A big thanks to Pandamoniam for pointing out something I really should have been doing from the start! I've gone through and updated the chapters with little line breaks so hopefully scene changes won't be so confusing now. It's a little early for me to be posting this chapter, but the cable man will be over to fix our TVs and the internet might get shut off so I want to get this out sooner than later.
The next morning Dina and her friends woke up and had breakfast together before heading off to get ready for the semifinals. Dina ended up running into Robinson and learned that he was having too much trouble getting used to dry land and that he had decided to head back to the Bonehemoth. He let her know that he managed to trick the whale into swallowing a teleporter so no one would ever get stuck inside it again.
Dina was informed that Pauleen would be her opponent in the Semifinals. It was a bittersweet moment, but she knew there was little she could do to change it. She headed into the Common Room to meet up with Pauleen.
"This is going to be my first battle in front of people without a mask," Pauleen said. "But that's okay, diga. Your faith in me has made me brave. It doesn't matter how many people are watching, digadig. I'm not going to be intimidated! I will prove to the world that I am reborn, digadig!" Dina smiled as they stepped into the stadium together.
Pauleen's Omias slapped Fury with her whip-like tail, defeating her while the Synthos went for Mayrah. Mayrah went after the Omias, knowing fully well it was the most dangerous. Riptide joined in on the attack, charging into it.
The Plesio slammed into Riptide and the Synthos joined in. Riptide continued to target the Omias, determined to take it down. The Plesio aimed its own attacks at Mayrah, poisoning her. The Synthos joined in. Riptide managed to defeat the Omias. Plesio focused its attacks on Riptide next, poisoning him as the Synthos kept going for Mayrah. Riptide slammed into the Synthos, desperate to help his friend. Mayrah quickly took out the Plesio and Riptide once again rammed into the Synthos. It was clear at this point that Pauleen was not going to win. Within seconds, the Synthos was a Dino Medal.
Dina and Pauleen met up in the Lobby. Pauleen, despite her defeat, was very proud of herself for not getting nervous. She gave Dina another unexpected hug to thank her. Suddenly, Pauleen's face turned red and she scrambled back.
"Why am I turning red now, digadig!?" She whined. Dina let out a silent laugh. The two turned as Rupert stepped out of the stadium, the crowd going wild behind him.
"I won," he said. "So I guess that means we'll be facing each other in the final. Good luck, Dina. I'm looking forward to it." She smiled at him and nodded. He smiled back at her.
"That was a great battle, Dina!" Todd raced over to the group. "It's just so crazy! You're a world-class Fighter now! And I guess you'll be facing Rupert in the final, huh? Well, don't worry. You're my best friend, and I'll cheer you on with everything I've got!"
"Dina!" Dina spun around as a person a few years older than her stepped into the building. He was dressed in an orange t-shirt and jeans, his blue hair short and messy. He grinned, dark brown eyes shining with pure joy as the Fighter raced towards him and practically tackled him into a hug. Dina started signing to him so rapidly neither Rupert nor Todd could really see what she was saying. Rupert and Pauleen stayed where they were, bewildered at the sight. Todd, however, recognized the man and ran over and hugged him as well.
"Devin, you made it!" He grinned.
"Hey, kiddo," Devin greeted. "It's a shame you didn't last long, but I'm glad to hear that Dina's gone and almost become champion!" He ruffled Dina's hair and she slapped his hand away in protest, but her smile never wavered.
"Oh!" Todd turned to Pauleen and Rupert, waving them over. "Pauleen, Rupert, this is Devin, Dina's older brother. Devin, these are the friends we've made, well two of them at least."
"It's nice to meet you two," Devin said. He raised a brow. "Wow, Dina, Todd, I didn't think you'd befriend the prince of FossilDig, Inc. It's good to see you two making friends, though. I was worried how you two would do by yourselves, but you seem to be getting on fine. Is it true, though? About these BB Bandit wannabes?"
"The BareBones Brigade are just as dangerous as the BB Bandits were, if not worse," Rupert said. "They...they sort of almost killed Dina at some point."
"They did what?" Devin's eyes darkened at the news. "What exactly did they do?"
"Well, one of them beat her in a Fossil Battle," Rupert began to explain. "He grabbed her and threatened to throw her off the side of the volcano. I don't know if he was bluffing just to scare her or not, but I don't want to think of what might have happened had I not intervened."
