Suddenly, Rump started to bark frantically and gnawed at the bars. Despite being in his mutantsaur form, he wasn't able to bite through the bars; Moynihan had designed these bars herself to keep Rump from escaping his carrier. After continuous failure in removing the bars, Rump gave up and went back to his barking. The barking caused the two alimons in the room to stop what they were doing and wince.

Haze turned his head towards the carrier, hissing angrily. "Shut up, you mangy dog!" Using his long tail, he swatted the cage aside, causing it to crash against the wall.

'Rump!' Moynihan called out.

The carrier landed on its side. The lock that kept the door closed had somehow come undone. Rump pushed his nose against the cage door and it opened up. Realizing immediately he could now get out, he leaped from his carrier and barked. Haze's eyes widened slightly as he realized what he did. He then growled and ran towards the dog.

"Do you know any good tricks? Because I know one you should learn!" He said mockingly as he neared the dog. When he got close enough, he lifted a paw in the air, preparing to tear into the dog with his four sharp talons. "Play dead!"

But Rump was faster than he had anticipated. The dog mutantsaur jumped out of the way, then immediately bit down onto the alimon's forelimb. Haze howled in pain and started to shake his limb to dislodge the dog.

Moynihan watched as this scene played out. She turned her eyes upwards slowly and noticed Asymal's attention was no longer on her. Instead, he was looking at Haze struggling with Rump. Using this opportunity, she slowly wrapped her tail around one of Asymal's hind legs and pulled hard. The alimon screeched as he fell into the ground. Moynihan then immediately moved over and got on top of the alimon. She wrapped her arms around him, pressed a foot against his side, and closed her jaws around his neck.

'I have questions I want to ask you. And I suggest you answer them..' Moynihan said, her voice threatening.

sss

Veloci let out a shrill cry as he slammed against the wall, having been knocked there by Axel. He shook his head and looked over at her, baring his teeth. He had quickly transformed into a velociraptor as soon as Axel launched her attack. He thought he would be quick enough to outmaneuver her and get multiple attacks in, but she proved faster than he had anticipated. It didn't help that her comrade, Paradox, kept coming in from behind, slashing or biting him.

Axel ran towards him and snapped her jaws close to his head, just barely missing. Veloci pulled his head back and snarled. He lunged forward and bit down onto Axel's neck. Much to his dismay, the neck was thick with muscle and was harder to bite into than he thought. Before he could apply more pressure, Axel swung her head down, hitting him hard in the head with the underside of her jaw. Veloci released his grip, feeling somewhat woozy from the attack. Axel bit down on his tail, slicing into the meat and blood vessels, and swung him into the ground.

Veloci hissed as his chin slammed into the ground. He looked up and noticed Axel moving in towards him. Her jaws were open and her eyes were fixated on his neck. Opening his eyes wide, he quickly reacted. He swiftly got off the ground, turned around, and swung at her with his three-digit hands. The claws made their mark, slashing across Axel's face.

Veloci held his hands, claws glinting in the light, at her in a threatening manner. 'Get out of my lab!'

Paradox snarled, "And who is going to make us? You?" He chortled. "You, who is going to die soon, is trying to threaten us?" Veloci growled at him. Paradox looked somewhat afraid, but that didn't last long. He sneered, "You are outnumbered and outclassed. Why don't you just give up now? It'll be a lot easier on you."

Axel gingerly pressed a digit against her face, pulled her paw back and looked at it. There was some blood, but not a lot, that now stained her paw. Her pupils dilated and she let out a scream of anger. She swiftly turned her head towards Veloci, her eyes glowing more intensely. "You dare try to harm me?! You ignorant fool! I'll show you what happens to those who mess with me!"

With that, she dashed towards Veloci and slammed her head against his side. He screeched as he hit against the wall again. Before he could get up, she closed her jaws around his shoulders and bit down hard. Veloci roared in agony as Axel sank her teeth deep into his shoulder, tearing at the flesh and skin. With a swift pull, she ripped out a chunk of flesh, leaving Veloci with a gaping hole, muscle and ligaments exposed. She then struck against his side with her paw, three deep gashes appearing.

