The Clock Begins to Tick
"AYLENE!"
"AYLENE!"
"HEY, AYLENE, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Cera, Ducky and Spike all came to a stop among a dense grove of trees that had been spared by the storm. A second later, Petrie swooped down from the sky and landed on the ground.
"Me no find her anywhere," he said with distress.
Cera groaned with frustration.
"How hard can it be to find one human?" she asked, anxious. "We've looked all over, but she's not here."
"Maybe Littlefoot or Derek have found her already," Ducky suggested. "Or maybe the Time Stone sent her back to her world. That has happened before. It has, it has."
"Well, if that's what happened, then Derek and Elaine might be stuck here for a while," Cera frowned. "Who knows how long it will be before she's able to come back."
Spike shook his head and Petrie shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, c'mon," Cera said with a deep exhale, "We should meet up with the others. Hopefully, they had much better luck than us."
As the Gang walked past a small, rocky ridge, the ground suddenly shook beneath them again. They stumbled for a second before bracing themselves against the vibrating earth. At the same time, they heard the sound of wood coming loose.
The moment all four of them turned their heads to see what it was, they were met with a pile of logs and branches quickly rolling down the slope towards them! They only had a second to scream before the pile crashed down on them!
Then, as soon as it had started, the tremor stopped.
The Gang shot their heads up out from underneath the logs and gasped for air. They were dazed and disoriented, but unharmed.
"Oh, me hate earthquakes!" Petrie whined.
Cera shook the dizziness out of her head and frowned suspiciously.
"These are becoming way too frequent," she said. "And it caught us by surprise again."
"What do you think it means?" Ducky asked, shakened.
"How should I know?" Cera replied irritably, struggling to get out from underneath a huge log. "All I know is that it's becoming annoying."
"Hey, guys! You okay?!"
The Gang immediately turned to see where the voice came from. Derek was running towards them.
"We're fine, Derek!" Cera called back. "Did you find Aylene?"
Derek came to a stop at the edge of the pile and leaned over on his hands and knees. He breathed heavily for a moment before wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"No, I haven't," he said, still a little breathless. "I was searching nearby when I heard you guys scream. I take it you haven't found her either."
"No, we haven't. No, no, no," Ducky said sadly, lifting herself out of the broken branches.
Derek let out a frustrated moan and hung his head. "Where is she?"
"Don't worry, Derek," Cera grunted, freeing herself from the pile, "I'm sure she's fine."
Derek made and ambiguous face. Half of him believed what Cera was telling him, but the other half couldn't stop worrying about his sister.
Just then, another voice cut through the silence.
"Derek! There you are!"
Derek perked up and turned to see a large Anklyosaurus coming towards him at a fast pace.
"Kosh?" he blinked, surprised. "What's wrong?"
Kosh slowed down and come to a stop in front of Derek. Now that he was closer, Derek could see a look of concern in the club-tail's eyes.
"Derek, I've been looking everywhere for you! It's your sister!"
Derek and the rest of the Gang all stiffened at the same time. The tone in the Anklyosaurus made them worried.
"Is she hurt?!" Derek asked quickly.
"No, she's fine," Kosh replied, "at least from what I could tell."
"What do you mean?"
"I saw her and Littlefoot climbing up a mountain ridge just a few minutes ago."
"What?!"
"I think it might have something to do with what some of my friends were talking about," Kosh explained, "I went to help them clean up, and they told me that they had been talking about all the stuff that has been happening to the Valley. They said that they suspected that the two newcomers to the Valley might have brought bad luck with them, and Aylene was within earshot."
"You mean my grandma and Doc?!" Derek exclaimed, tensing with righteous anger. "Why would they think that?!"
"That doesn't matter right now!" Kosh said harshly. "The point is Aylene got very upset! I tried to find her to talk to her! That's when I saw her and Littlefoot climbing up a mountain range!"
"Are you sure it was them?!" Derek was becoming more frantic with each word Kosh spoke.
"Positive!" Kosh nodded. "There's only one creature I know who has a glowing stone around their neck!"
Derek perked up at that statement.
"Wait, you mean her Time Stone?" he asked in a low voice. "You're saying it was glowing?"
"Yeah, I could see it from where I was standing," Kosh answered. "And I was pretty far away."
