Chapter 18: An Old Friend Helps Out
After a good night's sleep, the bright circle rose again, gently shining its light down on everyone. Waking up with the early morning light, Littlefoot yawned and slowly opened his eyes. His leg was warmly wrapped over Cera's back, and he smiled softly as he saw that Cera was breathing deeply and smiling contentedly while she slept. He looked over at Ducky and Petrie and saw that the two of them were also sleeping together, and that they were tightly snuggling each other as they slept. Spike was sleeping on Ducky's other side, his mouth happily hanging open as he sleep rumbled loudly. Littlefoot smiled to himself, and looked back down at Cera, deciding to get a little more rest while reliving the past day in his head and reflecting on how wonderful it had been…
Then Littlefoot heard a pair of voices from the distance. Littlefoot tried to ignore them at first, but he couldn't for he could tell that the conversation between them seemed to be very tense. Worrying that it might be two of the grownups looking for them, Littlefoot carefully lifted his head up so he didn't wake Cera up and he tried to listen in."Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Littlefoot recognized the voice to be Cam's, though she sounded far more serious than Littlefoot had ever heard her before.
"Yes. Now get on with it Cam. We can't turn back now." Littlefoot recognized that voice to be Mia's, and who like Cam also sounded very serious.
"But we'll be killing!" Cam shouted.
"Hush, Cam!" Mia hissed. "Now look, it's all part of the deal. They helped get the sharptooth out. Now we've got to finish the job. If we don't, that'll only lead to trouble," Mia replied.
Littlefoot thought carefully, trying to understand what Cam and Mia were talking about. Then a thought came to his head, and with his heart pounding, he gasped, abruptly stood up and shouted, "Oh no!"
At once, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike began to stir, and they woke up, murmuring drowsily.
"What's going on?" Cera asked groggily, her eyes still half closed. "I was trying to get some sleep…"
"It's Cam and Mia!" Littlefoot cried out. "I just heard them talking… they're planning on killing Chomper!"
With that, everyone awoke with a start and looked at each other in horror. Ducky gasped, "Oh no no no! This is not good, it is not!"
"We have to stop them!" Cera added angrily.
"Me fly ahead to spy on and them and warn Chomper!" Petrie told the others, and he flew off with gusto.
"Come on!" Littlefoot shouted. "I heard their voices from over there. Let's go follow them!" Everyone nodded determinedly, and with great speed, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike jumped off the edge of the short cliff they were on and hurried down the sandy path, where they could still make out the path of longneck and sharptooth footprints.
"I knew that those flatheads were up to no good," Cera growled angrily.
"Guys, look at this!" Ducky exclaimed abruptly. Everyone turned to look at her, and she pointed to the ground at the same helter-sceltered set of longneck footprints that they had been following for the past day. "Look at the longneck footprints," Ducky gasped in shock. "We are going the same way as the footprints, yep yep yep. What if these footprints are theirs?"
"Then how come there's only one set of longneck footprints?" Cera asked, looking at the single trail of longneck footprints.
"I do not know," Ducky sighed. "But whoever made these footprints must be nearby, these footprints do not seem old."
"I have an idea," Littlefoot exclaimed."Since Cam and Mia are smaller longnecks like me, they should have footprints about my size. I'll compare these footprints to mine and see if they match up."
"Good idea, Littlefoot!" Ducky exclaimed.
"Yeah, let's try it out!" Cera agreed.
So together, everyone walked to the trail of longneck footprints that lay right next to the big water. Littlefoot stepped in a spot just to the right of one of the other footprints, pressed hard to make a clear footprint in the ground, and then he lifted his foot up. Everybody then bent down and looked at the two footprints.
"These footprints are about your size, yep yep yep," Ducky exclaimed. "These are definitely longneck footprints."
"Except that Littlefoot's looks normal and the other ones look really silly," Cera added bluntly, causing everyone to chuckle with Cera's straightforwardness. "No really…they're not the same shape…it almost looks like it's tripping in its own…"
"Cera, that's it!" Ducky gasped. "It all makes sense, it does!"
"What does?" Cera asked bewilderedly.
"Don't you see…one of them must have walked in the other one's footprints…so they would look like…" Ducky began.
"One longneck!" Littlefoot and Cera finished together as Ducky nodded brightly.
"That fits… and look!" Cera exclaimed, nodding toward some tracks further down the path. "The tracks look like they are different shapes!"
"Nobody can step in someone else's footprints perfectly," Littlefoot said. "I think you're right, Ducky! We've found their footprints! Now let's go stop them!"
With a surge of determination, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, and Spike hurried down the beach path with breakneck speed. As they turned another corner, they saw that Petrie was flying back towards them, panting exhaustedly. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike looked expectantly at him as he swooped down and landed on Littlefoot's back. "Guys! Me find Cam and Mia! They ones making longneck tracks!"
"Did you find Chomper? Or did you hear them talking about him?" Littlefoot gasped anxiously.
"No," Petrie answered, and Littlefoot felt relieved, knowing that if they were either planning on killing or have just killed Chomper, they would most likely be talking to each other about it. "But we must follow them! They carry eggs with their tails and argue whole bunches about them!"
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike gasped and looked at each other. Suddenly, they realized that Cam and Mia were not thinking about Chomper at all. "They are…. egg thieves!" Ducky exclaimed quietly, her eyes wide with horror.
Then Littlefoot had a new thought, gasped and cried, "They must have stolen those eggs from the clubtails!"
Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike all gasped in shock, and considered the possibility. "It fits," Ducky gasped. "The clubtail's eggs disappeared, but Chomper did not eat any of them, no no no…"
"Cam must have smuggled the eggs away during all of the commotion with Mia when nobody would notice," Cera growled, stomping the ground.
