Chapter 17 – Hot Spring Disaster
POV: Sarah
Next day
Time: 17:00
Location: Hot Springs Heights (Hot Spring)
Man… I still can't believe that Hunter showed up! We had a lot of fun yesterday. We clean a bunch of different fossils, Rex actually integrated his Miraculous Fossil into his Brachio, creating… what was it again? Rhyhorn? No… Rhydon?... that's not it either… Well it's Rhy-something.
Either way, Rex has a super-revived Vivosaur… Meanwhile I'm still searching for a T-Rex so I can evolve it into a T-Rex Lord. Hunter said that T-Rex fossils are often found in warm places… Either Deserts or Volcanoes, but I already knew that... Hey, don't look at me like that, when I want to be, I can be knowledgeable. But really since Mt Krakanak was available, I searched a lot for a T-Rex fossil, and I was unable to find anything. Why does it have to be so hard to find! But… there is rumor saying we're going to be able to go inside the Volcano soon, maybe I can look around there and find one…
Now, back to the topic at hand. After a bit of chaos from our friends… Todd, I totally forgot that this was his first-time meeting Hunter. Todd practically fainted when Hunter said hello. Pauleen… well… I have no clue where she went. Haven't seen her since yesterday, I'm a bit worried about her right now… she may be shy, but she's a strong girl, I think… But still! I mean Rupert's reaction was priceless. It was so cu-… Ahem, it was funny to see how startled he was when Rex said Hunter was staying with the two of them that night. After I left, I got word from Rex saying that Rupert was stiffer than a Dark Fossil Rock. Pfft… that must have been fun.
So, what are we doing today? Well… I wanted to try and see if we could get a T-Rex for me. But recently a hot spring in the new dig site Hot Spring Heights opened up. Go figure! Me, Rex, Hunter and Todd decided to give them a visit... well after we already dug some of the fossils from here.
It's a pretty cool place… that wasn't meant to be a pun. I know the outer parts of Hot Spring Heights have a lot of snow, and geysers scattered about. But the hot spring is in a cave, so not open to the cold air. It's actually really warm in here. It is pretty amazing all the stones and stuff make it look cool!
"Hey, there you are, Sarah!" Todd shouts at me as I leave the women's Changing room. What? It's a hot spring, do you think I'd wear my normal clothes in there? I'm currently in a swimsuit, so is Rex, Hunter, and Todd. Todd has his usual cap on, and wears a pair of green swim trunks. Hunter is in a pair of Blue Swim trunks. Rex follows along wearing blue trunks as well, but also has a swim shirt unlike the rest of them. Meanwhile for me? I'm just wearing a usual women's swimsuit. Nothing unusual for a girl to wear.
"Wow, I think this is the largest Hot spring I've seen." Rex said. "Much, bigger than the one at the nearby mountains back home."
"I've seen bigger… and stranger." Hunter added. I mean he's been around the world… I wouldn't expect anything less. "But still, it's been a while since I've been in one. Can't wait to get in."
"I can't wait either!" Todd exclaims, his hyperactivity at maximum capacity. Todd runs straight in without a second thought, like the child he is.
"heh, wait for me Todd." Rex laughs, and climbs in as well. Rex… he's like swimming. But warm water like this… Well, He's fallen asleep taking a bath before. Though it's pretty early, maybe he'll be fine.
"Aahhh… After a long time traveling… This feels great." The moment Hunter touches the water he practically falls in. I can barely keep a smirk off of my face. What is he? An old man?
"Ooooh yeaaaaah…" Todd says laying out in the water. "That's the stuff… I feel my blues just washing away…"
"*Yawn*…" Like I thought… Rex is yawning.
"Hey, C'mon Rex, don't fall asleep yet." Hunter laughs, as he sees the yawning rex.
"What… We've been digging fossils for a while… I don't have the energy like you, Sarah, and Todd." Rex said… slightly drifting off.
"Well I may never leave…" I can see the bliss on Todd's face, as I slowly walk after them.
"Hurry up and get in Sarah!" Hunter calls to me.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I yell over to them, and slightly quicken my pace. As I place my foot, I feel the warm water… But I do notice… it's not the right color… no wait was… "Why's the water turning purple?!"
"huh?" My shout alarms a few people including Rex As he notices. "Wait, what's going…"
"Eeeeew!" Todd shouts, as he moves his arms. "The water's turned all goopy and gross! I'm out of here!" Todd tries to pull himself out… but it's hardened or something not allowing him to get out. "Aaaaaah! The water's all sticky! Help me! I can't get out!"
"Hey! I'm stuck!" it wasn't just Todd, a few other people as well.
