In the land before time

[LBTDiclonius]

"That sounds like a good plan to me,"Nana nodded. She then turned to look at the Longclaw. "Please, be my guest," she said to Sparky, who was offering to lead. Of course, since her leadership skills sucked big time, she was willing to let anyone do it.

[Redtooth101]

Daniel listened to Pangea and gave a single nod. When it seemed they were having trouble deciding who would lead he thought he'd just throw in his own word. "I could try to smooth talk them...kinda depends on if they actually got an egg or not. If the really did get an egg then I'm at a loss" he said as he tapped in beak in thought.

[Cancerian Tiger]

"We should be gettin' close," Anna said as she looked up toward the cave.  The group had already began their ascent up the mountainside.

"Man, this path, or 'switchback' as you call it, is awfully narrow," Cera said in a nervous manner as she walked ahead of the group.  Tricia was riding on her big sister's back, and Ducky followed them while walking with Anna, who pulled up the rear as a means to keep an eye on the children.

"I need to stop, oh yes yes yes," Ducky panted before she came to a halt.

"What's wrong?" Anna gently asked.

"I am tired and my feet hurt, yep yep yep," Ducky wheezed.

"How many times are we going to stop before we get there, Ducky?  It'll be night time before we even make it at your pace!" Cera said irritably.

"I am very sorry, yep yep yep.  Maybe this was not a good idea," Ducky said quietly in a sad manner.  Anna then came around to the front of Ducky and crouched down to eye level with her.

"Don't be sorry, Ducky.  This was and is a fun idea, for I've been wanting to see these caves y'all like to explore so much.  Is there anything I can do to help ya out?" Anna asked.

"Well, Spike normally carries me and does the climbing, yep yep yep," Ducky replied.

"Aw, why didn't ya say so before?  Come around behind me and climb on," Anna said as she gestured toward her back.

"What?  Oh, no no no.  I am too heavy for you when you are a human, yep yep yep," Ducky said regretfully.

"Nonsense, little one.  You're about the weight of a human seven year-old, and I can handle that.  Now, c'mon and listen to me," Anna insisted.

"Alright, if you insist," Ducky said in a worried manner, afraid she would hurt her friend, as she began to walk around toward the back of Anna.  Suddenly, a loud and relatively high-pitched alarming sound rang through the air and pierced the ears of the group.  Having very sensitive ears, Anna was naturally the most affected out of the foursome.

"Ow!  What the hell is that?!" she barked in annoyance as she covered her ears.  Because she was no longer supporting her balance with her hands, Anna fell down on her rear end.  The others found the noise bothersome and covered their ears the way Anna had hers covered.  The noise lasted for some time before it finally went away.

"What in the world was that?" Cera asked curiously as she removed her front paws from her ears.

"I dunno, but I have tinnitus from it," Anna grumbled as she gently rubbed her ear canals with her fingertips as if she was cleaning them.  She was still sitting on the ground.

"What is that?" Ducky asked as she approached her.

"It's a ringing in the ears caused by loud noises.  It also hits me without loud noises being involved, and many times can be heard as a pounding noise, but I often hear a ringing noise as well," Anna explained.

"Is it bad for you?" Cera asked as she and Tricia also made their way over.

"It's not dangerous, but it can be very annoying and is not treatable.  Y'all okay?" Anna replied.  The others nodded in response.

"How about you, Anna?  Are you okay?" Ducky asked as she gently took hold of Anna's lower right arm.

"I'm fine, Ducky, but thanks for your concern," Anna replied before she looked over the valley.  "Just what was that noise anyway?"

"That sounded like a hollowhorn, yep yep yep.  A mama hollowhorn that sounded angry at that.  I heard her yelling after the sound ended.  I did, I did," Ducky replied.

"Could ya hear her clearly?" Anna asked.

"Not really, but I did hear her say something about eggstealers.  That is not good, no no no," Ducky answered.

"Well, those eggstealers will get what they deserve.  Nobody messes with swimmers when they have eggs.  They go crazy!" Cera added.  Ducky looked offended at first, but then she chuckled.

