I healed quickly during my week in the hospital. Kowloon spent the entire time in the Fossil Park, sleeping in Olga's room just as he had the first night, and I could see the increase in acceptance and comfort in the Asian Park resulting from the man's constant presence.
The visits from the Wardens were divided into days to keep from overwhelming me while I healed. The Asian Wardens were allowed to visit me on the second day, and the anxiety and urgency that had been gathering since I'd first sustained my injuries was made very clear. Stryker, Little, and Elric visited first, just to make sure I was up for having visitors, and once they were convinced that I was, they weren't able to keep the group of Asian Wardens away. They'd clearly been waiting outside and had been listening to every word. Penny and Mei Lian were both frantic with worry, while Nate and Roland were awed at the extent of my ability to withstand pain. Hanzo's voice and frame were heavy with guilt, his brother offering much-needed support while I assured the two ninjas that they were not at fault for my injuries. Liu Ren watched over the visit, smiling happily at my obvious healing while keeping an eye on the vivosaurian man standing in the corner.
The American Wardens were allowed to visit the next day, with Lucky, Dr. Digmore, Dino Gigante, and the Red Fang joining them. It took a lot of restraint on Lucky's part not to jump on me the moment he saw me, and once I'd opened my arms after he'd sat down on my bed, he didn't let go. Leon was smiling, his cool façade transparent to my eyes. Becky was much more relaxed than she'd been when she'd spoken to me earlier, though there was still tension in her eyes, tension reflected in the eyes of her brother behind his grin. There were tears in Daisy's eyes as she gripped my hand, being careful of my healing wings, while Dr. Digmore smile with relief at the rapid progress of my recovery. Dino Gigante took up much of the room in more ways than one, his laugh as loud and energetic as always. The Red Fang, whose only interaction with me had ended in my near-loss of control, were slightly wary of me. But only slightly, the berserker nature of their leader making it easier for them to adjust. Hellcat complimented me on how 'tough' I was to withstand the injuries I had, Spike stated that said 'toughness' didn't surprise him at all, and Aggro nodded in approval at my composure through the ordeal.
The European Wardens got to visit the day after the American Wardens, and the strain at having to wait showed. Dahlia was a blur as she dashed into the room, appearing at my bedside before any of her comrades, and she trembled where she stood. Frett wasn't far behind, placing himself on my other side and practically yelling in my ear. Prescott rushed in after his partner, scolding him for his inappropriate volume even as he asked how I was feeling. Violet and Drake entered the room more calmly, Violet confident in my recovery, which she'd no doubt seen in the Crystal Ball +1, and Drake more nervous about 'disturbing' me. However, there was a sense of foreboding in both of their expressions, one I understood perfectly. I was then surprised by the appearance of the Green Wave, who had insisted on visiting when they'd heard about my injuries. I hadn't known they had Warden connections, until I found out that Olga had contacted them earlier. Rocky was very vocal about his concern over my well-being, Gauss expressed astonishment at my rate of recovery, and Lancelot smiled at my calm handling of the emotions around me.
As my stamina returned, I was allowed to walk around, but only if someone was with me at all times. That someone was usually Kowloon, though the Wardens would frequently join as well. I saw Sydney watching me on the fifth day, and when I'd noticed that Kowloon had seen him too, I waved him over. The Australian investigator was more than a little nervous about my packmate, but he still managed to smile as he wished me a speedy recovery. It wasn't until I'd been out of the hospital for three days that Kowloon was able to return to Autumn Garden. The tears in my wings had to remain stitched for a few days longer, so I couldn't fly, but the rest of the wounds were fading.
And so, three days out of the hospital, I walked into the American Fossil Stadium, just as I'd been asked to, and approached the quarreling duo that I knew would be there.
"Are you out of your mind?! You want ME to pair up with YOU?!" Hellcat shrieked, sounding highly indignant.
"You no great shakes either!" Rocky barked back, offended.
"Hey, guys." I greeted when I approached them, smiling in amusement at the two fighters' antics.
