"Come on Dino! I am going to leave without you!" Diana called from the seat of the helicopter as it prepared for takeoff. Dino rushed forward and got in just in time.
"You are really looking forward to this aren't you?" He asked between breaths.
"Too bad the others could not come with us." Diana nodded her head in agreement.
About ten minutes later, the copter touched down; the twins had arrived on Cranial Isle. Wasting no time, Diana grabbed Dino's arm and dragged him towards the only dig site open at the moment; Mt. Krakanak.
The entire area was rock and in the background, stood a large volcano. From where they were standing, a trail snaking along the side of the volcano could be seen. They spent relatively little time in the first area; it was just a flat rocky plain. Diana and Dino found some new fossil rocks, but nothing rare enough to warrant a fossil battle.
"I seem to be having no luck today." Diana sad sullenly. "Not a single fossil battle to be found."
"You really enjoy the battles don't you?" Dino teased, he was satisfied with the new rocks he could study.
"Maybe there will be somebody up ahead!" She pointed excitedly at a rope bridge and ran ahead. At the beginning of the bridge, they were met with a surprise; Rupert was standing with a robot.
"What are you doing here Rupert?" Diana asked, Rupert seemed surprised as well, "My father sent me to test this new product, Di66-R a robot to excavate and clean fossils for the fighters."
"Will it be popular?" Dino asked pensively, Rupert looked confusedly at him.
"Well, I enjoy digging up fossils. I would not need this robot to help." Diana explained, "Dino feels that way as well." Rupert looked deep in thought as he took in the comments.
Suddenly, the robot beside him went haywire, spouting nonsense. It knocked Rupert to the ground and took off. Diana offered a hand to the fallen teen.
"This is bad, it had a dino medal. I have to stop it!" Rupert said and started to chase after the runaway robot.
"Let us help!" Diana said and began to chase as well, giving Rupert no chance to refuse. Dino shrugged his shoulders and gave chase as well. Fortunately, the robot stopped moving halfway up the slope, giving the trio time to catch up.
"Looks like the only way to return it to normal is to defeat it in a fossil battle." Rupert brought out his medal, but was stopped by Diana.
"Let me, I have been itching for a fight all day."
Rupert looked to Dino who said, "Just let her, she will defeat it in no time at all."
The robot and Diana both threw their respective medals and their vivosaurs materialized. Talia emerged with a roar and faced the enemy in front of her; a Tohpis. The rather large white snake hissed back.
After a moment, the battle began. Tophis lunged forward, sharp fangs gleaming. Talia moved back and charged forward for a counterattack. The charge pushed the snake back, but did not stun long enough for another attack.
Physical attacks do not seem to stun, let's try another tactic, Diana relayed the plan to Talia.
She stopped, opened her mouth and a blast of water rushed toward the target. Tophis was pushed into the air, leaving it vulnerable to attack. Talia slammed down her tail, making a small crater. Tophis let out one last, weak hiss before returning to medal form.
After some more gibberish, the robot reset and seemed to be functioning once again.
"Now, all that is left is the top!" Diana said and ran up the hill. Rupert and Dino walked behind her.
They were then stopped by a large boulder. Diana had her pickaxe and was trying to break it; she was not having much luck.
"Here, let Di66-R help." Rupert said and the robot began to break apart the boulder, however half way through the robot's energy level was getting low.
Diana once again began to help the robot, the act of friendship somehow recharged the battery and soon the boulder was a pile of rubble at their feet. With the way clear, Diana ran ahead with Rupert and Dino behind her.
"Dino, I have something to ask you." Rupert asked, and the two guys stopped momentarily.
"What is it?" Dino asked, "Is Diana always like this?" Dino thought for a while and responded, "Yes, I would say so. She handles herself fine, though if something happens I am her backup. Usually nothing happens."
A loud impact sound interrupted the conversation. Dino froze; his instincts were telling him that something had happened to Diana. Without another word, he sprinted up the hill and came face to face with two goons wearing costumes that made them resemble skeletons.
Moving his field of vision, he found Diana. She was on the ground, and unconscious, an imprint in the rock wall above her. He snapped; to Rupert is seemed as though a murderous aura surrounded Dino.
"Rupert, take care of Diana. I will deal with these two." He said, his anger was clear to those around him.
The two costumed people laughed and said, "We are a part of the Bare Bones Brigade, aiming to destroy the tournament. Our leader has provided us with special vivosaurs, Boneysaurs! You will never be able to defeat them!"
Dino did not care how powerful they thought they were; they would pay for injuring his sister.
"The two of you can attack together if you like; it will save me some time." Dino provoked them and threw his medal. Spinax appeared and gave a loud roar. His opponents appeared at the same time. They looked like Lambeos, but their bodies looked just like skeletons. It was as if the vivosaur had been x-rayed, but the image was imprinted on the skin.
Let's go, Dino thought and Spinax responded with an affirmative.
Though these vivosaurs were supposedly stronger than normal, the battle was pitifully short, probably due the fact that vivosaur and fighter had no connection. Spinax went all out with attacks. Spinax immediately charged forward and defeated the first B-Lambeo with a combo attack. The second B-Lambeo tried to attack while Spinax was in the air, but he twisted out of the way and slammed down. Both vivosaurs fell to the ground, and silently returned to medal forms.
Dino turned around and asked, "Rupert how is Diana?"
"She seems fine, no serious injury. She should wake up any moment."
Moments later, Diana opened her eyes, and bolted upright; searching left and right she found what she was looking for.
"You sucker punched me! Stay where you are!" She advanced menacingly towards the two costumed people.
"Run away!" They yelled and began to run, a boulder came rolling down the slope and made contact. As the dust cleared, the two attackers were partially trapped under the rubble and knocked out.
"We had better call the staff member of the island; I think his name was Terry?" Dino said as he brought out his pager. Diana looked up to where the boulder came from and noticed a shadow. When she tried to focus, it seemed to have disappeared.
"What's wrong?" Rupert asked, "Nothing, I just thought I saw someone." Diana replied.
Sena backed away just in time to avoid being seen.
The sense of déjà vu is getting stronger. Where have I seen Dino before? No use worrying about this now.
She turned around and headed back to the dorm room, scaling the volcano at a great speed.
"Your brother is very strong." Rupert noted and Diana nodded her head.
"He is, but he isn't a big fan of battles. He made a promise when he was a kid to fight for the purpose of protection."
"Looks like he is on his way over. Are you two finished? I am going to question these two." Dino said, pointing at the people trapped under the rock. The three hauled off enough rock to free the two attackers. They groaned in pain as they regained consciousness.
"Where am I?" One said, looking around the clearing in confusion.
"What was I doing?" The other said, rubbing his head.
"Who are you working for?" Diana demanded and the two returned blank stares. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Where did you get those Boneysaurs?" Dino asked, the two responded the same way. He then walked over to the fallen medals, as he tried to pick them up; they faded away; leaving no trace.
"This is very mysterious. Have they been hypnotized?" Rupert asked and the twins shrugged their shoulders.
Terry arrived minutes later and the three explained the events. The two attackers were ushered away to be checked.
"We should probably go. It is getting late." Dino noted and together they returned to the dorms. Todd, Pauleen and Sena were already in their respective rooms. The tale was told and they went to sleep, the month of December was already halfway through. Christmas day was nearing.