[Rupert's helped me a lot, actually,] Dina signed. [He's kept me sane throughout the entire tournament and has helped me fight the BareBones Brigade several times.]
"It's the least I could do for you," Rupert said to her. "You became my friend despite how rude I was to you and Todd at first and you helped me learn there's more to Fossil Battles than winning."
"And you helped me take of that mask, diagadig!" Pauleen added. "Dina's the best!" Devin laughed and grinned at the group.
"I'm glad to hear that," he said. "I'm going to be here for the next few days. I had a bit of a long flight, though, so I'm going to head to my bed. Tomorrow I expect to hear the whole story of what's happened to you!" He ruffled Dina's hair again and walked away. The group watched him leave.
"Well, I'm going to go dig up some fossils!" Todd announced. "I'll see you guys later!" He turned and raced away.
"I'll go make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Pauleen took off after him, leaving Dina and Rupert alone. They stood there in silence for a moment.
"Dina, there's something I must tell you," Rupert said. "It's...very important. I never told you before because I didn't want to risk anyone hearing this. I...can we go to your room for this?" Dina nodded, a curious look in her eyes.
~...~
Dina and Rupert sat down on the bed. Rupert took a deep breath.
"I'm...not fully human," he confessed. "I'm half dinaurian. My mother was King Dynal's daughter, making me second in line for the throne. Due to being half human I can take on a human form without the need of a hologram, unlike the other Dinaurians. I'm not ashamed of my lineage, Dina, I can assure you of that; I was just worried what you would all think knowing that I'm not…"
[Rupert, this doesn't change a single thing,] Dina signed to him. [It's been almost twenty years since Dinaurians arrived here on Earth and by now we humans are used to them. Thank you for telling me. But now that you've told me I can't help but be curious as to what your dinaurian and battle forms look like. You have to show me!] Rupert laughed and hopped off the bed.
"Alright, but you have to promise not to say anything to the others."
[Deal.]
Rupert's form began to shift. He grew slender and a little taller, a long, elegant tail curling around his now clawed feet. His skin turned into scales and his hair into soft feathers. He smiled at her and Dina could see that his teeth had become sharper. He stretched and Dina could see the muscles rippling beneath his scales from years of battle training. The scrawny rich kid she had gotten so used to clearly wasn't as weak in this form of his.
His scales were mainly red, but he had a blue underside, the edges surrounded by white. A blue collar ran around the base of his neck and it too was lined with white. Around his chest the white spread outward and around his legs. A single red stripe ran down his legs, only stopped by a v-shaped dark brown marking. Below that marking was another stripe, this one white. The rest of his leg was a lighter brown. The white continued on and engulfed the red at the middle of his tail. The blue on his underside stretched out and covered the tip of his tail.
I knew there was something odd about his eyes, Mayrah grumbled.
"I haven't been in this form in a long time," Rupert chuckled. "It feels nice to use it again. What do you think?" He tipped his head to the side as he noticed Dina was staring at him.
[You have wings,] she signed. Rupert turned to look at his back. Indeed, he did in fact have wings; they were folded neatly and within this form they resembled the tail of his coat.
"Wings run in the royal family," he explained. "My grandfather lost his in a battle, so he wears mechanical ones instead." He extended one of the wings for her to look at it. The wing looked more like that of a pterosaur than a dragon with one long finger stretching out instead of multiple. The membrane was attached to the base of his tail. The back of the wings were red and devoid of any markings, but the undersides were mainly blue. The edges were rimmed with white and long, swirling stripes ran out from the white, curling like waves. They were small at first, but in the middle of his wing they grew larger before turning smaller again. He folded the wing and sat down beside Dina, his tail curling slightly towards her as if he wanted to wrap it around her.
[Will you stay in this form from now on?] Dina asked. Rupert shrugged.
"It's not really a secret," he answered. "But there's very few Dinaurians outside of Vivosaur Island, so I usually stay in my human form so I don't make people uncomfortable. I look good though, don't I?" He puffed out his chest a little in pride. Dina silently laughed at the sight of him trying to show off.
Can I bite him now? Mayrah asked. I promise I won't kill him.
No, Mayrah, Dina answered. Let him enjoy himself, he never gets to be himself at home or in public.
