Before the chapter starts, I just wanna say that I headcanon Cretacia as genderfluid, so the pronouns are gonna change in some chapters. Just wanted to clear that up just in case someone's confused.
—
Four Cosmos Stones... They already had four stones out of seven, getting dangerously close to succeeding... And the Ancients' forced work was only helping them.
While they were adding last touches to the radar, Spectre's humming voice sounded through the lab, slowly followed by him singing: "One little, two little~ Three little Cosmos Stones~ Four little, five little~ Six little Cosmos Stones~ Add in a seventh, little tiny Cosmos Stone~ And the universe is yours~" A hexagonal holographic screen lit up in front the couple. "Well, actually, it will be mine. I hope you have good news about my Cosmos Stone locator!" he told them.
"If you're asking if it's done, it is," Cretacia snapped quietly, folding their arms on their chest. "As you requested, it detects the energy that the Cosmos Stones emit and will give you general coordinates of where they can be found," Trias explained, pressing a button on a remote in his hand. A red dot lit up on a pink globe-like radar.
"Bravo! This is an excellent start!" Spectre exclaimed, catching their attention. "What do you mean, 'start'?" Cretacia wondered, "what's wrong?" "I mean I want more than just their general coordinates. I want precise locations. What I want is to get all seven stones as quickly as possible. Not to mention that it's too big and it can use a little bit of cuteness."
"No, we're done!" they yelled out, "we did what you asked, so go find someone else to do your dirty work. Just because you're holding us captive doesn't mean we have to do what you say-" "Actually, it does," Spectre interrupted them. "But it's madness to be tampering with the Cosmos Stones in the first place!" Trias added in, "there's no telling what might happen if they're all brought together! Don't you know that?"
"That may be," Foolscap cackled as he descended into the room from a vent, flying towards Trias with his hands on his hips, "but I know what's gonna happen to you if you keep mouthing off to the boss. And believe me, it won't be pretty!" The scrawny man pulled himself closer to the human. Seeing that, immediately alerted Cretacia. They stormed in between the Kai and their husband. "If you dare touch a single hair on his head, well, then, I will clip off every last one of yours!" They pulled out their scissors. "Cretacia, no..." Trias begged them.
"Cretacia, YES!" they yelled out, "bet you wish you'd confiscated my travel manicure kit now!" they giggled. "You swore those were just for toenails!" Foolscap squeaked in fear.
"Forget them, Foolscap!" Spectre spoke up, "there are more pressing matters at hand, like the Cosmos Stone that's just been detected! Now then, go and fetch it!" "Yes, sir!" Foolscap nodded before flying out of the room through another vent.
Spectre turned his attention back to the couple. "Now, you two get back to work on perfecting my Cosmos Stone locator and do it now if you know what's good for you." The hologram then disappeared, leaving the two humans by themselves.
"Oh, we know what's good for us!" Cretacia said teasingly, "that's why we're not staying here." Trias quickly shushed them, making them cover their mouth. They both glanced at the only camera in the room they knew about. They were aware that Seth would be the one watching the footage. Hopefully, he didn't hear any of that...
Cretacia jumped over to the camera that was hidden behind a brown colored glass and held up a middle finger in front of it.
"Cretacia, please!" Trias shouted, his face turning red, "this is highly inappropriate!" They tilted their head back to him. "But he deserves it!" "Still." "Fine..." They rolled their eyes and went back over to their husband before they'd both get punished for slacking off.
—
Meanwhile back at the house, the others were going over the last details of their plan. The drawing of the plan to spread on the table while the parents were sitting around it.
"All right then, our escape plan is set," Spike said. "Right!" The others nodded. "I sure hope this works. I miss the kids so much," Aki admitted. "It will work," Ryu exclaimed, sitting on the floor, clenching the needle in his hands, "I found a way off this ship before, and I know I can do it again." He growled angrily. "We can do it... Only this time around, I don't plan on getting recaptured." Amano shook her head. "Everything's going to go right. You don't want to use all your energy before we even get going," she told him. "Yes, dear, you're right." "When the Ancients get back, we go," Spike decided.
Suddenly, a Gel Jark walked past the glass door. "Act casual." He pulled an old newspaper over his face; Ryu cleaned his needle while both Aki and Amano drank their tea.
The Gel Jark stopped and looked at the humans, tilting its head curiously. It soon left, allowing the parents to drop the act.