Blood poured heavily from the wounds and they stung horribly. Veloci was doing his best not to howl in pain as he knew that's what Axel would have wanted. Instead he stood his ground, his legs slightly shaky. He opened his jaws and ran towards Axel. Paradox ran from the side and used his head and neck to knock Veloci back down into the ground. Veloci screeched painfully as he landed on his back, hitting his shoulder wound. He looked up to see a set of jaws coming in at his head...

sss

Caruso ran down the hallway, pushing past multiple students as he did so. Right behind him were Michelle and Max. His heart was racing, his breathing slightly raggedy. Some other students glared at him or looked confused as the group of three ran past them. They apologized a few times, but their minds were focused on something else.

"Caruso!" Max called out. He was running alongside Caruso, slightly behind him. He had his eyes focused on what was in front of him, as did everyone else. "Are you sure you heard screams?"

Caruso nodded. "Yes, I'm certain!"

"But how are you certain they're coming from Ms. Moynihan's room?" Max asked.

Caruso replied, "Don't know, but I don't want to take any chances! It might be.." He stifled himself, realizing he couldn't talk about such things out here in the hallway.

Behind them, Michelle was pushing herself to run faster. She wanted to get to the classroom. She wanted to make sure Moynihan was all right. And if something really was wrong, she wanted to make whoever harmed her pay for doing so. "Enough talking! More running!"

After shoving their way through a rather large crowd of students who were trying to reach their next class, they reached the science room. Caruso arrived first and tried to turn the knob. It wouldn't budge. The team immediately knew something was wrong. Moynihan wasn't the type to lock her door, even if she didn't currently have class. The only time she'd lock it was at the end of the day when she was going home.

Caruso pressed his body against the door and pushed as hard as he could. But the door wasn't budging. He tried to push harder, but it wasn't any use. Max approached and started to help. He stood next to Caruso and put both hands square on the door. Mustering up as much strength as he could, he pushed into the door. But even the combined strength of the two male teenagers wasn't enough to make the door swing open.

After several seconds of pushing, Caruso paused and looked over at Max. "Do you think we can go get Rodger? He'd be strong enough to get this open."

"There won't be enough time!" Max gritted his teeth as he pressed his body against the door, trying to pop it open. "We have to..get in there..now!" He said through clenched teeth.

'Stand aside.' Max and Caruso immediately moved out of the way as Michelle dashed towards the door in dino mode. She twisted her body to the side and slammed it against the door. The impact of her body against the door caused it to pop open. The two stood there momentarily, flabbergasted.

"Did she just..." Caruso said.

"No time to worry about that!" Max ran into the room. Caruso followed close behind.

They found Michelle standing next to the stairs, looking down at the scene below. They walked up next to her to have a look for themselves. They gasped as they saw the source of the commotion. Moynihan was in dino mode and wrestling with what appeared to be a white alimon. Next to her, Rump was running around in circles, a second, green alimon chasing after him. There were multiple blood stains on the floor and blood staining all the participants in the fight.

"More alimons?!" Caruso cried out. "Where do they keep coming from?!"

'Who cares? Let's just get them away from here!' Michelle said as she started to move down the stairs.

"Michelle, wait!" Max yelled, but it was too late. Michelle was already running down the stairs. Within seconds, she jumped on top of the white alimon, taking him by complete surprise. Max sighed, frustrated. "We needed to think of a plan first..."

"No time for a plan now!" Caruso said as he rushed down the stairs. "Let's help her!" As he got closer, his stegosaurus tail shot out from behind him and plates grew from his back. He swung his tail at the green alimon, knocking him back. It was the best he could do since he could not fully transform in this room. With a velociraptor, a guanlong, a mutantsaur, and two alimons, there wasn't enough space.

Max watched the fight from a distance for a little while before deciding to join in. He didn't want to fight more alimons, and he couldn't imagine how much this was going to hurt any possible chance of a peaceful encounter, but he knew he had to help his friends. Baring his teeth, he transformed his head partially into a tyrannosaurus and rushed forward. He slammed his jaws around the tail of the white alimon, causing him to screech in pain. He then released, turned around, and, using his partially transformed hands, slashed across the thigh of the green alimon.

