"C'mon, c'mon… Where'd he run off to?"
Mauve eyes scrutinized the HQ lobby for red scales. So far, there was only silver flooring and the occasional decorative sago palm. Nothing out of the ordinary, and definitely nothing red. Which meant that the little bugger had probably gotten outside.
Slipping behind one of the ornamental palms in order to avoid being spotted, Tria dashed out the front door and out on to black pavement. The sun felt nice, and the air sure was fresh. She began to zone out, enjoying the refreshing breeze.
"No, gotta focus!" the blunette snapped, flicking herself on the side of the head a few times to get out of her daze. Grinning, she looked to the right, then the left. Was that a bit of fleeting red...?
Sure enough, seated beneath the shade of the robotic dinosaur, was the escapee. It was languidly scratching its head with a foot, seemingly unaware that its arms were long enough to itch it as well. But that was fine. That way, the small vivosaur couldn't see her sneaking up on it.
Giving her bow a few tugs for good luck, Tria began to creep up on the unsuspecting reptile. Light steps, long strides, breath held; everything was going well. She was hardly making a sound.
Finally, the vivosaur was within arm's reach. Carefully shifting her weight forward, the pink clad teen leaned in, hands extending out as far as possible. Just a little more-
"Hey! Tria! Did you see him? You saw him, right?"
Star-shaped pupils met mauve as the reptile spun around to see who had spoken. Letting out a startled growl, the biped took off running. It shot under the railing and past the Garage, disappearing down the trail to the dig site. Tria let out a snarl of her own, kicking at the air for a moment.
Teeth clenched, she turned to her exuberant friend. "Nate! I almost had him!" Hands gestured in the direction her target had darted off in. "Now he's probably gone to some dig site, and we'll probably have to go after him!"
"Well, aren't you positive?" Nate quipped, glancing off to the side. As much as it hurt for her to think it, now was not the time for sarcasm. And that was saying something.
Eyes awkwardly scanned behind her friend for a certain puff of red hair. "Whatever... Where's Jura?"
"I think he's lagging. Again."
"We don't have time for lagging!"
A groan, followed by frustrated stomping. "Look, I'll go find him. Go after that vivosaur for now," Tria instructed, pointing towards the Garage for emphasis. She made sure to glare in order to get her point across.
And Nate was cringing, which meant said point was across and then some. "G-got it!" His parting salute was a nice touch. That was thoroughly enjoyed.
He bolted off past her, shouting to the staff member at the Garage about getting his Bone Buggy out as he went. Well, Nate was taking care of that. Now she was feeling a lot less stressed. There was only the remaining issue of finding Jura to take care of.
The automatic door whizzed open, Tria popping in her head and scrutinizing the lobby. Sure enough, there was her good-for-nothing brother chatting with that blonde chick. Like he was going to stay there while they chased after that vivosaur.
But, there was no time for subtlety. With a loud, "LET'S GO, BRO!" Tria darted in, grabbed the spiky haired teen by the wrist, and exited just as quickly as she had entered.
And he was whining already. "Oh, come on! I had nothing to do with this problem!" Heels dug into pavement, and the duo slowed drastically. Tria was set on going to their Bone Buggy, though, so she was still trying to move forward despite the opposing force.
"You're a witness!" She snapped back, teeth grit as she began pulling harder. Since when had he been strong enough to avoid getting pulled around?
"But I'm not an accomplice!" A yank backwards almost made the smaller twin lose her balance. Alright, that was getting annoying fast.
"Too bad!" With one final exertion, Tria managed to get her brother off balance. He staggered forward, barely managing to stop himself from tripping. A green glare was sent back to her.
Grouchily getting back up, the redhead dusted himself off awkwardly. "Yeah, whatever. They'd probably tag us together on this problem, anyways…"
"That's the spirit!" his sister grinned, giving him a pat on the back. Which almost knocked him over in the process. Eh, he had it coming.
Jura's pathetic whimpers were significantly more calming than one would think. At least, to Tria they were. Leaning back in her seat, hands loosely positioned on the steering wheel, the blunette reveled in his panicking as she drove their Bone Buggy over the grassy terrain of Paradise Beach.
They had just passed the area where Maisy had been unearthed when Nate's call came in. His awkward, nervous face popped up on the sonar screen, a hint of distress to his expression. That couldn't be good.
"Well, I almost had him, but that son of a gun managed to get past the main gate since it was busted up…" A slight titter finished off the rather unhelpful comment.
