Meanwhile, Zoe, followed by Paris, and Black Cuervo headed outside the arcade and towards Zoe's house.

"That stupid Max, what's his problem?" Zoe asked aloud.

"You know how boys can be, sometimes they're muy loco" BC replied "but you don't need them, you got me now."

"Yeah, but still, they are my friends" Zoe said "maybe I should go apologize to them."

"Okay, but first, come with me down that dark alley over there" BC said.

"Why?"

"I'm your friend, would I steer you wrong?" BC asked.

"Actually, I just met you a few minutes ago, so I don't know you that well" Zoe explained "and my parents always told me to never go down dark alleys."

"Okay, but I was going to give you my iPod" BC explained.

"Oh, well that's different" Zoe said "and it's not like there's a group of creepy villains waiting in there to grab me."

"Right, so let's go" BC added.

Zoe followed her friend into the alley. "I don't see why we have to do this here, it's really dark and I can hardly see" she said.

"Don't worry about it, here, let me turn on my flashlight" BC said.

The instant her flashlight went on, Zoe was grabbed from behind by CF.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" she shouted.

"Sorry little girl, but this whole thing was a scheme to capture you so we can use you to force your friends to hand over the dinosaurs to us" BC explained.

"I can't believe I trusted you!" Zoe said "and to think, I was going to give you a makeover. Run Paris, get help!"

The little parasaurolophus, ran as fast as its' little legs would carry it back to the arcade.

"Should we go after the dino?" Tolinator asked.

"No, that little thing is doing exactly what we want" Beekeeper explained "its' presence will inform the others that something has happened to their fashion challenged friend."

"Fashion challenged?! Have you seen what you're wearing?" Zoe asked angrily.

"Oh yeah, and black and yellow, that's a good combination" he replied.

"That's the same colors you have" Zoe told him.

"I am humbled."


Paris soon made her back to the arcade, where Max had managed to extract Chomp from the claw machine base.

"Bad Chomp, no eating the arcade machines" he said "if you want, I'll win you one of the toys and you can chew on that."

Paris then came in and began to tug on Rex's pants. "Hey Paris, what's the problem?" he asked.

"Is Zoe stuck in a well?" Max wondered.

Paris began to squeak and continued to pull at Rex's pants.

"Maybe she really wants your pants" Max suggested.

"No, I think she's trying to tell us that something happened to Zoe" Rex replied.

"That was my next guess."

"Is Zoe in trouble, Paris?" Rex asked, with the little dino nodding her head in agreement.

"Come on, take us to her" Rex said.

Paris soon led the kids to the alley where she had last seen Zoe, but by now the villains and the girl were gone.

"Nothing, whoever grabbed Zoe must've split" Rex said.

"So now what? Should we contact the police?" Max asked.

"Yeah, but let's talk to your dad first" Rex replied "maybe we can track Zoe by her Dino Holder."

"Oh yeah, why didn't I think of that?" Max wondered.

"I can think of a few reasons" Rex replied.


After several minutes, the kids reported to the D-Lab, where Max's father, Dr. Spike Taylor worked. The doc was unconventional to say the least, wearing a yellow t-shirt, dark brown vest, red & white sneakers, brown fingerless gloves and fedora, and blue jeans.

"And you say that Zoe went off with this new girl, and the next thing you knew she was gone?" Dr. Taylor asked.

"Pretty much" Max replied.

"See kids, this is why you should never talk to strangers" Dr. Taylor said "my father always used to tell me 'son, strangers are like tyrannosaurus; they may seem interesting, but they can be very dangerous.' Ah, I miss my poor old dad."

"Um, dad, can we focus here please?" Max asked.

"Right, sorry, my bad" Dr. Taylor replied "anyway, there may be a way to locate Zoe through her Dino Holder, provided those that have captured her haven't taken it from her. And I think it would be best if we didn't tell Reese either."

"Tell me what?" replied someone in an emotionless monotone. The boys saw an older woman with a lab coat and green shirt walk into the lab. That was Reese Drake, Dr. Taylor's assistant and Zoe's older sister.

"Tell you that…it's Chomp's birthday!" Dr. Taylor said hastily.

"Oh, I wasn't aware dinosaurs celebrated birthdays" Reese replied "and, since Chomp's a dinosaur, his age would be in the millions."

"True, but we treat him like a dog, so actually, it would be his age in dog years" Dr. Taylor explained.

"Oh, okay" Reese said, still confused "anyway, have either of you two seen Zoe? I know she went out with you, but she's not here."

"Umm…." Both boys started.

"Say Reese, hypothetical question" Dr. Taylor interrupted them "how would you feel if Zoe was lost and possibly kidnapped?"

"I'd be crushed" Reese replied "Zoe is my only sister, and the news that something has happened to her would put me into an emotional coma. Why do you ask?"

