Chapter 20: Fight for the Clubtails
While Ozzy continued to make his battle plans to the other eggstealers, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike took advantage of the time he spent talking to talk each other on how they should delegate their eggs.
"I can't carry all of these eggs without losing the use of my whiptail," Littlefoot explained to the others concernedly. "It's my best weapon against the eggstealers."
"Yeah, we're gonna need that," Cera said. "I don't need my tail when I've got my horns. Go ahead, give me one of your eggs. I can manage another one."
"I want another one too!" Ducky exclaimed, and gratefully, Littlefoot gently handed over one egg to each to Cera and Ducky, so he, Cera and Ducky each had two while Petrie held onto the seventh.
Then, Spike made a coughing sound and looked attentively at everyone's eggs. Ducky smiled and explained, "Spike wants to carry an egg too, he does!"
"Me give my egg to Spike," Petrie offered, and he carefully placed his egg in Spike's tail. Spike nodded thankfully, then Petrie explained, "Me think me can help best by flying down and finding place to hide eggs. We need place to keep eggs safe from eggstealers while we fight, and flying with egg will slow me down. Me should find place because me flyer, so me can fly down and find good place fastest."
"Good idea," Littlefoot agreed. "Cera, Spike, and I will stop the eggstealers from coming, and you and Ducky can help protect the eggs."
"That sounds like a great idea, yep yep yep!" Ducky exclaimed. "We'd all be doing what we are good at! Littlefoot can lead, Cera can fight, I can take care of the eggs, Petrie can find place, and Spike can scare them!"
Everyone nodded happily with the plan, and while Ozzy continued to rant, Petrie carefully bent down and scooted across the ground so nobody would notice him. Upon reaching the edge of the path, he glided off and soared down to find a place to keep the eggs safe. Meanwhile, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike wrapped their eggs tightly in their tails, looked at each other and nodded, and began to run down the path. As soon as they began to move, they heard an eggstealer interrupt Ozzy and scream, "Ozzy! They're getting away!"
"I know that!" Ozzy roared. "Planning time's over! Now split up! First unit, follow me! We're going to invade the Great Valley now!"
"But Ozzy! We don't know where the Great Valley is!" an eggstealer piped up.
"Shut up, you birdbrain," Ozzy told him determinedly. "In case you forgot, I've been there already. Anyways, second unit, stay here and stop those overgrown eggs from going anywhere!"
"We want to go to the Great Valley too!" an eggstealer hollered, causing many others to murmur angrily.
"You can have the bodies of those brats and all of those eggs for your spoils!" Ozzy replied impatiently. "Now get going!"
At once, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Spike heard the clamor of hurried eggstealers from the top of the smoking mountain, and they knew that the eggstealers were beginning to chase after them.
"They're coming, oh no no no!" Ducky gasped, clutching her eggs very tightly.
"At least we have a head start," Littlefoot replied as they began to hear the hurried sprinting of the eggstealers on their trail.
"But they're…fast," Cera gasped exhaustedly as Spike grunted in agreement. The four of them knew that while the eggstealers were smaller than them, they had long nimble legs which coupled with the heavy load the kids were carrying could allow the eggstealers to catch up fast.
"We've just got to outrun them until Petrie comes back," Littlefoot declared.
"Yeah!" Cera exclaimed. "We're not gonna let those eggstealers win!"
"And our eggs will be safe and sound and happy, yep yep yep," Ducky chirped up.
Just when the kids reached another curve near the bottom of the path, they heard the ravenous breathing of the eggstealers getting closer and closer to them.
"They're gonna catch up to us," Cera said, and Littlefoot, Spike, and Ducky nodded in agreement.
"I hope Petrie will come soon!" Ducky cried out.
Then, suddenly, they looked up and saw Petrie flying over to them excitedly. "Guys! Me find it!" he exclaimed as he landed.
Ducky gasped, "Great Petrie!" and she happily hugged him.
