Chapter 8: Dawn of a new day

"C'mon Littlefoot! Beat him to a pulp!"

Ali had stopped counting how many times she had yelled at Littlefoot to keep on fighting. The longneck she loved had been locked in a fierce battle with Rhett who unarguably held control over her friend, kicking him in all possible places, over and over, Littlefoot barely capable of defending himself as his injuries grew. She had also stopped counting just for how long this fight had been going - certainly it felt like it had been at least an hour since it had begun.

"Hey Ali!"

Ali suddenly perked up from her introspection when Rhett addressed her with a malicious grin. What did that idiot want?

"How d'ya reckon I should finish this ass-cunt off?" Rhett inquired while casually kicking into Littlefoot's face who was hardly able to resist at this point, covered in bruises and bleeding from several cuts and lacerations.

"Don't you think this has been going on for long enough?!" Ali blurted out without giving her words much thought. "It's obvious that you're stronger but don't hurt my Littlefoot!"

"Ali, Ali… he doesn't belong to you. Females belong to the males, not the other way around, did you forget?" he smirked in such an evil fashion that Ali's blood began to boil.

"Just let go of him you jerk!" she yelled, slowly growing desperate as Rhett held all power in his paws now.

"Anyway, if you fail to give me a good inspiration to finish him off, I will come up with something myself… something that's doing this meatface justice, I daresay…"

"Just leave him alone for the Bright Circle's sake!" Ali begged, being very close to tearing up. "You've won, okay?!"

"He's still a threat though because he's brainwashed you, Ali…" Rhett had abandoned Littlefoot for a second, who was unable to get up after receiving a few well-aimed kicks at the back of his head, and walked up to Ali until his smug grin was pushing against Ali's face contorted in rage and also fear as the boy intruded her personal space quite rudely.

"Listen, Ali. You'll be mine now. I'll dispose of this weakling now, I've had enough fun now. It's time to get serious…"

Ali could only utter a faint cry as a horrible realization began to dawn on her. Rhett didn't just want to win this fight and claim the right to mate with her. The tradition didn't prohibit the loser from challenging the winner again; Rhett wanted to remove Littlefoot as a threat altogether, which meant…

"D-don't tell me…" she suddenly whispered in utter shock, tears glimmering in the corners of her eyes. Rhett's gleeful gaze was more penetrating than any physical attack could have ever been.

"Say goodbye to him, you'll never see him again, hahahahaha!" Rhett broke into a fit of evil laughter as posed over the fallen body of Littlefoot.

"No…" Ali couldn't believe this was actually happening. Rhett was about to murder Littlefoot - she had to do something!

"I WON'T ALLOW IT!" Without a plan in mind, Ali's body thrusted forward on its own accord. She wouldn't allow Rhett to kill the dinosaur she loved so she fought even if it was pointless. Rhett didn't waver as she approached him, his wicked grin only growing more entertained as Ali prepared to ram Rhett into oblivion…

*SLAP*

It had happened so fast that Ali had no time to react. Rhett had rotated his body so fast that she didn't see his tail before it whipped against her chin with tremendous force. Ali felt all control fall from her body as she crashed into Littlefoot's groaning, unmoving body. Although she hadn't lost conscience, she couldn't move a muscle as she had been temporarily paralyzed by the powerful slap. Rhett cackled, kicking her away from Littlefoot before beginning to drag Littlefoot away… away from her… dragged him towards that ledge… that ledge where they had spent their first romantic moments together… that ledge with ended in a drop so deep that Ali felt sick just looking into the looming abyss below. Rhett was now standing at the edge, Littlefoot in front of him. Rhett smirked one last time before…

*WHAM*

… he slapped his tail against Littlefoot who was pushed over the edge and began to fall, disappear from her view, fall for what seemed like an eternity before…

*CRASH*

...his body hit something. It was a sound so sickening that it continued to echo in her mind long after the actual sound of it had been swallowed by the darkness of the night. Ali suddenly realized that her paralysation had lifted at last. With shaking legs, she walked towards the edge like a zombie, exchanged an unbelieving glance with Rhett, and looked down. Somewhere far below was an unrecognizable mess of blood, flesh and bones…

It was Littlefoot - or what was left of him anyhow.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO…

...OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ali sat upright, her heart aching as it hammered in her chest, her lungs expanding to the point of physical pain with each panicky breath. Her eyes were wide open in shock and the echo of her scream was reverberating off the mountains. It was early morning, just a little short of daybreak and something warm next to her soon caught her attention.

