Close Shaves
Back at the rock wall, Ken busted through to the top to form a small opening. As soon as he did, he quickly squirmed through it. The moment he has his legs through, there was a loud "BANG" and the whole cavern shook. The boy braced himself against the wall as the others on the other side struggled to keep their balance.
"Oh no!" Ali cried. "It feels like another earthquake!"
The others were about to agree when an angry roar echoed through the cave. It was immediately followed by a squawky voice shouting:
"Yeah! That's using your tail!"
When Ken heard that voice, he froze like a statue. His blood felt like it turned to ice and his face went deadly pale.
"Oh no!" he fearfully whispered. "It can't be!"
"What's wrong, Ken?!" Ducky asked, worried.
Ken turned back to the hole in the wall. Everyone became taken aback when they saw the look of terror on his face.
"Ali," his voice was loaded with fear, "it's Ichy and Dil!"
"What?!" Ali shrieked. "Are you sure?!"
"I'd know that voice anywhere!" Ken replied.
"Who are Ichy and Dil?!" Cera asked.
The longneck and human, while hearing Cera's question, didn't respond to it. For at the moment, they were both startled by the revelation.
"But…what are they doing?!" Ali asked.
"I don't know?!" Ken shook his head. "But I think they're after Aylene and Littlefoot!"
"Who are Ichy and Dil?!" Cera asked again.
"Oh, no!" Ali cried. "Ken, we have to save them!"
"I know!" Ken said. "But we can't just charge in without a plan! We've got to think of something!"
"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHO ICHY AND DIL ARE?!" Cera shouted, tired of being ignored.
"Sorry, Cera!" Ken replied. "There's no time to explain! Littlefoot and Aylene are in serious trouble! Right now we have to think of a plan to save them!"
The human boy then looked around desperately for something that could aid the team in their rescue plan. However, the only thing he could see was the rock wall at their disposal.
"Wait…" he mumbled.
As he looked over the rock wall, he noticed that the structure was unsound. With just the right amount of force, it could cause a rockslide, and an explosive one at that. Ken then looked back at the others.
By now, the boy had seen Cera show incredible strength and endurance, particularly when it came to ramming her head on rocks with enough force to cause them to break into small pebbles. Not to mention, Spike displayed a lot of muscle and stability when he was pushing large boulders away.
If the Triceratops and Stegosaurus combined their strength together…
"That's it!" Ken snapped his fingers. "I got an idea! It's a long shot, but it just might work!"
BOW! CRASH!
With one good swing of Dil's tail, the crevasse broke open. After a shower of stones and pebbles, Littlefoot and the unconscious Aylene were completely exposed.
Terrified and trembling uncontrollable, Littlefoot pressed up against the wall and curled up into a ball. His pulse raced so fast it felt as if he had just ran a marathon. And his pumping heart rate only increased when the giant bellydragger turned to him, squinting.
To Dil, all she could see was a bunch of blurry objects that resembled rocks.
"I know they're here somewhere!"
Realizing that the gator hadn't seen him or Aylene, Littlefoot tried desperately to stop shivering. But with Dil's elongated jaws just being several feet away from him, the task proved to be impossible for him. It was only a matter of time before she noticed.
He didn't dare look back to see if Aylene was okay. Although he was worried about her, he was too scared to make the slightest move. He desperately wished that his best friend were at least awake. Aylene had always been able to get them out of tough situations. She would know what to do.
However, Dil's eyes managed to adjust just enough for her to see the little shivering longneck and human creature knocked out cold on the ground.
"I see them, Ichy!" she announced. "I see them!"
Littlefoot fearfully uncurled himself and stood on his hind legs, pressing himself against wall.
"Congratulations." Ichy said dryly as he hopped the gator's back and onto her head. He then changed his tone to a definite threatening one. "Now sick 'em and remember to leave me some!"
It was in that moment Littlefoot wished he couldn't understand what they were saying to each. Knowing they wanted to eat him and Aylene was bad enough, but hearing a conversation about it was even more disturbing.
The moment Dil opened his jaws and growled, Littlefoot felt his stomach drop and his limbs go numb. Although he didn't want to see his last few moments being consumed by the saliva dripping teeth, he was too paralyzed with fear to even look away.
There was no way he was getting out of this one.
Or so he thought.
Suddenly, Archie rushed out of the water as quickly as he could and over to Littlefoot. The young longneck saw him approach out of the corner of his eye and dropped back down on all fours as the giant turtle placed himself between the gator and bird.
"Back off, bellydragger!" Archie snarled.
Dil stepped back slightly, confused about what just happened.
"The kids' are snacks!" the Archelon continued. "I'm a meal!"
"Yeah?" Ichy sneered. "Well, I call you the first course! Besides, we've got a score to settle with these two!"
"What are you talking about?!" Littlefoot finally spoke up.
The moment the longneck had spoken, Ichy and Dil looked at him with both anger and confusion.
"Wait," Dil shouted, "you're a male?!"
