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Storm's Brewing
SBCover

Author:

TDD25

Special Thanks:

E4439Qv5, Lepa Ayan

Genre:

Adventure

Rating:

T

Status:

Semi-Hiatus, no plans for regular updates.

Reviews:

Open (Always have been, Always will be)

Chapters:

18

EX-Chapters

1

Storm's Brewing is the primary FanFic in a group encompassed within an Universe that has specific ideas that may not be directly stated or expressed within the games. Reviews may be placed below, in the comments section, and it is appreciated if the reviewer would reference the chapter(s) they are reviewing.

We are currently under reconstruction. A large portion of the work will most likely be condensed. I will be posting as it re-updates, but I'll leave the established chapters that have not yet been replaced where they are. EX-Chapters are also in the works and follow the same guidelines.

Chapter One: Just Cerato Luck[]

“Hey Damon! What are you waiting for? Hurry it up!” The distinct voice of my friend Bob floated over the mountains as I stared out into the distance. I gave a little snort, but otherwise ignored him. Instead, I focused on the Ptera that was currently circling the mountaintop. While Vivosaurs weren’t particularly common in the area, we were all aware of them, especially the more iconic ones like the yellow pterosaur flying overhead. Plenty of us even wanted to become Fossil Fighters as we grew older, myself and Bob included.

My musing was disrupted as I heard the grass crunching as he stormed over, spinning me around by the shoulder. “Alright, alright, I get it. What do you need?” I sighed.

“Took you long enough! C’mon, did you forget why we’re even here?” Nudging me towards the path both physically and verbally, Bob continued, “We’re trying to find wild Vivosaurs!”

“Have you even thought this through? Why do I need to be here? I have a Vivosaur of my own you know.”

“If I had a Vivosaur of my own, it’d give me an edge in entering the Caliosteo Cup! And that’s exactly why you’re here. If we need to fight a Vivosaur, you can!” his volume dropped considerably as he muttered, “Also it was either you or Dina, so…” Dina was a neighbor of ours; while she was certainly a good person, she wasn’t known for humoring other people’s ridiculous ideas.

Unfortunately for me, I had no such reputation. “Even then, did you think about what could happen? When Dina fought that Allo, it was only because Joe Wildwest came by to save her and Todd.” The buzz over the world-renowned Fossil Fighter’s appearance had spread across the city, which was probably the only thing that saved Todd from Dina’s wrath. However, I had little hope for an eighteen-month late encore.

“Look, if she can do it, you can do it, right? She’s had her Vivosaur for a year and a half. You’ve had yours forever!”

“Yeah yeah, you can stop trying to flatter me. I’ll go. We all know if I didn’t you’d probably get into trouble,” I sighed. Already halfway up the mountain at this point, there’d be no turning back for Bob, who sprinted the rest of the way towards the mountaintop. My stroll took notably longer, and once I reached the small clearing, I noticed Bob hunched down behind a rather large rock.

“Alright, here’s the plan, Damon. Dina said that Allo attacked from the bushes, right? So, you’ll go out there in the clearing and when one of them shows up, fight it.”

“Why am I the bait? Isn’t this your plan?”

“You’re the one dressed in bright colors.”

I glared at him, noting that his pants were just as orange as my jacket, but let it slide. “Mhm. And what exactly is your role in this plan?”

“I’m going to stealthily grab the medal and run down the mountain with it so none of the other Vivosaurs come after us. That’s why I wore my green shirt today.” He looked at me as if it was an obvious conclusion.

“… That’s the shirt you wear every day!” I yelled in exasperation, before he shushed me.

“Listen,” Bob whispered, pointing at the trees on the opposite side of the clearing. “Just stick to the plan. Go out there, fight it, and I’ll grab it, and we’ll go.” He paused for a second. “It’s a solid plan, you can stop breathing down my neck.”

“Bob. I’m next to you, not behind you.” We both turned to find the large jaw of a Cerato hovering above us. I nodded to Bob, and we slowly inched out from underneath the Vivosaur’s mouth. Rather than pay attention to us, however, it continued to stare across the clearing at the same trees we’d looked at only moments before.

When we were a good distance away, Bob finally exhaled. “I think we’re in the clear.”

As if on cue, a second large theropod burst from the foliage. This one was a Carno; a distant relation to Cerato, and equally as strong. These two Vivosaurs were perhaps the most notorious for disagreeing with other Vivosaurs, and especially with each other. The two roared as they charged, butting heads before resorting to bites and kicks.

“Well that’s… rather convenient for us, I suppose.” I also breathed a sigh of relief. So long as the two continued to fight each other, we’d be out of danger.

However, just as I thought that, the Cerato staggered back. It seemed that the Carno had inflicted critical damage, which, combined with Earth’s elemental advantage over Air, left Cerato on its last legs. The multicolored theropod chose to retreat, hobbling off back into the woods while Carno roared triumphantly. Then it turned its attention to us. Instinctively, I grabbed the blue-rimmed Dino Medal from my pocket and threw it in front of us. It transformed in a blue burst of light, Elasmo hovering slightly above the field rather than landing. The aquatic Vivosaur had been by my side for over seven years, and while I hadn’t put it through proper battle training, it was still plenty strong.

“This is what you want, right?” I glanced over at Bob, who seemed kind of dazed, and sighed. “Alright; let’s go with Elasmo Tackle!” Elasmo darted forwards, ramming Carno with its side and circling back. The gray Vivosaur charged forwards, headbutting Elasmo across the field. Sensing victory, Carno roared once more. However, I noticed Elasmo hadn’t reverted to its Dino Medal; a quick nod and a sidelong swipe knocked Carno off balance, opening it up to a follow-up. The swift bite to the leg, combined with the earlier damage from the battle with Cerato, was too much for Carno to withstand. It shrunk back into a Dino Medal and landed in the middle of the clearing. I glanced over at Bob expectantly. “Well?”

“Huh?” He seemed startled, but noticing that nothing else was happening, quickly settled back down.

“You were supposed to stealthily run out and grab the medal, right?”

“Hehe. About that. Seeing that kinda made me have second thoughts; the Caliosteo qualifiers is only a safety test and a battle with rental Vivosaurs. Besides, I’d probably be better off with a Vivosaur I revived myself, right?”

“Glad to see you’re finally making sense,” I quipped. “Still… we can’t exactly leave it here. That’d be pretty irresponsible.” After a few moments, I walked over and pocketed the medal.

Bob raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Let’s just hurry up and go before that Cerato gets back.” After getting a nod of agreement, I followed Bob back down the mountainside towards town.

By the time I reached my house, the sun was starting to set. I waved to Bob, who still had a few more blocks to go, before heading inside.

“Damon! Did you finish that application yet?” I heard my mother call from the living room.

“I’m going to!” I called back, before heading into my room. Still displayed on my laptop’s screen was the remainder of the Caliosteo Cup application. There were only a few fields left to fill in before Bob showed up this morning, so the form was finished relatively quickly. I printed it before lying down on my bed, staring at the two Dino Medals. While I’d known Elasmo for most of my life, I’d only seen this Carno a few hours ago, and battled it, no less. Still, I couldn’t just leave it lying in the middle of a field.

My musing was interrupted when my mom called to let me know that dinner was ready. As I got up, I glanced at the completed form lying on my desk. In a split-second decision, I grabbed a pen and jotted down Carno underneath Elasmo in the “Owned Vivosaurs” section.

“Coming mom!”

Chapter 2: Total Carno-ge[]

“So, you’re really keeping that Carno, huh?” Bob asked as we watched a helicopter descend. Both he and I, as well as Dina and Todd, had qualified for the Caliosteo Cup last month, and we were awaiting our trip to the islands.

“Yeah. I mean, I definitely can’t give it up now, after six months.” It was the truth; while Carno had been a little difficult to work with at first, given that it, like other “wild” Vivosaurs, had been abandoned by a Fossil Fighter, I’d eventually gotten it used to being around me and my house.

“Just wanted to check before we get on that thing.”

The pilot stepped out from the helicopter. “I’m here to pick up Damon Arashi and Bobberticus Wilson.” I heard Dina and Todd snickering behind me and suppressed a laugh myself. Unfazed, the pilot continued. “Another helicopter will be along to pick up the other two entrants shortly.”

“Let’s just go.” Bob grumbled, dragging his luggage over to the.

“Whatever you say, Bobberticus.” I smirked a bit, before following him onto the helicopter.

An uneventful helicopter ride later, and we were stood in the middle of the plaza on Ribular Island. Out of the three islands making up Caliosteo, Ribular was the most tropical, full of foliage and greenery.

My feet firmly on the ground, I took in my surroundings. The large building in front of us seemed the obvious place to go, given the various signs surrounding it, so Bob and I took our luggage through the front doors.

“Hello! Welcome to the Ribular Fighter Station! Are you two here to register for the Caliosteo Cup?” The receptionist called to us as we walked through the doors. I nodded, and we walked over. “Now let’s see. First we have Bobberticus?”

Bob groaned, “Just Bob is fine.”

“I think Bobberticus is a fine name, but if that’s what you want, Just Bob.” She winked, and I struggled to contain myself. “And here we have Damon Arashi, correct?”

I took a deep breath to relax. “Yes ma’am, that’s me.”

“Good. It says here you already have two Vivosaurs? May I see them for confirmation purposes?”

I nodded and placed the two medals on the table. She gave each a quick glance before sliding them back. “Everything looks good to go. Damon, you’ve been assigned to Room Seven, and Bob, you’re in Room Twelve. The staff member here will take you up to your rooms.”

Reaching for the Dino Medals, I accidentally knocked one off the table, causing Carno to appear. In the unfamiliar surroundings, Carno panicked, curling up into a ball before rolling out the front door. A few screams outside told me the plaza hadn’t magically emptied, and I rushed outside.

“Camara Stomp!” I heard a voice call, and a flowery patterned sauropod appeared, bracing its forelimbs against the rapidly spinning Carno, who was stopped dead in its tracks.

Gasping for breath, I ran up to Carno’s side and pet where I figured its head was. “Hey… it’s alright now.” Carno unfurled, looking at me before transforming back into a medal and dropping to the floor.

A man approached me, wearing glasses and a green jacket that looked slightly too thick for the weather. “You really should take better care of your Vivosaurs,” he stated, recalling his Camara. “I understand that there are plenty of novice Fossil Fighters here, but to endanger everyone else’s safety isn’t acceptable.”

I hung my head. “Yeah, I’m sorry. Carno must’ve gotten scared when it saw something it didn’t recognize. It’s been like that ever since I got it.”

Rubbing his chin in thought, he mused, “Vivosaurs like Carno don’t usually react like that… say, how exactly did you come across this Vivosaur?” However, before I could answer, a large television screen floated into the plaza. On it was the face of Joe Wildwest, who welcomed us to the park.

After a few minutes, the opening ceremony for the Caliosteo Cup was finished, and finished with a bang. Joe’s reveal that the winner of the Cup would become the owner of the park came as a surprise to all the entrants in the plaza, the man next to me included.

“I wasn’t informed of this.” He seemed to be thinking before he turned back to me. “While I would have stayed here and talked to you more, I have more pressing matters to attend to. Just remember, you’re lucky no one was hurt this time, but you really do need to watch over your Vivosaurs more.”

“Alright, thanks, uh…”

“Seth.”

“Right, got it, Seth.” I watched as he headed towards the Fighter Station, where I noticed Dina standing and talking to another lady, dressed in something like a staff uniform, but entirely green rather than blue.

As I walked closer, I caught a snippet of their conversation. “He never told any of the staff members about this. Not even the staff leaders…” the lady next to Dina murmured. I glanced at Dina, who, catching my eye, merely shrugged, and the woman headed in the same direction Seth had.

Chapter Three: Vena-door Troubles[]

“What was that all about?” I asked, once the staff the woman had walked back inside the building.

“That was Stella, she’s the staff leader for Ribular Island. Apparently she had no idea that the entire park was up for grabs in the Caliosteo Cup,” she replied, seemingly as confused as I was.

“Neither did any of us. Guy I met seemed to know a lot, but he had no clue either. Must have been some secret to keep it even from the staff.”

“Well, I guess that just means that’s all the more reason to win the Cup, right?” She gave me a light punch on the arm. “Looking forward to fighting you, water-boy. That should be a piece of cake.”

“Hah hah hah. I’m glad you’re so confident.”

“Hey, between an Elasmo weak to air and a Carno you can’t control, Aeros and I have this in the bag.” She noticed me wince at the latter part of her statement and backed off. “Alright, that was a little far. My bad.”

“It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” I looked around and noticed the sky beginning to darken. “We should probably get going to our rooms, it’s getting late.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you around,” she nodded, and headed inside. Left alone, I glanced at my medals again. She wasn’t entirely wrong. The plan had always been for me to train Water Vivosaurs, and Carno was an unexpected addition. I wondered if that was part of the reason I was having such a hard time getting it under control but shook the thought off. There wasn’t any room for doubt if I was going to win the tournament.

Once inside the Fighter Station, I remembered that I hadn’t moved my things after running after Carno. When I got to the reception desk, the receptionist from earlier smiled.

“Hi, Damon, was it? Don’t worry about your luggage. We had a staff member bring them up to your room. Unfortunately, your friend, Bobberticus, took your key card with him, and we don’t have any extras on hand at the moment. He’s in Room 12, if you want to drop by and get it from him. I’ll call ahead for you.”

When I got up to his room, his face seemed a little redder than usual, and he quickly placed a card in my hand before closing the door. While a little unusual, I simply shrugged and headed towards Room 7. When I got there, I swiped the card and pulled on the doorknob, but the door wouldn’t budge. I tried it again, but to no avail. After a third unsuccessful attempt, I was going to ask the receptionist to have a staff member open it for me when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see a young man wearing a brown hoodie, a large red “V” emblazoned across the front.

“Here, let me give it a shot,” he offered, and before I could reply he’d taken the card from my hand and swiped it through the lock. The indicator blinked green and he pushed the door inwards.

“How did you…” I stammered, but he simply shrugged.

“Maybe you just need that magic touch. Name’s Primacron, by the way.” We walked inside, and I could immediately hear the distinct sounds of someone playing a video game. “Hey, Thea!” Primacron called out, but when he received no response, he walked in front of the TV that was on the near wall. “How long have you been at this? You couldn’t get up and get the door?”

The blonde girl sitting on the couch grumbled and tried to maneuver her head to catch a glimpse of the screen behind Primacron’s back. “It’s only been a couple hours, and you got in fine. Do you mind? I’m in the middle of a mission and you’re in my way.”

“Well, my parents did always say I made a better door than a window,” he chuckled. “Anyways, this is our new roommate.” He turned to me. “Sorry, what was your name?”

“Damon, nice to meet you… uhh…” I paused, trying to remember what Primacron said earlier. “Thea?”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too. Now do you mind moving out of my way?” she curtly replied before refocusing on her game. Primacron merely shrugged and walked away from the screen.

I figured it’d be best if I didn’t bother her, and instead searched for my bags. I walked over to a door right of the front entrance, when Primacron called to me from the kitchen.

“Hey! Our bedroom’s over there.” He pointed towards a door opposite the one I was standing in front of. “That one would be for Thea and our other roommate,” he paused to pick up a piece of paper from the table, “one Lucille Wallenda. I wonder what she’s up to right now, it’s pretty late and she should’ve been here to register.”

I walked over and looked at the page. It had a brief profile on each of us, picture included. “Huh, interesting style choice.” In the photo she wore a purple top hat and a matching vest over her dress shirt. “So, it’s just the four of us?”

“Yeah. Though there probably isn’t any use in standing around waiting for her. You might want to head over to the other room and unpack your stuff.”

Following his advice, I headed to the bedroom he had pointed at earlier and unpacked on the unoccupied bed. Once I finished, I decided to explore the rest of the room, and after poking around in the fridge, put a pot of water on the stove to boil and plopped down on the couch next to Thea. She shifted a little bit, but otherwise took no notice of me. I recognized the game as a popular fighting game, well known for its use of major characters from the developer’s franchises. She was currently playing through the game’s story mode.

“Mind if I join in?” I asked, genuinely interested, but she paused and glared at me like I had just slapped the controller out of her hand.

“No way, a rookie like you wouldn’t get anywhere.” Just as quickly as she stopped, she threw herself right back into the game, not missing a beat from where she left off.

“Hey, aren’t you making assumptions? I mean, you’re definitely good, but you can’t know how good I am.”

“I do. I’m a psychic.”

I was caught off guard. “Wait what? Really?”

“No, you idiot. I’ve been playing this long enough to know what a rookie looks like. Call it intuition.” As she continued fighting her way through multiple opponents, I sighed and leaned back into the couch. The day’s events flashed by in my mind until I felt plastic tap my forehead.

“Huh?” I opened my eyes and sat up, seeing Thea holding the controller in front of my face.

“Well, do you want it or not? I’m not gonna wait all day,” she said, waving it around in a circle. The game over screen behind her flashed. “You gonna prove me wrong or what?”

“You sure?”

“Geez you’re indecisive. I slipped and got beat, but if you keep me waiting any longer I’m just going to start again.”

Deciding not to look what was probably a gift horse in the mouth, I took the controller from her and went to the character select screen. Thea looked on as I started to progress through the stages.

“Hmm, you’re doing pretty well,” she commented as she watched my character’s movements.

“Really, thanks-” I was cut off by my character being thrown off the side of the screen, and my last life disappeared.

“You’re still a novice. You know how to use the controls, sure, but you don’t know how to play the game. You’ve gotta concentrate on your movements, pay attention to the openings you leave yourself in.”

“What are the two of you yapping about?” A voice behind us yawned, and its owner shuffled over to the fridge, grabbing something before shutting the door.

“This guy thinks he can play on my level.” Thea chuckled.

“I think I did pretty well.” I huffed slightly, looking towards the kitchen.

“Oh yeah, who was the one cooking water over here?” Primacron laughed. “I had to turn off the stove hours ago before you burned the building down. You should really watch the time.” He chugged his cup of milk, tossed it in the sink, and walked off. Thea and I stared at each other, before laughing.

“Well, you weren’t terrible.” She patted me on the back.

“Yeah, you weren’t so bad yourself,” I quipped, as we headed to our respective rooms. Primacron was lying in bed, so I tiptoed into the room, grabbed my toothbrush, and headed to the bathroom. A few minutes later, I was resting comfortably in my bed, running through the day’s events one last time as I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Four: A Jara-ing Wakeup[]

The next morning, I was surprised to find Thea waiting outside my door.