It was Littlefoot, covered in many swollen bruises, taking on a large variety of ugly colours, and his face still covered in healing leaves which were soaked in his dried blood. Ali looked at him and almost started to cry like a hatchling when she realized that Littlefoot was very well alive, maybe not in a very good shape, but alive, sleeping peacefully beside her, his chest rising and falling in a rhythm that quickly gave her the comfort she needed to blink away the tears that were forming in her eyes and calm down from her nightmare. Only then, Ali gradually became aware of a few more figures stirring around her. Cera was rising next to her, groaning groggily, a spooked Petrie clinging onto her back. Ducky had unarguably fallen off Spike's back where she had been sleeping and even Spike seemed to be awake in mild shock. A duet of yawns a little to her right confirmed that she had truly woken the entirety of her friends with her scream of terror just now, with the exception of Littlefoot who was still unconscious.

"S-sorry…" Ali stammered as she felt a few judging eyes lingering on her bashful face, sinking a little lower to the ground. Since Cera was the closest to her, it was also the one whose gaze she couldn't avoid. It rested on her, annoyed and judging before it suddenly eased up and turned into a heavy sigh.

"Well, I'm glad threehorns don't have sleepstories like that," the girl mused while rolling her eyes but then she gave Ali a wink that everything was alright and the longneck eased up a little.

"Never... scare Petrie... like that... ever... again!" Petrie scorned as he finally unattached himself from Cera, shakily hopping off the threehorn.

"Oh Petrie, do not be so mean, no no no," Ducky reprimanded the flyer, walking over to the longneck while dusting herself off to hug her in comfort which Ali answered with a slight smile.

"Ali did not want to have a scary sleep story because scary sleepstories always come uninvited," Ruby stated as she and Chomper joined the group, meanwhile inspecting Littlefoot and sighing with relief to see him sleeping peacefully.

"What was it about?" Cera casually requested, not expecting to receive a detailed answer as Ali was still showing heavy signs of being distraught.

"The fight but… it ended badly for Littlefoot, he… " Ali stopped as the images returned with full brutality.

"Hey, don't sweat it; whatever happened to him didn't happen to him in reality, okay?" Cera said pointedly while giving the longneck a pep talk. "Look at his goofy face, in a few days it'll be as good as new! Cheer up, Ali!"

"Cera is right…" Ali shook her head to force the images away and instead leaned against Littlefoot's warm body. "You were so brave, I haven't forgotten about my promise…" she thought which brought a smile to her face.

"Better?" Cera grinned.

"Better!" Ali beamed. Another thing that was worth cheering up for was the coming day. She could hardly wait to report everything to Old One and just imagining how angry Littlefoot's grandparents would probably be at Rhett gave her new energy.

"I hate to ask this by the way but…" came Chomper's voice all of a sudden. "But… what are we gonna do now? We can't exactly stay here all the time and, I mean…"

"Yeah… Littlefoot not going anywhere anytime soon," Petrie pointed out, still a little sour about the rough wake-up call.

"Maybe we should try to wake him up?" Ducky offered which earned her a few shrugs in return. Certainly, Littlefoot was best off sleeping his injuries away but since there was the possibility of concussion, one had to be careful. Determining whether Littlefoot was simply in a deep sleep or actually still unconscious could be an important piece of information.

"I'll give it a shot," Ali eventually confirmed, carefully removing a few of the leaves on his face to reveal his blood-crusted visage.

"L-littlefoot?" she hummed quietly with an uncertain undertone in her voice. Carefully, she rubbed her face against his cheek, giving him a few tender nudges.

"Geez, Ali, you've gotta be a little less gentle if you want to wake him up - I mean, he was right next to you and didn't even hear you scream!" Cera criticized the longneck in a mixture of amusement and a weak attempt at teasing her for her fondness of Littlefoot.

"Yes, I know but… see, if he's hurt his head badly, maybe I shouldn't…"

"That's a good point, a good point it is," Ruby affirmed wisely, pointing with a finger at Cera who rolled her eyes in response to the reprimand.

