Chapter 7: The Late-Night Attack
Spike had a disturbed look in his eyes that Cera had never seen before. He looked thoroughly out of breath, and opened his mouth almost as if to speak, but no words came out. He then turned and abruptly, proceeded to run at breakneck speed.
"Spike! Wait up!" Cera cried. She ran after him, struggling to breathe as she desperately tried to keep up with him, when…
"Ouch!" Cera shouted, for she had just collided into something, bounced off it and she hit the ground with a painful thud. "What is this stupid log…" she began. Then the thing she rammed into moved slightly, and she looked up and realized that she had crashed right into Littlefoot's leg.
"Cera, you've got to be careful… what are you in such a hurry for?" Littlefoot asked, looking down at her with concern.
"It's Spike," Cera explained hurriedly. "I'm following him. He's acting weird."
"Let me see if I can find him," Littlefoot told Cera, and he stretched his neck out to look.
"If you hadn't bumped into me, I wouldn't have lost him," Cera told Littlefoot irritably, but Littlefoot was so used to Cera's grumbling that he wasn't bothered. "I found him! He's running straight to the forest near the edge of the Great Valley!" he exclaimed.
Then Littlefoot and Cera heard footsteps behind them. They looked, and saw Ducky panting up to them, with a look of horror in her eyes. "Littlefoot! Cera! Have you seen Spike? He is not at home, no no no!"
"We're following him right now," Littlefoot told Ducky, who stopped to catch her breath. "Come on!" And without another moment's rest, the three of them hurried off to find Spike.
"Why would Spike be going this way?" Ducky asked frantically.
"We don't know," Cera answered as they charged through the forest, pushing any tree that got in their way. "I think he wants to show us something though. He just got my attention and then he ran off!"
"Look! There he is!" Littlefoot gasped as they reached the edge of the forest. Littlefoot, Cera, and Ducky stopped, and saw Spike stop at a small clearing at the edge of the Great Valley, surrounded by the cliffs that led to the Mysterious Beyond. He was looking attentively at a spot on the ground. Spike however then took a look back at the forest and saw Littlefoot, Cera, and Ducky. Hurriedly, Spike lifted his foot up and beckoned them over.
"What is it, Spike?" Littlefoot asked concernedly as he, Cera, and Ducky finally stopped and took the chance to catch their breath.
Spike looked at the three of them, then he stretched out his neck, bared his teeth and stomped on the ground, causing some rocks to shake and creating a loud bang. Then he indicated to a spot on the ground, where Littlefoot, Cera and Ducky saw some funny markings, and upon closer inspection, they noticed that these markings were everywhere, scattered through the area.
"Look! Footprints!" Cera gasped. Then she pointed to a path of footprints and added, "And it looks like…they've gone to the Mysterious Beyond!"
"Oh no no no, those are sharptooth footprints!" Ducky gasped.
Littlefoot gulped nervously. He knew Ducky was right, for the footprints strongly resembled the mark of a sharptooth.
"But…they're too little to be a sharptooth's…oh no…" he sighed, as a feeling of cold dread drenched over him.
"They must be Chomper's! He must have left the Great Valley!" Cera gasped. Then she growled, "Let's hope he hasn't had a midnight snack."
"Cera, Chomper won't eat anyone!" Littlefoot cried out.
"Grow up! He's a sharptooth," Cera responded fiercely.
Just then, they noticed that Petrie was flying towards them. He flapped his wings frantically, staring down at the others with terror, and then he swooped down in front of them.
"Petrie, what's the matter?" Ducky asked concernedly.
Petrie gulped before shouting, "Chh...Chomper's on the loose!"
"Oh no!" Littlefoot shouted, his heart racing dramatically. "We better go back right now!" And without another word, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike began to charge back to the center of the valley.
"He hasn't eaten anyone yet, has he?" Cera asked nervously.
"No. He just leave cave," Petrie explained.
"You're sure about that?" Littlefoot asked Petrie worriedly.
"Positive, Petrie saw him. But he move funny," Petrie sighed as they headed closer to the middle of the Great Valley. When they arrived there, all they could hear was the snores of the grownups, all of whom seemed to be in a very deep sleep. Everyone scanned the area for a couple seconds, but they couldn't see any sign of Chomper anywhere. The group listened and looked for a while, and while they heard some rustling in the bushes, they didn't notice anything else besides everyone else sleeping.
"I do not see him yet, do you?" Ducky asked nervously, and everyone else shook their heads.
But then, a blood-curdling shriek came out from nearby where they were standing. "Ohhh…..help!" a voice screamed out.
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike gasped, and their hearts all began to race. "We're coming!" Littlefoot shouted, and the group rushed over to the voice. Then they looked down and saw who was screaming.
Mia was lying on the ground, squirming with desperation. The bottom of her very long neck was coated with a thick coat of blood. She was squealing loudly, but nobody woke up, since her shouts were covered up by the sound of snoring.
"What happened Mia?" Littlefoot asked.
"Thank goodness! Someone finally found me! It bit me! That sharptooth bit me!" Mia shouted.
Cera nodded nervously, before she gasped, "He's here!"
Littlefoot looked up, and saw Chomper was slowly stumbling over from the direction of the cave that he was hiding in, and with each passing second, he drew closer and closer to the group.
Petrie flew up to Chomper's face, and desperately yelled, "Don't eat Mia!"
