Well, here's the next chapter! Don't worry, despite this being sort of a filler, there WILL be battles in Chapter 11.

Chapter 10: You Probably Did Think That, Didn't You?

"And the last bit… here we go!"

Thea slowly whistled as she looked at the page I had just finished.

"Nice job."

"Thanks! I even found a way to customize the chat!"

"Really?"

"Yep!" I clicked on a button that said "Start Digging!" As if on cue, a Paleopager message popped up saying that a new Dig Site, Jungle Labyrinth, had opened up on the south side of Ribular Town.

"Are we going?"

"Well, I would rather avoid the mad rush of people that want to get a head start." She just shrugged and grabbed her laptop.

~Welcome to the Dig Site! Happy Fossil Hunting!~

~BlueannaD has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: BlueannaD?

BlueannaD: Hey, I can't even UNDERSTAND your username.

TDD25: Really?

~LadySeptette has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: Hello! Welcome!

BlueannaD: Hey

LadySeptette: Oh, hi!

TDD25: So, what brings you here?

LadySeptette: Oh, I'm waiting for a friend to come on here. I called her when I saw it.

~DinonerdDC has entered the Dig Site~

DinonerdDC: Harro!

TDD25: Hey!

BlueannaD: Hey

DinonerdDC: Ohai Zalea!

LadySeptette: Hey Celestial!

TDD25: Celestial? Are you in the cup?

DinonerdDC: Yes I am, do I know you?

TDD25: Yeah… my Carno almost ran over you… -_-; Sorry about that.

DinonerdDC: Oh, you're Derrick! DERP.

TDD25: XD

~E4439Qv5 has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: Hello!

E4439Qv5: Hi.

BlueannaD: Hey

LadySeptette: Hay!

E4439Qv5: Not many pages here I see…

DinonerdDC: Harro!

TDD25: Oh yeah, we're just getting started. I'm hoping we can get this Wiki to have information on all the Vivosaurs.

E4439Qv5: Well, I see we have preliminary pages on Aeros, Menchi, Jara, and O-Raptor. I can help with that.

TDD25: Thanks!

E4439Qv5: Strange coincidence… the complete pages are on Vivosaurs I lost to yesterday.

TDD25: Wow… small world… You're Rubicon, right?

E4439Qv5: I am, in fact… I assume you are Derrick?

TDD25: Yes.

DinonerdDC: Oh my gosh! Rubicon?

E4439Qv5: Celest?

DinonerdDC: Yep!

~Krona123 has entered the Dig Site~

TDD25: Hello!

BlueannaD: Hey.

E4439Qv5: Hi.

Krona123: hey

LadySeptette: Hi!

Krona123: anyone want to fossil battle me?

TDD25: Can't at the moment.

LadySeptette: No, I'm okay.

E4439Qv5: Not right now.

BlueannaD: No.

DinonerdDC: Hello! And I can't right now, sorry.

Krona123: are you guys sure? My name's Brandon. We can meet at the ribular square.

TDD25: No.

LadySeptette: No.

DinonerdDC: No.

E4439Qv5: No.

BlueannaD: XD

TDD25: XD

Krona123: you sure?

TDD25: Yes.

Krona123: come on. I'm really strong.

TDD25: No.

Krona123: I will beat you, I'm really good.

TDD25: No.

Krona123: Come on.

TDD25: …

~Krona123 has been kicked by TDD25~

BlueannaD: … XD

E4439Qv5: That was… wow.

~Krona123 has entered the Dig Site~

Krona123: why did you kick me?

BlueannaD: Because you were being annoying.

TDD25: Because you were being annoying.

LadySeptette: XD lol

Krona123: Come on, someone battle me!

~Krona123 has been kicked by TDD25~

DinonerdDC: XD

BlueannaD: XD

~Krona123 has entered the Dig Site~

~Proraptor715 has entered the Dig Site~

Krona123: But why won't you battle me?

~TDD25 BANHAMMERED Krona123~

Proraptor715: Uhh… hi?

TDD25: Sorry about that…

BlueannaD: XD Hi.

Proraptor715: So… yeah. Came on here because I got thrashed in the cup yesterday. No page on Argento though…

BlueannaD: … TDD?

TDD25: Yes?

BlueannaD: Why didn't you add one?

TDD25: Err…

LadySeptette: XD

Proraptor715: XD

DinonerdDC: XD

TDD25: Wait a minute… Proraptor, you're Nathan, aren't you?

Proraptor715: Yeah, why?

TDD25: REALLY small world. Oops, gotta go.

BlueannaD: Where?

TDD25: Treasure Lake

LadySeptette: You know they just opened Jungle Labyrinth, right?

TDD25: Yeah, I do. Not sure about how much of what's there interests me. Doesn't sound like a place with a lot of Water-Types. But before I go…

~TDD25 has promoted BlueannaD to Chat Moderator~

TDD25: Okay, now I gotta go.

LadySeptette: Bye!

DinonerdDC: Bye!

E4439Qv5: Bye.

Proraptor715: Bye!

TDD25: Bye!

I closed the window and shut my laptop.

"You can take care of this, right?"

"Yep! I got it!" She smiled at me before she looked back at her screen and began typing again.

In the plaza, I noticed a boy who was hanging out there looking around. I walked more towards the edge, trying to avoid eye contact, and slowly made my way to the lake. I was about to go in when I noticed a sign that was advertising a new case and sonar upgrades. I looked at my own case, when it suddenly hit me that it was full of pearls from when I went to go Jewel Rock hunting with Thea this morning, who was apparently running low on her ice cream funds. I facepalmed, seeing as I wouldn't have been able to keep any of the fossils I would have found anyway. I headed off towards the Fossil Guild, and when I walked in, I was surprised to find Bob there.