"True, I hear our kind will do that if our eggs or children are in danger, yep yep yep," Ducky giggled.

"And I'm sure you'll be the same way with your babies one day.  Thanks, Cera," Anna said as Cera helped her up.  She then picked Ducky up and helped her get in place so she could carry her piggy-back style.

"Comfortable?" Anna asked.

"I am, yep yep yep," Ducky replied.

"Okay, let's keep movin' on," Anna said before they continued their adventure.

[The Chronicler]

Out in the Mysterious Beyond, Chronicler's group had just entered the canyon that would lead them to Ruby's old home.

Ruby was in the lead, so she was the first one to notice something wrong as they came over a small hill. "That wasn't here the last time I was here," she thought aloud.

"What is it?" asked Chronicler as he reached the top of the hill. He then saw what the problem was. The ground in the middle of the canyon, spanning the width of the canyon, was split open, creating a wide gap with no way around it. "Yeah, that's definitely going to be a problem. Since you said it wasn't here before, I'm guessing a recent earthshake might have done this."

"What do you think we should do?" asked Ruby.

"Well, we'd better go down there and see how bad it is," replied Chronicler, as he and Ruby resumed walking.

[FlipperBoidSkua]

Nodding softly to Nana's insistance, she listened carefully, pretending to have moveable pinnae like a mammal; for some reason, that always helped her locate sounds better. Hearing the noise's direction with more distinction than normal (she guess her dinosaur hearing was better than her human hearing), she pointed a claw dramatically in the said direction.

"Onwards, we have two adorable dinos to rescue!" With little hesitation, she headed off urgently. "Come on!" She vaguely wondered if Therizinosaurus was capable of truely running, but kept her sights (and ears) on the mission at hand!

[Belmont2500]

"Well, if we're gonna help Ozzy and Strut out, then we shouldn't waste any time" John implied, his ear's still ringing from the Hollowhorn's bellow.

[Pangaea]

Pangaea wasted no time in following Sparky’s lead, scurrying after the Therizinosaurus in the direction she had perceived as the epicenter of the commotion initiated by the egg stealers.

Almost instinctively, Pangaea scaled the first suitably tall tree he came across and launched himself into a glide from one of the higher branches. Fortunately for him, there was very little wind; no currents threatening to carry him off-course, or blowing towards him to hinder his forward progress. Pangaea repeated the gliding technique he had used two nights ago to escape from Screech: he let the momentum of his jump and the lift provided by his wings carry him as far as possible, then alighted on whatever tall tree was most conveniently located in his path, climbed higher to compensate for the altitude he had lost in his glide, and took off again.

Though Sparky had had a considerable head start on Pangaea (and he had had some doubts over whether gliding would be an efficient means of keeping up, and if it would be better to simply follow her on foot), his tree-to-tree glides proved to be very efficient at making up for lost time, and soon he realized that he was actually overtaking her. It hit Pangaea just then that Sparky had been very excited by his tales of his earlier gliding experiences, but she had never actually seen him airborne firsthand until now. Hoo boy, he thought, if she sees me, I wonder if I’m gonna have to prepare myself for another spazz attack…

[LBTDiclonius]

Nana saw everyone was leaving and scrambled to catch up. Once she got into her stride, she caught up quickly and was soon with the group once again.

[LBTFan13]

Rob smiled and nodded. "You're a strong flyer, Longtail. I'm just happy to be your friend."

"You're asking this now?" Threehorn scolded when Crushed asked him about this decision. "Damn it, Crusher! If you don't start believing in your actions and standing by them then they are useless! You obviously believe this is the right thing to do, otherwise you wouldn't have come here, so stop questioning yourself!" Threehorn didn't want to blow up in Crusher's face, after not seeing him in a long time, but he only said what he said in concern for the red horn. "But if you can't convince yourself, then I will. Korr is a monster. One way or another, he must be dealt with."

"Stop saying that," Zaine defended. "Yes he's done some very bad things, but he's done some good too."

