CHAPTER 7
FUN WITH THE ORN TWINS
A short time later, they all arrived at Ornithomimus Corner, and it wasn't long after that before they found the Ornithomimus family; or rather, they found THEM.
"Hey, look! It's our friends the Pteranodon family!" Oren said as he appeared, then disappeared in front of them.
"Hi, Pteranodon family!" Ollie said as HE appeared and disappeared in front of them.
Then they focused their attention on Kark. "Look, Ollie! Do you see what I see?" Oren said as he startled Kark by appearing in front of him.
"Yep! I see what you see: A really strange dinosaur..." Ollie said as he suddenly appeared on the opposite side of Oren.
Then they switched positions. Kark only saw a blue blur in front of him. "How does he look from over here?" Oren asked his twin.
They switched positions again. "Hmmm... 'Bout the same..." Ollie said in answer.
They then zipped to the front of Kark, who put his hands up in the air. "Whoa... WHOA, guys! Slow down!"
Oren zipped to Kark's left. "Slow down?"
Ollie zipped to Kark's right. "We can't slow down!"
"You have to keep up with US!" they both said simultaneously. Then they laughed simultaneously.
Then a female ornithomimus suddenly appeared in front of them. "Oh, HELLO Pteranodon family! So nice to SEE you again!"
"Hi, Mrs. Ornithomimus!" Buddy, Tiny and Don said simultaneously.
Mrs. Pteranodon squawked "Nice to see you again, too! And we've brought a friend here with us to meet you..."
The female ornithomimus zipped to stand in front. "How do you do? I'm Mrs. Ornithomimus; and these are my twin boys, Oren and Ollie..."
"Very pleased to meet you!" they both said simultaneously.
"Uhh... likewise..." Kark managed to say. "I am Karkovice... A weredragon..."
"Weredragon?" Oren said in puzzlement.
"What's a weredragon?" Ollie asked.
"I'll tell you about it later..." Kark grinned.
"Well... 'better late than never' mom likes to say..." Oren began.
"Though were never late for anything..." Ollie continued.
"Because we're so FAST!" they both finished with a simultaneous laugh.
"Well, I guess we should show you around, then..." Mrs. Ornithomimus said.
"That's what I'm here for..." Kark smiled.
"C'mon, guys!" Oren said to the three Pteranodon children.
"Let's play!" Ollie cried.
"Don't go wandering off too far, boys!" Mrs. Ornithomimus called.
"We won't!" they called back simultaneously before sprinting off with a simultaneous laugh while Buddy, Tiny and Don struggled to keep up.
"So, Mr. Karkovice..." Mrs. Ornithomimus began. "Tell me a little about yourself..."
A short while later, everybody found themselves in a small clearing on the path. Buddy, Tiny and Don remembered it as the place where they had their racing games with Oren and Ollie when they first met them. Now, upon the insistence of Buddy, Kark indulged him by participating in some of the racing games to test his speed and abilities.
"I think we should start off with just a straight foot race to see how fast Kark can really run." Buddy announced.
"How do you propose we do THAT, Buddy?" Don said.
"Kark can race against one of the Ornithomimus twins... Preferably, the fastest... So, guys, which one shall it be?"
"We're both pretty equally fast..." Oren said.
"But I'M more eager to race against Kark!" Ollie announced as he ran in place.
Kark hardly saw Ollie's legs move! All he really COULD see was the dust that his feet kicked up.
"You can both start here..." Buddy said as he drew a line on the ground. "and you can race all the way up to that tree."
"Wait! Let me fly all the way to the tree so I can see who finishes first!" Tiny said as she took flight and landed at the foot of the tree which would be the finish line. "OKAY! WHENEVER YOU'RE READY!" she called and waved.
"Okay, runners, take your marks!" Buddy announced. Both Ollie and Kark took their places. Kark crouched down like a track runner while Ollie stood straight on his two feet.
"Get set!" Buddy called. Both runners reared up to leave. "GO!"
With that, Ollie took off like a flash while Kark sprinted as hard as he could. It wasn't long before Ollie took a big lead while Kark seemed to lumber far behind.
"And the winner of the running race IS..." Tiny began. "OLLIE ORNITHOMIMUS!" she announced as Ollie tagged the tree. "WHOO HOOOO..." he cried for joy as he jumped up and down.
Kark was panting for breath when he finally reached the tree and tagged it a few seconds later. "Wow! You really ARE fast!" he commented in between breaths.
"Okay, we've established that the ornithomimus are WAY faster runners than dragons..." Buddy said when they all got together to discuss what took place. "I think we should test the ornithomimus' running to Kark's flying next..."
"Yeah! I think Kark would win... he DID fly pretty fast to the Rexville train station..." Tiny said.
"All right! I'll let Oren handle this one!" Ollie said.
