The Alone Champion

by Starry's Light

Dina has escaped her amnesiac past and hateful foster parents. Now she and her foster brother Todd are off to the Caliosteo Isles, in hope for a new beginning as fossil fighters with vivosaurs. But when more and more mysterious upcomings threaten the islands, the thought dawns on her that she should know more about this than she does. She is connected to it, and there is no escape.

21. Good Noodle Stars, Given and Taken

Todd: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Me: … Hey T-

Todd: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Me: TO-

Todd: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Me: -presses mute button on him- I think he's still suffering from shock that he just missed out on a miraculous fossil. Poor soul. -unmutes him-

Todd: AAAaaaa... aaa... ah... -deflates-

Me: -glimpses around sneakily- Hweh, I think I'll put him up on my wall...

The Alone Champion

Chapter 21: Good Noodle Stars, Given and Taken

After a nice haul of the fossils still littering inside of my case have been cleaned, my fingers run along the smooth, shiny stone I had received not too long ago. As the memories stick into me like needles, I am once again relieved that Todd and Pauleen -both in dresses that happen to match with swollen, puffy shades and shapes, and similar coloring- are at the Caliosteo Cup, watching the participants battle, and for Pauleen, getting to win a round for herself. My foster brother shouted loudly to me with a beet red face earlier that he is only going with the pink-haired girl because she happened to have two of a certain dress and that he assumed they should match. I simply agree, though I can tell that he must be fostering other feelings to the event. I trust the two of them will not burst into a savage fight, then.

Clammy, shivering fingers carefully attempting to hoist the smooth, miraculous fossil safely, I realize that though these are not much larger than a normal fossil could be, it has almost no grooves or rough ends that most, bony treasures hold on the outside, creating quite a problem when one tries to place the shining gift from nomadistinians on the crescent-shaped desk. With a sigh, I slump to the side and shakily deposit the rock on the blue, cool-patterned floor. That will have to do. I trust that cleaning a fossil on the ground -a golden one at that!- will not endanger the prize on the inside. A flustered Nyra, tittering softly to herself, is enough to spin my head. These minor details may as well dig scars into my body from the paranoia they give off. But, given the fact that I cannot lift the fossil much more, I should try to excavate now. So as I tend to do at the start of a fossil cleaning session, I reach for the timer with one hand, steady a mallet in my other, and begin the worrying process of shimmying onto the rocky surface. It will help me reach the middle.

Footsteps silently enter the room. My mind chills. OH MY GOODNESS I AM GOING TO RIP SOMEONE'S EYES OUT, Torn calmly responds. NOT THIS. NOT NOW. NOT-

"Dina." The voice shocks me, and before I know it, my tongue is clenched between my teeth, I have fallen backwards to my rump, and the hammer has smashed one of my hands. I do not know which. The ripping cuts and cracks know enough, though. I hastily try to scramble to my feet, only to slip over again. I wish I could blame having the incident a second time because my bare toes tripped over a clump of dirt. Alas, I am a clumsy, hopeless cause that has stinging pains littered across herself once again. With the help of my friend, I finally stand up again and am able to see eye-to-eye with him. I am almost taken aback by his posture: eyes sparkling in worry, cheeks stained pink. It is almost as if Rupert has not realized that his emotions are showing. The last time I saw him, I am pretty sure he held a guarded pose. And yet now, with his hand still tracing the edge of mine worriedly, face lit up with feeling... "A-are you okay? I am sorry, I didn't mean to-"

I turn to face my friend, a small smile cutting over. "I am fine. You just... caught me by surprise, I guess... No... no wounds or any of the like..." My eyes instinctively pull back to the miraculous fossil just lazing about on the ground. It almost takes away from the situation. Of course, Rupert and I still have our fingers that... that close, and we ourselves are... qu-quite close. Suddenly conscious of the moment, I stumble a small step backwards. Give him space is all. That was... that was... I...

"Are you... sure?"

"Um... I... I think so." Somewhere inside of me, my heart tugs, almost as if I regret moving away. The yearning notion seems to dull at least a little bit when I note that Rupert does not seem as if he wants to cover up his emotions. This... s-strangely... it comforts me, in a way. My heart plucks lighter, softer, at this knowledge. I try to mentally toy with the motion, try to pull it apart like a ball of string. The feeling seems to reach out of my grasp, too strong to break. I eventually let the knot go and turn to look at my friend again, his pale face beginning to cover up the traces of what was there before. I wish I could recover like that whenever we meet.