"I won't be able to use my battle form in the Cup since that wouldn't be fair for you," Rupert went on, oblivious to the conversation Dina was having with her vivosaur. "but one day I'll battle you in it, I swear."
Dina gave him a playful shove and he laughed, his tail curling around her waist and pulling her closer to him.
[I'm glad I could help you,] she signed. He nodded to her.
"And I'm happy that you're my friend," he replied. "You know what, I think I will stay in this form. It's time the world got used to Dinaurians and I'm tired of hiding my lineage. Once the Cup is over, I'll take you, Todd and Pauleen to Vivosaur island so they can meet you. I know my mother and grandfather will love all of you. You might even get to meet Duna and Raptin!"
[Who?] Dina signed, raising a brow in confusion.
"Duna and Raptin are sort of my aunt and uncle," Rupert answered. "Not by blood, but they might as well be. They're the closest people to my grandfather aside from my mother and I. Duna was the first Dinaurian to ally with a human and Raptin's her best friend. Raptin was forbidden from being able to fight in his dinaurian form for a while, as were all the others, but now Dynal has lifted that ban and we're allowed to fight again, so long as the human understands what they're up against. We've been working with the Dinaurians to find better and faster ways to revive vivosaurs. That's how my mother and father met, actually. My dad was visiting King Dynal to talk, he was introduced to her and they fell in love."
[I do have one question, though. Did you hatch from an egg or were you born like a human?]
"I hatched," Rupert answered. "It depends on the mother from what I've seen. Dinaurians and humans being able to breed is supposed to be impossible, but I'm proof that it's not. It's just really difficult and there's big chance that I probably won't be able to have kids myself, but I'm not concerned with that. Anyway, if the mother is a human the child will be born in human form and alive like a normal human, but if the mother's a Dinaurian then the child will hatch from an egg like a Dinaurian. I was able to change between my human and Dinaurian forms at around a year old and I could change into my battle form when I was five."
[You still need to show me that,] Dina signed, poking him in the side. He grinned and got off the bed, changing shape again. His battle form had the same markings as his Dinaurian form, but he looked very similar to a raptor aside from the fact he didn't have a large toe claw. A crest of feathers ran from the middle of his forehead down to his shoulders. Another bundle of feathers grew from the middle of his back to the base of his tail. He was about the size of a U-Raptor, though he could have been slightly taller.
He's a handsome little raptor I'll give him that, Maryah said. I still don't like him, though.
"I've never actually gotten to battle anyone in my battle form," Rupert admitted as he changed back into his Dinaurian form. I've trained with my mother and other Dinaurians, but I've never fought a Fossil Fighter. I hope you'll be the first one I get to fight."
[I hope so too,] Dina replied. [Whatever happens tomorrow in the finals, promise me you won't get upset?]
"Of course I won't be upset," Rupert answered, reaching out to place his hand over hers. "I could never be upset with you. I'm going to go check out that new dig site. Want to come?"
Dina nodded and smiled at him.
~...~
People stared at the two as they exited the Fossil Station and headed to the helicopter. They mostly were staring at Rupert, however, their eyes wide and jaws dropped. The two sat close to each other on the helicopter, sharing stories of their past. Dina was able to give Rupert the whole story of how she got Mayrah before the short trip was over.
Once they reached the dig site they found Professor Scatterly laying in the sand. The two shared an equally annoyed look and gave the poor man a little bit of their water. They helped him dig up the final Calio Slablet and he was able to read it to them. Dina shivered as Professor Scatterly headed back to his museum.
"Is everything alright?" Rupert asked.
[Something isn't right,] Dina signed to him. [The Cup, Zongazonga's reign...I feel as if history is repeating itself.]
"What do you mean?" Rupert frowned.
[King Zongazonga stole people's bodies,] Dina explained. [He was an immortal sorcerer. Whenever the body he was in got too old, he would hold a tournament in which people would battle with vivosaurs he had revived using his magic. All three islands were involved and the winner would have their body stolen. The Caliosteo Cup is so similar to it…]
"Don't worry, Dina," Rupert said. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "King Zongazonga is sealed away forever. Besides, Joe is a good man."
[But he didn't remember me or Todd,] Dina signed frantically. [He should have remembered something like that!]
"Dina, calm down," Rupert murmured, wrapping a wing around her. "He's just a little stressed because of the BB Brigade and the Cup. I'm sure it just slipped his mind. He's probably remembered it by now."
