Chapter 1: Reuniting

"Let's get this over with," the boy muttered to himself, "Venator finish it!"

At the boy's behest, the brown, orange vivosaur bit down into the soft flesh of the smaller stegosaurs neck. A flash of light was seen as Lexo turned back into its dino medal. The crowd cheered wildly for the boy, and he smiled in return.

"The winner is Hunter!" cried out the voice of announcer P.A. Leon.

"Another exciting match won by this star of a fossil fighter!" Slate commented.

After the match, Hunter returned to the main lobby to find two of his best friends, Rosie and Holt, arm in arm and hollering for him to come over there.

"Good job out there champ," Holt said, "but you'll need to be a lot better to even have a shot at me."

"Holt, Rosie's hat could beat you in a fossil battle." Hunter laughed back.

Holt turned red as a beet while Hunter and Rosie laughed for a minute.

"So, how have you two been? Haven't seen either of you since you left for vacation last week." Hunter asked after the laughter subsided.

"Well, not much, really, we just got back yesterday and figured we'd check on the star of Vivosaur Island." Rosie said.

"Yeah, she stole the words out of my mouth" Holt added.

"Thanks for that, guys, it's good to see you again."

The trio of friends embraced briefly before parting ways to their separate homes. As Hunter was walking back to his hotel room, he saw a familiar blonde standing in the lobby. Hunters face lit up when he saw her, and he felt her white dress was even more elegant than usual. As he walked up to her she took the first words;

"Hello," she awkwardly said, "it's been a while, huh?"

"It's been a few months, yeah." Hunter replied. "What've you been up to?"

"Well, apparently, moving a few hundred thousand people onto an underdeveloped island is challenging, at best." she said with a sigh.

She's wearing her disguise still, Hunter thought, I wonder why that might be

"Why are you still in disguise?" he asked, and judging by her reaction, he realized he didn't say it as tactfully as he'd hoped.

"Well…" she shuffled uncomfortably and said, "I don't really know, I just… I thought I would need it…"

"You don't around me." he said before pressing down on her pendant, causing her disguise to fade away. Hunter stared, mesmerized by the subtle shifting of her hair, dress, skin and her eyes, and before long his gaze was facing two bright yellow eyes. He admired her blue skin and pink hair for a moment, and allowed himself to smile.

She stared at him for a brief moment before smiling back and embracing him. Hunter paused for a heartbeat before he returned her embrace, and the two stood in each others arms for a minute, neither wanting to leave the other. After that minute was up, Duna untangled herself from his arms and stepped back .

"Do you want to go to the secret harbor and watch the sun set?" Hunter blurted out before she left him again. "I-I mean… y-you don't have to if you don't want…"

"I have some time to spare before I need to be back, besides, I came here to see you anyways." She said, watching his cheeks turn pink as he struggled with the words.

As they walked to the harbor, Hunter began to think of what to tell her to try and make her stay. Every part of his brain told him that it was impossible, that no matter what he did or said, she would always leave him, eventually. They arrived quickly enough and sat on a bench together. He flashed back to the first time they were there, when she asked him why, when he had told her he would always be there for her, no matter what. He thought of those times, of that night in particular. He thought of the feeling of her body pressed against his, of her blue lips pressed upon his cheek, and of the emptiness that was left inside of him after she left. He smiled and blushed when he remembered that, and entwined his fingers with hers.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked, confused.

"I missed you." he said with a smile.

Duna blushed slightly before replying with;

"I missed you, too."

She leaned into his shoulder as the two of them watched the sun go down. They gazed in awe at the swirls of oranges, blues, pinks, and yellows. For the first time in a long time, he felt happy. This is perfect… Hunter thought. I missed this feeling… I need to tell her how I feel one day, but that day isn't today. He looked at the Dinaurian resting on his shoulder, and felt the hole in his heart repair itself. And so they sat there, holding onto each other until the colors of the sky began to blur into a bluish-black color. They both stood up and looked knowingly into each others eyes.

"Tonight was nice, thank you for asking me here." She said clumsily.

"You're welcome," Hunter said, "when can I see you again?"

"I'm not sure..." Duna said, "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Same place?" he asked.

She only nodded curtly and embraced him very briefly before she walked out of their spot and pressed her pendant to teleport her back up to the ship. Hunter stood at the dock still, not wanting to leave. Despite his will, however, drowsiness got the better of him and he headed back to the hotel to sleep. When he entered his room, he fell down onto his bed and fell asleep, still with the memory of their meeting in his head.