He follows from where I was looking earlier and notices the miraculous fossil sitting there. Just sitting on the floor like the golden bones are supposed to lounge about on the ground. Rupert slowly takes in the scene depicting behind me, yellow eyes concentrating on figuring what I was doing. "Dina... it isn't of wisest choice to use a hammer on miraculous fossils."

"Oh... I..." I scramble for words that are the truth, but not Todd and his family and foster brother and foster family and my past. The one I remember, that is. "You... y-you know, I guess..."

He shakes his head quietly, as if to suggest to that I do not need to finish. I am reminded of when his father showed up in his shining helicopter not all that long ago and I... I let that piece slip out. Foster parents. Reminded of his father. Rupert does not need me to find an elaboration, or bring up the thoughts. I smile gratefully as he continues. "You never had the chance to see many of these. That is understandable." I nod slowly. It is the truth. "So to speak, these are actually precarious rocks that can be easily broken by even light shakes of the pickaxe. The golden cranium is quickly revealed. You should clean the fossils -also wondrous fossils, which are almost the same but the bones are silver and can have more than the skull as the super revival piece- from the outer edges first, and never place too much weight on the fossil. Though it's easier to crawl on top and dig around, doing so on that will surely bust the treasure; it would be worth less than nothing."

My eyes skim over the smooth surface again when a bubble arises in my head. I have heard of others doing such before... Todd and I have tried. The result of our find, and cleaning alone, is quite fun, I think. Maybe Rupert would...

His red coattails flick across the ground, as if Rupert is deciding whether or not he should go. "N-no... w-wait... um..." His yellow gaze is upon me again. "I have... heard about how sometimes... uh, other fighters would... t-team up and excavate a fossil to-together... I know that... the... the fossil would not be... the... the easiest for me to clean out since I... am not, you know, the best... Would you... um... mm..." I cannot even manage to pour out a small question. My eyes instinctively reach for the floor, and only coil upwards again because the stern weight of a certain tricera aligns my vision again. So, abiding by his rules, I merely look at Rupert, the inevitable tug of hope clenching my heart. Silly... silly me...

Something seems to shift in his cool attitude. What it is, I cannot place, but there is something... different. "..."

I flinch. "I-I mean, you do not have to if you do not w-wish t-"

"No... I... I would... enjoy it... I..." He seems to lighten, if not for a moment. "Who would guess that... obliging would be as hard as asking... is..." Rupert seems to dispose of the evident nervousness that had started to linger in his stance and turns to face the miraculous fossil sitting on the floor again. "Why is it..?"

"Um..." I sigh. "I could not get it up onto the desk... Heh... I was not, well, exactly strong enough to lift the rock up high enough... So I had assumed at first that I may as well clean it on the ground instead..."

Rupert does not go against the thought and nods slowly. We both sit in front of the continuously-gleaming fossil, each holding out different versions of the classic drill. Mine is the small, blue one Stella had given me back at Ribular Town, when Todd and I first registered as true fossil fighters. Catching a small glance to the side, I note that the one my friend seems to use is... quite different. I mean, besides the gold-plated spinner and shimmery handle. It is slimmer, longer, newer. The perfect antonym for my own, ragged object. I trust this means he will do better on the encased skull, since I doubt my own skill could help anywhere on such an elegantly curved piece of calcium. It is not that I feel undeserving of the fossil, because somewhere this does not feel out of my power to clean, but at the same time... The sheen rippling from the rock is almost as bright and golden as the drill Rupert holds. It is somewhat unsettling for me to note that.

My fingers reach to the side and, heart starting to pump faster and faster, hand cold and shaking slightly, eyes narrowed on the task ahead of me, acutely aware of the body beside me: the timer begins. Even when life seems to crumble all around or stop or quicken or morph into something else, time continues on the steady route it will never deter from. My drill scours a trail through the dirt, and I immediately notice what Rupert was telling me about: the golden crust peels away so simply, it is almost like desert sand. Or not even there. With a hammer, I would have utterly killed the fragile fossil. A waste on a nice gift from Minister Pomposa, who was kind enough to reward a teenager with this expensive fossil.

We move carefully, uncovering the fossil like a puzzle as the image becomes further uncovered. At first, I assume the wave-like shine upon the rock is the reason, but later on it becomes more obvious that the maw of the vivosaur, smiling up at me, is surely a shimmery, soft, toned yellow. Golden. This truly is a miraculous fossil, impossible in any other way I could think of. Pure gold... how does that even form? I decide not to question this fact and continue unearthing the jawline, my flustered body cautious to not snap the bones with my clumsy movements and thoughts. Somehow, my cluttered mind and actions do not cross, and the fossil is kept safe.

