Chapter 31: War on the Valley
At the far end of the Great Valley, Mama Swimmer was standing on guard in front of the entrance to a narrow cave. She had carefully collected all of the eggs that she could find, and stashed them all in the cave so she could guard them all at once. Listening carefully, she heard the shrieks and roars of the fight from the distance, but she couldn't yet hear the sound of anyone approaching her. Mama Swimmer sighed as she stared at the sky above, hoping with all of her heart that all of her eggs would be safe...
"At last!" came a voice from nearby. Mama Swimmer quickly looked down and saw that an aggressive looking pack of eggstealers was charging towards her. Hurriedly, Mama Swimmer picked up a log that she had prepared for a weapon, and she leered at the approaching eggstealers.
"Get away from here, eggstealers!" Mama Swimmer growled.
"Hahahaha…sorry, but no," Ozzy sneered. "Your sapsucking friends back there are putting on quite a show. But while they may have tried, they were unable to stop us."
"I'm warning you...get away!" Mama Swimmer cried out as she began to swing her log.
The eggstealers stared at Mama Swimmer, then bent over laughing. "Hahaha!" Ozzy sneered. "A bigmouth wants to be a loghitter…how charming."
"Hey! You cannot make fun of my mama like that, oh no no no!" came a voice from above. Mama Swimmer looked above her, hardly daring to believe her ears, and noticed a flyer was soaring down towards them, and saw that another figure was riding on top. Knowing that voice from anywhere, Mama Swimmer gasped with joy as she saw Ducky riding Petrie to the ground. The eggstealers growled at Ducky and Petrie and tried to attack them, but before they could make a move, Spike took a running start and rammed into the eggstealers, causing them to crash into each other and fall like dominoes onto the ground.
"Ducky! Spike!" Mama Swimmer cried, hugging her children and staring at them in disbelief. "You're back! I've missed you so much!"
Ducky and Spike nodded and smiled, but before Ducky could say anything, the eggstealers stood up again and glared at them.
"Enough mush," an eggstealer growled, and at once, the pack of them leaped at Mama Swimmer and tried to block the cave. Hurriedly, Ducky joined her mother in guarding the cave from the eggstealers, using her tail to try and swat away as many eggstealers as she could while Mama Swimmer continued to hit them with her log. Meanwhile, Spike was standing a little ways in front of them, spiking away any eggstealers that his dagger-like tail spikes could reach. After each time Ducky, Mama Swimmer, and Spike managed to knock down an eggstealer that didn't get back up, Petrie hurried towards it, grabbed the eggstealer with his sharp talons, and threw it on top of the cliffs.
"Get up, you numskulls!" Ozzy shouted angrily to some eggstealers that were lying on the ground. Determinedly, the eggstealers quickly got up and growled threateningly, but the battle was then paused, for everyone heard some loud footsteps. Turning, everyone gasped as they saw that a huge longneck was hurrying over to them.
"Bron!" Ducky and Petrie exclaimed at once.
Bron walked over to them, and everyone gasped as they saw that he was carrying the six clubtails on his back, all of whom were chattering happily.
"Oh my goodness…Pterano was right...they're alive!" Mama Swimmer gasped.
"No!" Ozzy shrieked. "You…you mean that our forces were beaten…and that they only got one egg?"
"Not quite," Petrie smiled. "My uncle take last egg to parents!"
Ozzy roared in anger and cried, "I've had enough of you kids ruining our plans!" Then abruptly, Ozzy turned, beckoned the eggstealers over to him, and began to come up with a strategy. Meanwhile, Mama Swimmer, Bron, Ducky, Petrie and Spike huddled together themselves.
"How was everything, Bron?" Ducky asked. "Are the babies okay?"
"They're just fine," Bron smiled. "But they still need to be watched, for they are quite the adventurers. I'm doing a good job calming them down, so I think I should watch over them."