"Hopefully without fighting him," Rob voiced in. "I know your distaste for anybody who threatens the valley and those that live in it, but remember that killing somebody isn't always the right answer." He then looked back to Longtail. "Then again, it is up to Longtail."

At that moment, a loud noise, almost like a siren, roared through the air. "What the heck is that?" Zaine asked, wincing from how loud the sound was.

"I don't know," Littlefoot replied, "but I think it means trouble."

"It said there were intruders in the valley," Rob added.

"Not just any intruders," Threehorn commented. "Egg eaters." He turned to the group. "All of you stay here until I get back. Don't even think about leaving without me." With that, he turned in the direction the sound came from and hurried off.

"I hope it's nothing serious," Littlefoot expressed his concern. "Do you think we should go with him?"

"Threehorn can handle himself," Rob commented, "but I have a bad feeling about this." He looked over to Rick, Longtail and Cyrix. "What do you guys think? Should we follow him just to make sure everything's okay before we leave?"

[Redtooth101]

Daniel looked at them leave before flapping his wings, if there was ever a good time to learn to fly properly it was now. He was a tad clumsy but at least he was airborn and under his own power. He too was thankful of the weak winds as he tried to keep up with the rest.

[Cancerian Tiger]

"Phew!  We finally made it," Cera panted as the group reached the cave entrance.  Tricia walked up next to her and plopped on the ground, panting.

"Thank you, Anna," Ducky said as she climbed off her human friend.

"No problem, my dear," Anna replied with a smile.

"Well, what are we waiting for?  Let's go already," Cera said, returning the others' attention to the cave.

"Geez, it's dark in there," Anna said as she felt herself become uneasy.

"Aw, what's the matter, scaredy egg?!  Scared of the dark?" Cera taunted.

"Well, maybe I am," Anna said defensively, causing Cera to only laugh harder.

"You're joking, right?  As fearless as you seem, you're scared of the dark?!  That's too funny!" Cera cracked up.

"All living things have fears, whether or not they talk about 'em," Anna argued.

"She is right, oh yes yes yes," Ducky added.

"Not me!  I'm scared of nothing!" Cera boasted.

"Really?  Last time I checked, you're scared of storms.  I wouldn't be teasin' others if I was in your position, smartypants," Anna cracked.

"No I'm not!  Okay, maybe you got me there.  But I have a good reason to be!  How about you?" Cera demanded.

"Of course I do," Anna said.

"Oh, like what?  That your snuggly stick will go missing?!  Ha ha!" Cera wisecracked.

"I'd love to talk about it, but you're obviously too closed minded to understand, so nevermind," Anna said in an annoyed manner.

"Hey!  That's not fair!  You know, since meeting you, I've been trying to be more open-minded, but I can't change like that overnight!" Cera snapped.

"I never expected that of ya, Cera, nor did I think I ever implied something as impossible as whatcha just said," Anna explained, doing her best to stay calm.

"But you did, and now you're saying you don't?!  I don't need enemies like you for friends!  Stay away from me!" Cera choked before she went to head for the cave.  Acting unusually out of character by acting before she thought, Anna quickly stepped in front of Cera's path.  She could see her friend was becoming tearful.

"Cera, please calm down.  Running off doesn't solve anything.  Just calm down and clear your mind, and you'll know I've never lied to ya," Anna said, continuing to remain calm.  When she noticed Cera remained in place, Anna slowly and gently reached out to her.  WHAM!  Without warning, Anna felt herself get plowed over and was left wondering what hit her.  She kept trying to catch her breath as Ducky and Tricia came over to her.

"Anna!  Are you okay?!" Ducky squeaked, mainly out of shock from what she had just witnessed.

"I guess," Anna coughed as she slowly got up while holding her abdomen.  "Like bein' hit by a truck."

"We have to go find her, oh yes yes yes," Ducky said nervously.