Derek fell silent for a moment and raised his fist to his chin. His mind raced to piece together the information he was told. As relieved as he was to hear that his sister was alive, his anxiety was replaced with confusion. The moment Kosh mentioned Aylene's Time Stone, he remembered something.
"Littlefoot mentioned something about her Stone before," he whispered, "How it reacted to the storm. If that's the case, then does that mean…It must. I'm sure of it."
"What we gonna do now?" Petrie asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Cera said. "We're going to go after them. Right, Derek?"
Derek paused for a moment before looking at Cera with conviction.
"Yeah, but we should find Grandpa Longneck and my grandma first," he said. "They need to know what's going on." Derek turned back to Anklyosaurus. "Thanks for the tip, Kosh. I owe you one."
Kosh nodded in gratitude. "Good luck to you, Derek. I hope you get to them in time."
"Well, c'mon!" Cera commanded. "Let's go!"
Derek leapt onto the back of the Triceratops as she passed him. Ducky climbed up onto Spike's back, and Petrie took to the sky.
They all set out racing toward the heart of the valley.
"AUGH!"
"HOLD ON, AYLENE!"
Aylene held onto Littlefoot's tail with both hands as he struggled to lift up onto the ridge. He and Aylene were almost at the top when the Time Stone flashed. At that moment, a sudden earthquake shook the land, and the pathway underneath them cumbled. Littlefoot was near the top, and managed to keep firm grip on the edge. However, Aylene missed her footing and slipped. Luckily, by some miracle, she reached out and grabbed ahold of Littlefoot's tail, and was now holding on for dear life with a strength she never knew she had. She swung back and forth as the tremors continued.
Then, the earthquake stopped.
Seeing their chance, two friends worked together to get up on the ridge before another earthquake decided to sneak up on them. Littlefoot lifted himself and Aylene up, while Aylene did her best to find the best footholds. They kept climbing, not even daring to look down for a single moment. With each passing moment, their trembling limbs threatened to give out on them.
At last, they hoisted themselves to safety.
Once they were up on the ledge, Littlefoot collapsed on his front, and Aylene rolled onto her back. The two of them took several deep breaths of sweet, precious air, grateful to still be alive.
"That was too close," Littlefoot panted heavily. "I'm just glad my strength held out."
"I'm glad you TAIL held out!" Aylene wheezed, shutting her eyes. "Gee whiz, this is getting ridiculous. How much time passed this one and the last one?"
"Not much," Littlefoot replied. "These quakes are getting more and more frequent. We gotta reach the source of it and fast."
Aylene took on last deep breath and sat up. She opened her eyes and looked back down at her Time Stone. It was still glowing and hovering in front of her, pointing in the same direction. She and Littlefoot looked towards the horizon. A maze of mountain ranges awaited them, and a faint fog was starting to form among the peaks.
Something dark from much further in the distance caught Aylene's attention. She narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look.
Aylene took off her bag and reached in for her monocular. She looked through it, adjusting the lens to get the clearest view. What she saw made her tense. For half a second, she forgot to breath.
Several miles away, a dark storm cloud was beginning to form. As she watched it, she realized with a cold chill that it was growing at an abnormally fast rate.
What's more, it was moving towards the Great Valley.
Just like the tornados.
It was then that Aylene noticed the light was starting to dim again. She felt the wind growing stronger. She looked to the sky and saw thin clouds were floating across the sun. She followed the path of the wind, and realized that it was coming from the direction of the storm clouds.
From the same place the Time Stone was guiding them towards.
"Let's get moving," Aylene said, her voice low and nervous.
Littlefoot simply nodded. He could feel that ominous chill, too. They didn't have much time before another disaster struck.
Aylene mounted onto his back, the two headed towards the storm cloud.
A while later, Aylene got another eerie feeling. Something in the back of her mind seemed to be screaming at her that she had forgotten something important. She was worried about the storm, but that wasn't what was nagging at her. It was something else. Something she had forgotten but was so desperately trying to remember.
But what could it be? What? Aylene couldn't recall anything.
Eventually, she shook the feeling away. She had to focus on getting to where the storm cloud was, and figure out what to do once she and Littlefoot got there.
However, a tiny sliver of that feeling stuck with her, refusing to leave.
