Warning, this chapter contains emotional manipulation, obsession, self-harm.
—
July 2005
A woman with bloody-red hair was sitting on a bench in front of the hospital, smoking, tears running down her cheeks.
"Lucy?" a female voice called her. Lucy looked behind her, seeing a black-haired woman with one eye red and the other black.
"Hey, Wendy..."
Wendy sighed and sat beside Lucy. "I'm sorry..."
"It wasn't your fault; he lost too much blood, right...?"
"He did." Wendy nodded.
"How...how did it happen?" Lucy asked.
"They brought a shot man here. When I found out it's Komatsu I had to do something, but we couldn't save him. It was too late; he bled out. I've watched him dying in front of my eyes."
"So, if Kyra called for help and didn't run home he'd still be alive..."
"It's very likely," Wendy murmured, "she must have emotional trauma from that. She saw him get shot. Kyra needs professional help."
"No." Lucy shook her head. "I know my children. Kyra can't be without her family; a mental hospital would make things probably even worse for her. I'll do my best to take care of her, I may even stop working for a while if it'll be needed. I'll give Justin's crystal to another guardian to protect it and I'll be only Kyra's guardian." She burst into tears, throwing the cigarette on the ground, stepping on it. "How could that fucker do that to me...? How could he leave me?"
"He didn't plan to die," Wendy reminded her.
"I know..." Lucy buried her face in her hands. "That makes it worse... I can't even blame him for that... I wanna punch that guy who shot him so bad. But who knows if the police will ever find them; only Kyra saw the culprit. Any reminder of that could start...that..." She didn't know how to call Kyra's state of craziness caused by witnessing her father's deadly injury.
She still heard Kyra's voice crying: "I wanna see him again. I wanna die! Please! Kill me!"
"She'll have to face it again one way or another," Wendy told her.
"I know..."
"I'm here for you anytime you need it, Lucy." Wendy hugged her.
Lucy looked at her in surprise, but smiled and hugged back.
"I know. Thanks."
—
June 2010
A red-haired teacher in her 40's was sitting at her desk in her office, tapping her fingers and having a pen in her mouth as if it was a cigarette. She was looking out at a photograph of her family on the desk, thinking about what she should do with her older son and him bullying others.
The door opened and a woman in a pink childish dress walked in with a stack of papers in her arms.
Lucy looked at her, coughing. "Hi, Michelle."
"Hi, Lucy!" Michelle smiled at her brightly. "You know that isn't a cigarette in your mouth."
"Yeah. I just need to smoke and if the headmaster catches me smoking on the school grounds again, I'm fired."
"Then don't smoke," Michelle told her.
She walked over to her desk when one of the papers fell to the floor and she slipped on it. She fell down, dropping the papers.
Lucy rushed to her, reaching her hand to her, helping her up. "You're so clumsy," she chuckled. Michelle looked up redhead's smile, taking her hand and standing up.
A paper was laying on her head. Lucy took it; it was an exam signed by Alice Komatsu. She frowned, taking the pen out her mouth and biting her lip. Alice failed another exam. Lucy sighed. "Hey, Mich, how long has Alice been failing tests?"
"For a few weeks now," Michelle told her as she was picking up the papers and pouting, "she isn't just sleepy, she sleeps during lessons."
"Maybe because your lessons are boring," Lucy said, spinning the pen around her fingers and looking closely at her daughter's exam.
Michelle burst into tears, an ugly frown took over her face. "WHAAAA! I'm not boring!" she cried while waving her arms around like a little child, "how dare you to call me boring?! Everything I do is young, cheerful and funny!"
Lucy tried to hold herself back from laughing, coughing.
"This isn't funny! I'm not boring!" Michelle sobbed.
"You're right," Lucy admitted, "you aren't boring; in fact, you're one of the most interesting people I know."
"Am I...?" Michelle wiped her tears.
Lucy nodded and looked at her. "Definitely. You're very likely the only woman of your age who'd act and dress as a little child."
Michelle pouted at her, making her colleague laugh. "I sure am a magnet on childish people; my childhood friend, my husband, my oldest daughter, you." Lucy looked back at the paper. "Hm..."
There was something wrong; three of her children seemed much busier recently. They never tell her details, so to learn the truth, she must act on her own and there was only one place that came to her mind.
—
Around the same time, Zepar was dealing with her own issues; the newest member of the Akuno was bigger trouble than she expected.