"Well, this was quite unexpected." Hunter analyzes… why is he calm in a situation like this?
"*generic grunt*" Rex struggles against the purple water trying to move, before he notices something. "What's wrong with this water? It's jiggly… did some mix something into this?"
As Rex says that I sniff the air… It's a familiar smell. "What the? Did someone add Jelly to the water?"
As Todd realizes this He looks into the Jelly like water. "Wait, hold on… *ohm nom nom…*"
"Ew! Todd that's gross!" both me and rex shout as Todd bites into it. "That's exactly what you eat to get stomach aches!
As Todd swallows… that is really disgusting… you were just swimming in that water… "It's grape jelly!"
"We're stuck in Grape jelly! Gross!" Rex shouts… he's never liked grapes… probably isn't the best situation for him. "Sarah! I don't care if think this is funny or whatever, but you got to get us out of here!"
"how! Your arms are stuck!" I'd rather not pull him by his head…
"Tch… Right…" Rex sighs, as he remembers that… "…one pack shouldn't…"
"Rex?" I call as I see him starting to think about what happening.
"Sarah! Go report this to Kent, the Ilium's Staff Leader!" He shouts at me. "This is not normal! Someone did this deliberately!"
"What!?" Someone forcibly made the hot springs into jelly to get fighters stuck in jelly… I'm not sure if I should be weirded out, or impressed that this plan seems to be working… "Fine! Just stay safe!"
"Not like we can move!" Todd also shouts at me… right.
"Hm… Trapped in a pool of Grape Jelly…" Hunter says. "Definitely not the worst situation I've been in, but definitely the weirdest…"
"…" I really want to hear stories about Hunter's adventure… but that's for a time when he's not stuck in Jelly.
Time: 17:30
Location: Mt. Krakanak
So… After, I went and found Kent and told him how the whole hot spring turned to Jell. He talked about how the Hot Spring's water supply was most likely tampered with. It was clear that it was most likely the Barebones Brigade… and since Rex and Hunter are trapped… this just on me. oh yeah, for some reason the water comes from an undersea pipeline that's linked to Mt Krakanak on Cranial Isle. How that works is beyond me… Maybe Rex knows something? Either way, this pump is in the center of Mt Krakanak Crater… Maybe I can find a T-Rex there.
In any event. I'm heading there now, I just recently got to the Dig Site. Time to show off my running speed. Ready? 3… 2… 1… G—
"Wait!" I nearly trip as someone calls out to me.
"What?! I'm in the middle of mission to save my brother, cousin and friend!" As I yell this, I turn to see that Rupert was the one to call to me… Ugh… I'm such an idiot… Why does he always look so cute with that white hair, yellow eyes, and red clothes…
"I ran into Kent at Hot Spring Heights. He said you're going to the volcano to check on the hot spring's water supply." Rupert just reiterated what I explain in a paragraph in just two sentences… though, why are his cheeks… "Um… I… I'll go with you."
Oh My gosh! He's Blushing! "Aw… you worried about me?"
"N-No!" He stutters, so cute! "I just pity Todd, Rex, and Hunter… No man deserves to be trapped in jelly."
… so cute. Ahem… I'd rather have the backup… no more teasing. "All right, just be sure to keep up with me!"
With Rupert right behind me I take off running to the Entrance to Mt Krakanak's Crater. I Think for people with average levels of strength and endurance it would take an hour or so to get there. Me, I think I hit my record and got there in just under 20 minutes, heh. I wonder how impressed Rupert-… I forgot her was following me… ugh…
"Something the matter?" What?! He kept up with me this whole time?! What the heck?! Either I've gotten slower or he's as fast as me! and as he ignores my surprise, he gets on to the gondola that I'm on and starts to move to descend
"Uh… nothing… just kind of surprised…" ugh… why did I say that.
"What's there to be surprised about?" He looks at me curiously… he's barely even out of breath… He's more amazing than I thought…
"Um… just how hot it is…" I try to change the subject… though he didn't even know what it was about. I don't think I can ever tell him that I'm impressed at how fast he moved… or how much of hit to my pride that was…
"Well that's to be expected, the lowest temperature recorded for Lava is 700 degrees Celsius or 1300 degrees Fahrenheit if you pre—" he stops as he looks at me. for some reason, his face turns bright red. "What the hell are you wearing?!"
"hm…?" Oh, takes me a second to remember that I left my swimsuit on under my normal clothes. I put a smile to his blushing face. "What, have a problem with my swim suit?"
"W-why are you wearing one?!" He shouts… oh, his blushing is so cute.
"Well, I was originally going to go into the Hot Spring." I tell him, "But with what happened, I just judged the situation and just kinda placed my clothes on top of it. I mean if Rex or Todd were in my shoes, they'd still be in their bathing suit."
