Disclaimer: This story is not owned, this game Fossil Fighters Champions was published by Nintendo, and developed by: Nintendo SPD, Red Entertainment, M2, and Artdink.

Chapter 22 – Belly of the Beast

POV: Sarah

Time: ?

Location: ?

"Sarah!" I hear someone calling out my name, "Sarah!"

"Ugh… what time is it?" Why does my head hurt… Ugh… feels like I was hit by a dinosaur.

"Good. You're up. Thank goodness." As I open my eyes, I see a boy with white hair and yellow eyes standing over me. R-Rupert!

"A-ah!" I quickly stumbled as I tried to get up. Face planting into something hard and wet… Are still in Ice grip plateau? No wait this doesn't feel like snow. "Ack!"

"Careful." Rupert says trying to help me up, from whatever this gross stuff is.

"Ah, good you're awake." I hear another voice, seeing the familiar strange mask, pink hair, polka dot tube top, and grass skirt. I notice Pauleen.

Ugh… my head still aches. "Um… Where are we?" I look around things come into slight view. I see a lot of broken pieces of wood… wait are those masts from ships? No wait there are broken hulls as well. what the heck?

"Well, we were at Icegrip Plateau, and then there was that huge wave and…" Right, something shook the platform we were on and then… there was that—"Oh no! We've been swallowed by a whale!" Pauleen seems to be panicking now… which isn't good. "Waaaaaah! W-we're gonna be digested!"

As Pauleen started to panic Rupert turned to me. "You seem to be taking this pretty calmly."

"Well, Hunter told me an adventure where he had to battle the brain of a giant planet eating monster." I Shrug. "In fact, I think once we all get out of here. Me and Rex can brag about this to him."
"Yes… by the way…" Rupert goes a bit awkward.

"Slap a fish and call me roughy! I come over to investigate all this racket, and instead I find company!" Huh? Who was this? A guy with a straggly beard hairdo and hat, and is he holding a fishing spear? And what was that ball he was holding?

"Um… Hello." I think I was the first to recover from seeing the appearance of this guy. "Do you… Do you live here or something?"

"The name's Robinson," The guy tipped his hat to us… weird. "And it's a right pleasure to meetcha. This whale's called the Bonehemoth, see, and he likes to chew on ice cubes."

"…" we all kinda looked at him stupefied. Until I finally say. "Um… how did you get here?"

"Alright, so there I was, doing a bit'a fishin' on an ice floe, when up he swims, cool as you please." The guy nods. "Dangnab fish up and swallowed me in one bite! That was near ten years ago now, give or take a few.

""Ten years?!"" It was enough of a surprise that me and Pauleen both shouted at the same time.

Pauleen then added. "By yourself?!"

"Naw, I ain't by m'self! I done gone and made a friend, see?" The man held a green sphere with some sort of face… "Lemme introduce you folks to m'best friend in the whole, wide whale… Balliver!" as he held out the ball, and our notable silence, he looked into the carved-out eyes. "Now, Balliver, Where's your manners? Go on and say hello to the nice folks now!" The man shook the ball and mouthed something… Was he talking to himself? "…Uh-huh. Yeah, I know. It's gonna be a lot louder with all these folks here." …He continued to shake the ball. "…Well, Balliver, that's too good to here. I'm happy to have company m'self."

"…" This guy was definitely crazy; I think I'll keep Rex a good measure away from Rex.
"Psst… That's just a ball with a face drawn on it." Pauleen started to whisper to us.

"Perhaps his loneliness was so great he felt the need to invent a friend." Rupert offered a logical explanation.

"…" I just shuddered; I was going to make a comment about this guy to rex… then I noticed. "Um… Where's Rex?"

"We don't particularly know." Rupert sighed. "It's quite possible he landed somewhere different in the Whale, or that he is still at Icegrip Plateau."

… My blood went cold. I had a serious bad feeling… a giant shaking like that… might not be good. "We have to find him!"

"Sarah calm down he might—" I don't even know who's talking but I don't let them continue. Panic is ensuing my mind right now.

"And he might have been left with those BB brigade goons? IF not swallowed landed near them! Either way he might be in trouble. And were going to need to find a way out!" I was never logical, I let my emotions get the better of me. But I am not going to lose Rex, and I'm sure as anything that I won't let him lose me. "Robinson are you sure there's no way out!"

"Escape? Fish guts! Why would you wanna go and do a thing like that?" He looked at me curiously.

"Right now, I'm missing my brother, and I have no idea if he was swallowed or left where he was. I'm not going relax unless I know where he is or if he's safe!" I shouted.

