Reply To: The Land Before Time XVIII: Journey Under the Great Valley
CHAPTER EIGHT: CROSSING THE FLOWING FIRE
Littlefoot snuck out that night and went and grabbed many vines. They would need these as a harness. They needed goo. Some Sweet Bubbles would do this. However, the Sweet Bubbles were located past the Tree Sweets, which were rationed and hence guarded. Littlefoot realized that he needed to get around Topps, who was one of the guards.
Littlefoot kicked a rock. Topps ran toward him. “Who is there?” he growled. Littlefoot ran. Topps, who couldn’t see him, pursued the sound of his footsteps. Liam and the others, meanwhile, were able to make off with the Tree Sweets. Littlefoot jumped into deeper water. As he was older now, he couldn’t hide in small streams anymore. Topps couldn’t find Littlefoot and left. Luckily, Liam and his minions were gone by then.
“What next?” asked Littlefoot.
“We need huge rocks to hold us. Otherwise we’ll fall into the Flowing Fire.” said Liam.
They headed toward the Smoking Mountains, where they were most likely to get rocks that big. They had to tiptoe around all sorts of grownups.
Littlefoot accidentally slipped into water. SPLASSSSH! Some grownups stirred sleepily. Littlefoot was able to move out of sight and the grownups looked around, found nothing, and went back to bed.
They got the rocks from the Smoking Mountains. They made Littlefoot carry most of them, but Littlefoot didn’t question this.
They came into the tunnel and soon reached the Flowing Fire. “I don’t know if this will hold us.” said Littlefoot. He was especially concerned about himself. He’d put on a ton or so of weight in the last two years.
“Perhaps we could pull down those rocks over there.” suggested Liam. Louise flew over the Flowing Fire with the ropes and tied them to a huge rock.
“Pull!’ yelled Liam. They all pulled. The huge rock fell, making a bridge for them to get across. They clambered across. On the other side, they saw several forks in the tunnel.
“Which one do you think it is?” asked Rabauke.
“Not sure. How about we split up?” suggested Liam.
Littlefoot went down one on the farthest right. The light was starting to fade. He crept forward, not able to see. He heard a snarl ahead. “Ut oh!” he said. He heard footsteps coming at him. Fearing the worst, he aimed a big kick at whatever it was. RAAAANNNNH! The five Smilodons smacked into the wall, hurt. They tried to move toward him again. WHACK! He aimed his tail at them, but, not able to see in the dark, didn’t hit them directly, but instead got the wall, knocking over rocks and cave teeth. Luckily, these hit the Sharpteeth, forcing them to retreat in pain. “Guys, I need you now!’ he yelled.
Liam had heard the ruckus. He ignored Littlefoot, wondering if Littlefoot was about to meet a bad end. However, when Littlefoot said “They’re gone…for now.” Liam came to investigate with the others.
“Sorry, got a little delayed.” Liam lied.
“It’s ok. There’s something in here. Some kind of Sharpteeth.” Littlefoot informed them.
“You said that you have dealt with Sharpteeth before.” Liam scowled.
“I did. I don’t know what these ones are. Perhaps they’re the ones Mr. Thicknose mentioned. “ Littlefoot answered. “We can take them together if they show up again. Let’s go forward, hanging on to each other. There could be pits in here or something.” Littlefoot suggested, feeling foolish for not thinking of that earlier.
“Ok, you lead us and we’ll go behind you.” replied Aang.
Littlefoot went forward nervously, the others behind him, Liam in the very back. They continued onward, moving in total darkness. Up ahead, they again heard a noise. This time, they heard more footsteps coming. Littlefoot again swung his tail. This time, he got bitten. “ARGGGGGH!” he whined. Nonetheless, the Smilodons were pushed back, at least, for a few seconds. They had come into a wider space, allowing more room for Littlefoot to move. This caused the others, who were willing, if need be, to let Littlefoot get eaten while they saved themselves, to fight off the Smilodons too, as they no longer felt Littlefoot, who had lost hold of them in the confusion. They were all swinging at them. In the mess, Littlefoot’s tail hit the wall and caused rocks to fall outward, causing light to come into the chamber.
Meanwhile, Topps was talking to Tria. “So, Tria, Littlefoot is being very rude to my daughter. I think that he is a bad influence.” said Topps.
“Oh Topsy, not this again!” groaned Tria.
“No, I really mean it this time. Something has gotten into him. He is….” said Topps, who paused as the falling rocks hit him in the head. “OW! “ he cried. He looked around, trying to see what had caused the rocks to fall When he saw nobody, he muttered “Perhaps it was an Earthshake. That was the quite a short one.” At least, in the mess, he’d forgotten what he was talking about earlier, and instead started to talk about how great Cera was.
Littlefoot, meanwhile, saw whiskered creatures with orange, red, and yellow eyes glaring at him. They were about the size of Ducky’s father, but they were fanged and there were many of them. He and the others aimed at them, driving them back away.
“Are you guys ok?” asked Littlefoot.
“Yeah.” replied Mandi.
“I think we’ve had enough for one day.” said Littlefoot. He started to turn back. The others, as they wanted Littlefoot, who was now bigger than any of them, to go with them, were forced to go back with him.
