Meanwhile, in the nearby dark forest, two bear troopers walked around, trying to find the source of the noise they heard earlier.

“It’s getting dark here...” The first one brought up, shivering in fear.

“Wow, I didn't know that, thanks for letting me know.” The second answered sarcastically.

“No, I mean, it’s darker than when we were back at The Whispering Expanse.” The first bear trooper corrected himself.

“But we can’t disobey orders. You know that, right?”

“Hey, I got an idea to brighten things up a bit.”

“Ugh, do I want to know?”

“Let’s sing a little song!”

“Take this seriously, will you?”

“Hey, look!” The first bear pointed.

The troopers noticed a boy lying on the ground, unconscious, as they rushed over to take a closer look at him.

“I wonder what happened to him...” The second bear muttered.

“Hey, wait, I recognize that guy... isn’t he one of Ruth’s friends?” The first one mentioned.

“Well, now that you mention it, it might be!”

“What should we do now?”

Before the second bear could think up an answer, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey, wait a minute, look over there. Is that a Trachychelomoloch?” He pointed at the dinosaur, which also laid on the ground a couple of feet from the human boy.

“Whoa, it is! What happened? Is it still alive?” The first bear inquired.

Just then, some grunts got their attention as they turned to see the boy waking up. As he adjusted his glasses and straightened his clothes a bit, Antonio looked around the area.

“Oh, you’re awake.” The first bear walked over to give him a hand. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, fine, I suppose...” Antonio replied weakly, grabbing his hand and getting up from the ground.

“Hey, excuse me, but did you kill that dinosaur over there?” The second bear asked. “Or did you at least have something to do with—?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Say what? No, I did nothing!” Antonio interrupted, quick to defend himself. He walked over to the dinosaur that laid there a short distance away. “How did this happen?”

“How should we know? And why were you even out here in the first place?”

“I needed to go to the bathroom.”

“What does that—?”

“Well, at least, you’re ok.” The first bear interrupted. “Come on; let’s go tell everybody.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Antonio nodded in agreement.

“Now, hopefully, we can find our way back...”

.-.-.-.

Amy and some Bears placed their feet in the water. They looked down below for any herbs in the ground. Maggie took off her shoes and followed suit. The water felt nice and cold, but this wasn’t a time to enjoy the waters. They had to find that last herb before it’s too late.

Everyone had been searching for a while now, and nobody could find the right one they needed for the medicine. None of the colors seemed to match what they needed. How could anyone tell which was which when all the herbs blended into the water so perfectly?

Finally, after what felt like hours had passed, one of the bear troopers declared he had found it. He snatched the right one from beneath the water. After checking to make sure, everyone celebrated. The celebration was temporary though, as the loch ness monster rose out of the water yet again, awake.

Everybody ran out of the water, but one. An Orso Looba found the herb in the first place, who stood the furthest from the shore. He got so stricken with fear that he let go of the plant, and he fell back into the water.

The others turned to find the Loch Ness, about to reach for the bear, just as he went back to retrieve the Spearmint from where he had dropped it.

“No!” Ruth called out.

He and the other Bears rushed down the hill toward the water again to defend their counterpart from the monster’s attack.

Maggie quickly searched for her red bag and found it beside her shoes. She opened the flap and took out the first two things she saw: a pebble and a yellow crystal. The Bears shut their eyes, preparing for the worst. Maggie was about to throw the glass shard toward the lake.

The loch ness stopped its advance and just stared at everyone. The Orso Loobas opened their eyes as the monster just stood there. A sound rang in Maggie’s ears and looked over at Amy playing a tune on a small flute. After she finished, the creature bowed its head down in understanding and slowly disappeared back into the lake. Everyone walked toward Amy with eyes widened and mouths gaping in total disbelief.

“What did you do?” One bear asked.

“I communicated with it,” Amy explained. “It’s the guardian of the Whispering Expanse. I told it about the situation and that we’re not bad guys.”

“And what was its response?”

“It said we could take one Viper Spearmint from the waters for our journey, but only one.”

Maggie rolled her eyes and shook her head in dismay. “Well, that’s great and all, but why didn’t you do that earlier?”

“Yeah, because I can do stuff like that under pressure...?” Amy muttered in sarcasm.

“Hey, you guys!” A voice called out from a distance.

“What is it?” Ruth questioned.

He noticed more bear troopers had come back from the forest along with another human kid.

“We’ve returned, and we found your friend.” The first soldier replied.

“Sweet, good job, troops.” Ruth complimented.

Antonio sheepishly walked out from behind the Orso Loobas troopers and waved at Maggie, who merely stood there, tapping her foot impatiently and glaring at him.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were leaving?” She asked. “And what took you so long?”

“I... had places to be, and I didn’t want to wake you up and have you worry about me...” Antonio admitted, looking down at his feet.

“Well, it’s not ok! It’s because of you that your pal is in critical danger right now!”

“Wait; what? Seriously?”

“Don’t worry; we got the last herb needed to complete the recipe!” Ruth announced.

“Well, what are we doing here? We got to hurry and get back to Tommy ASAP!” Antonio exclaimed.