"That explain why Cam not there when Mia scream," Petrie finished. "And why they blame Chomper for attacking the eggs."
"But why would they want to steal eggs?" Ducky asked confusedly. "They are not sharpteeth, oh no no no…"
"We've got to find Cam and Mia quickly and see what they're up to," Littlefoot exclaimed determinedly.
"Oh, but...we cannot find them unless someone can show us the way…" Ducky began.
At Ducky's words, something clicked in Littlefoot's head. "That's it, Ducky!" he gasped excitedly. And with gusto, Littlefoot hurried over to the big water, took a deep breath, and stuck his head underwater and began to speak, making an indistinguishable bubbling sound from above. Then he lifted his head out of the water and smiled.
"What are you doing?" Cera asked confusedly as the others joined him.
"You'll see," Littlefoot answered confidently.
They stood there and waited for a few minutes, and Cera began to sigh impatiently. "If we keep on waiting, then we'll never stop them them in time!"
But before Littlefoot could answer, a huge splash came from the big water, soaking everyone. "Oh no! Petrie's wings heavy! Water make flying hard!" Petrie shouted as he frantically tried to splash off the seawater from his wings.
"Ow! Who did that?" Cera snarled as she squinted in pain, for her eye stung with salty water from the splash.
"Mo did, that's who!" came a voice from below. Everyone looked down, and there, laughing and swimming in the big water, was Mo, Littlefoot's old swimmer friend, still with brilliant colors and an effervescent smile on his face.
"Come here, mud brother!" Littlefoot exclaimed. Excitedly, Mo leaped out of the water, and Littlefoot hugged him with his front foot as they happily laughed. "Mo haven't seen you in long time!" Mo shouted joyously, returning to the water and swimming happily. "You all very big!"
"Yeah, I guess we are," Littlefoot chuckled as Cera, Spike, Ducky, and Petrie smiled down at him.
"Mo so happy to see you again!" Mo told Littlefoot. "Promise to see Mo again sometime, okay?"
"Sure thing, Mo," Littlefoot told Mo happily. Then he remembered why he called Mo up and asked, "Uh…Mo, we need some help…from you."
"Help?" Mo asked, with a bright smile. "Sure! Mo always happy to help friends!"
"Well, we're following two longnecks…" Littlefoot began.
"Friends following two longnecks?" Mo interrupted, interested.
"Yeah, we are," Littlefoot answered.
"One with really long neck and one with boxy head? And both carrying eggs?" Mo asked.
"Yeah, that's them," Littlefoot replied eagerly.
"Mo found something that fell off the one with really long neck," Mo told them happily. He dived under the water for a second, and returned carrying a wet, large leaf that was a shade of dull pink and looked to be heavily damaged from wear and tear. He held it out to Littlefoot, who nodded thankfully for it as he gently grabbed it with his teeth and set it down on the beach.
"She wear this on her neck," Mo explained. "The wind caught it and it fall into big water."
"Mia wore this on her neck," Littlefoot muttered to himself, staring at the leaf. And then, he gasped. With his heart beating, he asked Mo, "Mo, what color was it before it fell in the big water?"
"All red, deep red," Mo explained. "Redder than stripes on Mo's back."
Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike gasped, all coming to the same thought at once. "I knew it!" Cera shouted indignantly. "She's been faking her injury!"
"She wear this to make it look like she bit there!" Petrie cried.
"Yeah," Littlefoot sighed in frustration. At that moment, Spike began to sniff the leaf and licked it happily.
"Spike, stop it! You cannot eat this, no no no!" Ducky exclaimed as she bent down and pushed his face away to prevent him from eating it. But then, her eyes flickered. "This leaf has a funny scent, it does…it smells like…sweet bubbles!" Spike then nodded, and Ducky added, "And Spike says it tastes like sweet bubbles too!"
"There must be sweet bubble dye on it," Littlefoot muttered. "That explains why the leaf is red!"
Then, everyone turned to face Mo. "Mo, can you tell us where the longnecks went?" Littlefoot asked determinedly.
"Mo can hear them far away," he explained. "Friends will find longnecks soon. Mo'll follow longnecks with his ears, and friends will follow Mo."
"Thanks Mo," Littlefoot told Mo gratefully.
Mo nodded happily, and without another word, he swam energetically through the water as Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike struggled to keep up with him. As he swam, Mo tried to keep everyone entertained. He jumped in and out of the water, cackling happily, jumping energetically, and splashing playfully, making everyone, even Cera, laugh happily with him.
"Mo hear them very well," he explained. "They climb up smoking mountain."
"Oh no! Not smoking mountain!" Petrie gasped, and he fell back first onto the ground.
"There there Petrie, get up, you will be all right," Ducky told him gently.
"Where is this smoking mountain?" Littlefoot asked curiously.
"It right up here," Petrie exclaimed in terror, pointing above them. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike looked high above them, and they saw that they were standing right in front of the bottom of a tall, smoking mountain. Then they looked ahead, and noticed that they were just about to walk up a spiraling, stony path which they knew must lead to the top.
"We'll show them that they can't steal any more eggs!" Cera shouted heatedly, grinning with determination.
"Mo can't go anymore, but this path leads to top of smoking mountain!" Mo called out. "Mo hopes he was good help!"
"You were great, Mo!" Littlefoot smiled. Then he told Mo brightly, "Bye Mo, and thank you!"
"Promise to see Mo again some time!" Mo cheered, and seeing Littlefoot nod happily, he dived back into the water as everyone said goodbye to him.
"Come on, let's get going and rescue those eggs," Littlefoot declared determinedly, and everyone looked into each other's resolute eyes and nodded together, determined to make sure that the stolen eggs would return to their rightful home.