[I want to go back to the City,] Dina signed. Rupert frowned, but he nodded in understanding and led her away, keeping his wing around her to protect her from the sand. They made it back to the City.
Once they stepped inside, the ground began to rumble and shake. Dina gasped and stumbled. Rupert caught her and picked her up, opening his wings and hovering a few inches above the ground. They looked up as the Mammoth Vision floated down. Rupert let out a deep growl, his eyes narrowing into golden slits as Don Boneyard's face appeared on the screen. He had done something that was making the islands sink below the waves.
"Dina!" Pauleen raced over, skidding to a halt. She stared at Rupert, jaw dropping as he landed and set Dina back down. "What in the…? Oh, never mind that! Don Boneyard's sinking the islands! I think he's really being serious, digadig!"
"If he really is sinking the islands then that earthquake was the first of many," Rupert spoke. "We must find out how they are doing this. Let's go speak to Joe, he might know something." The three rushed inside where Todd was already waiting for them. Todd spun around and squeaked as he saw Rupert in his Dinaurian form and Joe seemed equally as surprised.
"How-what-you-huh!?" Todd sputtered.
"I'll explain later," Rupert sighed. "Right now we need to focus on the sinking islands."
"I'm glad ya'll feel that way, 'cause we're in a whole heap'a trouble right about now," Joe spoke.
"Is Don Boneyard telling the truth, digadig? Can he really sink these islands?" Pauleen stepped forward.
"Ya got me there, little lady," Joe sighed. "I'm afraid I don't know much 'bout that kind of thing. I asked on'a the local eggheads to ride by and help us out. Figured he would'a been here by now…"
Professor Scatterly came out of the elevator moments later
"I would deduce that the recent quake is the result of the Spinal Pillar being weakened," the professor said. Upon getting confused looks from everyone, he continued, "The Spinal Pillar, you see, is a massive structure that supports the Caliosteo Islands. Theoretically, if someone were to chip away at this pillar, it would eventually snap in two. And this, of course, would send the islands plunging into the sea. All quite terrible, yes?"
"That's low, even for the BB Brigade," Todd said. "We can't let them get away with it!" Rupert nodded in agreement.
"We must stop them from eroding the Spinal Pillar further."
"Er, yes. Well, you see, I fear stopping further erosion will not be sufficient," Professor Scatterly said. "There's already been too much damage done to it. We have to find a way to reinforce it and repair the damage."
"And just how are we gonna do that!?" Joe questioned.
"With calcium, my good man!" The professor grinned. "The Spinal Pillar is composed of an extremely hard type of calcium, you see? If we were to inject a similar substance into the pillar, it should be enough to save the islands! However, there's only one thing that contains the type of calcium we need. The prehistoric fish, Sardinisaurus! Yes, quite. Therefore we must find its fossil rock and right quickly at that."
"I reckon we can find those inside Petrified Woods," Joe said. "It's a dig site on Ribular Island. We'd closed it for maintenance, but I'll open 'er up right now. Lemme see yer sonar there, Dina." Dina handed him the sonar and he managed to fix it so that it could pick up the Sardinisaurus fossil rocks. He send her to Petrified Woods and then told Todd, Pauleen and Rupert to calm down the people on the islands.
"Good luck, Dina," Rupert said to her softly as they exited the elevator. "Be careful." She nodded to him and raced away.
She hurried through the Petrified woods, climbing up a vine within a large tree trunk onto the stump where she dug up the fossil rock. She made her way back through the VMM and returned to Cranial City where she handed the rock to Joe. He extracted the calcium from it. He was going to send them through a sub, but the BB Brigade had sabotaged it.
[Wait, I know a way!] Dina signed. Everyone turned to her. [The Bonehemoth!]
"Yes, of course!" Rupert grinned. "The Bonehemoth would be able to get us to the seafloor with ease. Of course, it might not be quite that simple, but it's worth a try. Perhaps we should ask Robinson for advice."
"Well, heck," Joe laughed. "I can't believe how quick ya'll are on yer feet. Can't say as I understand the plan fully, but ya'll think it'll work, then I'm up for it. Just get down to the seafloor and inject this calcium into the Spinal Pillar!"
The four rushed down the elevator and hurried over to Ilium Village. They headed to the Bonehemoth where they met up with Robinson and explained what was happening to him. He nodded and told them they had to tickle the whale in order to get it to dive.