Aki then got up and headed upstairs, coming back soon with a full backpack. "If this is our last time here, there are things I'd rather take with us," she said before sitting back on the couch next to Amano. She took a book out of the backpack, a photo album, and smiled at it softly. "I also got some blankets and food since we don't know how long we could be down there before we find the kids. That's...all that we can take with us." "We'll get the house back as soon as possible," Spike reassured her. The brunette nodded, smiling at him.
The four of them waited until the Ancients finally came back and that was when their plan got in motion. The curtains were closed and a part of the group escaped through the hole in the floor while Trias and Spike were on the terrace and threw a ball to one of the Gel Jarks that were guarding the room.
The Gel Jark picked the ball, examining it. "Ah, playing catch sure passes the time," it heard Trias say and glanced to him, seeing him and Spike just throwing another ball to each other. "Yup, there's nothing more fun or distracting," Spike agreed.
The robot tilted its head and then looked down at the ball. It threw the ball at the other Gel Jark, hitting it in the head. The other Gel Jark screeched out angrily while the first one pointed to the two men, making electronic sounds—explaining why it tried that. The other one understood and tossed the ball at the first Gelbot, targeting the back of its head. The fight started... The two Gel Jarks threw the ball back and forth, smacking each other with the ball, screaming.
"Distracting, indeed," Spike commented and smirked at Trias. The two nodded at one another and ran inside, climbing down the ladder.
Once near the bottom, they jumped off the ladder, meeting with women. Soon Ryu popped out of the vent on the floor, giving every a thumbs-up—he went ahead to check if the path Cretacia described to him was correct and passable.
Everyone then followed him through the vents, crawling to the dinosaur room. "I've never seen this side of you, Cretacia!" Aki joked. Cretacia turned back to her. "I know, I'm not usually the adventurous type, but-" They grinned. "Oh, wait, you mean my rear," they chuckled. "Shh! They might hear you!" Trias shushed at the two while Amano was in front o the three, blinking in confusion over that conversation. "What just happened...?"
"How much further is it?" Spike asked Ryu who immediately stopped. "This is the spot, here," he said as he heard dino roars above them. "I sure hope your plan works, Dr. Drake..."
The two of them pushed the vent lid up, peeking into the room. The lights suddenly turned on and revealed a bunch of Gel Jarks surrounding them.
Ryu launched himself out of the vent, swinging his needle around at the Gel Jark. "En grade!" he yelled at them as he charged forward, "take this! That! And this! And that! And this! Come on, come on!" He ran to a panel on the wall. He pressed multiple buttons on it, but it did nothing, so he shoved the needle in it, breaking it completely. Colorful lights flashed all over it and all of the cages opened. A group of Acrocanthosaurus, Ampelosaurus, Saurolophus, and Saltasaurus attacked the Gel Jarks who started fleeing, nearly stomping on them.
The others meanwhile crawled out of the vent. "So far so good," Spike said as he pulled Aki up.
"Just wait! It gets better!" Ryu exclaimed, pointing the needle at an Amargasaurus and a Daspletosaurus, scaring them off, "time for your shots!" He watched proudly as the two dinos rampaged through the room, causing trouble to the Gel Jarks.
"Wow, you were amazing," Amano praised him. Ryu turned to her, blushing and rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I grew a bit bolder since I was a shogun." As soon as he said it, the Daspletosaurus burst through the door and ran through a corridor behind it.
The parents followed it until Ryu stopped at a huge orange hexagon on the wall. "Here, this is how I got off the ship!" He pressed a button on the side and the orange wall disappeared, revealing a tunnel down.
"Banzai!" He jumped in and Spike glanced at the others. "All right, our turn!" He followed, holding his hat while going down. Amano was sliding down while slightly standing up; Trias had his arms stretched, touching the walls; Aki was calmly sitting, the backpack on her back and Cretacia was on their back with their arms crossed on their chest, laughing as they were teleported off the ship.
A beam of light shot out of the ship onto the surface—near a huge rock in the middle of a desert, the parents materialized. "Job well done, Dr. Drake!" "I did give it my best shot," Ryu joked, "get it?" "Yes, and I always enjoy a good pun. But we don't have time, we have to move out," Spike suggested. "Right," Trias agreed, "there should be an oasis about 1.4 miles to the west from here. That is if the map of the desert on the ship was correct." "Let's go then."
We headed west in hopes of finding the said oasis, humming random songs along the way.
It was the middle of the night in a cold Persian desert and each step started to feel heavy after a while. There was nothing around, but them. It felt...safe. That's what they all optimistically thought, so once Cretacia pointed out how clear the sky was, everyone was comfortable enough to stop and glance up.
