One Disaster After Another

In about an hour, the group had made it down a small path jutting out from the cliff face and they were now walking through a thick forest. Most of the vegetation they came across was much like the sort of things they would find back in the Great Valley. However, it all seemed to be a lot heavier and wetter than the plants back in the Valley.

It was probably like that because of the intense humidity. The air was just dense with a thick fog and felt heavy with water. And for Aylene, who was still recovering from a hit to the head, the humid air was making her feel like her brain was swimming through cotton. Needless to say, this was just making her more disoriented than she was before.

"Just stay close." Ken said as they continued on though the jungle. "If you get lost in the mists, you stay lost."

"And watch you're step." Ali warned. "Some rocks and ledges are really slippery."

"Ugh," Aylene groaned.

"Aylene," Littlefoot looked back at the rider on his back, "are you okay?"

"Just a little dizzy," the girl replied, "but I think I'll be okay."

Seeing the situation, Ken walked back to see if he could help.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Aylene's dizzy." Littlefoot explained.

Ken then turned to Aylene. He could tell that she was in a lot of discomfort just by looking at her face.

"You going to be okay?" he asked the girl. "Do you need a rest?"

"No," Aylene slowly shook her head, "I'll be okay. Let's just keep going. We got to find the Night Flower."

"Well," Ken replied, looking at the sun through the leafs, "we are making good time. It's about early afternoon. We should at least stop and have something to eat."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," the girl protested. "I told you, I'm fine."

"That may be," Ali walked up next to Ken, "but we also need to keep up our strength. So let's just take a few minutes to rest and eat, okay?"

Aylene looked up at the others. They all definitely had a look of fatigue and hunger about them. While she wasn't concerned about herself, she was worried about them. As much as she didn't want to be a weakling, she had to put their well-being before her pride.

"Okay," she nodded. "Let's have a snack break."

Aylene slowly began to slip off of Littlefoot. However, the moment she moved, her whole world began to spin again. She gripped her head and swayed back.

"Aylene!" Littlefoot exclaimed.

Aylene then felt two arms wrap around her and keep her steady. She looked up and saw that she was staring straight into Ken's face. Simply out of reaction, she felt heat rise in face, which caused it to turn slightly pink.

"Easy there," Ken said. "You're still disoriented. Just take it slow, okay?"

"Uh, sure." Aylene nodded.

Ken carefully braced Aylene up and guided her over to a large boulder. When they reached it, he helped her sit down. The human girl took her bow off of her shoulder before slipping her gym bag off of her back. She then leaned against rock, letting out a huge exhale. Ken sat down next to her, setting his crossbow aside and taking off his gym bag.

Meanwhile, Ali guided the others over to the groves of plants and started showing them which ones were eatable and which ones they should stay away from. While Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike wandered just a few feet away from the group, Littlefoot and Ali found a bush full of moist leafs and began to munch on them.

Back with the humans, Aylene opened her bag and pulled out a large water bottle along with a granola bar. The moment she unscrewed the cap off the bottle, she began chugging the contents. When she was done, she let out a sigh of content. She then tore the wrapper of her granola bar and began to nibble on the small piece of food.

"You take granola bars, too, huh?" Ken said.

"Yeah." Aylene nodded. "Although I mostly eat fish while I'm here. Fortunately, I love seafood."

"Me, too." Ken replied. "Although the first time I caught fish here wasn't very pleasant. Some members of Ali's herd saw me fishing and became nervous. Some even accused me of being a "sharptooth"."

"Yeah," Aylene looked down, recalling the distant past, "I had a similar problem. But…my friends still stood by me. I was lucky to have found them."

"I can see that," the human boy nodded, frowning at the same time. "It…was Ali's father who stood up for me."

"Ali's father?" Aylene turned to Ken.

That was the second time she heard a reference to the longneck.

Ken, however, didn't look at Aylene. He stared at the ground with a stern face with just a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Yes," Ken slowly talked, pausing in mid-sentences. "He…accepted me into the herd when I first came here. He was…like an uncle to me."

"I see," the human girl solemnly nodded. "So…what happened to him? I remember Ali said something about…"

"I don't want to talk about it." Ken turned away, his voice sounding like it was going to crack in sorrow.

Aylene leaned away, realizing she might have just crossed a delicate line. She decided that it would be best if she didn't cross over it anymore and just back away from the subject. Whatever happened to Ali's father, Ken certainly showed that he was affected by it. Although Aylene wanted to apologize for bringing the subject up in the first place, she didn't feel like this was the time to say anything related to it.

Still, she did have some questions about the Land of Mists. Would it hurt to ask a few?

"Ken," Aylene quietly asked, "what was this place like before?"

"Well," Ken shrugged, "it was actually a lot like the Great Valley. The only difference is that there were some predators roaming around. Of course, when you travel with a large herd of giant sauropods, they will leave you alone for the most part. Especially since they were of the small variety. There were only a few occasions where some were stupid enough to try and challenge us. Of course, they didn't stand a chance."

Meanwhile, Ali looked up from the bush and turned to look at he two humans. When Littlefoot noticed her action, he looked up at her.

