Next chapter for Fossil Academy, hope you enjoyed the first, anyway as the story goes on more and more hints to the past will be brought up along with new characters and Vivosaurs. We thank you for reading this and hope you will follow till the end.
It was a warm night out today, but like with any tropical island, even when the sun fell the humidity in the air kept the warmth up several degrees higher than what it should be. The bugs were out, and in the night the distant howls of Kryptosaurs could be heard, most likely stalking prey of some sort.
The firelight of the village that illuminated the land however, was still out. Filled with activity and relaxation that couldn't be done during the day. It was quiet, but also loud. An odd combination of the two. The captive vivosaurs were sound asleep, and most of the children were in bed, but the adults, at least the younger ones, were enjoying themselves whether it be drowning their sorrows or spending time with friends.
The riders were one of these groups.
"Full house." Debby said, laying her cards down on the wooden table, causing Erik and Blaze to cringe, then fold seeing as they had been beaten yet again. Debby smiled and pulled the last of their chips to her side of the table. Erik took a good long swig of his mead, and the plopped the empty mug on the table.
"I still think she's cheating..." Blaze grumbled as he too drank from his mug.
Erik said nothing, instead he simply shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was, for lack of better wording, one hundred and ten percent done with his wife's shenanigans. "I married a fucking raptor!" He suddenly shouted, causing the small group that had gathered around them to laugh.
"What, am I a clever girl?" Debby said, wiggling her eyebrows at the suggested double eintendre Jurassic Park reference. Despite the fact that she had never seen the movie, her mother made the joke all the time.
"Fuck this noise." Erik said, laughing a little bit and standing up. "Have fun beating B's ass over here. I'm going to go beat some guy in mud wrestling or something." he said, wandering off to, more than likely talk with Silver or do what he said he was going to do, just because it was less effort and he was kinda buzzed at the moment. The woman had been new to the gang, still getting acclimated to their brazen way of having to do things. More than likely a member of Pterosaur Guard, as she knew how to fly.
"Hey don't leave me here with her!" Blaze cried. Though he had grasped the concept of the game fairly quickly there were still a few things he did not know. Debby was eating him alive faster than any T. Rex could, and he didn't want to stay for more. Deborah leaned over to see past Blaze's huge frame to see Erik making his way over to Silver. She looked over to the broke-ass Blaze, and smiled.
"No more cash to put in the pot, it looks like." she said, sticking her tongue at him. "Ah well. What do you say we go and mess with Erik and his little girlfriend." she said, standing up from her seat, seeing as most of the group that had formed around them to spectate was now dispersing.
"It's better than getting robbed again." Blaze grumbled. He stood up and followed her.
"Hey man, it was your challenge!" she said, walking onward and keeping in pace with Blaze, slipping past him at the last moment to drape her arms around Erik's shoulders. "You breath smells like beer and you look like sex." she said. Erik's whole body visibly stiffened at the alien touch, and relaxed some when he heard the voice of the owner.
"Your tolerance must've gone DOWN if my breath is getting you drunk." he sniped back. He looked over to Silver for a moment, then back to Deborah and Blaze.
"You guys haven't met her yet, have you?" he questioned suddenly, smacking himself on the head. "Guys, this is Silver. Silver, this is Deborah, my wife, and Blaze, my best man." he said, introducing the three to each other. "She's... uh..." Erik trailed off.
"She's taking Paxton's place." Debby said, connecting the dots.
"No one could replace him." Blaze said with a slight growl.
Deborah lifted her foot and stomped, heel first, onto Blaze's closest foot. A clear message of 'don't-fucking-say-that-to-the-new-kid-or-so-help-me-god'. Blaze winced and remained silent. "You have some big shoes to fill," Deborah said, stepping back from Erik and putting her hands on her hips and looking her up and down. "But I think you got the stuff. It'll be nice having another girl on the team." she said.
"Oh yeah, really, there's more than enough estrogen to go around already, lets add MORE to the mix." Erik said, looking over his shoulder to his wife, who promptly and soundly socked him in the chest. "Violence!" Erik said, throwing his arms up in the air and rubbing the sore spot on his pectoral muscle. Debby rolled her eyes and leaned over, kissing him on the cheek. Erik sighed, and then turned around a bit more on his stool so he faced the other three. Deborah pulled up a stool herself to sit down and talk to Silver here, maybe learn a thing or two. She leaned back against the bar, with her shoulder blades resting against it and her arms resting on the bar table itself. She was the only one of the four, by far, who had enough spunk to pull that shit off and not look like an idiot.
"So whats your position in our merry little village?" Deborah asked Silver.