In all truth, I am nowhere near the best cleaner, and not even close to as talented as Rupert is, so every so often my drill carves a green, scabbing mark over the jawline of the vivosaur, letting me know that I faulted. Not only that, but a squeaking crrk~! alerts me of a chipped piece. But as I focus, eyes trained over the cranium, it seems like my shaky hand adds a squiggly mess less and less. My own drill climbs up the trail of the jaw for the head, Rupert taking his closer to the areas that would hold in the eyes and brain if this head was alive. As I thought, the upper part of the golden head is smooth and unwavering as the bottom lips up to here, the cheek area, seems to hold etched marks of green cracks all across the trail I have scraped up. This does rattle me to an extent, how near ominous the scraping feels and looks on the light puddling through and through this bone.

I watch as, in front of my eyes, the last particles of dust peel away from the fossil and dissolve into sediments through the air. All that is left behind is the golden mold of this fossil, this miraculous fossil with the ability to not only upgrade a vivosaur to a near-staggering level, but super revive the creature. An evolution between stages. Such a change in the little Nyra, there must be. But we all know, all five of us, if naïve Aladee counts, that she is ready for this. The green-feathered nycto is ready to evolve. To morph into another fate.

The timer shuts down at the knowledge that we finished before it ended. "So I guess we will find... find out how to carry this..." I stare at the revival machine at the end of the cozy, blue room, suddenly eons away. "There..." We both realize exactly how far away the slippery bones are from the blue mechanism. If it is any relief, Rupert had told me that miraculous fossils are always skulls, and skulls tend to come in a single piece. If we are heedful in our motions, the golden figure may as well find a path to the machine still in the single piece it should be in. Oh, how I wish I was able to put this monstrosity on the desk over there when I had the chance. That would have put such an ease over this entire problem.

Nothing else left to do besides scuff up the small dots of dirt we created from cleaning on the floor, Rupert and I reach over and manage to hoist up the fossil with our combined strength. I puff out a small ball of air, struggling to not hold up the shiny creature, for bones have never been such a job for me to carry, but the thin, cranial core, like the crust it once held, is gilded over with a soft, floaty sensation and before my eyes the ends of the fossil start to fall and they will crash and hit the ground and it would be all my fault I broke the fossil.

Sksh... My body skims over the ground for a second as I fall to the floor and steady the sliding fossil before it falls out and smashes into so many pieces that the once-fine being would be deemed unrecognizable. Luckily, Rupert also noticed the shift of the bone and the quiet clomp of his boots tells me that he is shifting to hold the miraculous creature. I shakily form a way back into a standing position and we walk sideways, slowly, like a vivosaur catching the scent of an enemy, towards our own goal. Thankfully it will not move and squeal like the reptilian beings we Bond to would, but gratefully eats up the miraculous fossil as we pour the solid, shimmering skull in and wait.

"Miraculous Fossil: 93 Points," the machine chirps, "two vivosaurs waiting to be inserted."

I blink. "Two..?"

The machine converts into an auto-explanation mode. "When more than one fighter cleans a fossil, and they hold a Bond, the stronger it is, the more fossils they could share, regular, brown fossils the weakest and dark, miraculous fossils the hardest."

"But you do not have to use two-"

"Ru...Rupert... um, no... really, I would like you to super revive one of your own medals... I mean, I would have surely done worse than a-a ninety... three, if you did not happen to... h-help..." I shyly smile at the ground, which holds the prints of my feet, inked with a faint smudge of brown-and-gold dust. He slowly nods in the corner of my eye and hesitantly reveals a shimmery, blue medal. I search my own pockets and unveil my smaller, green one and slowly, savoring the little moment, place in the young female as Rupert inserts his own vivosaur. I watch, eyes widening, as the two pieces are sucked into the mechanism and towards the midst of the blue wires and such. If I squint, eyes boring through the entrance, I actually can see a few events through the dark haze: gold. Gold integrated and consuming a lithe, little nycto, her faintly-hued green feathers trembling with readiness. And, if I stare closer, I believe there is... is that... yes. It is.