"Ride me over and me show you hiding place," Petrie told Ducky, who happily nodded. Then Ducky turned to Littlefoot, Cera and Spike and said, "Guys…give me more of your eggs!"
Littlefoot and Cera looked at each other nervously. "Are you sure you can carry more eggs?" Littlefoot asked.
"Oh yes yes yes! But not all of them at once," Ducky admitted. "But I can carry a couple more, and with fewer eggs, you can fight better."
Littlefoot and Cera nodded, and the two of them each gave Ducky one of their eggs, so Ducky now had four and Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike each had one.
Then Ducky got aboard Petrie's back, carefully holding onto her eggs. "We not too far Ducky," Petrie told her comfortingly.
"That is good, yep yep yep!" Ducky exclaimed. Then she looked back and said, "Thanks guys! I will come back for the others when these eggs are safe. Good luck!"
Littlefoot, Cera and Spike nodded as they watched Ducky and Petrie fly off, carrying their four eggs away. Just then, the pack of fifteen eggstealers finally caught up with them. Huffing with exhaustion, the eggstealers looked out and saw Ducky and Petrie flying away with the eggs.
"Get them!" the lead eggstealer screamed. At once, the eggstealers rushed forward, but Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike quickly moved to block the path. Cera hurried left to cover the inner side, flashing her horns fiercely as she wrapped her egg in her front leg. Spike moved right to cover the edge, growling and swinging his tail just as intimidatingly, and he also wrapped his egg in his front leg. Littlefoot stood in between them, and whipped his tail threateningly as he too placed his egg in his front leg. The eggstealers kept on running and crashed into the three of them, and the eggstealers looked up to see that Littlefoot, Cera and Spike were leering at them threateningly.
"Sorry guys, but you're gonna have to deal with us first!" Cera told the eggstealers.
"We don't want to hurt anyone," Littlefoot warned them. "But we will if we have to, because we're not giving these innocent eggs to you!" Littlefoot growled, lashing his tail out threateningly.
"Last warning, rockheads!" Cera snarled at the eggstealers, kicking at the ground, leering at them, and lifting her head up in anticipation. "Give up or you'll be sorry!" Then Spike made a low growl, and stepped into an attacking position, swinging his tail back and forth.
The eggstealers looked at each other confusedly. But after their brief moment of hesitation, they growled and lunged at Littlefoot, Cera and Spike. The three of them hurriedly tried to repel each oncoming eggstealer attack, whipping, stabbing, and spiking them away with all of the determination and power they could muster while still keeping their eggs protected. But the eggstealers were very resilient, for even though they were attacked many times, they seemed to keep on getting up after each attack.
"They keep…coming back," Cera growled, as she threw two more eggstealers onto the rocks, though like all the other ones they hit, they managed to get up.
"Yeah," Littlefoot huffed, preparing his tail to whip more eggstealers. "Ozzy must have them really well trained."
"I'd like to give them a full-powered hit," Cera snarled. "But I can't while I still have my egg."
Littlefoot nodded, for he felt the same way. "Don't worry Cera, Ducky will be back soon and she'll take the rest of our eggs. And then…"
"We'll show them," Cera finished with a smirk as she stabbed another eggstealer.
"Let's hope Ducky and Petrie don't run into too much trouble," Littlefoot told Cera as he whipped an eggstealer away.
Meanwhile, Petrie, struggling with carrying the weight of both Ducky and the clubtail eggs, slowly swooped down to the sandy ground where he panted exhaustedly, trying to catch his breath. "Thanks for the ride, Petrie!" Ducky exclaimed.
"Me happy you like it," Petrie told her happily, and the two giggled to each other. Then Petrie told Ducky, "We nearly here. Come follow me."
"Okay!" Ducky happily exclaimed, and Petrie flew a little ways ahead as Ducky followed him. Petrie came to a stop at a shallow rocky crevice on the smoking mountain's side, right nearby the edge of the beach beyond which laid a vast expanse of big water. "Me found egg hiding place right here!" Petrie announced.
