Disclaimer: I do not own Fossil Fighters, any of the vivosaurs or characters (Except for Creed), and am simply writing this for my own amusement.
A/N: While the game itself is the main backbone behind this story I take a fair amount of creative license. This extends to many hypothesises I came up with involving many aspects of Fossil Fighting left ambiguious in canon. One such example is how the Fighters control their vivosaurs and how integrating fossils may effect the vivosaur themselves. In fact, that paticular concept plays a major part in this story.
Acknowledgments: Firstly, I would like to thank Devaro Ayanami for his wonderful help as both my Beta and my sounding-board. Secondly, I would like to thank LonelyUeki for writing the fanfic "Fossil Fighters" which inspired me to write this and for letting me use a couple of her concepts. Thirdly, I would like to thank Vathara for all the wonderful stories, which I highly recommend you read, he has posted. Reading them has helped me find ways of expanding my own writing style.
The Prelude
At first, she wasn't sure what had woken her. The roar of the boat engine filled her ears, but she had gotten used to it hours ago. Nor was it the notable dampness in the air, a result of the water spray stirred up by the boats passage over the water.
Drowsy aquamarine blinked at the sun's glare.
Almost noon already?
Creed breathed in deeply, stretching stiff muscles as she tried to identify what had woke her up.
"You coming in here, or not?" the captain called from the steering wheel in the cabin. His voice was easily heard over the engine
Well…that answers that.
"Coming." Creed left her seat in the sun and entered the cabin, sitting down in the passenger seat.
"We're almost to Vivosaur Island." The captain informed. Creed nodded, sitting up a little straighter.
Vivosaur Island, a resort that had opened five years back and been an instant success thanks to its main attraction.
Fossil Fighting.
Through the use of a strange new technology, only available to the Richmond Corporation, ancient animal fossils could be taken and brought to life. The creatures produced, called vivosaurs due to the fact that they take on many traits very different from their dinosaur predecessors, could be used by people known as Fossil Fighters to fight one another in an arena. Of course, the Fossil Fighter had to first find a fossil to revive, and that's where Vivosaur Island came in. For reasons unknown, there was a ridiculous amount of fossils scattered all throughout the island, making it the ideal place for the resort. Fossil Fighters would go out, find fossils, and bring them back to first clean them and then revive them.
It had taken several months for Creed to get her hands on a ticket, long months and hard work. But in the end she succeeded, which was why she was now on the boat.
"Let me guess…" the captain's voice brought Creed out of her musings. "You're on your way to become a Fossil Fighter?"
Creed nodded in affirmation. Dinosaurs had always interested her, for as long as she could remember.
Amazing how such a small bone could become such a major influence.
Said small bone had turned out to be the fragment of a tooth fossil belonging to a theropod of the spinosaurus family. After a lot of research, Creed had eventually learned that it had come from a dinosaur called an altispinax. Even after all these years, that one little fossil remained her favorite possession.
"Thought so," the captain continued, "I've seen that look in your eye before. But it says a lot about you. It takes bravery to go all the way to Vivosaur Island on your own. All my other passengers usually have a friend or family member with them."
Smalltalk? He didn't say a word this whole trip, and he suddenly wants to talk now? A glimmer of suspicion stirred. All the same, there was no reason to be rude. Not like back home, people are different here.
Creed shrugged, but didn't comment.
"My name's Captain Travers, by the way, Ms. Peregrine."
Creed grimaced at the formality. "Creed, please."
"Creed then." Traverse grinned. "I think that's a great name! I can easily picture a famous Fossil Fighter named Creed."
Creed snorted, brushing a strand of dark auburn hair away from her face while wondering if the man was simply flattering her. "Fame, I can do without." She stated nonchalantly. "I'm just going for the vivosaurs."
"If you're out to become a Fossil Fighter, I imagine you're a big fan of dinosaurs, right?" Travers queried curiously. Bemused, Creed looked at him though gave an affirmative nod.
No hidden motive…just curiosity.
"Which do you like better, then: Carnivores or Herbivores?"
Creed blinked, a little taken aback at the sudden question. Odd question, where is he going with this? "Carnivores."
