Journey of the soul chapter 51
Once again, Christmas is right around the corner and I have nothing special planned for the chapter.
Hunter: why not just make it a Christmas special?
HahahahahahahahahahaNo. That especially wouldn't work with how far into the game story I am.
Hunter: why not?
Have you ever been to a fossil battle?
Hunter: sounds like a perfectly nice place for Christmas.
…if you say so, it's your sweltering hot funeral.
Hunter: Wait what?
Enjoy the chapter
Hunter say in the lobby of the fighters station, drumming his foot on the ground. Any minute now, he told himself, he would hit one of the first real hurdles in his goal.
"Why are you so worried?" Spinax on the other hand, could be told that he only had 24 hours left to live and still wouldn't stop smiling, "we've kicked Rosie's tail before. C'mon, this'll be fun!"
"I'm really out of practice Spinax," Hunter started to tap his foot even faster, "the last master fighter I fought was Saurhead, and that was over 8 months ago. Plus, it'll be a little difficult to have fun if I'm constantly worried about someone who knows EXACTLY WHAT I LOOK LIKE and HOW I FIGHT figuring out who I am in the middle of the battle."
"…that's deep man, you should write a book about this stuff."
"Maybe I should," Hunter quickly noticed that his incessant foot tapping was gaining him unwanted attention, so he pretended to play a game on his phone. In reality, he was looking up competitor files for the caliosteo cup. If Rosie's even going to show up, he needs to be as well prepared as possible.
"Yep, master fighter. Says so on the record," Hunter quickly scrolled through Rosie file. It was about as much as he expected, mainly Fire vivosaurs and a calculated strategy until something goes wrong. Hunter kept scrolling and paused for a moment when he saw the next two names on the list his eyebrows shot up.
"Duna Nichs and King Dynal XVI," spinax read aloud for him, "…does that mean his first name is king?"
"…she never told me her last name." Hunter absentmindedly commented.
"What a crushing blow to your emotions," Spinax mocked, "how will you ever recover." Hunter was about to shoot back with his own insult, but Rosie walked in and cut him off.
"Hey! You're that guy who proved the monster was a fake!" She called out. Hunter stood up and started to make his way towards the stadium doors. Apparently, Rosie wasn't done talking and wasn't exactly thrilled that he was walking away.
"Get back here! You coward!" Hunter stopped, did he hear that right?
"Why didn't you tell me about the monster?" Rosie scowled at him, "afraid I'd steal your glory?"
"Uh, no. I didn't know about it until you talked to me and Todd."
"Yeah well, enjoy your fame while it lasts…Uh, what's your name?"
"Hunter…Elwood," he added that last part quickly after realizing his mistake. Rosie fidgeted slightly after hear his name. Idiot! Hunter silently seethed. Don't tell her your real first name! "You don't have to be rude, I'm sure your already pretty famous for being…"
"A rich man's granddaughter?" Rosie finished for him, "well, maybe I want to be famous because of something I did." Hunter nodded. He could understand where her frustration came from. Rosie has been surrounded by people who accomplished great things, it makes sense that she wants to be known for something she did.
"Well then, beating me is a pretty big accomplishment," Hunter gave a competitive smile, "let's see if you can do that."
Rosie gave Hunter a similar look, "you're on." Hunter smiled, then had to fight back tears. Why was he about to cry? The answer came almost immediately. He missed his old friends. Rosie reminded him of his old life. Living in his comfy apartment, having fun battling, adventuring to new places, and
"Stop it," he told himself, "you'll get that back, but you've gotta win this first."
"Hey!" Spinax cut in, "I'm the one who's supposed to give the emotionally uplifting speeches. Stick to the script dammit!" Hunter smiled and began to walk to the other end of the stadium. He scanned the roaring crowd, looking for a familiar face. He saw Todd's helmet in a sea of faces and waved in that general direction. And hand shot up from the helmet and waved back.
"Top left corner," spinax commented. Hunter turned and saw was spinax was talking about. It was the group from vivosaur island again, and once again Alvis was perched a few rows above.
"Why is it that every time I see that guy I want to kick him?"
"Secrecy and being vaguely mysterious." Spinax explained dully, "honestly, we should probably talk to that guy."
"Yeah, especially if he read my letter." Hunter's mind briefly flashed an image in his brain. It was himself lying on the floor, clearly dead. Where did that come from? Hunter shook the morbid thought from his mind and brandished three Dino medals.
