This chapter was short, but it was a good take on the hugging/sleeping scene from the film. You made it more depressing, which I like in a weird way dino_tongue.gif I'm wondering where Cera is too - hopefully she's okay.
Also, I have a bad feeling about these dreams that you mention at the end...
Hehe, thanks

Chapter's don't need to be extremely long to be great though it doesn't hurt to write much

Anyway, there are plenty chapters with about 800 words +/- ...
QUOTE
At some point, even the mournful little Ducky drifted off into an unhappily dark world of dreams...
Wow, that statement is foreboding. Even though this chapter is rather depressing, I like how you have elaborated upon the gang's inner turmoil at this time. Obviously the children would be going through a lot of distress and conflicting emotions after all they have experienced and lost, and I think that you have expressed that quite well in this chapter.
I'm happy that you think so

You're totally right with your statement that the children have to deal with death, violence etc. That's why I put this rather sad scene here

They experience a lot all day and when settling down they are forcefully reminded that their parents aren't there... The chapter I'm uploading with this post will be another one about handling with all the things they're far too young for, actually. But they have to or they'll be lost. After that though, the action continues

Littlefoot's thinking about his father was good to see, I think. I really felt his anger and bitter disappointment in that passage. As for the rest of them, well...things can only get better.
I wonder what's happening with Cera as well... unsure.gif
Ah, I'm glad to see that somebody caught this little thought

Littlefoot is obviously disappointed...
Here we go! I say it again... what happens now is dreamed so it might be a little weird and not exactly possible

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Chapter 26: DreamingPart 1:
Cera awoke. She found herself lying amidst a barren landscape, no green food far and wide. She got up and noticed her terrible dry mouth and throat. She walked in circles just to note that there wasn't a single bit of water around. Desperately, she considered what she could possibly do.
"Ceeeeeeeraaaaaaaa..." a voice whispered all of a sudden from somewhere above the Threehorn.
"We come and get'cha!" another voice chuckled.
"You belong to meeeee!" the first voice shouted.
"You gonna die of thirst!" the other voice forecasted.
"W-w-who are ya?" Cera questioned anxiously.
"We are spirits."
"Baaaaaaaaad spirits!"
"W-w-what do ya want??? Leave me in peace!"
"We want revenge!!!"
"And retribution!"
"But...what for?!" What did I do to you???" Cera got quite frightened.
"You're the one that caused us to leave the Great Circle of Life! 'Cause you abandoned us!!!"
"Abandoned???"
"Yeah, you abondoned us when we ran away from that Sharptooth, 'member?
"'Cause of you he feasted on our corpses!!!"
"'Cause you didn't protect us!"
"WHO.. ARE.. YA!!!"
"Your former friends!"
"Huh?!"
"Your time is expired!
"Get her!!!"
The transparent shadows that had hovered above Cera invisibly all the time moved down and decelerated just above the ground so Cera could see them.
"LITTLEFOOT!!! PETRIE!!! DUCKY!!! YOU THERE!!! It's you!" Cera now recognized her friends.
"Too late, Threehorn!"
"We accompany you to the Land of Sharpteeth located deeeeeeeep below the Smoking Mountains!"
"There you'll pay for your crimes!"
"Plus you will be under pain, under a loooooooooot of pain, actually!"
The four spirits grabbed Cera and flew away.
"RELEASE ME! RELEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAASE ME!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Just at this moment, Cera heard a loud bang when the spirits suddenly vanished.
Spike wandered through a swampy area, utterly alone. He was quite sad since his parents were dead. Not looking where he was walking, he bumped into a tree trunk. The Spiketail rubbed his head and continued his aimless journey. Some time later, he encountered an impenetrable swamp. Spike considered deeply how he could possibly cross the swamp but there was simply no way through. He wasn't a good swimmer. He plopped to the ground, desperately begging to his mother in hope of being supported. Unexpectedly, a strip of the mud just as wide as he was transformed into green food. A voice, his mother's to be exact, spoke:
"My son, you have to eat up all the food in order to get to the other side. If you however try to cheat, the swampy water will return. You'll drown."
Cowed, the little Spiketail just nodded peeking to the other shore that was hardly recognizable. He opened his mouth and began to eat. With every bite, his mouth grew bigger so that he could eat increasingly more food at once...
His tummy grew fatter, he soon looked more like a ball than like a Spiketail. As he feasted through half of the food, he got stuck. Again he begged to his mother. To his surprise, the strip grew wider indeed. He ate more and more food... and got fatter and fatter.
Suddenly, just when he recognized his whole deceased family at the other shore that was only a few more steps away, he burst with a deafening bang...
Littlefoot climbed through a landscape permeated by rifts and cracks. Water poured down, distant thunder mixed with the rippling of the rain. He was in search of his mother. "Mother! Mother, where are you???"
He almost dropped into a small crack as he tried to go across it. He suddenly saw a massive grey-ish body in the darkness. His mother!
"Mother..." the little Longneck whispered quietly and anxiously. He sprinted to her lying on a little ledge and unmoving.
His mother sighed.
"Mother, please get up," Littlefoot beseeched.
"I'm... not sure I can, Littlefoot..." she responded her voice weak.
"Yes you can. Get up," Littlefoot encouraged his mother.
The Longneck tried to get to her feet but she failed collapsing to the ground by which the ledge she lied on broke so that her head was just in front of Littlefoot.
"Dear, sweet Littlefoot..." she merely whispered. "Do you remember what I told you about the Great Circle of Life?"
"I guess so," Littlefoot sobbed, "But why do I have to remember? You gonna stay with me!"
"I'll always be with you even if you can't see me," she replied.
"What do you mean 'if you can't see me'?" Littlefoot questioned. "I can always see you!"
"Littlefoot! Let your heart guide you! It whispers, so listen closely..." Littlefoot's Mother whispered with her voice getting weaker.
"Mother! Mother???" Littlefoot screamed; he didn't get a response. Littlefoot stayed at his mother's side until he realized what must have happened. His mother would never talk to him again, never cuddle up with him again, never look into his eyes again... She wasn't around anymore to protect him from Sharptooth; he was all on his own. Crying, he stormed away, further and further until he tripped. Being exhausted, he remained lying on the ground and cried his heart out in the rain getting less intense. Thoughts made his brain go berserk. Sharptooth killed his mother, his mother had protected him. She was dead... because he, Littlefoot, was still alive.
An enormous bang pulled him out of his thoughts...
Ducky woke up. She was at a small, green place though she was all alone. Ducky checked the area and got uneasy. Where was her mother? Where were her siblings??? She called after them restlessly and anxiously. Indeed, she received an answer though it neither was uttered by Ducky's Mommy nor by one of Ducky's eleven siblings...
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The others will be in Part 2 since the chapter would've been too long otherwise
