Thanks for the compliments.
Here's the next chapter.
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“Do you see her yet?” Littlefoot called out.
Petrie, who was flying overhead, looked from side to side. “Me no see her yet!”
Littlefoot frowned, worried. He and the others had been trying to find Ducky for a while now. She had disappeared earlier, but he didn't know why. It wasn't like Ducky to just run off like that. Where could she have gone to?
“What about you, Guido?” Chomper, who was standing next to Littlefoot, called out.
Guido circled around, arms outstretched, as he searched for Ducky. “Not a thing!”
Littlefoot bit his lip. Thinking of a different plan, he turned to Chomper. “Can you find Ducky with your sniffer?”
Chomper shook his head slowly. “I'm sorry, Littlefoot. But I'm still recovering from flowing sniffer.” He wiped his nose with one hand and looked at the clear water-like material on his hand. “This stuff blocks my ability to smell any smells. I can't find anyone with this sniffer.”
Littlefoot let out a sad groan. He should have known better than to ask Chomper for help at this time. After inhaling some yellow puffies a few hours ago, he had been sneezing and his sniffer got red and swollen and clear liquid dripped from his nose. He was told Chomper would recover but it would take a while.
While Petrie and Guido continued to search the skies, Littlefoot, Cera, Spike, Ruby, and Chomper continued their ground search. They split from each other to cover more ground.
Ruby walked over to a log and peered inside. “Ducky! Are you in there?”
Cera noticed a low rock with a small space underneath. She looked underneath. “If you're in there, Ducky, come on out!”
“Ducky?” Chomper pulled back a thick bush. “Not here.”
Spike walked up to some tall grass and chomped away at the vegetation with his jaws, easily creating an opening in the patch. He looked inside and let out a moan of despair.
Littlefoot glanced over at Spike, noticing his sad expression. “She's not in there either, Spike?” Upon seeing Spike shake his head, Littlefoot started to become even more worried. “She's got to be here somewhere!”
Ruby walked up to Littlefoot. “Do you think we should tell Ducky's mom about this?”
“No way!” Cera said before Littlefoot could say anything. “If they found out we lost Ducky, we'll probably be grounded!”
“I'd be more worried about Chomper. You know how Cera's dad is with sharpteeth. He'll blame the Ducky's disappearance on him.” Littlefoot explained. Cera shot him a look. “What? It's the truth.”
“Hmph!” Cera turned her head away without another word.
Just then, there was a loud scream. The groundwalker dinosaurs looked up to find the source of the scream.
“Did you hear that?” Ruby asked.
Then another scream came, followed by the sounds of rocks falling. This time the scream was loud enough for them to recognize who it was.
“Ducky!” They shouted in unison.
The group took off running towards the source. Petrie and Guido flew out ahead of the group. They soon came to a dead end, coming face to face with a wall. They looked up and saw Ducky rolling down the slope. Horrified expressions came over their faces.
“Ducky! Me catch you!” Petrie dove in as fast as he could. He gripped onto Ducky's tail and started to flap his wings rapidly. But the momentum of Ducky's fall caused Petrie to fall down with her despite his efforts.
“Don't worry, guys! I gotcha!” Guido glided underneath the two falling children. He landed on the ground and opened his arms wide.
Seconds later, Ducky and Petrie slammed into the glider. For a couple moments, Guido managed to hold them up, arms shaky. Then he collapsed, landing on his back. The others quickly moved towards the trio.
Groaning, Petrie lifted his head and said, “Thank you.”
“Oh yes, yes, thank you.” Ducky said.
Guido lifted up his head and said, “D-Don't mention it, guys.” His head fell back to the ground.
“Ducky! Are you all right?” Littlefoot asked as he lowered his head to help Petrie, Guido, and Ducky back onto their feet. When Ducky nodded her head, Littlefoot smiled, feeling relieved that she was all right.
Once the three were back on their feet, Spike rushed towards Ducky and gave her several licks on the face. Ducky chuckled and wrapped her arms around the spiketail.
“Where have you been?” Ruby asked. “We were worried about you!”
“Yeah! Why did you sneak off like that?” Cera said.
Upon seeing Cera, Ducky's eyes grew wide with fear momentarily. “No reason..”
Cera's face got a puzzled expression. “What?”
Ducky immediately shook her head. “Oh, nothing!” Then she let out a gasp. “We must go find the grownups! Oh yes yes!”
The others looked at each other briefly and looked back at Ducky.
“Why?” Littlefoot asked.
“It's Ms. Maia! She's in trouble!”