"Ugh…" Rupert sighs as he thinks about it rationally. "Fine…"
"Besides, it's not like I can change it right now." I add on to it.
"J-just stop talking about it!" He shouts, he's bright red! I can barely keep from laughing.
As we continue to descend, I look out into the crater to see if I could spot the area where it could be tampered with. As I look, I see a few guys in the BB Brigade black leather clothes… must be hot to wear that here… and another guy, he looks pretty big, and has a green mohawk. "Rupert Look!"
"I thought I detected the stench of the BareBones Brigade on this plan." Rupert muttered, as he looked at the area I pointed to. "They must be interfering with the water supply."
"Come let's make haste, or whatever!" I say as I jump off the Gondola. It's only a few feet above solid ground, no pro—
"What the?! Are you crazy!" Rupert shouts at me as I landed on the jump.
"What? I landed just fine and it's not that big of a fall." I try to shrug it off.
"Did you not hear me say that the lava is at least 700 degrees Celsius!" He screams at me. "Who knows how hot those rocks are beneath your feet. Do you honestly think that if you fell, you'd just land with a few scrapes?! You'd be lucky if you end up with a minor burn!"
"…" I did not think that through. "Sorry…"
"For god's sake, I have no idea of how Rex and Todd dealt with such a reckless… Girl like you!" Rupert shouts as the Gondola touches the ground. Thankfully there is quite the distance between us and the area where the BB Idiots are.
"Sorry…" I say to him again… really… he doesn't need to worry so much.
"As long as you understand." Rupert sighed accepting my apology, "Come now, we have jelly that needs to be stopped."
"Right!" I say, and the two off us sneak down towards the Pumps system. As we go down, we over hear the grunts singing a song as they do work. I don't know their names so let's do this!
"Heave, ho! Heave, ho! I work all day and get no pay, heave, ho!" Sings Tommy Bones, Jimmy Bones, and finally Timmy Bones. Creative I know!
As the three work, the guy with the green mohawk laughs. "Har har! Faster, my roadies! Faster! Keep dumping jelly powder in the hot-spring well!"
Man… the grunts are wearing leather… I'm actually feeling bad for them. but we still got to take them out, me and Rupert walk forward towards the guys. Rupert is the first to shout to them "Halt, fiend!"
The guys quickly pick up on Rupert's call, dropping what they were doing, and putting all attention on us. The guy with the mohawk yells at us. "Well, looky here! You got guts showin' your ugly mugs in a place like this!"
"The only ugly one here is you pal." I smirk as I retort his insult.
"Tch. Don't think you'll be smiling when I spill the beans on this little secret… As I'm one of the three BareBone Brigade Commanders!" this unimportant guy, flexes his arms as he yells out his name like some lame Rockstar. "The name's Lester, and I'm gonna rock your world!"
"…" should I be intimidated, I quietly glance at Rupert doesn't seem so.
Though the Lester guy continues to brag. "My plan's tighter than a snare drum. I just fill the hot spring with jelly so the Fighters can't move!"
"Right… that already happened. So, what's next?" for some reason I feel like I have to ask… though with how he is… I think it'll be something ridiculous.
"If they want out, they'll have to EAT their way out! By the time they're free, they'll be too fat to compete in the Cup!" this Lester guy seems really pleased with this gross and strange idea. "Har har! Gahar har har har har! Man, I'm pretty great."
"…" I look to Rupert, "Do you want to tell him, do you want me to?"
"Please, the honors yours." I think Rupert can barely handle my idoticness… Yes, I know I just insulted myself, I'll be angry about that later.
"All right, okay Lester. Do you honestly have any idea of how stupid this plan of yours is?" I ask him, he just responds by giving me this very confused and hurt look. "I mean that first part of your plan was pretty good. I mean it got my friend, cousin and brother all caught in it. But really, eating their way out? Do you know how many people have been in their before it turned to jelly?"
"…" He raises an eyebrow as he thinks about it.
"yeah, when think about it. No one in their right mind would try eating their way out." I still am grossed out with how Todd tried some… "other than that… you know we are "Fossil" Fighters; we dig fossils for a living. You really think someone hasn't taken a shovel to the jelly at the Hot Springs by now?"
"Sh-shut up!" He yells at me, clearly embarrassed. "For that I'll stomp you flat!"
"Bring it on!" This guy has no idea who's he's up against.
"Fine, seems like you opponent has been decided." Rupert sighs as he was left out. "I guess I'll take out the lackeys guarding that machine that's procuring the gelatin."
