When I got to the American Fossil Park, I was immediately greeted by Leon.
"Hey, Tria." he said, smiling at me. He's been smiling a lot more since he opened up to me. "You here to see what Becky wants?"
"Yep." I replied, smiling back, "Sorry if I'm late."
"You should be." Leon teased, smirking as he placed one hand on his hip, ruffling my hair with the other, "Becks is pacing around the Chief's office, anxious for you to arrive."
"I see." I said, swatting his hand away playfully as we both headed for the elevator, "Well we'd better not keep her waiting!"
While we waited for the elevator to reach Sean's office, Leon put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to his side. I let him, sighing tiredly.
"I heard you and the little guy defeated a veteran Warden in Fossil Park Asia. And he got some new transformation."
I hummed in confirmation, nodding against the taller male's side. "News sure travels fast, doesn't it."
Leon chuckled. "What do you expect?" He remained quiet for a moment, then said more gently, "You're really making a name for yourself, you know."
I looked up at my Paleo Pal, arching an eyebrow in question. "I am?"
Leon chuckled again, pulling me closer in an affectionate embrace. "Of course. With all the things you've accomplished, I'm surprised you haven't noticed."
"I've never paid much attention to gossip." I replied, standing up straighter as the elevator doors began to open, "Look. We're here."
As Leon, Nibbles, and I stepped out of the elevator, we saw Becky pacing back and forth anxiously, alternating between looking out of the window, examining the large T-rex head fossil at the side of the room, and pacing around in a circle. When she spotted us during one of her circles, she made a bee-line for us.
"Ah! Leon! You found her!" Becky said, her tone a mix of relief and joy, "Thanks for coming, Tria."
"No problem." I said, my smile not faltering, "What can I do for you?"
"I have a little favor to ask you." she replied, looking between me and Leon, "Both of you, actually."
"Huh?" Leon and I both looked at each other in confusion.
Becky nodded, her face becoming anxious again. "We've got trouble out in one of our dig sites- a hot, arid place called Dusty Steppes. I'm not sure what's going on exactly, which is why I called you."
"Wait a second!" Leon barked suddenly, "Why'd you call Tria for this? I could've handled this on my own!"
"That's EXACTLY why I called Tria!" Becky snapped back, "We don't know what's going on, so it's too dangerous for any Warden to go alone! I was going to bring you with me on this investigation, but you'll only work with Tria, so I decided to ask her to join as well."
"I've worked with other people before!" Leon growled as he and Becky glared at each other.
"No, you've taken Lucky on a few missions where you've done nearly all the work!" Becky retorted angrily, "The only person you ever truly work with is Tria!"
"Guys! Enough!" I yelled, placing myself in between the two quarreling Wardens, "It doesn't matter why I was called here! What matters is that I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere until we figure out what's going on!"
The two Wardens stopped arguing and stared at me in surprise.
"So…" Becky hummed, "Does that mean you're in?"
"Yep!" I said cheerfully, "This mission has piqued my interest. I want to know what's going on, and you BOTH are coming with me!"
Leon and Becky stared at me, still somewhat shocked by the ferocity of my response. Becky, recovering first, grinned at me.
"Oh, that's great!" she said happily, "Let's go! Hurry!"
At her command, Leon, Nibbles, and I followed the senior Warden to the Dusty Steppes.
Dusty Steppes was a desert in every sense of the word. The large sand dunes towered over the rocky cliffs, and sandstorms battered the landscape. Despite the tough condition, I could still see large vivosaurs wondering around the arid dig site. Leon and I drove to Becky's Bone Buggy as she began to speak through the radio.
"Ok, so here's the problem…" she began, "There's a road in the back of the Dusty Steppes that's become blocked somehow. Let's get back there and see what's up!"
"Man…" Leon muttered, "And here I was expecting this to be a difficult mission…"
"Can it, Leon!" I barked at the purple-haired punk, "You of all people should know not to let your guard down on any mission, no matter how easy it seems! That attitude's what got you in trouble last time!"
Leon winced at my words. "Low blow, Tria…"
"Come on, you two!" Becky called to us, "We shouldn't be squabbling right now! We have to find out what's caused the path to be blocked."
"Right!" I said excitedly, driving after Becky.
"Yeah, yeah…" Leon muttered, sulking, as he lazily followed us.
We drove deeper into the Dusty Steppes, our senses on high alert (with one exception). In a narrow rocky canyon, likely created from millions of years of being bombarded by sandstorms, we were ambushed by a Lophus, which tried to pounce on us from a rocky path arching over the main road. However, Leon's Ptera finished it off before it even touched the ground.