"I didn't even know she took off.  Man, she knocked the crap outta me.  Let's hope I don't start bleedin' internally," Anna wheezed before she lifted the front of her shirt only high enough to expose her abdomen.  Sure enough, Cera's horn had left a nasty mark but nothing too serious.

"Are you hurt?" Ducky asked as she gentky rested her hand on Anna's leg.

"I'll make it," Anna replied, finally having caught her breath.  "Did she go in the cave?"

"Yes she did, oh yes yes yes," Ducky answered.

"S***," Anna cursed under her breath before speaking up so the others could hear her.  "A'ight, let's go find her, and quickly."

"But, you said you are scared, right?" Ducky reminded her friend.

"True, but a friend needs help, so I put my fears aside, at least as best as I can," Anna said.  Ducky then gently took her by the hand.

"I will not let go until you say so; that way you will not be afraid, oh no no no.  Besides, I can see better than you, so maybe I can guide you, yep yep yep," Ducky insisted.

"Girl, you're so freakin' sweet it's unbelievable.  Thank ya so much.  A'ight, then.  Let's go on," Anna said.  Ducky continued to guide her, and Tricia walked closely with them.

[vonboy]

Chomper and Cutter followed Ruby and Chronicler to the end of the Canyon. "I still smell those fastbiters. I don't know if they're coming this way, but I'll keep my sniffer out for em." Chomper informed the group. "Anyway, we need to find a way across this canyon. I don't think this any of us could jump it, because it looks too far. Any ideas?"

<So, a sharptooth that can barely speak sharptooth, that sounds kind of silly!> Cutter said to Claw. <I hope I don't sounds mean for asking, but why is that?>

--------------------------------------
Von could barely follow the intricate conversion, from tons of  made up LBT characters he had never even heard of before. He didn't want to speak up, as tensions were high, and he didn't want to say something stupid because he didn't know any better.

The human suddenly dropped to the ground, covering his ears, as the dinosaur's siren ripped through the air. As he regained his composer, he overheard the others speak of some egg eaters in the Valley.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't just assume that they can handle it. We don't know how many egg eaters there are, or anything. We should at least check it out, and make sure everything is okay, shouldn't we?"

[The Chronicler]

Chronicler's group had just reached the the split in the ground.

"Chomper is right, Chronicler," said Ruby. "This is so wide that I don't think even I can jump across something this wide."

Chronicler looked around carefully, hoping to find anything that may be of use. Finally, he looked to the other side and said, "I got it. See that dead tree over there?" He pointed to a leafless tree that was slightly leaning over due to its location right on the edge of the split. "If we can push it over, we'll create a bridge that we can use to get across."

"But that tree is on the other side, and we can't push that tree over from this side," Ruby pointed out.

"That means we'll only need to figure out how to get just one of us across, and the rest will use that tree." Chronicler then knelt down and used his bamboo pole as a makeshift meter stick to determine just how wide the split really was. After seemingly waving the pole around over the ledge for a few seconds, he said, "That looks to be about... no more than halfway." He then stood back up and looked at his bamboo pole to get a good idea of that distance. The pole in his hand was taller than he was, about as long as he was from snout to the tip of his tail. "Wow... that's quite a distance."

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Longtail for a moment had to struggle not to cry, but he did have to wipe several tears from his face with his wings as he looked to those railed around him. "I want to thank all of you. Some of you I haven't even met until a few days ago, and honestly... I feel as though I've known you all since I hatched. I.. I can't tell you how happy I am to have friends like you."

It was then that the siren like noise was heard and Cyrix, Longtail and Rick all turned at the sound and had a bad feeling curl up their spines.

"Well... that can't be good." said Rick with a frown as he watched Topsy storm off. "And to be honest, I think we ought to stay here. Just so none of us get separated or anything."

Cyrix nodded in conclusion. "A very good choice Rick. I'm certain whatever the problem is will be quickly resolved once Mr.Threehorn is there." He then turned to Zaine and asked a question. "Do you really think we can end this fighting between Longtail and Korr peacefully? I want to hope, but the Redhorns are so very ill tempered."

