Ali's Bravery
"Everyone!" Ken shouted. "Pull harder! We have to get Cera out of the water!"
"Not so fast, kid!" Ichy snarled.
The flying predator leapt off of the gator's head and began to clumsily fly over to the vine. His talon feet were poised to strike and his sharp beak was eager to bite the vine in two.
"Oh, no you don't!" Aylene shouted.
The human girl let go of the vine and grabbed her bow. She slung it off her shoulder in less than a second and grabbed and arrow from her quiver. She pulled it back and took aim at the bird. However, the moment she moved in such a hasty manner, her head swam with dizziness, her vision became disoriented, and she started to sway. A throbbing headache began to pound in her head like a hammer and she dropped to her knees, gripping her head with one hand.
"Aylene!" Ken shouted.
The boy let go of the vine and rushed over the girl's side.
"Don't worry about me!" Aylene cringed. "Save Cera!"
Ken glanced back and forth at Aylene and Cera. Although Ichy's flying was very clumsy, he was getting closer to the vine with each passing second.
Finally, the boy stood back up and took his crossbow off his shoulder. He then grabbed an arrow out of his quiver. By the time he he loaded his weapon, Ichy reached the vine and grabbed onto it with his talon feet. But before the bird could bit down and sever it in two, Ken took his aim at the predatory bird.
"Ichy!" he shouted. "You and Dil better stay away from Cera, or I'll do more than take away your flight!"
Ichy looked up at Ken with a vicious glare.
"Well," the bird growled, "look who's trying to be the hero now?!"
"Get away from Cera now!" Ken raised his voice even more. "I'm not fooling around here!"
Ichy gave a brief glance over his shoulder before looking back at Ken with a wicked grin.
"What a coincidence," he said, "we're not fooling around either!"
Ken noticed Ichy's glance and looked over in the same direction the bird did. A wave of terror struck through him when he saw that Dil was just inches away from Cera! Of course, Ichy was just the distraction!
"NO!" the boy shouted.
Ken immediately switched targets and aimed at Dil. He immediately released the trigger on his crossbow and the arrow sliced through the air at an incredible speed. Just as Dil was about to strike, Ken's arrow hit her directly in the shoulder. The gator hollered in pain as the projectile penetrated skin and muscle. She lashed out of the water and her snout got caught on the vine.
With so much tension pulling on it, the vine snapped in two! On the shore, the young dinosaurs stumbled back from the recoil, losing their balance and falling over at the same time. Cera screamed as the current of the water began to rapidly carry her away from the others.
"Guys!" Ken shouted when he saw the situation.
The human boy then turned back to Ichy and Dil. By now, Ichy had landed back on Dil's head and the two of them began swimming toward the little Triceratops again.
"STOP!" the boy shouted, now even angrier than before.
Ken took another arrow out of his quiver and loaded his crossbow. However, before he could fire, an arrow zipped by him and headed straight for the two predators. It just barely missed Ichy's wing, causing the bird to screech in alarm.
Ken looked over and saw that Aylene was back on her feet and was getting ready to launch another arrow. Despite the fact she still had a headache, her determination to save her friend was as clear as day.
"Aylene!" the boy exclaimed.
"It's up to us, Ken!" the girl said. "I'll cover you, you cover me!"
"Got it!" Ken nodded.
The two humans got ready to fire their arrows.
"Heads up, Dil!" Ichy warned. "We're dealing with TWO humans now!"
"Oh, NOW you tell me!" Dil gritted. "Some lookout you are!"
"Hey!" the predatory bird snapped. "The female just got up seconds ago!"
Dil was about to make a snappy remark when Ken arrow grazed right past her, scratching the side of her snout. A few seconds later, Aylene released her arrow. It just barely missed Ichy's injured wing. Both the gator and bird grimaced and winced at their injuries.
As the humans continued firing their arrows, the young dinosaurs and Tickles all got back on their feet and rushed over beside their friends.
"Ken!" Littlefoot exclaimed. "Aylene! Is there anything we can do to help?!"
"Find some rocks!" Ken ordered. "It doesn't matter what size, just as long as you can still throw them them! Gather as many as you can!"
"Got it!" the male longneck nodded. "C'mon, guys!"
The second they were given the order, Petrie, Ducky, Spike, and Tickles joined Littlefoot in finding as many rocks as they could. Meanwhile, Ali watched Cera with worry as the Triceratops drifted further and further away. The female Apatosaurus looked a little further down the river to see where Cera would end up.
To her horror, she saw that the threehorn was heading straight for a waterfall! It was just a matter of minutes before Cera would reach it!
"KEN!" the female longneck shrieked.
The human boy looked over to see that Ali was pointing at the waterfall. He gasped in horror when he realized that Cera was on a straight path towards it. However, he wasn't the only one who saw it.
"Ken!" Aylene screeched when she saw the waterfall. "What do we do?!"
"I have an idea!" Ali said. "You guys keep Ichy and Dil busy, I'll save Cera!"
The moment the idea was presented, Ken's face went very pale and terror filled his eyes.
"Ali, no!" he protested. "It's too dangerous!"