But just then, the clubtails began to slide down Bron's back, and began to wander off. Bron hurriedly tried wrapping them in with his tail, but the clubtails continued to squirm their way away from him.
Ducky sighed. "Mama…since you've raised babies before, maybe you should help Bron keep an eye on the baby clubtails. They are really curious and need to be watched all the time. Could you help make sure that they do not get into any trouble?"
"I would Ducky, but…I have to take care of the eggs here," Mama Swimmer answered.
"I can take your place," Ducky volunteered. "Do not worry, Mama. I have taken care of eggs before and I am sure I can protect these eggs, I am."
Mama Swimmer sighed, before patting Ducky on the shoulder and saying, "Of course Ducky…"
"Thanks Mom," Ducky smiled, and she and Mama Swimmer gave each other a big hug. Then Mama Swimmer handed over her log to Ducky, and Ducky took her place in front of the cave, guarding the eggs carefully, while Mama Swimmer helped Bron stand guard over the rambunctious baby clubtails.
Petrie then flew down by Ducky's side. "Me here to help in case they get too close," he explained.
"Thank you Petrie," Ducky smiled. Then they looked out, and saw Spike practicing swinging his spiky tail at the eggstealers. "And I think Spike is ready to help too, he is!"
At last, the eggstealers broke apart, all of whom were wearing triumphant smirks on their faces. "Attack!" Ozzy shouted excitedly. The mob of eggstealers, licking their lips, split up in two groups. The smaller group rushed over to Bron and Mama Swimmer, trying to grab the baby clubtails away. But Bron and Mama Swimmer were fighting back, landing blow after blow upon the eggstealers. Still, because they had to defend the clubtail babies, they had to limit their attacks in order to make sure that the clubtails were still secure. This resulted in an ineffectual battle, where the eggstealers kept on making attacks and Bron and Mama Swimmer kept on repelling them, but neither side was able to land a decisive blow on their foes.
Meanwhile, the other eggstealers rushed forward and leaped at Ducky. Immediately, Spike swung his tail and swatted some of the eggstealers away, while Petrie dealt with the eggstealers that Spike had managed to defeat, grabbing them harshly with his claws and throwing them into the Mysterious Beyond. Despite Spike's and Petrie's best efforts however, Ducky still had to guard the eggs from a sizeable number of eggstealers, who closed in upon her with malicious grins. Hurriedly, Ducky began hammering away at the eggstealers, but while she managed to hit many of them, the eggstealers proved to be resilient and managed to get back up again.
"Surrender now, bigmouth," Ozzy called out. "You have no chance of winning. You're completely outnumbered."
"No!" Ducky exclaimed, and with that, she managed to hammer an eggstealer with her log, causing it to topple over.
"That's not very smart," Ozzy laughed, and he whistled at the woods. Abruptly, everyone gasped as another wave of other eggstealers came rushing out through the forest. Spike managed to succeed in spiking away some of the pack, and Petrie managed to fly others out of the valley, but some of them managed to reach Ducky in the cave. Ducky gasped, seeing that she was surrounded by no less than fifteen eggstealers.
"Now do you surrender?" Ozzy sneered.
Ducky shook her head defiantly, saying, "Oh no no no!"
The eggstealers growled, and hurriedly, lunged at Ducky. They all grabbed onto Ducky, and hurriedly began to scratch at her and push her away, trying to find an opportunity to take some of the eggs. Ducky continued to hammer the eggstealers with her log, but as she looked behind her, she saw that she was getting pushed closer and closer to the eggs.
"Ha ha," Ozzy smirked, as the eggstealers took in the intoxicating scent of the eggs. "Lunch is served!"
Ducky growled, and then abruptly, she had an idea. Hurriedly, she kicked the eggstealer mob, causing them all to scream and be pushed out of the cavern. Taking advantage of the situation, Ducky rushed forward and blocked the eggstealers from the cave again. She swung her log again, but just then, she looked up, and saw a sight that made her eyes sparkle with delight.
