Chapter 11:
I slowly opened my eyes, looking faintly at the alarm clock on my bedside table. It was Monday again, meaning it was time to get back to school. Thirteen minutes to seven…I thought Even if I wait till seven, I'll be able to take a quick walk with Aurora and still make it to class in time… Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a tickling feeling on my left cheek. I opened my eyes up wide and realized it was Aurora licking my cheek. She had started doing that to wake me up during this weekend, and although I had been quite surprised at first, I had already started to get used to it. Matter of fact, just yesterday I had even pretended I was still asleep as she did it, just lying there and letting her lick me. After a while though, I had blown my cover when I started laughing since her tongue was tickling me so badly. Now I quickly sat up in the bed as she stopped licking my cheek. She looked into my eyes.
"Did you sleep well, Jim?" She asked softly.
"Yeah" I said as I reached out my hand and patted her head while I wiped my cheek with my other hand, since it was still wet from her licking it "And what about you, Aurora?"
"Yes, me to…" She replied, but then she was quite for a short while... "Can we take a walk, please?" She suddenly said.
"So that's why you woke me up, huh?" I said with a little grin, picking her up in my arms and tickling her belly. She immediately started laughing and wriggling in my arms "You got it, let's go!"
As we walked outside I immediately noticed it had gotten way colder than before: Fall had arrived without a doubt. Every tree along the street was bare, and the ground was covered with their fallen leaves. I even noticed there was frost on the ground here and there, and the wind felt chillier than ever before, so I was glad I had remembered to take my warm jacket and scarf on before leaving.
"Jim…" Aurora suddenly said as we walked down the street "I'm freezing…" I looked down on her and realized she was actually shivering slightly. Suddenly I got an idea. I took off my scarf and tied it around my waist, and then I opened up the zipper of my jacket before bending down and picking up Aurora, holding her against my chest as I closed my jacket, but leaving a bit of the zipper open, so that Aurora could stick her head out of it as she now sat inside my jacket.
"How's this?" I asked her as she poked her head out of my jacket.
"Great!" She said happily "It's really warm and cosy…" I laughed a little as she snuggled up against me, and we kept walking down the street. Since it was still pretty early we didn't meet any others during the walk, and I was actually happy about that: As practical as my idea to keep Aurora warm was, I couldn't help but feeling a little silly as I walked down the street…
As we returned home mum had woken up and I noticed she had prepared breakfast for us, so we both sat down in the kitchen to eat, and once we were done it was time for me to head of to school.
"Have a good day, darling!" Mum said as she walked out through the door while I was taking on my jacket "See you in the afternoon!" As she exited the house Aurora walked up to me. I quickly bent down and stroke her the same way I always did before leaving.
"Promise you'll hurry back, Jim…" She said as she nudged me with her nose.
"Promise." I said, and was just about to leave, when, suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. I quickly ran back up to my room and picked up the DinoHolder I had received from Max last week, and ran back to Aurora down in the hall.
"I think I'll actually take you with me from now on!" I said as I pushed the button on the DinoHolder and as Aurora gave me a surprised look, she turned back into a card. I quickly stuffed the DinoHolder and her card into my jacket, and then I quickly ran of. Seeing how Blaze had spoken about the Masked Knights looking for me, and judging from how he had actually searched me out, I found it safe to assume they would try getting me again. And if they did I needed some way to fight back, not to mention there was always the possibility they might attack me while there were other people around, meaning I might not be the only one in need of protection next time...
As soon as I arrived at school, I snuck the card and the DinoHolder into my bag, and made sure to always have it with me wherever I went. As I walked out of the lunch room a few hours later to head back to class, I met John, and to my surprise I noticed he was dressed to go outside.
"What's with the confusion, Jim?" He asked "You do remember we would make a study tour to the museum after lunch today, right?"
"Oh my! I had totally forgotten!" I said and rushed to get my jacket, placing Aurora's card and the DinoHolder in my inner pocket, and then I quickly ran outside where the rest of the class stood shivering in the cold, waiting for me.
The Museum of Natural History that we were to visit was located in a town a few kilometres away, so we had to go by bus to get there. As soon as we arrived we went to leave our bags for safe keeping as we would leave for home after the tour, then we returned to the entrance to meet up with John and another man, who I realized had to be our guide for the visit. And so we started walking trough the museum as the guide told us about the various objects put out on display. But as we entered the exhibition about the prehistory and he started talking about how life first appeared on Earth, a loud beeping suddenly interrupted him.
"Hey, what is that?" John asked as he looked around on us. In the next second I realized it was coming from my pocket!
"I-I'm really sorry!" I said hurriedly as everyone looked at me and the guide gave me a grim look "I'll just…Wait a second!" I said, running a little bit away and hauled out the now beeping DinoHolder from my jacket. I could see that what looked like a map had appeared on the screen, and a dot was blinking on it. I realized what it must mean: A new dinosaur must have appeared somewhere! As I gazed upon the screen I suddenly got yet another shock: I recognized the area displayed on the map! It was the north of Sweden! The very area I was in now! Could that mean there was a real live dinosaur somewhere around here…?