"Ken, there's no time to argue!" Ali said. "Cera needs our help now!"
"Ali, no!" the boy's voice cracked in sorrow. "I can't lose you, too!"
Aylene looked at Ken with surprise when he said that. Despite the dangerous situation, she couldn't help but become shocked by that statement. It would've been different if he said, "I can't lose you", but he said, "I can't lose you, too".
Did…he lose someone else before?
Wait, was he talking about…?
"I'll be fine, Ken!" Ali said. "You just focus on stopping Ichy and Dil!"
Ken was about to protest again, but Ali didn't give him the chance. She immediately turned around and raced toward the edge of the waterfall. For a moment, Ken stood as frozen as a statue as he watched his best friend run away from him. His palms were starting to become sweaty and he shivered slightly.
"Ken!" Aylene suddenly shouted. "Snap out of it! Ichy and Dil are closing in again!"
The boy shook his head for moment and panted hard. He then turned back to Aylene and gave a sharp nod.
"R-Right!" he stuttered.
Once again, the two humans stood side-by-side and alternated their turns in releasing their arrows. A few seconds later, they were joined by the rest of the Gang, who began throwing the rocks they had gathered at the gator and predatory bird. Littlefoot and Spike used their tails to whip larger stones to a pretty far range, while Ducky, Tickles, and Petrie threw smaller ones as far as they could.
Since Ichy and Dil were moving down the river, the group found they had to move at a steady pace to keep them within their range.
"Augh!" Dil grunted as a rock hit her on the head. "Those pesky kids! When this is all over, I'm going to have them for lunch!"
"You and me both!" Ichy cringed. "But first we have to catch them! Now hurry up and catch the little runt!"
Meanwhile, Ali managed to the edge of the waterfall before Cera did. Once she got there, she desperately looked around for anything she could use to pull the Triceratops out of the river. Her eyes finally locked onto a tall, slender tree that was growing out of the edge of the cliff. She quickly scanned it height and saw that it was just the right height to be used as some kind of bridge.
She took a deep breath and charged toward it. Using all of her strength, she pushed as hard as she could on the tree, doing all she could to dislodge. As soon as she pressed her full weight on it, she felt it become loose. With this shred of hope, she pushed even harder. Eventually, the tree uprooted just enough for it to fall over into the water and create a steep path up to the cliff.
Ali took a moment to catch her breath before looking up and seeing Cera rushing towards her. However, the Triceratops was still too far away from the tree, and she didn't have time to swim closer to it before she reached the waterfall.
Upon realizing this, Ali summoned all the courage she had and turned herself around. She then carefully made her way backwards down the tree.
"ALI!" Ken shouted when he saw her move down the fallen tree. "STOP! YOU'LL FALL IN!"
The female longneck didn't pay attention to her friend's heed. She just continued moving down the tree. She swayed a bit as the tree jostled beneath her because of the rapids, but she refused to give up. When she reached the bottom, she stuck her tail out far enough to fill the gap between the threehorn and the tree.
"Cera!" Ali cried. "Grab my tail!"
Terrified and waterlogged, Cera pulled all the strength she had and swam toward Ali. The moment she reached her, Cera clamped her mouth down on the end of Ali's tail. The Apatosaurus grimaced in pain as the Triceratops did, but then screamed in fear as the rapids caused the tree to shake, causing her to slip a little.
"ALI!" Ken's voice spiked with panic.
Seeing their friends in trouble, the other immediately abandoned their little distraction routine and raced toward the edge of the waterfall.
Despite her initial fear, Ali managed to regain her balance on the tree and started to climb back up it, pulling Cera behind her. As soon as Cera was mostly out of the water, she followed Ali's actions and began to walk up the tree.
"Hang on, Cera!" the longneck encouraged. "We're almost there!"
"Okay!" the threehorn replied.
The second Ali pulled Cera out of the water; Ichy and Dil were now just a few feet away from them.
"You're not escaping this time!" Ichy shrieked.
Ichy leapt off of Dil's head and swooped towards Ali, his eyes burning with fury and hatred.
"ALI!" Littlefoot screamed. "LOOK OUT!"
Ali looked over in time to see Ichy was just a few inches away from her face. Her reflexes took charge and she ducked just in the nick of time. The bird missed his target, but because of his injured wing, he couldn't change his direction. As a result, he flew right over Ali's head and slammed right into a large branch. Because of his sharp beak, his head went right through the wood, making him stuck.
Ali took a second to catch her breath before climbing up the tree once again.
"C'MON GUYS!" Aylene cheered. "JUST A FEW MORE INCHES!"
However, just as Ali managed to get her forepaws onto the edge of the cliff, Dil reached the bottom of the tree and grabbed it with her jaws. Ali and Cera both screamed as their bridge suddenly jolted violently, causing them to slip. At the same time, Ichy screeched as Dil's teeth just barely missed him.
"AUGH! WATCH IT, LUMP-HEAD!" he shouted.
As if not hearing his companion, Dil thrashed her head violently, wrenching the tree right out cliff. However, Ali kept a firm grip on the ledge, and Cera kept a tight grip on Ali's tail.