“Hey Damon, there’s some guy waiting for you at the door.” She pointed her thumb towards the front entrance before heading back to the couch.

I went out and saw Bob leaning against the opposite wall.

“Hey man, I just wanted to check with you first before I have to check downstairs at the front desk.” At this, he blushed a little. “Anyways, can I see your key card for a second?”

“Huh? Sure, I guess.” I dug my hand into my pocket to grab it, but as I pulled it out, I felt something else slip. Carno’s medal dropped to the floor, releasing it into the hall. It glanced around warily, still unsure of the situation, but seeing that it was just Bob and me standing there, noticeably relaxed. That is, until doors started slamming. It was too late to stop it as Carno curled up and rolled past us towards the balcony. A young girl, with neon green hair and a white dress stood in the center of the hall, seemingly unaware of the large sphere barreling towards her. The door at the end of the hall flew open, and someone leapt out, taking a fighting stance between the girl and Carno. He threw a medal up in the air, revealing a Jara that wobbled a bit while flying, but seemed stable enough. The boy’s orders were barely audible over the commotion.

“Jan… Knockout Cry.”

Sound waves fell from the Jara’s jaw, hitting the rolling Carno dead center. He grabbed the girl and they sidestepped as Carno’s momentum slowed to a stop, where it unfurled, fast asleep. The hall fell silent, everyone now staring at the large dinosaur napping in the hall, and the boy who had appeared. His simple gray clothing stood out compared to the mostly colorful atmosphere on Ribular. When he noticed the large number of eyes on him, he stepped back from the green-haired girl and tossed another medal. An O-Raptor appeared, and in seconds the hallway was filled with a mass of feathers, a bunch of them floating over the balcony and outside. When the feathers finally settled, only the girl was still there.

She briefly walked back into her room and reappeared with a broomstick and a large green bag, which she started sweeping the feathers into.

“Uh… are you alright?” I asked, walking through the layer of feathers towards her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s all good.” She continued sweeping for a few seconds, before reaching down to grab something. “Here, you might want this.”

“Oh, thanks.” I took Carno’s medal from her hand, and she went back to sweeping. “Shouldn’t you wait for the staff to take care of this or something?”

“Nah, we all have a responsibility to help out the planet, you know?” While I wasn’t entirely sure how cleaning the hallway floor was going to help the planet, I started helping shove the larger piles into her bag. When we’d filled it, she nodded to me and dragged it down the stairs.

“There you are!” A voice shouted, and the next thing I knew I was being dragged by the arm down the stairs as well. “C’mon loser, we’re going digging.”

“What? Loser? What’s going on?”

Thea turned to me with a look of exasperation. “It’s a joke man. The dig site just opened up, so we’ve gotta get going!”

“It did?”

“Did you not get the message on your Paleopager?”

“Paleopager?”

She sighed. “Geez you’re hopeless. We’ll grab you one on the way out. Now let’s move!”

After stopping by the front desk to grab a Paleopager, we were on our way to the site. Given how empty the plaza was, it was relatively easy to spot the staff member standing at the entrance to the site.

“Hi! Here to go to Treasure Lake?” We nodded in response, and she pulled out two orange devices. “Here’s a Sonar for each of you. Just push one of these two buttons at the top, or tap the middle of your screen, and the sonar will start scanning the ground for fossils!”

“Is that all?” I looked at the device in amazement.

“It also has a Fossilary function that will give you information on any Vivosaurs you’ve revived. Other than that, you’re all set to start digging!”

Thanking her, Thea and I continued to Treasure Lake, just in time to see a large crowd dispersing. Through the mass of bodies, I noticed Dina and Todd heading over to talk to a white-haired boy in a red coat, but before I could call out to them, a more shocking sight caught my attention. Bob was currently perched atop a large skull in the middle of the lake, and to my horror, his foot slipped, causing him to slide down towards the earth. He let out a scream, but just as he was about to hit the ground, someone stepped out of the skull’s maw and caught him, while his pickaxe sunk into the ground nearby.

“Hey guys! Long time no see!” the boy that was currently setting Bob down called out. “How’ve you been? It’s been what, seven, eight years?” He laughed, his arm now wrapped around Bob’s shoulder.

“D… Dino?” I stammered. It’d been years, and memories of him were a little hazy, but the blue hair, his outfit, everything was the same as it was back in first grade, though scaled up. He certainly stood out just as much as he did back then. When he wasn’t bouncing off every solid surface, he was looking through anything dinosaurs. The announcement of Vivosaur Island’s opening towards the end of the school year was probably the greatest thing he’d ever heard of, and when school let back in the next year, he was nowhere to be found. “Why are you here? How are you here?”

“Funny story,” he chuckled, “I was actually supposed to be in the tournament, but this huge storm popped up on my way here! I ended up being too late to register for the tournament, but the staff were nice enough to let me stick around once I got here.”

Bob looked as shocked as I was at how he was handling this. Still, he didn’t seem to consider it a big deal, so I decided to change the subject. “Oh yeah, what happened to you? You just disappeared after first grade and we never heard from you.”

“Huh? Sorry, I couldn’t hear what you said over the sound of me distracting myself.” He pulled his sleeve and glanced at his wrist. “Well it was really great meeting up with you guys like this! I gotta go, catch you later!” He then dashed off in the general direction I saw Dina and Todd headed earlier.

“Wait!” I called out in vain and sighed. “Now I just have even more questions.”

Bob, in the meantime, grabbed his pickaxe from the ground, revealing a rock in the ground underneath. He quietly stuffed it into his case and walked off, leaving me standing next to the skull utterly confused.



BEEP BEEP RECONSTRUCTION HERE[]

Chapter Seven: Like a Pacro Wolves[]

"I'm not an idiot!" Bob yelled indignantly.

Thea scoffed, "Then explain why you were hanging from a giant skull?"

"Because I was searching for fossils!"

"There are no fossils above ground!"

I just sighed and grabbed Bob's pickaxe from the ground. When I yanked it up, I found a rock sitting in the hole it had created.

"What, do you think fossils can fly?" Thea seemed at her breaking point, so I decided to intervene before things got worse, and called them over.

"What do you want?" Bob snapped, still glaring at Thea.

"I found this here. I think it's a fossil rock, but I'm not sure what kind." I examined what seemed to be a slash that ran almost from edge to edge.

"Well, whatever it is, it's mine." With that, Bob snatched the rock from my hands, and placed it in one of the slots in his case, then walked off.

Seeing as he’d had a bad day so far, I let him go, instead turning to look for Thea. However, unable to find her, I started to wander around the skull, but quickly ducked back behind it. The same black haired boy from yesterday slunk around a fence, scanned the area, and quickly hopped over it, vanishing.

I was still debating whether to report what I saw when someone exclaimed in my ear, "Hey bud! You on the fence about something?" I spun, simultaneously falling to the floor. There, hanging upside-down from the skull’s gaping mouth was a girl, whose rather familiar top hat was somehow holding on to her head. “Whoops, didn’t mean to startle you!” She flipped upwards and righted herself, landing perfectly on her feet with almost no splash in the shallow water. “Name’s Lucille! Pleasure to meet you!” Barely finished with a graceful bow, she continued, “Hey, do you think I could interest you in a-”

"You said your name’s Lucille?" She glanced up at my inquiry and nodded. “Hi, my name’s Damon. I’m pretty sure we’re roommates.”

"Oh, is that so? Well, pleasure to meet you once again Damon! Sorry I wasn’t around last night, I had some business to take care of."

"It’s fine." I shrugged. “We didn’t really do too much. Sorry, for interrupting you like that. What were you saying?”

"Don’t pay it any mind. I should actually be on my way, so I’ll catch you later! Thanks for the chat!" She tipped her hat before skipping off in the direction of a staff member standing next to a gate. Still a little confused, I figured the best idea was to find where Thea ran off to. Figuring I’d make the most of the stroll, I pulled out my sonar and started tapping the screen with my thumb. I noticed a green dot pass my radar, a bit to my left. I scanned with the sonar again before grabbing my pickaxe off my back. Before I could slam it into the ground, however, a hand reached out and grabbed my pickaxe.

"Hey kid, I saw that rock first!" He shouted rather unnecessarily.

"How could you have seen it first if I haven't even seen it?" I tugged on my pickaxe to no avail. He seemed adamant that I had somehow wronged him, and his grip only seemed to tighten.

"Well, if you want it so bad, you're going to have to face me in a Fossil Battle!"

"Huh?" I was a bit confused that he seemed to be missing part of a conversation, but I accepted, still angry at his rudeness.

The man tossed out a green medal, and a large, green Vivosaur with a sun design on its back appeared. I threw my own medals, with Carno landing in front of Elasmo.

"Hey kid, two against one isn't fair."

"You challenged me." I shrugged, and took the first attack, the speed of my two Vivosaurs far surpassing his. "Elasmo, Elasmo Tackle!" My Vivosaur made the familiar motion of slamming the opponent with its side, but the opponent seemed relatively unharmed by it. "Your turn!" I called to the man.

"Alright then! Go Pacro, Mother's Slap!" Pacro simply walked up to my Elasmo and smacked it in the face. Elasmo, while not happy, seemed healthy for the most part. "Alright, go kid."

I then called out to Carno, "Carno Fang!" and Carno, to my surprise, didn’t overreact, and instead attacked the opponent as intended. The large bite managed to defeat the opposing Vivosaur. The man just gritted his teeth, tossed my pick back at me, and left without a word. I caught it, and after patting my Vivosaurs on the head, I proceeded to dig. The rectangular shaped fossil crumbled a bit into my hands as I removed it from the earth. I gingerly placed it into one of the eight slots in my case, before I set off once more, managing to find another dot upon my sonar. Before I could even begin digging it up, I heard something I was dreading.

"There's no way I'm letting you have that Fossil Rock without a fight!"

"Hold it! You're not leaving with that Rock until you fight me!"

"FIGHT MEEEEEEE!"

"You're going to have to fight me. I don't let anything stand between me and a fossil."

"That's the Fossil Rock that I wanted!"

"I see you found my Fossil Rock!"

I saw some more people headed my way, and clutched my medals, reading myself for the onslaught of battles.

"Hey! There's a T-Rex fossil over here!" A voice called out from the opposite side of the lake, and everyone, deciding the potential to revive a T-Rex was worth more than whatever I had just dug up, stampeded towards the voice. I quickly excavated the rock and ducked inside the mouth of the giant skull, hoping none of them would notice and follow me. A noticeable amount of roaring echoed into the hollow from the outside, and ceased after a few minutes. Moments later, someone walked inside the cavern, face buried in a device of some sort, and plopped down next to me in the sand.

"Thea?" She seemed completely concentrated on her handheld, only shifting a bit to rest more comfortably in the sand.

"You’re welcome, by the way." She nonchalantly continued mashing buttons as she spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Who do you think saved your butt out there?"

"You were the one who found a T-Rex fossil?"

"Well, I may have lied about the fossil part." She looked up and grinned, producing a T-Rex medal from her pocket.

"And you took on all of those fighters?"

"Well, Daisy’s plenty strong, but even if she wasn’t enough, I had a Plan B."

"Plan B?"

She only grinned again before picking herself up and grabbing her case. I followed her out, the distinct lack of fighters making the trip back to the Fighter Station an uneventful one. Once there, the "Closed for Repairs" sign across the Cleaning Room's door remained, and I sighed, before following Thea upstairs.

Chapter Eight: Brighter Than Flash Proto-graphy[]

I yawned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. On the nightstand was Thea’s handheld console, the battery indicator blinking red. I rummaged around for the charger, but she must’ve forgotten to give it to me when she loaned me the console. Not knowing if the game’s progress had been saved, I figured it would be best to return it, so I shuffled across the living room towards her door. However, still groggy and preoccupied, I failed to notice someone who was just exiting the same room.

"Ah!" I fell back onto the floor, the console slipping from my hands and flying up into the air. A split second later, and it was being presented to me from inside a purple top hat.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t think anyone would be up this early.” Lucille whispered, sheepishly scratching the back of her head with her other hand as I picked myself up.

“It’s alright. But what are you doing up?” I took the handheld out the hat and she placed it back on her head.

“I’ve got a lot of business to take care of. Need to start bright and early!” She walked over to the door, opening it and revealing the darkness still covering the islands. “Well, less bright, more early. Catch you later!” With that sentence, she quickly bowed slightly before slipping out the door and shutting it quietly.

“She might have a point, maybe I should-” My mumbling was quickly stopped by viewing the clock on the microwave, which indicated it was three o’clock in the morning, and I promptly turned around and went back to my bed.

“Hey Damon! Wake up!” For the second time that day I awoke, this time to Primacron lightly shaking me. “Thea wants to see you.”

I quickly hopped out of bed and opened the door to the room. “Hey Thea, really sorry about not returning that thing last night, I went to and it didn’t much battery left, it should be on my nightstan-”

Thea held up a hand. “It’s fine. I found it where you left it in the kitchen. Don’t worry about it at all, I checked it after charging, it’ll only take me a half hour to get back to where I last remember you were.”

“Wait what? It took me like three hours.”

She chuckled. “You’re not me, Damon. Anyways, I just wanted to check on you since it seemed weird that it would be lying around in the kitchen when you had it before going to sleep. And speaking of sleep, you did a lot of it. It’s about eleven o’clock now.”

“Wait it is?”

“Yeah. Primacron didn’t want to disturb your “beauty sleep” or whatever.” She shrugged. “Oh, and the Cleaning Room’s back open. By sleeping you might have passed up the long line from earlier this morning.” Having said what she wanted to, she simply turned around and headed for the couch.

A few minutes later I was downstairs in the lobby, where I ran into Bob, who was just walking back in.

"You just come back from Treasure Lake?"

"Yeah, didn’t get much though." He pulled out a black colored fossil rock as he spoke. “The competition was pretty fierce over these things.”

"Well, at least you skipped the line here too. You can go first if you want."

"Thanks man."

“No problem.” We headed inside the room, where the robot near the cleaning table introduced itself as Kl-33N. Bob immediately set to work cleaning his fossils while I rested against the wall in the back. When he pulled out another one, I recognized the slash across it and watched as he struck the corner of it. He tapped the same corner again, and the rock immediately crumbled away, leaving only the skull and a small piece of dirt on the table.

"What was that?" I piped up, unsure what had just happened.

"Well, sir or madam,” Kl-33N informed me, “that was a buster point. BEEP BOOP. They allow you to clean a large amount of the fossil quickly. WHIRRRR."

"Oh, I see."

"Alright, last one!" Bob pulled out the dark rock he had shown me earlier and placed it on the table. He grabbed up a hammer, and when he started, like he had every time before, hit a button on the control panel.

"Err, sir or madam, I wouldn't do that if I were you. VIP-VIP." But Bob had already pressed it, and the resulting flash of light briefly illuminated the room. I blinked instinctively, and when I opened my eyes, Bob was lying on the floor, moaning a bit. I knelt next to him, and Kl-33N approached as well. "He'll be fine. WHIRRRR. He shouldn't have any problems; just keep him from looking into bright light for a couple of days. BLEEP."

"So do I just drag him up to his room?" I asked, unsure if Bob was really okay.

"Actually, the Fossil Lounge is closer." A voice told us, and I turned to see Stella walking in the door with a couple of staff members. "Don't worry, we'll take care of him. Kl-33N, be sure to send over all of his things."

"Of course, Miss Stella. BEEP."

While I knew she probably knew what she was talking about, I’d never seed Bob go down like that. "Are you sure he’ll be alright?"

Stella turned to answer. "Yes. That Dark Fossil Rock he was cleaning can’t be viewed by the X-Ray function. It’s not too intense, but he was probably surprised and got an eye-full. He shouldn’t have any lasting problems. You’re more than welcome to clean, since, if I remember correctly, you haven’t completed your tutorial, right?"

"Oh, that’s right!"

“I promise we’ll take care of him, so please, go ahead.”

"Over here, sir or madam. WIRRR." Kl-33N motioned me over to the desk. I gave one last glance at the staff members carrying Bob out. A large Fossil Rock was placed on the table in front of me. “You have three different tools at your disposal. VEE. The hammer can be used to break of large portions of the rock, and the drill is used to clear away small parts. There is the X-Ray, which will let you see through the rock at the fossil underneath, in most cases. BZZT. The drill can also create dust that you should blow away, and be careful not to damage the fossil with your tools.”

“Alright, so I should start now?”

“You will have ninety seconds. BOOP.”

I considered using the X-Ray to begin, but considering what happened to Bob, I decided against it and pulled out the hammer. After chipping away at the rock, the shape of some claws began to form underneath it. I cringed as I heard a sharp snapping noise, where a misplaced hammer shot hit the fossil. Eventually, however, I was left with what looked like a set of legs.

“Alright, what do I do with this?” I questioned the bot.

Kl-33N seemed puzzled. “Usually a Vivosaur’s head is given out, since it is the only piece we can use to revive a Vivosaur. However, it appears you have obtained a Vivosaur’s legs. DOOP. I believe this to be from a Vivosaur named Delta. It will be stored for you until you can obtain a head. WHIRR.”

With that done, I set the first of my own fossils on the table and pulled out the hammer. When I hit the outside of the fossil, a giant chunk came crumbling off.

I stepped back in shock. "What was that? Was that one of those… Buster Points, was it?"

Kl-33N examined the rock for a couple seconds before answering me. "No sir, this fossil rock is just rather fragile and soft. You were lucky this time, as you hit it in a spot that didn't damage the fossil, but next time, you may accidentally hit it. Try using the drill for these. WHOOP."

Nodding, I grabbed the other tool and drilled around it precisely, barely grazing over any spot of bone. When I pulled it up, a skull lay before me, but it was rather strange. Instead of the usual pale color of bones, this fossil was red.

"Ah, a rare fossil! How exciting! BIP. Your Vivosaur will be stronger with a red-boned fossil in it. Here, we shall revive it. BLEEP." Kl-33N led me over to a machine, where I laid down my skull. The fossil began to glow, and soon, there was an orange-pinkish Vivosaur staring at me. It popped back into a medal, and it was slid towards me. I looked at the medal, wondering what it was. Kl-33N spoke up again, "Your sonar has a Fossilary with information on Vivosaurs in it. BOOP." I pulled the sonar out and pointed it at the medal. A file popped up on the screen. It had "#72 Proto" and a picture of it on the screen. After flipping through a couple pages of information, I smiled when I saw it was a water-type.