"Jim! Jim, what are you doing?" John suddenly called at me from a distance. I quickly realized there was nothing I could do about it now, at least not without risking to attract attention to me. I pulled out the scarf from my pocket and wrapped it around the DinoHolder, thus muffling the sound.
"What was that all about?" John asked me as I rejoined the group.
"Oh, it was just my cell phone, guess I forgot to turn it off…" I said, trying not to sound nervous. He gave me a suspicious look.
"But you've never had a cell phone before, have you?" He said with a raised eyebrow. Luckily, in that very moment the guide cleared his throat, thus ending our conversation and so we kept walking. We soon stopped in front of a large replica of a Tyrannosaurus skeleton put out on display next to a life-size model of another dinosaur. The guide turned towards us and started telling about the time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. As interesting as I thought it was to hear, I just couldn't help but thinking about what I had just seen on the screen of the DinoHolder. Were there really a dinosaur nearby…?
"…The Tyrannosaurus was one of the largest carnivorous animals ever to walk this Earth" The guide said, snapping me out of my thoughts "It preyed on large herbivores like the Triceratops..." He continued and pointed towards the model put out on display next to the skeleton. Every one of my classmates automatically looked from the skeleton to the model next to it, and then turned to listen to the guide again. I on the other hand kept looking at the model Triceratops. Its body was a bright grey with dots of darker grey on its back. Its underside was dark yellow, and its frill was decorated with grey and orange stripes. After seeing Chomp in his full form twice already I had quite a good idea what a Triceratops looked like, and for some reason I couldn't help but thinking there was something wrong about this model: Not only did its size not quite seem to match Chomp's, but I could also have sworn that the horn at the end of its snout was way shorter than I remember seeing it…
As the guide kept going on about the Tyrannosaurus my eyes suddenly widened: For a moment I could have sworn that I had seen it blinking...But that would be impossible…It was just a model, right?
"Jim, are you listening?" John suddenly said, and I looked up and realized the whole class was looking at me again, some were even giggling. And the guide was looking grimly at me again.
"Of course!" I said nervously "I guess I just…" But before I could finish I was interrupted by a loud noise. The rest of the group and John whirled around and as I looked in the direction I had heard the sound I realized what was happening: The model dinosaur right beside the T-Rex skeleton was moving! It let out a loud roar as it lowered its head, and in the next second it rammed right into the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, smashing it to pieces. The dinosaur turned suddenly towards us, causing many of my classmates to start screaming in terror and they quickly turned around and started running towards the exit.
"No way!" The guide cried as the dinosaur turned around and charged at a display case full of ammonites, crushing it to pieces "That model is alive!" I just stood there staring at it. The other visitors at the museum seemed to have realized just what was going on as well, and they were all heading for the exit, and I could hear people scream as they ran by. It was like a pandemonium...
"Come on, Jim!" John suddenly shouted and grabbed my arm "We have to get out of here!" As he began pulling me towards the exit, the dinosaur suddenly turned around and rushed at a large pillar not far away from us, causing large chunks of stone to fall down on us at it crashed to the ground. One of the rocks hit John's shoulder, and I could feel him release his grip of my arm, and in the next second a cloud of dust spread as the stones kept hitting the floor, and I could no longer see John no matter were I looked.
"Jeez" A voice suddenly said "What's with those guys? They're acting like they've never seen an Arrhinoceratops before…" I whirled around and despite the cloud of dust I could have sworn I saw the outlines of a person standing right next the now demolished skeleton…
"Who are you?" I called trough the dust "Are you the one controlling that dinosaur?"
"Right on the money!" The voice replied. Judging from the voice I was almost certain it was a girl speaking, and from what I could see trough the dust she was almost exactly as tall as me.
"It looks like I finally found you, Gust!" She said. I froze. She just called me Gust! Could that mean…? Suddenly the cloud of dust began to clear, and I almost immediately noticed her standing in front of me, dressed in a black coat with a hood and black gloves, just like the ones Blaze had worn. And I also noticed that whoever it was even wore a mask just like the one he had worn, only difference this one was golden rather than red.
"Hey!" I said "Are you…?"
"One of the Masked Knights?" The girl interrupted "Yes, my name is Thunder. Oh, and I see you've met my partner Arrhinoceratops already…" She said, nodding at the dinosaur now standing right beside her.
"What do you mean wrecking this place? Just what do you want?" I shouted at her.
"Isn't that obvious?" She replied coldly "I'm here to do what Blaze couldn't: Take you back to join the Masked Knights! And it looks like my plan to lure you in worked wonderfully!"
"Will you ever give it up?" I asked irritably "I already told you I won't join up with the likes of you, and that's final!" She just looked at me.
"I couldn't care less what you want" She replied "You will come back with me whether you want to or not!"
"I refuse!" I shouted as loudly as I could.
"Let's just see about that…" She said mockingly, and suddenly the Arrhinoceratops started to move towards me. I didn't hesitate for a second: I quickly put my hand into my jacket and pulled out my DinoHolder and Aurora's card. I then pulled of the scarf I had tied around it and quickly slashed the card through it.