Ducky then hurriedly beckoned Petrie over. Petrie swooped down and whispered, "What is it Ducky?"
Ducky nodded excitedly. "Look at the cliffs!"
Petrie did, and then he gasped as he saw a familiar young sharptooth approaching.
"Chomper! He here!" Petrie exclaimed happily. "Me go up and help him get down!"
Ducky nodded. "Spike and I can deal with the eggstealers, we can. Good luck, Petrie!" she gasped, and then they briefly kissed before Petrie flew off to the cliffs. As he flew over, he waved to Chomper, trying to get his attention without alerting the eggstealers of his presence. Chomper understood, and waved back with his little arms. Then Petrie saw another flying form that was also flying toward Chomper. As the flyer became clearer, Petrie saw that it was none other than his mother, who was carrying Ruby on her back.
"Mama!" Petrie exclaimed as they landed on the cliff next to Chomper, and he and his mom hugged. Then the three of them turned to Chomper. "You okay, Chomper!" Petrie gasped.
"Yeah," Chomper smiled. "I just had to make some roars and that scared him. He didn't want to pick a fight with another sharptooth."
Then he looked uncertainly down at the Great Valley. "Guys…I think I should make a sneak attack on the eggstealers. But I can't just jump down, for they would notice me for sure that way. And I'm too heavy for you guys to carry…"
"Don't worry Chomper," Ruby told him brightly, and she went into the forest and grabbed another vine and draped it over the edge of the cliff. "Climb down the vine!" Ruby exclaimed.
Chomper nodded nervously. Being unable to reach the vine while standing up, he had to lie down on his belly in order to reach it. Then he nervously scooted himself on the ground before he draped his feet off the cliff and began to slip down. Thanks to his tiny arms, he couldn't pull himself down very well, and he began to kick wildly and gasp as he looked at the ground.
Just then, everyone gasped in horror as they heard the vine begin to crack. Chomper's stress and his weight had placed great stress on the vine, which was breaking ominously on him.
"My arms are too little!" Chomper shouted. "I can't hold on anymore!"
"You almost there, Chomper!" Petrie exclaimed as he continued to climb down. Chomper nervously climbed down a little more, but then he began to feel the already cracking rope shake and squirm, struggling to hold onto his weight.
"It's breaking on me!" Chomper gasped, looking fearfully as he saw only a thin strand of vine was connecting the part he was on from the top.
"Chomper, you have to jump!" Ruby exclaimed.
Chomper looked down and gasped. "I can't jump that far!" he exclaimed.
"You can do it, Chomper!" Ruby told him. "Now on the count of three, let go…one…two…"
And at that moment, Chomper let go, his mouth open in a wide scream, but knowing he had to be sneaky with the eggstealers, he made sure that no sound came out of his mouth. Mama Flyer and Petrie then swooped down, grabbing his arms as he fell, slowing his fall down and making sure he would land safely. Looking down carefully, Chomper hooked his claws onto the green grass before landing the rest of his feet, ensuring that he would make it down without a sound.
"Great job, Chomper!" Ruby cheered from above as Mama Flyer began to fly her back down to the ground, while Petrie flew along beside them.
"We make distraction while you prepare attack," Petrie said.
"Be careful! I laid a lot of traps down there, so watch out!" Ruby exclaimed.
Chomper nodded, and he hurried off into the forest where he disappeared from view. Mama Flyer, meanwhile, went off to rejoin the fight. Petrie and Ruby looked at each other and nodded, deciding to attempt to distract the eggstealers while Chomper prepared his attack. Quickly, Petrie and Ruby rushed over to the eggstealers, who were still furiously trying to fight Ducky in the cave entrance, being hindered with the efforts of Spike and Mama Flyer.
"Hey! You can't steal anyone's eggs!" Ruby cried out, and abruptly, she rammed into some eggstealers, knocking them onto the ground, which Petrie promptly picked up and threw into the Mysterious Beyond.