"So you're saying he got away," Tria replied flatly, a hint of a growl in her tone. A responding weak nod drew out a groan. "Well that's just great."
Blue eyes flickered away from the monitor suddenly, seemingly doubling in size. "Er, hold on! I see 'em now!"
Yes. Good. Something was finally happening. Grinning, Tria tightened her grip on the wheel and prepared to speed up.
"Alright, according to the map, he's in East Hollows." A few clicks and apprehensive humming filled in the silence of her pink haired friend figuring out controls. "So I… think I just sent you the coordinates. Not exactly sure, though. Liu Ren didn't.. really… cover that…"
And since he most likely had no clue what he was doing... "So, is East Hollows just after that area we all dug fossils at?"
"Yep! You could probably just drive until you see me, actually."
"That I can do."
Casting a mischievous grin to her brother, who squeaked and braced himself against any hard surface possible, Tria slammed on the gas pedal. The vehicle lurched forward, speeding along between walls of rock. Each curve was taken at full speed, throwing the passengers to and fro (Jura more so, of course).
Eventually Nate's lighter, better blue colored car came into view, which led to the adrenaline-filled teen smashing down the brake much harder than need be. Wheels screeched and tore up grass until finally, with more rattling of the twins, the Buggy came to a reluctant stop.
Laughter came over the intercom. "Sheesh! You sure know how to make an entry!" Nate's grinning face seemed to have all but forgotten their current predicament. But, he did manage to appear serious once he and Tria had finished laughing.
"Alright, focusing now. That little vivo's up there, see?"
Sure enough, there was that red and white little bugger. He seemed to be trotting around aimlessly, sniffing at random patches of grass and scratching his head. Huh. Didn't seem all that bright, really. It was a wonder the thing had escaped them earlier. Then again, Nate was helping them…
A smirk twitched across the mauve eyed teen's face. "Awesome. We can just drive up a little closer, then Jura can hop out and nab him."
"W-wait, why d-do I have t-to do it?" the redhead whimpered, slowly composing himself after their epic ride. Seriously, he needed to toughen up. Her driving skills were on point.
"Because, you've just sat here and done nothing the entire time," Tria quipped, sass dripping from her words as she began to creep their vehicle forward. She could already feel his green gaze boring into the side of her head.
A firm, enraged shout blasted from the passenger seat. "I DIDN'T LET THAT THING OUT!"
"Too bad!" The Bone Buggy stopped. "Now get out, grab that vivosaur, and for the love of all things holy, don't make a lot of noise!"
Glaring at her brother steadily, the blunette stayed stiff as a plank, waiting impatiently for her twin to cave. About ten seconds later, Jura was grumbling to himself while fiddling his seat-belt off. The door clicked, and he slipped out, making sure to leave it open as he tiptoed out.
His spiky hair was the first thing visible over the hood. Which was actually really funny to look at, but also a distraction. It was most definitely time to focus. Soon the bandanna clad boy crept out into the open, just a few feet away from that vivosaur. Everything was going well. They could get that thing back, no one would ever know, all three of them could be Wardens, end of story.
At least, that was before that really really loud roar hit their ears.
It was almost like thunder, actually. A powerful, gut-wrenching boom that shook the air itself. The source: an elongated, powerfully muscled vivosaur standing on the ledge right above Jura and that vivosaur's heads. It appeared to be lacking skin in most places, what with the texture covering the reddish-pink splotches coating its body. Encircling these spots were light purple scales, which hardened around the head to form a several-pronged crest stretching out like snakes.
Heart raced, palms gripped, eyes changed focus rapidly. Oh no. Oh nonono. Sure, Fossil Battles were freaking sweet, but this was different. Her butthead of a brother wasn't in a Bone Buggy. And neither was that new vivosaur.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Nate shrieked over the monitor, his face paling significantly. He had better be freaking out. This was definitely no joke; not with Jura out there and the two of them safe and secure.
The newcomer leaped down from the ledge, its massive legs absorbing the fall with ease. Yellow, reptilian eyes locked on the small vivosaur and Jura before it began its slow approach. Maw hanging open, purple tongue hanging out, the brute marched up towards its prey. Head whipping back, then forwards, another skull-rattling roar pierced the air, the force of which knocked Jura on to his back. Somehow, the small reptile in front of him had managed to stay standing.
A stream of panicked screams flew from Nate's side of the monitor. "THIS IS BAD! REALLYREALLYREALLY BAD! THIS IS ABOUT AS BAD AS BAD CAN GET!"