It was at that moment the gator soon noticed that she was heading straight for the waterfall. She was so focused on the longneck and threehorn that she didn't notice the increasing rush of the rapids. By the time she did, Dil and Ichy were quickly approaching it, and it was too late to turn back. The water was too powerful for the gator to fight against. In a few seconds, Dil disappeared over the edge, taking the Ichy, still stuck in the tree, with her.
Meanwhile, the others rushed over to Ali and Cera. Littlefoot and Spike, being the fasted out of the bunch, were the first to reach them. As the female Apatosaurus struggled to pull herself up, the male Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus placed their heads underneath her fore legs and lifted her up, pulling her forward at the same time. Once Ali was complete up on the ledge, they then turned their attention to Cera. Ali continued to pull while Littlefoot and Spike lifted the Triceratops up onto the edge. Once they were all to safety, Ali and Cera both collapsed to the ground, panting for air. At the same, the Triceratops coughed up some water, struggling to fill her lungs with air again.
"Ali!" Ken shouted.
The human boy immediately rushed over to the female longneck's side and knelt down beside her. He gently rubbed her back as she continued to take in big gasps of air.
"Ali!" Ken said with concern. "Are you okay?!"
"Tired," Ali wheezed, "but I'm okay."
"Oh, thank goodness." the boy exhaled deeply. "Just take it easy now."
Meanwhile, the Gang all gathered around Cera, relieved to see that their friend was alive and unharmed. Aylene knelt down to Cera's level and gently embraced her around her neck, being careful not to accidently cut off her breathing.
"Oh, Cera!" the human girl laughed. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"We were worried about you, Cera!" Ducky said. "We were, we were!"
"Don't worry, guys." Cera gave a weak cough. "I'm not going anywhere. It'll take more than that to stop me."
"Of course." Aylene smiled.
Cera then looked over at Ali, who was now starting to get to her feet.
"Hey, Ali," the threehorn said.
"Yeah?" Ali looked over her shoulder.
"Thanks." Cera smiled.
"Yeah." Littlefoot said. "You were really brave."
"You were." Petrie nodded. "That was amazing."
Ali just gave a humble smile. She didn't know how to verbally respond to the compliment, but her face said it all.
The longneck then turned to look at her human friend. For a moment, they just stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something first. Finally, Ali turned her gaze away and gently scraped the ground with her right fore paw.
"Ken," she said softly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. But I couldn't…"
"It's okay, Ali." Ken said.
Ali looked back up at Ken. To her surprise, she found that he was smiling. And unless she was mistaken, he looked…proud.
"I'm just glad you're safe," he continued. "That we're all safe. And…that was very brave of you. Good job, Ali."
At Ken's compliment, a wide smile streaked across Ali's face. She moved closer to her friend and the two of them shared a heartfelt embrace; with Ken wrapping his arms around Ali's neck, and Ali placing her head over his shoulder.
Aylene couldn't help but smile as she looked at Ken. She had to admit, he wasn't at all how she thought he was based on her first impressions of him. He wasn't like most boys in her grade. He was respectful, but not a pushover by any means. He was also incredibly brave the way he stood up to Ichy and Dil. And on top of that, he was very caring, a trait that the human girl would like to see in a guy. He looked out for the others, he put a bandage on her head after she took a hard blow, and while he was a little overprotective at times, his heart was definitely in the right place.
As Aylene thought about this, a random thought crossed her mind. Would it be possible for she and Ken to start…dating? Up until now, Aylene never really considered having a boyfriend. But now…
"Hey, Aylene," Cera's jeering voice interrupted the girl's thoughts, "how come you're face is all red?"
At the sound of that comment, Aylene gave a small squeak of embarrassment and covered her face with both hands.
"I-It is NOT red!" she said quickly.
"Yes, it is." Ducky innocently said. "It as red as a berry. It is, it is."
"Please be quiet, Ducky, it is not!" Aylene cringed. "Now, with that out of the way, let's go look for the Night Flower!"
Wanting to desperately get out of this awkward situation, Aylene immediately got up from her stop and began to hastily walk down a random path.
"Aylene!" Ken called out to her.
"WHAT?!" the human girl jumped, turning around.
Ken paused for a moment, taken aback by the girl's reaction. However, it just took him a few seconds to regain his composure.
"The Night Flower's THAT way," he calmly pointed to the opposite direction.
Feeling even more embarrassed, Aylene changed direction, tensed up, and walked right past Ken and the others. If her face wasn't red before, she was pretty sure it was now. This was by far the most awkward situation she had ever been in. It was even more awkward than the time Derek found Littlefoot in the garden shed.
Littlefoot watched Aylene walk away and blinked in confusion. He had never seen her act like this before. Especially since she was just fine a second ago. Was she thinking about Ken and that's why she got so embarrassed?
He looked over at Ali, who exchanged a glance with him. The female Apatosaurus just gave a simple shrugged.
It was then that Littlefoot figured that he and the others would never fully understand humans.
"Well," the male longneck cleared his throat, "Aylene's right about one thing. We should keep moving."
With that said, the group once again headed out on their quest.