Chapter 5: "We'll have to leave the Great Valley!"
The dinosaurs of the Great Valley were shocked. Mr. Thicknose was close to the watering place and didn't move at all. Everyone stood around the corpse of the once wisest resident of the Valley, there was dead silence. For a little while, nothing happened at all; just some occasional sobs, especially from the Swimmers, could be heard. Suddenly, they started to gasp for air after a cloud of steam had come out of the watering place.
"Run away!" the Threehorn roared, "Go! To the meeting point!"
He didn't need to tell twice... All dinosaurs fled from the invisible threat coughing and gasping for air. Most of the kids were carried.
When everyone had arrived at the big meadow being able to breath again to some degree, the Threehorn started roaring.
"DAMMIT WHAT'S GOING ON HERE! COULD SOMEBODY EXPLAIN THINGS?!"
Pterano, one of the Flyers, decided to respond walking into the circle.
"Seemingly, it poisons the air that we are breathing. Poor Thicknose wanted to see this with his own eyes but he got into such a cloud like it has just happened to us and... I mean... he's quite old..." Pterano put a tragic expression on. "Well, anyway... he wasn't able to run away in time, such a tragic loss!"
Gracefully, he walked back to his place in the circle.
The Threehorn wasn't happy about this answer at all so he went on raging.
"PAH! SUCH A TRAGIC LOSS..." He stomped his foot so that the gathered residents got startled. The little ones hid behind their mothers.
"THAT SWINDLER WAS SIMPLY TOO STUPID TO GET THAT HE HAD TO RUN AWAY!"
"Now that's going too far, Threehorn!" Littlefoot's father incensed. "I can understand that you're
angry but this way we'll never find a solution."
The Threehorn wasn't far from exploding.
"Mr. Thicknose may have had his faults but you don't need to pull him into the dirt additionally, Threehorn!" another Flyer added.
"Yes, it's already sad enough that he's gone!" Mama Swimmer cried.
"Well, as you suppose, Pterano. You still haven't answered my question so I'll ask you again: Could anyone explain those things?!"
Everyone stood in silence thinking hard. After a short while, Pterano walked into the circle again.
"I can quite imagine that the Great Valley does have a secret we aren't aware of..." he spoke.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" the Threehorn barked.
"From far above, the Great Valley looks like a mountain whose peak is missing. Instead of the peak,
there's a hole in the middle in which we live. From my point of view, this looks like a common smoking mountain, just bigger and with a hole instead of a fire pit!"
"Do you wanna say we live above a huge fire pit which was closed for some reason?!" Littlefoot's father questioned unbelievingly.
"You could say so," Pterano answered distorting his face. Not only he, but also everybody else had put on a pained expression...
"DAMMIT IT'S HOT HERE!" the Threehorn howled.
"Well, it seems that life doesn't offer us another choice but this," Littlefoot's Grandpa yelled out against the noice of the perturbed dinosaurs."We'll have to leave the Great Valley!"