She called his savior to the throne room to talk to her.
"Mary, you convinced me not to kill him and now you must do that again," Zepar told the ginger, "he's been useless to us so far. He can't fight his friends. Even when you have him under your control he still manages to break out."
"I know, your majesty," Mary said and bowed, "since his last mission I've been making a much effective version of the love potion as you ordered me. It should be finished."
"Good. Then I think you should test it out. Give him the potion and find somebody he knows; make sure he doesn't break out of the spell when he sees them."
Mary nodded. "Giving Rexy the potion won't be a problem; he's already under the effect of a weaker one. Plus I think I've got the perfect target to test his loyalty out on."
—
"I hate you!" she heard those words resonate in her head while watching that horrifying scene over and over again.
It was a storm. A brunette man was standing in front of his other daughter, protecting her while a person facing him was pointing a gun at him; their hand was shaking.
"I shouldn't have got so close to you..." a female voice sobbed, "she leaves me no other choice."
"Then leave them-" the man couldn't finish. As he opened his mouth the woman shot. The bullet hit his chest; he was falling to the ground as his daughter cried.
Both of his daughters cried.
Everything around vanished and Alice was left in darkness crying, hating herself. She knew what was about to happen and she did nothing. Not now, Not before...
She fell to her knees, staring into the ground.
She heard footsteps coming closer to her, so she looked up, seeing a blond boy with scars on his face. His eyes were unusually pink. The frown on his face and his blank stare made her shiver. Then his fist moved quickly towards her. She could only scream.
"Rex, stop!"
—
Alice quickly opened her eyes, gasping. She looked around confusedly and found herself in a full classroom.
It was just a dream.
She sighed in relief.
Then somebody patted on her shoulder, she looked behind.
"Hey, everything okay?" Ema asked with a worried looked. Alice only nodded, smiling.
"If you think so..."
—
Once her work was over, the red-haired teacher went to the D-lab to ask Justin a few questions.
She entered the main room and saw her son with his partner Karo, but also a Styracosaurus and a man with a mask.
"Hi, Justin," she said.
The boy quickly turned around in surprise. "Mom! W-what brings you here?"
"There are several things I wanted you to clear up for me. The first one is, who the heck is this guy?" she asked, pointing at Dinoman.
The man sweatdropped, glancing away.
"Well, that is..." Justin murmured, covering his mouth.
"D-Dinoman," the man replied in a pretending voice.
That was enough for Lucy to realize. She smirked, walked over to Dinoman and leaned closer to him. "I've never thought I'd hear that name ever again and yet here we are with you playing Dinoman just like when we were kids, Spike," she said, taking off his mask.
He looked at her, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck. "L-Lucy...How did you-"
"You've had Dinoman's alter ego ever since we were six. You think I could ever forget about that?"
He grinned goofily at her.
"Alright, time for explaining you two," Lucy told them.
—
As usually, Ema was waiting in front of the school and Michael walked over to her.
"Hey, Wada."
"Hi, Miharu... You know we can't hang out," she told him immediately.
"I do." He looked at her adoringly. "I've always wondered why does your father force you to wear these fancy clothes and expensive jewels."
"Probably to show off that he's got money," Ema murmured.
Michael sighed. "You don't need any jewels," he said, looking her in the eyes, "you are a jewel."
She blushed. "What...? Miharu, I..."
"Yes, Wada?" Miharu asked, his hopes were up.
"Thanks. That's nice of you."
The limo stopped near them, Ema looked at it. "Sorry, gotta go..." she whispered and got in the car.
"Wada..." He lowered his head, murmuring, "...I love you, Wada..."
—
"You were doing this for a few weeks?" Lucy wondered, "this was your important stuff to do this whole time?" She looked at her son.
"Yes, it was," Justin replied, "somebody had to do this."
"Good to know. But it shouldn't affect your daily life. Ali's been failing tests since you started this."
"I had no idea," he admitted, "I could help her learn then."
"Never thought I'd say that, but you're responsible for three of my children, Spike," Lucy chuckled. Her friend frowned, looking at her nervously and confusedly.
"Please, at least wait until I am not around," Justin asked, making his mother blush.
"Sorry." Lucy sighed and pulled out a box of cigarettes, taking one out. Dr. Taylor immediately grabbed it from her. "Not here," he told her.