Crusher laughed as he heard Cyrix. "Oh I agree with you Cyrix. The other Redhorns are far too cruel to properly teach anything positive to their hatchlings... which is exactly why we need to do this. With our leader gone, I can take over and give the hatchlings a chance at seeing the world in a better way."

~~~~

It had been a sheer stroke of good luck that Grandma Longneck had been nearby when the warning call had been given in the valley. She was one of the first to arrive and see what exactly was going on. "This I am sure is going to be rather upsetting." she commented to herself as she stood back and waited for the other elders to arrive.

[Myrkin]

<I wasn't raised by sharpteeth> Claw explained <I...> He stopped, as he wasn't sure how to say what he wanted to say in sharptooth.

"I've never had an occasion to learn sharptooth. Not until I met Chomper anyway,"  he said in leafeater. He observed what Chronicler was doing. It seemed that fastrunner was going to jump across the split in the ground with the use of his bamboo pole. Claw hoped that Chronicler knew what he was doing.

[The Chronicler]

Chronicler stared across the split in the ground, struggling to come up with an idea to get at least someone to the other side. As he glanced around, the bamboo pole his his hand suddenly caught his attention. A plan was quickly forming in his head, be he just as quickly considered that there had to be something better than that. "This is crazy," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?" asked Ruby, wanting to know what Chronicler was thinking.

"I think there might be a way across, but it's so crazy that I'll need some practice first." Chronicler then picked up two longs rocks and stepped away from the ledge. He placed one rock on the ground, then used his bamboo pole to measure out the distance of the gap to accurately place the other rock. He then turned to the others and said, "Okay, if I can make it from this rock to that one without touching the ground in between, then that means I've found a way to get across. First, I'll do a control test to show how difficult this will be."

Dropping his bamboo pole for now, Chronicler backed up a bit and took a running start before jumping from the spot on the ground marked by the second rock he had placed. When he landed, he only made it halfway to the other rock. "Yeah, that's definitely not going to work. Now let's see if my idea does any better."

Chronicler picked up his bamboo pole and went many times further back. Holding the bamboo out like a pole-vaulter, he took a deep breath before running at full speed towards the practice gap. He waited until he was just about to reach the marking rock before driving the end of the bamboo into the ground. The force was enough to start catapulting him into the air. Chronicler quickly climbed the pole as it began to pivot forward, hoping that would make the difference his life would depend on. It turned out to be just enough, as his feet hit the ground just past the other marking rock. The forward momentum had almost thrown him over the ledge of the real gap, but he was quickly able to regain his balance. "Did I make it?" he asked.

"I think you did make it," answered Ruby.

"Alright!" cheered Chronicler, not giving anyone a chance to speak up. "Now let's go for the real deal!" He then ran back again to give himself an even greater running distance.

"Um, Chronicler, wait..." said Ruby, before realizing that Chronicler had already gone far enough away that he wouldn't hear her. Ruby looked across the split in the ground in concern. "Oh dear. I have a bad feeling that something bad will happen."

[LBTFan13]

Threehorn arrived only moments after Grandma Longneck. "What's going on, Longneck?" he asked. "Where are the intruders?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Anything is possible," Zaine replied. "Korr saved my life a couple times before, so there is some good inside of him."

"But that was a gesture towards you alone," Rob commented. "There's no way we can tell if he will be willing to share that same generosity towards the rest of us, especially Longtail."

"Maybe something good will come out of this," Littlefoot suggested. "I mean, everybody has to have some good inside of them. Nobody is truly evil in the world."

"That's not entirely true," Rob shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Zaine asked. Rob hesitated, because he didn't want to bring up what he was about to say, but something told him he should.

"In our world, a long time ago, there was a human named Hitler. He's well known for being one of the most evil human beings ever."

"Why?" Littlefoot asked with interest. "What did he do?"