"Hey, you're up and about early."

"What do you mean?" Bob seemed a little confused by my statement, probably because it was three in the afternoon.

"I was pretty sure that you were never coming out of the lounge." I laughed, and he just shook his head and sighed.

"I did too, honestly."

"Still got the shades, though?"

"Yeah. My roommates were giving me a hard time about it. They thought I was trying to be stylish." I just laughed again, and then remembered why I was there. Bob followed me up to the counter, where I received 4000G for all the pearls I had in my case, and I added that to the other 8000G I got this morning. Thea had needed to make a lot of return trips to makes sure she was good for the next week at least, so I figured I might as well too. Surprisingly, I hadn't found a fossil there, and I was a bit disappointed by that. But I turned back to the clerk, who asked me if I wanted anything else.

"There was a sign advertising Equipment Upgrades?"

"Ahh, yes, those. Well, You can increase your Sonar's range for 800G, get a Fossil Filter for 5,000G, a Fossil Chip that lets you find other Vivosaur parts is 10,000G, adding eight more slots to your case would cost you 2,000G, and a Hyper Hammer or Super Drill would be 25,000 each."

"Uhh…" I checked my wallet again, finding the total 13,000G I had. But, figuring that Thea would need to restock on gems so she could get her ice cream, it wouldn't be too long before I had more. "Okay, I'll take the first Sonar upgrade, a Fossil Chip, and eight more slots please."

"That's 12,800G, please." I dug out everything but a meager 200G from my wallet and placed it on the counter. She took my sonar and case from me, and after a few minutes of banging, she handed them back. Somehow, my case was still the same size, but had sixteen spaces marked for fossils. It seemed like the fossils could shrink to fit inside the spaces. Slightly amazed, I closed my case and picked up the sonar. The screen was bigger than it had been before. "The new chip will start working when you go to a Dig Site." I nodded, and thanked her before leaving.

"Get what you want?" I looked behind me to see Celestial standing there with another girl dressed in pink. She adjusted her glasses and smiled a bit.

"Hey! You're Derrick, right?"

"Yeah… you are…?"

"Azalea! I'm Celestial's friend, from the chat."

"Oh yeah. Almost forgot about that." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "So, why are you two here?"

"Oh, I'm looking for some particular fossils." Azalea responded, before pulling out a Dino Medal. "My Tsintao is very picky."

I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Celestial saved me from having to do any responding by suddenly dragging Azalea off to the mask salon because of something she saw.

When I finally got back to my room, I laid on my bed, exhausted.

"Why is it that every time I find a fossil, someone has to come along and challenge me for it? I mean, the only real reward is that the fossils are red, but it's still irritating."

"No kidding. I hope you'll use the new guys next time, because I'm really tired." I sat straight up in my bed, shocked by what I had just heard. The voice didn't sound like Primacron, being quite a bit more childish, but I looked around to see if he was there anyway, and saw no one.

"In your pocket. And you really should think about putting us somewhere that's not always moving so much."

I pulled out my medals, and spread them across the bed. I stared hard at each of them, before the voice came to me again.

"The one in the middle." I picked up Proto, and then tossed the medal. Proto popped out, and laid down next to me.

"Wait… how are you speaking to me?"

"In your mind, obviously. Does it look like I have the capability of speaking English to you? But seriously, please use one of the new guys in the next battle. I'm really tired. That arms fossil you integrated was nice. Took you a lot of your Time Pluses to get them that perfect, huh?"

"Yeah, it did." I chuckled. "I'm almost out."

"Well, still, it's nice to not have to worry about the integration process anymore. I mean, imagine if you had to clean the same fossil over and over again until you got it perfectly cleaned. That'd be tedious. But yeah, you probably want to know why I'm talking to you, right?" I was barely given time to nod before the monologue continued. "Well, you see… a good fighter will be able to connect with their Vivosaurs. And this connection can involve mental talking."

"Wait, so what about my other Vivosaurs."

"Like I said, it can involve mental talking, but doesn't need to. For example, Elasmo. You and he don't need to talk. The connection between you two is way beyond what you have with me, because you've known each other for a longer time. But I'm sure if you really wanted to have a conversation with him, you could."

"Him?"

"Yeah, Vivosaurs have genders. You thought we were all its or something? And by the way, just because I'm pink does not make me a girl."

"Well, are you?"

"No, I just told you, I'm a boy."

"No, you said that because you're pink, you're assumed to be a girl. You never told me if you actually were or not."

"You're right, you're right."

"So, I can really talk with my other Vivosaurs?"

"Well, yes and no. Yes, as in, it's possible… But no, as in, not all of them will communicate with you. Carno's a bit… anti-social, I guess. And Toba and Thalasso barely even know you. Elasmo will probably be the only one."

"Why are you talking to me then?"

"Because you're smart."

"What?"

"You were able to figure out a tactic I could use with only a word."

"Oh, that."

"Yeah. But if you want to try talking to someone else, call them out."

"Wait… won't that destroy the room?"

"No. You see, Vivosaurs can shift size at will."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, we're able to change between being a Dino Medal and being in a full Vivosaur form. Did you think that the medals were some kind of device that can shrink us down to a size small enough to fit into your pocket, and will only release us when you throw it?"

"I really didn't know what to think, actually…"

Proto just shifted his head. "Eh, okay. Well, if you want to talk to him, you can call him out at any time."

I nodded, but decided against it. "That's okay; I should probably be adding information on the new guys to the wiki anyway. I mean, we can talk anytime, right?" Proto simply nodded before he apparently decided to sleep, because he didn't disturb me the whole time I was editing.

So, usual ending message, read and review, and please, don't be afraid to point out a mistake I made.