Chapter 29: Protecting the Parents
Gritting their teeth, Littlefoot, Cera and Shorty hurled themselves off the cliff and rushed over to join the battle. The moment they touched the ground, a crowd of fast biters leapt at the three of them. But they were ready for the fast biters, and together, they managed to whip, horn, or stomp on many of the fast biters, causing some of them to be unable to fight and others to retreat.
"Ozzy," an eggstealer cried out. "These kids look really tough!"
"Shut up!" Ozzy growled. "We're not gonna fail because of these overgrown eggs. We'll make them sorry." Then he turned to Littlefoot, Cera, and Shorty and growled, "You sapsucking pests have asked for it."
"Oh, I'm terrified!" Cera snarled sarcastically.
But then, Shorty turned, and noticed that Ali was fighting valiantly against a gang of fast biters. She was whipping her tail with vigor and causing many fast biters to fall to the ground, but many of them managed to get back up after getting hit. Hurriedly, Shorty took a running start and charged toward the fast biters. The fast biters roared in confusion as Shorty stood next to Ali's side.
"You're gonna have to take us both on!" Shorty shouted.
The eggstealers nervously looked at each other before they launched an attack, but Ali and Shorty were ready for them. With their whiptails at the ready, Ali and Shorty managed to hit every sharptooth that was attacking them and before they knew it, the pack of sharpteeth all either lay unconscious or retreated.
"Thanks for helping me out," Ali told Shorty brightly. "My name is Ali… who are you?"
"I'm Shorty," Shorty introduced himself. "I'm Littlefoot's foster brother."
Ali nodded admiringly at him. "I should've known…you seem to be just as brave as him," she told him sweetly.
"Gee thanks…for comparing me to that flathead," Shorty teased affectionately, and the two of them gently laughed to each other.
"We seem to make a great team…why don't you help me out?" Ali suggested happily. "I've been guarding the border to keep the eggstealers and fast biters from coming in. There seems to be more of them now thanks to all the noise down here, so let's work together to stop them!"
"Sure!" Shorty exclaimed happily, and he and Ali smiled at each other.
"Right," Ali told him. "Now all you need to do is just stand by the edge and…"
But just then, two fast biters walked over to the cliff and prepared to jump in. Quickly, Ali and Shorty each grabbed a fast biter and slammed them onto the Great Valley ground far below.
"Great job!" Ali exclaimed. "I think you get the idea already." Looking at each other friendlily, the two longnecks continued to stand side by side by the Great Valley's cliff, grabbing all of the eggstealers and fast biters they could and slamming, whipping and stomping their foes to their defeat.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the battlefield, two fast biters had successfully gotten ahold of Tricia. The two sharpteeth were arguing with each other, standing on either side of Tricia and pulling her back and forth.
"That's my threehorn!" one of them growled in sharptooth.
"No, it's mine!" the other one snapped back.
Tricia meanwhile, let out a loud scream. The fast biters tried to shut her mouth, but it was too late. Suddenly, the fast biters felt the ground rumble below them and they screamed loudly. Turning, Tricia's heart rose as she saw that Cera was charging over to them. Within a few short seconds, Cera had managed to stab both fast biters with her horns, causing them both to fall onto the ground. Then Tricia jumped onto Cera's back and Cera carried her away to safety.
"Wow! Sis, that was… that was amazing!" Tricia spat out breathlessly.
Cera smiled. "Thanks! You were really brave…you were as brave as me... well, almost," and Tricia laughed. "Just be careful who you take on next time," Cera told Tricia gently.
"But by fighting tough opponents, I can be more helpful!" Tricia burst out.
Cera however, had just had a sudden idea. "Tricia," Cera told her. "There's something you can do that'd be even more helpful than fighting!"
"Really?" Tricia asked excitedly.
Cera nodded, then she put Tricia down on the grass and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Mom and Grandpa Longneck are still alive, right?"