Travers nodded. "What type do you prefer: Big and strong? Or small and quick?"
That's a little tougher… "Both are appealing…let's go with small and quick. Where are you going with this?"
"Deinonychus, the stealthy red shadow! Velociraptor, the silent gray hunter! Which do you prefer?"
"Velociraptor," Technically my favorites are large dinosaurs in the Spinosaur family, but for some reason I felt compelled to say Velociraptor. "What's with the third degree?"
"Oh, no reason."
Sure, and I'm a prima ballerina.
"Just curious. I'll be sure to remember that, though. The velociraptor fan, Creed."
/\/\/\
This doesn't look like a high class resort, Creed mused as she stepped onto the dock and waved farewell to Captain Travers as the helmsmen pulled away again to deal with other things. It, sort of reminds me of a small town shown in old Western movies, just without all the dirt, dust, and tumbleweeds.
"Welcome to Vivosaur Island."
Creed looked at the speaker and blinked. Those are…colorful suits. She had never seen suits in colors that weren't black, white, or the occasional dark blue. While an offshoot of blue, the suit she saw before her was certainly out of the norm, and that wasn't including the bright yellow shirt that was worn with it.
"Where the dinosaurs of ages past lie asleep as fossils in the ground." The brightly dressed woman finished cheerfully.
"Yes, welcome!" greeted a second woman, also in a suit, but with even more eye-catching coloring.
I didn't think anything other than a Halloween costume came in that shade of teal…or magenta for that matter…
"This is Vivosaur Harbor, Vivosaur Island's only port." Blue explained. "New people arrive every day. Some are just fans of dinosaurs, but some are new Fossil Fighters in the making!"
Like myself.
"My name is Sue," Teal introduced, "and this is my co-worker, Beth." She bowed politely. "We work as support staff for the Fossil Fighters."
Remembering her manners, Creed returned the bow. "I'm Creed."
Both women smiled.
"To become a Fossil Fighter," Sue explained, "you'll need to visit the Fossil Center and talk to Dr. Diggins. The Fossil Center is that building straight ahead." She motioned towards a large domed building located directly across from the port.
It looked quite sophisticated, gleaming metal rather than brick or concrete like most building materials. White, gold, with hints of machinery in the mix—hello, what was that?
That's something you don't see everyday… I don't believe I've ever seen someone with that particular hair color, Creed thought, torn between amusement and incredulity. Cyan, after all, was not a color that regularly appeared, even among people who died their hair outrageous color.
Of course, that lab coat makes the hair stand out even more. Like a dot in the middle of a blank paper.
The man wandered down the east road, a conveniently placed sign said "Park Area", ignoring the road lines. He stopped, seemed to change his mind about something and turned around, walking diagonally to the intersection, right near a large fountain. Apparently that wasn't where he wanted to go either, because he turned around and went diagonally towards the docks before stopping near a large lamp light.
Creed watched, fascinated, as the man frowned in frustration.
"No, that's not it either…" he muttered, absently pushing his glasses up farther up the bridge of his nose.
He seems rather lost…
Beth and Sue, Creed noted, were also watching the man, both with identical expressions of longsuffering exasperation.
They know him, and this doesn't look like it's the first time this has happened.
"Hang on a tick…" the man murmured suddenly, face screwed up in concentration and then he jumped up in realization. "I've got it!"
He spun around and ran past Creed and the two workers. Beth's hand shot out as he passed, gripping the man's elbow and expertly spinning him around to face her.
Definitely not the first time.
"Excuse me, Dr. Diggins!" she said quickly.
Cyan eyes stared questioningly from behind glass lenses.
"May I assume you're here to take our newest recruit to the Fossil Center?" Beth queried.
"What…?" A confused blink. Cyan met aquamarine and the two each exchanged blank looks. Then a look of dawning flashed in cyan. "Oh, a new recruit? Of course!" a bright grin. "Always happy to show a new recruit the ropes!"
A previously unnoticed clipboard was brought out as Dr. Diggins quickly studied it. "Let me just…" trailing off, a look of incomprehension appeared on Diggin's face, then a vacant expression. "Change schedule…" A blink, then another confused look. "What were we talking about again?"