Littlefoot shrunk back.
"And what about that human?!" Ichy pointed with his good wing. "Is it male of female?!"
"F-Female." Littlefoot replied in a soft, shivering voice.
"So all this time we've been chasing look-alikes?!" Dil sounded even angrier than ever.
"Who care?!" Ichy snappily replied. "We've at least got a meal! Just tenderize them, Dil!"
The next thing Archie and Littlefoot knew, Dil swung her massive paw and knocked the large turtle away, sending him flying across the cave like a hockey puck. He ended up sailing straight into a large, thick stalagmite. The impact of the hit left him dazed.
For a moment, Littlefoot's instinct kicked into overdrive and he darted away. However, he came to sudden halt when he remembered Aylene was still unconscious. He turned around just in time to see Dil advancing on the human girl.
"NO!" the longneck cried.
Another set of instincts kicked in and Littlefoot soon found himself racing back to Dil. She was about to snatch Aylene in her jaws when Littlefoot leapt over the end of her tail and grabbed the arrow shaft sticking out of it in his mouth and yanked on it so hard he ended up pulling it out, tearing off a small chunk of flesh in the process. Dil let out a roar of agonizing pain and thrashed her tail around wildly. Littlefoot managed to duck and evade her attack.
However, the gator turned around and fixed him with a poisonous scowl.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, YOU BRAT!" she roared.
Littlefoot fearfully backed away as Dil turned around and started advancing on him. Archie, having recovered, looked up to see the situation and prepared to leap into action.
Suddenly, there was a sharp "POW". In less than a second, an arrow shot through the air and landed in the ground between the between Dil and Littlefoot.
Everyone turned to see Ken on Ali's back, his crossbow at the ready and aimed directly at the Deinosuchus and Ichthyornis. Both of them looked nervous, but ready to defend their new friends.
"Ichy!" Ken shouted. "Dil! They had nothing to do with what happened! We're ones you want! Come and get us!"
"Ken!" Littlefoot shouted. "Ali! What are you doing?!"
"It's them!" Ichy raged. "Get 'em, Dil!"
Without a second of hesitation, and having lost interest in Littlefoot and Aylene, Dil gave an angry roar and charged at the two friends.
"Run, Ali!" Ken commanded. "RUN!"
Ali immediately turned around and bolted away as fast as she could. Ichy and Dil continued to advance on them and slowly gaining. Pretty soon, they were running back to the rock wall. From the small hole at the top, Ducky and Petrie watched and waited for the right moment to give a command. When Ali and Ken had reached the center of the rock wall, the swimmer shouted:
"NOW!"
Immediately, Spike began pushing as hard as he could on a large boulder. When he managed to lodge it from its place, the rock wall trembled slightly. Noticing her cue, Cera charged forward and slammed her head against the base of the stone pile.
The impact was just the right amount of force that the rocks at the top of the wall all suddenly exploded from their places, like they had just been blown up by dynamite. Before Ichy and Dil knew what was happening, their entire worlds went black as the large boulders showered down and knocked them hard on their heads.
Once the barrage of rocks ended, Ali came to a halt and she and Ken looked back. Shortly after the two friends had caught their breath, they let out relieved exhales.
"Ken, it worked!" Ali smiled.
"Heh," Ken grinned, "now was there any doubt?"
The female Apatosaurus couldn't help but give a thankful laugh.
At that moment, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike came running through the large gap at the top of the pile and down toward Ken and Ali. As soon as the human boy looked up and saw them, he immediately became serious.
"C'mon," he said, "Littlefoot and Aylene are this way."
With Ali and Ken leading the way, the group made their way through the cave. In just a short while, they came running to find Littlefoot and Archie standing over Aylene with concern.
When the longneck heard the sound of footsteps, he looked up and a huge smile streaked across his face.
"Cera, Petrie, Ducky, Spike!" he called out. "What are you guys doing here?!"
"Saving you guys." Cera smirked.
"Are you alright?" Ducky asked as the group approached.
"I'm fine," Littlefoot replied, "but Aylene was knocked out. And…I think she's bleeding."
Upon hearing that news, Ken immediately leapt off of Ali's back and ran over to the unconscious Aylene. Littlefoot and Archie stepped aside as the human boy came through and knelt down next to the human girl. He carefully brushed her hair aside to get a better look at the damage. Sure enough, there was a large bruise on Aylene's head and a small amount of blood was trickling out of it and running down her face. Fortunately, while it was something that needed treatment, it wasn't enough damage to cause a serious concussion. Aylene would be fine and would no doubt recover quickly.
"It doesn't look too serious." Ken said. "I think I have something that can help. But we should get out of here before Ichy and Dil wake up."
"Good idea, kid." Archie nodded. "I know a safe place. Just follow me."
Ken nodded and picked Aylene up as quickly and carefully as he could. He then gently placed her onto Littlefoot's back andthe group hastily followed the Archelon through the caverns, away from the deranged and hungry gator and predatory bird.