"Come out, Aurora!" I called. There was a blaze of light, and in the next second she stood in front of me in her full form. I could see her looking from the Arrhinoceratops to the masked girl Thunder, and something just told me she had a very good idea of what was going on...
"Jim…" She said as she kept looking at them "Does this mean…?"
"Yeah" I said "Looks like this girl's one of those Masked Knights just like that guy Blaze we encountered before, and from the looks of things she's looking for a fight…"
"Looks like Blaze were right…" The masked girl said as she looked at Aurora "You are troublesome!"
"If refusing to go with you guys without a fight means being troublesome, I don't mind being troublesome!" I snapped back at her.
"I never said it mattered." She said "If you thought Blaze was though, just wait till you get to fight me!" And suddenly she pulled out something from her coat and held it up in front of me. I recognized it: It looked just like the Lightning-Stone Max had showed me! Before I had a chance to do anything, she also pulled out a card and swiped it over the Stone.
"Wall Smash!" She called, and in the next second the Arrhinoceratops began glowing in a whitish light, and in the next second it rushed forward at full speed, smashing right into Aurora. The impact immediately sent her crashing into the nearby wall, and before she had a chance to stand back up the Arrhinoceratops charged at her again, smashing up a large hole in the wall as it send her crashing through it.
"Aurora!" I cried through the dust.
"Don't waste your breath, she's through." The masked girl said "Just come along with me now!"
"Forget it!" I shouted as tears started to well up in my eyes. Could Aurora really be…? Suddenly there was a loud roar and in the next second Aurora appeared trough the hole in the wall! She looked badly beaten, but she was definitely still in one piece.
"Aurora! I knew you'd be okay!" I cried happily.
"Well, she won't be for long!" The masked girl said "Not once I'm trough with her!"
"Oh, yeah? Well don't think I'll give up without a fight!" I snapped back, and I quickly pressed a button on the DinoHolder, extracting the Razor Wind-card, and was just about to swipe it when I felt a stinging pain in my hand, and the card fell out of it and landed in front of me on the floor. In the next second I realized the masked girl had pulled out what looked very much like a whip from her coat, and lashed my hand with it to make me drop the card.
"I already know all your tricks from your fight with Blaze!" She called as I rubbed my now stinging hand "I won't let you use that move!" And in the next second she lashed the card in front of me with her whip, causing it to fly up in the air and it landed on top of display case.
"No, my card!" I cried as I rushed over to the case to get it back.
"Static Surge!" She suddenly called, swiping yet another card on her Stone. The Arrhinoceratops suddenly glowed in a yellow light and in the next second its horns began sparkling with electricity. Just as I reached for the card on top of the case, it shot a beam of lightning towards Aurora, hitting her square on. She roared as the lightning hit her, and then she fell shivering to the ground. The DinoHolder I held in my hand suddenly started beeping and the screen began blinking red, and I remembered Max and the others telling me that meant Aurora would soon run out of power!
"No!" I cried as I quickly whirled around and began running towards Aurora.
"Looks like that Allosaurus isn't quite finished yet" The masked girl said coldly "Guess I'll have to give it some more hurt…" She was just about to swipe the card I had seen her use before when I rushed up in between Aurora and the Arrhinoceratops, positioning myself right in its path.
"Cut it out! Leave her alone!" I shouted.
"Get out of the way!" She growled "I have to get rid of that dinosaur!"
"Never! If you want to finish her off, you're going to have to finish me first!" I cried.
"Jim…" Aurora suddenly said weakly behind me "You have to run…You'll never be able to defeat her…At least save yourself…"
"No way!" I said as I turned towards her "I won't run! After what happened back then I promised that if you ever got in trouble again I'd protect you no matter what! And I won't go back on my word!"
"Jim…" Aurora said, completely in awe.
"Even if I were to get away in one piece, I can't imagine life without you!" I cried "You're my friend, and if they take you, I'm going down with you!"
"How touching…" The masked girl said mockingly "But I'm afraid I can't have that. That dinosaur is one thing, but if something were to happen to you, Gust, I'd be in big trouble, so I can't let you do it!" And suddenly she swung her whip again, and this time it wrapped around my left hand. In the next second she pulled hard on the whip, causing me to fall hard onto the stone floor.
"Now go!" The masked girl called to the Arrhinoceratops "Take that Allosaurus down!"
"Aurora! No!" I cried as I struggled to stand back up as the Arrhinoceratops once again charged at her, but suddenly something smashed trough the wall next to it and the Arrhinoceratops quickly jumped out of the way as a large red dinosaur suddenly burst trough the wall and let out a deafening roar. I immediately recognized it: It was a Tyrannosaurus!
And in the next second I heard a familiar voice trough the dust…
"Where are you, you little brat? This time that Allosaurus of yours is ours!" I could clearly hear that it was a woman speaking, and as the dust began to clear I could see three familiar-looking figures standing in the hole that the T-Rex had smashed up in the wall…