The eggstealers looked at each other and smirked. "Well, well well, a little pipsqueak has come to join the fight," and the eggstealers laughed at each other.
Taking advantage of their overconfidence, Ruby slammed down more eggstealers with her tail, while Spike continued to spike, Ducky continued to push, and Mama Flyer began to throw them away. Petrie, knowing that the eggstealers were thoroughly distracted, flew high above them and made a beckoning motion towards the forest.
At once, the forest began to rumble softly. The eggstealers, growling in the midst of battle and looking the other way, did not notice anything. Then, one of them looked behind him, tapped Ozzy repeatedly, and gasped, "Ozzy! Ozzy!"
"What?" Ozzy snapped.
"Sharptooth!" the eggstealer squealed.
"Don't be stupid, that's…" Ozzy began, but suddenly, most of the other eggstealers jumped up and shrieked in terror. Chomper had begun to charge towards the eggstealers, gnashing his daggerlike teeth and roaring ferociously. "You're not gonna hurt anyone!" he shouted.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't that overgrown egg I tried stealing all these years ago," Ozzy smirked. "Guess you were lucky enough to avoid that stupid sapsucker mob? Well, now you won't be so lucky. It's payback time!"
Ozzy turned behind him to command all of his eggstealers, but to his horror, the eggstealers had broken away from the fight and had begun to run helter-skelter all over the place.
"Where are you going, numskulls!" Ozzy growled.
"We're leaving Ozzy!" an eggstealer shouted. "We can't win against the sharptooth! We have to take our winnings and try again later!"
One eggstealer, however stuck behind, and smirked. "I'll fight it for you Ozzy!"
Ozzy sneered, and growled, "At least one of my followers has some competence."
The eggstealer smirked as he ran up to Chomper, muttering to himself, "Hahaha…this is my chance! All of those eggs will go to Ozzy and me and no one else!" The eggstealer giddily ran up to Chomper, leaped up, and tried to claw at his leg. However, the eggstealer's little claw was no match for Chomper's impenetrable hide.
Chomper then roared, and knowing what was about to happen, Ducky, Petrie, their mothers, Ruby and Bron closed their eyes. Then they heard the unmistakable sounds of bones being crushed and flesh being eaten, after which they heard Chomper's bright voice call out, "Aaahh…that tasted good! I'm ready for seconds!"
The eggstealers stared at each other in wide-eyed horror, and instantly, every eggstealer that was remaining in the clearing, including Ozzy, rushed away from the eggs and headed back to the front of the Great Valley, screaming at the top of their lungs.
With the passing of the eggstealers, everyone cheered. "Great job Chomper!" Ducky exclaimed.
"You really scary!" Petrie laughed as everyone smiled in relief at him.
Chomper smiled back, and said "Thanks." Then he looked behind him and saw the last eggstealers scuttling off into the forest. "I better take care of the rest of them now."
"Good luck!" everyone else exclaimed as they watched Chomper rush over to the forest.
Meanwhile, the fight continued on in the front of the Great Valley. Grandpa Longneck and Tria remained unconscious, while Grandma Longneck and Mr. Threehorn were conscious but unable to move. Littlefoot and Cera meanwhile, had continued to suffer through blow after blow, but their determination allowed them to keep on fighting. The fast biters, while their numbers had been reduced by Littlefoot and Cera's attacks, continued to growl fiercely and leap repetitively at them.
Just then however, everyone paused as loud screams began to ring out from the forest.
"What are those bumblers up to now?" a fast biter asked his comrade next to him.
But before the other fast biter could answer, a huge pack of eggstealers came running out, screaming. Many of them tried heading back over to the cliffs, but Ozzy hurriedly blocked the way. "Don't leave yet, imbeciles! The fight's just getting started! We are going to cause as much harm to this valley as we can."