She glared at him, coughing. "Fine... But in return, you're going to do everything you can to protect my children. And for love of God just don't teach them any of your heroic habits, so they don't get themselves hurt or worse. Behave the best you can." She placed her hands on her hips, her strict voice made him shiver in fear and respect.
He nodded slowly and fearfully. She was talking to him as if he was one of her mischievous students.
Suddenly, a beeping sound cut through the silence in the room.
"Huh? A dinosaur appeared?" They all jumped in alarm.
Justin sat to his laptop and directed the map of the world that suddenly appeared to the big screen. A red light was flashing on the map.
"Dinosaur? Where?" Lucy looked at the big screen.
"In America," Spike said, turning to the map.
"In New York City to be exact," Justin told them as zoomed in on the map, "and these coordinates should be very familiar to you."
"Owen!" Spike gasped at the realization happily. A huge grin formed on his face at the thought of meeting his best friend again. "He's going to be so jealous when he finds out I have my own dinosaur!"
Lucy slid next to him, giving him a questioning glare. "You aren't going to tell him you're Dinoman, are you? You're keeping it away from your family and now you wanna tell everyone or what?"
Justin looked up from the laptop while plugging his communicator to it. "I must agree. Nobody else than us has figured out your identity; you said there is a good reason for that, then you cannot just give it away like this," he said before turning his attention to the laptop again.
Dr. Taylor sighed. "Okay... I'll be quiet about that..." he murmured disappointedly. Lucy sweatdropped.
"Huh? M-moment, that is not all," Justin spoke up after a while, "according to the scans, my communicator has already caught up this dinosaur once." "What does it mean?" Lucy wondered, looking at her son.
"That the Akuno's already there," Spike answered, folding his arms, "but if there's only one dinosaur and it's theirs-"
"They aren't after any dinosaur but Foster," Lucy realized. "Wait, since when do you call him by his first name?" Spike wondered, blinking at her a few times. Lucy rolled her eyes. "We'll talk about that later," she told him, "now we gotta go, so get that helmet on and let's go." He nodded and put on Dinoman's helmet.
"Moment!" Justin stopped them, standing up. "It would be better to wait for the rest. I have messaged them about the seriousness of the situation and they are on their way. This is not a mission for a dinosaur, which must mean they have a thought out plan; they are probably prepared. I would not want the scenario from the park to repeat..." The young boy silenced out and glanced away.
They weren't prepared to fight an enemy like that and it ended with the breaking of the team and injuring one of the members. Nobody wanted to repeat this mistake ever again.
They waited for the others to arrive. After several minutes passed, the door opened and the rest of the team rushed in.
"Alright, we can go!" Cole, who was in the lead, said immediately as he entered.
"Mom!" Kyra's eyes fell on the red-haired woman. Lucy turned to her with a smirk on her face and her hand on her hip. "Surprised?"
"Definitely..." Sue grinned. "The hell you're doing here, teach? We don't need babysitting."
"You don't," Mrs. Komatsu replied, "but he does." She tilted her head to Dinoman. "HEY!" he objected.
"Anyways, I'm coming with you," she said, pulling a paper out of her pocket, showing it to Alice. The art club leader gulped, sweating nervously at the sight of her failed test. "I want to see the reason why your grades go down for myself."
Alice lowered her head guiltily, taking a good look at her dark purple shoes with spots of paint all over them just like the rest of her clothes.
"I think it'd be great to have you with us, mom!" Kyra supported Lucy, ignoring her reasoning completely.
"Then I'll call my dad to come with us too," Cole suggested, taking his phone.
"No, wait!" Dinoman stopped him in the scare of his identity being discovered. The tall boy looked at him with his eyebrows raised. "Why not?" Dinoman was silent, his eyes nervously narrowing across the room. Lucy glared at him, hoping her and Justin's speeches won't get taken for granted and overlooked.
"Be...because we've already lost enough time," Dinoman suddenly replied, "we can't wait for somebody who can't take his job seriously and be where they need him."
"That's um...a pretty fitting description," Lucy admitted, knowing her childhood friend very well. Dinoman leaned to her and whispered, "You don't have to be so honest."
"Yes, I do." She smirked. "You're doing like you don't know me and yet you know me better than anyone," she said quietly.
"The hell? Hey, weren't we in a hurry?!" Sue yelled at the adults. They looked away from each other and saw everyone but Justin prepared on the platform. Justin set up the coordinates, packed his laptop into his bag, taking it with him, and headed on the platform with Karo and Blitz. Lucy and Dinoman followed, then everyone teleported.