"Something wrong, Ali?" he asked.

"Huh?" the female longneck looked at her friend. "Oh, no. I was just wondering: do you think Ken likes Aylene?"

"What do you mean?" Littlefoot asked, cocking his head.

"Well," Ali shrugged, "he has been very caring towards her."

"Yeah, I guess he has been," the male Apatosaurus said.

"Usually, you care about someone you really like." Ali explained.

"Well, there are different kinds of care." Littlefoot pointed out. "Just like how the love between families is different than the love you have for your friends."

"Yeah, you're right," the female longneck sighed. "I don't know. It's just that when you guys got caved in, Ken was really worried about Aylene. And now he seems to be protective of her. I just get the impression that he really likes her, and she likes him, too."

Littlefoot looked over at the two humans. He hadn't thought about Aylene and Ken's relationship. But now that Ali mentioned it, he could kind of see an attraction forming between the two humans that seemed to be something other than friendship.

"I guess it's possible," the male longneck said. "But I don't know that much about humans."

Ali hung her head.

"Sorry," she replied. "I don't know why I brought it up. It's just…after all that's happened these past few days, I really want something good to happen for a change."

"Ali?"

"It's nothing, Littlefoot," the female Apatosaurus shook her head sadly. "Just forget I said anything."

Littlefoot paused for a second. He then nodded and gave a warm smile.

"Okay," he said. "But if you ever want to talk, I'm right here."

Ali glanced at Littlefoot for a second before giving a small, grateful smile.

However, the moment of peace was soon to be shattered.

As Cera was walking toward a bush to get some good leafs to eat, she got to close to a ledge. Before she knew what was happening, she suddenly slipped. Her hind-legs slid off the edge and gravity began to pull her downward.

"HELP!" she screamed.

Ducky, Petrie, and Spike looked up sharply. For a spilt second, they saw Cera desperately clinging to the edge before slipping off. The sound of rocks sliding down the wall and Cera screaming filled the air.

"CERA!" Ducky and Petrie shouted.

The swimmer, flyer, and spiketail all raced over to the edge. Down below them was a blanket of dense fog.

And Cera had disappeared among it.

"CERA!" Ducky shrieked. "CERA! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

From where they were, Littlefoot, Aylene, Ken, and Ali heard the commotion. The two humans immediately grabbed their things and got up. The two humans and two longneck hastily ran over to the spot where they heard the others shouting.

"What happened?!" Aylene asked, worried. "Where's Cera?!"

"Cera fall the ledge!" Petrie screeched.

Worried about his friend, Littlefoot ran over to the ledge, skidding to a stop to avoid falling over the ledge. He then lowered his head, trying to see through the fog. But it was no use.

"I can't see her!" he shook his head. "The fog's too thick!"

Then below, out of the mist, a familiar voice shouted:

"I'm okay, guys!"

"Cera?!" Aylene cried out.

"I landed on a ledge!" Cera's voice sounded fearful.

"Can you climb back up?!" Aylene asked.

"No!" Cera replied. "It's too steep and the ledge I'm on is really small!"

Ken got down on his hands and knees and leaned just a little ways over the ledge.

"Okay, Cera, listen to me! Stay where you are! We'll find some way to help you back up! Just stay calm and don't move!"

"Okay!" Cera's voice shakily answered. "Just hurry!"

Ken stood back up and turned toward the others.

"C'mon!" he commanded. "We gotta find some thing to pull her up!"

Just then, lightning flashed across the sky. Shortly after, it was followed by the booming sound of thunder. The group jumped in surprise and looked up. Dark clouds began to gather in the sky above them. In just a matter of seconds, they released a downpour of rain. With all of the raindrops falling down at once, there was a loud sound of splashing water from both on land, leafs on plants, and from the nearby rivers.

To make matters worse, in just a matter of seconds, the ground had became slick with mud.

"We've got to find shelter!" Ken shouted above the rain.

"Wait!" Aylene protested. "We have to help Cera! She's still down there!"

"The rain's too heavy and the ground's too unstable!" Ken replied. "We'll risk a landslide if we try to help her now! And if that happens, we'll all end up down there!"

"But Ken…!"

"These heavy rains only last for a few minutes!" the teen boy explained. "We'll be able to help her when it's over! Now c'mon, we gotta get out of the rain!"

Aylene looked back and forth between the ledge where Cera had slid down and the rest of the group. Fear and anxiety began to grow inside her chest as she struggled to make a decision. She didn't want to leave Cera, but she didn't want to put the others at risk either.

From down below, Cera heard the whole conversation. Although she was scared out of her mind, she didn't want the others to put themselves at risk just for her. This wasn't the time for her to be selfish. She knew Aylene wouldn't want to leave her behind, but in this case she would have to, at least until the rain let up.

"Help the others, Aylene!" Cera suddenly shouted.

Aylene turned toward the ledge in surprise.

"Cera?!" she cried.

"I'll be okay for now!" the Triceratops' voice replied. "Just get the others to safety!"

Aylene hesitated for a minute. She then gave a sharp, painful nod.

"We'll be back for you, Cera!" she shouted, almost tearfully. "I promise!"