"Thanks, brother!"
"No prob!"
"Race all the way up to that standing rock over there!" Buddy said as he pointed.
Tiny immediately took flight to get to the rock and see who the winner would be.
"Okay, runners! On your marks... get set... GO!" Buddy called.
Oren soon took off sprinting while Kark took a running start, spread his wings and soon took flight. Oren took a commanding lead, but Kark slowly caught up with him. By the time they reached the rock, it was pretty close.
"And the winner by a nose is... KARK!" Tiny announced.
Kark swooped down for a landing next to Tiny and Oren.
"Great race, Oren!" Ollie said when he got beside his brother. "Too bad you don't have wings like Kark..."
"Yeah... I'll bet if I had wings like him, I could fly just as fast... Maybe faster still!"
They both laughed simultaneously.
"Okay... So although Oren got off to a quick start, Kark was able to slowly catch up to him to eventually win the race. Therefore, I conclude that dragons can fly faster than the ornithomimus can run!" Buddy would announce.
"Still, I was going full throttle..." Kark admitted.
Don blinked. "Yeah... but you're still a fast flyer... But 'I' still think that Buddy is the fastest of ALL of us..." Don boasted.
"Maybe..." Ollie said. "What say we do a relay race, like last time... Only this time, let's make it Kark and Buddy against me and Oren..."
"Buddy can run, and Kark can fly..." Oren said.
"Then we can see who's the fastest TEAM!" they both finished together.
"Sounds like fun! What do you think, Kark?" Tiny asked.
"Hey! I'm game..." Kark smiled and shrugged.
"AAAALL RIGHT!" Buddy and Tiny shouted as they high fived each other.
They've decided to run the relay race from the original starting point up to the free standing tree, then the relay partners would finish the race at the free standing rock. Tiny would be the referee of this race and determine the winner. Mrs. Pteranodon and Mrs. Ornithomimus would act as spectators.
Buddy, Tiny and Don showed Kark their "GO TEAM PTERANODON" handshake, in which he participated. The Ornithomimus twins did theirs where Kark only saw a blue blur as they did a series of improvised doughnuts. Kark was amazed at how fast those two are in short sprints, but he figured he'd probably have the edge in long distance flying compared to their running.
When everything was set, the race got under way! Buddy started the first part of the race with Ollie, while Kark and Oren would wait at the halfway point, which was the free standing tree, and complete the race once they were tagged.
Don grabbed a pair of bush branches, waved them in the air and sang the following. "Go, Buddy, GO! Run like the wind! You can do it... uhh... You're the BEST!"
Kark couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't quit your day job, Don!" he commented.
Don was confused. "Uhh... What's he mean by that?" He asked his mother.
She cleared her throat. "Well, Don... Maybe you should stick to collecting things and leave the family cheerleading to Shiny from now on..."
"Oh..."
Mrs. Ornithomimus gave the signal for the two starting runners to take off. Ollie soon took the lead, but Buddy didn't stay too far behind. "C'mon, Buddy! HURRY!" Kark encouraged. Ollie soon reached Oren and tagged him. He then took off in a flash to continue the second half of the race. Seconds later, Buddy was almost out of breath when he tagged Kark; who then sprinted and took flight. He pressed on with all his might! He saw Oren was running pretty fast, but he was slowly gaining on him. By the time they reached the free standing rock, it was pretty close.
"IT'S A TIE!" Tiny announced as she watched the two racers cross the "finish line".
"Great race!" Oren said.
"Thanks..." Kark said in between breaths.
When they all got together, Buddy discussed his final analysis. "So based on what we've seen here today, I can conclude that ornithomimus are way faster runners than dragons, pteranodons and T-rexes; but when it comes to flying, dragons can be faster than ANY of us."
"We've concluded the same thing!" both twins said simultaneously.
The distant sound of a train whistle could be heard. Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "Oh! I hear the Dinosaur Train coming! Come on, kids! We'd better leave if we want to get to the train station on time. I think I know where we can take Kark to visit next..."
Where's that, mom?" Tiny asked.
"Deinonychus Depot!" she said.
"DEREK THE DEINONYCHUS ARTIST!" Buddy and Tiny exclaimed as they hi fived each other.
"Wait! Who?" Don asked.
"Derek!" Buddy said. "He's the one who made that model of the Dinosaur Train we gave you..."
"Oh, yeah..."
"But he's real nice! You'll like him!" Tiny said to her brother.
"Anybody wanna race to the train station?" the twins asked.
Kark laughed. "No, thanks. I've done enough racing for one day..."
"You guys go ahead... We'll catch up..." Don said politely.
"Okay..." then both twins took off with a simultaneous laugh.
"Yeah... in about a half an hour..." Kark said with a roll of his eyes.