"You don't think I realize that?!" Tria shouted back, trying her best to suppress the fear inching its way into her tone. Luckily, her pink haired friend seemed too afraid to notice. No need for him to know she was getting as worked up as he was, even if it was only mentally.
Hands clenched to the steering wheel harder and harder. What to do, what to do? Maybe… Yeah, that could work! Shaky hands fumbled with the switch to the window. It hummed down gradually. Too gradually. Come on, go faster!
"JURA!" He seemed to glance back at her. That was a start. "LEAVE THAT STUPID VIVOSAUR AND MAKE A BREAK FOR IT!"
The blunette sat, leaning out the window, teeth grit, waiting for her stupid brother to run back to her. But did he? Of course not. Because he was so darn responsible, or some other crap like that.
Moving to all fours, Jura began to crawl up next to the tiny vivosaur staring up at the massive, twelve foot tall beast. He then grabbed the reptilian eyesore and clutched it to his chest protectively, apparently glaring at their attacker. A small, squeaky roar exited said eyesore's jaws. Gall, they were both idiots.
At least Nate agreed with her. "What are those two doing?" He appeared almost as incredulous as she. "Get out of there, you dummies!"
Another stomp, another blood-curdling roar. Honestly, her heart couldn't take much more of this. Adrenaline rushes were great and all, but not in this context.
Then, it lunged. That sorry, son of a gun lunged at Jura. Long, curved fangs ready to rip through his flesh, spill his blood, devour his meat-
A ginger cannonball smacked into the flank of the huge carnivore, knocking it off balance and away from her equally ginger brother. A long, drawn out sigh escaped Tria's throat as she slammed her face against her dashboard. She was in a freaking Bone Buggy. As in, she could shoot Maisy out at will for protection.
The Proto, easily dwarfed by the theropod, stood bravely and steadfastly against it. Jura, vivosaur still held tightly in his arms, scrambled up to his feet and made a mad beeline for the Bone Buggy. Hopping into his seat, making sure to slam and lock the door behind him, the redhead broke out in mildly shallow gasps as he flopped against the upholstery.
"You freaking moron!" A gloved hand smacked roughly against his shoulder, earning a surprised yelp. Tria glowered at her twin, trying to hide the extreme concern damning up in every fiber of her being. "Why would you do something like that? You could've died!"
The freckle-faced teen tittered, sounding mildly insane, and managed to pull himself into a slouching position. "I'm not sure why I did it, but I'm sure as heck that if I ever try it again, chain me down and stop me ASAP."
With an annoyed sigh, or maybe it was relieved, Tria hit him one last time. Taking a quick look at the small reptile seated on Jura's lap, the blunette faced forward once again and focused on the battle at hand. Hopefully Maisy was holding her own.
The petit ceratopsid had already worn herself out quite a bit. The monstrous, purple laced vivosaur facing her, however, seemed to be as energized as it had been at the start of the fight. That was just fantastic.
Maisy, equally apprehensive about the situation at hand, made one last desperate attack to defend herself. Using the last of her strength, the Proto leaped into the air, spinning around and flying towards her carnivorous opponent. However, the yellow eyed brute gyrated, thick tail slamming into the spinning sphere like a baseball bat.
A shrill, pained shriek ripped through the air, and the ginger vivosaur crashed against the hood of the twins' Bone Buggy. Flashing, she reverted back to a yellow disk which was promptly collected by VR-00M. And that just about settled it. They were screwed.
Maw closing slightly, the victorious beast began to advance towards the teens quaking within their vehicles. In hindsight, they probably could have drove away at that point, but fear is incredibly restrictive when it wants to be. For that moment, it had chained their feet from the gas pedal and any thought of driving away with that now-captured little bugger of a vivosaur.
It was probably the way that those jaws came together in such a manner that the rogue appeared to be smiling, smirking even. Like it just knew that it was going to get a great big meal. That cocky not-so-little piece of crap…
Steps shook the ground as the purple and red reptile began to close in. But, thanks to some earlier thinking that she had forgotten about, Tria subconsciously lifted her foot off the break pedal, exhaling loudly upon realizing that she had shifted into reverse at some point. So, as the ghastly vivosaur got closer, the Bone Buggy rolled away.
However, this greatly frustrated their pursuer. So, it took a couple of faster than normal steps towards their retreating Buggy, then finished the sudden acceleration with a lunging bite. Seconds before the snapping, creaking sound of metal being crushed should have hit their ears, the cracking sound of bone smacking bone reverberated instead.