"Siamo! U-raptor! Dimorph!" Rosie was already calling out her own vivosaurs. Hunter had already seen Siamo and U-raptor. What really caught his attention was the fact that dimorph was a red DRAGON.
"Right. Right. Super revival." Hunter's vivowatch beeped, naming the vivosaur as a dimorph ace.
"Spinax! Delta! and…uh, Cryo!" Hunter quickly altered his usual vivosaur configuration, substituting s-raptor for a similar theropod with water element.
"Frozen pulse!" Hunter wasted no time going on the offensive. Cryo let out an ear splitting roar. Layers of frost spread out around it and turned into icicles that shattered near the opposing team. U-raptor and Siamo took the full force of the attack; however, dimorph was able to nimbly fly away from the violent hailstorm.
"Sizzling breath! Then dimorph Star!" Siamo let out a column of fire towards delta. The dromeosaur launched itself backwards to avoid taking the full blast of the flames. But what delta wasn't able to dodge was dimorph diving into the flames and slamming into delta with its newfound cloak of fire.
"Spinax mega!" With his claw wrapped in a tornado, spinax bore down on dimorph. He pinned down the small dragon and shielded delta from a assault from u-raptor with the other.
"U-venom!" U-raptor leaped over spinax's arm and raked delta on the side with its foot. Delta shrieked and fell backwards. Cryo quickly moved in to cover for its ally.
"Combo attack!" Cryo kicked U-raptor away and slammed its head spike into Siamo.
"Dimorph wave!" Dimorph broke free of spinax's grip and cloaked its tail in flame. Using its tail as a whip, Dimorph lashed out at spinax.
"Damn bird!" Spinax growled.
"Spinax Terra!" Spinax closed his eyes, wind whipped around his jaws when he inhaled, then he let out a concentrated jet stream of wind at dimorph, this knocked the dragon out of the air and gave delta an opening.
"Blitz attack!" Delta cloaked itself in water and rushed at Dimorph, but stopped short and fell after stumbling a ways.
"Crap, poison." Hunter looked over to U-raptor and could swear that it was smirking.
"Laugh at this." Spinax quickly served the role of therapist as he lift U-raptor by the tail with his jaws and began swinging it around violently.
"Spinax Giga!" Wind whipped around spinax's jaws as he bit down, returning U-Raptor to its Dino medal.
"Dimorph somersault!" Dimorph began to fly in a circle, leaving a trail of flames in its wake. Using its momentum to propel itself forward, dimorph shot straight at Cryo.
"Counter! Then follow up with frozen pulse!" Delta limped In front of Cryo. It's poison injuries were severe, but that didn't stop it from creating a large shield around it self. Cryo once again summoned frost that quickly froze into dangerous icicles. Most of the icicles were directed at the oncoming Dimorph, but they also passed through delta's shield and struck the small dromeosaur.
"Hang in there!" Hunter muttered. He could see the shield flicker, threatening to burst. Dimorph reared up right before it hit Cryo and dived straight down. As that was happening, delta jumped into the air.
"Wait, stop!" Rosie shouted. Too late. Dimorph struck delta and the counter shield exploded in a brilliant flash of blue light. When the light faded, both Delta and Dimorph were gone.
"Fourth of July be damned." Spinax commented, "your plan was to suicide bomb?"
"Of course no-…can vivosaurs die?"
"…am I immortal? AM I A GOD?!" Siamo crunched down on spinax's tail.
"Questions for later." Spinax roared in Siamo's ear, lifted his tail high into the air with Siamo still holding onto it, and whipped it back and forth furiously. Siamo was going into the air and crashed into the stadium wall.
"SPINAX PETA!" Spinax thundered out a deep roar. Three tornadoes erupted from the ground and collided Into each other with Siamo in the middle. As the tornadoes cleared and Siamo faded away, Spinax roared in victory.
"That's two." Hunter retrieved his Dino medals with a grin. He slowly walked back to the waiting room and to the lobby from there. Todd was waiting for him when he got back.
"Great job Hunter!" Todd clapped him on the back.
"Thanks, that was a bit of a rollercoaster, Eh?"
"Speak for yourself, victory is a predetermined condition." Spinax snorted.
"Whatever you say pointy."
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Suddenly, the crowd roared so loud that Hunter and Todd jumped in shock. This, of course, led to Hunter slipping and falling onto the floor. While Hunter was sliding on his butt across the slick floor, Pauleen exited the waiting room.