"It's breathtaking," Aki exclaimed. "An awesome sight," Spike agreed. "They're everywhere," Trias added as they all stargazed with smiles on their faces, "it's almost as though we're completely surrounded by them."
Multiple steps approached them at that moment. They all looked around and saw nothing but Gel Jarks. "Uh-oh, they're not the only things we're surrounded by!"
The Gel Jarks made slow steps towards the parents, cutting off any possible gap they could escape through, but that wasn't enough to stop the six of them. As the Gel Jarks reached to grab them Ryu swang the needle around to keep them away, making the Gel Jarks flinch a little. Spike swiped his whip, slashing bits of the gel from the robots. Cretacia stabbed a few of the Gel Jarks with their scissors, not fazing them at all.
The blond's eyes widened. "That's right...we can't hurt them..." they remembered. They pulled the scissors out and fell on their hands and knees in defeat.
Ryu and Spike did not give up that easily, however, their weapons only passed through the droids, dealing no damage. Some Gel Jarks turned into puddles that flowed over to them, trapping their feet. Getting hit with the needle and the whip, the gel robots ripped them out of the humans' hands and absorbed them into their gel. Unable to defend themselves or run, their hands were forced behind their back by other Gel Jarks. There was nothing they could do now...
The six of them were teleported back onto the ship, still being bound by the Gel Jarks... They failed...
And if that wasn't enough, someone soon approached them; a human... "Hello there," he said as he walked over to them. He stopped in the middle of the Gel Jark group as the parents were arranged in a circle by them.
"Seth! You bast-!" Cretacia snapped at him, but the Gel Jark holding them covered their mouth at the snap of the man's fingers. "Wait, this is Seth?" Amano wondered with a soft chuckle, "you're shorter than I expected." She had a point, this man was actually shorter than her. He turned to her, seemingly not offended at all. "Pretty bold considering your current situation. If I were you, I'd have some respect." "There is no way in hell I'd ever respect anyone who laid a finger on one of my daughters," she growled, looking him dead in the eyes, "or got my friends nearly killed."
The blue-haired man let out a small cackle before bursting into mocking laughter. "Got your friends nearly killed?" He looked at the Ancients and then back at her. "You really claim them as friends? Pathetic. Truly pathetic. Don't you realize that you could have been with your kids right now if it weren't for them? Not only that you were kidnapped because of them, but you were recaptured because someone just couldn't keep their mouth shut." He quickly eyed the Ancients once again. "Isn't that right, Christina?"
The teal eyes widened and the blond tried to launch themself at him but was still held back by a Gel Jark. They yelled at him through the gel over their mouth, their voice muffled. "Their name is Cretacia!" Aki corrected him. "You keep my spouse out of your mouth, Seth!" Trias snapped out.
"Well, your spouse is the reason why your little plan failed," Seth told him, "They can't even keep a secret to keep the rest of you safe. Why would you claim them as a 'friend' in any way?" "Are you trying to turn us against each other?" Ryu asked him, "if so, it isn't exactly working. You're just making everyone angry at you. And Zoe called you 'the worst villain'? Heh." "You idiots have no clue who you're dealing with here," Seth said. "We're dealing with a man who got defeated by children," Spike reminded him, "and was robbed by one of the said idiots." The brunet grinned at him teasingly.
"Laugh all you want, but I can easily make sure that you get punished in the worst ways possible. Now tell me, which one of you should be thrown off the ship, never to be seen again? Or fed to the dinosaurs? Or maybe become Sheer's target practice? Or, my favorite, be Brontikens' new play toy." His cold blue eyes shifted from one parent to the other, seeing their reactions. Aki and Trias both seemed scared, Cretacia was furious and the other three tried their best to look unfazed but failed miserably. "I'd personally lean towards..." He glanced at Spike and then at Amano. "You two." "Don't you dare!" Aki yelled at him "Touch them and you'll regret it," Ryu growled.
The man just chuckled devilishly. "What can you do to stop me? Nothing just yell. Let's see if that really works." He looked at the Gel Jark that was holding Spike and pressed a button on a device on his wrist. "Gel Jark 680, take him to the dino cages. I believe the Rajasaurus hasn't eaten yet tonight." The robot let out some gibberish before following the order. It began to drag the man away while the others screamed at it to stop. They wiggled around, doing what they could to get free from the Gel Jarks' grips.
And someone managed that... One Gel Jark let go...