Staggering backwards, the crested theropod shook its now-injured head. One of its frontal teeth was clearly knocked at a weird angle. The vivosaur responsible, grey skinned, blue sailed, and intricately patterned snarled a few times, unleashing a few warning snaps to ward off the injured brute.
Luckily for the aggressor, it recognized that this newcomer clearly outranked it. With little thought of entering combat, it turned tail and charged off deeper into Paradise Beach. With a satisfied nod, the colorful new vivosaur also retreated, but into a Dino Gear which promptly vanished to the larger, cooler looking orange and red Bone Buggy that had just arrived.
Tria, while confused about the new vivosaur and freaking rad Bone Buggy, couldn't help but direct most, if not all, of her attention towards the weird squealing noise her brother was making. His bright green eyes stared, gawking at the larger vehicle. Sure that car was sweet, but it wasn't that sweet.
Nate was the first to comment on the situation. "That's right! You better run, you son of a gun!" The smugness in his voice was deadly. To him, that is. She was certain she'd put him through heck for doing virtually nothing and sounding so cocky about it.
"Hey, and thanks, whoever you are. You really saved our bacon." Well, he did transfer the credit to whom it was due. Maybe she wouldn't heckle him as badly.
"Don't mention it." WAIT. THAT WAS A FAMILIAR VOICE. "I couldn't risk the lives of such promising candidates."
The monitor went to a split screen, one half with Nate, the other half with… Oh gosh no. Of course it was Stryker. It had to be Stryker. That's just about how her luck always played out.
The brunet smiled, a hint of teasing in his tone. "You lot have had quite the first day."
Gasping, Jura immediately sat up straight, fixing up his messy hair to the best of his ability. Their pink haired friend also seemed panicked, his face pale and his mouth hanging open. Tria was determined to keep her cool, though, so she crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back in her seat.
"C-Captain Stryker!" Nate stammered, transforming into the same, jittering mass he had been when they had first met. And, just like then, he couldn't seem to stop talking.
"W-we're really sorry, honest! There was this kid and he talked awhile and my brain went to pudding and I found a button and pushed it and then their was this thing and a red vivosaur in the thing then it ran and we got out here and-" He paused to catch his breath, head hanging as he did so. "Just please don't bust us down to grunts or whatever's lower than grunts! I don't wanna be disqualified, but if I had to choose between that and grunt I'd choose-"
"Nate. Chill."
Tria's remark was answered by the teen flopping back in his seat, allowing his nerves to freeze up his tongue. Hopefully they had a fighting chance at getting away with this now.
"While it is true that you three shouldn't have been messing around with that machine, not to mention let that vivosaur out of containment, you did genuinely attempt to fix the problem."
At first, Tria wasn't sure if Stryker was messing with them or something. Sure, he was the head of a huge organization and probably didn't have a need to get their hopes up only to crush them horribly, but they had screwed up pretty badly. They deserved it. Well, mainly Jura. He should have tried harder to stop them from going into that room.
But, judging by the forgiveness in his indigo eyes and his relaxed posture, the gaudily dressed man was actually letting them off easy. Smiling, the blunette eased up her tense muscles. Huh. Apparently they had tightened up at some point. Must have been spending too much time with Jura…
Unfortunately, the Captain's praise soon shifted from the three of them (her) to just one person. One darn, not-her-person.
Eyes shone with admiration. "Jura, I must say it was quite brave of you to run out in front of the Gorgo to save that vivosaur."
Tria's body went back to being rigid, maybe even more so than before. Hold up. Since when was her brother supposed to be recognized for bravery of all things? Smarts, sure. Courage, heck no, that was supposed to be her thing.
Her redheaded sibling seemed to take the compliment well, what with his freckled cheeks flushing. A finger tugged anxiously at his bandana, adding to his embarrassment. He always did know how to take a compliment well.
"Err, thank you, sir. I like to think that I'm doing my best whenever possible," Jura replied in that overly-respectful tone of his. It sounded so sickly sweet in comparison to how he normally spoke. In her opinion, it made him sound like a complete moron, buuuut adults appreciated it for some reason.
And apparently Stryker was one of those adults. "Well, your courage, as well as that of your sister and Nate, has made me decide to keep you three in the Warden program."