"Well, isn't this fortunate? It's Tria!" Hellcat said when she saw me, "Maybe I'll pair up with you instead!"
"But orders said we supposed to pair up with rival members and learn teamwork!" Rocky argued, before glancing at me nervously and adding, "Although me not want to lose, either…"
"Maybe you should tell me what's going on." I stated, crossing my arms and titling my head at them.
"You know Green Wave and Red Fang?" Rocky asked me, not waiting for a response as he continued, "We long time rivals with each other."
"We're normally at each other's throats." Hellcat continued, "But we've been instructed to partner up as something of a…mental exercise. I don't know what it is with boss types and their wacky self-improvement methods, but there you have it."
"So, us two enter Osborn Cup together to prove mettle! But now we just fight amongst selves all the time." Rocky finished.
"You don't say." I said simply, my smile knowing. Rocky watched me for a moment before gasping, as if in sudden realization.
"You need join us!" he yelled, pointing to me, "You strong!"
"Plus, as the Commander of the Vivosaurs, you already have the respect of both the Red Fang and the Green Wave." Hellcat agreed excitedly, "And yeah, we were told to pair up, but they didn't say we couldn't add a third person to help keep the peace!" The excited woman suddenly got in my face and stared at me with wide, expectant eyes. "Come on! Let's do this together!"
"You got it!" I agreed easily, smiling at the grins spreading across the faces of the humans before me. I had actually been asked to assist them by their leaders, Lancelot and Aggro, earlier in the day, the leaders having known how difficult it would be for the two hotheads to work together.
"Hell yeah!" Hellcat cheered joyfully, "We'll take these guys out like yesterday's laundry!"
"Now we have fighting chance!" Rocky exclaimed, sighing with relief as he stated, "We go enter now."
"Let's go." I agreed, following my teammates to the reception counter. Once we were registered, I followed them into the waiting area and stood between their Bone Buggies. With the amount of in-fighting going on, I knew better than to attempt to split my time perching on their Bone Buggies, especially since the tournament had an odd number of rounds. At the announcer's call, the two Bone Buggies drove forward, with me walking along beside them. I looked tiny in comparison, but the residents of the Fossil Parks knew better than to underestimate me by now.
"Hey, Tria." Hellcat addressed me as we entered the arena, "Who're you gonna use? It's an awesome carnivorous vivosaur, right?"
"Plant-eaters great, too…" Rocky muttered in objection.
"I don't judge vivosaurs by their diets." I replied to both fighters, "I've chosen this vivosaur for a very specific reason." I looked down at the Earth-type's Dino Gear in my hand. "He's a master of teamwork."
"A master of teamwork?" Hellcat repeated, not liking the sound of that.
"What you mean by that?" Rocky asked, more curious. I smirked.
"You'll see."
As soon as we faced our opponents, my two impatient teammates sent out their vivosaurs. Beckles and Jiango immediately turned to each other and bellowed, ready to face their familiar opponents, but they were intercepted by the appearance of my own vivosaur partner, the silver sauropod easily dwarfing both of his teammates. Diplo called to both other vivosaurs, explaining to them that they were on the same side now and needed to work together, much to the other vivosaurs' displeasure. Beckles' fighter wasn't pleased, either.
"This is your 'master of teamwork'?" Hellcat asked, annoyed.
"He is." I replied easily, "Several members of his team quarrel often, so he's become quite good at mediating between them. He also had the herd instinct of the sauropods, which drives him to look out for the good of the group. That's why he's my master of teamwork."
Hellcat was about to comment, but our opponents sent out their vivosaurs and the battle began, forcing her and Rocky to turn their focus to the fight.
The opposing Nychus darted at Beckles, recognizing the type advantage it held. Styraco charged at Jiango, the slow-moving herbivore seeming to be an easy target. The Argento collided with Diplo, the two sauropods pushing at each other.
