frustrated about the situation, knowing Ali was probably off with that dumbass to get lovey-dovey in some lone forest where he couldn't see them. The image of the two invested in romantic head rubbing and kissing which popped up inside his mind was unbearable, finally causing his already damaged temper to break completely.
"Screw this, why am I even supposed to follow you around when there are no tasks to do?!" he eventually ranted when they reached a particularly dense forest without anyone else lumbering about nearby. "We're just walking around doing nothing, what do you need me for, HUH?!"
Ali's mother stopped humming a random tune and became rooted on the spot without turning her head towards the adolescent boy.
"Mhmm, no particular reason..." the adult mused while keeping a neutral voice. "Orders are orders and we have to follow them, isn't that right?"
"I never get tasks like this, why now? Can't you do this without me?!" Rhett continued to rant as he worked himself up.
"I certainly could but Old One specially requested that you came along with me," she lied, knowing full well that the boy wouldn't take it though.
"That's just random crap you made up, Ali told you to, didn't she?! Tell me, I demand it!"
Suddenly the forest turned very quiet as the grown-up longneck gradually craned her neck, approaching the boy in a subtly threatening manner.
"I demand that you finish the job with me. Old One doesn't like to be disappointed by lazy slack-offs like you. Follow me, Rhett."
An expression of pure hate decorated the beige-coloured longneck's face as he endured the quiet staredown of the grown-up.
"Oh whatever, I'll get what I want anyway, just a little bit later... I guess making any further act will only be a hindrance to me..." Rhett uttered an undistinguished grunt before he backed out and walked ahead of the grown-up.
"You'd better walk a little faster than before," was all he muttered, swallowing his aggressions and saving them up for later when they'd become useful to him.
"I'll so make you pay for this, Ali. Count on it!"
The cavern didn't change much for a while, occasionally switching between leading uphill and downhill, making very little turns overall. It was a rather boring trip so far, Ali found, though she had faith in her friends for showing her something cool.
Eventually, the path split into two separate tunnels. Cera halted in her movement.
"Crap, which way was it?" the threehorn grimaced as her gaze flickered between the two paths with uncertainty. For the heck of it, she couldn't recall which path they had chosen last time but any further hesitation would be giving her blunder away and that was something the girl couldn't allow to happen.
"This way!" she announced, wandering along the left tunnel which appeared to be a little less dark than the other.
"Are you sure that this is the right way to go?" Ducky wondered but Cera cut her short.
"Of course it is the right way, come on now!" she declared in a firm voice which didn't allow any further discussion. Shrugging, the others followed the threehorn, hoping that the path would lead them to the Sky Color Stones.
At noon, Rhett stood in front of the Thundering Waterfalls with Ali's mother.
"Well, I think this is enough for today," the adult longneck said as she admired the sight. "Truly mesmerizing, those waterfalls, aren't they?"
"Eh," Rhett grunted.
"They must be the secret behind the valley's fertility..."
"Hey, can I go now?" the boy inquired impatiently.
"Hmm, I suppose so," the female replied. Rhett had been going on her nerves for a while now, however she felt inclined to hold him up a little longer for Ali's sake. Old One actually didn't know about her taking Rhett though so it was probably better to let him go lest he saw through the lie.
"Yeah, you're released from your duty. I can report the results of our mission alone."
Rhett didn't need to be told twice. Before the grown-up knew, he had already run away.
"... No way..."
Cera gawked at the sight in front of her. The tunnel had been descending quite a bit during the last few minutes and now it dropped into a large underground lake which filled the small cavern up to the ceiling.
"Well, this is clearly a dead end," Chomper sighed as he cast a look at the lake.
"I do not recall having to swim, oh no no no," Ducky said with a glare at Cera. "And I even asked-ed you if you were sure about this tunnel!"
"Good job, Cera," Littlefoot said drily. "Now we can walk all the way back."
"Oh if you know better just lead the way you bloody know-it-all," Cera retorted in slight anger.