And almost on cue with Ozzy's words, two fast biters hurled themselves off the Great Valley's cliff. Ali and Shorty hurriedly tried grabbing them, but they missed, and the two fast biters landed right next to Ozzy and growled. Thud muttered something in Ozzy's ear, which caused him to smirk happily.
"See?" Ozzy roared. "Screech and Thud are back because they know we can win!"
Little did anyone notice, however, that during all of the commotion, a small grassy green mound was inching towards the injured grownups. When she was safely behind all of the parents, Tricia lifted off her leaf disguise and looked at her tail, still holding all the blue flowers she could carry. She hurriedly inched over to Grandma Longneck and gave her and Grandpa Longneck's half of the flowers.
"Oh my…those are healing flowers!" Grandma Longneck whispered to Tricia, who nodded happily. She hurriedly began to nibble on the flowers, and then said, "Thank you so much! I'll feed Grandpa the other ones. Go help your parents!"
Tricia nodded, and she crawled through the gap between Littlefoot's grandparents and then arrived right by her parents.
"Tricia…" Topps gasped, looking at the healing flowers. "Are those…"
Tricia hurriedly nodded, and whispered, "Eat, Daddy!"
Topps began to eat, while Tricia walked over to her mother's mouth. Tria was still unconscious, but Tricia pushed open Tria's mouth with all her might. She then stuffed all of the remaining healing flowers into Tria's mouth, before allowing it to close.
The eggstealers and fast biters, meanwhile, had begun to resume lunging at Littlefoot and Cera. But all of a sudden, the eggstealers and fast biters had a look of horror in their eyes, and they began to back away. Littlefoot and Cera turned, and saw a sight that made their hearts feel delighted.
"Grandma! Grandpa!" Littlefoot exclaimed, as both of his grandparents shakily began to stand up.
"We're okay, Littlefoot," Grandpa Longneck told Littlefoot, as Grandma Longneck nodded happily.
"Dad! Tria!" Cera gasped, as Tria and Topps too began to stand up, and look at each other brightly.
"We're doing better," Tria told Cera gently. "If you want, we can help…"
"Dad, Tria, you shouldn't yet," Cera told them in response.
Grandpa and Grandma Longneck and Littlefoot who had been watching Cera's parents waking up, meanwhile, joined in the conversation. "Littlefoot, Cera, you two have had enough fighting for now," Grandpa Longneck told them.
"We don't want to see you two get hurt," Grandma Longneck added.
"But you guys are in no condition to fight yet," Littlefoot explained.
Cera nodded. "I ate these flowers before, and it takes some time for you to fully recover after eating them."
"Don't worry, Grandpa, Grandma, Mr. Threehorn, Mrs. Threehorn…we can take care of this. Just save your strength and try to recover."
Reluctantly, all the parents, even Mr. Threehorn nodded, and sat back on the ground and watched Littlefoot and Cera anxiously. But before Littlefoot could turn back to face the battle, the eggstealers and fast biters had made a sudden leap at him. Littlefoot shrieked and the eggstealers began to try and pull him down.
"Don't you dare!" Cera roared, and with her eyes filled with fury, she charged forward at Littlefoot's attackers. Hurtling along Littlefoot's side, Cera began to jump alongside him and stab Littlefoot's attackers. Hurling her horns every which way she could, Cera knocked off one of Littlefoot's attackers after another, causing them to fall off his back and plummet onto the ground. Once one of his sides was free, Cera turned and rushed along the other side, stabbing every attacker she could reach and causing many of them to fall onto the ground.
"Look at her go!" Grandma Longneck gasped to Grandpa Longneck, both amazed with the vigor with which Cera defended Littlefoot.
The surviving eggstealers and fast biters hurriedly retreated away, gasping for breath as Cera rushed in front of Littlefoot and growled at them. "Littlefoot is very special to me, rockheads! I care about him like nobody else! If you lay one more claw on him, you're dead meat!"
