Chapter 27: The Plan Revealed

Excitedly, the eggstealers stood ravenously on the cliffs of the Great Valley, staring at the few dinosaurs below them and licking their lips hungrily.

"Well well well…what a pleasure to be back here again. The mighty Great Valley has never looked so…defenseless," Ozzy smirked from above.

"If you have come to hurt anyone, you will have us to deal with!" Grandpa Longneck shouted as he lifted his tail threateningly. Grandma Longneck, Ali, Mama Swimmer, Mama Flyer, Topps, Tricia, and Tria nodded before glaring and posing threateningly for the eggstealers.

"You really are scaring us," Ozzy smirked sarcastically. "Don't worry…we're not interested in hurting you…we're only interested in your succulent, delightful…eggs," Ozzy smirked, and the other eggstealers began to excitedly stir.

Mama Swimmer was shaking as she growled, "So…you were the ones who are responsible for taking away the clubtails' eggs!"

The eggstealers laughed from above. Ozzy smirked, "By putting it like that, it's clear that you sapsuckers have no appreciation for subtleties. I'll give you all some time to live…"

"But you just said you weren't interested in hurting us!" Topps roared.

"We aren't," Ozzy replied. "But…they are," Ozzy laughed. Then, he turned to face the crowd of eggstealers, and made a beckoning motion. At once, the eggstealers shuffled over, and everyone in the Great Valley gasped as a large pack of fast biters ran over to the edge of the cliff and took their place. "They'll keep you guys busy while we feast on your eggs. But we're gonna give you a little time to live as you learn all about our plan."

The Great Valley dinosaurs looked at each other in horror, as Ozzy smirked, cleared his throat, and began to talk. "It all began a long time ago when me and my brother Strut first invaded the Great Valley to find our favorite…delicious, eggs," Ozzy growled. "We would've had a feast here…if it hadn't been for five obnoxious overgrown eggs who got in our way. We kept on trying to claim our rightful eggs…"

"Rightful eggs?" Tricia asked skeptically. "Yeah right."

"Silence, hatchling," an eggstealer shouted. "Or we'll kill you first!"

"Those eggs do not belong to you, they belong to the babies who live inside of them!" Mama Swimmer shouted passionately as Tria growled at the eggstealer who threatened Tricia.

"Enough rubbish," Ozzy growled. "Anyway…we failed back then due to your stupid kids and the baby sharptooth's stupid parents. But I have always vowed to return here to get my revenge and have another chance to raid the greatest egg paradise of all. This time however, I've learned from our past mistakes and learned a lesson from your precious hatchlings…that if there are enough of us, we can take on anyone who tries to get in our way! Together, Strut and I scoured the world and recruited other eggstealers. After we got a sizeable membership in our force, we prepared to make a practice assault on a herd of longnecks…the very same herd of longnecks that have come to visit right now…"

Ali gasped and growled, "You attacked our herd too?"

"Sure," Ozzy answered carelessly. "Unfortunately my brother Strut had decided he had enough eggstealing, so he turned traitor and warned your herd about the attack, so they were prepared for us. It was then that I realized that you cannot trust others who don't think like you, so to have a loyal force, you need to create an army where every member has the same mindset as its leaders. After we retreated and I disposed of Strut, I began a new training program. First, I weeded out our weakest and least determined members. Once I did that, those of us remaining focused on becoming a cohesive unit. And that was easy, for all of us share the single goal of feasting upon the biggest egg paradise of all."

"We've been dreaming and scheming for every moment of our invasion. We've spent years going through vigorous training that would make us able to withstand attack after attack. We also reached out and made allies, like the fast biters. I have picked up the ability to speak sharptooth over the years, so I made a pact with their leaders, Screech and Thud, figuring that we could use their help in stopping our obstacles. Our deal was simple. They eat you, we will eat your eggs. But we knew that even though we were well prepared, we still had to find a way to deal with the formidable obstacles of the Great Valley. We needed an opening…and we succeeded in finding it."

"Nothing has opened, you eggbrains," Mr. Threehorn roared as he flashed his frill aggressively.