Okay…he's certainly an interesting character.
"Never mind." Dr. Diggins shook his head, not noticing the flash of annoyance on Beth's face as he turned away. "I'll see you later."
Apparently he had remembered what he was trying to do before, because he took off running back towards the Fossil Center before anyone could stop him. Creed watched him go with poorly disguised intrigue as Beth met her gaze again. The older women gave an exasperated sigh.
"That was the head of the Fossil Center, Dr. Diggins." was the explanation. "He'll be responsible for issuing you your fighter's license." A glance in the direction the doctor had gone before giving Creed a sympathetic look. "Good luck with that."
Creed nodded absently, still staring after Dr. Diggins, who had disappeared into the Fossil Center. He certainly seemed like an interesting fellow. Interesting, and apparently harmless for the most part.
"You should probably get to the Center," Sue suggested, breaking Creed out of her revere, "I'm always at duty here at the waterfront, so if you have any questions, come ask any time."
Creed gave a slight start before bowing politely. "Oh, thank you."
/\/\/\
"Welcome to the Fossil Center! My name is Wendy."
Creed gave a polite nod of greeting to the receptionist as she approached front desk of the Fossil Center.
It seems that brightly colored suits are the preference here.
"I take it you're here to register to become a Fossil Fighter?"
Creed nodded.
"Dr. Diggins returned just a while ago but has," an exasperated sigh, "unfortunately wandered off somewhere again. It could be a while before we find him. You might want to go to the hotel next door and check in while you wait."
Exasperated, but not surprised. Annoyed, but not mad…more like resigned. I was right, this is a regular occurrence. "Happens a lot, I take it." Creed commented casually.
"Unfortunately, yes." Wendy nodded. "He's a good man, but he can be more than a bit…"
"Scatterbrained?" Creed offered.
"I was going to say 'absentminded', but that'll work too."
/\/\/\
Walking out a door, a simple action that people don't think much about. It simply involves walking through an archway to reach the other side, in theory. In theory, walking from aforementioned doorway to a street intersection is not much more exciting. But, that's just a theory.
"I can't stop!"
What the—?
Pivot. Grab. Redirect and flip.
Okay…That was unexpected.
Still gripping the 'assaulter's' wrist from the shoulder throw, Creed blankly stared down at another girl her age. The impact of her back to the hard ground had left the other girl momentarily stunned. Not that Creed was much better off.
Darn reflex, she groused. She'd have to curb it, wouldn't do to send someone to the hospital because of a misunderstanding. It would lead to more questions she, in all honesty, would rather not respond to. That stimulated a rather morbid amusement. Master would flay me if he saw me now.
"Sorry." Creed apologized, releasing her iron grip of the other's forearm and instead helping her to her feet. "You startled me."
"I startled you?" The girl asked incredulously, swaying where she stood.
Ignoring the comment, Creed glanced over the girl, checking for any possible injury and saw none. "Why were you running, anyway?" And, by Huene, why were you running to fast to stop?
Suddenly contrite and more than a little embarrassed, the girl sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "I'm Peggy. I was running….to get in shape, you know? And I guess I must've gone too fast because I couldn't slow down." A shrug. "Anyway, I'm really sorry."
Creed blinked. This girl is a hazard. A breath and then, "May haps next time you'll avoid running so fast when other people are walking, hm?"
There, leave her to her embarrassment, get to the hotel.
The building was completely pristine, and, from the strategically placed indoor palm trees, looked very luxurious.
"Welcome to the Relic Hotel." Creed looked up at the man.
"Dimitri" his nametag read, followed by the words "Hotel Manager". He's wearing a regular suit…maybe only the women wear the eyesores?
"Where we provide quality lodging for aspiring Fossil Fighters! We've been expecting you, Ms Peregrine."
A subtle twitch. "Creed, please."
"I'm sorry, Ms Peregrine, but that would be rude." He didn't sound to apologetic about it. Dimitri turned towards a nearby elevator. "Right this way, please." At his beckoning, Creed followed behind. "This elevator will take you to your room."