—
A bright light shined inside a New York museum and the group appeared.
Lucy inspected her body quickly, checking for any side effects of the teleportation just in case. She coughed again.
Alice cringed in pain, grabbing her head. Kyra gasped when she noticed. "Ally, are you okay?" Her little sister only smiled reassuringly.
"Another headache?" Lucy murmured. Alice nodded. "Alright... Please, let me know if it gets worse, okay?"
Alice nodded again.
Karo and Blitz ran to several dinosaur skeletons, sniffing them and crying out.
"Hey, what are they doing?" Cole wondered, scratching the back of his head. "No idea," Kyra replied.
"Animal instincts," Sue growled, "they sense a close connection to the skeletons. Hell, they even could've known these things while they were alive."
"How do you know?" Cole asked her.
"I'm not dumb," the brunette snapped at him. "True," Lucy agreed, smiling at the girl proudly, "while she's been in my class, Sue's been my most skilled student in biology."
"I must agree with Susan, but a Dimetrodon is not a dinosaur," Justin said.
"Right, its evolutionary line is much closer to us than dinosaurs," Dinoman explained.
Meanwhile, Alice looked around the place, standing behind everyone. Her eyes fell on a corridor; it felt as if she's seen it before despite never visiting this place. She walked through it unnoticed by the rest. She had an indescribable feeling like she must go there. After several minutes of walking, she heard voices.
"Do it. It's not that hard," a girly voice said.
"Don't..." a male voice replied.
Alice looked behind the corner and saw the source of the voices. An older blond man was sitting on the ground, staring angrily at a ginger-haired girl standing above him. A blond boy and his Carnotaurus, preventing the man from escaping, were standing next to her motionlessly.
"Dr. Owen! ...what do they want here? Mary, if you dare..." Alice covered her mouth.
"Come on, Rexy~! Do it so we can go home," Mary ordered. Rex didn't do anything, his eyes were locked on his father; it almost seemed as he was fighting himself.
"He won't obey you," Dr. Owen told the ginger.
She smirked devilishly. "We'll see about that." She wrapped her arms around Rex from behind. "You can do it," she whispered to him. She pulled away and placed her hands on his head. "Everything will be alright~" Her hands glowed in pink light as well as Rex's eyes. She let go of him and ordered again, "Attack."
Rex then without any hesitation punched Dr. Owen.
Alice's eyes widened fearfully, she held her hands together tightly.
Dr. Owen looked up at Rex. "Rex..."
"Again," Mary said, Rex obeyed.
"Again."
"Again!"
Every time she ordered he hit Owen and Alice's grip tightened. This went on and on for a while.
"...Rex, please...look at me...you have to fight it..." Dr. Owen begged, his glasses laying on the floor, blood streaming from his mouth, "...I believe in you, son..."
"Again!" Mary yelled, but this time Rex stood completely still.
"Why is she doing this?" Alice asked herself. This whole scenario was breaking her heart. She took a deep breath, keeping her mouth opened as if she was about to speak up.
Mary glared at her crush. "I said again," she growled angrily.
Rex clenched his fists. He was about to punch again, but then a broken voice screamed, "REX, STOP!"
No one would expect to hear that voice; the voice that was silent for the whole five years.
The blonde froze in place, his eyes widened.
The man looked surprised.
Mary turned around, her face red in anger. She saw a brunette girl with a black jacket with paint spots on it standing determinately against her. "Oh, look what we have here~ Little Komatsu. What do you want here? Do you think you can stop us?"
Alice opened her mouth, taking small breaths. Her scream brought the attention of the others. Kyra was the fastest, she stopped once she saw her little sister. "Ally?"
"Lost for words, Little Komatsu?" Mary wondered, grinning evilly, "of course you are. Your words were able to kill after all." Mary's ginger hair turned brown, her body shorter, forming into Alice.
"I hate you," she said in Alice's voice. Both sisters became pale.
Mary changed back. She ran towards Alice, grabbing her collar, then she threw to the ground. Alice could only groan in pain. She looked up at the ginger girl who had a gun pointing at her, her appearance changing once more. A brunette man with brown eyes was standing there instead of her.
Kyra covered her mouth, breathing faster.
"Dad...?" Alice mouthed, staring in shock and fear.