Nyra, a golden sheen still flowing into her body, starting to haze her from my vision, flies out from the revival machine, and as I watch closer, she is fully consumed by the aura. The ripples of fear and excitement and joy are not my own, but hers, as she undergoes the true transformation: the super revive. The elegant marks of a not-so-gray-anymore biped emit as she steps out into the room, her own body shimmering also, beginning her own change. Her own emotions seem to glide around the room as the golden aura dilates her own form too. My eyes flicker back to Nyra as her body begins to stretch, and grow, and fill the cozy room with her golden shadow. No, she is not a titanic creature, but much larger, yes. No longer the small, little nycto I remember her by.

Nyra heavily lands, her rush of fatigue stretching and suffocating me. As the creature reaches out her wings, the gold begins to dissipate, running into the veins of her new form. I watch with wide, wondrous eyes as I take in her figure that is not unlike a human. She has morphed into a form of a biped, but her arms, her slim, lighter-green-feathered arms are filled with her wings. She hesitantly lifts an upper limb and sees, her own eyes widening in amazement, as the long, white, feathery structure rests down to the ground, further than the ground, and swoops upwards with her movements. The left arm is of the same build, white feathers climbing all the way to the ground. Her abdomen area, which is still in a similar structure, to a degree, has an even paler green color upon the underbelly and connects to legs, real legs, that protrude into clawed feet at the end. A slim, long tail flickers from behind.

Oh damn goodness. Sweet fucking Nyra! Torn and Trikko, immediately ripping into existence, stare at her super revival, Torn himself not seeming to notice that his yellow orbs have trailed down from her calming eyes and to the upper-part of her chest. I think you're a bit bigger than me now! That's so... so...

Torn, stop staring where you're staring, you perve-

G-guys! I'm still Nyra in here! she squeaks. I'm still the caring nycto, though I am, admittedly, a bit... well, larger. But now I don't have to be a support character! I can attack from further ranges and hit real hard! A smile stretches upon her green face as she turns to Torn, who, in fact, is now slightly shorter than the super revival. Thank you, Torn.

Oh, and I don't get any credit, then? I smile and lightly tap the stubborn tricera on the shoulder, who grunts. He must be a bit upset that Torn has received more attention than the other vivosaur Nyra has owned for as long as she has been here. Oddly, Aladee does not seem to wish to get up, as he still lies in a befuddled heap in one of my pockets. I trust he feels fine.

Remembering the other super revival, I hesitantly step towards Rupert and turn up to face the mapo. Mistress now is true to her element and holds black lines that zigzag around her body, a crisscross that overlaps in certain spots. The rest of her scales are a royal, deep blue- water elemental. The biped still has meaty legs, but her arms are more stout and larger, appearing capable of summoning stinging waves, and must be the reason why her chalky, black claws are dripping. Her face, a zigzag rippling under her left eye, which has become a shimmering purple holding a golden highlight, is still shadowed by a black spike that continues to elegantly curl over the left portion of her face. Blue spikes cascade down her back now, and do not show any sign of correlation to the dark one over her head. The tail Mistress holds is now shorter and of a stouter formation, reminding me of Trikko and the majority of his blue body.

"Nycto Ace and Mapo King- successfully revived," the machine utters.

"More like mapo... queen," Rupert corrects quietly. I smile back to him, nodding slowly. And a mapo queen she surely is, her snout pointed up into the air, her peculiar eyes distant, as if searching for something deep inside. Mistress...

Deep inside, I bundle up my courage to compliment her. "She looks... lovely."

"As does the nycto ace."

"Her name... it is Nyra." She lets out a strong, melodic caw at the sound of her name, arms lifted to let her wings ripple lightly in the air. The voice of her tone is even stronger, though her beak has melded away and left a smooth, cupped chin. She is still the bird I remember her by, but, well, super. A super form for the well-deserving nycto. I guess that does make her quite the nycto ace now. Such a strange feeling to see her become so different and yet the same too.

Rupert turns away from his mapo queen to look at me. He idly reaches out with one of his hands but abruptly stops when he notices. I merely look back quietly, waiting. "I..." Rupert seems to struggle on the inside to voice his statement. "I think that you... you make a nice Bond to them..." His eyes flicker away.

"Oh, I am not so sure. Trikko, he is... he is the tricera, he would tell you otherwise..." I laugh to myself softly, brown eyes dimming slightly. "Besides, it is your being here that is the reason the miraculous fossil did not break under my clumsy care. Because of you, our vivosaurs could super revive..." Cheeks somewhat stinging, I find the floor to be more interesting than the rest of the room, and decide to stare at the ground for now. Rupert does not respond, but lightly, though with a wavering movement, as if he is vacillate about the thought, touches my shoulder gently. Even the small moment... it feels... nice. Hoping he does not notice, a small smile cuts over my lips.