"Much rather you should have said that you weren't sure what way is the right one instead of picking one at random!" the longneck argued in annoyance. "Always letting your pride get in the way..."
"Oh shut up you insolent..."
"Hey, no fighting," Ali pleaded.
"Sorry, I was just saying," Littlefoot apologized.
"Yeah, let's go back, sorry," the threehorn gave in, the presence of Ali apparently soothing her usual hard-headed nature somewhat. And so the group turned around and walked the whole way back.
Panting, the boy arrived back at the nest.
"Those damn fools, don't they realize that I'm a master of reading tracks? This'll only delay me and buy those idiots time but they can't escape me... I'll definitely find them!"
Rhett jogged to the place where Ali was usually sleeping and quickly spotted two trails that clearly belonged to Ali and Littlefoot.
They wouldn't escape him.
As soon as the split in the tunnel had come back in sight, the group began following the other tunnel, however they didn't get far before another split occurred, the path branching into two separate tunnels once more.
"... Great," Cera commented with obvious sarcasm. "What now?"
"Anyone remember what way we've taken last time?" Littlefoot spoke up, addressing everyone in their group but none of them could remember.
"Hmm, I guess we'll have to split up and find out which way is the right?" Ali suggested. "It's how we do it in my herd sometimes, sending out smaller groups in different directions when we don't know where to go."
"Good idea!" Littlefoot exclaimed, immediately in higher spirits.
"Yeah, that might just work," Cera commented neutrally. "Who will take which path?"
"Well, it was Ali's idea so she should be the one determining that," Littlefoot proposed which didn't meet any objections.
"I don't mind taking either tunnel but could I go with you, Littlefoot?" the girl asked in a sweet voice.
"Anyone mind?" the boy casually questioned.
"Go ahead, we'd only be in the way," Cera commented mirthfully which Littlefoot answered with a roll of his eyes - he still couldn't tell whether the threehorn was teasing into the blue or if she knew.
"Okay, we'll separate here and meet back up once we've found the right way or a dead end, alright?" he announced to his friends who nodded in agreement. "See you later!"
"Not bad, are they trying to trick me?"
Rhett stood in front of the first branch in the tunnel, having tracked down the cave they entered through after a reckless sprint through the Great Valley though from here on he wouldn't be able to rely on tracks in the ground anymore since the floor was all solid rock.
"Hmm, darn it, I really can't tell which branch they've gone," he admitted grudgingly - indeed Littlefoot, Ali and their insolent friends had found a good way to make it harder to track them down, quite annoyingly. His only chance was to go by sound but would they even be close enough to make out their chit-chat? He listened intently, holding his breath despite how hard he had been pushing himself for as long as possible but it was about as silent as it could be.
"Or maybe I should wait until they come back? But what if there's another exit? Fuck this!" Slamming his tail against the wall, Rhett worked his brain for a solution but none seemed reliable.
"Pah, guess I'll have to look for them everywhere in this damn dark cave..." Without hesitation, the boy sprinted into the right tunnel which was the one Littlefoot and his friends had taken.
"This'd better be the right one!"
Once they had walked a bit, Cera addressed the remaining group she was leading along the right tunnel which seemed more and more familiar to her the longer they walked.
"Say guys, don't you think there's something going on between those two longnecks?" When she was met with curious glances, she added. "I mean, they were acting kind of funny today weren't they?"
"What do you mean?" Ducky wondered.
"They not look like they have fight," Petrie mentioned.
"Much rather, they seemed to be happy together," Chomper pointed out though none of them had gotten Cera's message at all but Ruby who was pondering for a second before replying to the threehorn.
"They seem to like each other and they are not the same gender; are you thinking what I am thinking I am thinking?"
"Well I am thinking they're secretly having the hots for each other," Cera announced with a smirk. "Though of course Littlefoot would never admit such a thing."
"Well, would you admit that yourself?" Ruby inquired with a smirk of her own which momentarily shook the threehorn.