The two alimons stopped what they were doing and leaped across the room, landing on the desks above them. Panting, tongues hanging out, they glanced down, noticing two partially transformed humans and a guanlong along with the mutant dog and velociraptor they were previously dealing with. They looked at each other.

"More of them?" Haze said.

Asymal growled. "Apparently so." He looked back down. "And if they're here, the others may show up soon."

Haze narrowed his eyes. "What should we do?"

"Leave." Asymal said. "We've wasted enough time as it is."

Without saying another word, the two alimons made a dash towards the door. The group watched as there was flash, indicating they were going back to human form. The lack of screams indicated that there was nobody in the hall when this happened, which was just sheer luck. While there were other students who heard what Caruso had, they either chose to ignore it, perhaps thinking they had only imagined it, or they didn't know what to do about it.

Michelle looked at Moynihan, noticing all the cuts on her body. She nudged her head against her head. 'Moynihan, are you all right?'

Moynihan nodded. 'Yes, I'm fine. A little torn, but it's nothing I can't handle.' She shifted back into human form. Michelle did likewise, as did Max, Caruso, and Rump.

"Moynihan, what happened? What were those alimons doing here?" Max said, his voice full of concern.

Moynihan adjusted her glasses as she leaned against the desk. She seemed to be favoring one leg again. When Max looked at her leg, he could see why. There were red marks and some scratches on the leg she had broken decades ago. "They were Haze and Asymal."

Michelle's eyes widened. "Haze and Asymal..? Those were the same guys we saw at the library the other day. They said they wanted to talk to you."

Moynihan nodded. "That's what they told the principal and that's what they told me." Her eyes narrowed. "They had fibbed so they could get to me alone. It was a good thing I brought Rump along. He proved a great ally against those alimons."

Max blinked. "Why did they want you alone? To talk?"

Caruso glared at him and pointed a finger at him. "Talk? Yeah sure. That's why they were trying to tear into her skin!"

"Whoa, calm down there!" Max said, holding up his hands.

"They did not specifically say why, but they were sent here to eliminate me." Moynihan explained, her voice solemn. "They wanted me alone so it would be easier for them to kill me and leave before anyone wold notice."

The group just sat there in silence for several minutes, taking in this new information. It left a very uneasy feeling in them. These alimons weren't kidding when they said they knew a lot about them. They had nearly successfully managed an attack at the school to get rid of Moynihan. They had figured out so many details ahead of time, when was the best time to attack, among other things. What if they were to strike again? And what if they managed to succeed the second time around?

The trio were grateful that Moynihan, although hurt, managed to make it out in one piece, especially Michelle. They were horrified when they realized how close they were to losing her in this attack. Rump had made it easier for her to fight back, but they weren't sure how much of a difference he had made in the battle. If things had gone in the favor of the alimons, they would have come into the classroom only to see the mutilated corpse of their teacher.

Michelle, feeling relieved that the alimons had lost, wrapped her arms around Moynihan and hugged her. "I'm glad you're all right."

Moynihan smiled and hugged her back. "As am I..."

After a couple more uneasy minutes, Max spoke up. "So..what do you think we should do, Ms. M? Now that these alimons have tried to kill you..."

Still hugging Michelle, Moynihan looked up at the boy, frowning. This wasn't like the other attack she endured by the purple female. This was a deliberate attempt on her life."I didn't want to do this, but I'm afraid we've run out of options. We'll have to fight back..."

sss

Veloci remained on the ground, constantly yelping or grunting in pain as Axel continued to slash him with her claws or bite down on a limb and toss him. Axel had a sneer on her face. She was enjoying hearing his cries of pain, seeing him in agony. She drove her claws deep into his leg and threw him to the side. She walked over and bit down on his hand, tearing into the ligaments. She released him and struck him with her tail, causing him to roll onto his back. She placed her front paws on his chest and pushed her claws in deeply. She lowered her head so it was close to Veloci's.

"And by the way, I was the one who killed that woman. She was getting to be a pain, so I relieved you of her." She lightly scratched the side of Veloci's jaws with a claw. "You hate humans anyway, so you should be thanking me."

Through his painful hissing, Veloci managed a question. 'Why...?'