A quick elevator ride later and Dimitri was leading Creed down a hall. Dimitri apparently knew exactly what room he needed because he made a beeline for one specific door without glancing at any of the other doors which lined the hall.
"This is your room." He announced, unlocking the door in question before handing the key to Creed.
Creed stepped in and glanced around. It was nice, not overly furbished but not bare either. Actually, it was somewhat homey in feeling. She set her backpack down at the foot of her bed before remembering her manners and thanking Dimitri. The man bowed politely before turning out the door again.
"Have a nice stay."
I intend to.
/\/\/\
Creed eyed the large boulder before her somewhat dubiously.
Chip away the rock to clean the fossil. Easy enough.
Drill and hammer at hand, she set to work.
A fossil fighter must be able to clean their own fossils. She recalled from the briefing Dr. Diggin's had given her and the other recruits. A broken fossil can't be used, so be careful how you use your drill and hammer. Due to limited space, you only have an hour to clean your fossil, no exceptions. If you don't manage to clean off at least fifty percent, then you lose the fossil. But, if you have over fifty percent uncovered then you can try and revive it. The better cleaned and the better uncovered, the stronger you're vivosaur will be.
Check with X-ray. Don't waste time with outer edges of the fossil rock. Chip around the fossil edges first. Don't hit the hammer in the same place twice, but don't space the hits to far apart. When hardest bits of rock are removed, use the drill for the softer parts so as not to damage the fossil.
Nearby, someone swore loudly as they damaged their fossil with an over enthusiastic jab of the drill.
Don't tense up, relax. Ignore them.
The fossil was all that mattered at the moment.
Don't rush, take your time, do a good job, get good results. There's no real hurry.
The sounds all faded into the background.
/\/\/\
"Amazing, a 99% on your first try."
Dr. Diggins blinked as the auburn haired girl jerked in surprise, almost dropping the still-warm drill in her hands.
"Er, huh?" Surprised aquamarine looked up at him as the girl, Creed Peregrine, recovered herself.
Oops, didn't mean to startle her, the scientist thought with a slight wince. "You're fossil." He pointed to the clean skull fossil.
A blink, followed by a blank look of confusion and Dr. Diggins frowned.
Why would she be confused? Surely she noticed her own work.
Creed shook her head, looking a little disorientated. "Why is it so quiet?"
"You're the last one here, that's why I was coming over. The hour's up."
"Oh…" Creed looked back at her fossil as if finally seeing it. "I didn't realize how long I took."
Ah… Dr. Diggins smiled. "I know the feeling. Fossil's are my passion." A chuckle. "If I didn't have people to pull me away from them, I'd spend day and night studying them."
Creed looked at him and Dr. Diggins realized he had begun to ramble.
Oops. "Let's go revive your fossil." He suggested, clearing his throat and motioning for some of the interns standing by to come help move the fossil.
"It's an altispinax skull, isn't it?"
Dr. Diggins barely restrained a jerk of surprise. She could identify the skull? Most people wouldn't be able to recognize a dinosaur beyond the commonly advertized ones like T-rex or the triceratops. Altispinax was far from renowned.
"That's right," he managed not to stutter, barely, "How did you know that?"
"The teeth."
Pardon?
"What do you mean?"
Creed pulled back the right sleeve of her jacket, revealing a braided leather band. Firmly attached to the leather was a tooth fragment.
An altispinax tooth fragment, Dr. Diggins realized, seeing the resemblance between the tooth on the bracelet and the teeth in the skull.
"My first fossil." Creed explained, rolling down her sleeve again. "I've been fond of theropod dinosaurs ever since."
"I feel the same way with my stegosaurus fossil." Dr. Diggins commented, remembering fondly, the event that led him to discover said fossil. "I broke my mother's favorite tea cup and tried to hide it by burying it in the garden. A few shovel scoops later, I found this strange rock. I stopped digging to get a closer look at it. It turned out to be a Stegosaurus fossil!" A fond chuckle. "I was so excited; I forgot what I was doing in the first place. I ran inside to show my mom. She asked me where I got it, and before I knew it, I had to explain why I was digging in the garden."
The pair chuckled as the fossil was placed into the machine by the interns.