"Beckles! Beastly Bite!" Hellcat ordered. Beckles opened his jaws and tried to grab Nychus, but the swift raptor dodged and slashed the Air-type's side. Beckles staggered, trying to shake off the attack while Nychus recovered from the larger carnivore's Auto Counter.
"Jiango! Low Tackle!" Rocky yelled. Jiango met Styraco's charge, the two herbivores refusing to yield.
"This isn't going well." I mumbled to myself, shifting the microphone away from my mouth so that my teammates couldn't hear me, "They aren't working together at all. Seems we'll have to step in." I looked back at Diplo, who was still tussling with Argento, and gave him his orders.
"Diplo! Catch Nychus and send it to Jiango!" I commanded, my voice terrifying everyone around me. Diplo howled in acknowledgement and sidestepped Argento. He then caught Nychus under its stomach with his tail and threw it over to the Water-type herbivore, the small carnivore landing on the toxic spikes and disappearing in a flash of light. Jiango looked around in confusion, not realizing what just happened, but I wasn't done.
"Now, Diplo! Body Check Argento to Beckles!" I ordered next. Diplo nodded briefly before sidestepping Argento again, this time slamming his own body into the other Earth-type and sending it staggering toward the Air-type carnivore. Beckles snarled, still irritated that his previous opponent had been taken from him, and charged forward, biting down on Argento's neck and sending it back to its fighter. I looked back at Styraco, which was taking advantage of Jiango's confusion, and gave the battle's final orders.
"All right, Diplo. Let's finish this! Rolling Whip on Styraco!" I roared. Diplo roared back and charged, unusually fast and agile for a vivosaur of his size. He spun around, catching Styraco with his tail and spinning him around. He then lunged forward and slammed himself into the smaller herbivore, his Body Check bringing the final opponent down. Diplo stood proudly before his defeated opponents, howling defiantly before returning to me, his confused teammates following shortly.
"What was that, Tria?" Hellcat asked me from her dark red Digger's Rig once we'd returned to the waiting area, her tone annoyed, "Your Diplo took control of the whole battle! Did you tell him to do that?"
"I did." I replied, crossing my arms and glaring at the woman.
"Why?" Rocky asked, looking upset at the initiative I had taken.
"The purpose of you two teaming up is to work on your teamwork." I told them, "You were not working together at all, so Diplo and I had to show you how it's done. Now that you have an idea of what to aim for, you can work on reaching that goal. That's what your leaders want."
Hellcat and Rocky looked at each other, as if assessing their ability to work with the other, before glaring and turning sharply away. I sighed and shook my head as we were called back into the arena.
The tournament had five rounds in total, making it longer than most. They should've given the hotheads of the Red Fang and Green Wave plenty of time to improve their teamwork skills, but it didn't seem to be working. Every time the two tried to work together, they ended up fighting. Diplo rumbled exasperatedly to me from his Dino Gear, and I sighed in a hushed apology to him. The final couldn't come too soon.
Beckles growled threateningly at the opposing Segno, eyeing the long-clawed Earth-type condescendingly. Jiango thrashed his spiked tail aggressively at Mihu, watching the ceratopsian's blade-like horn warily. And Diplo watched the Ankylo that stood against him with misplaced anger. This battle would be brutal.
"Behold the power of the Red Fang!" Hellcat called to her opponents, "This'll be over before you know it!"
"Green Wave strong, too…" Rocky muttered, sounding tired.
"Then there's me." I growled, Diplo's anger reflected in my own eyes. As the battle began, much like all the others, I looked up at the red and green sitting in the stands.
Aggro and Lancelot were watching the final battle. They had only managed to make the final, so they'd missed the previous four battles, but they could easily see how they'd progressed. Lancelot had a hand over his face, shaking his head at the clear lack of teamwork in the battle. Aggro was patting his back comfortingly, though there was disappointment in his eyes, too. When I caught their gazes, I gestured to my teammates with my head before shrugging. Aggro shrugged in return and Lancelot shook his head. My attention was brought back to the battle when two shouting voices entered my earpiece.