"Hmph. What'd you expect?" Leon smirked at his victory. Becky and I rolled our eyes.
After about 10 minutes of following the main path, the three of us ran into the problem. A huge boulder loomed over us, blocking the path.
"Hmm…This boulder seems to be our problem." Becky stated, nodding matter-of-factly.
"Gee, you don't say." Leon growled sarcastically. Becky glared at him, disregarding his comment.
"We'll never move this thing on our own." she continued, "We'll need a front-end loader or something." Becky then looked over the large boulder again, a look of confusion on her face. "What the heck is this rock doing here in the first place?"
"Maybe it fell there?" Leon suggested, "There are plenty of cliffs around."
"I don't think so." I said, driving closer to the boulder, "This placement is a little too precise to be just a random act of nature."
"Maybe a vivosaur, then." Leon replied, "Didn't that Gorgo drop rocks on you?"
"He did." I agreed, placing a hand on the carnivore's Dino Gear to soothe the guilt radiating from it, "But I don't see why a vivosaur would go through all that trouble. Has there been a vivosaur known for doing that here, Becky?"
"Not that I know of." Becky answered, clearly at a loss for why the boulder was there.
"Then that leaves only one explanation." I said, getting out of my Digger's Rig and approaching the boulder on foot.
"Tria! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Leon exclaimed as his and Becky's eyes widened, "Get back into your Bone Buggy before a rogue vivosaur shows up!"
"Don't worry. I won't be long." I replied, unconcerned.
"Tria!" Becky yelled, "As your senior, I order you to return to your Bone Buggy RIGHT NOW!"
"Yes ma'am!" I yelled, saluting as I climbed back into my Bone Buggy, "I found what I was looking for anyway."
"And just what was that?" Leon growled, irritated that I had made him worry.
"Tire tracks." I replied, "The boulder is surrounded by them."
"What?!" Becky and Leon both exclaimed, driving as close as they could to the boulder.
"Holy crap! You're right!" Becky cried, "Someone dropped this rock here on purpose!"
Leon growled, "When I get my hands on whoever did this, there's gonna be hell to pay!"
"Settle down, Leon! We shouldn't act rashly!" I called to my fellow graduate. I looked to Becky for assistance, but she seemed to be preoccupied.
"This smells fishy…" she muttered, more to herself than to either of us, "Heck, this smells like a whole trawler!" She then backed up, turning her light blue Heavy Hauler to a gate next to the blocked path. Behind the gate were several rings of moving quicksand surrounding a cactus, with a path beyond it leading deeper into the dig site.
"There's no choice…" the American Warden muttered, "We have to break down the gate!"
"Really?!" I exclaimed, a little apprehensive about breaking down a gate without permission.
"What are you-?" Leon was beginning to ask when Becky slammed her Heavy Hauler into the gate, smashing through it effortlessly. "Hey!"
"Look at this, you two." Becky ordered us. When Leon and I drove next to her, she continued, "This is a secret route known only to Wardens. We'll have to plow our way through the moving sand and head up that little trail."
"Are you sure?" I asked, looking at the moving sand worriedly. Becky's Heavy Hauler and Leon's Turf Shredder were specifically designed to handle terrain like that; my Digger's Rig was not.
"Come on, Tria!" Leon yelled impatiently, driving through the moving sand easily.
"You can do it, Tria!" Becky encouraged me, also having already reached the other side.
I gulped uneasily, hesitantly pressing my foot to the accelerator. Almost as soon as my Bone Buggy's wheels touched the moving sand, they started to be dragged along.
"Tria!" Becky called urgently, "Don't let your wheels get caught in the sand! Keep driving forward!"
Clenching my teeth, I floored the accelerator, plowing through the sand. When I reached the cactus at the center of the circle, my Bone Buggy ran into something hidden in the sand.
"Tria! What-?" I heard Leon yell, but his voice was cut off what the sudden stop threw me to the front of my Bone Buggy, causing me to hit my radio's power button.
"What the heck?" I growled in frustration as I saw what I had hit. I saw what looked like a round red rock with black spikes surrounding it. "Oh no…" Nibbles growled.
Out of the sand, right in front of where I had stopped, the Fire-type, hardheaded Stygi jumped out at me, taking a menacing stance as it snarled at me. Nibbles growled, preparing to jump out of the Bone Buggy to fight.
Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed across the small clearing. Nibbles froze, his eyes wide. The Stygi screamed in terror, taking off through the broken gate. I floored the accelerator once more, quickly plowing through the rest of the sand to rejoin the rest of my group.
"Did you hear that roar?!" Leon's terrified voice greeted me the moment I turned my radio back on, "What the hell was that?!"
"I've never heard anything like it…" Becky whispered, her voice trembling.
"Don't worry." I gasped, "Whatever that thing was, it's gone now. Let's get back to the task at hand."
"R-Right." Leon and Becky stuttered as they followed me down the sandy path, which was rough and uneven from disuse.
As we drove through a cavern and into another section of the desert, Becky looked around suspiciously.
"That's strange." she said warily, "I haven't seen any vivosaurs since we passed the moving sand. There should be vivosaurs here."
"Maybe we're getting closer to whoever put the boulder there." I suggested.
"Or maybe that massive vivosaur has scared them all way." Leon said pessimistically, looking around nervously.
"I hope you're right, Tria." Becky mumbled, shuddering, "If that vivosaur is here, we're in trouble."
"I doubt it is." I said, trying to sound reassuring, "I don't see any large or abnormal footprints around, and I don't feel any tremors that would signal the approach of a large vivosaur. I do see more tire tracks, though."
"Hey! You're right!" Becky exclaimed, getting excited at the thought of catching the ones who disrupted the American dig site. She also seemed relieved to have something to distract her from thinking about whatever scared off the Stygi in the moving sand pit. Leon still seemed unsure, but he followed us without further discussion.
About a minute later, we came to another narrow canyon that led to a cave at the very back of the dig site. The cliff walls surrounding the path were so tall that they blocked much of the sunlight, plunging us into an eerie darkness.
"Careful, guys." Becky warned us, "There's no tellin' what we're gonna find in here."
"I just hope your theory is right, Tria." Leon said, his voice uneasy.
"Why? Don't think you could take on the super-predator we heard earlier?" I asked, unable to resist the urge to tease him.
"Of course I could!" Leon cried defensively, although he didn't sound as confident as usual, "It's just that Ptera can't fight to his full abilities with these stupid walls in the way!"
"Hush, you two!" Becky shushed us harshly, "Someone's here!"
Sure enough, as we drove to the cavern's entrance, we saw the source of the tire tracks. Three Light 4WD Bone Buggies were parked at the other end of the cave. One of them, a black-and-green one, was digging for something buried in the wall. The other two, a black-and-red and a black-and-blue, were standing guard.
"Those Bone Buggies shouldn't be here." Becky stated suspiciously.
"Let's see what they're up to." I said, tuning my radio to their frequency.
"Hey! Found it yet?" one of the guys yelled, presumably to the one who was digging.
"The sonar's pinging like crazy!" the one digging replied, sounding anxious, "It's gotta be around here somewhere!"
"Hurry it up already!" the third guy yelled hastily, "We need it if we're gonna restore the BR Brigade to its former glory!"
"The BR Brigade?!" Becky gasped in horror.
"You mean that evil gang the Captain wiped out five years ago?!" Leon exclaimed, a mixture of anger and fear in his voice.
"So these are the guys who blocked the path with the boulder." I surmised, glancing at Becky and Leon, "Look at them, struttin' around like they own the place…"
True to their prideful reputations, the two American Wardens growled, my comment fueling their rage at having their precious dig site invaded.
"This aggression will not stand!" Becky yelled, "Are you two ready to throw down?!"
"Hell yeah!" Leon agreed, baring his teeth, "Let's go, Tria!"
"Right!" I yelled in affirmation as the three of us drove forward, toward the unwelcome Bone Buggies.
"CHAAARGE!" Becky roared, catching our quarries' attention.
"Aw, nuts!" one guy yelled in frustration, "Wardens!"
"I thought we blocked the road!" another cried.
"All right, you!" Becky addressed the group, her voice taking on an authoritative tone, "Step out of the Bone Buggies and surrender, or this is gonna get ugly FAST!"
"Dang it…" the guy in the black-and-blue vehicle muttered, "We were so close…"
"Woah…" I thought, "These guys might actually surrender! That'd be a first."
"H-Hey! Hey!" the excavating member suddenly cried out, "I found it! I found the Mega Electrominite fossil!"
"Then hurry up and excavate it!" one of the guarding members commanded as he and his comrade drove up to face us, "We'll take care of these do-gooders…" He and his comrade then sent out their vivosaurs: Stygi and Dimetro.
"Tria!" Becky yelled to me, "Go after the one that's digging! Leon and I will handle these jokers!"