"I've only seen my mother angry a few times, but even so, I was excited about my discovery! That stegosaurus fossil is still my most prized position."
Dr. Diggins blinked. Oops. "And there I go, rambling again." He chuckled sheepishly.
"It's alright, you obviously love what you do."
"Now, let's revive the fossil."
/\/\/\
It looks like Godzilla, Creed observed distractedly, eyes wide as she stared at the vivosaur in the revival chamber. Dark blue with green, nasty looking spikes along the ridge of its back and at least ten yards from nose to tail, the vivosaur was a sight to behold. Dark green eyes met aquamarine and Creed thought she felt something stir in the back of her mind before the vivosaur, a spinax according to Dr. Diggins, vanished in a flash of light.
A small medal, about half the size of a hockey puck, fell out of the machine and into Dr. Diggin's waiting hand.
"This is a Dino Metal." He held up the medal. "One of the advantages of our revival process is that vivosaurs can be carried around as these Dino Metals. You can always have your favorite vivosaur with you to challenge other Fossil Fighters in Fossil Battles. This vivosaur is yours to keep."
Creed took the offered medal, and froze.
A whisper of wind drifted through a mass of sleepy grays.
Creed frowned, puzzled by the foreign sensation.
A drifting breeze stirring up streaks of red alarm among a spiral of disoriented gray-browns
A stumble, Creed's legs trembled as she was suddenly accosted by the sensation of being confined in a small space.
Sharp gusts darted about. Grays warmed in an upward spiraling flow of alert orange speckled with a sudden starburst of more alarmed reds
"Creed, what's wrong? Creed!"
Confined winds formed a whirlwind among waves of disoriented grey-browns and frenzied oranges dashed by streaks of red
"Snap out of it!"
Furious winds wound together tightly into a spiraling maelstrom of aggressive dark red-oranges with jagged blacks—
Enough! Creeds mind roared out over the increasing pressure. The effect was instantaneous.
Gale winds died amidst a sudden train wreck of washed out oranges and surprised pale greens.
A blink as the whirlwind in her mind suddenly faded from awareness.
I'm…on the floor?
"Creed!"A voice tinged with hysteria. "Are you alright?"
Why is he holding me? The distracted thought came as she became aware of a supporting arm behind her shoulders.
"What…just happened?" she managed.
"I was hoping you could tell me." Concerned cyan met disoriented aquamarine. "You just spaced out when I handed you the medal, and then collapsed!"
"It was a whirlwind…" Creed paused and grimaced at Dr. Diggins' expression. "In my mind, a whirlwind of colors and emotions. I—"
The faint, timid whisper of wind among hesitant pale greens and questioning trickles of pale orange. Mother?
"Creed…?" Dr. Diggins began warily, but stopped when Creed held up a silencing hand.
Not mother. She sent experimentally, trying to pinpoint the odd echoes in the recesses of her mind. Creed.
Confused whir of wind whispering through another questioning trickle of pale orange splashes. Creed…parent?
No. Partner. Creed corrected gently, setting aside the sheer strangeness of the situation for the present time being.
Better to go with the flow now, than get bashed later for negligence. Like deflecting a blow to the side rather than taking it head on.
A small breeze whirled, confused streaks of muted browns and grays over a backdrop of reddish green frustration. Partner?
Union, help each other. Creed tried, trying to convey the concept of 'partners' to the strangely child-like awareness that was touching her mind. An awareness she realized, with an understandable level of shock, was the spinax she had just received. You fight, I direct, support.
Warmth to a dancing breeze, a sudden starburst of excited orange-yellow. Fight?
Not now—
The dancing breeze abruptly receded. Orange-yellows spiraled down into disappointed blues.
—soon. Creed felt some level of amusement as the metaphorical breeze did a kind of happy jig before receding from her awareness. Just how a breeze did a jig was beyond her.
"You heard the spinax, didn't you?"
Creed jumped, having forgotten that Dr. Diggins was there. The scientist in question had a bright, unidentifiable gleam in his eyes.
With some hesitance, Creed voiced, "Does that…happen to everyone?"
"According to my tests, everyone links with their vivosaurs to some extent. I've never heard of such an extreme reaction though."
