Sorry for the wait! I had severe writer's block and reluctance. My hard drive also crashed, losing a page of text.
The bell rang signaling the end of the school day and as usual students were pouring out from the doors. Diana was especially excited today, the group would be finally visiting the new dig site. Many others had also been impatient for the end of the day for the same reason.
While the group headed outside, they noticed a rather large group of students gathered. Rupert recognized Taylor among the crowd, Diana and Dino recognized the girl who had helped out during their first sparring class.
Acilla was standing in the middle of the crowd, along with two other boys. One of them looked injured; his arm was in a cast. The group hushed as one of the boys began to speak.
"You'd guys better be careful if you decide to visit the new dig site, Jungle Labyrinth. There was a rumor about a monster in the woods. I did not believe it and look what it got me." He raised his injured arm for the people to see.
Fear and worry rippled throughout and Diana heard some nervous chatter. Acilla looked pensively, questioning the validity of the guy's story. Taylor stepped forward and said, "Well, we should probably have someone investigate."
Diana grabbed the two nearest her, who happened to be Sena and Rupert and walked forward.
"We volunteer!" she said cheerfully, ignoring the surprised reactions of the students and her friends.
Taylor nodded his head, "Okay, we'll leave you to it. I'll give you my paleopager number so message me if anything happens."
Rupert interrupted, "Its fine Taylor, I'll be going as well and I already have your contact information."
"If we're done, then let's go! Come on!" She started to walk in the direction of the dig site, Sena and Rupert followed close behind. Dino, Pauleen and Todd walked around the group and met up with them. Together the group of teens entered the Jungle Labyrinth in search of the dangerous and vicious monster.
As one could gather from the name of the dig site, the Jungle Labyrinth was a tropical forest teeming with lush green plant life. It would be easy to get lost and lose sense of direction. In front of the forest's entrance, the group had temporarily stopped to think up a plan of action.
"We should probably split up, we'll cover more ground." Suggested Dino, the others nodded and promptly split into groups. Diana, Pauleen and Sena would search the northern half, while Dino, Rupert and Todd would search the other. They waved goodbye and each wished the other good luck.
Back at the academy, the two victims began to worry.
"What if those people find the monster?" The guy glared at him and he stopped talking. As they headed towards a shortcut they had found earlier, they came upon Stephanie and Mai.
"I can't stand this! They need to be taught a lesson!" Stephanie raged and Mai nodded in agreement. They turned around and noticed the two guys.
"Hey! What's up with you?" The girls turned around to face the source of the voice.
"Oh, it's just you two…" An idea sprung into her head. "Can I ask you guys a favor?"
The girls had reached a rather large clearing and decided to once again split up to cover more ground. Sena went ahead while Diana and Pauleen thoroughly searched the clearing for signs of the monster. Unbeknownst to them, the two guy witnesses were also there watching them.
"Ok, there they are, but I don't see the one with dark hair." One said worriedly to the other.
"Don't worry about it, we'll just grab these two and use them as bait." They grinned deviously at each other and separated.
One of them grabbed a stone he had found on the ground earlier. The first one crept behind Pauleen and pinned her arms to her side, covering her mouth with his hand at the same time. She made a startled gasp that was cut short; however Diana turned around and saw.
"Hey! What are you…" Her words were cut off as the other guy hit her on the head with the rock Diana crumpled to the ground, the last thing she saw before blacking out was the silhouettes of the kidnappers.
A small distance away, Sena turned to face the clearing where she had left Diana and Pauleen, her instincts warning her that something was amiss. She quickly walked back to the clearing only to find it empty.
Where could they be? Whoever did this better be ready to pay.
She scoured the area, looking for clues, she noticed an area trampled grass that seemed rather large. It looked somewhat like a path, so Sena began to run along the path. A couple hundred metres away, the forest gave way to another clearing, when Sena entered, she saw the scene and narrowed her eyes angrily.
Two guys that Sena recognized as the victims from the monster attack had tied up and gagged both Pauleen and Diana. Pauleen was tied to a tree and struggling against the bonds, while Diana lay on the ground not moving. Nearby, there was a machine that was poorly made and did not resemble a vivosaur or monster in the slightest.
The whole story was a lie, Sena realized.
"What do you think you are doing?" She asked, her neutral tone disguising the anger directed towards the two. They spun around, obviously not expecting company.
"She must that girl with the dark hair, Sena." One of the guys said and the other nodded his head. "Well, we'd better keep our end of the bargain."
"What bargain?" Sena asked as she eased into a battle stance.
"None of your business! Anyway, you'd better not try anything funny, unless you want your friends to pay the price."
Sena glared at the kidnappers, but returned her stance to normal. One of the guys threw a medal and a Nigo came out. The large gray vivosaur roared, showing it green beard and its long tail swished from side to side.
Its owner came foreward and grinned, "This is going to be fun." The other went to where Diana and Pauleen were, to keep an eye on them.
Dino, Todd and Rupert were not having any luck either, though they had searched most of the area.
"You don't think that the monster is in the area that Diana and the others were looking in?" Todd asked worriedly.