"Wow, she must be good to have won a fight that fast," Todd commented.
"How interesting of you to point that out immediately." Hunter pulled himself off the ground and smirked at Todd. He smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, what!" Todd glared at Hunter.
"What are you two bozos talking about?" Pauleen had walked over at this point and was standing with her hands on her hips.
"You're one to talk," Todd retorted, "calling is bozos when you where that weird mask."
"Ugh, I've already told you. I'm not taking this mask off!" She turned to Hunter, "anyway, Hunter. You're pretty good. Not as good as me of course, but not bad."
"Well than-"
"But don't get any ideas of winning the cup, because that honor is going to go to the beautiful and talented Pauleen! Oh, and humble to."
"In all my years of conquest, it's never been personal," spinax's voice has dropped multiple octaves, "but I will enjoy crushing this one."
"Think I've got a better idea," Hunter turned back to Pauleen, "yeah right. Beautiful, and we're supposed to believe that when you cover your face with a mask?" Even with the mask, you could tell that Pauleen was flustered.
"W-whatever! I don't need to stand here explaining myself to you two." And with that, she left. Todd and Hunter shared a high-five. Score one for the bozos.
"Hey, there's Rosie." Todd pointed out. Rosie was in fact on the other side of the lobby…along with Mr. Richmond, Dynal, and .
"Oh, she's probably busy. We should just lea-"
"Hey Hunter! Come over here!" Rosie called to them.
"Shit." Hunter begrudgingly followed Todd over to the small group.
"Todd right?" Rosie gesture to Todd.
"Yep, nice to formally meet you Ms. Richmond." Todd did a small bow. Rosie laughed and Hunter tried not to.
"You don't have to be formal in front of my grandfather." Rosie gestured to Mr. Richmond, who was in a conversation with Dr. Diggins and Dynal.
"Oh, hello you two," Mr. Richmond gave a short wave, "friends of Rosetta I presume?"
"Acquaintances." Hunter replied.
"This is Hunter and Todd everybody. Hunter is the one that beat me." And the mention of his name, everyone turned their attention to Hunter.
"Double Shit." Spinax mumbled.
"To beat my granddaughter is a very impressive feat Hunter. Are you by any chance a master fighter?" Me. Richmond asked.
"I wish," Hunter scratched the back of his head, struggling to keep his nerves in check.
"Still, an accomplishment nonetheless." Dr. Diggins stated absentmindedly, "no..that's not it." Hunter was suddenly extremely glad he left his foldax at the fighter's lodge.
"Spinax, I need a plan. Think of some excuse!"
"I can't perform under this kind of pressure!"
"Just…imagine everyone in their underwear or something!"
"That's worse!" Hunter took a break from his internal argument to notice that Dynal was staring at him intently. He quickly remembered that Dinaurians can sense Spinax talking.
"…triple shit."
"Oh wow, you're a dinaurian!" Todd also took note of Dynal, "I just thought you were really into face paint."
"Face…paint?" Dynal shook his head, "no matter. Pleased to meet you two. I am King Dynal XVI of the dinaurians." Todd shot a surprised glance at Hunter, then quickly bowed. To Hunter's surprise, Dynal chuckled.
"There is no need for that, I am hardly royalty."
"That much is apparent." Said another voice. This one Hunter recognized instantly.
"Quadrup-…oh screw it." Dynal has moved to the side to reveal Duna. Up close, Hunter could see that she had changed a bit with age just like him. Duna used to be slightly taller than Hunter, now she was a little shorter. Her eyes were a more vivid yellow, almost like the sun. Hunter felt himself melt in front of her.
"Hey Todd," Hunter leaned on his friend, attempting to look sick, "I don't feel so good, maybe we should le-Ugh, leave." He gave Todd a pleading look, which was acknowledged with a nod."
"Oh man, don't tell me my stomachaches are wearing off on you!" Todd dipped his head under a sagging Hunter's arm and hoisted it up, "it was really nice to meet you all, we'll see you later." Together, the two walked out of the lobby.
"What a strange pair," Duna commented.
Done! See Hunter, not exactly a prime Christmas special.
Hunter: I still don't get it.
Spinax: pretty sure it's obvious at this point.
Thanks. See Hunter? Even Spinax gets it. It's not a Christmas special because-
Spinax: there was no mistletoe in that last scene!
Exact-wait…
Spinax: c'mon, the audience is dying for some action!
I give up.
Hunter:….I still don't get it. What's mistletoe?