Ali pressed onward. The morning sun reflected off the earth. The fragmented ground was old and showed death. The dying trees didn't serve as a cheerful scenery. Ali had made it to the forest of dead trees Littlefoot had rested in the previous night. In fact, she was looking down at the spot where Littlefoot had been sleeping on. She knew because of the small depth in a ground, like a body print. It could've been another dinosaur, but she convinced herself it was him.

"Littlefoot was here," she breathed. "Hopefully, I'm not that far from him."

She yawned. She shook her head and blinked several times. She had not really gotten any rest. The night was spent on trying to catch up with Littlefoot. It didn't really go as planned, but she knew she was closer. She looked southward.

"I'm pretty sure he went to the Great Valley," she breathed. "It's that way, so I better get moving."

She walked through the dead forest and made it to the clearing. The forest clearing barely clung to life. A couple of green patches decorated the clearing in the middle of the forest. Ali quickly noticed the complete skeleton. She approached it, not really sure if it was a clubtail. It looked like one, but something was different about it. She approached it. The wind soon picked up.

"It feels…warm," commented Ali to herself.

She smiled and looked down at the old bones.

"I-I didn't know who you were, but I'm pretty sure you did something important."

She smiled again, but she slowly dropped it.

"Is it weird to talk to a skeleton?" she asked herself. "Or talk to yourself?"

She focused on the skeleton again and warmly smiled.

"No. I hope you didn't go alone."

Ali lifted her head and looked southward. She had better get going before Littlefoot was too far out of reach. She started walking. After taking a few steps away, the wind started to pick up. Ali stopped in surprise and looked back at the skeleton. The wind had died. She heard nothing more and faced forward.

Strange. I thought I heard someone talking. Someone saying I helped Littlefoot.

She shrugged it off and continued her walk through the forest of dead trees.

Littlefoot continued to walk across the deserted wasteland. The dry soil of the land heated his feet. The sun beamed down its heat rays. From morning to the afternoon, it had gotten damn hot. Littlefoot stuck out his tongue and panted like a dog trying to stay cool.

"This heat… It shouldn't get to me, but it's so hot."

He looked around for any signs of water. It was pointless. Water had been sucked dry from this forbidden place. As it seemed, this barren land supported no life. Littlefoot knew he had to find water soon.

Littlefoot looked around the area for any sign of water. After walking for only a couple of hours, he was desperate. With no water, there was no life. With no life, there was no food. Littlefoot's stomach growled. He stopped and sighed.

"I need food."

He looked around and saw some dead plants, ranging from a few bush skeletons to two leafless trees. He walked up to one of the bushes and noticed that a few bush branches had fallen to the ground. He remembered as a child, he was forced to eat twigs from time to time. He wasn't sure how he survived on twigs, but he did. He lowered his neck to the ground and picked up a few twigs. He grinded them the best he could and swallowed them. Fortunately, these twigs were tasteless. He remembered that some twigs he had were either tasteless, which were the good kind, or had a horrible taste which came with the smell from them. The smelling would range from sulfur to dinosaur droppings. Once again, how he survived as a child by eating twigs was beyond him.

After having his snack of twigs, he continued to walk in determination. He had to reach the Great Valley. Petrie really didn't explain much, but it was urgent matter of business. Though he vowed to never return, he couldn't abandon all his friends and the residents. His grandparents raised him to be helpful. Going against their teachings would be fatuous. It was sometimes necessary, but going against friends was something he shouldn't do.

He looked out far from where he was. It was probably the heat getting to him, but he saw a heat-fuzzy image of a dinosaur. He picked up his pace. The image thought to be an illusion became the real thing. An adult, grey Iguanodon lied on the hot, cracked ground. Littlefoot approached the dinosaur. To his surprise, it was barely breathing. The condition it was in was the condition Littlefoot feared. Its scales were very dry, similarly compared when skin turned pale. It rested on its side, panting for breath. Littlefoot confronted it.

"Hello?"

The Iguanodon slowly turned his head to face Littlefoot.

"Hi," it barely said.

"What are you doing out here?"

"… Looking for…*cough*…water."

"Um, did you come from the Great Valley? Are you a resident there?"

"I…did come from…but I…no resident… *cough* I've been traveling…find home...at Great Valley…but it's dry…dinosaurs argue over what's left…angry threehorn…*cough*…kicked me out."

"Angry threehorn? Mr. Threehorn?"

"*Cough, cough*… Grey threehorn."

Littlefoot sighed.

"Can you explain what happened at the Great Valley?"

The Iguanodon closed his eyes and didn't respond. The rising and falling in his chest stopped. Littlefoot bowed his head in respect and lifted his head up. He looked forward, thinking what could've happened. Something serious must've happened if the residents were all in flames. Then again, the angry could've been spearheaded by Mr. Threehorn. The Iguanodon mentioned the valley to be dry and limited on resources. Most likely, it could have been meaning the depletion of water throughout the Great Valley. If that was case, it could be like the time the water was backed up by a wall of piled rocks due to an earthquake. More determined to help the crisis of the Great Valley, he pressed onward.

Night soon fell for the female longneck. Ali had walked in trying to catch up with Littlefoot. She made much progress. If her body was able to, she would continue throughout the night, but she knew that if she pushed her body through the night, it would break. Though the spot was clear out in the open, she lied down to try to get some sleep.

The area she was in was the barren wasteland she had crossed a long time ago with Rhett and the others. Dead plants scattered across this large piece of land, showing that water was nowhere to be found here. The cold ground was cracked and rigid, providing a slightly uncomfortable bed. Ali didn't care. Sleep was something she needed way more than water. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

As Ali slept, she dreamt. She was a child in a center of a luscious valley. Green food spread throughout the valley like it was a disease. Waterways divided the valley into three equal parts, making two rivers drain into large ponds. Only a few dinosaurs stood out in particular, either relaxing, eating, or playing in the background. Petrie, Cera, Rhett, Ducky, Spike, and Janet made up the dinosaurs in the background. In front of her stood the childhood version of Littlefoot. They stood only a few feet apart, facing each other. Instantly, all evolved to their adult forms, being paired off with unnamed dinosaurs. Littlefoot still stood in front of her. They both were the only unpaired dinosaurs. Littlefoot smiled and slowly approached Ali. She waited, smiling and blushing. Littlefoot extended his head out and pressed his mouth against her mouth. Ali closed her eyes, savoring the enthralling feeling. The scene surrounding them disappeared and turned white. Ali and Littlefoot weren't concerned of this. To them, the world didn't matter. It was only them and them alone.

Ali formed a smile as she slept. She slightly swayed her head from side to side, opening her mouth in a laughing matter. She then dropped the smile, and soon the whole thing went wrong. The dream that was about peace and love turned into a dream of war and hurt. Ali's eyes closed tighter, showing some wrinkles above her eyes. She finally opened her eyes from the shaky dream. She groaned slightly and lifted her head up. The moon cast down its light that was like a flashlight in a dark cavern. Ali rose to her feet and yawned. Though it was a short nap, she had to press on. She walked off across the darkened wasteland, in hopes of being united with Littlefoot soon.