Once he was free, Trias charged at Seth and punched him in the face as hard as he could. At first, he was taken back by what he had just done, panting, but he quickly got a hold of himself and reached to Seth's wrist, pressing the same button as Seth did before, stopping the Gel Jark.
Seth wiped blood dripping from his mouth with his hand and glared at the Gel Jark that let go of Trias. "712, what is the meaning of this? You were supposed to hold him." The Gel Jark just tilted its head and he rolled his eyes.
Trias grabbed the collar of Seth's cape. "Try that again and-" "And what, Henry? You're gonna beat me up?" Trias' hand trembled. "Just like the old times, huh? Tell me, do they even know the truth?" the blue-haired asked him, "do they know that you created the monster that wants to hurt their children?" He let go of Seth, his eyes tracing away before he felt a kick into his abdomen.
"Trias!" the others gasped.
Everything started to get blurry and soon it all turned dark.
—
The six of them were shoved back inside the house by the Gel Jarks. Spike carried the unconscious Trias onto the couch while the robots returned the weapons. Once the needle dropped on the floor, Cretacia picked it up, ready to charge at the Gel Jark, but was stopped by Ryu who wrapped his arms around them. "Cretacia, no!"
"Cretacia, yes! I'm gonna make that piece of shit pay!" they screamed. "Language, please," Aki sounded softly from behind them. "Okay, you can attack him, but don't use Bertha," Ryu told them, still not letting go.
"Doct-Cretacia, I understand your anger, but this might not be the time," Amano said, "there are other things to worry about." They stopped struggling, glancing at the door leading to the living room. "Right..." They dropped the needle and they all headed into the living room.
Trias was still unconscious on the couch; Cretacia looked at him worriedly before walking over to the glass door, wrapping their arms around themself. "How long do you think he's going to be out?" Aki wondered. "It shouldn't take long," Ryu replied, "that punch caused his heart rate to drop, but he should be fine."
"Vasovagal response..." Trias groaned as he woke up. He tried to sit and Ryu quickly got his arm around him, supporting him. "Slowly. You wouldn't want to pass out again." "I know..." Trias panted and held his head. "How are you feeling?" "I've been better... Honestly, should have seen it coming. It was stupid to just punch him." He shook his head.
"It might have been stupid, but you saved my life," Spike pointed out, crunching beside the couch, "and I'm grateful for that. Thank you, Dr. Ancient." He grinned and raised his fist up. "Don't mention it." Trias smiled back and bumped his fist with Spike's. "...And call me Trias. I think we can all drop the formalities at this point; we're friends after all." Trias glanced at Amano and she nodded.
"Yeah!" Spike jumped to his feet. "After everything we've been through together, there is really nothing they can do to break this friendship!"
"Not even them revealing the truth or one of us messing up?" Cretacia spoke up, facing the glass door. Their voice was lower and shakier than usual. They didn't even turn to the others. "Not even that!" Spike answered with enthusiasm in his voice, "we stand up for each other." The blond flinched when they heard that, eyeing the rest of the group.
"Well, we wouldn't have to if I didn't tick Seth," Amano admitted, leaning on the back of the couch. "Nonsense," Aki told her, "you speaking to him like that made him a little less threatening." "But still..." "He really didn't see that coming," Ryu chuckled. "Yup!" Spike agreed, "that attitude caught him off guard. Now I finally know who Zoe and Reese have it from." The four of them laughed together while Trias' gaze focused on Cretacia in the corner of the room.
They were looking out of the door again; their eyes traced all over the huge room the house was in and suddenly widened when they spotted Seth standing at the catwalk around the room. They gritted their teeth and dug their fingers into their arms.
He was just standing there with that stupid teasing smile of his. His words plagued Cretacia's mind and he was aware of it. It was only a matter of time when they give in that despair he prepared for them.
"Cret?" Trias let out, catching the blond's attention. They glanced at everyone and finally decided to voice their concern. "It's my fault that we got recaptured. If I just kept my mouth shut for 5 minutes-" "Cretacia, no," their husband interrupted them, "this is what he tried to accomplish. Do you want him to win?" "Of course not! But you know that he's right!" they snapped out, "we're still trapped because I spilled the beans twice! We wouldn't be here if it wasn't me-" "No one would be here if it wasn't for the two of us!" Trias yelled at them and stood up, but not too quickly to avoid getting lightheaded, "I know we were both thinking it but weren't brave enough to say it like this. We made a mistake when we trusted Seth after everything." "I made that mistake; you refused to let him come with us," Cretacia corrected him. "Nobody blames you for anything," Spike told them, "it's always been him."