Robinson looked at me slightly stunned. "…Well, if your serious, I s'pose you could take it up with Lord Tonzilla. He's whatcha might call the supreme ruler of this place, see? He's at the top of the food chain and the top of the Bonehemoth's digestive tract!" Robinson pointed toward the back of the whale's throat. So, this thing has a Uvula then? "If you folks could defeat Lord Tonzilla, you might be able to leave this place."

"Thank you." I nod my head, start rushing to the back of this things mouth toward the throat.

I started to run through the mouth of this giant beast. I heard Pauleen and Rupert shout for me, but I didn't care. I needed to find Rex. There were all sorts of things here. Wood ship wreckages, lamp posts, what looked to be cacti, a whole bunch of other things.

As I ran further in, I started to hear voices. "Could you shut up!"

"…" three was a silent whimper… Rex?

"Lester cool it man, this place so not groovy enough as it is." Those voices, they belonged to the BB Brigade trio! Is rex in trouble.

"Cole handle this kid or, like, something? You've dealt with him before, haven't you?" That was the girl, Lolita? Or something.

"Why should I care? If he and his friends hadn't meddled with our plans none of this would have happened!" Cole voiced his opinion… wasn't he the one who kidnapped all those girls?

As they come into view, I see rex crouched on the ground holding himself. "Hey! What are you doing to my brother?!"

"Nothing, we just found him acting like this." That Lolita girl spoke shrugging her shoulders. "Toootal buzz kill."

"Shut up, you don't even know us!" I shouted at her. They've done nothing but attack us, and try to stop us from having a good time at the Cup. "Why the heck are you guys doing this!?"

The three looked at me silently for a minute, before the one with the glasses, Cole. Answered. "Look, our boss, Don Boneyard, told us to cancel the Cup and drive off Fighters, so that's what we're doing. We'll deal with other stuff when the time comes."

"Other stuff?" It seemed like they had something else planned after they shut down the cup… I didn't like the sound of that.

"Sooo, like, you're not even a member of Done Boneyard's evil gang, right?" Lolita responded to my question with another… didn't seem like they'd answer, "So maybe you should stay out of this and, like, stop asking questions."

"Yeah, I don't have the energy to answer questions all day." Cole spat out at me.

"Fine then, leave." I said glaring at them, if they didn't want to talk to me. then they didn't have to. But if they thought I'd turn my back against them, then they'd have another thing coming.

"…" they looked back at me, then left heading another direction.

I quickly turned to look at Rex… He was shaking and scared, "…Rex… It's me, Sarah."

"…" He hesitated, but looked up… he tears in his eyes. "…S-Sarah."

"Yes," I kneeled down on the fleshy floor, I didn't care it was gross. I gave Rex a hug. "It's alright, I'm here with you. You're fine."

"…" He didn't say anything as he hugged back. This probably wasn't a nice experience for him, he was definitely terrified. It took him several minutes for him to finally calm down.

"You okay?" I ask him, as I pulled both of us to our feet.

"…" He was silent but nodded… might not talk for a while, but I'm used to him being the silent one.

"Finally, we caught up." Oh, right, I ditched Rupert and Pauleen. Seems like they finally caught up.

"Sorry…" I give a slight smile… Rex slightly hid behind me. they're friends… but they've never seen him like this.

"Rex, you alright?" Pauleen looked at him surprised, again this is their first time seeing like this. He was still behind me, but nodded towards her.

"Okay…" Rupert sighed, he seemed to understand that Rex might not be up to anything to strenuous right now. "According the biological form of living creatures we must be close to the whale's Tonsils. Do you think you're ready?"

"I'm good." I nodded, knowing Rex is safe is good for me. but… "Rex, we should try to get out of this whale right now. Are you up for it?"

"…" He squeezes my hand, but nods.

"He's good as well." I answer for Rex. Rupert nods, but definitely keeps an eye on Rex.

"We're coming for you, Lord Tonzilla." Pauleen avoided her eyes from Rex. They were pretty similar, so seeing Rex at his weakest, made it hard for her…

We continued deeper into the belly of the beast. Eventually we reached a bigger cavern and in the middle of it was a giant pink blob. It seemed to have weird eyes… were they made of barnacles, and seemed to have arms made of seaweed. Weird.

"What's that?" I point to that… it was definitely out of the ordinary.

"That must be Lord Tonzilla." Rupert shrugged; guess he didn't really know either. Well, whatever, it made the most sense.

"Whaaat?!" Pauleen seemed the most surprised to see this. "It's just a Giant Tonsil!"

"…" Was it though? Aren't those things one the sides of your throat?