A frown. "What kind of links?"
"Well, when a Fossil Fighter shouts out an order they have their intentions on the forefront of their mind. Their vivosaur picks up on those intents and acts accordingly to the best as they are capable of. It's an incredible phenomenon where the vivosaur picks up their Fighter's Beta Waves with their Parietal and Occipital Lobes and translates the signals with the Left Frontal Lobe and then from there to the cerebellum to act out the command. I've been doing studies on this, I call it the Fossil Mind Phenomenon," a chuckle, "or FMP, but I haven't yet figured out how deep the connection is. I didn't realize it could be a two-way connection though, but it would explain why the Temporal and Frontal Lobe are so highly developed…this calls for more testing…oh!"
A blush worked its way over deeply tanned skin.
"I'm sorry, I'm rambling again."
A chuckle. "It's alright, I may not have understood everything you said, but I think I got the gist of it." Creed looked down at the metal shining innocently between her fingers. "It's an amazing thought," she looked back up, "I'd be willing to help you with your studies, within reason of course."
Cyan brightened joyfully. "You would? That'd be wonderful! Oh, not again—" palm slapped forehead, "You're supposed to be taking the second test to acquire you Fossil Fighting License, and here I am distracting you and getting off track!"
"What does that entail?" I hope it isn't as bad as this one was.
"You'll have to fight a proctor to see if you have what it takes to handle vivosaurs. Don't worry. I know you'll do great!"
/\/\/\
Creed strode down the hallway in the Fossil Stadium. According to the receptionist she was the last person of the day to have a qualifying match. She had, in fact, almost been too late because of the event during her cleaning test. Fortunately, Dr. Diggins had told the receptionist it had been mostly his fault for the delay and talked her into letting Creed participate.
Her opponent stood waiting for her at the doorway to the outdoor stadium—
"Captain Travers?" Creed just barely managed to avoid making a surprised 'squawk'. The Captain gave a loud laugh.
"We meet again, Creed!" He greeted with a broad grin.
Creed recovered and dipped her head politely with a somewhat surprised smile. "You're my opponent?"
"Yup. I'm one of the people who test all new recruits to see if they have the skill needed to be a Fossil Fighter." A smug smirk. "I guess it's time for your first Fossil Battle." A confident glint in dark eyes. "And I don't expect to lose, Creed."
"Since when do we ever expect to lose?" Creed returned evenly, a matching glint in her eyes.
Side-by-side they entered the stadium to the cheers of all the onlookers. Once standing at their places, on opposite ends of the battlefield, they pulled out their Dino Metals.
The spinax materialized beside her.
A flurry of dancing gusts swirling bright excited oranges. Spinax glanced down at her form the corner of its eye. A tentative whisper of questioning pale orange. Fight?
Yes. Creed sent back as green eyes lit up.
Victorious whirlwind, starbursts of yellow among excited orange
Creed twitched at the volume of the vivosaur's roar.
Calm down! She scolded sharply, holding up a warning hand.
A sputter in the whirlwind coupled with a sudden splatter of embarrassed pale pinks.
The spinax settled down slightly.
A satisfied nod and Creed turned to her opponent. Travers had sent out a small, predominately blue-violet vivosaur, no longer than two yards from nose to tail.
A pachycephalosaurus-based vivosaur, Creed noted while observing the helmet-like skull specifically designed for bashing. Not unlike a mountain goat's skull and horns. It was also both its trademark trait and namesake, which translated to "Thick-Skulled Lizard."
Heavy muscles in the thighs and calves with wide feet, she observed. It was much like a kangaroo, leading Creed to the conclusion that it would be an expert jumper. Small and light, likely good at hitting hard and fast while evading retaliatory blows.
"Goyo!" Travers yelled out abruptly. "Use Rock Head!"
Sand exploded upward.
That's fast—Watch out!
The warning came too late. Caught by surprise at the incredible speed, the spinax was unable to move its large body fast enough to avoid the blow. Heavily armored skull met thick skinned midriff, the force of the former actually forcing the nine plus meters of solid muscle to slide back over loose sand.