"Save the mush," Ozzy sneered. And then at once, as Cera prepared to attack, every single eggstealer and fast biter, save Ozzy, Screech, and Thud leaped onto Cera. But Littlefoot hurried over to Cera, and with all the force he could muster, he flung his tail out and knocked away hordes of Cera's attackers. As many of them tried to get up again, Littlefoot used his tail to slam the eggstealers onto the ground, killing many of them.
"Wow!" Tria exclaimed, her eyes wide with amazement.
"You get 'em, Littlefoot!" Topps roared. "You go show those rockheads that they can't lay one claw on my daughter!"
Littlefoot, heartened with Mr. Threehorn's support, continued to whip away barrages of attacks, until the eggstealers and fast biters retreated away from Cera. "Get away from Cera or else!" Littlefoot growled to the eggstealers. "Cera's just as special to me as I am to her! We're connected to each other in a way that you would never understand!"
Ozzy growled, and scanned the Great Valley for his troops. To his horror, he noticed that only a handful of members of his once large army were still fighting. "Well? What are you waiting for? Attack!" he roared in both eggstealer and sharptooth.
Littlefoot and Cera took one last look into each other's fiery eyes and nodded determinedly for battle. The eggstealers and fast biters that remained hurriedly lunged at both of them, but they were exhausted and only a few of them remained, so Littlefoot and Cera managed to stab and whip away the eggstealers and fast biters left, keeping an eye out for each other to ensure the other's safety.
When the horde cleared, only Ozzy, Screech, and Thud remained standing. Screech and Thud growled menacingly, and seeing all of their followers dead, they hurriedly lunged at Littlefoot and Cera. Screech managed to latch a bite onto Littlefoot's chest, while Thud chomped on Cera's frill. But Littlefoot hurriedly prepared his whiptail and whipped Thud away, while Cera jumped up and stabbed Screech. Both fast biters flew into the sky, before they fell to the ground, lifeless and still.
Then, both Littlefoot and Cera glared at Ozzy. Looking left and right, Ozzy realized that he was the only member of his army left. Furiously, as if to impress them, Ozzy made some ferocious, loud cries in sharptooth. Littlefoot and Cera growled and leered at him as they prepared to make their final attack as they heard a roar from the distance…
But to their surprise, Ozzy began to laugh triumphantly. "Do you really think you're going to win the battle? Well, you sapsuckers aren't going to live to tell the tale. The battle's just getting warmed up! You overgrown eggs…"
However, Ozzy instantly stopped talking as another roar rang through the Great Valley. Suddenly, Chomper came rushing out of the forest with his dagger-like teeth at the ready. "You're done Ozzy! You're not gonna hurt my friends anymore!"
Ozzy stood and looked back without much of a reaction, before he abruptly began to laugh. "Maybe I am," he said calmly. "But so are your friends!" And with a fierce growl, Ozzy made a perfectly aimed attack at Littlefoot and Cera. He stretched out and with each hand, he delivered a deep scratch on both Littlefoot and Cera. However, he began to slip down, and Cera caught him with her horns. Growling, Cera said, "You may have tried to hurt us," as she catapulted Ozzy up into the air.
"But you won't be able to hurt anyone again!" Littlefoot cried out, swinging his neck to hurl Ozzy even higher up into the air.
Then, Chomper hurried right under Ozzy, and held his mouth wide open, waiting to catch Ozzy. Ozzy smirked, "Enjoy yourselves while…"
But Ozzy abruptly stopped talking and screamed as he landed right into Chomper's mouth. Ozzy's last shriek was soon masked with the sound of Chomper's jaw furiously at work.
A silence passed through the Great Valley. Everone else who was in another part of the fight rushed out to the front of the Great Valley. Everyone's hearts began to soar as the knowledge that the eggstealers and fast biters were all gone came to them. And at that moment, a rumbling cheer began to ring out as it finally occurred to them the battle had been won.