Elsewhere, out in the Mysterious Beyond, a group of eggstealers were making their way towards the Great Valley. One was further out ahead and showing more enthusiasm about going towards the valley while the other was hanging back a tad.
“Ozzy...” The lagging eggstealer said. “Are you sure you want to go back here?”
“Well of course I'm sure!” Ozzy responded, licking his beak. “There's so many eggs, Strut. We'd feast forever!”
Strut tilted his head. He couldn't understand Ozzy's obsession with eggs. “But couldn't we pick a safer target to eat like green food?”
Ozzy looked at his brother with a disgusted expression. “No! We are eggstealers, not leaflickers!”
Strut shook his head. “Just because we are eggstealers doesn't mean we have to eat eggs. We are halfteeth.” He glanced at the valley's walls and shuddered, remembering what had happened the last time they were there. “And besides, this place gives me the creeps. Remember the sharpteeth?”
“They're long gone!” Ozzy said. “Good thing we found that mud pit!”
Strut grimaced. “And it smelled horrible too.”
Ozzy said, “At least it covered our body smell!”
As the two eggstealers were talking, a pair of yellow eyes peered at them through a shadowed place against the cliffs. It watched them intently, its body motionless. The only sound that it emitted was its own breathing, sounding raspy. It moved quietly along the side of the cliff, careful to stick to the shadows. It took a step forward and raised its head up.
The eggstealers drew closer to the valley. And as they got closer, so did the shadowy figure. When the two eggstealers stopped at one of the smaller entrances to the Great Valley, the figure seemed to take this chance and moved in quickly behind them. It got just a couple feet away and quickly slowed its pace. Again the only sound coming from it were its harsh breathing.
Strut's eyes went went when he noticed another shadow on the ground. He felt hot breath hitting on his body and slowly turned to his brother. Judging from Ozzy's expression, he had also noticed there was someone else out here with them. “Who is that?”
Ozzy slowly turned his head around to see who was there. He suddenly screamed. “Run!”
Strut quickly looked behind him. Upon seeing the mysterious figure, he screamed, “Sharptooth!”
The two eggstealers quickly ran towards the tunnel. Unfortunately they ran in at the same time and were stuck for a few moments. But they quickly managed to get unstuck and squeeze through the opening.
The stranger, who turned out to be a horned clawhand, walked up to the tunnel and examined it. It was too small for it to fit through. It snorted and turned around. It glanced back at the wall, its expression more perplexed than angry. It scratched its head in confusion and started to walk around the outside of the valley, looking for any larger openings it could squeeze through.
The horned clawhand craned its head upwards and noticed a large opening higher up on an overhanging cliff. Narrowing its eyes with determination, it began to climb up the steep slope, using its claws for traction. It nearly fell down a few times, but it managed to reach the top. It shook its body a couple times and then ran through the opening.
It seemed to take a moment to be sure it was in the right place. Then it quickly ran off into the distance.
The threehorn that had attacked Ducky earlier dragged Ms. Maia's body into a cave. He was now in a wide open area, covered with trees and grass, but absolutely no surrounding walls. There were some tall rocky hills, some much larger than others, but no protective wall like the Great Valley. And yet in spite of this, there were a lot of leafeaters in the area, happily munching on green food.
The threehorn let go of the crestless swimmer's body and took a step forward. He slowly lowered his body to the ground. “I have brought what you asked of me.” He said. Up ahead, he could see a shadowy figure and immediately recognized it as the leader. “I hope you are pleased.”
“Oh yes, I am pleased.” A feminine voice coming from the shadowy dinosaur said. However, she didn't get up from her spot. “Well done, Tric.”
Tric said, “Thank you, Rona.”
The dinosaur, Rona, chuckled softly. Still not moving from her spot, she said, “Of course, I was more interested in a young Great Valley dinosaur. But this crestless swimmer will do just fine. I must say I am rather impressed you managed to take her down.”
Tric didn't know whether he should take this as a compliment or as an insult. Either way, he didn't want to anger Rona, so he remained quiet.
“Now for your next task.”
Tric's eyes widened slightly. “But I thought killing a Great Valley dinosaur was all you wanted me to do...”
“True, but I changed my mind. This doesn't only benefit me..it benefits you.” Rona explained. “If you can complete this task, you're ready to truly be a part of my group.”
“All right then...what do you want?” Tric asked.
“Bring me back a Great Valley sharptooth.” Rona said.
Tric's eyes widened in confusion. “But, Rona..there are no sharpteeth in the Great Valley!”
Rona chuckled. “According to the rumors, there is. Oh yep..yep..yep...”