"Just poke him somewhere else then, geez…" she grunted and before anyone could stop her, Cera readied her front horn and gave Littlefoot a jog, gentle enough not to cause him additional injury but fierce enough to be felt.

"Cera, stop it!" Ali shouted but her outrage soon died down when Littlefoot began showing signs of life.

"Well, that worked!" As Cera began to wear a smug grin, everyone else gathered around Littlefoot's stirring form, Ali positioning herself in front of him where he could see her without having to move his neck.

"Littlefoot?" she whispered.

"Ouch, my head…"

When Littlefoot came to, the throbbing pain in his head was the first thing that reached his mind. He felt as if someone had pushed him down an entire mountain as his entire body seemed to ache and sting.

"Voices? Ow, can't they be quieter?"

Any sound was like fire channeling through his brain right now though there was one voice so soft and sweet that it was just barely bearable.

"A...A-li?"

Ali beamed when she heard Littlefoot mutter her name, although her joy was relatively short-lived since it was apparent that the boy was in huge pain.

"Littlefoot, I'm so glad…" she whispered and before Ali knew it she was weeping while nuzzling Littlefoot's cheek. "You're so… stupid but… you're also… amazing and… so so brave!" the girl sobbed and before she knew what she was doing, she had kissed Littlefoot on the cheek much to the astonishment of everyone present, even Cera too surprised to offer a pointy remark.

"Please rest yourself a-and get well s-s-soon!" Ali begged as she looked into Littlefoot's brown, tired eyes.

"Yeah, we'll make sure your silly sacrifice will get Rhett thrown from the Great Wall, count on it!" Cera exclaimed, the mere picture of that making her look forward to the events of the day.

"Not… so loud… hurts my head…" Littlefoot suddenly spoke through gritted teeth and Cera immediately made an apologetic gesture.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled bashfully.

"Can you walk?" Ruby eventually piped up, careful to speak in a subdued voice while inspecting the cuts on his head which seemed to have crusted over very well over night. "We will have to get to the grown-ups since most of the grown-ups can't go up here."

Littlefoot pondered this for a few moments before shaking his head ever so slightly that only Ali was able to pick up the gesture.

"He's hurt his head; he mustn't walk yet," Ali explained in a soft voice which prompted a sigh from the fast runner.

"Then how are we going to get him somewhere the grown-ups can take care of him?" she inquired.

"Well, he's simply too big for one of us to carry him," Cera analyzed as she rummaged in her brain. She could have sworn they had once, a long time ago, had to carry something but she couldn't remember what it had been or how they had resolved the issue back then…

"Wait…" Her gaze fell on Chomper, innocently following a butterfly with his eyes, waiting for it to get into his range, when she suddenly remembered.

"The egg… of course!" Cera barely minded Littlefoot, wincing once again, as she made her triumphant exclamation.

"Huh?" Ducky, Petrie, Chomper and Ruby replied at once, exchanging curious glances with each other while Ali continued to nuzzle Littlefoot to give him comfort in his world of pain and misery.

"Duh, remember when we "rescued" Chomper's egg back in the days?" Cera prompted which lit Ducky's and Petrie's eyes with the answer finally in reach. "If we build something large and strong enough to carry Littlefoot, we could carry him together!"

"How's that going to work?" Chomper puzzled. "Also, I think this is the first time I hear about you guys carrying my egg like that."

"Ducky and me too small back then and egg too heavy for us," Petrie explained matter-of-factly.

"Yep yep yep, and the others did not have hands to carry the egg so we had to think of something…" Ducky added while nodding with a smile.

"What did you do then?" Ruby wondered with great curiosity, intrigued by the creativity at display.

"Easy, we took two twigs and tied them together with vines so the egg couldn't fall through the gap," Cera explained smugly, selling it as her idea even when it had been Littlefoot's back then but Ruby needn't know about that fact.

"A twig is not going to carry a longneck though, oh no no no…" Ducky eventually sighed.

"Maybe a branch from tree might?" Petrie offered.

"Yeah, that's what I've been thinking too," Cera confirmed. "Let's split up and search for something useable lying around here in this forest!"