"He did something nobody could have imagined was possible," Rob answered. "He ordered that an entire race of people were to be killed, and because he said so, thousands of humans died."

"Why did he want them killed?" Zaine asked with almost some disgust. "Did they do something wrong?"

"On the contrary," Rob responded, "they did nothing at all. It's very complicated, but in the end Hitler believed that all these humans were evil, but they weren't."

"So humans died just because one didn't like them?" Littlefoot asked, trying to make sure he understood what he was hearing.

"In a matter of speaking," Rob nodded, "yes."

"That's horrible!" Zaine gasped. "I hope he payed for it."

"He did," Rob explained. "He was executed, or killed, for causing the deaths of all those people. The point is that there are some hearts that have no good in them."

"Well I know Korr is not like that," Zaine said firmly. "He's not a monster, and I know there is something inside him that will convince him to end this peacefully."

"I hope you're right," Rob answered.

[Cancerian Tiger]

"Man, she must've gone far in by now," Anna said quietly as Ducky continued to lead her.

"Caves can be really big and deep, oh yes yes yes.  She could be close by.  We should call for her, yep yep yep," Ducky suggested.

"Nah, that won't work.  Caves echo, remember?  Quieter sounds are not as confusing.  I'll just keep my ears open," Anna replied.

"I will keep my eyes open, yep yep yep," Ducky said.

"I'll be the ears, you'll be the eyes," Anna concluded, causing herself to giggle as she thought she sounded just like Ichy and Dil.  "Stay close Tricia, no matter what."

"Cewa," Tricia spoke up.

"Say what, little one?" Anna asked.

"Cewa," Tricia repeated, this time with a giggle, as she sniffed the ground and began to follow a scent.  Undoubtedly her sister's scent.

"Great thinkin', Tricia.  C'mon, Ducky.  Let's follow her," Anna said before the two closely followed Tricia, unaware of any danger that remained ahead of them.

[FlipperBoidSkua]

Leading the way, Sparky felt a mixed-feeling of what she was doing. She was being something like a leader..... Practically a first!! Automatically, she wondered if she was doing a good job or if she was gonna lead them horribly astray....

You're doing good, Sparkles. Just keep your little 'kitty ears' open! a soft, confident voice in her head went.

You're soooooooooo gonna screw this up, like you screw up everything else... a much louder voice in her head responded.

She shook her head a bit, trying to dispell her inner conflict and stay focu...Whooo, what's that above her?

Looking up, she spotted Pangaea....gliding!! His prediction of a spazz attack seemed correct, judging from her widening eyes that glowed with delight and a big happy grin spreading across her snout. And yup, she was shivering in contained spazziness.

Keep it in!! This is a very serious situation!! Keep it in!! A muffled 'squee' managed to escape her throat and she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm. It seemed to work and she beamed and waved at Pangaea as he glided overhead, her expression saying that she'll spazz out later on a more appropriate time.

With her spazziness (temporarily) being put on Stand By, she forced herself to focus once more and continued to the destination of saving those poor dinos!!

[Amaranthine]

After what seeemed seemed to be many months *insidejokewinkwink*, Amy awoke from her deep sleep and slowly arose, her body aching.

Wow...how long was I asleep? She thought as she rubbed her head and strecthed her face a bit. The siamese colored flyer groaned and yawned at the same time; Amy even stretched a bit in a cat-like fashion, which was surprisingly easier to do as a dinosaur. And then of course it hit her again.

I am a flipping dinosaur! I am in the Great Valley for some frigging reason!

She shook her head and cringed at this thought. As a human, Amy always wanted the ability of transformation, to turn into any creature and harness abilities such as flight, strong sense of smell, and being so tiny that she could see people and their actions, getting a better idea on how to be socially and other things. But now that she WAS a creature, a PRESHISTORIC creature at that and there was no way to turn back to who she was, the sighing flyer wished badly to be human again.

So in deep thought, Amy sat there for a few moments and realized where she was sleeping, so she climbed down from her tree in a spider-like fashion and walked on all fours for a bit, wondering what to do and where her friends were gone to. Though she had a shivering feeling that things were only going to get worse before they get better. And this, Amy thinks only with experience.