Silver huffs, "Position here?" She points with both hands to the leaden gray skin on her face. "I am what you humans call a Kedamono! I am here to kill you all!" She screeches a sound right out of a horror movie before laughing. "Just kidding. I am here as a newbie for the Pteranadon Guard."
"Race doesn't matter here, but it is nice to have someone else with a sense of humor in this group" Erik said chuckling.
"Hey I make jokes too." Blaze grumbled. "Either way it's nice to meet you Silver, sorry if I made you feel out of place for what I said earlier."
"No prob. Blaze, is it? I've heard of you. You have created quite a following in my clan. Red eyes and what. You're similar to us for a human."
"Never thought I would have a little fan club of my own. Eat it Erik!" He said laughing heartily.
"Yeah yeah, it still won't help you get a girlfriend." Erik said with a smirk. Blaze growled at him for that.
"Ignore them Silver, so what village are you from?" Deborah asked.
"I normally reside in my clan in the *insert name here* highlands. I take all of you live here?" She smirks. "It sucks to not have a Pterasaur."
The group laughed at that.
"Blaze's fat ass couldn't ride a Hatzegopteryx, and Erik is scared of heights!" Deborah teased. "Me? I like ground based Vivosaurs, there's just a certain feel for them you know? Even still flying in the air must feel pretty cool, how do you do it?" She asked.
"I could show you sometime if you like." Silver jerks her thumb towards the door. "I sorta parked on the roof."
"Don't let the bartender hear that, or else he'll charge you for it!" Deborah laughed. She leaned forward a little before giving Silver a kind smile. "How do you keep your hair in place when flying? Anything you use to keep it in place?"
The Kedamono reached into the leather pouch around her waist and removed a smaller drawstring pouch. It reveals a small clump of clay when opened. "Well, my hairs already gray," she whispers, "Why not make it worse, eh?"
"Interesting, I don't think I can pull off the grandma look yet though, I'll probably use some if I ever start flying," Deborah giggled, "Got any cute boys in your village that you've got your eyes on?"
"Nah, can"t risk it with this job."
Blaze leaned on the wall behind Silver, listening intently to what was going on. He shot a glance at Erik as the girls began to converse about trivial things. Erik's eyes met Blaze's for a moment, and they both shed a tear of male pride for their fallen brotherhood, being overcome by sisterhood. Irish green met blood red and for a brief moment Erik wondered what the hell kind of mutation occurred in Blaze's chromosomes that made him red eyed and the size of Andre the Giant.
Trying to tune out as much of the girls, 'gossip' as possible, the two men decided to order another round of drinks, in a vain hope that it would cease their constant talking. Blaze received his first, then Erik, who had ordered a honey mead over the regular. Blaze sighed as he took a large gulp from his drink, being as large as he was lessened the effects of alcohol, meaning he had to drink more to be properly drunk. Silver seemed like a nice girl, but they didn't know what she could do in the field as of yet. Blaze himself would be in charge of testing what she was capable of doing. Though he didn't like the suddenness of the new member, having a scout would be immeasurably important to the team. A pterasaurs eye view is just what the heavy grounded team was missing.
"Erik, Deborah, I'll see you two later, I need to get home and look after my baby sister." Blaze said finishing off his drink.
Erik nodded to his friend and razed his mug to his friend. "To another hard day's work tomorrow, friend." He said.
"Tell her I said good night!" Deborah called after him.
"Sure thing!" Blaze said waving back at his friends.
-Intermission to the next morning-
The next morning, Erik and Deborah woke up at the generous time of 4:30 AM. They always did this, the both of them. Ever since they'd gotten married, and even before then, they had fallen into the habit of waking up early (especially so on days where they had mild hangovers, as they always seemed to get better workouts in then). They tended to leave Blaze alone in this, as the fatass of a man probably wouldn't appreciate them waking him up when it was still nearly dark out (he'd run into stuff with his shades on [Seriously where the fuck did he even get those]), but today was a special day.
Today was the day they bitch-slapped Silver into reality.
Training day.
Erik, being himself, broke into Silver's temporary home, Deborah deciding to wait outside for the fresh meat and her husband to exit the building. Erik, having been long since trained in the art of not only not being an idiot but also being expertly good at breaking into things, was able to make short work of this. His entrance into the building was near record time.
As he wandered through, looking for Silver's quarters, he picked up one of the ceramic plates from the kitchen, of the building, and when he eventually found Silver's place of slumber, he gazed upon her, his adept eyes going over her features for a moment. "So cute... It would be a shame if I..." he said, leaning his arm back and throwing a fastball-plate against the wall, smashing it with a sharp sound followed shortly by the loud clattering of the pieces falling to the ground.