"There's a lot you don't know," Trias told him and sat back down, "I've known Seth since I was a kid; for years, we only had one another. There was some questionable research we both did, although, it was impressive for our age. I was the one who introduced him to the concept of defying evolution and helped him with a few experiments on insects and rats too."
He covered his eyes with his hand. "I didn't see how wrong that was...until I met Cretacia. They showed my young naïve self how dangerous those mutants we've created were to everything around, even if they were just small animals. I canceled our next project immediately, but Seth refused to give up on the research that would wreak havoc on a whole city over ten years later." "Wait, are you talking about...?" Spike mumbled. Trias only nodded and continued. "The Black T-Rex, back then known as the BTR project. We started it together. If it wasn't for Cretacia and Rod and Laura's parents, I would have been just like Seth and the project would have been finished before there'd be anyone who could stop it. I abandoned him as soon as I opened my eyes completely."
"Not long after I came out and changed my name, Trias changed his as well to support me and to also escape his old self he wanted to leave behind," Cretacia added, "it was me who asked Seth to become our assistant years later. I believed at if Trias had a good side, then he'd have to have one too. I was stupid to think that. If he didn't come with us or if we went back as soon as we found out I was pregnant, everything would have been different; it would have been fine."
"What happened did cause some...stuff, but not everything was bad," Aki told them. "That's right!" Spike agreed, "I got to live out my dream of seeing actual dinosaurs!" "And I was finally able to use my mega needle," Ryu added. "Thanks to all of this, we also became friends," Amano said. Aki then reached into the backpack and pulled out the photo album. "But most importantly, Rex entered our lives," she exclaimed with a wide smile on her face. She hugged the book and rushed over to Cretacia, grabbing their hand. "I think there is something you and Trias need to see." She dragged them over to the couch. She sat down beside Trias and Cretacia leaned over the back of the couch.
Aki opened the book and they soon understood what she meant. One of the photos was of Spike and Dr. Owen each holding up a baby boy. The Ancients couldn't keep their eyes off the blond child; he really was in good hands after they lost him. Aki flipped through the album, showing them many photos of Rex and telling them stories. Photos of his whole class from the 3rd grade, of him and Max playing soccer together 2 years ago, of Max and Zoe pulling Rex in to take the photo in the D-Lab while Reese was eating Gyudon in the background, of everyone celebrating Rex's birthday and of everyone, including Rod and Laura, during the last Christmas.
A bittersweet feeling washed over both of the Ancients; they finally watched their boy as he grew up, but they noticed how much Aki saw him as her son. ...and they just tried to take him away...
"Rex decided to come with us himself," Trias spoke up, "we didn't force him." "I don't blame him," Aki admitted, "he's always wondered about his biological parents and why he was abandoned by them; finding out the truth and meeting the two of you is something that means a lot to him. It is his decision and that's important." "Once this is all over, we'll organize a big goodbye party," Trias suggested, "and I promise, we'll come back and visit as much as we can."
"And I promise to make sure that the blue-haired bastard cannot reproduce," Cretacia half-joked, their gaze focused on the catwalk seen through the glass door. He was still standing there, but his smirk was gone—no wonder, he failed after all. It truly wasn't easy to break them.
Cretacia blew a raspberry at the man, getting others to look that way as well. Then they raised their middle up at him. "Cretacia!" Trias and Aki snapped at them. They glanced at the two. "What? He deserves it!" "They have a point," Spike and the Drakes backed them up. The other two knew that they can't argue with that or fight them and gave up.
Watching the man on the catwalk, they saw Seth's face cringe in anger before he left. He couldn't do anything to get back on them other than just tell on them. He did but insisted that they aren't punished for trying to escape, at least not yet. Spectre abused his mercy on them the next day when he demanded the Cosmos Stone detector to be fixed or else they all feel the consequences of their attempt.
—
Wow, this is the shortest gap between Unseen Events chapters yet!
So, this is a pretty long one for a UE chapter, mainly because I just love that first scene in the anime and I had to include it; now, that ended in a sacrifice of the scene between Ancient and Spectre, but it doesn't matter that much. Anyways, the bullying of Seth continues since he deserves it.
So, for the whole backstory...it's something that I thought would work and it gives Trias a little more personality than in the anime... Also, this felt like a good moment to have the parents actually become close and reveal more about themselves.
I don't have much more to say other than, if the premise of this wasn't to be close to the anime's interpretation, I'd allow the parents to actually escape. Well, there's nothing that can be done with it in this story.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and be prepared because the next will also be quite long.