Cera's proposal met immediate support from her friends and, quickly, two groups had established, darting off into the forest to look for resources just as the Bright Circle began to peek over the horizon. Cera had stayed behind for now as had Ali.

"You're gonna stay with Littlefoot, I take it?" the threehorn wondered in a casual voice.

"Hmm," Ali mumbled as she remained seated in front of Littlefoot, their heads touching. Littlefoot had closed his eyes again, though his pain-contorted face revealed that he wasn't sleeping.

"I'll go look on my own then, I'll be right back!"

"Good luck," Ali mumbled quietly as not to add to Littlefoot's torment. Soon, the two longnecks were alone, only the distant conversations of Ruby and Ducky, reprimanding Chomper and Spike respectively not to go snacking when their friend needed their help, carrying over with the gentle morning breeze. It almost made her snicker a little.

"A-li…"

Ali perked up when Littlefoot tried to address her, although it was apparent that his own voice was just as painful for him.

"Don't talk now, just try to go back to sleep," she said sweetly while nuzzling the boy in a caressing manner.

"Then why did you wake me up in the first place…" Littlefoot groaned in a pain-stricken voice.

"We had to know if you would wake up at all," Ali answered with some unease. "It is not unheard of for dinosaurs suffering from head injuries to sleep and never wake up again… we-I had to make sure."

"I see…" Littlefoot mumbled.

"Rest now, we can talk more when you're in better shape," Ali suggested in a soothing voice which Littlefoot couldn't object with. "Leave the aftermath to us, we've got this!"

"Alright, good luck…" Littlefoot mumbled before he drifted back into a deep slumber. Ali giggled at the display; Littlefoot looked so innocent and cute when he slept! With a smile on her face, she continued to watch over him until Cera returned, dragging two entire small trees which had just started growing with great effort.

Soon, everyone had returned and work began on a construction to carry Littlefoot with. Spike had been tasked to retrieve the vines they had used to trip Rhett the other night while Ducky and Chomper were gathering smaller sticks with aerial support from Petrie. The two small trees were trimmed by Ruby and stripped of their leaves by a hungry Spike until only the trunks remained which were around 3-4 inches strong. Smaller sticks were tied parallel to the trunks and the thick vines were locking them in place to make it stable. Granted, it didn't look too great but when they tested it on Ali, it would carry her with ease.

"Great work, everyone!" Cera beamed as she looked proudly at their handiwork. "Let's begin!"

With utmost care, the construction was placed next to Littlefoot before they managed to heave Littlefoot onto it, Ruby, Chomper, Ducky and Petrie being able to lift him just barely enough for Ali to fit her neck underneath, lifting him just enough to tow him and carefully put him down parallel to the construction which had been placed on Cera's and Spike's backs just before. Since both of them were only carrying half of his weight, it was bearable for a while. Besides, Ali and Ruby were quickly sprinting to both ends, while Chomper ducked underneath Littlefoot's sleeping form, helping to stabilize the longneck and preventing him from slipping off. Carefully, they began their journey back down into the main parts of the Great Valley…

To say that Rhett was furious would be an understatement. The pain from the countless bee stings he had received and, to a lesser extent, from Littlefoot's occasional attempt to fight back, coupled with the utmost humiliation that insufferable longneck and his stupid friends had put him through and his failure to retrieve Ali, had all added up to make his night a sleepless one. Utterly tired, tormented by pain and constant itching, and unable to calm his mind, he simply sat there in his sleeping spot, well hidden from curious eyes in a group of large bushes, brooding and brooding… and brooding…

It usually meant no good when these dinosaurs all met in the same place and today was no different, Grandpa Longneck mused as he and Grandma Longneck looked into the small circle, gathered around a small watering hole, consisting of Mr. Threehorn, Tria, Ducky's Mother and Petrie's Mother, all wearing varying degrees of anger, annoyance and, most of all, worry on their faces. Their kids not being home before bedtime wasn't too unusual as they had just recently allowed them, grudgingly so, to choose for themselves when to sleep as long as they would rise when being asked to in the morning and, of course, sleep with their families. It was unusual though that they all left their nests before the rays of the Bright Circle warmed the Valley, all without even mentioning a word to them. It was sort of an unwritten rule that they'd wake their parents when they left the nest early in the morning but neither of them had been woken that way on this fine morning.