The eggstealers all began to maniacally laugh. "No, not literally, pointyface," Ozzy told him tauntingly. "But yes, we've found our opening. For a while, we've been watching the Great Valley to see if we can find any trouble. We were particularly interested in the past few days, as the herd of longnecks that Strut betrayed us to happened to be visiting. so we can have revenge on two herds in one attack. And then, it was I who found our opening… in your little longneck friend Mia."

The Great Valley dinosaurs looked at each other in shock as Ozzy continued to smirk. "As soon as I saw her, I could instantly tell that the longneck looked deeply disturbed, and thus... easy to manipulate. I called her over to the cliffs, and pretended to be…sympathetic to her story. That whining longneck complained on and on about how everybody was going to be in danger and desperately wanted help. She told me that everyone was in grave danger because there was a hungry sharptooth hiding in the Great Valley. She desperately wanted to kill the sharptooth so that it couldn't hurt anybody, but she was too afraid to try and fight it herself. Of course, I knew that the sharptooth was friendly with leafeaters, but I didn't tell her that. I consoled the grass guzzling fool, and I promised her that me and my friends would help kill the sharptooth. But in return, we asked for two nests worth of eggs and to help us get into the Great Valley. She took a little convincing, but she finally accepted, deciding that killing the sharptooth was more important than the lives of a few eggs."

The Great Valley dinosaurs looked at each other in horror before Ozzy continued, "We laid out a plan to strike that night. Cam, Mia, and our pack plotted before we came to a simple, easy plan."

Another eggstealer then smirked and said, "It started when I ran through the Great Valley and placed footprints to make it look like the sharptooth was on a rampage. Our footprints and young sharptooth footprints look very similar, so this would be an easy way to trick you. We knew that this would get you to think that the sharptooth had been on the prowl and was looking for a chance to make a kill, and that the only reason it had not done so already was that it was afraid of being caught."

"Next, I did my part," a tiny eggstealer smirked, sneering happily. "Late that night when you all were asleep, I sneaked into the cave where I knew the sharptooth slept. I carried a piece of particularly strong smelling meat and wafted it right by its nose. It couldn't resist the smell of fresh meat, and it lost control of its hunger completely. While still sleeping, the sharptooth stood up and sleepwalked over to me, blindly following the scent of the meat. So I led the sleeping sharptooth out of the cave and through Great Valley. The sharptooth continued to follow my every move, and eventually, I got to Mia, who was lying on the ground and preparing for her part in the plan. Her part of the plan was to scream when the sharptooth arrived so that you would wake up, see the out of control sharptooth, and instantly kill it. As I drew closer, I darted off to the side so nobody would see me, just when the sharptooth approached Mia."

Ozzy growled, "Then your stupid children showed up, and ruined our original plan. Originally, the sharptooth was supposed to be killed off at the start, then you would argue with each other about who was to blame for the attack. Then our fast biters would've attacked and in the confusion, we would've be able to sneak in. But being friends with the sharptooth, your children ruined the plan by leading the sharptooth to safety."

"But it matters not that the sharptooth is still alive. You believed everything you were supposed to, that the sharptooth was on a killing spree through the Great Valley that night, biting Mia's neck and eating all of the clubtails' eggs. But Mia's so-called bite, which you finally managed to figure out, was just a big leaf covered with sweet bubble dye that we wrapped around her neck to look like a bite. And as for the eggs? While you were all sleeping and the children were busy with Mia and the sharptooth, Cam snuck over to the clubtail's nest, took their eggs, and hid them in a cave. But your reactions… they were the best part. I had no idea that grass guzzlers were capable of such vengeful desires. Your need for revenge has caused most of your residents to track down and kill the sharptooth, causing your precious Great Valley to be nearly abandoned…making our attack even easier than we expected."

The parents, Ali, and Tricia looked at each other in disbelief, while the eggstealers grinned down at them, relishing their triumph.

"Your kids caught on eventually and tracked us down to our headquarters and are holding up some of our army," Ozzy drawled. "But it doesn't matter. Even though the plan didn't go as originally intended, it ended up even better for us. The sharptooth will be dead anyway, so will your children once our forces beat them, and most of you sapsuckers stupidly left to hunt the sleeping sharptooth. And because of this…"

Ozzy whistled, and the eggstealers and fast biters moved to the edge of the cliff, licking their lips. "Your numbers are very low and we've gotten our chance to attack!"