"WAKE HER UP!" He said, shouting at her from the foot of her bed. "Up and at-em, rise and shine sleeping beauty, let's move it." he said, ripping her blanket off of her bed.
Silver twitched at the crash but it was not until the blanket had been ripped away did she scream, and fall off the bed. "What the fuck human!"
Erik looked her over for a moment and his expression turned to a practiced and hardened glare. "Stand up, get dressed, and meet us outside by the stables ASAP. Today's the day we make sure you're worth keeping on the team." he said, turning around and promptly leaving the room, but not without kicking something, one of the few chairs in the room over for good measure.
"Fucking humans. All pervs..." Silver did as commanded but not without gripe.
As Silver trudged to the stables, her eyes tired and still adjusting to the twilight, she met both Erik and Deborah, who seemed to have weight vests on. Deborah, seeing Silver, approaching, picked up a bundle on the group and tossed it to her almost effortlessly. When she caught it, she nearly collapsed under it's weight. A thirty pound weight vest.
She glared at it. "The actual hell is this?"
Deborah stepped forward. "Welcome to training day, maggot!" she shouted, almost a little too happily. "The first and most important, if not the most painful day of your miserable, salamander shit life!" she said, throwing her arms up into the air in celebration. "Put the vest on, we're going on a run. We wont make you do anything we cant. So get moving. We're burning daylight and we have all day to ruin your body." she said. Erik laughed at this. "It's tradition. Welcome to hell." he added in.
"You guys didn't think I'd miss initiation day did you?" Blaze chuckled as he walked over to the group.
"Well shit man, I didn't think you'd remember to wake up." Erik said, walking over to his friend and clasping his hand in a bro-hug. "Your vest is where you left it."
"Alright, and I didn't remember, my little sister reminded me." He said heading inside the stable.
"For today, you are going to be named Private Snowball. You will respond to Private Snowball, and you will accept your name until we decide otherwise. Got it?" Deborah said as Silver dawned her weight vest. "First a warm-up. One lap around the encampment. All five miles." she said. "You ready, Private Snowball?"
'Private Snowball' narrowed her eyes further before nodding stiffly and adjusting the halberd on her back.
"Alright, lets hustle. I see you walking, you'll regret it." Deborah said, pushing Silver forward into a jog, and following up close behind her. Five miles was a tough run, being more than five kilometers, and with an extra thirty pounds it was even worse. Erik and Deborah had been generous though and had refrained from making her run in the heat of the day.
As they ran, Erik and Blaze stayed behind them, showing no signs of difficulty or tiredness despite the distance and the weight. They were even holding a conversation as they ran. Deborah was in the same state, but she was silent as she jogged, watching Silver. Being six inches taller than the girl at 5'9, she loomed over her.
"Private Snowball!" she said as she ran up beside the Kedamono. "How tall are you and how much do you weigh?!"
Having done everything before now to avoid conversation, Silver growls at the thought of having to hold a conversation and jog at the same time. "Five four. One hundred twelve."
"Five-foot-four, hundred and twelve?!" Deborah yelled back. "I didn't know they stacked shit that high!" she yelled into Silver's ear. "Do I see you walking Private Snowball? Are you tired? Do you want a break?!"
"Shut it or I'll slash your throat out!" Silver made a loosely aimed slash at Deborah with the twin blades on her right wrist.
"Oh shit! We got a fighter over here boys! Kick it up a notch Snowball!" Deborah said, simply taking a step to the side to evade the slash.
Powered by rage, Silver sprinted shortly in attempt to distance herself.
"Happy feet over here!" Erik shouted, jogging forward to catch up with Deborah before the woman grunted and jogged after her, keeping a stable distance.
After another mile and a half, everyone, even Deborah, Blaze, and Erik were somewhat tired. Silver looked like she was going to collapse if she slowed down for a moment. Seeing this, Deborah decided to give her some motivation.
"Ever been laid, Private Snowball? Do your chicken shit males have two dicks or something?"
Unable to talk, daggers of death are instead fired at Deborah. 'I. Am. Going. To. Watch. You. BURN.'
"I bet you were pretty good at sucking dick wherever you're from! That true Private Snowball?!"
"Yeah, I bet you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose Private Snowball. Use that sucking ability and get some air in your lungs." Deborah said after a few seconds of no response.
That does it and Deborah got a halberd shaft to the crotch.
Deborah remains okay because she has not testicles, but was slowed by the sudden force against her. Being larger and heavier than Silver, she bowled into the girl, knocking her over and tripping over her body as she did so. She rolled with the trip, not coming out on her feet because it was sloppy and unplanned, but overall okay. Erik and Blaze jogged up to them, slowing down to watch.