"You cannot eat her, oh no, no, no!" Ducky shouted. Chomper, however did not respond. He continued to stagger over to them with a vacant expression on his face. "He not hear me! And his eyes closed!" Petrie gasped. Chomper drew nearer and nearer to Mia, until he was a few feet away from her. As he stopped, Chomper sniffed ravenously, licked his lips, and then began to stick his tongue out as he growled hungrily. Mia screamed and squirmed as Chomper slowly began to lower his head. Desperately, Littlefoot hurled himself over Mia's body and shouted, "Chomper, stop it!"
Then abruptly, Chomper opened his eyes. He looked at his surroundings, frowning confusedly. "Huh? Where am I?" Chomper asked as he drew his head away from Mia's body and stood up, looking astonished.
"Don't pretend like you don't know!" Mia shouted, glaring at Chomper fiercely. "You were about to eat me! You bit my neck!"
"No…I couldn't have… I was hiding between those boulders in the cave!" Chomper cried out, tears rolling down his face. "How did I get here?"
Littlefoot looked at Chomper's wide, terrified eyes, and he shook his head and sighed. "Come on Chomper," Littlefoot said as calmly as he could. "We have to talk."
"Kill that monster while you can!" Mia shouted. But Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Spike and Petrie ignored her and began to walk through the forest toward the cliff. Chomper sobbed as Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike escorted him through the forest, while Petrie looked back to make sure nobody was following them.
In a few minutes, they were back at the clearing where they met Spike. "You must have sleepwalked, Chomper," Littlefoot explained nervously.
"I don't remember doing it, honest!" Chomper gasped desperately. "I was having a sleep story…I smelled something good in my sleep…uh oh... and then you guys woke me up! I don't understand how I got out here! I thought for sure I fell asleep in the cave!"
Littlefoot then told Chomper, "Look, whether you did it or not, everyone else is going to think you bit Mia on the neck! The only thing you can do now is get away!"
"Wait!" came a voice behind them. Ruby was out of breath, trying to catch up with everyone else. "Chomper didn't do it, I'm sure of it! He was in the cave with me just a few minutes ago!"
"And look," Ducky pointed out. "Those footprints have already gone into the Mysterious Beyond!"
"I need to know whether I bit Mia or not!" Chomper asked fearfully.
"Me have an idea," Petrie suggested. "If you bit anything, there would be…" he gulped nervously and spat out, "Skin and blood and scary breath in your mouth. If you didn't, then there wouldn't be any."
Everyone agreed that it was a good way to check. "Chomper, open your mouth," Littlefoot told him seriously. Hesitantly, Chomper opened his mouth, and with all of his determination, he focused on keeping his mouth wide open despite the aches his jaw felt. Nervously, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike and Ruby carefully peered inside Chomper's mouth, trying all the while not to get too close to his teeth.
"I don't see anything at all," Ducky told Chomper after closely examining his teeth.
"I don't smell anything either," Ruby commented. "Chomper… you must not have eaten anything after all!"
"So…I really didn't do it?" Chomper asked hopefully.
"We don't think so Chomper," Littlefoot told him. "Your mouth shows no signs of having eaten recently, and besides, those footprints were already there before you left your cave!"
"But you still have to escape," Cera told him. "We know you couldn't have done it, but everyone else will think you did." She thought for a moment before saying, "Hey…you could use a log to escape!"
"Good idea, Cera!" Ducky exclaimed. Cera and Spike then worked together to chop down a thick oak tree with her horns and his spikes, and before long, the thick log fell down in front of them, ready to be used.
"Climb up this log onto the cliff," Cera told Chomper. "Then you can get to the Mysterious Beyond. Find a good hiding spot if you can, because the grownups might try to find you."
Chomper nodded sadly. Ducky, Spike, Ruby and Cera kept watch while Littlefoot stuck his neck under the side of the log closest to the cliff, holding it up, while Petrie flew up to the cliff and kept the top of the log in place. "It's all ready, Chomper. Now go!" Littlefoot told him.
Chomper slowly began to climb up the log, softly sniffling as he climbed. Ruby sighed, "I think I better go along too. Someone has got to keep a lookout for him when he's asleep, and besides, he needs company."
"Right," Littlefoot nodded nervously. But then, everyone gasped as the light of the bright circle began to shine down on the Great Valley. "Hurry! The grownups will wake up soon!" Littlefoot shouted.
Chomper and Ruby nodded, and with that, they managed to climb to the top of the log. Petrie flew down from his perch on top to allow Chomper and Ruby to step on the cliff. Chomper stared at his friends for a few seconds, and a tear fell out of his eye as he cried, "You guys were such great friends… thank you…I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused…and I'll miss you all so much. Well, bye everyone…" and he waved weakly. Dejectedly, Chomper hung his head, and he and Ruby left the Great Valley to go back to the Mysterious Beyond.
"Me fly up and block them from view," Petrie told the others hurriedly, flapping in place to block the place that they were standing until Chomper and Ruby were out of sight.
"Come on," Littlefoot hurriedly told the others. "We have to get rid of that log before the grownups find it!"
"It is already gone, look!" Ducky cheered. Everyone looked, and saw that Spike was already eating the log at a rapid pace as he smiled, thoroughly enjoying his treat.
"Yay! It is gone, it is! Good job Spike, yep yep yep!" Ducky cheered, jumping up and down and then hugging Spike as he finished, who smiled as he rubbed his head against her.
"What's gone?" came a familiar voice. The kids looked, and their hearts plummeted. Mr. Threehorn was standing right in front of them, scowling at them threateningly.