"Alright, just gotta take care of this one." Armed with my new knowledge, I checked the rock first before speeding through it with the drill. Another set of legs lay before me, but this time, there were fewer claws.

"Ah, a set of Proto Legs. Wonderful, we will integrate it. VIP." He brought me over to the machine again, but this time, I put both the medal and the fossil inside. Nothing really seemed to change, but Kl-33N assured me that it was now more powerful. "Oh yes, that's right. Do you mind taking this to your friend? BOOP. He left his Raja medal here, and this… dropping fossil. WHIRRR." I nodded, and grabbed the medal, along with the strangely pink colored fossil.

I walked over to the Fossil Lounge, where I saw Bob resting in a bed. Although I was almost directly in his line of sight, he wasn't responding to my presence, so I called his name. He moaned slightly, and tried to open his eyes, then shut them immediately.

"Why are the lights so bright?" he slowly groaned.

I saw a note from Stella on the post next to him, and read it aloud.

Here are some sunglasses for your friend. Try to keep him from staring into the light.

~Stella

I grabbed the pair and handed it to Bob, who put them on and gingerly opened his eyes. He then looked at the other things in my hands. "So, I guess those are mine?"

"Yeah they are."

"Cool. I like the Vivosaur… but what's with the rock?"

"It's a… a…" I muttered, trying to remember what Kl-33N had called it. "A dropping fossil?" Bob just groaned some more.

"Well, I don’t really feel like getting up right now. Do you mind turning off the lights?" I nodded, and left the lounge, flicking the switch on the way out.

"Hey, want a scoop?" Thea poked an ice-cream cone in my face.

I stumbled back a bit. "Where exactly did you…"

"What?" She waved a couple of pearls in my face. "You thought I didn't do any digging at all yesterday?" She laughed. “There’s a great ice cream place nearby. You wanna go?"

"I was planning to try and get a little more digging in before the first round starts."

“That works for me too.” She said, pulling out a red and black striped cylinder and hanging it across her back. While I was curious, I figured it was something I shouldn’t ask about, shrugged and headed off to the lake. When we got there, she headed off for a clearing in the trees while I walked around collecting fossils. Later on, with my case full, I poked my head into the clearing to see something fly straight by my head and impale itself in something to my left. "Hey! You should be more careful!" Thea yelled, running up and yanking the object from what I could now see was one of a set of foam targets she had hung around the clearing. "I don’t want to get blood on them, after all." I could almost feel the sweat rolling down my head as she apologized for the joke. “Did you want to give it a try?” I shrugged, and she handed me the bow. "Now, all you have to do is aim for the target a bit above…" I nodded, pulled back the arrow, and let it go. It flew much faster than I expected, and way too far right, zipping past the target. Someone yelled, and I ran back towards the lake.

"Are you okay?" I knelt by the boy on the ground.

He just grabbed his blue fedora off the ground and muttered out a "Yeah." His eyes widened and I noticed that one of his eyes was silver, rather than blue like the other, before I felt a dull smack on the back of my head.

"Were you paying attention to anything I was saying? You missed by a mile!" She calmed down a bit when she saw someone else was there. "Sorry about that, my friend here is new at this."

"I’m fine, but you shouldn’t really be doing these types of things. There’s going to be a lot more people here now that Round One started." The boy still seemed upset, and reasonably so.

"Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be trying that again anytime soon." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head.

"Glad to hear it."

Thea sighed. “Yeah, we’re really sorry about that. How about some ice cream to make it up to you?” The boy seemed a bit skeptical at first, but accepted. “Great, let’s go!” Thea then lead the two of us back to town, but not before whispering into my ear, “I’m gonna need you to foot the bill on this one, I ran out this morning.”

I simply sighed. Luck just wasn’t on my side.


Chapter Nine: Did I Forget to Menchi Something?[]

~Beep beep boop~

Damon's first round opponent is Rubicon. Please report to the Fossil Stadium.

~Boop beep beep~

I placed some bills on the counter of the Ribular Soda Shoppe as I stood up to leave.

"Good luck," Thea said, and our new friend Deltri echoed her.

"Thanks!" I replied as I headed to the stadium, taking one last look at my team before I entered the lobby. Inside, Dina and Todd were talking to the same red-coated, silver haired boy they had yesterday.

"How foolish." Was his last remark before he left them and brushed past me, glaring a bit as he walked out the door.

I wondered what their conversation was about, but Dina and Todd started smiling again, so I figured it was nothing, waved to them, and moved on. Inside the common room, I saw the grey-clothed boy from yesterday standing in front of the door. He seemed to recognize me as well.

"Well… So it's you." He nodded as if to confirm something. "I hope you can keep that Carno of yours under control."

"I’ll do my best. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Not a problem." We walked through the door and took our places across the field from each other. I glanced at the stands, and saw Thea seated next to Bob, Dina, and Todd. Then, I pulled out my three medals and threw them to the field. Rubicon sent his out, but they weren’t what I expected them to be. Instead of the two Vivosaurs he had used in the hall, he was using an Aeros and a red-orange sauropod, with a ball on the end of its tail.

"And the fighters are ready. Let the battle begin!" I heard a voice come over the PA system. Music began to fill the stadium as we began. "And Damon gets the first attack!"

"Alright then… let's see…" I was looking at the positioning of my Vivosaurs. With Carno directly in front of Aeros, I was about to call for it to attack. Then, I noticed the frightened look in Carno's eyes. "I end!" I called, hoping to avoid a scene.

"An unusual choice for Damon to end his turn. Is he planning something big, Trip?"

"I dunno, but when he moves, it's gonna be BIG, Ty."

"That only works if you don't repeat what I said."

Rubicon turn came, and he called out his orders. "Menchi Stomp." The sauropod, which I assumed to be Menchi, lifted up its forelegs and slammed them into Carno, who roared in pain.

"And Rubicon takes advantage of the elemental and Range advantages of his Menchi. Good thing for Damon that Rubicon doesn't have enough FP for a follow-up attack."

I looked cautiously at Carno, only to see that it was now completely focused on the Aeros in front of it, snarling as it stared down the feathered Vivosaur. Taking advantage of this, I started my attack.

"Carno Fang on Aeros!" Carno complied without resistance and bit down on the light blue Vivosaur. Aeros, while looking heavily damaged, did nothing but shake Carno off of it, and let it return to its position. "Elasmo, front and center! Elasmo Tackle!" Elasmo zoomed straight for Menchi, side swiping it, and then returning.

"And an excellent use of range by Damon, Ty."

"Go Menchi, finish Carno." I looked in surprise to see Menchi's feet lifting off of Carno's medal. After dashing out to pick it up, I called for another attack.

"Elasmo Combo! Proto, hit Aeros with Headlong Rush!" They headed for their respective targets, Menchi falling as my purple Vivosaur bit onto is. Proto, meanwhile, shifted into a position near Aeros, head-butted it, and then moved back.

"Go, Aeros Alert." The blue Vivosaur assaulted Elasmo, and my Vivosaur landed from its usual hovering position to the ground. I willed it to get up, and Elasmo did, head hanging a bit. I had enough FP to send it in again, and called for an Elasmo Tackle. Elasmo managed to smack Aeros back with a fin, but Aeros was un-phased, and barely moved when Proto crashed into it with a Headlong Rush. I had barely finished my orders when, unbidden, Aeros sent an air blast that sent Elasmo back into the ground, where it returned to medal form. I hoped I could finish it with Double Rush, but Aeros knocked back Proto right after the attack with another Wind Blast. Proto lay on its side in one of the front support zone spots. It could barely stand, and I felt bad about putting it through this.

A small voice popped into my head as I was considering if I should withdraw. "Change."

"Finish it." Aeros ran up and grabbed Proto in its jaws, ready to deliver a point-blank Wind Blast. I frantically flipped through the Fossilary data on Proto until I found something that rang a bell in my head.

"Metamorphosis!" A light began to emanate from Proto, and Aeros's eyes grew wide, dropping the glowing Vivosaur. When the light disappeared, a large blue Vivosaur stood where Proto had been. I checked my Fossilary but found no data for it. Frowning, I just called for it to attack, as the green blast hit it. It ran up, slamming Aeros.

"Aeros is on its last legs, while Damon's newly transformed Tricera is still very healthy. Can Aeros overcome the range advantage before it's too late?"

"That would be as hard as that bagel I left out for two weeks."

"Go for it!" Tricera ran up again, smashing Aeros into the ground. Just as it seemed Aeros would stand, it slumped back into the ground, and shrank back to its medal form. Tricera roared, and returned to a medal as well.

"And it's an amazing victory for Damon, who manages to come back from almost certain defeat with Proto's last minute transformation into Tricera."

As the crowd cheered around me, I took a good look at the medals I had. I was surprised to find Proto rather than the image of Tricera on the medal, but in a way, I was glad.

"And our next match will pit Thea against Nathan!"

"But fiiiiiiiirst we need to take a break! Intermission, go get some snacks everybody!"

"Trip, we weren't authorized to- Trip? Trip?" An audible sigh could be heard over the microphone. "Well, while we wait for him, let's get the next combatants in the stadium, shall we?"

As I exited, I thought I saw Rubicon crack a smile before he left the station.

I saw another boy waiting to enter the stadium. Looking back out the door, a small sparkle of light grew into one of the largest Vivosaurs I had ever seen. I smiled, seeing the Argento Thea was so proud of, constantly talking about it over the last few days. I was almost run over by a yellow blur that disappeared into a room marked “Commentators” as I tried to make my way to the stands as fast as possible. I hurried into the stands just in time to see Thea hop down from her seat and over the wall, landing on her Argento. As I took her seat, she smiled from Argento's back and flung two red-rimmed medals, which grew into a small cat-like Vivosaur with large fangs, and the T-Rex she used the other day. The other boy emerged from the entrance, and his medals became an Aeros, an Elasmo, and a Fire-Type pterosaur.

"Wow Trip, that's three matches in a row we've seen an Aeros."

"Yep! Sure is popular!"

The boy in the blue shirt, Nathan, attacked first. "Elasmo Tackle, Fiery Dive!" His Elasmo rushed at Thea's T-Rex, who took the hit hard. Argento, however, was instantly commanded to retaliate against the pterosaur.

"Argento, Mountain Press!" Argento's mountain-covered back rose up with Thea still on it as it brought its feet down on the pterosaur, bringing it to the ground in one hit, where it did not get up.

"And despite an Elemental Disadvantage, Argento is able to best Nathan's Dimorph with a single attack."

Nathan retrieved his Dino Medal, and sent both his remaining Vivosaurs after Argento, swapping their positions on the field between attacks to increase their power. To Thea's credit, Argento not only took both attacks with ease, but also beat down Aeros, a Vivosaur that I spent most of my battle combating, in one move.

"Ouch, and this time, the elements work in Thea's favor, allowing her to take out the Aeros."

"Something's mountain-y about this…"

"Mountain-y?"

Nathan adjusted his glasses. "Elasmo Combo!" Argento was once again able to absorb the hit. However, to everyone's surprise, Thea passed her turn. Nathan’s hopes for a comeback were shattered when Elasmo Tackle was unable to finish the Job.

"Now, Mountain Buster!" Elasmo's eyes notably widened as the force of Argento's attack hit it, sending it back to its medal.

"And Thea pulls off a total victory with just her Argento!"

"Told you something was mountain-y."

The look on Nathan's face was shocked, but not as much as when Thea slid off Argento and walked up to him to shake hands. He looked a bit happier, and accepted.

I left the stadium and could barely hear the next announcement. "The next battle has the mysterious Alistair battling with…"

After a small celebration party, which Bob had to abruptly leave in the middle of, I headed back towards the room. I was hoping to get to see the prize they were giving to all the fighters who won Round One.

"Did you see the guy with the silver eyes?"

"Yeah, that was freaky. And he destroyed his opponent too."

I almost thought it was the boy from Treasure Lake, but then I remembered that he had only one silver eye. While I was fumbling with the door, I heard footsteps and glanced over. I looked into his eyes, and I was suddenly drawn out of reality. Something about them… they were cold, freezing even.

I don't remember how much time had passed until Primacron shook me back to earth.

"Hey, are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah… I'm fine."

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else but, "Okay then."

I picked up a package addressed to me, and a similar one for Thea, and went inside. I sat down on the couch and opened it up, pulling out some clock-like devices. A note attached to it called them "Time Pluses". They apparently could raise the amount of time you could use in a cleaning. I smiled and put them into my case.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. I opened it and found Thea, who walked in with two more boxes.

"Well, I guess we all won then!" I motioned to the other box on the table. She grabbed hers, and apparently, they were giving everyone a set of Time Pluses.

Later, when Thea had challenged me again, she nudged me. "Hey, you're falling behind. Something up?"

I sighed, "Yeah. Well, I noticed how well you were able to fight in that match, and I was totally caught off guard by that Menchi. Despite the fact that both our teams were elementally balanced, he was still able to almost beat me, and I had more Vivosaurs than he did…"

"Well, what do you want to do about it?"

"I'm thinking I should make a site… somewhere I can collect information on all the Vivosaurs I've seen. And hopefully, the ones other people have seen."

"I have the perfect idea…"

Chapter Ten: Thalasso of Truth[]

"And the last bit… here we go!"

Thea slowly whistled as she looked at the page I had just finished.

"Nice job."

"Thanks! I even found a way to customize the chat!"

"Really?"

"Yep!" I clicked on a button that said "Start Digging!" As if on cue, a Paleopager message popped up saying that a new Dig Site, Jungle Labyrinth, had opened up on the south side of Ribular Town.

"Are we going?"

"Well, I would rather avoid the mad rush of people that want to get a head start." She just shrugged and grabbed her laptop.

~Welcome to the Dig Site! Happy Fossil Hunting!~

~BlueannaD has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: BlueannaD?

BlueannaD: Hey, I can't even UNDERSTAND your username.

TDD25: Really?

~LadySeptette has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: Hello! Welcome!

BlueannaD: Hey

LadySeptette: Oh, hi!

TDD25: So, what brings you here?

LadySeptette: Oh, I'm waiting for a friend to come on here. I called her when I saw it.

~DinonerdDC has entered the Dig Site~

DinonerdDC: Harro!

TDD25: Hey!

BlueannaD: Hey

DinonerdDC: Ohai Zalea!

LadySeptette: Hey Celestial!

TDD25: Celestial? Are you in the cup?

DinonerdDC: Yes I am, do I know you?

TDD25: Yeah… my Carno almost ran over you… -_-; Sorry about that.

DinonerdDC: Oh, you're Damon! DERP.

TDD25: XD

~E4439Qv5 has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: Hello!

E4439Qv5: Hi.

BlueannaD: Hey

LadySeptette: Hay!

E4439Qv5: Not many pages here I see…

DinonerdDC: Harro!

TDD25: Oh yeah, we're just getting started. I'm hoping we can get this Wiki to have information on all the Vivosaurs.

E4439Qv5: Well, I see we have preliminary pages on Aeros, Menchi, Jara, and O-Raptor. I can help with that.

TDD25: Thanks!

E4439Qv5: Strange coincidence… the complete pages are on Vivosaurs I lost to yesterday.

TDD25: Wow… small world… You're Rubicon, right?

E4439Qv5: I am, in fact… I assume you are Damon?

TDD25: Yes.

DinonerdDC: Oh my gosh! Rubicon?

E4439Qv5: Celest?

DinonerdDC: Yep!

~Krona123 has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: Hello!

BlueannaD: Hey.

E4439Qv5: Hi.

Krona123: hey

LadySeptette: Hi!

Krona123: anyone want to fossil battle me?

TDD25: Can't at the moment.

LadySeptette: No, I'm okay.

E4439Qv5: Not right now.

BlueannaD: No.

DinonerdDC: Hello! And I can't right now, sorry.

Krona123: are you guys sure? My name's Brandon. We can meet at the ribular square.

TDD25: No.

LadySeptette: No.

DinonerdDC: No.

E4439Qv5: No.

BlueannaD: XD

TDD25: XD

Krona123: you sure?

TDD25: Yes.

Krona123: come on. I'm really strong.

TDD25: No.

Krona123: I will beat you, I'm really good.

TDD25: No.

Krona123: Come on.

TDD25: …

~Krona123 has been kicked by TDD25~

BlueannaD: … XD

E4439Qv5: That was… wow.

~Krona123 has entered the Dig Site~

Krona123: why did you kick me?

BlueannaD: Because you were being annoying.

TDD25: Because you were being annoying.

LadySeptette: XD lol

Krona123: Come on, someone battle me!

~Krona123 has been kicked by TDD25~

DinonerdDC: XD

BlueannaD: XD

~Krona123 has entered the Dig Site~

~Proraptor715 has entered the Dig Site~

Krona123: But why won't you battle me?

~TDD25 BANHAMMERED Krona123~

Proraptor715: Uhh… hi?

TDD25: Sorry about that…

BlueannaD: XD Hi.

Proraptor715: So… yeah. Came on here because I got thrashed in the cup yesterday. No page on Argento though…

BlueannaD: … TDD?

TDD25: Yes?

BlueannaD: Why didn't you add one?

TDD25: Err…

LadySeptette: XD

Proraptor715: XD

DinonerdDC: XD

TDD25: Wait a minute… Proraptor, you're Nathan, aren't you?

Proraptor715: Yeah, why?

TDD25: REALLY small world. Oops, gotta go.

BlueannaD: Where?

TDD25: Treasure Lake

LadySeptette: You know they just opened Jungle Labyrinth, right?

TDD25: Yeah, I do. Not sure about how much of what's there interests me. Doesn't sound like a place with a lot of Water-Types. But before I go…

~TDD25 has promoted BlueannaD to Chat Moderator~

TDD25: Okay, now I gotta go.

LadySeptette: Bye!

DinonerdDC: Bye!

E4439Qv5: Bye.

Proraptor715: Bye!

TDD25: Bye!

I closed the window and shut my laptop.

"You can take care of this, right?"

"Yep! I got it!" She smiled at me before she looked back at her screen and began typing again.

In the plaza, I noticed a boy who was hanging out there looking around. I walked more towards the edge, trying to avoid eye contact, and slowly made my way to the lake. I was about to go in when I noticed a sign that was advertising a new case and sonar upgrades. I looked at my own case, when it suddenly hit me that it was full of pearls from when I went to go Jewel Rock hunting with Thea this morning, who was apparently running low on her ice cream funds. I facepalmed, seeing as I wouldn't have been able to keep any of the fossils I would have found anyway. I headed off towards the Fossil Guild, and when I walked in, I was surprised to find Bob there.