Therefore, Grandpa could only conclude that neither of them had ever been at their nests which meant…

"I am afraid we might have a problem here…"

"That's putting it mildly, longneck," Topps ranted, his mood dangerously low as always when trouble arose for his family. "Our children are who knows where, we've gotta act!"

"What do you suggest?" Tria wondered. "Ranting isn't getting us anywhere, we need ideas."

"First of all, I'd like to confirm if Ali, too, is missing…" Grandpa sighed, feeling a terrible deja-vu somewhere deep in his stomach. When the girl had visited for the first time, he had fallen horribly sick and Littlefoot soon darted off with Ali to find the Night Flower for him. Arguably, he wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for Littlefoot's little heroic act but it didn't change the fact that he could have gotten himself killed doing so. Grandpa was wondering if their children had gone on some sort of adventure again and Ali, whether by her presence or absence, could provide some clues about their whereabouts.

"What's that Ali girl to do with this?!" Topps thundered. "We've gotta organize a search party!"

"Ali, to my information, is a friend of our children so it wouldn't be unlikely that she is either missing too or might have a clue where they have gone to."

"Yeah, it's worth a shot," Petrie's Mother agreed, nodding to Ducky's Mother.

"Humpff!" Topps grunted while Tria rolled her eyes at the display.

"Grandma and I will check on the longneck herd and ask them for information," Grandpa announced in a weary voice.

"We suggest that you, too, ask some residents and farwalkers for any clues concerning our young ones' whereabouts," Grandma added.

"Yes, and we should regroup here once the Bright Circle has left its morning position on the sky."

"No objections, let's go," Topps barked before walking away quickly, Tria going a slightly different direction while Mama Swimmer and Mama Flyer branched off somewhere else entirely. Grandpa and Grandma exchanged a glance and sighed profoundly.

"Let's hope that they're just hiding somewhere in the Valley…"

"Almost there…"

Cera felt her whole body ache as they finally stepped into the forests of the Great Valley. Walking back down had proved to be much harder than she thought and Littlefoot was, if anything, only getting heavier by the minute.

"I swear, as soon as we're at Ali's nest, I'm just dropping this flathead and calling their grandparents to do the rest…"

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Ducky eventually piped up, throwing a worried glance on Spike who seemed to reach the end of his strength as well.

"Not much further, just another stone's throw or two from here, hang in there!" Ali replied, pointing with her neck to give directions. She could already see her mother from their current position but, to her utter surprise, there were two elderly longnecks she didn't really know, unless….

"His grandparents?!"

Squinting her eyes, she recognized his grandfather who appeared a lot livelier than she had ever seen him. Having visited the Valley thrice now, she had only gotten to know Littlefoot's grandparents from the distance and never interacted with them. Littlefoot's Grandfather had been very sick during her first visit and it was only through her and Littlefoot's daring adventure that he was still alive, she reckoned.

"Well, that's about to change now…" she mused, though an uneasy feeling quickly spread through her guts. What would these two longnecks say if they saw them carrying their injured grandson around?

Ali would soon find out.

"How can I keep Ali away from these idiots until we move out of this stupid Great Valley?!"

It was arguably the most profound question that had been lingering in Rhett's mind for the better part of the night. He knew Ali wouldn't listen to him and hide behind the arrogant hornface and those other pipsqueaks for the duration of their stay even if that Littlefoot would prove to be out cold for a longer period of time. Certainly, his beating should keep him from doing much for a few days as he was almost certain that he had given him a serious concussion with his final attack, however Rhett hated to rely on speculations. If only they could leave right now…

"Ali? Yes, I haven't seen her since last evening, are the others missing too? What's going on?"

Ali's mother had been quite surprised to see the two elderly longnecks who she didn't know suddenly approach and talk to her, only to learn that they were the grandparents of her daughter's best friend and, quite apparently, looking for him. All she knew was that Ali had left with Littlefoot to go to that outlook again, where they had apparently spent the previous evening as well, only to find the nest abandoned in the morning. Knowing that the Valley was a safe place and knowing that Ali had been very keen to see Littlefoot again, she hadn't thought much of her absence yet, assuming that the girl had left early for some reason though, now that these two longnecks were interrogating her about anything regarding Ali, their grandson or their friends, she had to admit that she began to feel a little uneasy.