"Yeah," Tricia answered. "They're just unconscious from being bitten. So…"
Cera smiled. "Listen. There are some light blue flowers which have special healing powers. They worked great with me when I was hurt, and so I'm sure they'll work with them too. Maybe they'll be in the forest. Ask Ruby if she's seen any of them, she's laying traps for the eggstealers in there right now. Once you find them, take them to Mama and Grandma Longneck straight away, understand?"
Tricia nodded determinedly. "I won't let you and Mom down, sis!" she exclaimed, and with that, she bounded away into the forest to look for the healing flowers.
Meanwhile, Littlefoot had hurried over to join Grandma Longneck and Mr. Threehorn guard their fallen spouses. He hurried over and stood in between Grandma Longneck and Mr. Threehorn, with his whiptail out and at the ready.
"Littlefoot! Thank goodness you're here!" Grandma Longneck exclaimed brightly. Upon seeing Littlefoot's worried expression, she explained, "Grandpa and Tria will be okay, as long as we protect them from further harm until they get a chance to recover. But these monsters are tough, and we could really use some more help!"
"We were just fine before you showed up," Mr. Threehorn growled, though he was not looking at either of them as he spoke.
"Don't mind him," Grandma Longneck told Littlefoot quietly. "He's just in a bad mood today, that's all."
"I understand," Littlefoot whispered back, strongly suspecting why Mr. Threehorn was mad at him. But before anyone could say another word, a pack of fast biters lunged at them. With great speed, Littlefoot, Grandma Longneck, and Mr. Threehorn whipped and horned away the fast biters before they could land another bite on Grandpa Longneck and Tria. The fast biters however, managed to get quickly back on their feet. And at once, a dozen fast biters lunged at them.
"Watch out!" Littlefoot exclaimed, and he quickly whipped away the middle eight fast biters. But his tail couldn't reach all the fast biters in time, and in horror, he noticed as the two farthest to the left fast biters rushed at Grandma Longneck. Grandma Longneck tried to whip away the fast biters, but thanks to her age, she wasn't quite fast enough. The fast biters had lunged and bit onto her tail with their mouths. Grandma Longneck screamed, and with that, she toppled onto the ground. Growling, Littlefoot turned and slammed the two fast biters with his tail, defeating them both in one stroke.
"Grandma…are you all right?" Littlefoot asked, noticing that her tail was bleeding profusely.
Grandma Longneck nodded. "Don't worry about me Littlefoot…just keep on fighting!"
"Right," Littlefoot told Grandma Longneck sadly but determinedly, and he stood guard over both her and Grandpa Longneck as Mr. Threehorn was still furiously defending Tria from the last two fast biters. One of the fast biters lunged at Mr. Threehorn, but he hurriedly rammed it away with his horns and growled. "You'll never get anywhere, rockhead!"
But at that moment, the other fast biter sneaked over to Mr. Threehorn's side and landed a deep bite on his back. Mr. Threehorn roared in pain, and at that moment, he fell to the ground. While hurt, he was still conscious and he looked up at the fast biter in horror as it stood on his back and attempted to land another bite. But a second later, Littlefoot lashed his tail at the fast biter, causing it to fall to its death. The second fast biter then tried to attack, but Littlefoot dispatched of it too with a whiplash that sent it flying to the rocky wall of the Great Valley, where it crashed and fell.
Mr. Threehorn looked up and saw Littlefoot, and he gasped, hardly daring to believe his eyes. "Littlefoot…you saved me," he exclaimed exhaustedly. "Why did you do that? You have your own family to defend!"
"I do," Littlefoot answered. "But I also have to defend my Great Valley family, and you're part of it, Mr. Threehorn."
Mr. Threehorn nodded, with a confused expression in his eyes. Then he determinedly growled, "Fight them, Littlefoot! Fight them off just like a threehorn would!"