"Stand back, kids!" Pauleen who are you calling a kid, we're the same age as you. "Pauleen's gonna perform a little oral surgery on this loser!"

"um…" It seemed like Rex wanted to say something, but didn't get the chance to. As Pauleen kicked the giant pink Blob, seemingly doing nothing to it.

"Well, that seemed effective." I can't help but say that did nothing.

"…Toooon?" Um maybe it did? The giant pink blob seemed to get bigger, turning a deep red.

"Pauleen, watch out!" Rupert was the closest one to Pauleen and tried to pull her away as Tozilla took a swing at her. But he and her got caught up in the attack getting knocked away.

"Rupert! Pauleen!" I shout, it seems like they landed okay… but maybe in slight pain? I looked to Rex he seemed terrified.

"TOOONZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Oh, it's now directed at me and Rex. Well, Hunter has fought against the Brain of a giant planet eater. I think my Vivosaurs can fight a giant pink Blob!

Huh? It seems to be reacting as an Earth type? Well, that's good news for me. I don't know how powerful this thing is, and I'm not risking Rex to get hurt. "Go! T-Rex, Machai, and Allo!"

""ROAR!"" Allo, and T-Rex Roar as the take form, and Machai growls loudly.

"Tyrant's Roar! Go!" I shout and T-Rex, growls then unleashes a bellowing Roar across the belly of this beast. It shakes, but doesn't seem to be done… Not enough FP to attack with Allo, but… "Alright you can take more than that, huh? Well, Machai Twist it!"

"Ton…" Wow… it was weaker than I thought… Didn't even get a chance to attack. and it flops over defeated.

"well, that was easier than expected." I see Rex is okay, then glancing over to Rupert and Pauleen they seem fine. "Guess you should have tried using a Vivosaur than taking matters into your own hands. Definitely less gross that's for sure."

"Ugh…" Pauleen groaned, she and Pauleen definitely had some slime on them. "I never thought I'd get pummeled by a Giant pink Tonsil. That's embarrassing."

"*Sigh*" Rupert sighed, looking at the Tonsil upset.

"What's wrong, Rupert? Upset you barely had a chance to take it on?" I smile slightly smugly.

"No," Rupert shook his head, "I fail to understand how this thing will help us escape the whale."

"Um…ton… not…" Rex murmurs something, what's he trying to say.

"Well, I'll be!" There was a shout from someone else. It was Robinson, He looked incredibly surprised. "Y-you actually did it! You knocked out Lord Tonzilla!"

"heh, it was weaker than what you made it out to be." I barely broke a sweat against it.

Though Robinson still looked pretty worried. "There's a flood a'comin' now, and now denyin'. Come on, Balliver! We've gotta get to the boat! All aboard who's goin' aboard!" And Robinson started to run… why do I have a bad feeling about this?

As he ran off, Pauleen just shook her head. "I think Robinson's lost his mind. How can knocking over a tonsil cause a flood?"
"Not Tonsil…" I hear Rex Murmur again. I place my ear closer to him, so I can hear him. "…Uvula…"

"…" Oh, ship. "That wasn't a Tonsil was it?"

"huh?" Pauleen and Rupert looked at me confused for a second, before the whale started to shake…

"Oh, lord… I think Robinson had the right idea." Rupert said, pulling Pauleen along. Knowing I had my hands full with Rex.

"Wait, what's happening." Pauleen was the most confused, but even still followed along with Rupert.

"Perhaps Robinson wasn't a madman, but just confused about biology." Rupert spoke as we ran. "From what Rex mumbled and Sarah asked, we most likely just attacked the organ responsible for the gag reflex."

"Wait a second… so what your saying?" Pauleen seemed to finally get the idea.

"Don't talk run!" I shout! She should never look back. We started running just seconds after Robinson. Hopefully we'll make it.

"All aboard who's goin' aboard!" Ah, that was Robinson's shout!

"That way!" I shout going off the path to the left. Within seconds, we spot Robinson standing at the helm of a ship. Whether it was his or not, I could care less.

Just as we climbed aboard, water started rush against the ship. We seemed to just make it. Robinson seeing us all climb aboard called out to us. "Seems you folks made it just in time. Now help the others take positions. This is ta be a bumpy ride."

""Others?"" Pauleen and Rupert looked confused.

I could tell that Robinson must have meant the BB Brigade Trio. "Rex, go near Robinson and hold onto something with all your might. Got it?"

"…" He nodded. Good, I trust him to do that.

"Rupert, Pauleen. Just do as Robinson says." I could care less about them being enemies right now. And to be honest. Hero's never abandon anyone in need. Even if they are the villains. Well, this is gonna be close call!