"Hey, you're up and about early."

"What do you mean?" Bob seemed a little confused by my statement, probably because it was three in the afternoon.

"I was pretty sure that you were never coming out of the lounge." I laughed, and he just shook his head and sighed.

"I did too, honestly."

"Still got the shades, though?"

"Yeah. My roommates were giving me a hard time about it. They thought I was trying to be stylish." I just laughed again, and then remembered why I was there. Bob followed me up to the counter, where I received 4000G for all the pearls I had in my case, and I added that to the other 8000G I got this morning. Thea had needed to make a lot of return trips to makes sure she was good for the next week at least, so I figured I might as well too. Surprisingly, I hadn't found a fossil there, and I was a bit disappointed by that. But I turned back to the clerk, who asked me if I wanted anything else.

"There was a sign advertising Equipment Upgrades?"

"Ahh, yes, those. Well, You can increase your Sonar's range for 800G, get a Fossil Filter for 5,000G, a Fossil Chip that lets you find other Vivosaur parts is 10,000G, adding eight more slots to your case would cost you 2,000G, and a Hyper Hammer or Super Drill would be 25,000 each."

"Uhh…" I checked my wallet again, finding the total 13,000G I had. But, figuring that Thea would need to restock on gems so she could get her ice cream, it wouldn't be too long before I had more. "Okay, I'll take the first Sonar upgrade, a Fossil Chip, and eight more slots please."

"That's 12,800G, please." I dug out everything but a meager 200G from my wallet and placed it on the counter. She took my sonar and case from me, and after a few minutes of banging, she handed them back. Somehow, my case was still the same size, but had sixteen spaces marked for fossils. It seemed like the fossils could shrink to fit inside the spaces. Slightly amazed, I closed my case and picked up the sonar. The screen was bigger than it had been before. "The new chip will start working when you go to a Dig Site." I nodded, and thanked her before leaving.

"Get what you want?" I looked behind me to see Celestial standing there with another girl dressed in pink. She adjusted her glasses and smiled a bit.

"Hey! You're Damon, right?"

"Yeah… you are…?"

"Azalea! I'm Celestial's friend, from the chat."

"Oh yeah. Almost forgot about that." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "So, why are you two here?"

"Oh, I'm looking for some particular fossils." Azalea responded, before pulling out a Dino Medal. "My Tsintao is very picky."

I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Celestial saved me from having to do any responding by suddenly dragging Azalea off to the mask salon because of something she saw.

When I finally got back to my room, I laid on my bed, exhausted.

"Why is it that every time I find a fossil, someone has to come along and challenge me for it? I mean, the only real reward is that the fossils are red, but it's still irritating."

"No kidding. I hope you'll use the new guys next time, because I'm really tired." I sat straight up in my bed, shocked by what I had just heard. The voice didn't sound like Primacron, being quite a bit more childish, but I looked around to see if he was there anyway, and saw no one.

"In your pocket. And you really should think about putting us somewhere that's not always moving so much."

I pulled out my medals, and spread them across the bed. I stared hard at each of them, before the voice came to me again.

"The one in the middle." I picked up Proto, and then tossed the medal. Proto popped out, and laid down next to me.

"Wait… how are you speaking to me?"

"In your mind, obviously. Does it look like I have the capability of speaking English to you? But seriously, please use one of the new guys in the next battle. I'm really tired. That arms fossil you integrated was nice. Took you a lot of your Time Pluses to get them that perfect, huh?"

"Yeah, it did." I chuckled. "I'm almost out."

"Well, still, it's nice to not have to worry about the integration process anymore. I mean, imagine if you had to clean the same fossil over and over again until you got it perfectly cleaned. That'd be tedious. But yeah, you probably want to know why I'm talking to you, right?" I was barely given time to nod before the monologue continued. "Well, you see… a good fighter will be able to connect with their Vivosaurs. And this connection can involve mental talking."

"Wait, so what about my other Vivosaurs?"

"Like I said, it can involve mental talking, but doesn't need to. For example, Elasmo. You and he don't need to talk. The connection between you two is way beyond what you have with me, because you've known each other for a longer time. But I'm sure if you really wanted to have a conversation with him, you could."

"Him?"

"Yeah, Vivosaurs have genders. You thought we were all its or something? And by the way, just because I'm pink does not make me a girl."

"Well, are you?"

"No, I just told you, I'm a boy."

"No, you said that because you're pink, you're assumed to be a girl. You never told me if you actually were or not."

"You're right, you're right."

"So, I can really talk with my other Vivosaurs?"

"Well, yes and no. Yes, as in, it's possible… But no, as in, not all of them will communicate with you. Carno's a bit… anti-social, I guess. And Toba and Thalasso barely even know you. Elasmo will probably be the only one."

"Why are you talking to me then?"

"Because you're smart."

"What?"

"You were able to figure out a tactic I could use with only a word."

"Oh, that."

"Yeah. But if you want to try talking to someone else, call them out."

"Wait… won't that destroy the room?"

"No. You see, Vivosaurs can shift size at will."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, we're able to change between being a Dino Medal and being in a full Vivosaur form. Did you think that the medals were some kind of device that can shrink us down to a size small enough to fit into your pocket, and will only release us when you throw it?"

"I really didn't know what to think, actually…"

Proto just shifted his head. "Eh, okay. Well, if you want to talk to him, you can call him out at any time."

I nodded, but decided against it. "That's okay; I should probably be adding information on the new guys to the wiki anyway. I mean, we can talk anytime, right?" Proto simply nodded before he apparently decided to sleep, because he didn't disturb me the whole time I was editing.


Chapter Eleven: In the Nycto Time[]

Although, to be fair… I wasn't editing for long. My Paleopager went off again while I was halfway through Toba's page. Thalasso was done at least, though. I looked to find that Celestial was my opponent this time, and thought of how I would beat her. She had her Nycto, which was an Air-Type, but I hadn't seen any of her other Vivosaurs. I could assume they were also Air, but… I wasn't confident about using Carno. After all, I almost lost control of it last time, and this time, I might not be so lucky that it follows my commands. And Proto wanted a break… I'd give it to him, even though Metamorphosis was a cool trick. This left me with Elasmo, Toba, and Thalasso.

I heard a roar from outside the room, and rushed down the stairs. When I got to the common room, I could hear Ty Ranno.

"Well, folks, she's done it again! Thea defeats Brandon with only one Vivosaur, her star player Argento!"

"Yep! It's a Vivosaur with cosmic proportions!" I just shook my head and sighed. When I looked back up, Celestial was standing there staring at me. Once again, I wasn't the first to arrive.

"Well, are you ready? She asked me.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

She took the farther side of the stadium, so I got the closer half. Our medals were flung, and she had brought her Nycto along with two raptor-like Vivosaurs. One was green and covered in feathers, while the other was red, a lot larger, and only had a few feathers upon its head. Toba was a large sauropod that was mostly a bright pearl color, much like the names of its moves. Thalasso was a pterosaur not unlike Rubicon's Jara, except it didn't constantly move up and down as it flew, and its head crest was more like a sail rather than the triangular crest on Jara. Celestial got the first attack, but groaned when she saw my Vivosaurs. Still, she attacked with her Nycto, calling out "Beak Strike!", and the green pterosaur flew at Toba, jabbing its side before making a loop and returning back to Celestial. She ended her turn, so I took mine. "Elasmo Tackle!" Elasmo flew out and slammed the green raptor, which knocked it off of its feet, and managed to turn it back to a medal.

"Wow, Ty, Damon's doing pretty well. You would have never thought it would take Damon one turn to gain the lead when he barely finished his last match."

"Well, you never know. According to my sources, Damon's had that Elasmo since he was a child. It would have to be pretty strong. Combine that with Lagia's Fire attribute, and it's not that farfetched."

Celestial sighed, and then had her Nycto once again attack Toba, but this time, she had it use Wing Whirlwind, which caused the same effect it had in the hall. A tornado started to form around Toba, damaging it quite a lot more than I had expected. Toba seemed pretty tough, though, so I felt I could continue without worrying too much. "U-Raptor, Raptor Claw!" The red Vivosaur leaped for Elasmo, and slashed at him. However, a counter-attack was not far behind.

"Elasmo Combo! Angry Peck on U-Raptor!" Elasmo quickly moved after biting on U-Raptor's leg, and Thalasso struck it down.

"And Damon is now three and one, with only Celestial's Nycto left." With Ty's comment, the crowd got louder, though I felt uneasy about her last Vivosaur.

"Wing Whirlwind!" The repeated attacks had left Toba exhausted, and it transformed back into a medal. The spectators were now even rowdier than before, perhaps anticipating the irony of my loss if Celestial could come back. However, Nycto had not been completely unharmed either, as Toba's Auto-Counter had taken a small toll upon it.

"Angry Peck!" Thalasso flew at the other flying Vivosaur with a jab, and then banked and flew back to my side. Nycto seemed to have taken some damage, so I followed up with an Elasmo Tackle, bringing its health down even more. Celestial smirked at me, before using a new attack.

"Wing Hurricane!" Elasmo was wrapped in air, and the wind blew furiously, causing Thalasso to struggle to stay aloft. When they died down, Elasmo was definitely feeling the strength of the attack. Nycto didn't look like it had used up a lot of energy for that attack. In fact, it seemed to be more revitalized.

"And Celestial's Nycto heals itself with Wing Hurricane, a skill allowing the user to steal LP from the opponent!"

"Thief!"

While the announcers continued their banter, I struggled to come up with a plan to defeat it. Two skills clicked into my mind. It'd be a miracle if they both worked, but even more to see if Elasmo could survive long enough to do his part. I passed my turn over to Celestial, and she responded with another Wing Hurricane to Elasmo, leaving him very low on LP.

But when my turn began, I had everything set. Now I just had to hope they would work. "Elasmo Combo, Tornado Wing!" Nycto was battered by the two attacks, and to my surprise, was inflicted with both of the special status conditions the moves had.

"Oh, and Damon afflicts Nycto with a combination of Poison and Enrage."

Indeed, Nycto looked angry, as well as having taken on a purple hue to its body.

Celestial's next Wing Hurricane was sent my way, but this time, when Nycto attacked, it had even more vigor. However, it was so frustrated that the attack went off course, hitting the stadium walls rather than Elasmo. The purple then disappeared from Nycto, and the Vivosaur returned to its spot on the field.

"Tornado Wing, again!" Thalasso swept the swirling column of water at Nycto. It dissipated after a few second, but had done its work. Nycto was once again tinted purple, and when Celestial tried for one more Wing Hurricane to restore Nycto's health, the attack went off to the wrong side, and the poison too its toll. Nycto fell to the ground and landed as a medal, which Celestial promptly picked up.

"And Damon pulls off a win with a unique combo of Status Effects to overcome his elemental disadvantage! And now…"

"Trip, don't you even think about calling for another bathroom break."

"Awww."

A collective laugh ran through the stadium as I made my way back to the common room. I sat down, and soon Celestial joined me.

"So, what made you bring two Fire-Types?"

"Well, I've seen you battle before, and I knew that Carno would be a big problem. So, I brought both of my Fire Vivosaurs to take it out in one turn so you couldn't do anything with it, and my Nycto would blow through the rest of your Vivosaurs. Why didn't you bring Carno?"

"I was worried that it would lose control."

"I can help with that."

We both looked up to find Thea standing in front of us.

"Uhh… Okay, sure, I guess…"

"Alright, meet me back at the room." I nodded, and she left. I shook hands with Celestial, and then went to follow Thea. When we arrived at the room, she plopped down on the couch.

"Give me Carno." I looked at her, and she just glared at me. "Do you want my help or not?"

"Yeah, sure, but I'm just wondering what you can do."

"My mom's a doctor, I know enough to be able to handle this. Besides, I've trained an Argento, haven't I?"

"I don't see how this-"

"I will make Carno the next Argento, or my name's not Doctor Terumi!"

"… I thought that was your mom's name."

"Oh, just get out of here! You're not helping with this!" She grabbed my arm, pulled me to the door, and then shoved me out. Seconds later, it opened again, and an arm reached out and grabbed my key card from my hand before shutting the door again.

"Well, that's just great."

I sighed as I took the stairs back down to the Station. It seemed like a good opportunity to finally go check out Jungle Labyrinth, so I went almost directly south of the town and entered the Dig Site. I walked a bit into the jungle, not even bothering to dig up anything. I continued in deeper until I ran into someone. I held my hand out to help them up, but put my other hand into my pocket and grabbed my Dino Medal in case he was one of those unreasonable people. But when I saw the word "Vengeance" across the person's jacket, I audibly exhaled in relief.

"Haha, sorry about that Primacron."

"That's alright. What're you doing here?"

"Got locked out." Primacron looked at me first with confusion, then with realization. "Stole your key card?"

"Yep." I sighed. He just laughed.

"Well, can you help me look for something here before we head back?"

"Yeah, no problem." I shrugged, and we headed deeper into the forest.

Towards what seemed to be the end of the traversable area of the jungle, I saw a person in blue digging up what appeared as machine parts. I approached the person, and was surprised to find Dina lugging a metal ball out of the ground. She wiped her brow and waved to me before shoving the parts into a pile and going to the VMM. I saw her tap a few buttons before she was surrounded in light and disappeared.

"Huh, so they do have a teleporter system in those."

"That's… convenient."

"Yeah, you can just go straight back to town with one of those."

"So what are we looking for?"

"Not what, who. I'm trying to find a person."

"Why would you be looking for a person?"

"Well… it's a long story."

"Is it that guy?" I pointed towards a boy in a red jacket that stuck out in the dense green forest. He looked at me suddenly, and came over.

"Hmm… Yes, just as he said, orange, blue, and yellow all over." He then took a look at Primacron and stepped back, shocked. "Vengeance… Hey! You're Primacron, aren't you?"

"Who's asking?"

"You just told me everything I need to know. You're Primacron… I happen to know someone who knows you, and I'll tell you now, he'll be happy if I can take you down right now… I might even get another favor out of him…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, never mind what I'm talking about. You're a fighter, right? Then let's battle."

"Okay, you're on!"

Primacron grabbed two yellow and white rimmed medals, and one that had a pure white border, rather than the usual stripes. The boy had out one green, one red, and one yellow one. When the flung them out, I saw a Raja and two ankylosaurs on the boy's side of the field. Primacron's Tro and Salto were out, but the last Vivosaur he had was unrecognizable to me.

"What's that? I'm pretty sure it's not a dinosaur."

"You're right, it's my Zanth. Zanth's a Super Evolver, which can only be found when you use a Miraculous Fossil on certain Vivosaurs. I'll explain the rest later. Salto Combo, Tro Toxin, Zanth Shot!"

"Fire Spear, Raja Whirl, Perplex Shot!"

The Vivosaurs launched their attacks, but a grey blur suddenly went right in front of Salto, taking the Salto Combo. When it staggered back, I saw… my Carno. Carno backed up, looking in fear at the sauropod, when it was struck in the back with orbs of fire. This caused it to start jumping around everywhere. Tro accidentally slashed at it, and poison began to show, making Carno stop in its tracks. Raja's Raja Whirl was unavoidable at this point, which sent Carno flying into the path of a blast of air. Carno began to stagger until it was hit with Zanth's tail, which finally stopped it as it fell asleep.

"Well… that's one way to calm it down." I found Thea standing next to me, the same expression I had on her face. We continued to look in amazement at what had just happened until a group of staff members walked into the area. At this, the boy suddenly recalled his Vivosaurs at took off into another part of the jungle. The staff apparently didn't see this, though, and grabbed the machine parts Dina had dug up and started carrying them back.

"Well, do I get my room key back now?"

Chapter Twelve: Low Speed Tanstro-tation[]

"She really seemed mad." I nodded, as we headed for the lake. Primacron and Candyse were a little bit behind Thea and me, as we discussed what had just occurred minutes before.

I had checked up on Carno after the slew of status ailments it had been afflicted with earlier, and it seemed fine despite being relatively quiet. I decided to let it rest some more and go into the Wiki chat. But what I found was not what I expected…

~Welcome to the Dig Site! Happy Fossil Hunting!~

LadySeptette: WILL YOU STOP!

Krona123: what? All i want to do is battle.

LadySeptette: THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO BUG US CONSTANTLY. YOU WANT A BATTLE? I'LL GIVE YOU A BATTLE.

Autis21XT: The caps locks… _

LadySeptette: TREASURE LAKE IN 10 MINUTES. YOU BETTER BE THERE.

~ LadySeptette has left the Dig Site~

TDD25: Uhh… what did I just walk in on…

Proraptor715: Oh, hey! Yeah, the caps flood has been going on for the past minute.

Autis21XT: Hey!

TDD25: Hello!

~Krona123 has left the Dig Site~

TDD25: Okay… Well, if there's a battle, who's announcing? I'll be one, if you guys want. XD

DinonerdDC: OH, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY DO THAT E!

E4439Qv5: … Fine.

TDD25: Alright then! Guess we should get down there before they start, huh?

Proraptor715: Yep!

I shut off the computer before grabbing my bag and heading for the door.

"Hey, Thea, Primacron, Candyse, you guys wanna come?"

"Where?" Thea asked, popping her head out of her room.

"Just down to Treasure Lake. Azalea challenged that Krona guy after he bugged them for a while, I guess."

"… Alright, sure. Why not?"

When we got to the lake, I saw that an entire announce podium had been set up, complete with microphones and speakers.

"How did…" Celestial just looked at me, shook her head, and jerked her thumb towards Rubicon, who was already seated. I took the other seat next to him, and rested my arms on the table.

"So… you got all this stuff?" I asked Rubicon, noting the extensive amount of portable equipment.

"Yeah."

"Did you just have all of it lying around?"

"Nah, I built most of it. I build a lot of things, actually. Whatever I can't, I'll just… buy."

"And how long have those two been there?"

"Eh, only a few minutes before you arrived."

"Ah, okay."

Azalea held her medals in one hand, her glare set straight on Brandon, who seemed to be ignoring her out of sheer glee from finally getting his challenge accepted.

I adjusted the microphone before speaking. "Alright then, we seem to be ready! Well, today's the first official Fossil Battle of the Fossil Fighters Wiki, between Azalea and Brandon! Fighters, choose your Vivosaurs, and begin!"

