SHOULD BE FRIGHTENED
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Cera, meanwhile, was having complications on navigating through the dark underground. She had gotten lost and turned around so much that she was starting to get a little frightened. Both from being alone and not knowing what was down here in the dark, she flinched at every shadow and echo.
She was now wandering among jagged monoliths of rocks that littered the canyon's floor. Water dripped down the walls and formed into puddles, their sounds creating eerie echoes. Far above, dark clouds blotted out the sun until all the young Triceratops could really see were spooky half-glimpses in the area.
She took a step back to look upward and she lost her footing! Gasping, Cera tumbled down a steep slide until she landed hard on the ground below. She moaned, shook her head and looked up.
Then she let out a terrified scream.
Sharptooth was right there in from of her!
Cera bolt and hid behind a rock, her little body shaking and her eyes wide. She peeked around and stared, trembling, at the massive form before her.
But Sharptooth wasn't moving. He was dead, she guessed. Even when she had screamed and a few pebbles fell on him, he didn't move.
Cera smiled boldly and walked right up to Sharptooth's dead form. She stuck her tongue out, backed up, and rammed her head into his muzzle. She did it again, and again, until she backed away a little bit further for one more attack.
Letting out a battle cry, Cera charge straight for him.
But then she skidded to a halt and screamed.
Sharptooh's eye had suddenly opened! He was alive!
Cera stopped herself, kicking up a cloud of dust, screaming. She turned and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction.
Behind her, mad as ever, Sharptooth got up onto his side. He slammed his mighty tail down but missed the little Three horn by a few seconds.
Cera had gotten away and was now running in terror up the canyon side. She had to get away. Behind her she heard Sharptooth bellow, his roar echoing off the canyon walls.
The next day Gus, Littlefoot and Ducky were crossing a sunbaked lake bed, dotted with untidy palm trees. The three of them were playing a game of hopscotch, trying to avoid the cracks in the dried mud.
Gus had never played the game before because he thought it was too girly and was never really good at it.
Ducky stopped and patted her stomach. It had let out a loud grumble. Littlefoot's stomach let out a rumble too.
"My stomach is talking," Ducky giggled.
"Mine too," said Littlefoot.
"Mine as well," Gus added. The apple had pretty much gone away and he was down to his last one. But he dare not eat it unless he was really hungry.
Littlefoot examined a palm tree.
"Hm, I wonder what this tastes like?"
He bit down on the bough and tugged.
But when he did that there was a loud squawk that came from the upper branches.
Gus took a step back. "What was that?"
Ducky gasped. "The tree is talking!"
"No, it isn't," mumbled Littlefoot, his teeth clenched on the branch.
Ducky shook her head. "You should not eat talking trees, nope, nope, nope."
"Littlefoot," Gus said. "I think you should leave it alone-"
Littlefoot gave the branch another hard tug and then something fell out of the tree, sliding down the branch and landing on the young Long neck's face.
Gus gasped and Littlefoot, eyes wide, let out a scream, letting go of the branch. The small creature let out a yelp as it was flung back into the air. Ducky screamed and hid under Littlefoot. Gus let out a small cry as he stumbled back.
The little creature crash-landed and disappeared into a crack in the ground.
Gus got to his feet and ran over to the hole and knelt down to peer at the creature. He saw that it was a young, battered and bedraggled little Pterodactyl. It was brown in color with big eyes and was sort of jittery.
Ducky, curious, came over to look at the little flier. "Who are you, huh?"
"M-M-My name Petrie." he stammered, his beak quivering.
Gus tilted his head with a raised brow. Did all the dinosaurs have weird names back in prehistoric times?
Ducky giggled as Petrie leaped out of the hole.
"Petrie, huh? Funny name." she said and giggled again.
"I-I-I flied?" Petrie asked hopefully.
Gus shook his head. "Nope. You falled."
Petrie gave a series of sad moans of despair. "That no landing, I no fly, I fall! Oh!"
"You cannot fly?" Ducky asked. "How did you get way up there? Huh? Huh?"
"I climbed," answered the little flier with a flap of his wings.
"But you're a flier," said Littlefoot. "not a faller. Your kind are suppose to fly."
Petrie nodded and said. "Too hard to fly." He tried to flap his wings again but it didn't work.