Creed quickly shielded her face from the wave of sand that washed over her.
An alarmed gust of wind, surprised pale-green splashes winding among alarmed streaks of red. Creed!
Safe! Retaliate! Creed sent back, brushing grit out of her eyes and hair.
With a roar, the spinax complied, swinging sharp claws downward—
—and hit nothing but empty air as the nimble Vivosaur agilely leapt back to the other side of the arena.
Buffeting frustration amidst jagged swirls of annoyed red-oranges
Test, look for weaknesses, misdirect. "Spinax Fang!"
The spinax shot forward, heavy head a gaping chasm of sharp serrated teeth. The massive shadow fell over the diminutive goyo as the spinax descended—
Those are some strong legs… Creed mused as the Thick-Skulled Lizard nimbly skated to the side, powerful legs easily carrying it several meters away.
With a roar, the larger theropod gave chase to the faster fighter, but each advance was easily evaded as the goyo danced circles around it. Mocking chirs and barks filled the air.
No one but Creed noticed the calculating gleam in sharp green eyes, or realized that the spinax was not moving as swiftly as he could.
Now.
A sense of growing pressure, the calm before a storm. Faint trickles of confirmatory tints were the only motion amidst frozen dark oranges of anticipation.
Heavy body curled around as powerful jaws attempted to snap up the goyo from a side angle. The other vivosaur evaded in the only direction available to it but was met with an oncoming tail. Muscles hardened and then sprang out, carrying it straight up and far out of reach of the blow.
"Rock Head again! Finish it off!" Travers shouted at the apex of the goyo's leap.
The Hard-Head Lizard dived down, tucking in its limbs and taking on the resemblance of an oncoming missile.
A smirk. Gotcha.
Wind roared, releasing its wrath in a wave of aggressive red-orange.
A yowl of pain filled the arena as the goyo, not the spinax, took damage. Slashed by the sharp quills set in the spinax's back and suffering heavy blunt impact from iron-hard muscles, the goyo offered no resistance as the spinax reared back, throwing it off.
"Spinax Fang!"
Powerful fangs closed around the airborne Vivosaur. It let out a shrill cry before dissolving in a flash, reverting to its Dino Medal form.
A roaring tempest melded with starbursts of victorious golds and reds. The spinax stood to its full height and let out a trumpeting roar to mirror the colors and patterns of its mind.
Victory was theirs.
/\/\/\
"Well, how about that, Creed!" Travers exclaimed as they went back inside the Fossil Stadium. "I guess that makes you an official Fossil Fighter! " They came up to the reception desk and Travers turned to Creed. "Here's a little something for you."
Creed took the object in hand.
A fossil rock?
It was fair sized, and heavy. She sent Travers a questioning look.
"It's a fossil rock for the vivosaur you said you liked." Velociraptor. "It isn't a head, though, so you can't revive it."
"Then what do I do with it?" Dr. Diggins hadn't mentioned what other fossils could be used for.
"You don't know?" Surprised, Travers explained. "Non-skull fossils can be integrated into vivosaurs with the revival chamber to increase their abilities and give them new attacks."
A blink. "Oh. I suppose that makes sense."
"I'm wishing you the best, Creed." Travers turned and walked away. "Good luck."
Movement behind her made Creed turn away from watching the boat captain's exit. Dr Dr. Diggins walked up with a big grin. "Congratulations, Creed!" He seemed to shiver with excitement. "You're connection with Spinax is amazing, I've never seen anything like it. It merits more study…" he shook his head and visibly forced himself back on topic. "I can now present you with your Fighter's License." He held out a Fossil Fighter ID card. Creed graciously accepted the two-by-four card.
"That's proof that you're now a recognized Fossil Fighter." A glance at his watch and the scientist gave a start. "Yikes, where'd the time go? You must be tired anyway, Creed." He grinned somewhat apologetically. "Sorry for all the yapping again. Your life as a licensed Fossil Fighter begins with a bang tomorrow. Get yourself a good night's rest."
He hurried away again. "Best of luck on your road to becoming a Master Fighter, Creed!" He called over his shoulder, almost colliding with one of the other occupants of the auditorium.