"We do not know what's going on, I'm afraid. That's why we are here…" Grandma Longneck replied in a wary voice. "You see, our children have a habit of going on adventures that lead them out of the Great Valley. I'm sure you still remember what happened on your first visit to our Valley?"

Oh yes, she did remember. Ali had suddenly disappeared without a trace, only to return many days later with Night Flowers from the Land of Mists. She had been scolded badly back then and it had been for this reason that the Great Valley hadn't been on their migration schedule for a few years.

"Yes, of course I remember," the female answered truthfully. "Do you suspect that they've wandered off again?"

"Well, all members of their gang of friends haven't been seen by their parents neither in the evening nor this morning so we are assuming the worst case for now - that they've gone on an adventure again. If you know anything… please let us know…"

Ali's mother looked at the elderly male with concern. Considering that Ali always hung around this particular gang of friends, this was worrisome news for her as well.

"Unfortunately, I do not know more than that they've wanted to go to that outlook over there again…" She pointed towards the Great Wall which wasn't far from the residence of the herd. "However, I've only seen Ali taking Littlefoot along with her yesterday, not her other.. friends." Her hesitation didn't go unnoticed on Littlefoot's grandparents, however they were too occupied with Littlefoot's disappearance to give it any heed.

"That is certainly better than nothing, thank you," Grandpa Longneck spoke, bowing slightly to the younger longneck in a gesture of appreciation. Just as he raised his head again, some distant figures managed to engage his attention. Intrigued, he squeezed his eyes.

"Hey, Littlefoot's folks are actually here!" Cera eventually panted when she, too, took notice of the two elderly longnecks. "That makes this whole thing a lot easier…"

"Yeah, that's some good luck, some good luck it is!" Ruby sang with a smile.

"Let's hurry, they've seen us by now," Ali proposed eagerly.

"Yeah, I'm tired to carrying Bigfoot here all the way through the Valley anyway!" Cera said in a snarky comment, utilizing her last strength to march towards the longnecks whose eyes went wide open when they realized what they were doing…

"What in the name of the Bright Circle are they doing?" Grandma Longneck puzzled as her mate nudged her and pointed at the approaching group. Granted, these kids had pulled a lot of funny stunts in the past but she just couldn't comprehend why they'd walk around carrying something as if abiding by some strange ritual. As soon as they were within hearing range, though, she began to realize just what they were carrying...

"LITTLEFOOT!" the two elderly longnecks shouted in unison, leaping and covering the remaining distance in no time with a speed seeming almost impossible for a dinosaur so old.

"Littlefoot!" Grandma Longneck cried as she arrived at the gang who had stopped dead in their tracks now. Carefully, Cera and Spike took a few steps back while everyone else was carrying Littlefoot's weight with their hands (and Ali with her neck), slowly putting him to the ground. Immediately, the two longnecks were bowing over his beaten body, wailing as they saw the condition their grandson was in. Although, their demeanor changed somewhat when they realized that Littlefoot was simply out cold and very well alive.

"Ali, what on earth happened to your friend?" Ali's mother interrogated with a rather stern expression. "He looks like he fell down a mountain!"

Ali jerked slightly as she was reminded of her dream at the mention of Littlefoot's condition, however this was a bad time to reminisce in those horrible pictures.

"Children, I thank you for bringing him back here with this… I must admit, brilliant construction of yours but…" Grandpa Longneck spoke as he attempted to regain some of the composure and dignity that usually accompanied his presence. "Just what did you do this time?"

"And what happened to our Littlefoot?!" Grandma Longneck demanded who, other than her mate, wasn't composed at all.

"Littlefoot's been attacked!" Ali spoke up at once, stepping in front of everyone. She had spent the better part of their journey back down to ponder about a way to present their made-up story in a believable way. It hadn't been easy as the odds of Littlefoot's friends looking up at the outlook by chance were very low but she eventually managed to weave it all together into a story which she was now telling the Grandparents.

"The two of us wanted to go to that outlook again because you can see the blinky lights so nice and clear from there. But… we were followed; it was Rhett!"

"Rhett?" Grandpa Longneck wondered.