"I guess it is." said Gus, folding his arms. "We can't do it."
"Nope, Nope, we cannot do that alright!" Giggled Ducky has she tried to flap her arms.
Petrie gave her an annoyed look with a raised brow.
"You ever try it?" he said.
Ducky shook her head. "No, I never fly, I'm a swimmer! Yep! Yep! Yep!"
Petrie just stuck out his tongue at her and blew a raspberry. "I'm a swimmer," he said mockingly.
Gus had to laugh at that. Littlefoot also laughed and decide that Petrie should join them to the Great valley.
After all, there was safety in numbers. And Petrie seemed to be all alone at here. It didn't take that much convincing to get the little flier to join the three of them on their journey.
The four youngsters continued onward to the west. Petrie and Ducky rode in the wagon along with Littlefoot's Tree star and Gus's backpack. They traveled along the dried-up plain until they arrived at the edge of a forest. Gus didn't like the looks of it. The forest looked dark and forbidding.
But Littlefoot entered into it anyway.
Gus gulped and followed after him, pulling his wagon behind.
The ground around them was uneven with slanted, sloping hills, drop-offs, and banks of greenish water. The trees were thick with curdling vines and there were unusual sounds that came from all around them. It was creepy.
But Littlefoot pressed on. Gus, pulling his wagon, kept pace with the young dinosaur.
Ducky was fine riding in the wagon, but Petrie was looking around nervously and flinching at every sound the forest made. Finally, his nerves getting to him, he scrambled out of the wagon, zipped up onto Littlefoot's tail, and onto his head.
"Ow!" Littlefoot yelped, gritting his teeth as Petrie's little feet pinched his nose. "Petrie! Get off!"
"This much better," The young flier said with a sigh.
"Oh no you don't!" Gus said, wagging a finger at him. "Littlefoot is not carrier. Now get off him."
"You heard Gus!" said Littlefoot annoyed, shaking his head again to dislodge the bothersome flier. "Get off! You're a flier, now start flying!"
With the little flier still clinging to his head, Littlefoot started to run. Petrie yelped and squawked in protest.
"Me no can fly. Stop! Stop!" he cried.
Gus, running alongside Littlefoot shouted back, "You have wings, so use them!"
"You can fly!" Littlefoot panted as he clutched his Tree star in his mouth. "Now open your skinny wings!"
Ducky, running and panting to keep up, cried, "Up, Petrie! Higher! Higher like a flier!"
Petrie tried to flap his wings in the wind. But he was too scared to let go.
Suddenly a terrible scream echoed out from around the forest. The four friends stopped in their tracks. The screaming came nearer and nearer.
They all turned to run the other way, but it was too late. With a wild rush, the screaming creature ran right into them.
Littlefoot, Gus, Ducky, and Petrie went tumbling backward into each other, grunting in pain.
A second letter, they were all in a pile of tangled legs and bodies.
Gus struggled to get out from underneath Littlefoot's rear end, which was unpleasantly close to his face. He shoved the young Apatosaur's tail aside, got to his feet, and dusted himself off. That was not a view he wanted to see again.
Ducky and Petrie did the same and Littlefoot, shaking his head, got up and shook himself off.
The four youngsters looked over at what they had collided with.
The moon suddenly appeared from behind a cloud, and they could see that the screaming creature had been Cera!
The young Triceratops was on her back, her green eyes wide with terror. She was panting, like she had seen a ghost and had run for her life. But her look of fright promptly turned into a scowl as Littlefoot and the others gathered around her.
"Cera…. What happened?" asked Littlefoot, catching his breath. "Why are you so frightened?"
Cera, not wanting to look like a coward, quickly pretended to be calm and unconcerned.
"Frightened?!" She said with a jeer. "Me? Why are you so frightened?" she pushed past Littlefoot and Gus rather roughly, almost dislodging Petrie and Ducky off.
"Hey!" Gus scowled, his hands on his hips. "We are not frightened!"
"T-that's right," Littlefoot stammered. "We're not frightened."
Cera continued. "Well, the four of you should be. I could be with the other three-horns, but I chose to come back to warn you."
"Warn us of what?!" Gus snapped impatiently. He wanted to know what was going on.
Cera smiled and said loudly, "I met the Sharptooth!"
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