The medals flew, and Azalea's favored Tsintao stood with her Tricera and Nycto, the later having a red coloration rather than the normal green, a result of a Silver Fossil, which could be used to change a Vivosaur's color and increase their powers, although not as effective as a Gold Fossil. So far, the only Vivosaur I'd seen with one was Primacron's Zanth.

Brandon's Dimorph hovered next to a large Water Vivosaur that everyone in the Cup had come to know as Mapo, as one belonged to Rupert, one of the favorites to win the Cup. Next to him was a lizard-like Vivosaur with a long neck, Tanstro.

"Well, they're certainly well matched in speed; both Nycto and Dimorph are extremely quick. However, Azalea gets the first move here."

"Alright, then, what about their other choices?"

"Mapo is a powerhouse, easily able to best opponents from the AZ. In comparison, Tsintao's more support-like despite its effectiveness at Close Range."

I was brought back to the battle when Tricera battered Mapo with a Running Smash. "Well, looks like Azalea's got her own powerhouse."

Her Nycto then dived for Tanstro, causing quite a bit of wear on the lizard.

Brandon then yelled out his orders. "Conqueror Fang and Fiery Dive to Tsintao!" Azalea went wide-eyed when she saw the attacks cause her orange Vivosaur to stumble.

"Get back! Tricera, go for Dimorph! Tricera Combo!"

The flying Vivosaur fell out of the sky when it was hit by the ceratopsian's horns. When Tricera landed from its jump, it was assaulted by Tanstro, who Brandon had told to use Creepy Lick. His Mapo then spun around for a Conqueror Fang, but nearly grabbed Tanstro instead.

"Tricera's Speed's not too bad either, it seems."

"It is relatively high, but that's not the only reason Tricera was out of there so fast."

"Really?"

"Yep. Creepy Lick tends to cause Vivosaurs to become scared." True to his point, when Azalea's turn came, she couldn't get Tricera to pull off another Tricera Combo, only a Running Smash. However, her Nycto was still diving at Tanstro, the lizard trying to bat it away with its tail.

"Looks like Azalea's Nycto is going to be taking out Tanstro if Brandon doesn't do something soon."

Brandon wasn't paying attention, though, and instead set his Mapo against Tricera. While he was preoccupied with Mapo's struggle with the frightened Vivosaur, Nycto struck Tanstro a final time, and the medal appeared the floor.

"Looks like a bad case of battle fever, eh Rubicon?" I looked towards him to see his response.

"Perhaps, but he seems to be pulling through on the other half of the battle."

I could tell he was right, as Mapo was beginning to tire Tricera. "He'd better finish it quick, though."

"Indeed. Parting Blow might kick in and raise Tricera's power." His Paleopager beeped, and he excused himself. I overheard his complaining, but in the end, he hung up and came back to the table. "I have something I need to go do. Once everything's over, ask Celestial bring all the stuff to my house. I nodded and watched him walk off towards town. I looked back towards the field when I heard a collective gasp. I took a final glance back and swore that I saw his grey windbreaker traveling through the trees the opposite direction of town. I shook the thought off though, and began my commentary again.

"Well it seems that Rubicon had to leave, but true to his words, Tricera has Parting Blow active. Mapo's got to pull through the next attack to have a shot."

It didn't, however, and was struck down by Tricera. Tricera itself was wobbling, and Azalea's other two Vivosaurs were a bit battered.

"And it seems Azalea is the winner!" Everyone present went to congratulate her and give Brandon a pat on the back before leaving. I called Celestial over, and she mentioned that I could just leave the boxes in front of his door. She handed me a piece of paper with directions and then walked back to Azalea.

"Oh, and don't worry about something like this happening again. She was kinda sore over her cup loss, so she was really on edge." I chuckled. She was right, though, as when Brandon went up to her with an apology, Azalea accepted without any sort of anger or irritation. I smiled before tossing out Toba.

"Hey, you mind helping me carry a few of these?"

Toba nodded, and its tail swung around to grab some boxes. We walked off to the entrance and followed the hastily drawn map, which led us to the opposite side of town, near a road block and a sign that read "Petrified Woods". Oddly enough, I could hear the sounds of digging from down the path. But I assumed it was probably just the staff working to get the place ready, so I placed the boxes on his doorstep and walked off with Toba in tow. After shrinking in size to allow itself into the doorway, Toba headed straight for the elevator and sat down in front. I just laughed.

"Don't feel like taking the stairs, eh?" I sat on the bench set up in front of the elevator and watched Toba repeatedly jab the elevator button with its tail. "Careful." Toba looked at me as if to say "What could possibly happen?" when the elevator dinged and Bob walked out. Toba's tail smacked his sunglasses off his face, and he gasped and covered his eyes.

"I told you so, Toba." Toba only gave me a glare. "You're alright, Bob?" I asked him, grabbing his sunglasses from the floor.

"Yeah, the sunglasses aren't as necessary anymore. I'm gonna keep them on until my eyes fully heal."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's a smart idea."

"Oh, by the way, I was passing your room, and there was a package outside your door."

"Cool, thanks for letting me know! I'd better go get it before someone else does. See ya!" I hopped in the elevator with Toba, who gave Bob an apologetic look.

He just squatted down and patted Toba on the head. "It's alright." He waved bye as the elevator doors closed.

"Wow. Sometimes that guy acts like he has multiple personalities." Toba looked at me, and I smiled. "I'll tell you about it in the room." It nodded.

When I got through the door and shut it behind me, I sat on my bed and opened the cardboard box. Underneath a few plastic bags full of air was a yellow, cloth belt that had five semi-circles attached to it. I checked the buckle and compared it to the design on my jacket. To my satisfaction, they were exactly the same.

I dropped the belt, startled as I heard a loud pop. I jerked my head to the right and saw Toba sheepishly standing with one foot on the plastic bags. I just sighed and chuckled. "So, you wanted to hear about Bob, eh?"

A couple of hours later, I ran up to the helipad. I saw Thea there waiting with about five bags.

"Do you mind me asking what those are for?"

"My games, my archery set…" She continued to point at each bag and I sighed.

"Primacron and Candyse go on ahead?"

"…my systems, and – oh, yeah, they did."

"Need help with those?"

"Sure."

I reached for my belt, and a female voice popped into my head.

"Don't you even think about it."

"And why not?"

"Because I'm tired."

"From what, lying in front of an elevator?"

However, I grabbed two of the bags myself and just laughed. We boarded the helicopter as Toba still grumbled in my mind.

"Got a belt now, I see." Thea motioned towards my waist.

"Oh yeah. It's for my Dino Medals. Where do you think they're going to open when we get to Cranial Island?"

"I dunno, probably a volcano or something."

I just raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"You can obviously see the future." I pointed down to the island we were approaching. People were heading towards an oddly shaped mountain on the south side of the island. As we were landing, a message popped up on the Paleopagers that read "Mt. Krakanak is now open to all fighters."

I got out from the helicopter after Thea, and saw a staff member approaching.

"Hello, would you like me to take your belongings to your room?"

"Wait, we have another room?" I looked at Thea, and she replied.

"You didn't hear? We get one on each of the islands."

I groaned and heard a few snickers in my head. Glaring down at my belt, I sighed. "Well, guess I'll be needing to make a return trip to Ribular sometime.

Thea put the final bag on the cart before the staff member wheeled it off. "Oh, you can go back later. Why don't you check out Mt. Krakanak first?"

I just shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I didn't leave anything too important behind. As for the volcano… eh, maybe there might be something there. I mean, it's probably even less likely than the Jungle Labyrinth to have Water-Types, but –" I was cut off as Thea grabbed me by my hood and started to pull me towards the crowd.

Chapter Thirteen: Volcanic Carno-val[]

"We're sorry for the inconvenience, but contrary to our earlier announcement, Mt. Krakanak will be closed until further notice due to suspected criminal activity." I finished reading out the message on my Paleopager's screen. "See Thea, I told you we weren't supposed to be here."

"Well, they didn't stop us."

"Because they were so busy stopping everyone else you just ran right past them."

"Well sorry for being excited that I might find some new parts for Daisy and Josh."

"Daisy and Josh?"

"Yeah, my T-Rex and my Machai."

"Oh, right." I glanced at my own Vivosaur. Since there was an absence of fighters when we had first entered, I had brought Carno out, and it had tagged along with no problems. Right now it was lying next to a boulder on the summit of the mountain. It appeared as though the rock had started moving, though, and I shook my head, thinking it was the heat. Carno, however, noticed it too and curled up to escape.

"Thea?"

"What?"

"Run." She looked up and saw Carno rolling down with the boulder right behind it. She screamed and bolted down the mountain. I followed seconds after. As we were running, I looked back and noticed something.

"Why is it that Carno or the Boulder haven't flown off the mountain yet? They're following the turns."

"Why is it that you care!" Thea yelled.

"Because they're still behind us, that's why!"

"Stop thinking, keep running!"

"You don't care that the boulder just rolled across a wooden rope bridge?"

"No, I don't. I care that it doesn't squash me!" She glared angrily while still running ahead.

"Ditch!"

She looked in front of her and saw the giant ditch at the entrance to the dig site. We both jumped, narrowly avoiding tripping on the edge, and ran back into town. Looking back, I saw Carno fall into the ditch and seconds later rocket out of it as if it was a ramp. The boulder soon followed, but instead of flying out it rolled up a bit, and then fell back in the hole.

"Phew." I breathed a sigh of relief until I realized that Carno was still going. I looked up to find it heading straight for a large building, until it crashed into the large door and pulled it off. A group of men who looked like they were dressed for Halloween stared at each other for a few second before rushing in. I was still running over when they rushed out with a large television. It began to hover, and they held on to it as it flew towards Mt. Krakanak, stopped, and then looped around towards the north side of the island.

I groaned, "Oh great. Now I have to go talk to the Staff Leader and… ugh." I ran over to Carno, who stared straight into my glare. I held up for as long as I could, but my eye began to sting, so I lost the staring contest once again. Carno smiled, but I just glared again. "Go back into your medal so I can go and explain what happened here." Carno seemed to try to shrug, and dropped to the floor. I grabbed it a pushed it back into its spot on my belt, then walked over to the Fighter's Station.

After around a half an hour of explaining, I came out with a card pinned to my shirt. Terry, the staff leader had been generally nice about the whole situation when I explained it to him. The card was supposed to grant me access to the three dig sites on the island. I was being allowed to search them for the BB Brigade, the name of the organization that had taken the Mammoth Vision. Thea called me over towards the Fossil Guild as soon as I got out of the Fighter Station.

"Hey, how'd it go?" She started questioning me right off the bat.

"Well, I apparently have the consolation that they would have gotten the TV anyways. I offered to go look for it, so he gave me a pass on the condition I left my pickaxe with him."

"Well that kinda sucks, doesn't it."

"He said he'd give it back."

"No, I mean, you have to look for a giant TV."

"What you're not going to help?" I asked jokingly.

"Sure." I looked at her, then shrugged. The more help the better.

"Well, where do we head first?" I looked at the three exits from the city. "We saw them leave Mt. Krakanak, but they might have gone back…"

"Probably not. What other places are there?"

"Uhhhh…" I stared at the card. "Dusty Dunes and Rainbow Canyon."

"Why don't we try the desert first?"

"Desert?"

"Unless Dusty Dunes is a beach."

"Good point."

"Hey, Thea!" A voice called from over by the heli-pad. I looked and saw Nathan, accompanied by his Teffla. He stopped to catch his breath after running over, took a deap breath, and spoke. "So... yeah… uhhh, do you want to go for ice cream?" Hey gasped for breath, not realizing he'd been holding it.

Thea, on the other hand, seemed shocked, and looking back and forth between me and Nathan, she stammered, "Well, uhhhh…" She glanced at me, and I laughed.

"Nathan, I won't tell you what you just got yourself into." I laughed again. "Have fun you two!"

Thea looked one last time. "You sure?"

"Yeah, that's alright, it's a giant flying TV. I'll be fine." She smiled, and turned to walk with him. I walked towards the desert laughing, wondering how Nathan's wallet would feel at the end of the day.

As you might expect, the desert was dry, sandy, and not somewhere one would want to spend a lot of time. And I tried my best not to, but the place was relatively big. I saw a rock pile as I was concluding my search and decided to examine it. All of a sudden, a voice came from behind me.

"Vivosaurs … one hundred … remove … pile …"

"What?" I spun around but saw nothing. I looked back towards the rocks, and it spoke again.

" … original … unlock … secret … fossils …"

I stared in disbelief at the pile. There seemed no way by it, and there didn't seem to be much behind it. I could possibly fathom how having a hundred Vivosaurs would help beyond just blasting the pile.

"Proto?" I head a yawn in my mind.

"What?" He seemed groggy.

"There's a voice telling me that a hundred Vivosaurs will get rid of a rock pile or something."

"Oh that? That's probably Thalasso. He was up last night on the internet. Looking at rumors."

"Dude. Not cool." I heard the same voice from earlier interject in. "Man, I was getting somewhere."

Proto laughed. "He would have found out eventually. Why let it drag out?"

"Because it's funny. I thought that was obvious." Proto just laughed again.

"He's a smart one, he'd have gotten it before we even got out of the dig site. Which you should, by the way." Proto began addressing me again. "The sand gets in all kinds of places. You'll probably have to empty out your medal holders on your belt later." I took his advice and hurried towards the exit as fast as possible.

As I walked back into the city, I saw that the Fossil Guild was currently closed. I assumed that two of them had gone to the Ribular Soda Shoppe, and laughed even harder. He was definitely in trouble if they went there. The ice cream there was definitely gourmet, and although a pretty good deal, it was still a bit more expensive than most ice cream places.

I headed for Rainbow Canyon next. A staff member let me in upon seeing my card, and I headed inside. Once there, I surveyed the scenery around me. There didn't seem to be too many places to hide a giant TV, but the staff member at the entrance told me there was a gondola on the right to the bottom of the canyon. I crossed the rope bridge and ran past a slightly out of place door. I stared at if for a few seconds, but figured there was no way the Mammoth Vision would fit through it, so I moved on to the gondola. I made it up and down without anything happening. However, when I was exiting the gondola, a boy in a black shirt was just strolling along they canyon, every now and then planting his Pickaxe into the ground. He faced me, and I saw the Fire symbol on his shirt. His hair, however, was the complete opposite of his shirt, having red spikes with black tips.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, "The Dig Site's closed."

"Then why are you here, smart one?"

I held out my card, and replied, "Because I'm allowed to be here. Now again, why are you here?"

I heard him mutter under his breath, before he threw a medal. A U-Raptor rushed at me, and I ducked behind the gondola. It kept going and swiped at the cliff wall behind me. I barely moved out of the way before its claw had sunk into the ground, pulling up dirt and rocks as it moved to attack me again.

I grabbed a medal from my belt, and in moments, Thalasso was hovering at my side.

"Seems like you're in a pinch." He laughed. "Guess you want me to take care of U-Raptor over there?"

"Whatever you can do to stop it. We might have to get staff in here to bring him in."

"Aye aye, Captain!" He chuckled before diving at U-Raptor. The red Vivosaur bounded back, and Thalasso's beak made another hole in the ground. The two kept dodging and the ground was littered with soil, stones, and the occasional Fossil Rock. Finally, Thalasso's Wingtip Vortex knocked U-Raptor off its feet. However, U-Raptor fell back upon the boy, and they stumbled over the edge of the cliff. Startled, I fan over, Thalasso right behind me, when a green blur shot up. The boy hung from what looked like a green gargoyle. He did nothing but glare at me, before the strange Vivosaur flew back down. I sighed, but figured it would be best just to tell Terry rather than pursue him.

I was about to cross the bridge when Thalasso spoke up. "What, you're just going to leave those Fossil Rocks lying there?"

"Well, I'm not supposed to be digging."

"Oh, come on. If your conscience bothers you so much, just don't clean them until the Dig Site opens." I could see he had a point. "Besides, check your sonar. I can feel in my crest that those are Water." I stared at him. "What?" I just shook my head.

"Well, I guess there's no harm." I put them in my case, and Thalasso continued trying to convince me.

"Yep, and besides, even though you do have a knack for finding rare fossils that you want, you do find normal ones most of the time."

"Yeah, but they're usually donated."

"Because you already have them, whether as a rare one or not. If there's one thing you have, it's patience with cleaning. Or so Proto says."

"Ah. So then, what do I use those points for?"

"Heck if I know. All I know is that you'll have a lot."

"All right, so we should probab- No way."

"Wassup, boss?"

"I found the Mammoth Vision." It was hovering over the city, but from what I could tell as I rushed over, a skeleton was laughing. He mentioned the boulder before the Mammoth Vision was reclaimed by the staff. I followed a few to go talk with Terry, who immediately sent staff to Rainbow Canyon after I told him what had happened.

"Well, sorry that you ended up searching for nothing, but thanks for offering to help." He held out my pickaxe, and I swapped it for the access card.

"It wasn't that much of a problem."

When I came out of his office, Thea and Nathan were sitting on a bench in the lobby talking. I snuck up behind them, and then asked out of the blue "How'd it go?"

They both visibly jumped, and I chuckled and patted Nathan on the back. "Bet your wallet's feeling light, huh?" I started walking away before Thea could glare holes into the side of my head. I turned and saw her still sitting and not coming to kill me, so I assumed I was safe.

"Hey, you mind helping me out with something?"

I swiveled back around and a boy was standing there in a simple blue t-shirt and jeans. He shuffled his black running shoes around on the carpet.

"You okay? You seem a bit jittery." I looked at him curiously, trying to see if there was something I wasn't noticing."

"Sorry, I'm a bit ADHD. But yeah, I have a new strategy for my team, you mind helping me test it out?"

"Sure, why not. What do you need?"

"Well, a Close-Range Earth type would be good."

"Like this?" I pulled out Carno, and the Vivosaur materialized. The boy nodded, but then Carno seemed shocked by its environment. It curled up, and knocking the boy over rolled straight for the door.

I dragged the boy to the wall and ran out the door after it, trying to catch up to it.

"CARNO!"

Chapter Fourteen: Literally Storming the Breakaway Brigade's Hideout[]

Well, considering how well Carno had managed to roll down that mountain, it probably should be no surprise it could scale Mt. Krakanak. Not to mention much faster than I could. By the time I got to the top, Carno was nowhere in sight. A staff member standing next to a gondola just looked at me and pointed past the crater to the other side. I nodded towards him, brought out Thalasso, and asked him if it was possible to carry me over the crater. He thought it was worth a shot, so I grabbed on to his legs and he flapped over the hole. In short time we were at the other side.

