Chapter 7:
Upon arrival at the docks, I was relieved to see that Nevada arrived at nearly the same time as Duna and I had.
"Hey, you actually made it right on time!" Nevada smirked at me. "Oh, and who's your friend here?"
"This is Duna. Duna, this is Nevada Montecarlo. I helped her out with the Digadigamid fiasco," I said, Duna blushing and nodding. I knew why she was embarrassed, though. Since she had a hand in it.
"Hey there, Duna. So, where do you come from?" Nevada asked.
"Well, she actually came from the Digadig tribe... she's also the one training me in the secret technique of the Zino, if you know what I mean," I said, Nevada smirking and nodding.
"So you're her teacher, huh? A half dino like this awesome chick?" Nevada asked as Duna nodded.
"Y-Yes... keep it secret, though? I'm a bit self-conscious about it," Duna said as Nevada nodded.
"It's safe with me... wait... how come you didn't say Digadig at the end of those sentences?" said with a confused expression as I saw Beth looked to be amused by our banter.
"Her biology makes her immune to the dialect the other Digadig tribesmen have. She also tends to go from area to area by running to them," I said, Nevada smirking at that as I then looked at Beth. "Anyways, miss Beth? Can the three of us get going to the Rivet Ravine? I want to get to fossil findin'!" I smirked, Beth giggling at that.
"But of course!... Just make sure that you give your friend this card. It'll let the other Fossil Fighters know that she's just a sightseer and not a licensed Fossil Fighter," Beth said, me giving the card to Duna and her smiling and putting it in her bra for safekeeping. The boat then appeared and we got onto it, me then resting into the seats because of how comfortable they were.
"Okay, now that we're out of earshot of anyone else... give it to me straight, Zina. Who is Duna? Because I know everything about the Digadig tribe and I've never heard of a girl called Duna from my research," Nevada said, me groaning and smacking my face as Duna sighed and shook her head.
"Okay, fine. I'll tell you the basics, but you're not allowed to say a word of it to anyone else, not even Rosie, okay?" I said, Nevada frowning, but nodding.
"Sounds serious. Then who are you?" Nevada asked as Duna then simply turned into her dinosaur form and Nevada still looked at her with stone cold seriousness.
"I'm not... actually a human/dinosaur hybrid... I'm a race of alien known as a Dinaurian," Duna said, Nevada raising her eyebrow, but that being all that she showed. Note to self, never play poker with Nevada Montecarlo. Her Poker Face is INSANE! "Our kind, millions of years ago, left our offspring on this planet so we could have another place to call home, since our home planet was devoured by a monster called Gunnash... we were stunned when we woke up from stone sleep in present day to find that the dominant race were humans, not Dinaurians... so our ruler, King Dynal, wants to find idols like the one you acquired yesterday in order to activate a machine... he hopes to eradicate human life from the planet," Duna said as that actually broke Nevada's Poker Face as she then looked to be sweating and her frown began to quiver.
"S-So... what does that mean for us?..." Nevada asked as Duna sighed.
"I'm secretly against my king and his plans, since Zina has shown me the good in humans... I'm going to try and stay in his good graces, while acting as a double-agent to Zina while I'm training her... oh, and also, if you hear me hiss like this-" Duna said before demonstrating with her Dinaurian hiss, which sounded a lot like a slighter higher-pitched version of Delta's "-that means that I'm getting a call from my king to give him a status report. When that happens, you two have to stay quiet so that he doesn't get suspicious as to what I'm doing," Duna said, me nodding and Nevada nodding as well.
"I'll keep this secret... on one condition, however," Nevada said, me tilting my head. "You need to tell Rosie, too. She deserves to know the truth as much as I do," Nevada said, me sighing and looking at Duna.
"It's your choice if you want to do that, Duna," I said, her frowning, but nodding.
"I'll allow it, so long as she understands that my identity must remain secret," Duna spoke, us nodding at that... and it was then that Duna's ears perked up and she let out her hiss. It was shut-up time as she then got on her communicator to speak with Dynal. "This is Duna, what is it, my king?" Duna asked as I... well, couldn't understand Dynal when he was addressing Duna. "I decided to sleep on the planet Earth," Duna said, me hearing some roars and hisses on the other end as Duna then sighed. "Don't worry, my electronics are unharmed and so am I... the atmosphere is nearly exactly the same as our home," Duna said as Dynal then grumbled again and she spoke some more.
"I'm currently in a private setting, yes... I'm going to Rivet Ravine as we speak so we can acquire the Sub-Idolcomp located there... okay, I'll come back with a full report after I have another training session with Zina tonight... this is Duna, signing off," Duna spoke before then turning off the call and groaning.
