Holy smokes, you guys actually like this. Thank you so much if you reviewed/put this on follow or favorite! I wasn't sure how warm of a welcome I'd get, but man, it's like a furnace. X3 Basically you all rock.
Oh, and special thanks to my little sis, EchoShade, for reading through most of this and letting me know how it flowed. Even though I had to pester her for like 20 minutes to get her to do so. XD
Anyways, I don't own Fossil Fighters. Let's do this.
Soft, trilling snores filled the air as an elongated blue creature snoozed soundly atop the navy blue covers of a bed. Its body was twisted so that it encircled the sleeping form of a sixteen-year-old boy, his Fighter, Cole. Soon, the snores turned to snorts as his eyes began to flutter open, neck slowly rising off of the bed.
Loch's golden eyes surveyed the room, checking to make sure everything was in its place. The nightstand, desk with the computer, assorted books neatly stacked on said desk; it seemed that everything was in order. Giving a satisfied nod, the Plesio floated off of the bed and over to the small calendar on the desk. He angled his head so that one of his eyes could take it in. According to the red X's on the dates leading up to a single circled one, something good was supposed to happen today.
"Cole~! Rise and shine~!" the speckled Vivosaur sang, nudging the teen with his snout. All he received were muffled groans and something about beauty sleep as the black haired boy rolled away from him. "Aww, come on! Don't be like that."
Blue blankets were yanked over Cole's head, shutting Loch out. A bit annoyed now, the Plesio dug his teeth into one end of the comforter and, with a jerk of his neck, ripped it off. His Fighter let out stunned yelp as he curled into a ball to stay warm.
"Darn it, Loch!" the teen exclaimed, uncurling just enough to glare at the speckled Vivosaur. High-pitched giggles echoed from said creature, his jaw loosening up and allowing the blanket in his mouth to drop to the floor. Two pairs of eyes flashed to the object before Cole groaned and slid out of bed, picking it up.
A smug blue expression taunted him as he carefully spread it back over his bed, taking extra care to ensure there were no wrinkles in it. Satisfied with his work, the hipster turned and walked over to his desk. He fiddled around with a few things, checking his phone for any texts or the like and skimming over the calendar. A quick flick of his finger to the current date acknowledged that he was aware of its importance.
"So, what's going on today?" Loch inquired a he flashed back into a Dino Medal, falling on the wooden nightstand with a soft clink. Cole shuffled past him rubbing groggy blue eyes as he headed into his closet, coming out a second later with his beloved white coat.
"We're going to the Caliosteo Islands, you idiot," the black haired teen responded flatly as he pulled a black t-shirt with white trimming around the neck over his head. Following that were his black and white pants, then his jacket. He fumbled the zipper for a moment, fingers clumsy from having yet to awaken fully.
Picking up Loch's Medal and slipping it into his pocket as he passed by, Cole cautiously peered out the door of his room. No one was in the hall. Not much noise. Perfect.
A quick jog down the hallway took him to the bathroom, where he spiked up his already messy hair. Shooting a flirtatious look into the mirror, he pivoted around on his bare heel and began the trek to the living room. It wasn't long before Loch's incessant chattering picked up again.
"How much longer 'till we leave? 'Cause I'm super pumped to be in a tournament!"
An annoyed groan and the roll of eyes.
"I don't know, after breakfast sometime? It'll be time eventually, that's all that matters."
"After breakfast?! UGH! That's like another two hours!"
A slight smirk twitched on to Cole's face as Loch broke out in whines. Truthfully he was a bit obnoxious, but it was better than listening to him singing something to pass time. That was excruciating.
Moments later Loch was seated next to him on the living room couch, his speckled body much smaller than before, flipping through channels on the wide screen TV. With a yawn, the Plesio rested his chin on Cole's knee, golden eyes lazily staring at the colorful images. His flipper slapped at the remote randomly until he was bored. Soon he was prodding at Cole with his elongated snout, grinning as he watched the look of displeasure deepen the longer he kept it up.