"I have a Deja vu," Mary told her, "you have his eyes, do you know that? You've got the same spark in them as he did. Weird, he was giving me the same look before he met his fate."
"...you...killed him..." Alice realized.
"Exactly."
"No!" Kyra cried, her face becoming pale, her body shaking, tears running down her cheeks, her breath getting faster, "no, no, no...d-dad...! NO!" She covered her ears, crying.
The others rushed to the place, stopping in shock as they saw Kyra's state.
"Kyra! Not again..."
The teen screamed; her legs carried her away.
"AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Kyra! We gotta go after her. Now!" Lucy said.
Mary teleported away.
The others nodded, but Alice got up and looked unsurely back at Ace, Rex and his adoptive father.
Rex stood there, crying guiltily. Dr. Owen smiled up at him reassuringly and hugged his son tightly. "It's okay..."
She looked back at the others.
"Huh? S-sister, do you want to stay here?" Justin asked her. She nodded.
"We have to go!" Lucy yelled.
"But how do we find her?" Cole wondered.
"Easily," Justin said and pulled his laptop out of the bag, opening it, "we can locate her communicator." He typed something in and a map of New York appeared on the screen, a white dot glowing at it. "Here." He pointed to the screen. The others nodded and hurried after Kyra.
—
Kyra was running away, crying loudly.
"...dad...?! ...where are you?!" she cried confusedly, "...I...I wanna go with you! ...dad!"
She stopped, falling to her knees, trembling, repeating the same thing over and over again. She covered her face with her palms and screamed. She mind was broken.
Then she heard something hit the ground; she looked down, seeing a knife. A calm voice whispered to her, "This is the only solution~"
She picked the knife up, chuckling insanely, crying more. She unwrapped the bandages around her wrists, revealing several scars.
—
Once they were gone, Alice sighed and sat on the floor.
Rex continued crying in his father's arms. "...I'm sorry...sorry...sorry...sorry...sorry-"
"Don't worry...it's okay. Don't cry," Dr. Owen whispered to him reassuringly. Rex touched his own cheek, biting his lip, pulling away. He walked to the wall, leaning against it, sliding down to the floor.
Dr. Owen wiped the blood flowing from his mouth with his hand, looking at the bloodstain. "I go wash off the blood," he told them, "Alice, could you please meanwhile watch over Rex?" He asked politely. Alice nodded, smiling weakly. He headed away.
Alice turned to Rex. "I've never thought I'd hear your voice again," he admitted, "it's still as nice as I remember it."
The brunette's cheeks became red as he said that. The blonde changed his Carnotaurus into a chibi form. As Ace reappeared, he rushed to his partner, licking his face soothingly. Then Alice called out little Tashi using her dark red communicator in her jacket. The dinosaurs started to play with each other.
"Why now? You've been quiet for five years. Why did you speak up now?" Rex asked.
Alice shrugged. "...maybe...it's...because of...her..." she said quietly, taking small breaths between the words, struggling with them.
"Mary?"
"...I...met her...before...she can...change her appearance...was...with my...father...he was...cheating on mom...I said...I hate him...and then...he was killed..." she became silent.
"So, you blame yourself for his death?" Rex touched her shoulder gently. She nodded slowly. "I understand..." He smiled softly. She smiled back.
—
The others finally found Kyra kneeling on the ground and laughing. Blood was running down her arms. Drack was standing behind her.
"Kyra!"
"...what the hell? She cut herself..." Sue said in disbelief.
"B-blood..." Justin murmured and fainted because of all the red around. Sue stopped his fall, holding him.
"Kyra, what are you doing?!" Cole snapped worriedly, "Drack, stay the heck away from her!"
The boy turned to them, smirking; he was holding Jessica's card. It glowed and the white Corythosaurus appeared. Her eyes were unusually black. She charged at the Traveling Forces.
"Not this again..."
Cole swiped his two cards while Dinoman put Blitz's card to the plate on his helmet. The Compy squad and Styracosaurus attacked Jessica.
Blitz rammed into the Corythosaurus, throwing her at one of the cars. She roared in agony but got back up.
"Jess would already turn into a card. What has he done to her?" Cole wondered.
"Then this needs a good shot," Dinoman said, pulling out a move card.
As they fought Lucy watched Kyra worriedly. Her daughter was still in the insane state, pointing the knife at herself.
"...forget about Jess," Lucy told them, "we need to get to Kyra."