"It looks great!" Ducky excitedly said. "The eggs will be safe from the eggstealers in there, they will! But I am not sure if I can fit in there, oh no no no," Ducky told Petrie nervously.
"But me can, me already check and me can fit if me fold up my wings," Petrie replied, and nodding, he slipped into the crevice and slipped out again.
Ducky gasped, "You are right Petrie, you are!"
Petrie nodded happily, and together, he and Ducky bent down next to the crevice. Ducky carefully handed each of her eggs to Petrie, who gently placed each egg inside. There was not much room for the eggs inside, but there was just enough space for them to all lie on the ground. Petrie then squeezed his way into the crevice, and sat on up on top of the eggs protectively.
"Four eggs are safe now, they are," Ducky told Petrie, and bending down, she gave Petrie a big hug, which he happily returned. Standing back up, Ducky explained, "I have got to go back and help the others. They still have eggs that they are guarding."
"Okay…bye Ducky. Me promise to keep my eye on these eggs!" Petrie told her comfortingly as Ducky looked at him affectionately. Waving, Ducky turned and hurried down the sandy path back to the smoking mountain. She ran as quickly as she could, for she heard battle cries from above her and was determined to free Littlefoot, Cera and Spike of their eggs. Ducky huffed up the smoking mountain, and quickly, she managed to arrive at the scene. Littlefoot, Cera and Spike were still fighting the mob of eggstealers, and while they were still blocking eggstealer after eggstealer, Ducky heard how ragged their breathing had become and saw that bruises began to form on their sides, their eggs slowly began to slip from their legs, and their reactions had begun to slow.
Ducky whistled softly, and Spike instantly turned to see her. Happily, he nudged Littlefoot, who nudged Cera, and they all looked back to see Ducky standing there emptyhanded. Smiling gratefully, Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike each released their egg from their foot, and the three eggs rolled to Ducky and she carefully picked up each one.
"We'll see you soon!" Littlefoot called out to Ducky as he whipped away an eggstealer and caused it to knock into another one.
"Once we take care of these guys!" Cera added, and she reared on her hind legs and stomped on an eggstealer, while stabbing another one with her horn.
Buoyed with the release of their eggs and the renewed use of their front feet, Littlefoot, Cera and Spike attacked the eggstealers with renewed vigor. The eggstealers that were rushing toward them, having endured hit after hit, had finally began to lose stamina and keel over. Slowly but surely and through many bruises and cuts, Littlefoot, Cera and Spike had managed to defeat eggstealer after eggstealer thanks to their tails and horns.
At last, only the lead eggstealer remained. "You brats aren't gonna win that easy!" he shouted, and aggressively, he charged at them, with his claws out and his eyes wearing a manic expression. But hurriedly, Spike spiked him up in the air with his tail, Cera jumped up and stabbed him with her horn, and with his whip tail, Littlefoot slammed the eggstealer onto the ground, where he lay lifeless and still.
"Hee!" Cera cheered.
"We beat them!" Littlefoot exclaimed, and Spike began to happily hum as Littlefoot and Cera looked into each other's eyes and cuddled against each other happily.
"Let's go!" Littlefoot happily exclaimed, and he, Cera, and Spike lightheartedly bounded down the path. Little did they notice, however, that only a handful of eggstealer bodies lay on the path…
Down below the smoking mountain, Ducky was running back to Petrie's crevice, clutching on to her three eggs tightly. "I hope Petrie is doing okay, I do," Ducky murmured to herself. However, at that moment, Ducky heard a loud, panicked scream.
"Petrie!" Ducky gasped. Her heart hammered as she quickened her pace, but she was going so fast she didn't look to see where she was going. Suddenly, she felt her movement slow, and she looked down and realized…
"Oh no no no!" Ducky gasped. Suddenly, she couldn't see her feet anymore, for they seemed to have fallen into the ground. She tried lifting her left foot up, but she felt it being pulled down to the ground. "Sinking sand!" Ducky gasped nervously as she realized her knees were completely submerged.
