Chapter XIX: Trapped

In which a lapse of judgment leads to trouble.

Ali was running as fast as she could, with Agu bobbing up and down on her back. Her feet were cooled by the waves of water flowing back and forth along the beach, but she did not notice. The safety of her friends was the only thing on her mind. After a few minutes, Ali heard a voice in her head again.

"Be careful!"

She came to a sudden halt and Agu jutted forward, bumping into the back of her neck.

"Sorry," she told him.

"Why did we stop?

"I think they're close. Menta just warned me to be careful."

Agu dismounted and they both scanned the area, seeing nothing.

Then out of nowhere came a voice. "Ali? Agu? You guys out there?" It was Dusk.

"Where-?" Ali began, but she quickly found where the noise was coming from- a large hole. The two children walked up to a deep pit, one that was filling with water every time a wave came up. Coaley was unconscious, being held by Dusk against his back. The water was nearly up to their faces.

"What happened?" Agu asked curiously.

"No time!" Dusk shouted. "Coaley's out so can't warp us out, and Menta doesn't have the skill to knock us up. The water is nearly to our noses!"

"Agu, use your copy ability," Ali instructed. Agu hesitated in confusion, but she continued, "Trust me."

Agu raised his hand. "Copy!" he shouted, and two more Agu's appeared beside him.

"I'm going to the edge of the hole, then let you hang down inside of it. Our shadows are connected, so you won't fall in. Grab the feet of one of your copies and have that one do the same thing to the other one. We can pull them out that way."

Agu obeyed and there soon formed a chain of dinosaurs reaching down to the captives below.

"Ugh," Agu moaned. "We're not long enough. I can't reach them."

"Can you make more copies?" Ali asked.

"Making two is tiring enough as it is. I don't think I ca-" Then a giant wave splashed over them, nearly knocking Ali in the hole.

"Whoa!" she cried, trying to steady herself. Then she looked in horror to see that that last wave put enough water in the hole that her friends' faces were completely submerged.

"Agu, you have to make more copies right now! We're out of time. You can do it. I know you can!"

Agu tensed his body, shouting "Copy!" but nothing happened.

"I'm just not strong enough," he moaned.

Ali thought fast. "Strength," she said, and began to dance.

Agu's body surged with energy, and he shouted again, "Copy!"

Two additional copies popped out, who in turn climbed down the dinosaur chain, latching onto a copy above them. The lowest one reached down, latching onto one of the trapped dinosaurs. It was Menta, and she climbed up, coughing as she reached the top, upon which she slumped to the ground. Dusk was next, climbing up with one hand, the other clutching Coaley. Dusk set her down, and she slowly opened her eyes.

"Thank you for saving us," Dusk said with a weak smile before he started coughing. "You two made a great team. Unbind!" And with that, the connection between their shadows broke. Dusk was very pleased to see that they didn't move away from each other; they merely gave each other a big grin.

"That was a close one. Good idea though," Menta thought to him.

"True, sorry, and thank you," he mentally said back.

Flash back

"This worked out just as I'd hoped," Dusk told the girls walking beside him.

"Hm?" Coaley asked.

"I had a feeling you two would want to come along, and that those two wouldn't feel like walking being stuck together like that. Now I can put my plan into action. I think for those two to get along, they need to learn to work together, to appreciate each other. We seem far enough away now. Let's start digging."

"My lord?" Menta asked curiously as she joined him.

"We're going to force them to act as a team. After we dig a big enough hole, we're going to jump down and seem like we're trapped. They'll have to work together to get us out." After a few minutes, they had made a large hole and Dusk and Menta jumped down to the bottom. Dusk held up his arms and caught Coaley as she leaped in after them, then set her down.

"But my lord," Menta began, "They know that Coaley can just warp us out."

"Got that figured out already," he replied. Turning to Coaley, he said, "I want you to pretend to be unconscious, okay? We're going to act as if we all fell down here and you hit your head. Promise me not to move or open your eyes until we get out, okay?"

"Promise. Cross my heart."

"Good girl." Then Coaley went limp and she closed her eyes. Dusk caught her before she collapsed and set her down gently. Suddenly, Dusk felt something dripping on his head and looked up. "Uh oh. That pick up in the wind must be moving the waves farther in. We'll be under water if we stay down here. What a waste of time. Coaley, warp us out please. We'll have to dig a new hole farther away." Coaley, however, did not budge.

"My lord, I think she's sticking with her promise," Menta guessed.

"I think you're right. Coaley, you can move now." But Coaley still didn't stir.

"She solemnly swore that she wouldn't move or open her eyes until we are out of the hole. I'm afraid that Coaley is not one for broken promises," Menta explained.

Dusk sighed. "Can you telekinetically push us out?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. I've never tried pushing something from below. Shouldn't be too hard though." Menta closed her eyes then thrust her arm up, then Dusk shot up a small distance and smacked into the wall of the hole.

"Ow," he said painfully.

