Chapter 8
United We Stand

The sun slowly rises above the horizon, illuminating the land with its rays. A new day has dawned yet the members of the travelling group were still asleep with the exception of Bryan, who had woke up early and was making preparations for the journey ahead. He had collected a bundle of leaves for Littlefoot and was scanning the area from the sleeping hole he and Littlefoot occupied.

He retrieves his M1911A1 pistol, which was lying on the ground next to where he slept the night before, and holsters the weapon in his "Tanker" style holster. Just then, Littlefoot nudges his human adoptive father in the side. The youngling had just woken from his slumber and was still drowsy.

"Morning, Littlefoot." He said.

"Morning, dad." The youngling yawns. "I could surely use some breakfast."

"Look to your left, little one."

Littlefoot looks to his left and finds, much to his surprise, that his adoptive father had foraged his breakfast earlier in the day. Already starving at this point, the youngling dives into his meal, finishing the whole pile in less than fifteen minutes. By now his friends have also arrived, having smelled the scent of leaves, and were disappointed when they found out the young Apatosaurus had left none for them.

It could be considered karma since they ditched him the night before. Just then, a distant roar catches everyone's attention and they all turn in the direction where it came from. Much to their horror, a Tyrannosaurus Rex had spotted them and was headed their way. A gut feeling within Bryan told him this was Sharptooth's younger brother, who went by the name Siegfried.

Regarded by many as Sharptooth's less aggressive younger brother, Siegfried didn't usually go after younglings or smaller creatures since he hunted to satisfy his hunger rather than for sport. Today however, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was out to avenge the death of his brothers. He wanted to kill the ones responsible for the death of his older brother, and that meant he was going after the young dinosaurs and their human companion.

There was no way the younglings and their human friend were fighting this battle. They had to disengage and make a run for it, praying they could locate a place which to lose him in. Bryan rallies the young ones behind him and, with the aid of his compass, leads them on a run westwards. He wanted to lead them to safety and at the same time refrain from straying off course.

A tunnel was situated just up ahead which they could squeeze through and hopefully lose Siegfried. Bryan was the first to reach the entrance but he didn't go through the tunnel. Instead he gets into a crouching position and starts hammering away at Siegfried from eighty yards away while the young ones pushed one another through the tunnel through combined effort.

Being shot for the first time was quite a painful experience for the Tyrannosaurus Rex, especially since the M193 spec ammunition fired out of Bryan's XM16E1 had created devastating wounds upon impact. Siegfried rears back and roars in pain as Spike moved through the tunnel with Petrie on his back. Now the young ones were safely through and Bryan made his exit.

He barely manages to squeeze through before Siegfried forced his head through. Apparently the Tyrannosaurus Rex thought he could burst through the other side like an explosion. When Bryan swung his head around, he leapt back in shock. Merely a few feet away from him were the massive and smelly jaws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex snapping at him.

Of course, the human knew he was in no real danger of being eaten so long as he didn't put his god damned head in the snapping jaws. Bryan grins and points his middle finger at Siegfried before joining the young dinosaurs at the base of a Sauropod shaped monolith.

"Hey look." Littlefoot exclaimed. "It's the great rock which looks like a Longneck. We're going the right way! The way to the Great Valley!"

Hoping to get as far away from Siegfried as possible, the group continued its trek through the beyond. By now they were trudging through a sandy part of the land where ash fell from the sky like rain. Neither of them had paused in their long walk since the encounter and strain was evident on their faces. Ducky and Petrie had resorted to sitting on the back of Spike, their legs too sore to continue walking.

By now they were preparing to climb a rocky cliff, rugged terrain even for an experienced outdoorsman like Bryan. There were bigger problems for him to contend to however. Most if not all of the young dinosaurs who were moving on their feet were quadrupled, meaning they walked on all fours. For those moving on all fours, they usually navigated the land on well used paths or flatter terrain, not rocky cliffs which required climbing.

There were times when Bryan had to push the young ones up the mountain before making the climb himself. It was an exhausting process but the human pushed on. They had gone too far to quit now. Besides, quitting after passing one of the landmarks would certainly be a waste of effort, especially after what they've been through.

"Come on, we can't quit now!" Littlefoot shouted. He was nearly at the top by now. "What if the valley is just over the top of these rocks?"

Those words muttered by Littlefoot were meant to motivate the members of the group but some of them took it way too seriously. They really thought the valley was just beyond the cliff. As they reached the top, a sandstorm temporarily blinded the group. Slowly it began to clear, revealing… Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was no greenery, no fresh flowing water, not even signs of the adult dinosaurs.