Suddenly, Ducky's heart turned over with horror as two eggstealers came running up to her. "Well, well, well, poor little swimmer is stuck in the sand," one of them mocked.
"How did you get here?" Ducky cried out.
"Simple," the first eggstealer explained. "Some of us were just smart enough to jump off the path and land on the soft sand in the middle of the fight."
"We'll get you out…but only if you surrender your eggs," the other one said with a smirk.
"No! I will never give them to you!" Ducky shouted, clutching her eggs tightly and glaring at them, waving her tail fiercely.
"Suit yourself," the first eggstealer smirked. "There's no use trying to struggle. We don't mind our eggs with some sinking sand sauce….and we won't say no to a swimmer side dish either."
Together, the two eggstealers laughed as Ducky frowned despairingly into the sinking sand. She felt her hands were crackling in what had to be hopelessness, but then a new idea came to her. Smiling at the eggstealers, Ducky exclaimed, "I will not give up yet… I can get out… I must get out… Petrie needs me… and so do the babies…"
Ducky then took a deep breath, and lay down on her back. The eggstealers looked and began to laugh hysterically, quaking with mirth. "Get out? By taking a nap? We don't think so!" one of them sneered. But Ducky ignored their taunting, and remembering her capabilities of being a swimmer, gently paddled through the sinking sand just the way she would in the water. Ducky was not used to swimming in anything this tough, and her breathing was heavy with exhaustion. But she closed her eyes and imagined seeing Petrie's caring face on the other side and imagined him saying, "Me know you can do it Ducky!" Feeling much better, she then thought of the baby clubtails that she held onto, imagining their bright, smiling faces as they would break free from their eggs…
"No!" the eggstealers shrieked. Growling furiously, the eggstealers waded in to try and stop Ducky. But they moved so quickly and restlessly that they tripped and fell facefirst into the sinking sand and began to cry out themselves. Ducky smiled, knowing that she would make it through the sinking sand soon. She kept on going, and eventually, she managed to reach the edge of the sinking sand, smiling delightedly. But then, just as Ducky put both of her feet on land and stood up, she inexplicably felt her fists crackling more. Ducky looked down, and at once, her heart plummeted.
"Oh no!" Ducky gasped, looking down at the eggs, which had deep dents and cracks in them, her heart pounding. "They are hurt!"
But then she remembered that Petrie needed her help, and knew that she had no choice but to take care of the eggs later. She carefully clutched her eggs while at the same time trying her hardest not to crack them, and rushed along the path, leaving the eggstealers screaming in the sinking sand pit behind her. She hurried forward, and when she got to the crevice, she saw to her horror that half a dozen eggstealers were swarming the entrance of the cave. Petrie was standing inside, growling threateningly at the eggstealers and trying his hardest to block off the entrance. Petrie repeatedly snapped and clawed at the eggstealers, causing most of them to have many shallow cuts, but the eggstealers kept on bouncing back and they had managed to land several blows on Petrie's wings.
"Make this easier for yourself, beakbrain," an eggstealer called out. "Give those eggs to us!"
"No way! Eggs safe with me!" Petrie shouted back, and he jabbed the eggstealer with his wing, causing a fierce gash to appear on the eggstealer's cheek.
The eggstealer cried out, "You'll pay, flyer," and before Petrie could react, he swiped Petrie across his face, and caused him to fall down. Petrie managed to get up, but the eggstealers took advantage of Petrie's fall to draw themselves right next to the eggs. Looking down, they smirked at each other and licked their lips. "Now…it's time to feast!" an eggstealer cried out.