"I can help!" Todd said. "I'm good at tickling!"
"We'll split up," Rupert said. "Todd will need to stay here, so I'll take Cranial Isle, Pauleen can take Ilium Island, and Dina will go to Ribular Island."
[Someone's becoming a leader,] Dina joked. Rupert blushed slightly.
"This is practice for when I'm king of the Dinaurians," he stated calmly.
"WHAT!?" This got the attention of Pauleen and Todd.
"Later," Rupert said. "We need to hurry."
Dina made it to the cavern where Cole and two BB Brigade members were waiting. He spun around and glared at her furiously.
"Seriously…?" he muttered. "You know, I have to admit; I'm almost impressed with you. Every other fool on this island is running in terror from us, and yet here you are. Not bad, my man. Not bad at all. But no matter how much I dig your style, I can't let you interfere when we're so close to victory. Prepare to get your ass handed to you!" The two tossed out their Dino Medals.
Mayrah quickly slammed into one of the B-Rexes, sending it into the wall. The B-Rex sent a powerful wave of sound at them while the B-Plesio focused on attacking Fury. Mayrah slammed her tail into it, knocking it into the wall. Another roar from the B-Rex defeated Fury. Mayrah took out the B-Plesio while Riptide rammed into one of the B-Rexes. The B-Rexes bit into Mayrah, one on her tail and the other on her neck. Riptide rammed into the one at her neck, taking it out. Mayrah returned into Dino Medal form just as Riptide turned on the other and defeated it.
"Such style!" Cole gasped. "Such grace I...I was actually distracted by your battle skills. I'm not used to being beaten in battle...or in beauty." He gave her a sweet smile.
That's it, I'm biting him. Mayrah leaped from her Dino Medal in her smaller form and bit down on Cole's arm. Dina stiffened, startled by Mayra's sudden aggression. She tried to step in to stop her vivosaur, but Cole reacted first. He shrieked and frantically waved his arm, knocking Mayrah off and running out of the cave in terror with the two BB Brigade grunts right behind.
We don't mention that to the others, Dina said as she injected the calcium into the Spinal Pillar.
I will! Peak replied. I wanna see what they'll do!
Peak, no! Riptide shouted. That'd be a very bad thing to do! Todd and Rupert will kill Cole!
Joe called the group back to his suite once the Spinal Pillar healed.
"Ya'll have saved Caliosteo Fossil Park from a watery grave," Joe said. "But that ain't even the best news of the day! When them BB varmints fled, they led us right to their base! I'd love to chase 'em down and settle this once and for all, but we still got guests runnin' all over the park. I can't afford to send m'self or the staff out until things calm down 'round here."
[We'll go,] Dina signed. Joe frowned.
"Ya got guts to spare, pardners, but I'm afraid I gotta say no," he said. "This here's my fight, ya see? And besides, it's far too dangerous, even for the Patrol Team."
"I agree with Dina." Rupert stepped forward. "The BareBones Brigade is on the run and in disarray. We'll likely not have such a chance again."
"Rupert is right, diagadig," Pauleen joined in. "Let's go take care of Don Boneyard once and for all, diga!"
"Can't say as I'm comfortable with this idea, but I suppose yer right," Joe sighed. "I'm issuin' one last order to my Caliosteo Patrol Team. Saddle up and ride to the BB Brigade Base, and take out that dastardly Don Boneyard! The base is on a tiny piece of land called Bonechip Island. I'll talk to the helicopter pilot so ya'll can fly there from the Cranial Isle heliport. Soon as things tucker down here, I'll make my way over and help ya'll out. Just promise to be careful, ya hear? Them BB varmints won't go down without a fight. Good luck, Patrol Team!"
A quick explanation for why I made Rupert half Dinaurian; at first I wasn't planning on this, but as I was looking at his official artwork I noticed some weird similarities between him and the Dinaurian race. First off was the white hair which is average main character design since it helps hims stand out, but the interesting thing is that the only character in the series that has white hair and is not old(physically) is King Dynal(from what I can remember anyway). In the game a character's pupils are usually a darker color of their main eye color. However, Rupert's pupils are black, just like a Dinaurian. Dinaurians all have narrow eyes and while Rupert's aren't as narrow, they're pretty close. Most human characters within Champions have rounded eyes. Rupert is one of the few that does not.