"Should we look for them then?" Rupert suggested but Dino shook his head, "I think they can manage on their own. All three of them are pretty strong. We'll meet up with at the meeting spot."
After a while, the trio walked back to the entrance of the jungle, however the girls were nowhere to be seen. They silently nodded to each other and returned into the jungle, in the direction of the area where the girls were searching.
The three guys also reached the clearing where Diana and Pauleen were kidnapped. As they searched, Dino found some traces of a struggle. He paled upon further inspection; there were droplets of blood that had not fully dried dotted on the ground. A rock with more blood was nearby.
"Guys, you should come see this." Dino said in a small voice, dread beginning to seep into him. Todd and Rupert paled as well as they saw the blood.
"Whose blood is it?" Rupert asked, Dino just shrugged his shoulders. Todd noticed more disturbed grass and the three of them followed the path.
Faint noises could be heard as they continued on, when the sound was loud enough to understand the words being spoken, the three guy ducked behind a bush and peeked through the gaps in the foliage.
"What is happening!? Why won't you fall!?" A guy standing near a Nigo angrily said. He then ordered the vivosaur to attack. From where they were, they could not see who it was however they could guess the damage caused by the attack from the noise of the impact.
"Grrr! If you want to keep your friends safe, then die!" Sena grit her teeth and mentally prepared herself for what she had to do.
Dino, Todd and Rupert turned their gaze to the other side of the clearing, where they saw Pauleen and Diana, who was still unconscious. Anger surged through their veins like fire; it took a lot of self control to not jump out of the bushes and attack those two.
"Nigo, attack!" One guy called out for the umpteenth time, however this time, instead of nullifying the force of the hit, Sena lightly jumped in the air and let the attack send her flying. She smashed into a tree and purposely fell to the ground, the attack left an imprint in the tree. To add to the effect that she was in serious pain, she groaned.
That vivosaur's attacks are nothing compared to what I have been through. Good thing that normal humans should not be able to take attacks from vivosaurs.
"There, Sena and those other girls have been taught a lesson." The Nigo's fossil fighter said triumphantly, the guy who was guarding Diana and Pauleen smirked, "Let's have some fun then…" He reached for the closest girl, who happened to Diana.
Back in the bushes, Dino's eyes widened in shock as he realized that the 'target' of the attacks was Sena. Rupert was very angry as well. Todd shrank away as a literal aura of fury surrounded them.
Simultaneously, Dino and Rupert burst out from the bushes with Todd following close behind. Both whipped out their dino medals and released their vivosaurs, Spinax; a large blue-green vivosaur with large spines and Mapo; a light gray vivosaur with markings of a darker gray along with horns on its head.
Spinax, deal with Nigo, I'm going to Sena to make sure she is alright.
Sure thing Dino, Spinax replied and he dashed forward.
Nigo tried to attack as Spinax approached, but it was too slow. Spinax tackled Nigo, the force sent it sliding backwards. Nigo tried to counterattack with a tail swipe, however there was not enough room. With another tackle from Spinax, Nigo gave a weak cry and returned to medal form and landed back in its owner's hand, who glared at Dino.
Dino glared back, forcing the guy to retreat away. He reached Sena and lifted her to semi sitting position, supporting her head with one arm. Surprisingly (to him at least), Sena stood up and brushed herself off.
"Sena, are you okay?" He asked concernedly.
"Don't worry, I have been through worse." Sena replied, much, much worse, she thought privately to herself.
She had some bruises and her back was sore, but those would be gone in the next few days. The two walked towards the others.
While Dino was battling with one of the guys, Rupert was battling with the other. The battle, if it could be considered that, was pitifully short. His opponent was a Raja, a brown vivosaur with red and white markings.
A single combo attack consisting of a tackle and a body slam sent his opponent back into medal form. He like the other guy, backed away and the two ended up equal distances away from the two groups. Todd and Rupert untied Pauleen and Diana respectively.
When Pauleen was freed, she exclaimed angrily, "Just wait until I get my hands on you!"
She began to advance towards the kidnappers, her dino medal in hand. The kidnappers shrank away in fear, thankfully for them; Todd stopped her from advancing too far. Rupert supported Diana as she regained consciousness. Her eyes blinked open and Rupert was dazed.
Her eyes are so pretty, she looks so…delicate.
Diana sat up, groaned and rubbed her head. "Are you feeling alright?" Rupert asked, Diana nodded and her gaze focused on the two kidnappers, remembering the events that led up to her losing consciousness she got up and advanced towards them.
To the two kidnappers, a menacing aura was emitted from Diana as she advanced, their fear turned into horror. This time Rupert stopped her due to her possibly having a concussion from her injury.
Stella, Acilla and Taylor arrived in the clearing and took the troublemakers into custody. The two would be severely punished for their misdeeds. Stella thanked the group for taking care of the issue and allowing the students to safely explore the new dig site.
Tired from the day's events, Diana and company returned to their respective rooms and prepared for bed. They all were looking forward to tomorrow because it was the start of the weekend.
Next chapter: R&R for the characters and the relationships between the pairs begin to form.
