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 28 –

POV: Rex

Time: 15:00

Location: Bonehemoth

So… Where do we begin. Well, there was the fact that hours earlier Don Boneyard has declared that he will have the Caliosteo Islands sink beneath the ocean. Yeah… with some earthquakes happening, and learning of the Spinal Pillar from Professor Scatterly, it seems likely that it will happen. But as it is, the Caliosteo Patrol team is working toward stopping it. Sarah had gone to the Petrified woods and recovered a Fossil known as Sardinisaurs; a fossil filled with calcium so that we could repair the damage done to the Spinal Pillar after stopping the BB brigade from damaging it further.

Now on to how we were getting down to the Spinal Pillar, as it is underneath the islands… well remember the Whale that swallowed me, Sarah, Rupert, and Pauleen? Yeah, apparently it was tamed by an old ship captain that was swallowed, Robinson I think his name is.

Though to control the Whale, it apparently needs to have its insides tickled… Where Todd happily took the role (Aka was sacrificed.) Meanwhile the stops for Pauleen and Rupert being Cranial and Ilium Islands were already set off. Me and Sarah apparently were taking on Ribular Island's section.

So, in short, we are currently back in the whale's stomach riding down to Spinal Pillar. As I look around the whale stomach…

"You okay, Rex?" Sarah looks at me worriedly.

"Just appalled, that I let my skin touch the inside of this thing…" I shudder, Last I was here… Well received some trauma shock from being swallowed. Not to lie… I don't feel too well being in here now, but I think that's just from the smell.

"…" Sarah continually looks at me protectively.

"I'm fine, honest." I say to her, "But really how are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" She responds with a cheery smile. Yet I know better.

"You might be able to fool the others, but do you really think you can fool your brother?" I looked down to her foot. "You're not putting too much weight on your right ankle, I don't know what the Petrified Woods are like, but with those earthquakes. I'm assuming you fell and twisted your ankle, right?"

"…" she had conflicted look on her face, glancing around to see that Todd and Robinson were still distracted piloting(?) the whale. She then sighed, leaning on me. "Was it really that obvious?"

"Only to me." I respond to her, "Pauleen, while she is a good friend… I think she's more worried about the Island sinking. Same with Rupert."

"When'd you notice… rather how did you notice?" Sarah, was always stubborn… she never liked showing weakness. Especially not around me.

"We've lived in the same house, for what? Fifteen years, meaning fifteen years of being in the same class. Gym and otherwise." I say to her, "We know each other's habits like the back of each other's hands, and believe me, I have never seen you avoid putting your weight on your right foot." She often steps with her right foot forward. "besides… It's just a matter of time until Todd notices it as well."

"…" She looked at me a bit worried. Probably noticing the subtle tone in my voice. "Your mad… aren't you?"

"Now why would I be mad?" I say sarcastically. Could it have been for the fact, that she promised to be more open about everything, the fact that were in a life-or-death situation, or… while this is definitely not the most important fact, it's something that is still important to two very competitors: If she lost her battle to Rupert because of an ankle injury, neither would be happy about it. Rupert might actually be furious.

"I'm sorry…" She whines to me in a low voice.

"If you're really sorry, then once we reach the base, you'll stay here and let me handle whoever is at the pillar of Ribular Island." I told her, to which her eyes start to widen as she looks at me. She was probably going to say that I shouldn't. "I've faced two out of the three BB Commanders, one of which was more unexpectedly prompted than another. And I came out victorious both times. I'll be fine."

"…" She looked down, finally giving up.

"I'm not your weak brother anymore." I reassure her one more time.

"If you want me to believe that then you should have won against Rupert." She says pouting at me.

"Hey, I may have lost to him, but I beat a crazy magical mask, myself." I countered.

"Yeah, but you and I both know, we wanted to be the one to take the other out!" And there's the real reason for her earlier comment.

"Yes, yes, sorry." I couldn't help but smile. There was a small shake as the whale came to a standstill.

Robison, turned calling over to us. "This here's the seabed Cavern 'neath Ribular Island. Once you're out, it should just be a straight path to the Spinal Pillar."

"And you know this how?" He was actually more informative about the Islands that I would have ever guessed.

"These old bones of mine, are filled of stories." Robinson responded. "Isn't that right, Balliver?"

"Okay… Well, I'm off." I say to Sarah, before I enter the cave system.

"Be safe!" Sarah yelled. As I left, I heard an echoing question of Todd asking why Sarah was still there.