A gasp emits from the hallway, and my vivosaurs rigidly fall back into medals, hiding in my pockets. The mapo queen behind Rupert does the same. "OHMYGOSHIT'SDINA!" A tackling hug pulls me away from my friend, down to the blue flooring, and I am dragged to the side by an ecstatic Todd, brown curls bouncing jovially beneath his beige cap. Worried it will fall, I tuck the material onto his head in a more secure position. Todd is still wearing the dress he and Pauleen had matched with: a thick, puffy, purple gown with a train that may be longer than the new tail Nyra holds. A prudent girl in a pink, puffy gown barrels in after him, her mask covering all but sparking, emerald green eyes and a few, stray slices of her yellow bangs. Pauleen grumbles a few words and, hoisting up her train, waddles closer to our small trio. "Ugh, it's that Rupert guy. And Dina. And Todd, whose dress is nowhere near as fabulous as mine is!" Pauleen puffs out her chest and winks in my direction. I am unsure how to respond to that.

"Who is-"

"PAULEEN!" my other friends shout, Todd in an angry tone and Pauleen jovially. Continuing without her male support, Pauleen says, "And I'm a teen idol, prettiest girl, like, ever!" Todd grumbles "no not really I hate her so much ugh." I still am unsure about how to respond. It dawns on me that Rupert has never met Pauleen before, explaining why he wanted to know who she is. Rupert seems to have fallen to the ground and turns to me, yellow eyes shaped quizzically. I sigh.

"We're the totally amazing Patrol Team, but we're only totally amazing because I'm on it," the pink-haired girl elaborates, brushing out her pink dress and shaking her head, pink hair puffing out from the impact. "And you're that Rupert Oh-yea-sumo-not-sigh whatever guy. The really famous one. With all the gold and junk. Too bad I'll never lower my sta-"

"PAULEEN YOU'LL NEVER BE HIGH ENOUGH TO EVEN LOOK AT HIM!" Todd screams back.

My face bursts like a fireball. "Er... Pauleen and Todd are... an odd duo. And, um, Pauleen is not... so... bursting when you... get to... kn-know her..."

She scoffs. "Too late, Toddy! I'm already staring at him!"

"Oh my goodness I hate you so much!"

"Oh really?"

"Y-yeah!" Suddenly, the duo bursts into fits and giggles. It is like their argument dissolved. The two of them truly are warming up to each other, a fight that will finally end. I close my eyes and smile to myself quietly, happy that the two of them are doing better together. Not another squabble this time around.

Pauleen straightens out and faces Rupert again, the sparkling in her eyes evident to not be another battle churning in her head but laughter. "So you're Rupert, and it looks like you know Toddy and Dina pretty well..." She hums to herself for a moment. "Soo... Ooh! Hey, how about you join the Patrol Team? You'd, like, be awesome, with your beating up BB Bones like the rest of us! We get super top secret missions and meet up with Joe Wildwest and hey, isn't that how Dina got her miraculous fossil?" I nod quietly, the three of us currently sitting on the floor in front of Pauleen like she is a parent to us, and we are the children. The only problem is that my foster brother continuously plays with the long, pink train that is tied to the ends of her matching gown, but I guess that only adds to the childish scene. "And we're all, like, power buddies! And if you get stuck in jelly, don't worry! You've got your Patrol Team members to let Joe Wildwest know!" She laughs.

The three of us turn to Rupert in sync, our eyes all holding the hope that he could oblige. "So... whaddaya say? It's... uh..." Pauleen glares at the edges of her gown, which has begun to fold in thanks to the restless movements of hands Todd did to her. "Ugh. It's not like we, like, need your help or whatever, but-"

"Can it Pauleen we want your help Rupert it'd be super stego-tastic if you join us and Dina would like die if you refused because just look at that face!" My face burns from his bringing me up.

Aw come on, I was gonna say that! Trikko grumbles loudly, audible enough for the others to hear. Todd sticks out his tongue towards where he assumes the tricera is hiding. Oh whatever, you dress-wearing boy!

My eyes gently turn up to face Rupert again. I guess it is my turn to talk. And I place the words in my head, ready to use them, knowing what to say; a footstep thunders across the hall. I stagger, slowly turning around. It seems that my friends did not notice, but when my head is in line with what is behind us, they easily see my voice in what is hovering behind me. I frantically scoot backwards; anything to get away. Away from this man: this dark-eyed man stuffed with ideals I fear of. His sunglasses play a good show of hiding his true will, but I know. I know. My stomach has clenched together and I am not far enough away, not fast enough to escape, further, further, get me away from this man, just stop him, stop him, get him from here he is going to hurt someone and I fear I know who. My breath releases faster and faster and my heart thuds painfully. I cannot escape; we are trapped here. This is bad. Bad... bad. Bad. Very bad.