"Yes, Rhett!" Cera chimed in, spitting out his name like a treestar that tasted really awful.

"Rhett is a longneck our age who's a member of my herd," Ali explained quickly though she started blushing at her next words. "He's… see, he's quite interested in me but, uhh, you see… I'm… I like Littlefoot and I think he perceived him as a threat and started stalking us…"

"Ali invited us to join them last night, yes she did," Ducky piped up with a sad undertone.

"Yea, but when we arrived, this Rhett guy was beating Littlefoot to a pulp like a maniac!" Cera shouted dramatically. "Of course I chased him away!"

"And I scared him!" Chomper added with a toothy grin.

"But Littlefoot was hurt quite badly at that time already, quite hurt he was," Ruby said apprehensively. "I quickly gathered some healing leaves against bleeding and tried to patch him up as good as I could since that's all I could do."

"It was a brutal assault; I... had to watch it all…" Ali said in a meek voice. "I was so glad when the others finally arrived because I-I couldn't have stopped Rhett…"

"So, what you are saying is that Littlefoot has been attacked by another longneck that's a member of your herd, Ali?" Grandpa Longneck questioned the girl in a calm but pointed voice.

"Y-yes, that's what happened," Ali replied a little shyly, hoping that the old dinosaurs wouldn't see through her lie. It was then that the others jumped in to help make the tale more credible.

"We couldn't leave him alone when he was so hurt so we spent the night with him instead of returning home," Cera explained matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, and we were all too shocked to think about sending one of us to let you know about the incident until now, yes we were…" Ducky sighed.

"Well, again, I thank you kids for bringing him here," Grandpa Longneck sighed as he began to realize what this situation would likely require. He felt anger rising inside him, an emotion he rarely used by someone had injured his grandson quite gravely, how grave he couldn't yet fathom, and this Rhett dinosaur wouldn't get away with this atrocity.

"We will need to set a lot of things into motion immediately so I am asking for a few things now." The old longneck took a deep breath and exhaled in a profound sigh.

"Grandma, please take him back to our nest and take good care of him as I handle the rest."

Grandma Longneck nodded solemnly, walking up to the sleeping boy and gently wrapping her tail around him to lift him onto her back with little effort, although she didn't leave just yet.

"Ruby, you will run to the small watering hole that's not far from the Threehorn's nest," Grandpa instructed in a stern voice. "Wait until the parents of your friends return and relay them the message that everyone is safe and found, however due to Littlefoot's injury, a meeting will have to be called immediately. Petrie's mother will know what to do."

Ruby nodded and departed immediately from the scene, living up to her species' name.

"Kids, you will have to stick around me until further notice since you are the only ones who have seen what has happened to Littlefoot," he spoke with a heavy sigh. "Your word will be needed in the meeting."

"Does that mean…" Cera prompted.

"Is Rhett g-going to be in trouble?" Ali asked shyly.

"Of course he is!" Ali's mother had been quietly observing the conversation until now. "Attacking someone from our generous hosts like that… Old One will be furious to hear about this…"

"I was about to ask you, could you arrange a meeting with your leader? I would like to discuss things with Old One before putting Rhett to trial for his actions…"

"Putting him… to trial?" Ducky gasped.

"He has done a terrible, atrocious thing!" Ali's mother growled. "I should have informed Old One right way after Ali told me about his suspicious behavior…"

"We may be biased since this is affecting our family," Grandma spoke in a tired voice. "But this sort of behavior simply can't be tolerated in a place like the Great Valley where we all live together in relative harmony and peace."

"I absolutely agree," Ali's mother sighed in exasperation. "Well, if you'd like to follow me, I'm going to arrange an audience with our leader immediately."

"That would be much appreciated," Grandpa said in an appreciative way. "Kids, you must be tired after carrying our Littlefoot all the way down here, hop on, don't be shy."

"Oh, that is very kind, yes it is!" Ducky cheered, immediately taking the offer and climbing the old longneck's tail, followed by Petrie, Chomper and Spike. Cera seemed to be conflicted for a few seconds before she, too, took the offer with a grain of salt.

"If my dad sees me riding on a longneck, he's going to kick me out of the family…" she muttered much to the amusement of everyone present. Now only Ali remained rooted on the spot.