But at that moment, a large green tail slammed the eggstealers down onto the ground. Looking up, Petrie saw to his delight that Ducky was standing in front of him and glaring at the eggstealers. "You cannot hurt Petrie or the babies, oh no no no!" Petrie moved back out of the crevice and he and Ducky prepared to resume defending the eggs against the eggstealers. The eggstealers growled fiercely as they prepared to attack, but then Petrie noticed that something was moving in Ducky's hands. His heart pounding, Petrie excitedly shouted, "Ducky look! Your eggs!"
Ducky looked down, and gasped in horror as she saw that her eggs were cracking. Worrying she might have damaged the eggs in the fight, a tear fell from Ducky's eye, "Poor poor babies," she cried. But then, she noticed that a reddish-pink leg was sticking out of one of the eggs.
"They….they are not hurt….they are hatching!" Ducky exclaimed, and as she said that, the other two eggs began to wiggle. Looking down, the eggstealers screamed with rage as three clubtails stretched out and yawned in Ducky's hands.
Then Petrie felt movement behind him. Happily, he called out, "Ducky…look behind you!" Ducky turned, and to her delight she saw that four little clubtails were running out of the crevice and were gurgling, smiling cutely, and making cooing noises as their eyes began to flicker open.
"They are saying they are happy to be out!" Ducky exclaimed cheerfully, as the three clubtails jumped out of her hands to join their siblings and cousins. The babies happily chattered to each other, before they all rubbed against Ducky's leg affectionately, causing the eggstealers to growl in rage and begin to whisper to each other heatedly.
Ducky looked down to face the little clubtails. "Hello baby clubtails! My name is Ducky, yep yep yep! And this is Petrie, my boyfriend."
The clubtails gurgled happily, and all of them looked at Ducky with delighted curiosity.
"Me likey Mumma!" one of the clubtails warbled out, smiling adorably and waving at Ducky.
Ducky giggled before saying, "I am not your real mother, oh no no no, but you will see your real mommy and daddy in the Great Valley soon, you will."
The babies looked at each other excitedly, and Ducky smiled. "They are so cute," she told Petrie, who nodded in agreement. "Babies are so much fun!"
"Enough," an eggstealer called out. "You have messed with our plans…for the last time! We may have preferred them as eggs…but we'll still take them as hatchlings!"
"Not so fast!" came two angry voices from behind them. The eggstealers turned and saw that Littlefoot, Cera and Spike were charging at them, each with a look of determined fury. The eggstealers screamed as Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike drew closer and closer to them. Hurriedly, the eggstealers tried to retreat, but before they could get anywhere, Petrie flew in front of their path and blocked their way.
"You need to learn lesson for attacking babies," Petrie growled.
The eggstealers snarled back at Petrie and prepared to bite at his wing, but before they could do anything, Littlefoot, Cera and Spike had arrived. Together, the three of them whipped, horned, and spiked the eggstealers far into the water, while Petrie kept on blocking the eggstealers from leaving and Ducky stood guard over the little clubtails and made sure they didn't wander too far off. At last, only one eggstealer was left, breathing raggedly.
"You…stinking sapsuckers stopped us from having dinner….but I'll stop you from ever seeing…" he began.
But a second later, the eggstealer abruptly stopped talking and screamed. All of a sudden, a huge boulder was falling off the smoking mountain's cliff. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and the baby clubtails quickly got out of the way and with a direct hit, the boulder managed to flatten the remaining eggstealer and caused a momentary earthshake.
"Yay!" Ducky exclaimed. She turned to the clubtails and said, "You guys are safe now, yep yep yep!"
"Where did that come from?" Cera asked confusedly.
"I don't know," Littlefoot replied. "I'm sure glad it came when it did though."
"Well I'm not!" Cera exclaimed. "I wanted to hit that rockhead myself!" which caused everyone else to laugh.
"Me real curious…me go and fly up to see who it is!" Petrie exclaimed.
But before he could, everyone heard a familiar voice exclaiming, "That was a great hit, Shorty!"
"It was fun!" another familiar voice replied. "I love boulder rolling!"
Littlefoot thought he knew who it must have been, but he hardly dared to believe it. But before he could give it another thought, he saw…