"And whom may these pieces of scum be?" the man whispers. Memories etch back of scum and evil and her and bad and no Todd, not that girl and monster and the pain, the cold, succumbing pain that tries to pull me back in again. Not again. Oh, no, not another round. I cry out and pull away, away from Pauleen and Todd, their eyes squeezed shut from the man and I hold my consciousness to myself, cradling it, not away from the man.

"What did I tell you about friends, Rupert? About... them?" His eyes, cold, dead, lifeless, painless: cut over me. He does not know I am aware. He cannot pull me in. "Terrible, my son. Monsters. I told you, life is meaningless. There's nothing to it. Love is a cruel card played by whores and prostitutes or people that are too lost to care. I've showed you enough times that there's nothing but to gain, to reach the top. That nothing matters, either way. I can help you. Just listen to me and let me choose for you, to stop it." His eyes, they have no color. No soul. Rupert... I remember the yellow orbs when we first caught eyes. Fiercely guarded and uncaring. Not dead, though. Never dead. And he seemed to open up. His father, oh, how I wish I was not right about the assumption of my foster parents. I wish I did not understand his life, that it was as loving as Todd had if one erases me. Easy. Simple. Without what I h-had... Without that.

"I have work to do, son. But know that only winning matters. We have no time for failures." And he is gone. That man is gone.

That bitch called you a whore. I swear I'll find out for you how he tastes. I won't even care how severe the diarrhea is afterword. He's fucking dead to me.

My feet find a strength I did not see before to stand. To get up and turn to Rupert, who still stands in the same position, yellow eyes broken with emotion, with life, life that I trust his father will not take away from him. I do not know what else to do besides walk towards him, my bare toes completely silent in the room. Pauleen and Todd appear to be passed out, their bodies limp to the sides. They are fine; it is the boy in front of me I feel a need to... to...

"Rupert..." He begins to walk. To leave the room. Does not respond to my quiet tone. I do not even think: just follow after. He seems to stop and wait for me, but I cannot tell. He is a bit further out than when I started moving. His steps lead down the blue hall, through the doors, out in the wintery climate outside, where he stops. I create my own set of prints in the snow, next to where he had walked mere moments ago. Rupert faces me, and whispers in a cold, quiet tone:

"I once had a life. Joy... love... hope:... but... but it died. It died at a time so long ago I fear I would struggle if I tried remembering such a life. So it was buried under years, years of what my father pushed onto me. I... I used to love fossil battles, Dina. Digging. Cleaning. I even rejoiced at the cut cleaning so many fossils in a row would eventually give. But he took it all away. It became work. The same, dull... thing, over and over. Forever. To never end. I had to visit other prodigies, speak to the orphanage every once in awhile, win. Win. Win. I never had a single vivosaur that I got to keep; Father always took every, last soul away and towed in new ones for each tournament. Each battle. I only had the one I hid away, the one my mother once gave me..." Mistress. It was Mistress. "And at first, I never realized. There was even a boy at the orphanage I had to continuously visit that I became... rather intrigued to. But my father soon showed me. And it all..," he releases a small, weak breath, "everything withered away. There was nothing to live for. I only listened to my father and did as instructed.

"And then... there was... I met you, Dina. I never had a friend before... I have never felt so close to another being before... So... it felt so nice to feel as if... someone actually cares..." He closes his eyes. A sliver of a tear releases and pelts against the snow. I do not think he noticed, or cared. "And my father noticed. It hurt even more for him to take everything away when I finally had something. The first time... it was not like I already had something to look for... And..." Rupert turns to face me, yellow eyes gleaming like the stars above us. A dawn is beginning to break behind us: hours later than every other island in the Caliosteo Isles, as usual.

"Thank you..." He almost appears like he wants to do something else, but he leaves. And I let Rupert go.

I let him go.

My legs fall beneath me for another reason than a vivosaur biting Torn in the leg. The simple thought about how the sun rises in the early afternoon, how the stars are deserting me: I choke. And small tears push forth. They hold me tight and watch my soft sobs drain from my throat, from loud to quieter and softer and slower until I cannot any longer. Snow flakes freeze over the tear lines, forming a zigzag over my face. Mistress has one. I think about her and Rupert and how he knows that I understand. That I... I guess I really am not like everyone else. It was not the fact that I did not recognize him... there is more.