In the two years he had owned Loch, Cole had yet to build up a resistance to the constant pestering from his friend. His fingers twitched as he attempted to suppress the urge to reach over and strangle the blue creature. It seemed that the shrunken Vivosaur could sense this, though, and the disturbance continued.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of poking, the announcement came and interrupted the obnoxious Plesio. "Cole! Time to get moving!"
Loch jetted away to the kitchen, his high-pitched trills reverberating throughout the large house. The black haired teen followed after with much less vigor. He was still rather tired after being awoken by his partner earlier than normal.
Upon entering the dining room, he was greeted by the sight of Loch happily munching on anchovies from a can whilst seated at the table. Gagging slightly at the smell, Cole went around the blue-scaled reptile and into the kitchen. Seconds later a biscuit, a jar of strawberry jam, and a knife were thrust into his clutches, followed by hands shoving against his back and towards the living room.
"Where have you been? I told you to be ready to go by now!" a woman's voice scolded him, giving him one last push towards his boots seated next to the couch he had been at earlier. He blinked a couple of times, failing to recall the conversation she was referring to, and shrugged.
"Sorry, Mom…" Cole mumbled, sitting down and beginning to go through the long and monotonous process of tying his beloved footwear. He could hear her sigh and her shoe tap impatiently on the tile. Soon the last tie was made and he was back on his feet, blue eyes meeting green.
His mother was fairly tall – still a bit taller than he was (though he was pretty sure next growth spurt he'd overcome that). She was in her mid-forties, emerald eyes just as bright as when she was much younger. Her hair was the same shade as his, but much longer and tied back into a braid. Judging by her loose grey t-shirt and denim capris, it seemed that she hadn't been planning on leaving the house with him.
"Sorry isn't gonna cut it," she replied, sounding a bit aggravated. "You take your own sweet time doing everything. So move it!"
"Alright, alright! Sheesh!" the black haired teen groaned, turning and heading towards the door. "Loch! We're being kicked out! Come on!"
A trilling whine, followed by a flash of blue and white left a golden circle in the palm of his hand. Pocketing it, Cole picked up his makeshift breakfast and took a bite out of the biscuit. It was kind of cold. His face scrunched up slightly out of disgust
"It wouldn't be cold if you'd gotten ready when I asked you to," his mother sighed, shaking her head. As much as Cole wanted to say something about not being called when the biscuits first got done, he decided against it. She was much harder to deal with when angered.
"Well, I should probably get going," Cole stated after swallowing. He nodded to his mother and opened the door, ready to go.
"Err, hold on a second!" Before he knew it, the young hipster was pivoted around and pulled into a hug. Despite the only other person, technically Vivosaur, actually there being a rather cheeky Plesio, he still felt rather embarrassed.
"Don't die. Stay out of trouble. Got it?" A brisk nod to move things along. "Great. Love you."
"Good bye, mom…"
"If you see your dad, say 'hi' for me!"
"Alright, I will."
The door was almost shut.
"Do you have your stuff?"
A frustrated groan.
"Dad sent it ahead."
"Oh yeah…"
"Mom, I'm leaving. Good bye."
"Alright, alright. Get out of here."
Finally he managed to make it out, Loch's sniggering echoing playfully through his skull. Cole let out a relieved sigh as he turned and began to stroll down the side walk. Time to get to Ryne's house.
"Never thought I'd see the day your mom got clingy," the speckled Vivosaur giggled, his eyes giddily flashing through his Fighter's mind. "Then again, you are her wittle baby~."
"Shut up, bro," the teen grumbled back mentally, cheeks lightly tinting red. Sure he was the youngest out of a whopping two kids – that didn't mean much.
"She just can't bear seeing her Cole-y wole-y leaving the house all by himself."
"I'm warning you."
