Chapter XII: The Search Ends, so a Search Begins

In which there is a great discovery.

"My lord!" the Long Neck called out. "I think I found it!" The entire group gathered around her, and low and behold, a dimly-glowing rock was at her feet. "I nearly tripped over a hole back here. All I could see was dirt, but I was curious about what made the hole so I dug around and there it was."

Dusk was ecstatic, but he composed himself and lifted it up. "Let's waste no time."

"My lord," Menta began, "We have been searching for the stone a long time, but we have yet to know what you plan to do with it. You had me search that Rainbow Face's mind for secrets of the stone, and I told you it all it can do and of that mysterious prophecy. Does your plan have something to do with the other power of the stone?"

"Yes, he answered.

"Oh?" Ceit said, entering the conversation. "There is more to the stone than we thought?"

"Yes," Dusk said again. "The stone can grant one wish to a dinosaur, provided five dinosaurs wish for the same thing at the same time, and one of them gives up his or her life. However, if the stone is used on the world it came from, it doesn't consume a life."

"Aw, then what's the point?" Agu complained. "We can't get to the Rainbow Face world, so who would help make a wish come true when he can't be alive to enjoy it?"

"There are those who place the livelihoods of others ahead of their own," Dusk told the boy. "Even if one has to die, the joy of doing something great for those he cares about is worth it, even when the feeling lasts but a few seconds."

"No my lord!" Menta exclaimed. "If I'd known you intended to sacrifice yourself for a wish, I'd have never helped you! I- I don't want to lose you again…" but she could not continue, having become too choked up.

Dusk rested his hand on Menta's chest. "What is my hand over?" he asked her.

"M-my heart."

"As long as you still have that, you will never lose me, because I've made my way inside of it."

"No!" she screamed. "I don't want sentimentality! I want you here with me! I refuse to help you make a wish. I won't be a part of sending you away again."

"It is for the good of all Sharptooth kind."

"What can be good about you leaving us? We need you. I need you!"

"Our kind has been dying off, slowly. There are many of us who either starve trying to find meat, or get killed first by the meat we tried to hunt. I am going to establish a way of life for us that will put to an end to either of those. I sought the stone to wish that Sharpteeth live on green food, just like the kinds we used to hunt."

"A life of ease is no life at all if you're not there. You know I was devastated when you left before. If you choose to die, I will join you!"

Dusk sighed. "Menta, we are the last of our herd. I need you to live on for the both of us. Don't let our family die off completely. I will always watch over you." But still, Menta was too upset to listen to reason.

"How can you be so heartless?" she shrieked.

"Alright, the rest of you, let us begin. We have just enough without her."

Coaley lowered her head and started sniffing hard.

"Coaley?" Dusk asked.

She said nothing in response, and her body shook slightly.

"Are you alright, Coaley?" Dusk tried again.

Coaley suddenly rushed over to Dusk, clutching him tightly. She looked up to reveal a face strewn with tears. She kept sniffing, trying to hold them back, but she could no longer.

"Wahhh! Hic! Don't die, Dusky, pl- hic-ease! You've always been like a- hic- father to me. You took me in when I had nowhere to go. I- I- hic- I can't lose you! Not now!" And with that, she buried her head in Dusk's chest and her hiccup sob continued.

Dusk was silent for a while, then he spoke up. "There aren't enough willing here to make the wish now anyway."

Menta turned to Dusk, and Coaley looked up hopefully with big eyes. The others were relieved. They wouldn't have helped make the wish either out of their feelings for Dusk, but they were afraid to argue with him. Now that making the wish wouldn't work right now, Dusk was blissfully unaware that none of them would have complied anyway.

"For now, let's just take our leave," Dusk said at last. "That other group is nearby, and they'll be enjoying Ceit's handiwork for a while. Coaley?"

"Y-yes?" she replied, between sniffs.

"Take us to the Night Forest. We can reevaluate things there."

Coaley's face lit up. "Okey dokey Dusky! To the Night Forest we go! Warp!"

And with that, the mountainside no longer supported two groups.

xxxxx

"I think he's coming to," Rey said.

"Unh." Littlefoot's vision came into focus very slowly, and he struggled to his feet.

"Welcome back," Chomper said.

"Wh- what happened?"

"You called upon your dark form to save a friend, but that kind of power takes a lot of getting used to. You lost control, and ended up passing out," Rey explained.

Chomper was rubbing a part of his chest, and Littlefoot noticed. "Chomper! What happened to you?"

"Oh, well I, kinda, uh, fell, on a rock," he replied. "Phew, that was close. I should have thought of something sooner," he thought to himself.

"That's not what hap-" but Ruby quickly covered Cera's mouth.

Littlefoot's eye widened. "Oh! What happened to Ali? Is she alright?"

"I am, thanks to you, Littlefoot."

Littlefoot turned to see Ali, blushing behind him.

"I'm glad you're okay. I was afraid that something had happened to you. Wait, she saw my form, didn't she?"

"Not to worry," Reina told him. "We filled her in while you were out. Afraid your power might have frightened her?"

"Yeah…"

"Considerate boy," Rey thought to himself.

"Now that everyone's awake, mind telling us what you're doing out here all alone? I find that suspicious," Reina said sternly.

"Huh? Me?" Ali asked, confused.

"Hey, leave her alone. She hasn't done anything," Littlefoot shot out.

"You don't find it odd that one of your friends happened to be at the same place we were and all by herself?"

"No, and it doesn't matter. There's nothing to ever be suspicious about with her," Littlefoot said defensively.

"You're not even go ask her what she's doing here?"

"No. I trust her, and you should too. What matters is finding the stone, so let's keep looking." Littlefoot, not having fully recovered, stumbled slightly as he tried to walk.

"Don't bother," Reina told him. "Dusk's group must have already found the stone."

"Why you think that?" Petrie asked her.

"When you've been around the stone long enough, you recognize what it feels like when it's energy is hitting you. It is plain as day to me that the stone is no longer here."

"She speaks the truth," Rey added. "Still, we knew from the start that this wouldn't be easy. If it was, we wouldn't be needing your help. Dusk's discovery of the stone begins our search for him, and while being powerful himself, he has strong allies as well."

"This is just great. They could have taken the stone anywhere, and for all we know, someone else might have taken it. Finding it now would be like trying to find a tree star in a tar pit," Cera pointed out.

"Perhaps, if we didn't have you," Rey said with a grin.

"Huh?"

"I am familiar with that coloration's power. You can communicate with plant life, and it's all connected through the ground. Find a plant and focus your mind through it, while thinking of Dusk. You will be able to see him if he is near other plants."

"That's a big if," she replied. "But okay." She turned her head to the left then the right, and spotted a small weed. She closed her eyes, and everyone grew silent. Then her eyes opened, and she announced, "He has the stone, and, we're going to the Night Forest."