Chapter 19: Pterano's no Luck/ Exploring
First of all, Pterano flew to the ledge where he and his sister dropped off the children. The vegetation was burning everywhere, rivers of fire were shoving through the region heavily. Dozens of fire spouts of varying height and width shot out of the underground not far away from him.
"No ash, at least!" the experienced Flyer thought landing on the ledge. He looked whether the paths could be passed or not. The one the four kids had used was covered with lots of rubble but it was still passable for smaller dinosaur kinds like his. The tension let his heart beat faster, his knees were shaking slightly. Pterano climbed into the path laboriously...
After a few minutes though he found himself standing in front of a huge rockslide. The partly huge boulders built a massive wall. "No way through!" he sighed, the disappointment could be read in his beakened face. "Then I must discover another entrance! Pterano climbed out of the cave. Outside, he streched his wings, started and flew away...
Littlefoot looked around observantly. He wondered if there would be anything interesting to be discoved deeper in the cave. After some time, he noticed a tiny side path. He evaluated whether he should wait for the others or explore the path on his own. Just, as he had decided for the latter, he heard Ducky jumping down the boulders. He approached her.
When Ducky noticed that Littlefoot was heading toward her, she came to a standstill. "Does Cera feel better?" she asked.
When Littlefoot arrived by the Swimmer, he replied: "Not really! At least I cleaned her injury!"
"Ohhh! I hope she will be fine soon, yep, yep, yep!"
"Petrie hope so, too!" Petrie squawked having jumped down a few boulders to be included to the talk.
"Me too! You seeked out anything?" Littlefoot questioned.
"We no finded anything!" Petrie sighed.
"Yep, yep, yep! We find-ed neither our parents nor green food, oh no!" Ducky confirmed.
"That's not good!" Littlefoot cursed, "Cera's injury needs to be covered with something!"
"Littlefoot right!" Petrie croaked.
After a short, awkward moment of silence Littlefoot spoke up.
"Come down here you two! Let's explore this place a bit!"
"Oohhh, Petrie had already enough adventures today!" Petrie retorted.
"But Petrie!" Ducky shouted, "Maybe, we track down another exit, yep, yep, yep!"
"My thoughts exactly!" Littlefoot declared. "I discovered a side path... though it's a narrow and dark one, we should check it!"
"Count me in, please, please, please!" Ducky chattered excitedly.
"Petrie... no know!" the Flyer said.
"Come, Petrie!" Ducky begged, "Nothing bad will happen to you as long as I am by your side!" She made a sweet face.
"Do it for Cera! Littlefoot adviced.
"Alright! Me come along!" Petrie gave up.
"Yaaaaaaay!" Ducky cried with joy.
"Great!" Littlefoot exclaimed, "Let's go then! In here!"
Littlefoot passed the small hole behind which a fairly big and wide path was. Ducky and Petrie followed him coming to a standstill after a few steps.
"It pretty dark!" Petrie shivered.
It was pretty dim indeed so that their eyes had to get used to the sudden rareness of light first. When they were able to see again, they continued their way deeper into the cave. At that, they walked slow and careful since there was rubble everywhere that was difficult to spot in the darkness.
The path became more narrow after a while and none of them talked, not even Ducky. They only did if one of the three spotted an obstacle.
After some minutes, the path divided into three.
"Oh no! What do we do now?!" Ducky asked, worried.
"Well, seems as if we need to separate!" Littlefoot answered being somewhat clueless.
"Petrie no want to be separated from you, no, no!" Petrie shouted anxiously.
"Don't be such a scaredy-egg, Petrie!" Littlefoot shouted, annoyed. He rolled his eyes.
"Yes, Petrie! You are completely safe because we are all alone here! Yes we are!" Ducky encouraged him.
"You s-s-sure?" Petrie asked self-consciously.
"Of course! How can someone get in?"
"Maybe there is another entrance!" Ducky guessed. "But that would mean that me might not be alone... ohh nooooooo!"
"Yeah, but that's ... unlikely!" Littlefoot quickly added to convince Petrie completely.
"A-alright! Me discover cave, a-all a-alone!" Petrie stuttered.
Ducky walked to Petrie putting her hand on the left shoulder of the Flyer.
"You can do it, yep, yep, yep!" she whispered.
"Me can do it!" Petrie repeated. They grinned at each other.
"Good! Perhabs we should call out before going in!" Littlefoot proposed. "Just in case..."
"Yep, yep, yep, that is a gooood idea!" Ducky prattled, agreeing.
"Heeelloooooooooooo! Anyone?" Petrie shouted as loud as he could.
"If you hear us, respond!" Littlefoot screamed.
"Come out, whereever you are!" Ducky added.
They waited though they didn't get any answers.
"Great, so seeya later! Call, if anything's wrong!"
"Got it, flathead!"
"Hehehe, I do, I do!"
This way, the three friends separated. Petrie took the narrowest and smallest path, Ducky wandered along a path that was seemingly a bit less dark than the other two and Littlefoot took the remaining one. But they weren't alone...