"Oh you know me, always like to find out people's answers to completely fake and not true situations" Dr. Taylor explained.

"Whatever" Reese replied "I have to go finish carbon dating some fossils. If Zoe shows up, will you let me know?"

"Can do, you just go and finish all your work now" Dr. Taylor said.

"Yeah, don't worry about anything" Max added.

"Everything is totally fine" Rex chimed in.

After Reese left, all three breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that was close" Dr. Taylor said.

"Yeah, I'm sure your fake question really threw her off the trail" Rex replied sarcastically.

"Never mind that now, we need to start tracing that Dino Holder signal" Dr. Taylor replied.

He used Max's Dino Holder to find the signal, but nothing came up.

"Well, wherever she is, she isn't near her Dino Holder" Dr. Taylor said "if only we had some clue as to where she was."

"Oh, by the way doctor, this videotape came a few minutes ago" Reese interrupted, coming back into the room holding a video in her hands.

"Oh goody, maybe it's my new 'Dinosaurs Gone Wild' tape!" he said happily dancing around, before noticing the kids looking at him strangely.

"It's not what it sounds like" he explained "you see, dinosaurs are naturally wild creatures, and this tape simply captures that."

"That's exactly what I thought" Max said.

"Me too" replied Rex "we were just creeped out by your goofy dancing."

"Oh, sorry boys, but dinosaurs get me a little excited" Dr. Taylor explained "and Max, not a word about this tape to your mother."

"Okay dad."

"Well, I have to leave for no particular reason" Reese said "have fun watching your tape."

After she left, Dr. Taylor popped the tape into a slot on the computer. A large acne-ridden kid appeared on the screen.

"Hey, this isn't dinosaurs, what a rip!" the doc complained.

"Is this thing on?" CF asked.

"Yeah, I think so" Tolinator's voice came from behind the camera.

"All right then" CF began "attention dino kids. If you are watching this, then that means our delivery was successful. Just a little humor there; anyway we have a little friend of yours here that's hoping you'll come and play."

He stepped aside to reveal Zoe, bound to a chair and gagged, and struggling against her restraints.

"Zoe!" both boys exclaimed.

"If you want to see your badly dressed and extremely annoying friend again, then we want your dinosaurs. Or the secret to how you control the dinosaurs, or both, since having the dinos would be stupid if we couldn't control them" CF replied.

"Anyway, meet us at the old manga publishing house in a half hour and we'll make the swap" CF continued "and no tricks, or pinky here ends up as dino chow."

After finishing, he stood there proudly "well, I think that turned out nicely" he said "those little brats are probably worried sick by now."

Unaware the camera was still going, he began to pick his nose. "Man, I've been hoping to do this all day" he said, "I've got a really big one in here."

As he dug around looking for nose gold, he eventually spied the camera and saw the red light was still on.

"What! Did you forget to turn off the camera?" he asked Tolinator.

"I forget how."

"Oh for the love of Pete!" CF said, walking over to the camera, so his entire body filled the screen.

"Is it this button?" Tolinator asked.

"No, press the red one, the red…" CF said before the screen went blank.

"Okay, that was pretty disturbing" Max commented.

"Yeah, but what are we going to do about Zoe?" Rex asked "we can't give our dinosaurs to those creeps."

"I have it!" Dr. Taylor exclaimed "we'll build some fake dinosaurs out of paper mache and give them to the kidnappers. They'll be so lifelike those guys won't know the difference."

"Yeah, no offense dad, but I think we're going to go another way" Max replied.

"If you say so" Dr. Taylor replied "let me know if you need a ride."

"Isn't it strange that there's another group out there, besides the Alpha Gang after our dinosaurs?" Rex asked, "I mean, how did they even hear about them?"

"Well, it's not like we do such a good job of covering up thier existence" Max replied.


Control Freak: Have you figured out what anime series Dinosaur King resembles yet? Let's look at what we know so far.

Motor Ed: First off, the lead kid has a totally lame sounding voice.

CF: And, their group is made up of three, consisting of two boys and a girl. Interesting…

Ed: Not to mention, they get help from a scientist dude, who's totally flipped, seriously.

CF: Congrats to anyone who figured it out, although it's not that hard. You could be as dumb as Tolinator and still get it.

Ed: You know my favorite anime? Bobobo. That dude has hair that puts mine to shame, seriously.

CF: Actually, a lot of anime characters have weird hair. They must buy mousse by the truckload or something.

Ed: Or maybe they use special mousse. Man, I'd like to get my hands on some of that, seriously. Anyway, in our next chapter, we make the exchange with the brats, when a trio of clowns show up, and I don't mean the circus kind.

CF: So don't forget to Read and Review.