I can only think of my faults. I am his friend... and I-

OH FOR THE SAKE OF NYRA'S TEARS! Torn screams. I SWEAR, DINA. LET'S JUST GO FIND A HELICOPTER, CRASH MR. O'S, AND EAT HIM. I HAVE TO KILL SOMEONE FOR DOING THIS, AND I REALLY WISH THAT COULD BE RUPERT BUT I THINK THAT'D JUST MAKE YOU CRY HARDER. I am not sure whether or not I was supposed to laugh, but a few, choking hiccups cough up my throat. I sniffle at the ground.

Surely enough, the soft crying of a nycto ace is in my head. If I was not cried out by now, my heart would have completely ripped apart at the knowing of that. My head throbs and the heart of the storm is starting to encase my face in snow. I should probably move soon, though my whole entity refuses. Dina, the health of not only you, but all five of us, is at stake. Please do the smart thing and save us. Oh, Trikko...

Something warm, purple, and puffy sits on the ground next to me. He does not bring up the events that we witnessed. "Dina... Y-you should probably g-get up before- achoo!" A hat flutters to the ground, along with a boy tangled up in his purple gown and train. "Aw, Dina! That tends to make you happier, seeing my face when I get all cold! You know how much I hate the cold!" I faintly remember when we were first shipped to the Caliosteo Isles, and his mother brought up how her dear Toddy was going to the simple, warm climate area to stay, and let me live at Ilium Island. He truly gets the worst illnesses when in the cold.

"T-Todd... we should go inside before you get cold..."

"Wait!" He scrambles up again and sits next to me. A second body, wearing another, puffy dress, plops down on my other side. "You can't forget Pauleen... heh..." Todd turns to the ground, his tan skin not blending into the countless snowflakes that cloud his body. Pauleen, ever tanner, glares at the mounds of snow brushing upon her arms.

"Ugh... this stupid mask makes me so annoying sometimes..." With a faint pop, off comes the patterned, powerful, wooden mask and we see the sweet face the true Pauleen holds. "Oh, I can't wait until I diga-don't need that diga-darn thing anymore! Anyways," she mumbles, turning to me, "you must feel awful, diga!" Tossing the wooden shape aside, my two friends shove their bodies into me in unison, creating a stifling hug that also, to a degree, feels nice. To have them next to me... c-caring about the situation... I almost open up into a flow of tears again. But not this time... I think I am okay for now. My heart has settled... I am not weeping openly like such a child... my breath seems to have calmed. I am being hugged on both sides; I should be fine.

B-but not the man that lies on the ground like that. "Ee-eep!" I squeak, attempting to jump to my feet but ultimately trapped. My two friends turn in the direction I was facing and let out cries similar to the one I just released. Todd, beginning to sneeze a flurry, grabs my hand and helps me up as we run to the collapsed figure, Pauleen hurriedly shoving on her mask and following behind quickly. If the scene was not so worrying, I may have laughed at the fact that both Todd and Pauleen have to hoist their dresses up in order to run as fast as me, their trains tripping them up every once in a while. Maybe at some point, though I doubt I would ever rack up the courage to, I could ask for a dress to wear with them...

As we get closer to the man, I gasp. His glasses are askew, hat has blown off-course and away, and face is smudged to the side, but I still recognize the man. "P-Professor Scatterly! He-he f-fell asleep in the middle of the storm!" The three of us slam to the ground around him and repeatedly poke, prod, or talk to the middle-age man, hoping to alert him back to his senses before he can f-freeze over. The thought of that... he is asleep in the middle of this... I shiver.

Reminds me of the time you did that, dear, Trikko grumbles, and Rupert had to wake you up before you froze. Hah! I ignore this and rapidly whisper words I am unsure about the meaning of, only trying do to something, to do anything, until a sudden "tallyho!" rips through the storm and the portly man jumps high into the air before landing safely on the snowy ground again. Oh... I wish Trikko did not bring up... bring him up... It is almost a bliss to be pulled from my sorrow and into the now-alive blustering of the Professor.