"Hey, watch it! Stop getting in my way!" Hellcat shrieked at Rocky as Beckles roared at Jiango.
"I just try to help!" Rocky yelled back as Jiango bellowed, "Orders are to learn teamwork!"
"It's not teamwork if all you do is get in my way! You're screwing up my strategy!" Hellcat snapped back, Beckles turning on Jiango completely now, much to the frustration of Diplo and the surprise of Segno, Mihu, and Ankylo.
"You no have strategy!" Rocky barked back at the girl as Jiango charged at Beckles.
I looked up at Aggro and Lancelot again, seeing their disappointment and exasperation increasing, and shook my head before turning back to the fight with a hardened gaze.
"You know what? I've had enough of this." I growled, stepping in front of the two Bone Buggies, my lack of patience clear in my posture, "You two can argue all you want. I'm finishing this battle myself."
"What are you saying, Tria?!" Hellcat asked, shocked and confused.
"How you win alone?" Rocky asked, curious and insulted.
"You two may not be able to work together, but your vivosaurs shouldn't be so limited." I snapped back, my tone vicious, "I'm taking control here." I then stood proudly before the vivosaurs, maintaining my true form even while projecting my voice throughout the entire Stadium.
"Jiango! Toxic Spike on Segno!" I roared to the quarreling vivosaurs. Jiango perked up at my voice and turned away from Beckles to face his Earth-type opponent. He spun around in front of the stunned vivosaur and struck it with his tail spikes, spinning it into a weak stance. I turned to Diplo's other teammate.
"Now, Beckles! Tackle!" I commanded. Beckles roared back and charged at Segno, knocking it forward and defeating it. Both vivosaurs gloated as I turned to Diplo.
"Now, Diplo! Throw Mihu upward!" I ordered. Diplo spun around and tossed Mihu into the air. I then shifted my focus to the Water-type herbivore. "Jiango! Drum Down!" Jiango narrowed his eyes and flipped through the air, slamming the small ceratopsian into the ground. The Neutral-type disappeared, just as Segno had, leaving only Ankylo. My gaze hardened further as the rage of the tournament came back to me. Exchanging one more glance with Diplo, we both nodded to each other before focusing on our final opponent.
"All right, Diplo. Let's finish this." I snarled, becoming cold and sadistic as another voice emerged, "Crush that pathetic creature!"
Diplo roared viciously as he rose up and brought his front feet down on Ankylo's back. The type advantage, combined with the Earth-type's ferocity, brought it down with one attack. My team howled victoriously before returning to their fighters. It was then that I noticed the annoying beeping sound coming from my wrist, and I looked down to see the device flashing green. I sighed and walked out of the arena without another word, ignoring both Hellcat and Rocky as I made my way into the lobby, where, unsurprisingly, Sean was waiting for me.
"I got the alert, Tria." he said immediately, even a friendly smile absent, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine, Sean." I said gently, holding out my arm for him to turn off the alert, "My dark side showed up towards the end of the battle, but only verbally. She didn't make me do anything."
"Do you know what triggered you?" Sean asked, still concerned.
"Yeah…" I muttered again, looking back at the entrance to the waiting area just as Hellcat and Rocky were coming out, "This entire tournament has been…trying." I then turned to fully face my teammates as they approached me.
"Tee hee hee! We won!" Hellcat giggled, looking pleased.
"We pull it off, but not alone." Rocky added, looking at me, "Tria did most work."
"That's true." Hellcat replied, crossing her arms and looking at me with an impressed gaze, "I didn't know you could commanded other fighters' vivosaurs, Tria. That was pretty cool. Just ask next time, okay?"
"But I thought we supposed to be ones fighting." Rocky said, not really asking, but confirming, "We supposed to be ones learning teamwork."
"Oh, please. As if WE could ever work together." Hellcat said dismissively, leaving with a flick of her wrist, "We won the tournament. That's all that matters." She then left, her head held high. Rocky left as well with a final glance toward me. I sighed and turned back to Sean.