"Hey boss, might want to consider just riding on my back next time. Might be less stress for me," he groaned.

I laughed. "Alright, you got it." I looked down, shocked to see a mostly grey Vivosaur battling with Carno. The red markings on its side seemed to disappear as the red light of fire glowed around the sauropod. The flames engulfed Carno, easily returning it to medal form, and a figure stepped out to reclaim it. When the person looked up, I was shocked to see the figure had silver eyes. I ducked back behind the edge, hoping the sun had obscured me. I obviously could take the Fighter's Vivosaur, with the rest of my team being Water, but who knows what could be waiting just inside as backup. I called Thalasso over and gave him my Fighter's License.

"Since you seem to be able to use my laptop, I'm sure you can use the VMM," I pointed at the orange machine and gave more instructions. "Just stick in my license, withdraw the Dino Medal, take out the license, and come back. Giant lever starts the thing up."

"Got it." He flew over and landed on the lever, pulling it down. Soon enough, he was flying back and dropped the card and the medal into my hand. I called the Vivosaur as well as the rest of my team, and pointed at the area where the entrance was.

"Alright, look down there." Everyone followed my finger down towards the mountain face. "We will have to get in as fast as possible. Hopefully, we can get in before they notice us. They obviously tracked Carno somehow, who is now inside."

"Wouldn't they notice us if all six of us just popped down there?" Toba piped up.

"Well, yeah, but we'll get a faster reaction time if we all go down at once. It takes time to get all five of you out of my belt."

"Or you could just hold us in your hand." We all looked at the newcomer. His familiar design was one we were all used to, having seen Proto transform multiple times. I had been cleaning it a few hours before the trip to Cranial Isle, back on Ribular. Tricera spoke again. "Well, that way, they won't rush us as an army because there are five Vivosaurs, and instead send one or two people to check on one human."

"Good point. Everyone okay with this?" They all nodded, and dropped back to the floor as Dino Medals. I grabbed them and slowly made my way down the mountain. As I turned around, I saw the door slide upwards, and two BB Brigade members in their usual garb stepped out.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He didn't get to answer as a deluge of water rushed in, swamping him and his buddy. I followed Elasmo in while the rest of my team came after. We ran down a hallway, stopping to check every door, surprising quite a few goons who were easily knocked down by whirlwinds and waves. I had no intention of hurting them, but I needed to keep them out of my way long enough to find Carno. I heard a notice come in over the loudspeakers around the base, notifying a person named Ray that the Breakaway Brigade's hideout was being assaulted. Turning a corner, I ran into a room in which I found the person I was looking for.

"You!" He turned and looked at me, his silver eyes reminding me of when I had first saw them, back in the dorms. However, their effect was lost this time around, and I remained fully concentrated on the case behind him. "Look," I continued. "I don't care what's going on here, with this Breakaway Brigade stuff, but all I need is that Carno back." I pointed at the case for emphasis.

"You… you're Damon, aren't you." He glanced at Carno's Medal to double check, and then turned back to me, nodding his head as if confirming a connection. "Well, I'd really like to do that for you. However…" He trailed off as another person appeared behind me. My Vivosaurs turned towards him, but he ignored them.

"Alistair!" he shouted, fist shaking. "What are you doing? First we have a rampaging Vivosaur on our doorstep, and then some random fighter breaks in!"

"Sorry about that Ray, but perhaps if the defense system was a bit more adequate, maybe he wouldn't have gotten so far." Obviously there was some resentment between the two, simply based on Alistair's comment toward who seemed to be a superior.

"Well, you can talk to Rubicon about that! Speaking of which, where is he? I'll have to talk to him about this later. As for you…" Ray ominously looked at me. "You're not leaving here." A sudden flash startled me, and a gust of wind smacked me in the face. I flew back, hitting the case containing Carno's Medal hard, breaking it in the process, and fell face down to the floor. The last thing I heard before I blacked out was Ray telling Alistair to mop things up, laughing afterwards.

"Ugh. I hate bad puns," I groaned as I sat up. I was confined inside a different room than I had previously been in. It was particularly empty, sans the note on the floor and Carno's Medal atop it. I sat up, shaking my head to rid myself of the slight headache I had, and read the note.

Look, I know this is weird to ask you this, but I need you to do me a favor. I've left your Carno here, and all the security in the base is currently offline for maintenance. Your other Vivosaurs are back in my room. I've mapped out directions to it for you to follow. The rest of the directions lead you back out to the entrance. The only request I have is that you cause as much chaos as you possibly can when you leave. Meet me by the Fossil Guild tonight, around 9:00 PM. I'll explain everything there.

Alistair Silber

I considered the possibility of it being a trap. That seemed pretty slim considering I was already trapped in the room. The security systems, on the other hand, might not be down, so I could be easily caught. I decided that I was just looking a gift horse in the mouth, took Carno, and released it.

"Look, Carno, I know this has been a weird day, but we need to get out of here. All we need to do is bust down this door and follow these directions. Alright, can you do that?" Carno seemed to be thinking about it, so I sped up its thought process. "Unless you'd prefer to stay in this room until they decide to let us out."

Seconds later, the door flew off its hinges. Carno walked almost calmly beside me, and we made our way through the deserted base. If what Alistair had said was to be trusted, all the goons must've been repairing the damage I had caused earlier. Well, while certainly a convenience, I was still wary and made my way back to Alistair's room with caution. When I got there, I tested the lock and found it open. Inside, my five Dino Medals were spread out upon a table. At that moment, an announcement came out saying that a prisoner, who I assumed was myself, had escaped, and that all available personel should stop there current duties and look for the prisoner. I sighed, letting my Vivosaurs out.

"Well, looks like you got what you wanted, Alistair."

The floors and goons were thoroughly soaked again, items were strewn everywhere, and a few doors were left hanging by a screw. Thalasso managed to fly me back up to the crater, but he was so tired that he couldn't do much else. I was exhausted myself, but I continued down the mountain to avoid anything happening.

And to end off this perfectly normal day, I tripped over a package in front of my room and hit my face on the door. I grabbed the box, which was addressed to me, and brought it inside. I laid back on the couch and sat for a moment in silence. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that Thea was probably still out with Nathan, and that I hadn't seen Primacron or Candyce a lot in the past few days.

As I opened the package, an excited voice shouted in my mind.

"All right!"

I stopped, grabbed Proto's Medal, and put it on the floor, where he rapidly appeared and dashed towards the box.

I pulled it up onto the couch. "First of all, what is in the box?"

Barely containing his excitement, he hopped up and down. "Just open it and find out."

I shrugged and ripped off the rest of the tape. Inside was a helmet of sorts, something that looked like a laser gun, a scarf, what seemed to be a surfboard, a long-sleeved shirt, a pair of pants, and some weirdly shaped boots.

"Awesome!" Proto shouted and jumped up at the contents.

"And what exactly is that stuff?" I still held them away, and he whined a bit.

"It's a costume. So I can be Proto Man!"

"I know you're Proto. So what's with the costume?"

"So I can be Blues!"

"But this isn't blue, it's red. Not to mention you're not blue either. You're some reddish orange pink peach color."

"Oh, just look at the computer." I opened the laptop to find a window with three tabs on it. One was on Caliosteo Island legends, which I quickly closed. The next was a tab for a "Proto Man" costume. I searched the name and found a page that explained the character.

"So you decided it would be great to not only get a costume made for a human, but to do it without asking me? If you really wanted it I would have gotten it for you." Proto looked a bit saddened by my slight annoyance, and I sighed. "Look, just ask next time. I'm sure we can find something that'll work for you, but now I'm stuck with a costume I may never use."

"Maybe you can get it modified to work like it does in the game?" Proto looked at me, and I laughed.

"I don't need a lemon shooter, thank you."

"How about a Dino Medal shooter?"

"That might actually work." I laid back and pondered who had the ability to do such a thing. "Maybe Rubicon could. Oh shoot!" I stuffed everything back in the box, ad walked towards the door. Proto trailed behind me, still looking at the package. "We'll get back to that later. Right now, we need to go to the Fossil Guild."

Proto looked at me in shock. "You're actually going to go meet with Alistair?"

"Well, I need to ask him a few questions."

"It's an hour before the scheduled time, though."

"That's so I can grab some stuff from the Guild." Proto bounded out the door as I locked it.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Upgrades and the like." Proto nodded and we came down the stairs. Near the Fossil Guild stood a pair of boys. One was doing quite a bit of talking, his beanie almost covering his red hair his black shirt had a noticeable skull on it, which almost foreshadowed my meeting with Alistair. In contrast, the other boy had black hair, but everything else he had was red. Red pendant, Fire Vivosaur medal on his shirt, and his shorts had flames on them. I said a quick hello to them as I entered the Guild, and could hear a faint reply through the closing doors. The lady at the shop counter was working on my Sonar and Case when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey, glad you could make it." I turned my head towards the silver eyes of Alistair. The shopkeeper handed me back my belongings and I thanked her, handing her the money.

We headed to a bench, where I finally asked what was on my mind. "So, Rubicon's involved with all this BB Brigade stuff?"

Alistair seemed at least a bit surprised that that was the first question I had for him, but nodded. "Yes. We both are part of the BB Brigade, under Ray's section. He calls it The Breakaway Brigade."

"I see. And you wanted me to cause chaos in your own base because…"

"Because of Ray. Both Rubicon and I are strained thin on our tolerance of Ray. He has bad leadership, and not to mention, as you clearly felt today, has no problem crossing boundaries many would not. I'm tired of it, and you happened to be in the right place at the right time to help cause Ray problems."

"And that's all there is to it?"

"Well, one more thing…" I looked at him. "I could use a Fighter like you to help me out. I'm trusting you with this info, and I hope you can trust me too."

"Sorry, but… no." I simply stated after a minute of silence. "Don't get me wrong or anything, I am grateful for your help. But I was there to save my Carno, which, if you remember, you took in the first place. I'm still not sure whether you're someone I can trust."

"He attacked another boy just like he did to you! You can't possibly tell me that you don't think that's wrong?"

"No, that is wrong. But that just talks about Ray. That says nothing about me, or why you need me. I have no doubt that Ray is a bad person. And I believe what you say about the whole situation. But there are plenty of other fighters who are far beyond my current abilities. Rubicon, for one. I've seen his other Vivosaurs, and if he had used them in the cup, I probably wouldn't have won. So why me? Why do you ask me to help you, of everyone you could?"

"W-well, you see-" Alistair stammered, perplexed by my questioning.

I shook my head. "I understand that this is not information for just anyone, and I will keep it in confidence. But you must understand that I cannot trust you on a whim. You have to prove, to earn your trust. You are betraying an organization you are supposedly loyal to. You are planning to get rid of your leader. What part of that shows you can be trusted?"

Alistair hesitated to answer, and I sighed. "Once you can prove to me that I am not going to simply be a pawn in your quest to overthrow Ray, that you will have my back, and once you can tell me why I am a person needed to help you fight, then, you will have my support."

Chapter Fifteen: The National Zanth-em[]

I woke to the sound of cheers from the Fossil Stadium. With my luck, I'd be called soon, so I got ready, went down to the lounge, and sat there, determined not to be late getting to my match. Not ten minutes of conversing with Tricera later, trying to figure out how he wanted to battle, my Paleopager beeped. I looked and saw that Primacron was my next opponent, and shot up. Primacron or not, there was no way I was going to be the last one for this battle. I ran into the commons room, and saw Primacron standing next to the door.

"No way. How did you, I mean, I was just, when-" My rambling was cut off by him laughing.

"I waited in this room." He continued laughing as he exited the door. I groaned, but nevertheless followed him out. Walking to the far side of the field, I grabbed my three blue medals and flung them towards Primacron. He mimicked my actions with three yellow medals, which because a Venator, a Salto, and a Zanth. My Elasmo, Tricera, and Thalasso didn't waver, however, and stared straight across the field.

"Well then," he laughed, "seems we'll be seeing who has the better element, won't we."

"I guess we will." I replied, and called out for my first attack. "Tornado Wing!" The attack, aimed at Zanth, connected, and had the desired effect.

"Seems like Damon's off to a good start, already scoring Poison on his opponent Primacron." Ty announced, but Trip didn't have a follow up. "Trip? Trip? Maybe he went off for another break."

The crowd laughed, and Tricera took this moment to mentally communicate. "We have to go for Salto. With Salto still around, Thalasso won't be able to pull off enough poison to stop Zanth."

"Alright, you got it," I replied, then called for a Running Smash. Tricera did his work, slamming Salto before it could react. However, Primacron wasn't taking it easy on his turn.

"Go, Salto Combo!" Spot on Tricera's suspicion, Salto headed for Thalasso, causing him to shy back. I groaned when Thalasso's Scared condition prevented him from using Tornado Wing. In a desperate attempt, I told him to use anything he could. What resulted was a giant vortex of blue spiraling air that engulfed Primacron's entire team. When the winds died down, Primacron's Zanth and Salto were taking on the look of Poison, though Venator seemed only slightly damaged.

"Interesting that Damon chose this moment to demonstrate a Team Skill. Especially when this particular one only has around a forty percent chance of poisoning an enemy. What's more interesting is where Trip has gone off to, though." Indeed, Trip made no response and the stadium was filled with laughter again.

"Get 'em, Salto! Shockwave!" Primacron's order caused rubble to fly from the ground at Thalasso, who was smacked down to the ground. However, he flew back up, circled a bit, and then started hovering once more.

Checking my Fossilary, I looked through what I could do. With Thalasso not being able to do anything other than what was named Venom Cyclone, and not even having enough FP for that, I figured I could try another move. Scanning through Tricera's skills, I found something that would work with what I had.

"Alright, let's use Tri-Torpedo!" Tricera obliged with a high jump, and then started twisting in midair. He barreled towards the Earth Vivosaurs, knocking into them. All three were still in the battle by far, but none seemed to have taken any less damage than the others.

"And Damon's on a roll with some pretty good Team Skills. What can Primacron bring out that could help him counter it?"

Primacron seemed a bit intrigued by my slew of Team Skills, and was flicking at the screen of his sonar. He, however, pocketed the device and called for a repeat of his first attack. The Salto Combo flung Thalasso back, but it kept aloft. The Scare condition had passed by this time, and Thalasso was once again able to pull off Tornado Wing. Before it could, however, Tricera roared, and Thalasso grew more energetic. The resulting attack had a lot more power behind it, and to top it off, I had managed to Poison Salto once again. I was going to try and keep the streak going, but unfortunately, it was not to be. Primacron's Salto sent one more Shockwave out that decimated Thalasso. However, the resulting FP boost left it wide open.

"Even with Tricera's Enflame boost applied to Thalasso, Damon still couldn't finish that Salto. And Trip still hasn't finished his break." Ty was obviously gonna play that joke for as long as he could, so I did my best to ignore it. The crowd loved it, though.

"Tricera Combo!" Tricera smacked Salto with a swift uppercut-like movement of his head, and Salto stumbled into the AZ.

Primacron wasted no time rotating back, and then trying to use Zanth's Sleep powers to stop Tricera. They did, and Venator took the chance to batter Elasmo around with a vicious combo. Elasmo wavered, but held on until Tricera awoke.

"Alright, let's go for an Elasmo Combo!" On my order, Venator was struck. It tried to swipe Elasmo away, clearly affected with Enrage. I ended my turn, and Primacron went for his move.

"Venator Combo!" The attack was more powerful than it had been, and much to my dismay, it connected. Elasmo fell to the ground in exhaustion, and disappeared back into his medal.

"Tricera, use-" I was cut off by Tricera, with a pretty simple explanation.

"He probably won't attack with Venator again, because he doesn't press his luck as much as some people do."

I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, well, how else am I supposed to win? He's got Zanth. I mean, I have nothing like a Super Evolver."

"That's almost insulting." Tricera laughed. "But I digress. Use Enflame. He'll want to save up for Zanth's attack."

"Right." I finished the conversation, and yelled "Enflame!"

Tricera let out a roar and engulfed itself with light for a few seconds. I then passed my turn over to Primacron, who did, in fact, do as Tricera had predicted. The next turn, I sent him in for a Tricera Combo and his Venator fell. He only smirked, and I realized there nothing stopping him from using his best attack now.

"Zanth Shot!" Zanth swung its tail straight at Tricera, who, while taking the hit, managed to shrug of the drowsiness I knew the move could induce.

"Enflame!" Tricera stood his ground as Zanth brought its tail in to slash him. Tricera shuddered, and his forelegs almost buckled, but he was able to keep standing.

"Parting Blow is active, and with Enflame, this next attack will be a whammy." Finally, a voice that was not Ty's came out over the loudspeakers, and the reaction was noticeable.

"Oh, Trip, you're back. What were you doing?"

I looked back from the commentator's booth to Tricera, and I could almost imagine a yellow and green aura around it. But I wasted no more time in using what I hoped would be the finisher.

"Go, Triple Threat!" Zanth was assaulted by the three-part attack, and, as the final blow struck, Zanth collapsed to the floor. Tricera barely gave out a victory roar before it too returned to a medal.

"And the winner of this match, by the tip of a horn, is Damon Arashi!"

I walked out, grabbed Tricera's medal, and shook Primacron's hand. He gave me a seriously look and spoke. "You'd better not lose the next round."

"I'll try." I replied.

"That's not always good enough."

I nodded, and we walked back to the lounge. Bob waved at me, and was followed into the stadium by a boy who was wearing a familiar fedora.

"Are we gonna go watch?" I was already partly up the stairs, and he dashed up.

"You'd better hurry."

The match was already underway by the time we got to the stands. Candyse had saved Primacron a seat, but unfortunately for me, Thea had no such idea.

"Thanks a lot." I laughed as I stood in the aisle.

"Well, there were only three." She shrugged indifferently. I looked back out towards the field and saw a flurry of smaller dinosaurs swarming Bob's Raja. His Earth-type was putting up a good fight, even knocking a golden-brown Vivosaur into the air, where it returned to medal form. However, the small Vivosaurs were taking their toll on it.

"Bob's Raja is barely holding on as Deltri swamps it with attacks. However, Deltri has lost his Compso in the fray." Even Ty seemed interested in how this was going to turn out.