Chittering laughter encased his mind in seconds, making him cringe. It was quite painful, actually. Sort of like nails on a chalkboard. And the headache coming from it was unreal…
Deciding that he would rather listen to Ryne over the banshee-like shrieks Loch made when he was overly entertained, Cole took off running past the remaining houses leading up to Ryne's. Turning up the dirt path and jogging up into the small woodland area it was in, he reached the front door before he even had a chance to catch his breath. At least his Plesio was silent now.
A gloved hand reached up to knock, but was cut off by the door being yanked open. There stood Ryne, eyes as huge as ever, tongue still sticking out of the corner of his mouth, body still shaking like a Chihuahua since he was excited. Really the only thing different about him ever was that occasionally he got taller. And his hair grew longer. But that wasn't very noticeable.
"Dude! Where the heck have you been?!" he exclaimed, practically leaping out the door as he slammed it behind him. Cole took a step back, slightly intimidated by the amount of energy being exerted in front of him.
"Well… You know, stuff." Because if Ryne knew he'd been lollygagging…
"Whatever! Let's get going!" Dirty fabric wrapped around Cole's wrist and yanked him behind his energetic friend. Blue eyes locked on where Ryne's large gloves had come in contact with the pure white of his jacket. It would be brown by the time he let go…
Eventually they were down the sidewalk and to a field about a mile away from Ryne's house. As nice as it would have been to just collapse in the warm, green grass, Cole resisted the urge. Grass stains were not worth his comfort. Nope. Not on his clean clothing. Taking a moment too readjust his hair to its normal amount of messiness, the teen met up with his younger friend who was standing a few feet away.
For the first time, Cole noticed the large helicopter Ryne had been gawking at. It was a metallic blue all over with streaks of silver across its iron hide. Passing by his green haired friend, not nearly as impressed, the teen climbed into the back and slid into a random seat. He could make out the driver's reddish brown hair and the blue sleeves of his uniform, but nothing really defining. With a shrug, he leaned back and put his feet up on the seat in front of him.
With a few impatient shouts from the pilot aimed at Ryne, the enthralled teen jumped in and slipped in beside Cole. He grinned, boots kicking at air excited, as the propellers began to spin and the machine began to quiver as it fought to level out off of the ground. By now the older of the two was used to helicopter rides, so the rocking did not send him into a panic attack anymore. Ryne had never been bothered by it, and was cheering quite loudly.
Eventually the thrill of taking off ended, and with it Ryne's yelling. Soon an awkward silence had settled in its absence, allowing Cole a few minutes to doze off. Which, Ryne being Ryne, was clearly not allowed.
"Hey, Cole! Did I ever show you the Vivo my dad got me?" Eyes shone with excitement as he pulled a green and white trimmed Medal from his pocket, holding it up for his friend to examine. Azure orbs creaked open enough to glance at it, then slid shut almost instantly.
"Yeah, that's pretty nice, bro," Cole mumbled, trying his best to discourage the imminent conversation. However, his friend was almost impossible to get down, so…
The younger boy's smile edged with pride as he tossed the circle a few times in his gloved hand. "It's a Paraloph! He's really powerful! Kind of like Lazer, but way cooler! His attacks take less FP than hers, and…"
As Ryne continued to ramble about his new Vivosaur, Cole found himself drifting off to sleep. Getting up an hour earlier, even if he didn't get ready like he was supposed to, really screwed up his sleep schedule. Oh well. He'd fix it up on the flight.
Breathing slowed for what felt like seconds before his eyes shot open at the sound of squealing. Cringing and searching for the source simultaneously, Cole found himself being leaned over by Ryne, who was staring out the window. And making that noise.
Considering who he was dealing with, the black haired teen just lay on the seat and waited for his friend to get off of him. When the hazel eyed boy failed to move, a quick shove to his legs let Cole move out and brush himself off. Ryne was just as filthy as ever.