"Well, that happened... now what?" Nevada asked as the boat then run the bell, meaning we'd arrived at our destination.
"Now, it's time for fossil hunting!" I smirked as Duna turned into her human disguise and we disembarked from the boat. We then went into the brown-colored cliffs, only to hear something going on towards the left of us.
"Aw, man! I lost again... But I'll be back tomorrow to try the quiz again!" said the voice of someone I didn't expect to hear.
"Rosie?" I asked as we turned the corner and she looked at us with a surprised smile before then waving us down. She was next to Sam Inaro, who looked strangely like Skull Kid while wearing a Zino mask, which I was all for.
"Hey there, girls! Come meet Sam Inaro, the master of secret fossils!" Rosie smirked as we went over to her area and we saw that Sam looked at me with intrigue.
"Hmm... you're Zina the Zino, correct?" he asked, me being surprised at him.
"How'd you know that?" I asked.
"I know a lot of things! For example, I know that you rescued the Digadig tribe yesterday from the BB Bandits and you got a tacky idol as your reward," he said, me gawking.
"Right again!" I gawked... but then he chortled.
"Ah, I'm just ribbin' ya! Rosie here told me that stuff before her quiz," Sam said as I raised my eyebrow and Rosie simply giggled.
"What kind of quiz we talkin' about?" I asked.
"It's different for everyone I see. If you can answer 5 questions in a row correctly about your favorite dinosaur, then I'll teach you how to find Dark Fossil Rocks," Sam smirked, my excitement gears kicking into overdrive!
"Count me the heck in!" I smiled widely.
"Okay then. Your favorite dinosaur is the therizinosaurus, so I'll ask you questions about it, okay?" he said, me nodding.
"Question 1: Where was the first fossil of Zino found?"
"Mongolia," I said, me smirking at how he gave a thumbs-up.
"Question 2: What was the diet of the Zino?"
"No one knows," I said, him giving a thumbs-up again.
"Question 3: What is the closest relative of the Zino?" he asked, me smirking as I did extensive research on Zino for quite awhile when doing one of my articles.
"Erliansaurus," I said, him smirking and giving another thumbs-up.
"Question 4: What element is Zino when revived as a Vivosaur?"
"Fire type element." Another thumbs-up with one more question to go.
"Final Question: What is Zino's most powerful singular attack when revived as a Vivosaur?"
"Slicer," I smirked. And the guy then smiled widely.
"AMAZING! You've solved all of the questions perfectly! Now, I will teach you how to find Dark Fossil Rocks..." Sam said as he then simply did one thing. "ALABALAKAZOOIE!" he shouted as I felt something... a wave of knowledge and insight entered my mind out of literally nowhere! I then gasped as I looked at the ground and I saw... something shocking. I could actually see tiny bits of black in the ground, there being three patches around me!
"I can see them! I'm getting them right now!" I smiled as I dug each of them up with a wide grin, me seeing that, as before, they were able to be cleaned just by holding them... the only downside? "Huh... now my hands are black, too... oh well," I said with a smile as I then spat on them to try and rub it off... and they didn't!
"Oh, I forgot to mention, if any of the Dark Fossil Rocks touch your skin, they'll become slightly coated in a coat of black dust. It won't come off until 3 days after it being on contact with your skin," he said, me about to smack myself in the face, but deciding against it part-way.
"Whew, no face-palming today... that was a close one," I said as I looked at the others and they smirked at me... I also noted that Rosie was giving me a smile and a stink-eye. "Let me guess. They told you, right?" I asked, her nodding at me.
"Yeah, and I'm actually surprised about Duna's origins, but I don't care so long as you can stop those plans. Duna also said you wanted to tell me that you wanted Duna as a girlfriend," Rosie said, me nodding at that.
"Yeah, I do... you okay with that?" I asked, Rosie nodding at that.
"I'll be okay with it... after you reach Rank 4. I'll only allow her to be in our harem if you can rank up in the next Level-Up battle," Rosie said, me nodding at that.
"It's okay for us to be her friend for now, right? Until then?" Nevada asked, Rosie nodding at that.
"And just to make sure you don't try anything funny, I'm traveling with you guys, too," Rosie smirked.
"Got it," I smiled, being content with those rules as we then proceeded to go and compete to find fossil rocks... but of course, I grabbed me as many of the Dark Fossil Rocks as possible, since I was the only one of the group that could see them. And I also managed to find at least 3 Dropping Fossils from duds, but I also had at least 12 different red-colored fossils (Five heads of different dinos and 3 other singular fossils. The rest were repeats) and I got a gigantic hunk of diamond and three sapphires!