Nate smirked, his confidence renewed as he let out an excited shout. "Wooooo! In your face, punishment!" Hands clutched into fists as he threw his arms over his head. Less than a second later, he slapped said appendages to his lap, laughing nervously.
"I mean, uh, thank you sir!"
Stryker chuckled lightheartedly, dismissing the pink haired teen's outburst. "It's not a problem. Just drop off that vivosaur with Professor Little, and we can pretend this whole fiasco never happened."
"Sounds good to me!" Tria beamed, shooting the brunet a thumbs-up. Her brother nodded eagerly in agreement.
"Oh, and come over to my office tomorrow after breakfast. I'm ready to announce the details of your upcoming Warden Test." And, just like that, the Captain's face disappeared from the monitor. The sound of his revving engine filled the air, and he was gone almost as fast as he had appeared.
Mauve eyes drifted towards the brightly colored vivosaur seated on Jura's lap. Its head cocked, bright green eyes filled with curiosity. Gosh it was obnoxious.
Resting a gloved hand atop the reptile's head, the blunette yawned whilst trying to shout. "Right! Well, let's get rid of this annoying eyesore and hit the sack!"
"Oh, thank goodness! I was worried Alice and I would have to start checking dig sites for him!"
Professor Little grinned, running up to Jura in order to take the big mouthed vivosaur in his arms. The redhead's sister sniggered at the disappointment on his face as he handed over the red scaled creature. Though Little trying to hold on to the small vivosaur was much more entertaining, what with the reptile being close to the same size as him.
Tria rolled her eyes while her brother hovered over the small professor just in case he were to drop the vivosaur. But, the boy appeared to know what he was doing, and managed to carry the large-by-comparison vivosaur back to his containment unit without assistance. She had to admit, that was quite impressive.
The two males returned a few minutes later, happily chatting about science related stuff. At least her nerd of a brother found someone who actually cared about nerd stuff to talk about nerd-y stuff with. That meant she would hear less of it. Yes.
"So, vivosaur's taken care of?" the blunette inquired, double checking that her sibling had not distracted Little from his task. The green haired boy nodded, a friendly smile on his face.
"Of course! And even if it wasn't, Alice would make sure it was," he assured, taking a moment to straighten out his lab coat. His response was, of course, a bit… confusing, as was almost everything else he said.
Her hand gestured in circles, signaling for him to explain. "And Alice is…?"
Silver eyes lit up as the boy recognized an opportunity to speak. Oh crap. What had she just prodded him to rant on about?
"Oh! Alice is…" Prof. Little trailed off, hands patting at his pockets, perplexed as to why he wasn't finding what he was looking for. After a few seconds of clueless searching, a light seemed to flicker on in his brain. Fingers moved up to the pocket on the chest area of his coat.
He withdrew a small, green disc with a theropod shaped silhouette inscribed on its front. The shape was spikier and smaller, though, than things like a T-Rex or Allosaurus.
The boy's posture shone with pride. "This is Alice! My only vivosaur, and the first to be revived by my miniature revival machine."
"Not to be rude, but what the heck is she?" Tria inquired, tapping at the metallic circle. Little pulled it away from her reach protectively, placing the Dino Gear back into his pocket.
"An Aero Yutie, and an extremely intelligent one at that," he quipped, giving the pocket holding Alice's Gear a tap with his hand. "She understands my research much more than you ever could."
A sniggered interjection from Jura added to the burn from Little. "Please, Nate could understand your research more than Tria."
"Shut up, you dork!" Gloved hands attempted to shove the redhead over with one sudden jar. He stumbled forward, narrowly avoiding the younger male, before face-planting on to the metal floor. Sure, it looked painful, but he had it coming.
The Prof. cringed, taking his turn to hover over the teen gradually climbing back up to his feet. No wonder the two of them got along well. They were both really paranoid nerds. Huh.
After confirming that her brother wasn't seriously injured, which he never was under any circumstance, Little sent them off to their temporary room. They were fairly tired, after all. Not to mention how nice having separate beds for the first time ever was going to be…
Gall it's been ages... Whew. Sorry for the huuuuuuge freaking delay. May was hectic for me, what with school shoving end of the year homework in my face, then I had driver's ed for the next three weeks after school got out in June, and there was always lots of homework, then my birthday, then I got a minor job, then I started being really tired and ugh...
BUT driver's ed is done now! Yay! So I officially have a bunch more time now to work on stuff like this! Especially because of the Avian Influenza outbreak! So let's just hope I don't get super lazy now...