"COLE! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Loch's voice penetrated his mind, dripping with the same eagerness of Ryne. "WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO WAKE YOU UP! THE CALIOSTEO ISLANDS ARE IN SIGHT! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"
Cole's hand clenched the side of his head as he groaned, the pain from his partner's screaming giving him yet another headache. It was like having someone yell in your ear, but with no way to block it out. "Wait, what do you mean 'we'? Who else is involved in your horrible plan?"
"Sam! We were trying to see if he could contact you, buuuuuut I don't think it worked," the Plesio tittered, sending waves of good-natured feelings to his Fighter. Despite the slight irritation building up inside of him, Cole smiled weakly from the emotions. Even though he had no idea who Sam was.
"Uh, and Sam's Ryne's Paraloph. I'm like 99% sure you were asleep when he said that."
And this was precisely why he rarely listened to Ryne when he was tired – Loch filled him in later. Nodding briefly, the hipster turned and took in the sight of his friend practically pressing his face against the window. Incomprehensible words streamed out of his mouth in bursts of energy, making it sound a lot like some lunatic was babbling away in the back seats. Which wasn't that far from the truth.
Finally an actual sentence. "COLE! WE'RE GONNA BE FOSSIL FIGHTERS!"
"I know."
"AND I'M GONNA KICK YOUR BUTT!"
"Wait a minute, Ryne-"
"SAM'S GONNA PUNCH YOUR LITTLE PLESIO THROUGH A WALL!"
"Calm dow-"
"IT'S GONNA BE EPI-"
An interrupting shout from the pilot. "WOULD YOU SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET SO I CAN CONCENTRATE?!" Ryne blinked a couple of times, then sat down next to his older friend. He was still quaking due to pure energy. Cole shifted away from him, unsure of how safe he was next to such an unstable person.
The helicopter lurched as it came in for a landing, sending mildly concerned trembles through Cole's body. Of course, he wasn't scared of take offs or flying. Just landings now. Fingers dug into the smooth material of the seats as he tried to ignore the dread beginning to fill his very being. Soon the metal props scraped against the ground, and the shaking of the machine stopped. A relieved sigh escaped his lips.
"You're such a baby, bro."
"Loch, I freaking swear-"
"See you later, slowpoke!" Ryne shouted, cutting off Cole and Loch's conversation as he darted out the now open door of the copter. After registering what had just happened in his brain, the black and white clad teen let out a surprised yelp and ran out after him, boots hitting pavement as he jumped down. He staggered around for a moment, regaining his bearings, and scrutinized the area for Ryne.
Luckily he managed to catch a glimpse of blue and green as his friend entered a large, dome-shaped building directly in front of him. Groaning, Cole jogged up to the structure, slowing down to walk through the automatic sliding doors. Sure enough, there was Ryne, chatting with the receptionist eagerly.
As he strolled up next to the exuberant boy, blue eyes took a moment to overview the room. There was a lot of red and blue with a bunch of hallways and staircases. Potted plants were placed on either sides of any and all doorframes, and the occasional Fossil Fighter could be seen talking around the room.
His focus returned to Ryne, who was waving him over. Assuming that he was not being messed with, Cole took the last few steps and stopped directly in front of the counter. The receptionist, brunette and clad in red (did the people here have a fetish…?), smiled at him with forced eagerness.
"Hello! You're here to sign up, correct?" she chirped, voice cracking. Clearly she had been at this all day, and her cheeriness was beginning to fade. Cole gave a brisk nod, hoping to move things along smoothly for her. "Great! What's your name?"
"Cole Sukaru." Her brown eyes inspected a list she had in front of her, pen tapping the name a few times once she had located it. Without missing a beat she pulled upon a drawer to her side, sifted through a file labeled 'S', and withdrew a small card and watch. She placed both items in front of him after a brief inspection, and nodded to herself.