"I see what you mean, Tria." he told me, placing a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, "Were you trying to help them work together?"
"That was the idea." another voice answered. Sean and I both looked to see Aggro and Lancelot coming out of the stands and approaching us. "But things didn't seem to work out as planned."
"Unfortunately." I replied to the green-haired male, "I'm sorry Lancelot, Aggro."
"No need to apologize, Tria." Aggro told me, "You did everything you could."
"Indeed." Lancelot agreed, smiling at me, "Rocky and Hellcat have never gotten along. We knew it wouldn't be easy, but we are grateful for your efforts."
"Even though I couldn't do anything to help…" I growled, and Sean's hand on my shoulder tightened.
Aggro and Lancelot looked at each other, some sort of unspoken communication occurring before they nodded and returned to me.
"We wouldn't say that." Lancelot replied, and I looked at him in shock, "It may be true that you couldn't get Rocky and Hellcat to work together."
"But you did get Beckles and Jiango to do so." Aggro continued, smiling happily, "Fighters and vivosaurs work together as a team, so showing that one half of the team can work together will encourage the other half."
"This is true." Sean agreed, grinning at me, "You did well with this, Tria."
"We just hope those two didn't cause you too much grief." Lancelot said, frowning at the device on my wrist, "We saw that device flashing green."
"Yeah…just a little bit of dark ferocity at the end of the event." I answered sheepishly, looking away from the concerned men.
"I had noticed your growl getting more vicious when you took command of the whole team. Especially with that last order to Diplo." Aggro observed, with me only nodding in agreement.
"Don't worry about Rocky and Hellcat, Tria." Lancelot told me, smiling gently, "We'll handle them. You just get some rest; you're not back up to full strength yet."
"Will do, Lancelot. Good luck with your teammates." I said, smiling up at him and Aggro, "I'm glad I could be of some assistance, at least."
"Until we meet again, then." Lancelot told me as he left after his teammate, Aggro following after pausing the ruffle my hair. I smiled back at the two men before catching Sean's worried eyes.
"I'm fine, Sean." I told the American leader, my hands on my hips, "Dart's voice left my throat, but she didn't influence any of my actions. She isn't a threat right now."
"The whole situation just bothers me." Sean muttered, staring at the floor with a troubled look on his face, "You're getting triggered more and more easily. And now it's even causing you physical injury. Isn't there any way to stop it?"
"None that we know of, Sean." I replied, "Elric's gathering light energy to help me suppress her, but all that's going to do it delay the inevitable. With each side fighting to suppress the other, I will eventually be destroyed by the internal struggle. Unless another solution is reached, that is how it will be." When I saw Sean's distress, I placed a wing-claw on his shoulder. "I will stay here as long as I can, and I will continue to protect the Fossil Parks while I'm here. Hopefully, I'll even get to join the ranks of masked fighters with Dino Gigante and the Flying Smile Kid."
"Not if you keep getting triggered in my Stadium…" Sean growled resentfully.
"Now, Sean." I scolded the taller male, "Neither the Stadium nor the audience had anything to do with my trigger. That fault rests entirely with my teammates; it would've happened no matter where I'd been or how many people had been watching."
Sean sighed, patting my shoulder once more before releasing me. "At any rate, Lancelot was right. You haven't fully healed, and those wounds have weakened you. Head back to Asia to rest."
"Might've had something to do with how easily I was triggered this time." I agreed as I walked into the Fossil Center with Sean, "I can't say I'm fond at having to rest so much, but I can see its necessity. Elric also insists that I get a daily dose of the light energy he gathers, so I might as well get that over with."
"Good idea." Sean said as we stopped at the World Gate. He then grinned at me and gave me a thumbs-up. "And don't you worry, Tria! We'll find a way to beat this thing, count on it!"
I smiled at the American leader before walking through the World Gate. While in the portal, however, my smile faltered.
"Be careful, Sean." I said to myself, "Don't make promises you can't keep."