As we both take positions Lester laughs. "Gahar har har! My Boneysaurs are gonna play you the B-flat chord of pain!" Lester follows it by throwing three Dino medals into the air. As the form I can see they are all the skeleton structure dinosaurs. A B-Brachio, a B-Tricera… man he has two of Rex's Vivosaurs in skeleton form. Then finally… I can't believe it.
"How did you get a T-Rex Before I could! I won't forgive this!" I shout as I toss out three of me on. Machai and Raja were clearly not going out with a triceratops and Tyrannosaurs on the field. So, I went with the three big guns of Aeros, Allo, and Spino. Spino out front, Aeros and Allo on the sides. Good placement to fight that B-Rex. though despite that, Lester's FP Gauge fills first he gets the first hit… damn.
"Gahar har har! B-Rex Boney Roar!" Lester commands, and the skeletal structure of the T-Rex… somehow produces a roar, how does that even work? Either way, from the sound wave manages to hit everyone… damn… these guys are powerful, but thankfully he used all of his FP.
"Tch… Rex was right about Boneysaurs being stronger with attacks… But, from what he analyzed, your nothing but bones! Spino, give that B-Rex a good blow to the rib-cage!" I call, my FP drains down to 50. Spino lunges to the B-Rex snapping its jaws onto the ribs causing at least half of them to snap. It appears that was all it took to revert that to B-Rex medal. "I guess a B-rex is B-rate compared to a T-Rex!"
"what… GHAR!" Lester Rages at the sight of his B-Rex falling. Though his FP Skyrockets… "B-Tricera, Boney Smash! B-Brachio, Boney Tsunami!" The B-Tricera rushes and smashes into Spino, while the B-Brachio swings its head down crushing to Spino as well, with that Spino reverted to its medal. "you call that, nothing but bone!"
"…" As angry as I was for loosing Spino to those foolish skeletons, the way I saw it. I had nothing to worry about. "I'm not saying they're not powerful, just have no protection! Aeros Alert!" Draining my FP to 150, Allo snaps onto the spine of the skeletal Tricera then smashes its tail onto it, but damn… Triceratops are sturdy… I'll end that with Allo! "Allo then finish off that b-Tricera with a Bite!" My FP falls to 80, with that so does the B-Tricera.
"Gahhh!" Lester screeched as he was down to his last Vivosaur… Though From that initial attack, Aeros and Allo might not be able to take a tsunami hit… this could be going either way… "B-Brachio Boney Tsunami!" The Brachio once again hit my team… this time taking Allo down…
My FP Charges to max of 330. "Aeros, do your Specialty!" I shout, with that Aeros charged forward, biting into the Brachio, then slamming its tail into it, before jumping back and releasing a torrent of wind at it. Managing to take it down with one shot! "like I said all brittle bones. No solid muscle to back you!"
As Lester's final Boneysaur fell, he shrieked out in surprise. "Whaaaaat? Aw, man! My Boneysaurs got beat like the bass player at an easy-listening concert."
"What… the hell does music have to do with anything?!" That was the most random thing I've heard of today… wait he has the attitude of some punk musician… that shouldn't be random.
"Wait hold on… blonde hair. Hold the phone! You're the Fighter who beat Cole, aren't you?!" Lester has seemed to have recognized me… but wrong person.
"Um… no, that was my twin." I Quickly say. But before I could continue, I hear a scream from the three bone brothers. Seems like Rupert has won against them.
"We got pasted! These old bones were no match for the young blood!" Tommy bones seems to yell.
"Now, before my own Vivosaurs revert! Mapo King! Royal Strike!" Whoa… he has a Mapo king already!... wait he's Rupert. Of course, he does! But daaaaamn that looks cool! Those blue and black stripes complete opposite to what Rupert wears, it's awesome!... actually… that just broke all of the gelatin supplies/ the machine that was mixing it… wow.
As it was destroyed, we could both hear a surprised grunt from Lester. "Noooooooooooooooo! Operation Fill Hot Spring with Jelly is ruined! Ruuuuined!"
"…" That was terrible name.
"Don't think I'll forget this, punks! You and I will have a reunion special someday!" Lester says as he takes out some device. And with a familiar ringing, he and the three bone brothers disappear.
"Next I see him. I'll make sure he'll be playing the blues again." I state as he got away… so much work… yet we didn't manage to catch them… damn it.
"Oh, don't look like that. You did well!" Rupert apparently notices my frown and says stuff to try and comfort me.
"But you took on three guys by yourself, and stopped the jelly machine!" I say to him. "All I did was fight their boss… who managed to get away…"
"That is more than enough." Rupert says to me… giving a smile. "come on, we should report this back to Kent." He says sticking out his hand to me.
"Sure…" I gratefully take it.