They both looked at her.
"Kyra won't listen when she's like this. Spike, let Blitz fight and use your lasso to get that knife," Lucy whispered.
"...that would blow up my cover," Dinoman replied quietly, "and I'm not sure if I can aim right...You know me."
"...please...I can't lose even her..." she begged, crying, taking him by a surprise.
Before he could do anything, Kyra's hand with the knife moved to her chest.
"Kyra!" Lucy screamed. She quickly pulled a light grey crystal from her pocket. It started to glow and in an instant, an arrow formed from metal the broken car was from. The arrow, still connected to the car, headed to Kyra, slightly cutting the hand she had the knife in, making her drop it. Then the arrow flew behind Drack, stabbing his shoulder.
Lucy panted while holding the crystal in front of her. Everyone else just stared. Cole and Sue had no idea what the hell is going on.
Drack smirked, his hand on his new wound. "So, the guardian of metal? This power certainly is interesting."
"Get. Away. From. My. Daughter." Lucy ordered, her face totally serious.
"Which one?" Drack asked teasingly.
Lucy hardened her glare and the arrow buried itself deeper into his shoulder.
"Alright..." Drack snapped his fingers, Jessica turned back into a card, falling to the ground. The boy then disappeared in smoke.
"Kyra!" Lucy rushed to her daughter, hugging her tightly.
"M-mom...?"
"It's okay... It's okay now, sweetheart," she whispered gently. Kyra started to calm down as she was getting exhausted. She was leaning on her mother more and more. "We'll get to a hospital. Everything will be alright..."
—
Dr. Owen soon came back, the kids were still smiling at each other. "It seems the book I gave you worked," he said. The teens quickly looked at him, blushing.
"What? No!" Rex objected, letting go of Alice's shoulder. She put on her hoodie, hiding her red face. "We were just..."
He sighed. "I'm sorry for what I've done to you..." he changed to the subject, looking sadly at his father.
"There's nothing to apologize for," Dr. Owen reassured him, "but...why are you doing this? Why would you join them? I haven't raised you like this..."
Rex turned away, closing his eyes. "It's probably better if I tell you...My parents were killed..." he whispered. His words resonated through the quiet corridor. Everyone looked at him in shock. "It was my fault..." He clenched his fists tightly. "That's why I agreed to join the Akuno when they told me they can bring them back..."
"Rex..."
He touched his dinosaur tooth around his neck. "I've never wanted to hurt anyone. I only want to fix my mistake. Every birthday I wished to know them...and then I lose them because I'm too weak..."
Dr. Owen hugged him tightly. "I'm sure they wouldn't want to be brought back if it means that you'd lose yourself. This isn't you."
"I have to...I owe it to them..."
"...Don't...blame yourself..." Alice murmured, "...it had to happen..." Rex looked at her. "...your comeback...must have...a reason..."
"Is it a good or bad reason?" he asked her.
"...who knows...it sure is...good for me...'cause...I can see...you again..."
"Quit flirting with my darling!" somebody yelled from the other side of the corridor. Everyone turned that way and saw a furious ginger girl. Mary was back.
"He's my boyfriend!"
Rex flushed. "Just to let you know, I never agreed to that..." he cleared up for them. They stood up.
"Give me back my darling or I'll take him by force."
"Then you're going to have to use force because I am not coming back," Rex told her.
Mary gasped. "Rexy! No...Rexy..." She started to tear up, a heartbroken frown took over her freckled face. "...Rexy...Y-you can't just leave me...not like everyone else..." She hardened her glare in anger. "If I can't have you nobody can!" she yelled, charging at Rex.
Alice stood up in front of Rex protectively. "...If you dare to touch a single hair on his head...and I'll cut all of yours...!"
"Alice...?"
"...go..."
"There's no way we'd leave you now," Rex said.
"...go...this is...personal..." Alice murmured.
Dr. Owen grabbed Rex's shoulder. The teen nodded and they ran away with Ace.
Alice watched them go when Mary tackled her to the floor. "You stay away from my Rexy, bitch!" She held Alice's neck tightly, pinning her to the ground. "He's mine!"
"...he...doesn't...love you..."
She tightened her grip. Alice couldn't breathe, everything in front of her slowly turned black. "...dad...?" she mouthed as she saw a bright male figure.
"Say hello to him for me," Mary chuckled evilly.