Bob realized a bit too late that his Raja had no reserve energy left. However, a large red whirl bowled straight through Deltri's Vivosaurs, and picked up Raja's Medal in the process. The red Vivosaur returned the Medal, and then went back to its spot on the field.

It seemed like Bob had the upper hand in the match, and he took advantage, taking out another on of Deltri's Vivosaurs. The only one left was what Trip had called a Delta. It had managed to last the longest out of the three, even when the recently fallen Sopteryx had confused Bob's Dimetro into attacking Venator once. Venator certainly took the hit hard, but managed to keep standing.

"Payback time, Delta!" The blue Vivosaur, rather that attacking, sent out a green field around itself. It seemed to be part of the plan, though, because Deltri said nothing afterwards.

"Go, Venator combo!" Venator connected visibly, but Delta didn't take any damage, and suddenly, Venator collapsed.

"And Venator has fallen victim to Delta's counter skill! Can Bob recover with an elemental disadvantage, or will Deltri pull through?"

"Charge!" Bob called, and, like Delta's previous move, it was a bit misleading. Dimetro seemed to gather in energy for the next turn.

Delta tried bashing it in the face, and then followed with a stream of bubbles. However, the flurry wasn't enough. Dimetro's next move was to blast three meteors from its mouth, one of which connected with the Water-Vivosaur, and even with the disadvantage, it fell.

I went to congratulate Bob after the match, and was about to ask Deltri about the Counter skill he had been using. However, before I had the chance, the Paleopager beeped, and a Message popped up about Rainbow Canyon now being open to everyone. I subconsciously looked at my case, and then went into the cleaning room. KL33-N greeted me, and I placed the rocks I had been holding onto on the table, along with a handful of Time Plusses. It was a half an hour before I walked out with what KL-33N had called a Jiango trailing behind me. It was blue, and had various white markings all over its body. The spines along its back and on its forelegs reminded me of Todd's Stego, which I had seen once or twice whenever I ran into him. I went back to my room, rather than the new Dig Site, trying to circumvent the traffic flow that was sure to be there. I hopped on the Wiki, but finding no one in the chat, I started transferring Fossilary data on Jiango over to the page. Jiango was silent the whole time, just looking at the computer screen as I continued to type. By the time I was done, I heard the door close and Thea knocked on my bedroom door.

"Hey, you in here?" She called.

"Yeah." I finished checking on all the other pages, and shut my laptop.

"Well, we just got back from Rainbow Canyon. It was a mess over there, with all the people trying to get across the bridge and into the gondola. Oh, and there was a dog."

"A dog?" I walked over to the door.

"Yeah, though there really wasn't anything special about it. Had a nice little outfit on."

"Huh. Cool. Wanna go play something?" I asked, already starting the console up.

"Why not?"


Chapter Sixteen: What a Ptera-ble Fall[]

"Proto, no one's gonna get the joke if you just walk around with that helmet on." I told Proto as we walked across the city towards the entrance of Rainbow Canyon.

"Well, it's sunny and I have shades on this." He replied, trying to justify his choice of attire. A sudden gust of wind blew his scarf into his face and I laughed.

"Or you could have just worn a pair of sunglasses."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Not having a scarf in your face."

"I still think that someone will notice."

"Wanna bet on that?"

Just as I asked, however, I heard a squeal.

"OH MY GOSH IS YOUR VIVOSAUR WEARING A ROBOT COSTUME!?" I was knocked aside as someone in pink knelt down next to Proto. She squealed again, and a Tsintao waddled over behind her. "It's so cute!" She continued to fawn over Proto while the Tsintao stared at me. I chuckled and scratched the back of my head.

"Oh, sorry." Azalea blushed and backed up a bit. "I guess I got a bit carried away. This is kinda embarrassing."

"Nah, that's okay." I laughed, and patted Proto's head. "He's just happy someone understood what he was aiming for."

"Well, I guess I'll see you later then." She walked back towards the town, while Tsintao stayed a couple of moments before following in her trail.

"Huh." Proto muttered.

I looked at him questioningly. "What's up?"

"Ah, nothing, just wondering why Tsintao called me Bruce."

"Bruce?"

"Yeah, said I should have gotten the joke."

"Huh. Well, I dunno."

"So, what do I get for winning?"

"What?"

"You bet on it."

"It wasn't official." I protested.

"Nah." Proto smirked. "You said it before she recognized it. It's valid."

"No it's not."

We continued on as I walked towards where I knew the gondola was. I looked at the line of people and groaned. There was a lot of commotion at the edge of the cliff face, with people trying to get in and out of the singular gondola. Suddenly, a high pitched scream shattered the air. It was only a few seconds later before a Ptera, not unlike the one that often shared the spotlight with Joe, hovered about the crowd, a boy on its back and a girl in its talons. He landed down, and seemed to be quite enjoying himself. I ran over to check if there was anything I could do, but the guy stopped me.

"Hey, look bucko, I got this." He looked at me disapprovingly, which caused me to grimace in annoyance.

I returned his gaze with a harsh stare. "What, so I can't decide to help someone who might be in need of help?"

"I'll say it again; I got this."

"If you're so sure you've got this, then why can't I just check?"

"Because it's fine! I don't need your help!"

"Don't be so arrogant."

"Skyla, let's show him why he's not needed here." The Ptera swooped over, and he hopped up onto its back.

"Alright then, let's see if you live up to your claims." Thalasso appeared at the ready, and grabbed me by the back. We hovered in the air, staring at each other, with the boy resting upon his Ptera's back, while Thalasso seemed to act like my wings, holding onto my shoulders. The two held a brief staring contest before charging. Thalasso's first Angry Peck missed, to which the Ptera responded by stabbing at Thalasso's back. He began to fall, but quickly recovered with a mid-air loop.

"Dude, you don't need to show off." I laughed as he began to form a tornado by flapping his wings.

"I'm not. Why don't you try recovering from that in any other way?" he retorted, sending the swirling air at the boy.

The other pterosaur reacted quickly, sending its own whirlwind towards Thalasso's. The other Vivosaur, however, only added to the tornado's power, which was sent crashing into it. The Ptera wobbled a bit in the sky, and screeched angrily at Thalasso. The boy looked at his Vivosaur, surprised by the effect.

"You shouldn't be able to inflict Enrage!" He yelled at me from across the canyon.

"Well, Ptera can, now can't it? Perhaps you should've thought before making a move. This isn't just a regular battle where I have to stay in place. You challenged me out here, so we're battling a battle not only of knowledge, which I have no doubt you have in abundance, but wit too."

With that, Ptera lunged for Thalasso, who folded his wings and dropped about ten feet towards the ground. He then leaned forward and caught an updraft from the canyons below. I saw a myriad of differently colored rocks scattered throughout the gorge before Thalasso pulled up and started to ascend. He attacked the Ptera head on with an Angry Peck, which was met by a Wing Cutter. The two zoomed past each other, and hovered for a second, before Ptera started to drop from the sky. A green gargoyle grabbed the boy and his Vivosaur as they fell, landing safely on the ground. Thalasso slowly descended and we landed near the boy. The girl who had fallen earlier recalled the gargoyle-like Vivosaur, and grabbed onto the boy as he stood up from the ground.

"Trickster, are you alright?" She looked at him in concern, but he took a few seconds to respond.

"Yeah, I'm fine Savannah." Trickster glared at me and clutched onto something around his neck. "Pah, that was a cheap win."

"Really, is that so?" I stood my ground as the crowd stared at us, obviously curious about what had just transpired. "And what about it was so cheap?"

"You won despite my obvious advantage in skill and type."

"Like I said before, that battle wasn't all about types and statistics. You battled as if you were still in the Fossil Stadium. Here, not only did you have consider both the downward and upward areas, but also the natures of attacks. Your Ptera could have countered Thalasso's Tornado Wing, but you didn't consider the tornado's direction, and rather than canceling the attack, you added to it. That's how your Ptera got Enraged."

"And what of the type?"

"Quite simple. My Thalasso outranks your Ptera by a lot."

"Pah, that's still a load of-"

"Trickster, let's just go. He's not worth your time." The girl, Savannah, started to tug him away, and he said a few parting words.

"This isn't over. Meet me on my turf, and we'll see who wins." He then walked off with her, and the crowd started to disperse.

I sighed. "Well, he could have just mentioned they knew each other politely. I mean jeez, if he had said that it was a personal matter, I would have left it alone."

"Well boss, that was fun, but if you don't mind, I'm just gonna head on over to the room and-" Thalasso started to fly away before I stopped him

"Don't even think about it." I stared at him, and he sighed.

"Yeah, you got it. But I want some serious internet time after this." His medal fell into my hand, and I slipped it back onto my belt. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement in the canyon wall, and stared at a door placed in its surface for a good three minutes. However, nothing emerged, so I turned around and started walking towards the gondola that had been the cause of all the mayhem earlier. I was about to step into the contraption when Jiango suddenly appeared and let out a bellow. A beach chair lying on the ground, and the walls once again in motion, Jiango transformed back into a Medal, which I picked up before suspiciously placing my hand against the door. A sudden movement from the surface caused me to fall inwards, and I felt a blow to the back of my head that left me unconscious.

A voice awoke me from my forced nap, and I sat up, rubbing my head. "You might have wit, but you sure do get captured easily."

My vision had to adjust itself for a few seconds before I was able to fully take in my surroundings. Sitting on a crate next to me was someone I hadn't expected to see so soon.

"Alistair." I murmured under my breath.

"In the flesh. Before you ask, no, I did not knock you out, yes, I am in charge of keeping you here, no, I will not, and yes, we are in a secret BB Brigade base. Any other questions?"

"Why are you here in the first place?"

"Team building. Morale at Breakaway HQ has been low because of reasons you're fully aware of, and Cole needed some help with his latest scheme. So Ray sent us all over to help him out."

"Cole?"

"Another Brigade member. Or rather, more of faction leader. Right now he's trying to get all the girls locked up in here so that the guys won't want to fight without any girls to impress."

"That plan sounds pretty lame."

"At least it's helping unite the Breakaway members on how stupid it is. Nevertheless, his plan's going to happen. A couple of girls have already been dragged in here."

"Where? I don't see anyone else."

"The other side of this screen right here." He patted it for emphasis. "They're trying to pamper them to death, apparently. I hope it doesn't last long." Sure enough, the sounds of Vivosaurs battling could be heard from the other side of the screen.

"Not gonna go help them, eh?"

"Nah, I'm doing my job, watching the prisoner."

"I thought you weren't going to keep me here."

"I'm not. You're only staying until this commotion wraps up. After that, you're free to go, though technically I'm supposed to bring you back to HQ and leave you there."

"Alright." I let out a sigh, then turned to him. "Look, I appreciate this and all, but I still need to know. Have you found the answer to my question?"

"Well, to one. While I may not be loyal to the Brigade any longer, I'm defecting for justice."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Justice, eh?"

"Yeah, justice. Ray is wrong. We all know this. And to fight against him is to fight for what's right. My loyalties were misplaced before. So please, know that I will back you up if you fight with me against him."

"That may show me your reasons for leaving the Brigade and overthrowing Ray, but that still does not answer the most important question. Why do you need me? Plenty of other Fighters far surpass my skill, Thea, Rubicon, and perhaps even Nathan, to name a few. So why me?"

"Carno. Carno is the reason I want you to help."

"Are you saying it's simply for my Carno's power? Because like I said, plenty of other, stronger, more obedient Vivosaurs are out there."

"No, it's just because of that disobedience. You came into our base and trashed the place just looking for it, despite how it rarely listens to you." He hung his head down in exasperation after I didn't immediately reply.

I took another minute to contemplate his words before making my decision. "Alright. It's a deal then."

Alistair looked up with a surprised look on his face. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, your reasoning makes sense to me. I'll help you out in whatever way I can. Just let me know through the chat on the Wiki I set up, I'm usually in the chat there."

"Thanks!" He stood up, and offered his hand out to me. I shook it, and he motioned towards the space leading out into the cavern. "I think you'd better get going. Your friend Dina should be about done in here."

"Dina?"

"Yeah, she's become quite the hero as of late. A couple problems going on around the islands, some our fault, some not, and she was there to solve them."

"Wow. I had no idea."

"Yeah, people surprise you sometimes."

I nodded, and then turned towards the exit. Sliding in front of the screen, I slipped back out into the sunlight, with a lingering feeling that I had just committed to something that was bigger than I could imagine.

Chapter Seventeen: Tro-lled by Clever Bros[]

Jiango wobbled, but held its ground against the spines that pelted it. I covered my eyes in case a couple of stones flew from the ground, and called out my commands.

“Jiango, fall back! Torrent Wave!” Swirls of water flew through the air, and weakly broke against the opposing team. To my dismay, not even a slight bit of lavender showed on the Super Evolvers’ heads, and I sighed and waited for the final turn.

“Stop the match!” A voice yelled out over the noise of the stadium. Stella stood atop a Camara, and two more Vivosaurs walked out from behind her. One was a Peloro that held Terry on its back, while another man I hadn’t seen before rode a very Tricera-like Vivosaur, but with an obvious abundance of horns numbering far beyond Tricera’s three. “Alistair Silber, you are under arrest. Come quietly. If you resist, we will be forced to subdue you.” Each of the leaders pulled out two more medals, and I looked towards Alistair to see what he would do. He looked towards his Vivosaurs and nodded, which caused them to face away from Jiango and turn towards the newcomers. A glint in the sky attracted my attention as two objects fell towards Alistair, and a Vivosaur-like shape flew off. He caught them, and grinned before calling his orders.

“Stone Crusher, go!” His three Vivosaurs acted together, as Galgaron and Zanth gouged out an enormous chunk of the stadium ground and tossed it into the air, Buldor swiftly jumped and shattered the rock, causing shards to fly everywhere.

“Teffla, Hibigon!”

“Marple, Galgaron!”

“Lugmos, Dydomio!”

The six new Vivosaurs barreled through the rubble, but were too late. I had seen two yellow raptors carrying Alistair off as he recalled his other Vivosaurs. They had escaped through the stadium crowd, and were now nowhere to be found.

“Close down the exits, surround the perimeter! He’s not getting away!” Stella and the other leaders split up, their Vivosaurs following them into the building. I simply stood there, staring at the hole in the ground, as Jiango walked over. It nuzzled my hand for a second before turning back into a medal, and I picked it up. I sighed and sat in my spot, awaiting what news was to be had. Ten minutes later, Trip Cera spoke over the PA system.

“Ahem, sorry folks, three announcements.” He was oddly serious, and didn’t even attempt at any humor. “A search of the building has been performed. While the suspect has not been apprehended, search teams have been deployed and are currently searching for him. You are now free to leave the building, and are encouraged to notify Island Staff should you encounter or notice Alistair Silber anywhere.” A picture of his face displayed on the Mammoth Vision. “Secondly, for those of you who are keeping tabs on the results of the matches, Alistair’s indictment and subsequent escape have barred him from further competition in the Caliosteo Cup. Therefore, by default, Damon is the winner of today’s match. As for the rest of the matches, they will be re-scheduled due to the stadium damage. Thank you for your time.” A collective groan spread through the stadium, and people began to exit their seats. Likewise, I left the stadium grounds, and headed back to my room. Not quite feeling up to playing a game, I flipped through the channels. I heard the door slam, and Thea strolled in towards the kitchen. She noticed what I was watching and raised an eyebrow.

“What, is it Celestial’s birthday or something? I have cheese in the fridge if you’re looking for some.” She showed me wheel of yellow cheese that had a small piece taken out of it.

I responded after a few seconds. “No, no, I was just surfing and I sorta dozed off on this channel.” She shrugged, and tossed the cheese into a plastic bag. She continued to throw things from the fridge in, disregarding the order in which they were placed in the bag. “Wait, you’re not going to put that stuff in a cooler or something?”

“I heard that where we’re going, we won’t need a cooler.”

“What, is the place covered in ice?” I laughed at the possibility, but Thea ignored my attempt at humor.

“Yup, supposedly the ice there is so slippery that it can affect your Vivosaur Battles.”

“Wait, seriously, there’s ice all over the place?”

“Yeah. No joke.”

Suddenly, my Paleopager beeped in my pocket. I pulled the small machine out and repeated the message to Thea. “Hot Spring Heights is now open. Hmm.” I stuck my Paleopager back into my pocket and started packing up the consoles. “Hot springs in the middle of an ice covered island. Wow.”

Thea tossed a couple of bags onto my suitcase and rolled it over to me. “Well, here you go. Make sure you put the stuff in the fridge even though it’s freezing out.”

“Wait, what? You’re making me carry all this over to the next island?”

“Well, I can’t do it. I have to go watch Nathan’s match. See ya later!” She rushed out the door before I could object, and I sighed.

“Well, I guess I’d better get going then.” Dragging the bag around the corner to the elevators, I calmly waited while watching the dial above the door slowly move up until it stopped at the number three. The bag was shoved through the metal doors I jabbed a few buttons and waited. Once I felt the elevator stop, I lugged the items through the lobby and out towards the helipad, where I set the suitcase down and leaned against the fence. It wasn’t long before the helicopter appeared over Dusty Dunes, and I hopped on as soon as it landed. At my request, Toba popped out of my belt and hooked the bag with her tail, pulling it on board the aircraft, and I promptly shut the door.

“You know,” She mentioned, “Why are you carrying all this yourself?”

I only shrugged. “Didn’t you hear Thea earlier? And Primacron, he’s not around quite as much. Candyse is probably with him, so that only leaves me.”

“Couldn’t they have grabbed some of this after they were done with their business?”

“People are just lazy sometimes.”

“Hahaha, I can relate to that.”

The rest of the ride towards the icy island was relatively uneventful, and I found it much easier moving the bag across the frigid ground towards the hotel. Once the items were safely put away inside the room, I trudged back down to the lobby, asked the receptionist for directions to Hot Spring Heights, and headed off to the Dig Site. I looked around at the entrance, and glanced around to see any sign of where the supposed hot springs would be. However, snow was piled everywhere, making almost everything, save the cave and rocky overpass, a brilliant white. I decided to search the cave, although it wasn’t much to look at once I got inside. The path spiraled once before leading back to the frosted air outside. I found myself upon the rock I had seen earlier, looking down at a girl who wasn’t exactly dressed for the weather. As I moved closer to the edge of the structure to see what she was motioning at, I found my foot caught in the snow. I grabbed my pickaxe and shoved some of it aside, uncovering a few rocks in the process. They were quickly shoved into my case to keep them out of the way, and I had almost freed my foot from the combination of ice crystals and stone when my pickaxe sent the last rock flying over the edge of the overpass. I stumbled to the ledge and peered over. A boy was laid out in the snow, the rock right next to him. Shocked, I rushed back down through the cave and to his side, where I checked to see if he was okay. To my surprise, he sprang up as soon as I set foot next to him, his blue, spiky hair sending snow flying.