"O-of course! I mean... Maybe?"
"For some reason Petrie have trouble believing that," the flyer teased.
"Oh shut up you!" Cera barked, playfully putting her horns into display.
"Well, I think it would be a wonderful thing if they really had such feelings for each other, oh yep yep yep," Ducky giggled happily. "Spiky what do you think?"
The spiketail rolled his eyes.
"Oh, Spiky, it is a really pretty thing to like someone like that you know?" Ducky tried to convince him but Spike didn't seem to like the idea.
"Should we try to discover their secret then?" Cera questioned.
"Let's stick with observation perhaps," Ruby advised. "They might react badly if we were to call them out, react badly they might."
"Oh alright, alright," Cera gave in. "But I will figure it out soon enough."
Meanwhile, Littlefoot and Ali were having a conversation about the same thing.
"Say, do you really think we can hide it from the others?" Littlefoot spoke up as they climbed up the steeply ascending tunnel, walking with their heads lowered for how low the ceiling was.
"I don't know, Littlefoot," Ali replied honestly. "Cera seems to suspect something for sure..."
"Yeah, even though we didn't act any different from yesterday or did we?" Littlefoot puzzled. "Sure is a little annoying to deal with Cera when she's like this..."
"Hmm, yeah, a little," Ali admitted. "If they ask us about it, should we admit that we are together or deny it?"
"Hmm, that's a good question," Littlefoot said thoughtfully, almost hitting his head on a stalagmite hanging from the ceiling. "I mean wouldn't denying it just indicate the obvious?"
"Kind of, I guess..." Ali reckoned uncertainly. "Either way, I'd only be comfortable when we're alone like this."
"Hehe, yeah, same," Littlefoot chuckled as Ali made a weak attempt to get close to him while walking. "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. For now let's stick to our plan."
"Fine by me," Ali confirmed before they continued on the ever tightening tunnel.
Rhett cursed audibly when another branch in the path appeared in front of his eyes.
"Damn it! How am I supposed to know where they fucking are? If this is a game, it's worse than Hide and Seek!"Nevertheless, Rhett attempted to calm his nerves and his raging breath in order to sharpen his eyes and hope to find a sign of their whereabouts through his sense of hearing.
"No way, I hear something in both tunnels!" Had he actually got lucky earlier to pick the correct tunnel? Well, he was supposed to be a winner type so it had to be that luck was always on his side.
"So this means they split up huh? Well, I would recognize Ali's sweet voice anywhere... It must be... To the left!"
A vicious grin formed on Rhett's face. Now he would catch them and his scheme would finally move on to the next stage…
"Hey, look!" Cera suddenly called when a vaguely familiar hole appeared in front of them, too tight for most of them to pass.
"Spiky, this is where you got stuck last time, yep yep yep!" Ducky giggled much to the spiketail's annoyance.
"We find it, now we go back to tell others," Petrie exclaimed happily but Cera had a different idea.
"Actually, how about you go get them, Petrie?"
"You're much faster than us, yes you are," Ducky agreed, quickly grasping onto the threehorn's line of thinking.
"Yeah, and we need to make this hole here a little larger so Spike can fit through this time. Even I would get stuck now, damn this growth thingy..."
As the group snickered at her statement, Petrie stretched his wings.
"Okay, me go. Petrie be right back!"
As Petrie took off, Cera inspected the opening in the wall which lead to the cave they had been looking for.
"I'm gonna ram this thing," she thought, grimacing at the challenge but if one of them could do it, then it was Cera.
"Damn it, we picked the shorter stick," Littlefoot giggled as the tunnel got so narrow that not even Ducky would have fit through the remaining space.
"I guess the others got lucky then. Should we head back?" Ali asked.
"Yeah, we can't go on any further here. Let's go back," Littlefoot replied, making attempts to turn around.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"
Cliffhanger... of course :P
This chapter is a bit slow. I wanted to catch the adventuring vibe and create a little adventure in this chapter. One could argue that it could have been skipped but...