"Alright, that's your Fighter's License and the gear that comes with it," the brunette explained as Cole picked up the card, glanced at it briefly, and put it in his pocket next to Loch's Medal. The watch-like item caught his attention, though, and he looked it over carefully. "That's the thing that most Fossil Fighters wear on their wrist during Fossil Battles. When in use, it displays an image with stats, attacks, and the like."
Immediately Cole felt his face heat up out of embarrassment. Of course that's what it was. He had seen his dad's almost a million times. Well, his was tricked out and hardly resembled the simple grey and black model currently resting in his palm, but still. Common sense stuff. Wanting to avoid further humiliation, the teen pivoted around on his heel and headed over to where Ryne had wandered off to.
In the five minutes he had taken to get signed in, Ryne had found yet another person to talk to. Rolling his eyes, Cole quickly slipped the watch-like object over his wrist and joined his friend. He was speaking to a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, with long, curly brown hair tied into a ponytail which hung over her shoulder. Brown eyes peeked out from underneath her blue and white visor, and yellow, aqua, and green was scattered over her entire uniform.
Hazel eyes glanced to the side and met bored blue. "Oh, hey, Cole! I was just talking to Stella here! She's the staff leader here, by the way," Ryne grinned, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth. "Anyways, she says she can take us on a tour of the facilities. Show us the ropes. You in?"
"Eh…" Cole cringed mid-reply as Loch began screaming something about needing to head outside, and that tours were for the weak. A bit confused, but also slightly relieved, the teen shook his head. "Yeah, I think I'll pass. Isn't there something going on outside…?"
"Well, the opening ceremony should be starting soon," Stella replied, smiling at him. Everyone did that a lot here. If he could find one person not constantly smiling, things would get infinitely better. Still, Cole nodded and turned around.
"…Exactly. So I'm gonna go do that, and you can go walk through here."
"But we're gonna clean fossils, bro!"
A shudder ran down Cole's spine. He didn't mind Fossil Fighting. Nothing was wrong with training and all that good stuff. But digging and cleaning fossils was just awful. All that dirt and physical labor left him a mess.
"I think I'll pass."
Boots clunked against the floor as he ambled out the front door, surprised at the sudden crowd in front of the Fighter Station. Still, it beat having to get dust all over his clean white coat. Even if being in close proximity with such unhip people was painful.
He took a few steps forward, putting some room between him and the large building. He was not sure what was supposed to happen since there wasn't a stage anywhere. Or at least, he hadn't spotted one yet. Feet shifted as Cole looked all around him, still failing to find any sort of elevated structure.
"Man, for an opening ceremony, this is kinda lame," Loch grumbled, disappointment emanating from within his Medal. Cole was too stunned by his partner's pessimistic behavior to reply. "Err, not to be the downer of the two of us, but I was expecting a little bit more… pizazz from something Joe was pulling off."
A thoughtful look appeared on his Fighter's countenance. "Yeah, an excited mob does seem a little out of place. I mean, you remember when-"
Excited screeches and the roaring of helicopter blades filled the air. Attention captured, Cole turned around and blinked a couple of times, shocked at the machine now hovering in the air. A giant TV with a propeller on top of it and huge speakers on the front.
"Oop. There it is," his Plesio grinned, his normal, cheerful self returning. The previously dark screen flashed to life, an image of none other than Joe Wildwest appearing. The cheering increased ten-fold.
"Welcome to the Caliosteo Fossil Park!" Joe's enthusiastic voice boomed from the yellow speakers. "The place where dreams are made!"
"YEAH! I like dreams!" Loch cheered, joy radiating from his being. Cole cracked a grin, but it was mostly from his Plesio. That stupid speckle-y Vivosaur was like a happiness magnet.
"Pst! Cole!" Fingers tugged at his crisp, white sleeve. He could practically feel the dirt embedding in it.
"Ryne! Stop touching me with your filthy gloves!" Cole whined, swatting away his green haired friend's hands. A few choice words were muttered under his breath as dirty spots were wiped at. "What do you want? Can't you see there's a thing going on?"