“Are you alright?” I blinked multiple times to be sure I wasn’t seeing some sort of illusion.

“Yeah, never better! Why?” He responded cheerfully while brushing off the snow from his orange jacket.

“But you just got hit with a rock!”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“But I just saw you lying there in the snow with the rock right next to you!”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

“Well then why were you in the snow?”

“Making snow angels of course!” He then stuck out his hand towards me and offered a greeting. “The name’s Dino, and I’m going to become a Master Fossil Fighter!”

“Uhhh… alright… my name’s Damon.” Looking him over once more, I tried to remember where I had seen him before.

“Yeah, I thought so. It’s been about, nine years or so?” He looked off into the distance and rubbed his chin as if in thought. Then the memory hit me like a truck.

In kindergarten, there are two kinds of kids. There’s Dino, and there’s the rest of the class. Even at the mere age of five, he had big dreams. When he wasn’t running all over the place, he was always looking at or talking about Vivosaurs. It was one day, during a fire alarm, that he had disappeared. He never came back to school, and for a time, everyone wondered what had happened to him. However, he soon slipped our minds and life continued as normal. There weren’t any big news stories about it, as far as I could remember, but then again, I was five at the time too.

“Dude, where have you been all these years?!”

“Doing things.” Dino didn’t seem bothered by my sudden realization at all, so I kept pressing him

“Well, what sort of things?!”

“The dinosaur sort of things!”

“Can I get a straight answer to a question? Like, who were you staying with that whole time?” As I finished my sentence, I heard a large explosion coming from the Dig Site entrance.

“No one in particular.”

I glanced over my shoulder, looking for the source of the sound. “Dude, what the heck was that?”

Dino however, didn’t even look in that direction and shrugged. “I have no idea!”

I raised an eyebrow, but he ignored my look and just continued.

“Yep, nice seeing you again! I did want to check out the hot springs, so I think I’ll head on over there. Oh, and before I go, you almost forgot this.” He tossed me the rock that was still lying in the snow, and with a wave of his hand, walked towards the back of the Dig Site, humming a song. I decided against following him for now, and headed back for town to relieve myself of the rocks I had found.

Chapter Eighteen: Nodon't Do That[]

I was examining the newest addition to my roster when the Paleopager in my pocket began to beep. As I reached for it I heard a scream from the level above. It was immediately followed by the sounds of a body hitting tile for the next couple seconds, until a resounding crash left the young girl in the shattered remains of what had been an ornate potted plant. As I stared in shock, the lady from behind the main desk ran over and dragged the girl to her feet. Another staff member joined her, and they walked off towards the lounge. Minutes later, a man in a white lab coat rushed past me and headed straight through the door, a Vivosaur wearing a small hat following in his wake. The Vivosaur quickly walked back out glanced around, looked at me, and promptly grabbed my arm and dragged me in along with it back towards the lounge. Once inside I was plopped into a chair by the Vivosaur, and was addressed by the man.

“Hello, my name is Doctor D. The staff told me that you witnessed this young girl’s accident. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Well, I was just leaving the cleaning room when the Paleopager rang and then-” I was cut off by the door flying open and Dino leaping into the room, Todd hot on his tail.

“OH MY GOD DINA WHAT HAPPENED?” Dino almost fell on top of the Vivosaur in his eagerness to get to the bed. Dina groaned but didn’t respond, prompting him to continue asking questions. “OH MY GOD DINA ARE YOU OKAY DOCTOR IS SHE GOING TO BE OKAY?”

Doctor D., to his credit, stayed completely calm. “She’s fine, she just had a little accident. She’ll recover soon enough.”

“WHAT’S THAT? SHE’S DYING BECAUSE SHE HAD A TRAGIC ACCIDENT AND SHE WON’T RECOVER SOON ENOUGH?”

“What? No I said she’s-”

His mind made up, Dino, rather over dramatically, cried out to the heavens. “NOOOOOO. DON’T WORRY DINA! I WILL AVENGE YOU!”

“The heck you will. I’m still alive you nimrod.” Dina sat up slightly in the bed, but Dino was too preoccupied with his premature mourning to notice

“I CAN HEAR HER VOICE CALLING OUT TO ME, IT’S LIKE SHE’S ACTUALLY HERE!”

“I am here.”

“WHO DID THIS TO YOU DINA? YOU MUST TELL ME! SEND ME A SIGN!”

“Todd, can you check my Paleopager?” Todd grabbed it from the bedside table. “What’s the last message?”

“It’s from xXTheChosenOneXx. ‘Hey, did you enjoy your trip?’” He read off the message and Dino turned his head.

“Oh hey that’s me.” Everyone in the room simultaneously groaned, but Dino didn’t stick around long enough to hear Dina yell at him. He ran out of the room screaming.

“I SHALL AVENGE YOU DINA!” He dashed out the door while Todd followed him, shaking his head.

The momentary silence in the room was interrupted by a few beeps coming from my pocket. I dug out the paleopager and checked the solitary message on the screen.

“Damon- Got urgent message from Silver, asked to pass on. Needs travel bag from base. Would get it for him myself but Ray has me under lockdown. Will send mailing address once all-clear received. -Rubicon”

I slid out the keypad and typed in a quick response.

“Rubicon- Got your message. I’ll get it. Do you have a map of the base? -Damon”

“Map of the base… Blueprints are under lock and key, so that’s out… Will a sketch work?”

“Yeah that’ll be fine. I’ll be on my way soon.”

“K.”

When the picture appeared on the Paleopager’s screen I took a quick glance at it before I stood up and left the room, unbeknownst to the remaining people in the room. I remembered the base being on the far side of Mt. Krakanak, I went due south of the tower and made my way up the slope of the mountain. Peering over the far edge of the crater from the now accessible gondola, I glanced to check if the coast was clear, then tossed Toba’s medal out over towards the outcropping where the entrance was, following shortly afterwards. She caught me and lowered me to the floor, where we examined the door and debated what would be the best way to get in, until the doors slid open by themselves. Not seeing anyone coming our way, we ducked inside and made our way down the rather dimly lit hall, following the provided directions. Minutes later I stood outside of Alistair’s room, his gray duffel in hand. I was about to make my way back out when I heard an alarm sound.

“Intruder alert. All on duty personnel report to the barracks. All on duty personnel report to the barracks. This is not a drill.”

I groaned and recalled Toba in order to make a quick escape. However, before I had taken a single step, another alarm began to sound alongside the previous one.

“There has been an intrusion in Barracks Room 1-7. All on duty personnel report to the barracks. This is not a drill. All on duty personnel report to the barracks.”

I dashed through the corridors, trying to remove myself from the area before any of the Brigade showed up. To my dismay, a third alarm began to blare from walls of the base.

“Intruder identified as THAT KID WHO FLOODED THE BASE THE OTHER TIME. Intruder is top priority. Apprehend at all costs. All personnel report to the barracks. Apprehend intruder at all costs. WE DON’T HAVE FLOOD INSURANCE.”

I continued to blindly navigate the twists and turns of the base until I saw the gleaming sunlight from the entrance door. Unfortunately, it outlined the silhouette of someone I hoped I wouldn’t run into.

“Well, if it isn’t the water-using punk from before. Welcome back.” The voice was dripping with menace.

“Thanks,” I replied “but I’m not feeling too welcome here. I was just on my way out in fact, so if you wouldn’t mind just scooting over a few inches, I’ll be on my way.” I tried to slide past him but his arm shot out, blocking my path as he glared at me.

“Not so fast. Haven’t you read the rules? If you’re to get out you have to beat me…. in a Fossil Battle!” His eyes suddenly lit up.

I backed up and reached for the closest three Dino Medals in my belt. I threw them out in front of me, where Tricera, Thalasso, and a crystalline theropod materialized. I sighed to myself, knowing that I hadn’t gotten the chance to try out how the newest Vivosaur on my team, Alectro, could battle. Ray gave a smirk, and responded with 2 green-rimmed Dino medals that transformed into identical Vivosaurs. Both had armored plating lining their backs, but were noticeably devoid of any spikes typical of ankylosaurs. I moved my hand back to where I knew Carno’s Dino Medal was, but he called out to me midway.

“Illegal breach of conduct. Are you really trying to pull a fourth vivosaur on me? For shame. You already have the numbers advantage.” Ray snapped his fingers, and a pair of BBB Brigade mooks appeared at his flanks. Each was holding a rolling pin, and they beat it in their hands with eerie synchronization.

I sighed in resignation, knowing there was no easy way out. “Alright then, Thalasso, Tornado Wing!” Thalasso zipped towards one of the Vivosaurs, circling and striking it before returning to my side of the field. I called for Tricera’s Running Smash, but both attacks seemed to have little effect on the opposing Vivosaurs.

“You may have noticed from your last visit here that my base is unfortunately rather weak to water. Such is not the case with my dear Nodo here. You can pound away with your surf attacks all you want, but Nodo remain strong, the defensive bastion of the… the… uh....” he trailed off. “They’re really bulky. Anyway, my turn. Nodo! Perp the perp!”

The Nodo in question raided its tail and sent out blasts of air towards Thalasso, sending him careening backwards towards the wall. Thalasso managed to bring himself aloft again, but he was wobbling in the air from the blow.

“Haha! Excellent. I defer. Fire when ready.”

“Alright…” I muttered under my breath. “I guess I’ll have to try something else then. Thalasso, Venom Cyclone!” Thalasso drifted over towards the other side of the field in order to attack, but the swirling winds around him quickly petered out and he returned shakily back to my side.

“A pathetic display. Truly, your poor battle skills are only rivals to your lack of strategy… Did you just attempt to poison my Nodo?”

“Hey, if you’ve got a better plan to help me defeat your Nodo, I’m all ears.

“Of course I have a better plan. I could forfeit at any time, you doofus. But of course I wouldn’t do that, unless you gave me something first.”

“And what exactly would you be looking for in exchange? I left my Ultra-Rare Holofoil 1st Edition Nodo card at home.”

“Tsk tsk. There is no Ultra Rare edition of that card. It only comes in the Super and Extra Rare varieties. But that’s well beside the point. I spy with my little eyes some stolen property. You don’t really expect to leave with that bag, do you?”

“What, this? I just happened to leave it here when you knocked me out last time. That can make a person forgetful. I figured I wouldn’t impose and took it upon myself to retrieve it.”

“You poor thing. Fire another shot, Nodo! Same target!”

The three blasts hit Thalasso in rapid succession, knocking him clear out of the air and into my palm. I put the medal in my belt and gritted my teeth. “Alright try this, Triple Threat!” Tricera rushed forwards in retaliation, performing a diving tackle at Nodo. However, when the dust settled, Nodo seemed to have sustained only minor injuries from the attack.

“One more time. The bag, if you’d please. Accept the offer now and I’ll throw in a case of Perpsi cola, free of charge.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I can already get as much bad soda as I want from the Cranial Corner Store, though I appreciate your offer.”

“Alright, since you have insisted…” Ray was beginning to show signs of agitation again when suddenly, a large explosion rattled the room.

There was a brief pause, then the floor underneath gave way. It started with a jagged crack in the tile, which crumbled and collapsed under Ray and his Nodo, as well as the two mooks flanking him. I could see the beams of the building were beginning to warp, and the damage threatened to spread towards me and my Vivosaurs. I quickly recalled and belted the medals, eyeing the exit. It looked sizable, but I knew my chance of escape was better here than back through the labyrinth of the base, so I tensed my legs, and then ran.

Chapter Nineteen: Not an Argento Let Down[]

“Hey girlie, you should check your watch. I think it’s 4:20 right now, cause you just got smoked!” The figure laughed as the searing flames erupted around Alexis, Thea’s Shenliu, and the Vivosaur slowly toppled to the ground.

“Stupid!” Frustrated with the memory, Thea threw a punch at her bedroom door, only for it to fly open right before her fist hit wood. She lost her balance, tumbling out into the living room and landing face first on the floor.

“I’m sorry. I know you’re upset, but let’s not do anything crazy here.” She looked up to discover Primacron standing beside her, his hand on the doorknob.

“What, it’s a hardwood door, it’s not like I could’ve broken it or anything…” Thea’s protest trailed off as she saw Primacron glaring at her and she sighed. “Fine, fine. No more punching doors, got it.” He nodded in acknowledgement and closed the door. Thea picked herself off of the floor and sighed, pushing the door to her room open and walking inside before promptly shutting it. For a brief moment she wondered how Primacron had pulled it out towards the living room, but the thought was quickly overtaken by the memories of last week’s battle. Thea threw herself on her bed. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this! I had it all planned out!” The plan was so simple, it was already in place the second she knew she was going to be fighting Damon. Damon had so many Water Vivosaurs that it would be impossible for him to raise anything else to a high enough rank to compete with her Vivosaurs, so all it would take was a little backup from Daisy and Josh, the fire-type T-Rex and Machai together would be more than enough to down his Carno, and Alexis could’ve beat the rest of his team into the ground. But it didn’t happen that way.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. It appears that there will be a fighter taking Damon’s place in the Caliosteo Cup.” Ty announced, mere seconds away from the point at which Damon would’ve been disqualified. Her new opponent stepped forward into the stadium, and immediately brought out three identical Vivosaurs. It wasn’t long before it was his three Dimorph Aces against Thea’s single Shenliu. She could only watch as he passed his turns, her attacks unable to strike down the opponent, until one of his Dimorph Ace ignited itself and rushed right into Alexis.

“How could I let myself lose to a couple of Dimorph Aces! I’ve beaten regular Dimorph with Alexis in a single move, and she was only an Argento then! What happened?!” Thea’s muffled screams could still be heard outside her bedroom, where a rather concerned Primacron and Candyse were sitting on the floor.

“Sweetie, I wouldn’t worry about her too much. She’s a strong girl, she’ll be fine.” Candyse placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to assuage the worry on his face.

He simply responded, “Oh, I know she’ll be alright. I’m more worried about how many doors I’ll have to save before she is.”

Chapter Twenty: Plesio Explain What’s Going On[]

"I really should've worn a hat or some goggles or something," I muttered as I continued my trek through the windy desert I somehow found myself in. "Even though hindsight is 20/20 my vision right now certainly isn't." And true to my words, I didn't even notice the giant pile of boulders in front of me until I walked right into it. I groaned as I picked myself up from the sand and stared at the formidable obstacle before me. The thing was at least twice my height, and at this I was too tired to climb a stepladder, let alone a bunch of rocks I could barely see.

Nevertheless, I had to continue moving forwards, so I reached out to try and reorganize myself, hoping that I could accidentally stumble onto a way around the rocks rather than into them. Rather than the feeling of solid rock, I instead felt my body lurch forward and hit solid wood. It took me a few moments to realize where I was, but once I did I quickly got up and shut the door behind me. Dusting myself off, I decided to take a look around the small shack. Excluding the mound of sand that I was just sitting in, it was surprisingly clean. I peeked into a couple cabinets, one of which had some water bottles and other provisions stuffed in the very back. However, as I was about to check the last one, the shack began to creak and moan, and I dashed under the table once I realized that it was an earthquake. Once the floor ceased shaking I opened my eyes to find a piece of paper that had fluttered to the ground during the commotion. The paper had a note scribbled on it in vaguely familiar handwriting.

“Hmm, this ferry left the islands last week…” I stuffed it in my pocket and grabbed Alistair’s bag. Outside, I found out that my only obstacle had collapsed in the recent earthquake, and I quickly scrambled over the remaining rubble and raced towards the exit to town.

Once I reached the center of the city, a quick helicopter ride left me back in Ilium Village, and I decided to unload my excess baggage at the Park Office. I took out the scrap of paper, scribbled down the address Rubicon had told me to send the bag to, checked it in, then dragged myself back to the dorm rooms. Exhausted, I slammed the door shut, flopped down on the couch, and groaned. Just as I was starting to relax, I heard the sharp sound of plastic slamming on the table.

“Yeah, I had a pretty crappy day too, thanks for asking.” Thea huffed as she picked her controller back off the table and continued to play. “Oh, I’m sorry. What’s gotten you all in a fuss?” I got back up from the couch and went to the stove to start cooking up some food.

“More or less you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You.”

“And what possibly could I have done being miles away from here?”

“That’s exactly it! You weren’t here so they rigged up some stupid replacement that curb stomped me in the cup battle!”

“Who’s to say that it would’ve ended any different if I had been there?”

“I say! I know very well I could’ve easily beaten you!”

“What, so now I’m an easy win, is that it?!”

“Maybe you are! All you do is talk about water water water and your Carno barely even listens to you!”

“Maybe if you had actually trained instead of sitting on the couch all day you wouldn’t have gotten beaten so easily!”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been a coward and shown up it wouldn’t have happened!”

“Maybe if you-” My retort was cut off by the loud sound of a slamming door. Primacron stood in the midst of the doorway to the bedroom.

Rather than look angry he was just shaking his head in disappointment. “Look, can you guys just stop. It’s not his fault that somebody else got tossed in as a replacement instead of you just moving on,” he started, looking first at Thea, then at me, “and I don’t even know why you’re mad.”

“She just-”

“Look, Thea’s justifiably mad about what happened. It might not be your fault, but you still need to understand where she’s coming from. How about you just take a walk to go calm down?” Primacron nodded to the door, which was slightly ajar.

“Yeah I guess.” I grumbled and headed downstairs. I decided to go chill next to the snowman outside, when I noticed a hooded figure slowly slinking away from the Park Office.

“Hey!” I called out when a sudden gust of frigid air blew the hood loose, and shoulder-length white hair billowed out behind it. The figure’s pack fell with a clank as metal hit ice, and I recognized it as the same pack I had fought for not an hour earlier. “Hold on!” The figure reached for the bag and his face fell into view. “Alistair?”

He did a double-take, then sighed in relief. “Look, I know you probably have questions, but now’s not exactly the time for that. I’ll meet you in the cave at the end of Icegrip Plateau and we’ll talk then,” Alistair replied, before running off across the ice.

I looked over at the snowman that was still standing next to the door, smiling. “Well, how was your day?”

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