"Alice, you can't die on a boy you love like this," the figure told Alice, "he already lost his parents. You can't have him lose even his friend..." The voice repeated this over and over again. She couldn't move or talk. She could only fall asleep.
But suddenly, the grip loosened; she quickly opened her eyes and gasped. Mary was no longer on her but on her hand and knees, holding her stomach. Tashi the Pachycephalosaurus was growling at her. She must have attacked her
Alice got up.
"If this is how you wanna play, Little Komatsu..." Mary groaned, pulling out a Carcharodontosaurus card. It glowed in red light and a green chibi dinosaur appeared.
"Feray, get that girl..." Mary ordered, standing up.
Feray the Carcharodontosaurus didn't obey first. "Feray!" Mary yelled at her. The dino roared in agony and was about to jump at Alice, Tashi headbutted the dino.
"He's mine, only mine. Nobody will take Rexy away from me!"
"...he doesn't...l-love you..." Alice murmured, still struggling with talking.
Mary chuckled. "He loves me... He loves me!" she laughed maniacally, "they all loved me! Pheobus Kato Senior! Sora Shinori! Your father! Rexy! They all loved me!"
"...giving them a love potion...isn't love...You manipulated them...all...They're all...puppets to you..."
"Shut up!" Mary screamed, walking closer. A knife appeared in her hand. She swang her arm, cutting Alice's left cheek. Alice stepped back. Mary grabbed her throat.
"They love me! They love me!" Mary repeated, "THEY LOVE ME!" She stabbed Alice's hair several times, cutting them. "They love me!"
Tashi turned away from Feray to help her partner. She charged at Mary, but Feray bit her tail, throwing Tashi away.
"And who's cutting hair now?" Mary asked. She moved the knife to her throat. "I liked you better when you were quiet."
Then somebody grabbed Mary's pink cape, pulling her away. Alice fell to the floor.
"Stop that." Both girls looked up and saw Rex holding Mary's cape.
"Rex!"
Mary's angry frown turned into an insane smile. "My darling!"
"Mary, stop this, please."
"Do you love me?" she asked him.
"What?" He looked at her confusedly, frowning. "No, I don't...Mary, please, stop."
Mary looked heartbroken; she couldn't accept that. She turned away and then disappeared in smoke with Feray.
Rex rushed to Alice, offering her a hand. She bashfully took it, standing up. "Thank you," she mouthed.
"No problem." He smiled at her.
She stared into his beautiful blue eyes, blushing.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded.
"Rex, I'm so proud of you, son! You're a girl magnet after me!" Dr. Owen said happily.
The teens quickly glanced at him and then back at each other, blushing more and more. When Alice realized she's still holding Rex's hand, she squeaked and moved her hand away, her face turning bright pink. She put on her hoodie, pulling the ears on it, screaming internally.
"We should go," Rex suggested, "Mary can come back with a worse plan." Foster then noticed a man standing in the corridor. "That can't be..." he mumbled. The teens looked up, seeing the man as well.
"...dad? How?" Rex whispered, walking to the man slowly, "you're alive...?" The man nodded. The others just watched.
Then Alice's head hurt; she knew what was going on, but it was too late. Rex reached his hand to the man, oblivious to the truth. He didn't want it to be a lie. Ace growled and bit man's arm. He groaned in pain, his body transforming into the real form, Mary.
"Huh?" Rex stopped immediately, then Mary grabbed his hand.
"Rex!" Alice reached for him, he looked at her, but it was too late, they disappeared.
Rex, Ace, and Mary were gone...
"We lost him again..." Foster said defeatedly. Alice looked up at him, sighing.
"I'm so sorry..." Alice murmured, "...I should have been...faster..."
He shook his head. "They can't hold him forever."
Then they were silent for so long until Cole, Sue, and Justin came back.
"What happened?"
They all explained their current situations and the Traveling Forces teleported back home.
—
Several hours later, Lucy was sitting on a bench outside a New York hospital, smoking, tears running down her cheeks.
Spike walked over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Why are you still here?" she asked hatefully. He didn't reply. "You...you could have done something...stop her sooner...I almost lost her...I won't let her continue this..."
"I'm sorry..."
"Get out of my sight."
"Lucy..."
"Get away from here!" she yelled at him. He stared at her in shock. "I want to be alone," she growled.
He walked away.
"I can't lose more..." she sobbed, "...I can't..." Her sobs faded in the distance.