Chapter 14:
Lost In The Storm
Dark clouds were just rolling into the desert where the Young 5 were searching. But they didn't take notice as they ran through the desert for they are following a trail of footprints resting in the sand as the Young 5 followed them most of the day and Ocellus was having fun as she yelled, "Yee-haw!".
"Come on, guys, Yona's caught the scent," Gallus said, he and Yona were ahead of the others as Yona starts sniffing the trackway like a bloodhound. It was a talent she just discovered she had.
"Yona getting stronger scent from tracks," Yona said, still sniffing the tracks.
"Which means we're getting close to their destination," Gallus said, following behind her. He was getting excited now.
"Boy, Yona sure does have a great sense of smell," Ocellus encouraged, catching up to them.
"Are you kidding? Yona can even tell where something was with that nose," Sandbar stated, following behind Ocellus as they kept following the trail.
"Trail leads that way," Yona said, pointing to where the trackway is leading them.
"Come on, guys. The sooner we find Slim, the sooner we'll bring him to justice," Gallus encouraged his friends as he started leading the way again.
"We're right behind you, Gallus," Smolder said as she and the others followed behind him.
Somewhere ahead of them, Silverstream had slowed down after so much running and flying and she was also following the trackway until she heard Ocellus's voice behind her.
"Look out, Slim!" Ocellus yelled out as Silverstream perked up in surprise.
"No, they can't be…" Silverstream said in shock as she looked behind herself to see the group following the same trail she was behind her.
"The Young 5 are on your trail!" Ocellus yelled as she and her friends began to come over to where Silverstream is.
"Hmmm, on the trail, huh?" Silverstream said as she started to thought of something and tapped her foot on the sand while looking down at the tracks.
Then Silverstream got an idea and a smirk appeared on her face. So with a sly grin, Silverstream started racing off running through and around the dunes of the desert really fast. Soon, after so much running, Silverstream finally got to a hilltop and stopped. Looking at her handiwork quickly, Silverstream knew that her idea will keep her competitors off her quest for a while.
"Let's see them follow Slim's trail, now. Hoo-hoo!" Silverstream said with a laugh as she raced off to continue to follow the real trail and complete her mission. She was feeling pretty proud of herself. After all, no one needed competition.
Meanwhile, behind Silverstream, the Young 5 were still following the trail with Yona still sniffing the tracks until they got to a hilltop. Yona stopped and had an expression of shock on her face as Gallus, followed by Ocellus, Sandbar, and Smolder bumped into her.
"Yona, why'd you stop like that for?" Smolder asked, confused about why Yona stopped all of a sudden.
"Uh, guys I think I know why she stopped," Ocellus said, looking ahead since she is a Giraffe-like Griffon, then Ocellus pointed at what she and Yona were lookin' at.
Gallus, Smolder, and Sandbar looked ahead and gasped from what they are seeing. The trackway has now become a maze of footprints with multitudes of tracks running all over the place.
"I don't remember our flock making that many tracks," Sandbar said, recovering from his shock after seeing so many tracks all over the desert.
"Something tells me that your flock has nothing to do with it," Smolder said, getting the feeling that something isn't right.
Yona sniffed the tracks again and then caught a familiar scent and said, "Yona smell something. Smells like Hippogriff,".
At the mention of 'Hippogriff', Ocellus gasped with a realization for the only one capable enough would do something like this as she said, "Silverstream, of course! This has her name written all over it,".
"But why Silverstream make this many tracks?" Yona asked, wondering why Silverstream would do such a thing on their quest.
"She must've already known that we're going to interfere with her quests. So…," Smolder guessed without a doubt thinking it was her idea.
"...She decided to mix up her tracks with these tracks to throw us off. Well, too bad Silverstream, we're not gonna let your trick stop us," Gallus said as thunder boomed overhead, wind began to blow, and a few raindrops began to fall down.
"Yeah, sooner or later, all these paths will hook up, and then…," Sandbar said as he finally noticed the rain is starting to come down.
"Huh, looks like the rains are comin' down," Smolder said, seeing the rain coming down pretty heavily.
"Wait!? Isn't rain wet?!" Yona asked with concern. She knew that if it rained too much they could lose the tracks.
Soon, The Young 5 got a shock of realization and looked back down on the ground to see the tracks are being washed away from the rain.
"Guys, the track! They're disappearing!" Ocellus said, seeing the rain starting to wash away the trail of tracks.
"Quick! Come on, guys! We can't lose the trail!" Gallus urged his friends as they followed the remaining tracks.
"What trail, Gallus?! I can't see anything!" Smolder said, barely seeing any of the remaining tracks as they disappeared from their sight.
They continued on until they reached a hill with a dead tree as the water began to rise. All of a sudden, a lightning bolt struck the dead tree and a branch fell off.
"Look out!" Sandbar yelled, looking up and seeing the branch falling towards them.
The branch hits the ground near them but they jumped out of the way and rushed off down the hill as the water really started to rise. The rains continue pouring down and lightning flashed. Within no time, the Young 5 were up to their knees in water.
Smolder gasped and said, "Everyone, it's a Flash Flood! Get to high ground!".
Smolder, Ocellus, Yona, and Sandbar quickly rushed through the water and got to a sand dune above the water. The weather has turned more fouler around them. As they made it to the top of the sand dune, they noticed they're missing someone.
"Wait, where's Gallus?!" Sandbar asked, noticing that Gallus isn't with them.
"He's there. Gallus!" Ocellus yelled, seeing Gallus is not too far away from them.
Gallus was still in the water as if he was searching for the trackway. In fact, Gallus's thoughts were only on finding the lost trackway as he was still looking around in the high water. Smolder, getting ticked off, and the others went back to get him out of the water.
But when they reached the bottom, a large wave rushed in washing over everything in its way. The Young 5 saw the wave comin' right towards them. They screamed and tried to run from it as the wave quickly washes over them.
The flood continues as Ocellus swims through the water.
At the surface, Smolder quickly breaks to the surface and swam around. Ocellus, Sandbar, and Gallus popped out of the water while they're clinging onto a large chest, and coughed from being underwater. Smolder reaches them and joined. But then Sandbar noticed that someone else is missing.
"Yona? Yona! Where is she?!" Sandbar said, looking around for Yona in worry.
"There she is!" Ocellus yelled, looking ahead and found Yona.
Nearby, Yona coughed as she barely held onto a wagon wheel.
"Hang on, Yona! We're comin'!" Sandbar yelled as they quickly swam over to her as fast as they can.
Barely conscious, Yona then slips underwater and sinks down as Smolder, Sandbar, and Ocellus quickly grabbed her and head back up and helped her up onto the chest as they swam towards a dune that managed to stand above the floodwater. On top of the dune, there is a rocky outcrop that could shield them from the rain.