"I think he invited you too, dear," her mother spoke, giving her daughter a soft nudge. "Unless, would you rather ride on me?"

Ali was a little unsure about riding on Littlefoot's grandfather who she'd just barely met but, compared to riding on her mother which was nothing short of embarrassing, she eventually chose to trot over to the elderly longneck and climb up too.

"It is perfectly fine, I owe all of you that Littlefoot isn't in an even worse shape right now," Grandpa Longneck spoke, attempting to smile despite the grave situation. As a matter of fact, a little chuckle was just what he needed at the moment.

"And, moreover, I have a feeling that Ali might one day be family…maybe we should get acquainted."

"Well, that's certainly true," Cera mused, stifling a giggle while Ali's face took on a very dark shade of pink.

"Well, I'm going to tag along as well," Grandma spoke, her gaze resting on the sleeping longneck on her back. "I believe Old One may want to see Littlefoot to have a better judgement of the situation. He should be comfortable on my back for now."

"Alright, let's go then."

Here's the next chapter, a rather uneventful one to be frank. This is basically the transition from the fight to its consequences...

As always, let me know if something's odd :)

By the way, I got a little stuck a few chapters ahead which is the reason for my current hiatus on this story. Hopefully, I will be able to break through my writer's block soon :)

Story ideas chapter 8 . Oct 20, 2019

Glad to see you finally continue this story, it was intense as I had thought though you shouldn't have really put in the profanity, please have Rhett get the punishment he deserves and have Littlefoot be alright, and whatever plans you have for the next chapters, I hope it will be more great then something bad happening to the gang.

I've been told that the language was too harsh. The way I interpret the relationship between Rhett and Littlefoot here, I don't think it is from a story-based point of view. However, it certainly is for any average Land before time story, I agree with you there.

I'm sorry for making you wait so long but I simply can't write as much as I would like to and writer's block is even more severe when you don't really have time to sit down and do brainstorming _ I hope you understand.

hadiginga chapter 8 . Oct 25, 2019

I want rhett to be kick out of the herd I want him to suffer from what he did to littlefoot

Hope I'll be able to pick up the story again soon so you can finally see if that happens or not.

Guest chapter 8 . Oct 30, 2019

Given how the last response section nearly constituted its own chapter, hopefully this review will be a bit shorter. As for my thoughts on this recent development I like that the dialogue was relatively short. Even when it was longer, it remained emotionally charged which definitely helped with the flow of the fight scene so you could still convey information without losing momentum. You make a valid argument about why they can't be completely in accordance with their normal portrayals given the circumstances they're in, excellent point about Ducky in 8, so I feel no need to elaborate there but as for the questions you raised, yes I think Rhett went too far. That being said, Rhett went too far when he stalked and harassed our longneck couple. His actions hear are just a significant escalation past a line he'd long since crossed.

As for whether or not the gang went too far, I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, this chapter legitimately angered me, albeit in a good way, and a part of me wishes they'd gone farther when driving him off. After hearing that Rhett has the audacity to think of Ali as nothing more than a walking cloaca, I honestly wouldn't have minded if he fell off that cliff to his death. Of course none of the gang would never actually go as far as to kill him, and I'm not suggesting they should, but my hatred of Rhett still stands. Alternatively, I'm glad that Ali still expressed her distaste for this plan and wanted to get the adults involved some other way. I agree with her sentiment, even though there's no way of knowing if doing so would actually help in the long term.

Speaking of Ali, I loved the ending here. I never get tired of seeing her assertive moments, and here she not only stepped in front of Littlefoot to protect him but also went as far as to slap Rhett for his disrespect while directly challenging him despite the potential consequences. The selfless acts she performs in the conclusion of this chapter are not only completely in character for her but also perfectly demonstrate why she's my best girl.

Ultimately, while this plan is excessive and a bit misguided in its methods, I can see why the gang would carry this out as a last resort. We have to remember that while this story takes their burgeoning maturity into account, unlike the later films and especially the TV series, they're still adolescents and thus in a more exaggerated mindset. You did well balancing brutality and triumph in this chapter Evil Swimmer, keep it up.

Thank you! We already talked this over back then so I will not say much in response but thanks for your review as always :)