Littlefoot nodded and said, "I will, Mr. Threehorn…"
"Enough blabber!" Ozzy shouted. Then he turned to Littlefoot. "I'm sure it's nice to have your final chats with them. But now that you're all by yourself…"
"No, he's not!" came an angry voice, and Littlefoot's heart leapt as he saw that Cera hurled herself towards him. She stood right by his side, and flashed her horns threateningly as she growled, "If you're gonna fight Littlefoot, you're gonna fight me too!"
"This is too precious," Ozzy told them mockingly. "I'll give you one last chance to live. Get out of the way of those overbearing parents who get in your way all the time and we'll let you live."
"You really think we'd do that?" Littlefoot asked. "We may disagree with our parents sometimes, but we're going to protect them no matter what!"
"That's right!" Cera exclaimed fiercely. "And you're not gonna lay one claw on them! We stopped your cronies back at the smoking mountain, and we're gonna stop you too!"
"Haha…what nerve," Ozzy smirked. "Unfortunately for you, that's not enough. Don't worry, sapsuckers. You won't have to suffer for long," Ozzy smirked. Hurriedly, he growled in sharptooth, "Get those kids!" Screech and Thud nodded, who were standing nearby, growled in acknowledgement, before they roared to the other fast biters, "Attack them now!"
Many fast biters nodded, and instantly lunged at Littlefoot and Cera. But with his whiptail and her dagger-like horns, they managed to repel each fast biter away before it could land any more than a scratch of damage.
"You're not going to hurt anyone anymore," Littlefoot growled as he stomped the ground threateningly, holding up his tail as he scowled at the fast biters.
"Instead, you're going to have a taste of your own healing flowers," Cera smirked as she glared at the fast biters.
The fast biters murmured to each other, looking to Screech and Thud for advice. But Screech and Thud were no longer fighting, instead, they were busy talking to each other.
"We've gotta get going," Screech told Thud.
"Yes," Thud replied. "Then they'll really be sorry."
And with that, Screech and Thud hurried away with blinding speed. The other fast biters looked confusedly at Screech and Thud, not knowing why they were running away.
"Well," Cera smirked. "Your leaders are scared! What're you gonna do now, rockheads?"
Littlefoot and Cera growled at the confused fast biters. Behind them, Grandma Longneck and Mr. Threehorn, though injured, were still conscious, and were watching the battle intently.
"Those two work great together, don't you think?" Grandma Longneck asked Mr. Threehorn happily. To her surprise, Mr. Threehorn didn't say a word. Grandma Longneck looked into his eyes and noticed that they looked to be very uncertain and confused.
"What are you rockheads doing?" Ozzy growled in sharptooth."Get them!" The fast biters made another lunge at Littlefoot and Cera, but thanks to their lack of leadership, they were disorganized, and Littlefoot and Cera managed to easily hit each fast biter one by one, all the while keeping a close eye on their fallen parents and using their tails to block any sneak attacks from behind them.
"You brats are wasting far too much of our time!" Ozzy growled. Then he turned to the eggstealers, who had begun to join the fast biters in fighting Littlefoot and Cera. "Eggstealers…ignore them and follow me!" The eggstealers nodded. Then Ozzy roared in sharptooth, "Keep on fighting them!" The fast biters growled and hungrily licked their lips. Then Ozzy led the other eggstealers away from the fight and led them deeper into the Great Valley. Littlefoot and Cera turned to try and stop the eggstealers, but before they could do anything, they had to face another barrage of fast biters. Knowing that they had to stay and protect their parents, Littlefoot and Cera continued to repel fast biter attacks while they saw the eggstealers hurry away from the fight.
"Grr…I wish we could stop them!" Cera snarled as she stabbed a fast biter with especially intense vigor.
"Yeah," Littlefoot sighed, before he reassuringly replied, "But they won't get off easy. They'll still have to face the others."
Cera nodded and as the two of them continued to ward off fast biters, their minds drifted off and began to wonder what was happening in other parts of the Great Valley.