The air seemed a bit denser down here… Pressure difference maybe? I don't really know the exact details, but the air did feel a bit heavy… maybe the pressure of what I actually was about to do was finally sinking in?

Either way, I knew I had to press forward. The caverns walls around me were a deep aquamarine color, with the floor being a closer to grey. Ahead of me, I saw a tall structure, it did actually resemble what a spine would look like. From where I was, I could hear the echoing sound of pickaxes clanging against rock. Those most be the BB Brigade members chipping away at the pillar.

As I walked over, I saw two BB Grunts in black swinging away at the pillar. But the third person was none other than the fashion hipster himself, Cole. "Come on, you lazy dogs! Dig! Dig as if your life depends on it!"

"You got it, boss!" One of the grunts responded.

"ha ha ha! Soon this Spinal Pillar will snap, and the Caliosteo Islands will be gone!" From Cole was saying I guess, I'm pretty much in the nick of time. Apparently also… "Good thing I stocked up on skinny jeans before all the stores were flooded…"

Hm… if Sarah was here… "You know if you liked the stores here that much, should you really be trying to sink 'em?"

"Wh-what?!" Cole exclaimed turning on a dime. Guess he wasn't expecting anyone else to be here. As his eyes landed on me, I could hear his sigh, it was seething with annoyance. "…Seriously?"

"miss me?" I'll admit, trying to be confident, is actually fun.

"you know, I have to admit: I'm almost impressed with you." Cole said, pointing his finger at me.

"I impressed how honored am I?" Sarah's used sarcastic remarks like that so many times… wow… I wish I tried this sooner.

"I mean it. Ever other fool on this fool is running from us in terror. Yet here you are, the brat who was curled up into a ball after being swallowed by a whale." Cole said to me, I've admitted previously, that wasn't my finest hour. "That takes guts, and I like that. I like that a lot."

"…" I couldn't think of anything witty to say. But I did raise an eyebrow to his remark. Had I earned his respect?

"But even still. No matter how much I dig your style, I can't let you interfere when we're so close to victory." Cole responded; his voice did have some annoyance… but from what I felt… this was some last-ditch effort of sorts. That made this more worrisome to me.

"Your victory causes a lot of pain to a lot of innocent people. So sure, I'll stop it." I respond.

"Then prepare to get your rear end handed to you!" Cole shouted as he threw out two B-Rexes and a B-Plesio.

"I may have been beaten out of the cup. But I'm not losing here!" I say tossing out Ryden, Camera, and Heracles. Seeing though Cole got the upper hand, getting the first move.

"B-Plesio, Poison the Ryden!" Cole shouted where B-Plesio rammed into Ryden, who barely moved in response.

"As I said, I ain't going down. Heracles! Slice that skeletal T-Rex with your blade!" And with one ram, a B-Rex nearly falls.

"You think that will hurt me!" Cole shouted, surprised how much Heracles did to his Boneysaurs. "Boney wave!" The B-Plesio Started to swim in a circle sending many water slicers at my team. Though they shake it off.

"Now counter attack, Camera Stomp on that B-Rex, finish it off!" Camera did, taking out one B-Rex. All that left was another and the b-Plesio. "Heracles again with a blade attack! Less than last time, but Ryden let's equalize this battle field." I said, where Ryden stole some of Coles FP.

"B-Plesio don't stop! Boney wave again!" Cole shouts, seeing that he's already gone down a member. But again, it barely affects my team.

"Let's not stop Heracles Again!" I shouted where Heracles now took out the second B-Rex. Though that attack scared Camera not to mention Ryden… "Camera Stomp again!" She followed my command, managing to take out half of the B-Plesio health. There was my turn.

"Grr…B-Plesio Poison!" Cole shouted, where B-Plesio had attacked Ryden again, though poisoning him as well. Well, there was that, but Camera managed to shake through the fear.

"Camera! Storm it up!" I shouted where; Camera managed to take out the B-Plesio.

"B-Plesio!" Cole shouted as it reverted back to a metal. In the end I won. Cole then looked at me. "…Such style! Such grace! I… I was actually distracted by your battle skills. I'm not used to being beaten in battle… or in beauty. …I've lost my style, and without that, I'm nothing!" He shouted as he ran away from me. The Grunts without their leader had no reason to stick around and ran off.

Now it was time to inject the spinal Pillar with the Calcium to fix it… where that some how made sense. As I got close, I could see that they were rather close to taking this thing out… geez… As I placed the needle in and injected the calcium. An odd thing happened. The whittled down bone seemed to increase in size… which was something I utterly did not expect. Wow. This world is really stranger than I thought…