"Roger!" I yelled, driving toward the black-and-green Bone Buggy.
"Guys! I got it! I got the Mega Electrominite fossil!" the driver cried excitedly, turning to his comrades, only to wind up facing me, "Ah! A Warden!"
"Why hello there." I said, smirking smugly at the fear in his voice, "May I ask why you need that specific fossil so badly?"
"None of your business!" he cried in retaliation, sending out his own vivosaur: an Amargo. The Amargo's eyes glowed with an inexplicable hatred and rage.
"So you wanna fight, huh?" I asked, rhetorically, "You're gonna regret that." I then sent out my main Water-type vivosaur: Thalasso.
"Ha ha ha!" my opponent laughed, suddenly confident, "You're gonna fight me with that little thing?! My Amargo'll crush it like a bug!"
Thalasso shrieked, the insult not lost on him, while I smirked. "You really shouldn't underestimate your opponents. It'll only end with your defeat."
"Silence!" the digger bellowed, his fear of being caught fueling his frustration with my interference, "I'll show you what happens when you mess with the BR Brigade!"
"Bring it!" I challenged, Thalasso's screech backing me up.
At its fighter's order, Amargo charged at Thalasso, bellowing as its strides shook the entire cavern.
"Wing Blaster, Thalasso!" I ordered, my calm battle state setting in. The flying Water-type shrieked as he flapped his wings, the strong wind he created stopping the large sauropod in its tracks.
"What?!" my opponent cried in shock, "How could such a tiny vivosaur halt my Amargo's charge?!"
"I told you not to underestimate." I hummed, shaking my head. My gaze then hardened as I traded glances with Thalasso, who nodded, as ready to end this as I was. "Thalasso. Middle Spear!"
The flying vivosaur shrieked and dove at his opponent, flipped once in the air, and seemed to fly straight through it. The Amargo bellowed in pain as it dissolved into light and flew back to its fighter as a Dino Gear.
"I-Impossible…" the digger muttered, backing away, "I…Amargo…we couldn't even touch you…"
"I did warn you." I told him, driving forward, "Now, if you would please hand over that Mega Electrominite…"
I trailed off as I heard a scream from the other battle. I turned to see Ptera and Big Allo being pushed back by the Dimetro they were facing. The Stygi had already been defeated, but the Dimetro's poison attacks, combined with the fighters' combined use of LP Recovery Support Shots, were putting Ptera and Big Allo at a disadvantage.
"Rrgh…" Leon growled in frustration.
"No! Not like this!" Becky cried, not wanting to lose this battle.
"Ha ha! This is what happens when you defy the BR Brigade!" the fighter of the Dimetro yelled triumphantly. He'd clearly won many battles with that tactic. I glared at our opponents, angered by the taunts they were sending to my friends. Nibbles growled.
Suddenly, everyone froze as a monstrous roar shook the cavern walls. The battling vivosaurs, along with Thalasso, shrieked in terror and returned to their fighters as Dino Gears. Said fighters looked around frantically, eyes wide as they searched for the source of the terrifying call.
"What the hell?! What is that?!" one of the BR Brigade thugs screamed, panicking.
"It's the super predator from before!" Becky yelled, turning toward the cavern's entrance, "It must live here, and it doesn't sound too happy at our intrusion."
"We've gotta get outta here, before that thing shows up!" Leon cried urgently.
"I couldn't agree more!" the leader of the BR thugs yelled as he and his comrades headed for the exit, "The lieutenants are doing their jobs in the tournaments, so we need to hold up our end! Eat smoke, Wardens!" And with that, they disappeared in a burst of pitch-black smoke.
"Hey!" Becky cried in frustration, "Darn it! They escaped! This is bad!"
"Forget it, Becky!" Leon yelled, "Right now, we need to get out of here before that monster shows up! Come on, Tria!"
"Right!" I called back, driving forward. Everyone jumped when another noise, shorter but just as loud, echoed around the cave.
"What was that?!" Becky cried.
"Was that the monster?" Leon yelled, also near panic.
"Not quite." I said reassuringly, "That was Nibbles. He sneezed."
"…he sneezed?" Becky and Leon asked, sounding tired and exasperated.
"Grah." Nibbles growled quietly in apology. The two American Wardens sighed as I patted his head.
"Let's just go." Becky said anxiously as we drove back to the entrance, still on the lookout for the mysterious super predator, "We need to report our findings to Sean and the Captain."
"Right!" Leon and I agreed, and we left the Dusty Steppes, heading back toward the American Fossil Park at top speed.