All they could see was desolate landscape and rocky terrain.

"This is your Great Valley?" Cera spoke her mind. "You're crazy! I'm leaving."

"But Cera, we have to keep following the bright circle." Littlefoot pleaded.

"I'm taking the easy way for once!"

"But it's the wrong way!"

"Enough!" Bryan shouts.

The human's shout gathers everyone's attention. This was the first time he had been so worked up and they were all worried he would finish Siegfried's task for him.

"Look, I know we're all tired." He said. "And I know how demoralizing it can be when you realize the truth is farther from what you'd think. But right now is not the time to quit. We've come so far, achieved so much as a group. Despite our differences we've worked together and escaped danger together."

The young dinosaurs looked at each other with guilt, Littlefoot and Cera especially. Bryan did have a point after all.

"I know none of you trust me at this point but still, ask yourselves. Are we really going to quit now? After countless days of travelling and passing one of the landmarks in the riddle? Our goal has been to get to the valley, so let's get to the valley, together, as a team. United we stand, divided we fall."

Before anyone could say anything else, Siegfried appears out of nowhere and snarls at them, forcing Bryan to once again lead the young ones towards safety. Like they've done countless times before, the young dinosaurs and their human companion stuck together and moved as a group. No one was left behind, not even the smaller members of the group.

Unlike last time however, they deviated from the path. Siegfried had used his knowledge of the terrain and had blocked their path westwards. Left with no choice, Bryan was forced to lead the young ones through an alternate route. It would still take them to the Great Valley but there was a significant increase of danger.

The original path would've taken them around the "Mountains That Burn" but since it was blocked off by a very angry Tyrannosaurus Rex, they had to take an alternate route, which led them directly through the volcano range. Sea upon sea of lava oozed down from the craters, flowing underneath the path. They could die here if they weren't careful. Bryan hauls ass, allowing Littlefoot to take the lead.

He had seen edible vines and greenery distract Spike in the past and he did not want any member of the group to be left behind. Every time the Stegosaurus stopped, he would push him forwards till he started walking again. Heck, he didn't even need to push. All he had to do was to affix the bayonet onto his rifle and scare Spike into continuing his trek with the rest of the group.

After what seemed like eternity, the members of the group found themselves trudging through a cave. It was like the big underground, only smaller and without Dimetrodons. But this cave was home to a deadlier species, mutated Pachycephalosaurus, which Bryan nicknamed, predatory Pachys. Externally they were like normal Pachycephalosauruses but that was where the similarities ended.

While normal Pachys ate leaves and whatever greenery they could find, these Pachycephalosauruses ate meat like predatory dinosaurs. And worse of it all, they hunted like Dromaeosaurids. Barely a few seconds after they entered the cave, the group members were ambushed by the so called "Predatory Pachys". Bryan manages to shoot two of them before they got too close for his rifle.

He stabs one of them with his bayonet, which was mounted on his rifle, and kicks another away. Cera sees one attempting a flanking maneuver and drives her horn into the predator's chest, killing it. Littlefoot attempts a tail whip and manages to swipe one into a tar pit. Spike on the other hand, evacuates onto the top of a boulder, sheltering Ducky and Petrie from the danger below.

Despite having the initial element of surprise, the mutated Pachycephalosauruses were unable to eliminate the intruders and were repaid with total annihilation of their population. It was probably a good thing. No one wanted a real life predator disguised as a friendly herbivore. Now the danger had passed and the young dinosaurs and their human companion regroup under a waterfall where they quenched their thirst and cooled off.

As Littlefoot played around in the water with the rest of his friends, he notices Bryan sitting near the edge of the water. He was cleaning a slash wound on his hand, presumably the result of being attacked by mutated Pachycephalosauruses.

"Dad, you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The human cleans the wound with water from his canteen. "A little cut won't bring me down."

"Guys…" Cera called out. "We might be in for a fight."

Bryan and Littlefoot look around and realize the others have gone ahead. There was a tunnel underneath the waterfall which led them out of the cave and into a large pool of water. As they looked up, the two realized what Cera was talking about. Walking along a ledge above them was none other than Siegfried himself, and he was blocking the path westwards once again.

No longer could they run around him, and no longer could they keep hiding. If the younglings and their human companion wanted to reach the valley safely, they would have to eliminate Siegfried.