"Why?" Axel laughed coldly. She looked over at Paradox. "Do you hear that? He wants to know why we're doing this. Isn't that cute?"

Paradox nodded, grinning. "Oh yes, very cute. Downright adorable."

Turning her attention back to Veloci, Axel said, "I would tell you, but you are not going to live much longer. So what's the point in me telling you?" She laughed again as she placed a paw on Veloci's head, her claws piercing his skin. She then twisted his head to the side painfully. Veloci let out a yelp. The twist hadn't broken his neck but it felt like it had. "Take a last look around..this is the last thing you'll see before you die."

Axel suddenly drove her claws deep into Veloci's chest, blood pouring from it. She continued to move her paw down until she reached his abdomen before she pulled her claws out. She smirked in delight as the blood oozed from the deep gashes. Veloci writhed in pain, trying feebly to fight back. Axel couldn't help but smile at this lame attempt to defend himself. She gripped him by his neck, lifted him up, and hurled him into the ground with great force.

She was going to continue, but Paradox came up to her. "I think he's had enough, Axel." He said, noting the injuries. "He's not going to live much longer. Let's just leave him here to die."

Axel glared at him. "Now where's the fun in that? I want to see the look on his face when he breathes his last." Veloci looked up at her with one, wide eye.

"Our leader told us to kill him, not waste time torturing him." Paradox said, baring his teeth. "Do you want to risk failing our leader? I'd hate to think of what he might do to you." He cringed back as Axel advanced on him, snapping her jaws at him angrily.

"Do you think I care what our leader does to me?! Nothing he does to me will affect me!" She pushed her face right up to Paradox's, looking directly into his terrified eyes. "I'll do whatever pleases me! Understand?!"

Paradox nodded his head, backing away from Axel. Keeping his head low, he said, "Sure I understand. It's just that..do you really need to waste time watching him die? He's good as dead anyway. He'll be lucky if anyone finds him in time. Might as well just leave him here." Then an idea struck him. "Or maybe you could bring him with us. After all, our leader did want proof that we successfully killed this velociraptor. He'll make a good meal too. Probably takes like turkey." He licked his lips as he looked at Veloci's fearful expression.

Axel thought about this, scratching her chin. She looked down at Veloci. She knew Paradox was right. She could just bring him along. She smirked. She liked that idea, to bring Veloci with on the way back to the cave. That way, if he did die on the way there, she'd be there to witness it. She said, "All right then, we'll take him with us."

She walked over to Veloci and was about to pick him up when she realized a problem. He could try to fight back, even in his weakened state. She didn't want to be interrupted on the way back, so she walked over to the tools to see if he had any rope. To her delight, he did. She picked some up and walked over to him and went to work. Within minutes, she bound his legs and arms together and tied his jaws shut. She knew he wouldn't dare go back to human form unless he wanted to die faster. She picked him up and placed him on her back roughly.

She turned to Paradox. "All right, let's go."

sss

About half an hour later, Axel and Paradox, along with the injured Veloci, were making their way along a forest trail. They chose this way so they wouldn't be so easily spotted. A few birds flew overhead, probably vultures attracted by the promise of Veloci's meat. The two alimons ignored them as they continued to make their way back to the base.

The trail was a little rough in some places. There were bushes and fallen branches that were in the way, plus the occasional sharp stone. Nonetheless, it didn't slow them down. They did whatever they could to get through, even if it meant causing Veloci pain. They didn't care anyway. They knew he was going to die soon.

Suddenly they heard something snap. They quickly stopped and looked around. After a few moments, they heard another sound. They kept turning their heads this way and that, trying to find whatever was causing that noise. They sniffed the air a few times and got a whiff of something. They growled, realizing they weren't alone. Axel grabbed Veloci and threw him roughly to the side as she and Paradox got onto a fighting stance.

"I know you're there.. Show yourself!" Paradox barked.

Veloci opened up an eye weakly and looked over at what was going on. His vision was very blurry. He could make out a black shape and a yellow shape, recognizing them as Paradox and Axel. They were moving about frantically, as though they were in a fight. He realized there was another black shape that was moving around, constantly knocking Paradox and Axel into the ground. He wanted to say something, but he felt his strength leave him. His eyes closed as his vision failed him.