... Rhett absolutely has to meet Littlefoot and Ali alone (or else he couldn't do what he's going to do in the next chapter) and I think this setting is a rather good choice. Besides, there were a few smaller things I wanted to do like the gang slowly noticing things about our two longnecks. The next two chapters will be intense, especially chapter 7.
The next upload will probably be in about two weeks when I get back from vacation.
hadiginga chapter 5 . Jun 12
"Look like Rhett don't understand the meaning of true liove great chapter"
Yeah, you could say that haha. About time he's taught a lesson ^^ Thanks for the comment :D
Guest chapter 1 .Jun 12
"Can you do a love story for the older kiss like hye and the bullys and Guido."
Wtf why? xD Well, nope, aside from this idea being uhh... well, weird, I have more than enough work with my current stories :P
Anagnos chapter 5 . Jun 14
"Now that I have caught up with this story as well, time to make my thoughts known about this story. This story has a very slow start for me and I do hope that it will get more interesting later on.
Like Sovereign, I am not much of a Rhett fan and witnessing him acting like this certainly is a fresh experience. I don't exactly see Rhet as a villain but seeing this darker side of him has been quite intriguing so far. That comment though about Chomper eating Rhett was a fun one, so points for that.
While I don't necessarily care for romantic stories it is sometimes a good decision to expand what you read. I have noticed as well that the scenes in these chapters are not indeed that impactful, so there definitely is work to be done about that.
Judging by what is to come in the later parts and the eventual return to the Land of Mists, as the title suggests, will hopefully be interesting to witness when the time comes."
Thanks for giving this story of mine a shot!
In the past, I've often rushed through the action to the point where the plot just doesn't link together nicely anymore. I've recently begun trying to connect the major moments in my stories better and change the pace every now and then. One chapter may be filled with action and conflict while others are slow and developing the characters, add some comedy or just connect two locations a bit. I kinda hate when characters teleport from one scene to the next. I rarely write a scene just for the heck of it, there's usually some thought behind it even if the conversations seem a bit random on first glance. Conversations are my strong point and sometimes when I just try to find a natural flow, it gets a bit longer than it needs to be but forcing the dialogue too much wouldn't be right either.
I'm glad that a slightly more idiotic and more antagonistic Rhett is intriguing to you! I mean, we kinda hate him, don't we? But isn't that exactly why this story has to exist? Rhett needs some more hate ^^
Personally, I'm not too crazy about romantic stories because, most of the time, the romance is the main focus and rockets from "hey, we just met" to "censored" quicker than Petrie can say "Me" :P Ali and Littlefoot already knew each other so it's still going a bit quicker here but I'm trying to keep their romance subtle. It's one of the main themes in this story but not THE main theme!
I hope you, too, will keep following the story :)
Guest chapter 5 . Jun 15
"The burden of knowledge regarding these upcoming chapters is intense, I will try to at least provide my general thoughts on this chapter without spoiling anything for other readers. While I don't hold the tv series in high regard, this is probably the best possible way you could have incorporated it. It's nice to see Littlefoot and Ali enjoying themselves after everything that has happened with Rhett and putting Ali into a new setting in which we previously haven't seen her has a lot of potential for unique interactions. I like that the adults take a more active role here as opposed to the gang keeping this to themselves. It was smart of Ali to go to a mother about Rhett's stalking. Aside from the immediate benefit of her distracting him for the day, things escalate Rhett can no longer feign innocence considering Ali's mother's knowledge oh his past offenses against her daughter and Littlefoot.
I look forward to reading the next chapters when they're up. Hopefully there will soon be retribution for how Rhett has treated Ali."
Oh, I know I'm a bit behind on uploading. Just takes so long to do sometimes... My apologies for that
I'm not going to comment on the rest as it is just as hard for me to avoid spoiling the contents of the next two chapters which are already done :P I should be caught up by the end of the month!