The last of the Darotascraptor who had attacked Ty's gang was now fully repaired. "Oh, thank you!" he said as soon as the last loose bolt in his foot was tightened.

"You are most welcome!" Revvit replied happily. "Now in the future, stay away from any Shockarachnids that want to play with you. The repairasites breed in their brains, so if you eat them you'll be infected all over again."

The Darotascraptor nodded. "Good to know." He rolled out and left with his pack.

"In a few weeks, their coverings will regrow and they will be good as new," Revvit said happily.

"Wait, we can grow parts?" Ton-Ton asked. "So...why do we need to get fixed an' stuff?"

"Only the coverings of internal mechanisms are capable of regeneration. All other parts must be replaced if damaged," the chameleon/drill replied.

"Oh," Ton-Ton said. "So like, dudes, if I scrape my head open–"

"Nope, not having this discussion," Waldo grunted, walking away clearly disgusted.

Trax looked at Ty. "Your reptool friends are most intriguing," Trax noted. "How did you come across them?"

Ty smiled at the memories flooding back to him. "I found Revvit trying to get some of my ore. I thought I would just give him a piece, and later on he fixed me after my leg got pretty busted up. Waldo, Ace, and Click-Clack, he brought them from Reptool Ravine to help out."

Trax smiled. "He and you are good friends. I normally would not expect such kindness from your species, no offense."

"None taken. My mom threw me out of her territory as soon as I was big enough to fend for myself. Said she didn't want me taking her ore. I only ever met my dad once, and he was pretty scary. I'm glad I'm not so ill-tempered like them."

"I don't know, Ty," Skya said. She was next to them, and had only recently started paying attention. "You can act pretty badly when you're angry."

"I believe the key phrase here is 'like them'," Trax pointed out. "Ty can be ill-tempered like himself but not like his parents."

"Whatever."

Trax looked at Ty curiously. "You mentioned your leg was injured when you and Revvit had just recently met. How did that happen?"

"D-Structs, that's what happened," Dozer grunted. "He hates us and doesn't wanna share his turf. Keeps trying to drive us out, but he never succeeds."

"D-Structs? Never heard of him," Cora remarked. "Doesn't seem very important."

"Oh, but he is. This crater was all his until I came," Ty explained. "I asked if he'd want to share, 'cuz that's what I did back in my old valley before the volcano erupted, but he didn't want to. He's very selfish and under-handed, and really likes terrorizing trucks."

"Here's a picture," Ace said, pulling out a slab of rock with D-Structs' figure etched into it. "So you know what he looks like."

The newcomers studied it. "He looks nothing like ya, Ty," Dakota said finally. "He's bigger, has two sets of treads per feet, and his eyes face sideways. And is that the claw of a Grabbydosaurus on the end of his tail?

"The last one's a funny story, actually," Dozer chuckled.

"It can't be THAT funny," Cora retorted.

"It is to me."

"Guys, knock it off," Skya said crossly.

Trax inspected the drawing. "He looks quite different from other T. trux, I must admit. Most should look like Ty."

"Is there a possibility he's not a pureblood?" Screed asked.

"Yes, he looks either half-Carburetorsaurus or half-Dasbeltosaurus."

Ty's convoy stared at them, very confused.

"Hold up," said Dozer. "What are you even talking about? And most importantly–" he took a deep breath "–WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE?!"

"Well, you tell us, genius," Cora spat. "You think you know everything? Then tell us why you think we're here."

"Cora!" Trax shouted. "Enough. We will explain everything. This convoy at least deserves that."

Cora smirked at Dozer, who shot her an angry glare.

Trax stared outside at the falling snow. "We come a long way from here, in the Grasslands," he said finally. "There, your kinds are as rare as ours are here. Trux of the Grasslands were also much more used to cooperating. We worked together, building massive cities to show our talent. Those were good times to be alive." He sighed. "Then things changed. The Grasslands dried up and became part of the massive desert beyond this crater. Small creatures called cammals arrived and ate all our ore, and when we ran out they went after our eggs. And the repairasites came in more numbers than ever before. We lost so many Trux to those infections. Our cities were destroyed by Trux driven out of their minds by those horrible creatures, siphoning the life out of Trux just so they could reproduce."

"Yeesh," Skya winced.

"It gets worse," Trax said ominously. "Trux all over the world are dying off in vast numbers. We have reason to believe we're in the middle of a mass extinction event. Species we grew up with are disappearing overnight."

"We escaped the Grasslands," Screed added. "We've since dedicated our lives to traveling the world and keeping track of our numbers. So when one kind is at risk, we can attempt to save them."

"A most noble thing you are doing," Revvit said. "If there is any way we can help, we shall."

"We appreciate the offer, rotilian," Trax said. "We could use your help in navigating this area, and keeping count of the locals.

A honking noise came from outside. The Trux turned their heads to see Garby, the Stegarbasaurus germatus, rush into the garage.

Panting, he said, "Guys, that Pounder guy is back and is trying to smash everything!"

"Pounder?" Dakota asked, cocking her head.

"He's a Poundersaurolophus," Ty said. "Very tricky. We need to act now!"

"For the record, it's pronounced pown-dur-sawr-oh-LA-fuss," Cora said.

"And you would know how?" Dozer asked.

"Because I happen to be distantly related to those chumps, okay?"


AN:

Grabbydosaurus mcintouchyAbydosaurus mcintoshi (relative of Brachiosaurus) and a claw excavator.

Carburetorsaurus batar – Tarbosaurus baatar (relative of Tyrannosaurus) and an excavator.

Dasbeltosaurus corerosus – Daspletosaurus torosus (relative of Tyrannosaurus) and a conveyor belt.

Cammal prehistoric mammals and cams.