Grinning and bright hazel eyes responded to his question. "Stella said to give you this." His left hand reached up and dropped a bright red walkie-talkie type thing into Cole's grasp. Blue eyes stared at it blankly.
"Ugh. What is this hideous thing?" the hipster gagged, holding the device away from him with two fingers. "The colors look awful. Why are you assaulting my eyes with it?"
"It's called a Paleopager. Stella says they let us know important stuff."
"Does it come in black and white?"
"I didn't ask, but I doubt they do."
A trilling whine invaded Cole's thoughts, preventing his own complaining from continuing. He didn't even have time to say something in response to said trill, though, because an even louder one followed it.
"Shut uuuuuuuup! I wanna hear Joe!" Loch howled, snorting afterwards for emphasis. Reminded that something of importance was actually occurring, Cole turned back towards the screen. Ryne seemed to notice it for the first time, and directed his wide-eyed gaze in that direction.
"-you'll own 'er free and clear!" Joe grinned, finishing some statement the two had missed. As the crowd burst with excitement, the pair glanced around awkwardly, hoping someone would say something about what he had just said.
"So let's get to battlin', folks! The Caliosteo Cup is now… OPEN!"
"Great job, guys. We are missing out on something free and female. I hope you're happy." Cole could feel Loch trying his hardest to stay mad, but slowly tiny bubbles of happiness would pop up, and little giggles would leave his scowling maw. Which was pretty entertaining.
"Hey, Ryne. Cole."
Cole sighed, turning slightly if only to be polite. Ryne bounced over to the newcomer, none other than Stella, and smiled.
"Hi, Stella! What's up?"
Judging by the slightly confused look in her brown eyes, she seemed to be wondering the same thing.
"Oh, nothing much. I was just thinking about what Joe said. You know, the whole thing about giving away the park to the winner of the Cup," the brunette replied, drawing an absolutely dumbfound expression to appear on Ryne's face. His older friend cringed. He was getting that look. That bad, bad, bad look.
"HE'S GIVING AWAY THE PARK?!" Ryne squealed, jumping up and down in place. Stella took a cautious step away from the blue clad boy, not sure where he was going with this.
"Apparently so…" Her voice trailed off, eyes glancing to the side briefly. She shook her head, seemingly to help her focus, and returned to smiling warmly at the peppy teen in front of her. "Anyways, why aren't you two out digging fossils? There's an open dig site now."
Paleopagers beeped loudly, almost as if on cue. Cole glared at the brightly colored device before begrudgingly moving it close enough to his ear to hear it.
"The first dig site, Treasure Lake, has opened. Fighters are urged to travel there and ready for Round 1 of the Cup."
"Dude. Did that thing just say 'lake'?" Loch inquired, and the perfect image of golden eyes lighting up popped into his Fighter's mind. The black haired teen nodded slowly. "HECK YEAH! I haven't swum in a natural water source in ages! Let's move!" And just like that, he felt entitled to move.
Ryne was the first to get going, grabbing Cole's wrist in a brown glove. He shot Stella a thumbs-up and peeked back at the older teen quickly. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go dig up some fossils!"
"AND SWIM! SWIMSWIMSWIM!"
The sound of clunking boots filled the air as the shorter boy took off in a mad dash towards Treasure Lake, Cole in tow.
Alright, hopefully this is acceptable to you guys. I wanna just jump into the fighting and stuff, but there's all this opening stuff that has to be there. And, you know, plot. XD
Oh, and just a little thing to point out in case you were confused, the 'Lazer' mentioned during the brief segment on Sam is a Vivosaur. Not saying what kind, but she'd a Vivo.
Well, I'm going to try to work extra hard on this to get a bunch done in time for Fossil Fighters: Frontier in March. I kinda want to write a thing for that game, so I figured that this needs to be done or like a few chapters from done to do so. I'm such an eager beaver. XD
Anyways, leave a review if you'd like. I'd appreciate it! ;)