"Err, I guess it's not as easy as I'd thought."

"Well, we don't have enough time for you to perfect it. Send a message to Ali about our danger. Unlike my original plan, we really do need their help."

End of Flashback

Ali and Agu looked at each proudly, and Dusk grinned at that. "Looks like this whole mess has you two getting along rather well."

Ali winked at Agu, signaling that their earlier chat would remain private. "It sure looks that way," she said with a smile. "But, how did you guys end up in a fix like that anyway?"

"Someone got a teensy bit careless," Menta replied with a cheeky smile.

Dusk cleared his throat. "Anyway, we resolved one problem only to end up with another one. You see that island off in the distance?" and he pointed out across the ocean. The others nodded. "That's where we're going, but it seems that the moving water has finally worn away the land path completely. We'll have to find a new way across."

"I wish I could help," Coaley said sadly. "If only I'd been there before." She slumped down onto a long log lying nearby.

"Don't worry, Coaley. It's alri- Wait, I hadn't noticed that log earlier," and Dusk put a hand on his chin in thought. "You know what, Coaley? It looks like you helped us after all."

She jumped to feet, excited. "Ooh, really? How? How?"

"You just found our means of transportation."

xxxxx

"How much farther?" Cera complained. "I'm tired."

"How am I supposed to know?" Littlefoot replied, getting a bit short.

"You aren't, but Petrie here could fly up and see if we're getting close to anything."

"Oh, right," Littlefoot said, clearly embarrassed for having not thought of that. "Petrie?"

"Me on it." He flew high into the sky and looked around. "Ah ha!" he exclaimed.

This time, none of them grew excited. "Oh well," Littlefoot said with a sigh.

Petrie flew back down excitedly. "Me found something you no believe."

Littlefoot quickly turned to him. "You mean this 'Ah ha' actually meant you saw something?" The others turned as well, curious.

"Mm-hm. Remember that place we all stayed at when valley get overrun by swarming leaf gobblers? Me fly way up high and look where the tracks are going, and they lead to there!"

"Alright!" Littlefoot exclaimed. "Food and water at last!"

"For me too?" Chomper asked.

"You bet, buddy," he answered. "Last time we were here, we found all sorts of bugs."

Chomper licked his chops. With renewed strength, the gang began to run, more than eager to finally fill their bellies. It wasn't long before they arrived, and the group's first order of business was to jump into the water to cool off. Ducky watched the ripples in the water as the gang splashed about, but to her amazement, even after they all got out, the stirring of the water continued. She sat on the edge, looking down at the water curiously. Her friends were happily munching away, but she was too caught up in why the water was still making ripples.

"Hey guys," she began, "Look at the water. Even though we are out of it, it is still moving."

"Aw Ducky, it's just the wind," Cera told her with little interest.

"I do not think so," Ducky replied. "The water is not splashing around like it does when there is a breeze. I've never seen it makes circles like this when no one was in it."

Her friends didn't understand what she was so fascinated about, so they just let her be. Ducky did not give up though. She placed her head to the ground and listened. She heard a slight rumbling. It wasn't constant, but happened every couple seconds. She lifted her head, looking off into the distance in several directions. What finally crossed her line of sight made her scream. The others ran over to her.

"Ducky, what's wrong?" Littlefoot asked quickly.

"It is- it is- Redclaw!" and she pointed to the giant Sharptooth, accompanied by his two Fast Biters companions, Screech and Thud.

"Oh no!" Petrie exclaimed and he started flying away.

"Petrie!" Cera shouted, and he stopped short. "Don't fly away! We don't have to run from guys like them anymore. Now we have the power to fight back. Let's use it!"

"O-okay," Petrie replied nervously.

"We fought that one Sharptooth shortly after we got our powers, Petrie," Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah, but this Redclaw! He meanest Sharptooth around! And he have Screech and Thud too!"

"Do not worry, Petrie. I will not let anything happen to you. Look around us. I can use my power to the fullest here," Ducky said comfortingly.

Petrie began to relax, but quickly tensed up again as Redclaw and his cronies got closer. "Ooh," he moaned, started to cower. The Sharpteeth tromped over to the gang, and the kids tensed for battle. Thud looked down and roared. The ground started to shake, and Littlefoot yelled, "Earthshake!"

"No!" Petrie exclaimed. "The ground not shaking where Redclaw, Screech, and Thud standing!" The children started to lose their balance and fall to the ground. Then Screech roared, and a bolt of lighting erupted from his mouth coming towards Petrie. He quickly let out a sharp gust of wind and shot back, narrowly escaping the blast.

The children's eyes widened. "Redclaw and his Fast Biters have powers too!" Littlefoot shouted.

"But how?" Cera asked.

"Dusk has the stone, and he came this way too. Redclaw and his Fast Biters must have been absorbing the energy as they followed us," Ruby concluded.

"Just great," Cera said.

"You've always managed to escape us in the past, but now, you shall meet your end," Redclaw told them.