"Dina, old chap! It's you!" He smiles. "Wait a darned second... I believe I lost my hat... and... was I sleeping on this disgustingly frigid ground? Oh, gross! I could have died out here! Thank you, Dina, and your teenage friends, for not letting me die to such a cruel fate! Oho... what is this?" He pulls out a pinging sonar, the Calio-Slablet-Locator I believe, and gasps. "Right beneath me, now! Oh, what a find! What an amazing find! Dina, get out your pickaxe, for there's a slablet right below us!" I immediately shove the metal into the ground, eager to please the elder man before he falls asleep in the snow again and actually dies this time around, and shovel out numerous bits of permafrost and ice until the dark stone is revealed in the ground. I reach over, pluck the stone tablet, and hand the piece to Professor Scatterly to examine. "Oh... oh ho! What a find! Er, here, Dina, I'll read this to you and finish up myself once I explain to your fellows what this is all about."

"I have a name, you know! It's Pauleen!"

"Uh... I'm Todd, and I like dresses!"

"Good, fellow, good!" He adjusts his glasses and thinks for a moment. "It's about someone from the elder times, where all the people were under rule of a magical, dark lord by the name of Zongazonga, who made them fight using creatures he resurrected called the 'dead-ones,' wot wot! In first-person writing, too! They seem to be trying to revolt from their dark ruler, receiving no help from the divine igno- one of the creators, mind you children!- but holding hope on this... Wisp creature. Now this is number... four, of the slablets, and I do believe to be the last one. How gracious! But yet..." He sighs through his mustache. "I should wait to find number three... I- oh no! I'm not waiting that long! I'll finish reading and read it out to you all now, as I believe none of you have the decoder." Professor Scatterly clears out his voice and begins to tell the story.

"'After we defeated the vile sorcerer, we locked it away, quick and well, in a stone box, in a stone pyramid. Our powers were strong enough to even keep his treacherous, immortal soul from escaping his tomb and finding us again! We only hope that no one ever has to live with such a monster inside of them again...' Ooh, what's this? Why, it appears to be a little drawing of a ghost! To represent Zongazonga's immortal soul, no doubt!" He chuckles and turns the stone over. "Oh! What is... huh... 'Though we never saw the Wisp again, we knew we were safe from the troubles of Zongazonga. His dead-ones were gone, and the vivosaurs, as we have started to call them, that he took over were placed in the pyramid to watch over him, may their immortally troubled souls rest in peace. We will also place our pipsqueak in the pyramid, just in case the monster tries to escape again...' There's what appears to be a crude drawing of a vivosaur, I'd say, but... that's it. The end. Oh, now I must find the third slablet!"

Before Nigel Scatterly can say his good-byes, my foster brother sneezes loudly from beside me. When I lightly touch his forehead, a searing heat stings me. And yet the rest of his body seems to give off such a cold vibe... Oh no... Todd is... "Oh dear, is the boy that loves dresses in a bit of a tizzy?" I nod fearfully. Pauleen, still standing near me, turns to face my foster brother and grimaces. I am not sure what this relates to, but she must not be reacting well to what happened. "If you don't mind, dear kids, I think I'd better take Toddy home... get some good tea into him, you know? And I'm sure Dinu would know where to find my hat back, eh wot?"

"C-can you really help hi-"

"Yes, and I think I should go now, before he gets into much more danger, yes?" Professor Scatterly gingerly takes Todd by the arm, his stout fingers secure around the boy. "Tallyho!" He sets off to a strong trot. As I watch, I only trust and hope that he will recover. Todd has had more serious sicknesses before from the cold weather... he should heal well with time.

Pauleen stares at her Paleopager, the pink machine suddenly beeping. "Ever heard of Icegrip Plateau? Cause I dunno about you, but I think I'd like to go there and stuff. And especially after what happened to Toddy over there, I'd really prefer having someone come along." My mind wanders back to what happened earlier: the scene with Todd; Professor Scatterly lying in the snow; Rupert... oh, Rupert... I wish I could have been even a bit better... I still get a vile emotion just thinking about the effect...

"If you would take me... I would like to come. J-just give me a moment... I think I left a few things at the cleaning chamber..."

"Either way, I'm coming with you. Gah, this is all just getting a bit creepy..." I feel calmer already with the pesky girl by my side, blubbering angrily about what we just witnessed. I feel more secure to know I am not alone in this situation, like a girl stuck in a pool of jelly.

Me: ;-; That was so emotional. My goodness. ANYWAAAAYSSSS...

Good noodle star! -sticks a few on Nyra and Mistress- BAD NOODLE STAR, BUCKO. -rips one off Mr. O. Gives him a rabid dimetro- YEAAAA.

Pauleen: -grabs my bag of stars and runs off- IIII'MMMMM BEEETTERRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Me: ._.; Life just happened there.