"What the fuck was that, Private Snowball?"
"Sweet... sweet revenge," she responded between breaths as she hauled herself to her feet. "You should... try it... sometime."
"I like your spunk, Silver." Deborah said, finally referring to her as her real name, walking over and helping her up. "Give Blaze your vest. His fat ass can carry it the rest of the way. It took balls to pull that shit, even if you sucked said shit at pulling it."
"Take it, human." Silver sheds the weigh and chucks it at him. "You're no idol to me."
"You better flush that shit out of your head right now, Snowball." Deborah said, wrapping her arm around Silver's neck and leaning on her shoulders, nearly choking her, and pointing with her free hand to Erik and Blaze.
"That one is my husband, and out team leader," she said, pointing to Erik. "And that giant is carrying your shit so you don't have to." she said, then pointed to herself. "I am the only person on this team that knows exactly what you are going through at any and all times, AKA yours best friend even if you don't realize it yet," she said, and then motioned to the three of them. "And ALLLLLL THREE OF US," she said, "Are going to be the only ones that are going to watch your back and make sure you're not torn apart by a pack of raptors." she finished.
"You wont always be in the air." Blaze added in.
"Alright everyone, get a move on. It's nearly five thirty AM." Erik said, before grabbing Deborah's arm and pulling her off Silver. "Get moving, both of you."
"Heh. Never trust the job description." Silver refits her halberd and continues with a slight spring in her step, being unused to running without the weight vest; she felt much lighter and was able to keep on pace with the other three with relative ease.
"Not bad for your first practice rookie, better get some food into your system though, the day is still young! We got a lot of work today!" Blaze said with a large smile. "I'll meet you guys at the gate in an hour, I have to take care of something right quick." He took Deborahs and Eriks vests with him to the stables.
"Alright Snowball you heard him, go get some grub and meet us at the gate."
Silver growled but left to go find some food to eat.
"Don't eat too much or we'll have to restock everything!" Erik teased.
"Ha ha! I'm not fat!" Blaze shouted back. Blaze disappeared into the stables as Silver walked off into the village. Erik and Deborah walked over to the gate to chat with a few guards. An hour passed with Silver, Erik, and Deborah waiting on Blaze. The heavy thudding footsteps of three large predators and the wing beats of a pterasaur signaled Blazes arrival.
"Took you long enough to get here. How much did you eat this time?" Deborah asked.
"Just because I eat a lot doesn't mean i'm fat." Blaze said sourly releasing the reigns of Daspleto and Delta. They went to their respective owners as well as the Thelasso.
"So what's on the agenda today?" Erik asked.
"Oh you'll find out real soon." A wide smile grew on Blazes face. He refused to give specifics and signaled for the guards to open the gate. "Let's ride." The gates opened slowly and the four strode out. Silver flew high over the trees but kept her new team in sight at all times as they slowly made their way to the clearing where the usual hunt takes place.
"Why couldn't they have been flyers?" she asks. Meanwhile Blaze could not keep a smile off of his face.
"Come on you have to at least give us a hint of what you have planned." Erik pried.
"Fine, we're going to the fall at the very edge of the plain, larger predators can't get there and there's nothing in the water so it'll be a safe climb." He said with a smirk.
"That's just evil! I love it!" Deborah smirked as well. The three carnivores stomped their way through the plain, herds of herbivores avoiding their bulk. They would be safe for now, they wouldn't need to hunt until they had finished. It wasn't eight minutes later until they had reached the waterfall.
"Alright! Silver! Get down here!" Blaze shouted upwards getting off of Gorgo. Silver slowly landed in front of them, hopping off of her Thallaso.
"What is it human?" She growls.
"We are going to be having a quick team building exercise. I know you don't trust us and you probably don't like us. But that has to change, the sooner the better! SO! We are going to climb upwards as a team, until we reach that branch up there holding that apple." Blaze said pointing to a bright red apple on a branch halfway up the waterfall.
"Are you insane? What happens if we fall?" Silver asked.
"Well we fall and die a miserable death. We fall in the water and try again. The water is deep enough so we can't get hurt if we fall, there's nothing inside to hurt us either."
"We did this the first time, we got halfway before falling." Erik said reminiscing.
"Come on private snowball, scared you'll get your hair wet?" Deborah taunted.
"I've been wanting to go for a swim for a while anyway. Let's go." Erik pulled off his shirt and waited for the others.
"Come on, you're going to be working with us for a while, might as well get to know you can trust us." Blaze said pulling off his shirt as well.
"Why do I feel this is going to end very poorly?" Silver said gravely.
Next time on Dragon ball Z!