"Impressive finds so far, hon! Now time to go into the mine shafts. That's where the best fossils are at! And hey, maybe we can meet Old Man McJunker. He owns the ravine and he builds mine carts for a living," Nevada smirked as we went inside... and we saw the big guy himself looking kinda troubled.
"Oh, daggumit! How am I gonna fix this mess?" he asked himself in annoyance as Nevada gasped at the state of he mine carts on the right.
"Oh my god! Who destroyed the mine carts?!" she asked in shock, getting McJunker's attention to us and he seemed to be surprised at Nevada.
"I'll tell ya what happened, Nevada. A buncha no-good vandals came an' wrecked my mine carts, them doin' the most damage to the one leadin' to my secret dig site! And I'd love to fix 'em up, but they nabbed my tools, too!" McJunker groaned as I then stepped up with Rosie beside me.
"Mister McJunker? I think our group can find those tools for you. I have a feeling those jerks probably hid them somewhere nearby, but we'd need to get a bit of an upgrade to our radars to find them," I said, McJunker smirking at that.
"Oh, great! That'd be fantastic! Here, all you girls with a radar, come over here," he said, me, Rosie, and Nevada going over to him as he modified our radars slightly. "There! Now they can pick up traces of iron ore. That's what my tools are made of! Now go an' sniff out my tools! You'll need to find a Hyper Wrench and a pair of Wire Pliers," he said, me nodding as we then looked at the three entryways.
"I'll go down the right corridor. Nevada, you'll take the left, and Rosie and Duna, you go to the middle one. I'm gonna need to wear gloves if I find the things, though," I said, me then putting them on as I went through the right cavern and proceeded to find some more fossils in the form of Nasaur, Elasmoth, and even Giganto's arms as well as the heads of the normal Vivosaurs found in the area. The only one I got the body for was Nasaur, but I didn't mind, since she was a beast when it came to support effects.
I then finally got a detection of iron ore in my radar and dug into the ground to find the pliers, them being unprotected, but still very rusty... that is, until I touched my face to them. The rust melted off, making the metal in pristine condition! "Well, that's handy!" I smirked as I then simply put the tools in my backpack's side pocket and proceeded back to the main shaft, seeing the others there with the wrench in Duna's hand and seeing Rosie getting the rust off of it with her drill. And once the rust was all off, I then got closer and handed McJunker the pliers, him smiling at that.
"Great work, lassies! Now I can get these mine cars runnin' again!... Oh, but, I'll need one of yuns to go back to town so you can get an electromite battery from my apprentice at the junk shop. I can fix this car all day long, but it ain't runnin' without a battery. And make sure to have a V-Raptor in your party so he knows I sent ya," McJunker said as Nevada smiled.
"I can do that, mister McJunker," Nevada said as she went and used the VMM to warp back to town, me looking at McJunker and then at the blocked-off passage to the west.
"Mister McJunker? Where does that mine cart lead to?" I asked, McJunker looking at it... and then he smacked his face.
"Oh, come on! I can't believe I forgot about that little mine cart! It's still got a workin' battery in it and it's been untouched by the vandals. Come on, girls, an' help me get this onto the other track. I'll let ya use me private dig site anytime you wish if you can do that for me," McJunker said, me smirking at the situation we found ourselves in. I then decided to keep my gloves on and get the mine cart with help from Rosie, Duna, and McJunker. McJunker started by moving the destroyed mine cart on the east track to the side while the girls and I moved the one on the west track to the east one, making sure that all the wheels were connected to the rails and that it wasn't coming off. And it took a total of 2 minutes and all of us were tired afterwards.
"Oof... that thing was heavy..." Duna groaned as I then looked at McJunker with a smile.
"Alrighty, then. You girls are allowed to go down to my secret tunnel. Be careful, though, because those hooligans are most likely still there! If ya see 'em, beat 'em good for ol' McJunker, got it?" he said with a smirk, us then going into the car and seeing that the interior was actually big enough for 5 full grown people, despite it being small on the outside!
"Huh... internal expansion technology? Impressive, I will admit that," Duna said as we then proceeded down the mine cart track until we reached the other side and slowly came to a stop, Rosie and I exiting as Duna then simply changed into a different human disguise, this one looking a lot like a character from the more popular Pokemon series, Maylene. AKA, the first female fighting type gym leader.
"Before you ask, I can change into multiple disguises... and I need to be in this disguise to fool them. I'll explain why after they're gone," Duna said, me nodding, but Rosie was still confused. We then went forward to see that Rex was sniffing the ground and was motioning Snivels to dig in a specific area, right in the center of the large, rectangular room.