With that, the eggstealers and fast biters began to make battle cries, and abruptly, they began to claw at trees on the cliffs above the Great Valley and chop them down, creating log walkways that would allow them to enter the Great Valley.

While the eggstealers and fast biters began to work on their entrance, the Great Valley dinosaurs looked at each other sadly and began to whisper to each other.

"We should've believed the children all along…" Mama Flyer sighed. "If we did, none of this would have happened."

"But there's nothing we can do about this now," Mama Swimmer added. "There's eggstealers and fast biters everywhere, and we can't get the search party home to help us on time."

Grandma and Grandpa Longneck, however, looked at each other, and nodded. Then, they looked at the others as Grandpa Longneck began to speak. "Listen everyone! We've got to…"

"Look here Longneck, who are you to act all high and mighty? If you are so smart, you would've known that the children…" Mr. Threehorn began, but Grandma Longneck interrupted him.

"Nobody knew that the children were right, and nobody is pretending to," Grandma Longneck replied. "But while we can't go back in time and do everything over again, we can follow their example… and I'm sure that they wouldn't be standing here arguing. Instead, they would be fighting to defend the Great Valley and our eggs and take on those monsters!"

Everyone looked at each other, and smiled. "You're right," Ali said. "That's exactly what Littlefoot and the rest of my friends would do if they were here. We should start coming up with a plan."

"Well for starters, we need somebody to make sure that all of the eggs are taken care of," Grandpa Longneck began.

"I'll do that," Mama Swimmer passionately replied. "I've raised lots of eggs before and I'll guard them with my life. I'll run through the Great Valley and collect the eggs before the eggstealers get here, and then when they come, I'll protect all the eggs from harm. They'll need to think again if they want to hurt our babies!"

Everyone nodded, agreeing that Mama Swimmer would be the best choice to guard the eggs. Mama Swimmer ran off and began collecting eggs, and everyone else looked at each other and continued to plan.

"First I'll make sure that all of the children are safe. If Ms. Swimmer gets into trouble, I can be her backup," Mama Flyer suggested. "But for now I think I should be at the frontlines. Our enemies will be there now, so that's where we've got to put our focus. But since I can fly back and forth, I can reach Ms. Swimmer quickly if she needs any help."

Everyone nodded with agreement, and Mama Flyer flew off to escort the children to safety. Then Mr. Threehorn grunted to catch everyone's attention. "And as for the rest of us," he growled. "We will fight those rockheads off and make sure they're sorry for ever coming here!"

"Right you are Mr. Threehorn," Grandpa Longneck replied. "Now, let's guard the borders and make sure that those monsters don't get anywhere."

Everyone nodded determinedly, and hurriedly Grandma and Grandpa Longneck, Mr. Threehorn, Tria and Ali rushed towards the edge. They all stood and looked up at the great wall, preparing themselves to repel the attackers. Tria, however, turned, and saw a sight that made her gasp. Tricia was standing by her side, shaking her frill determinedly and growling threateningly.

"Tricia!" Tria gasped, and at once, she pushed Tricia back. "You should be going with Ms. Flyer to the caves! You can't fight! You're too young to put yourself in danger!"

"But Mom, I wanna help!" Tricia burst out. "I wanna teach those sharpteeth a lesson!"

"I understand Tricia, but you're still just a kid," Tria cried.

"So what if I'm a kid?" Tricia replied determinedly. "Cera and her friends were kids when they put a stop to that sharptooth! You guys are gonna need all the help you can get, and I wanna help you stop 'em once and for all!"

Tria looked at Tricia nervously, and she saw the same stubborn look that she had seen on Cera's face for all these years. "Okay Tricia, but promise to be careful!" Tria answered nervously.

"Thanks Mom, and I will," Tricia told her, and the two of them rejoined the rest of the group in standing together as they watched the Great Valley's cliffs, preparing for the fast biters and eggstealers to make their attack.