"Ugh, you morons are... s-so... eep..." Vivian actually squeaked in fear when she saw me alongside my girlfriend and soon-to-be girlfriend. She then looked at Snivels with fear in her face.
"S-Snivels, I thought you said that you destroyed the mine carts after we went through?!" Vivian asked angrily as I saw her body was shaking.
"Y-Yeah, I did!" Snivels said as I simply smiled.
"Yep, but you neglected to vandalize the mine cart that wasn't attached to this track. That was mistake number 1. Do you want me to tell you what mistake number 2 is? Or would you rather face it right now in a fight?" I asked, the trio gulping at that.
"Y-You!... You better not be thinking of going all Jurassic on us like last time! We want a fair fight WITHOUT becoming food!" Snivels said with fear... and as if on cue, my stomach growled. I couldn't have timed that more perfectly if I wanted to.
"I dunno... your doggy looks pretty tasty," I smiled, putting on a show, since the situation was TOO perfect! And that was enough for them to rush past us faster than we could react as I actually heard Vivian scream.
"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" she screamed in absolute terror, which Rosie simply laughed at.
"Okay, that was amazing! Your hunger saved the day, Zina!" Rosie laughed as Duna then smirked at that.
"I will admit, that was amusing. You couldn't make that scenario happen again if you tried," Duna said with a small chuckle as I then gawked at the fact that there was something up with the area Rex was pointing at. It had a dark spot similar to the Dark Fossil Rocks. I then got it out of the ground and saw it was one of the Sub-Idolcomps, the fat red one. And it actually contained dust inside of it similar to Dark Fossil Rocks!
"Well, we got what we came for. Now time to tell McJunker the good news... but only after we get as many rocks as we can outta here," I said, Duna smirking at me and Rosie competing for fossils. I managed to get all the parts for Ourano while Rosie got all the parts for U-Raptor, splitting the difference perfectly. We then went down a small hole in the ground and were then in the main area once again, us going to McJunker and him having the laugh of his life.
"Hohohoho! Them dirty bandits ran through the mines like they were afraid for their lives! HOHO! Whatever you did to 'em, they looked like they pissed 'emselves!" McJunker laughed as I simply smiled.
"Well, they saw me turn into a Zino when I got mad at them back at the Digadigamid, so they're scared of me now. And when they said they wanted a fair battle and that they didn't want to be food, on cue, my stomach growled. It was so perfect that I played off of it and said that their doggy looked tasty. They ran for it soon after!" I smirked widely.
"Great work there, young'uns! I suggest you get back to town and clean them fossil rocks. It's gonna be time for the Level-Up battles in only 30 minutes, after all," he smiled, me nodding as Rosie smiled at me while Duna nodded. Once McJunker left, Duna then looked at me and Rosie with a small smile.
"I need to go back and report to Dynal about what happened here and that you've acquired the 2nd Sub-Idolcomp. I'll keep the act going, but just know he may become furious if he found out the truth," Duna said, me nodding at that.
"I'm well prepared for that," I said, Duna nodding before then warping away with her special button. And only after she left did Nevada finally arrive.
"So, I come back from town with the Electromite battery only to find out that you guys already handled the bandits... and that you scared them so thoroughly that I saw bits of shit on the ground outside the mine shaft? You're going to tell me everything that happened while we clean our fossils, got it, Zina?" Nevada asked, me smirking and nodding.
"Be prepared to laugh your ass off," I smirked as we got into the VMM outside and I saw that the poo was a mixture of human and dog and that it was fresh.
"There you are, Duna. I was getting worried about you," said the voice of Duna's brother, who was very rash and brash about everything, especially since he was a Velociraptor Dinaurian.
"I'm very capable of handling myself amongst the humans, Raptin," Duna said with annoyance.
"Good thing, too. King Dynal was debating whether or not to have me take charge to find the Sub-Idolcomps, since those humans seem to-" Raptin was about to say before Duna spoke.
"I assisted the human known as Zina Zori and we managed to find the second Sub-Idolcomp," she said, Raptin smirking at that.
"Hmph, not even going to let me finish, huh?" he asked, Duna shaking her head no. "Fine, it's clear that this strange Zina human trusts you enough to work alongside you. But just make sure you don't forget the task at hand. We can't leave anything to chance," Dynal stated, Duna nodding at him. She felt angry at how she couldn't tell him the truth about the Sub-Idolcomps, but she knew she needed to keep the act going... for everyone's sake.
"I understand your concerns, brother... but you needn't worry. I'm still going to visit Zina at night time to train her some more," Duna stated as Dynal nodded.
"Just make sure she's still on our side. And ask her which humans she wants spared. Those are Dynal's instructions, not mine," Raptin said as Duna nodded.