(A/N: Welcome one and all! Glad you could find my little story here. I'm definitely taking a bigger turn with the overarching storyline here then I did with Season 1. Speaking of, if you haven't read Season 1, you should do that first! Season 1 for this story is my other Dinosaur King story "United in Dinosaurs." Because this is FanFiction and I can't seem to get links to work here, you'll have to find it through my profile. Now without further ado, glad you're all continuing this wild ride with me. Here's Race for the Dinosaurs:)
Last time on United in Dinosaurs:
The Alpha Gang crumbled beneath itself when it was revealed that their resident science prodigy, Seth, was really against them the whole time. The surprise shocked everyone. Especially a young teen who joined forces with the Alpha Gang named Gabriel Dallison, who was under the impression that the D-Team were the bad guys the entire time.
The story got even more complex when Ren and Rex's birth parents, Dr. and Mrs. Ancient came through a time rift that was created by Seth's misuse of the time machine. With the Ancient family reunited, they took all of the dinosaurs including Chomp, Paris, and Odis, back to the future with them.
Now with order seemingly back in place, Max, Zoe, and Gabriel waved goodbye to Rex and Ren before they disappeared into the future. However, the kids have high hopes that they'll see Ren and Rex again, and maybe even sooner than they think.
"Wait, so Ren and Rex and the dogs were up in that ship?" Aki asked.
"Yup, and now they're gone," Max sighed. It was a bittersweet moment with them all standing on the hill that the Taylor household was built upon staring into the sky at the spot the Backlander disappeared. Suddenly, a bright flash in the sky appeared.
"Or maybe not! Watch out!" Zoe yelped as the ship drew nearer towards the house, and it swerved just in time to avoid hitting anything or anyone.
"I don't understand, what happened?" Gabriel asked Max and Zoe, but it was clear that neither had a clear answer to explain. They were just saying goodbye to the friends.
"I wonder why they're back so soon," Max thought aloud.
"Maybe it isn't soon, they could've been gone for a really long time, but come back to this exact moment," Zoe replied as the group watched the Backlander spin in the air, almost as if it lost control. The ship was able to stop just above the Taylor's household and a beam shone done from the ship and six figures began to take shape: Dr. Ancient, Dr. Cretacia, Rod, Laura, and finally Rex and Ren. No one seemed to age at all.
"Rex! Ren!" Max cheered.
"Gabriel!" Laura smiled.
"How was the future?" Dr. Taylor asked.
"Ok, I'm confused," Aki commented.
"We'll fill you in later," Zoe told Mrs. Taylor.
"How long were you guys gone?" Max asked filled with curiosity about the future.
"Not long," Ren admitted.
"We were only out there for a day when the ship broke down," Rex informed.
"Was it a sabotage?" Dr. Taylor questioned.
"The Alpha Gang did it, didn't they?" Gabriel latched on to the idea that his former teammates had something to do with it.
"It couldn't have been!" Laura defended.
"Helga still has them in time out and hasn't let them out of that room yet," Rod told Gabriel.
"It wasn't sabotage. Someone came out of the time-space continuum and attacked us," Dr. Ancient told Spike.
"So, you didn't even get to the future?" Zoe asked. Both Rex and Ren shook their heads, both slightly filled with disappointment.
"Who was it?" Max asked.
"We couldn't determine their identity," Dr. Cretacia regretted to inform.
"Whoever they were, they had very advanced weapons," Dr. Ancient stated as he began to retell the story. "I have the feeling like they're not done with us and that they're going to come back."
"Ahoy!" Johnathan called from the bottom hatch of the Backlander.
"Johnathan! What's wrong?" Dr. Ancient asked his android. For he had told his android butler to stay in the ship and only alert them if something troublesome were to arise. Johnathan momentarily disappeared as he went back into the ship. The same glowing beam that brought Rod, Laura, and the Ancients down to Earth appeared, but then the ship disappeared. Johnathan came through the beam before the light also vanished.
"Where'd the ship go?" Max asked.
"It's in stealth mode," Johnathan simply answered.
"Is it necessary for it to be hidden?" Gabriel asked.
"We think we could've been followed here. It's better to take precautions," Ren replied to Gabriel.
"Who do you think followed you?" Zoe asked.
"If they were to follow you, they would need very advanced technology," Reese commented from the back of the huddle of people.
"Which they have," Dr. Ancient looked at Reese. "Our attackers moved very easily through time and space."
"Meaning, they are not from our future because the only way we can travel through time is with the power of the six stones," Dr. Cretacia further explained.
"So, what does that mean?" Max asked.
"It means they're probably from even further in the future," Rex told Max.
"Or another timeline completely," Ren noted. "It's a whole complicated process that I'd rather not get into right now. We've got bigger problems to deal with."
"I'm not sure what's exactly going on here, but even travelling by car is extremely exhausting. Please, come in and have some tea and lemonade with us," Aki offered.
"Hey, yeah, our lemonade has real pulp in it, it's pretty awesome," Dr. Taylor boasted.
"A guy just like me who likes pulp in his juice," Dr. Ancient told Cretacia.
"Nice," Dr. Cretacia replied before they followed Aki inside.
"What about you, Dr and Mrs. Drake?" Spike asked.
"Pulp's good," Dr. Drake replied as he and Mrs. Drake walked inside with the others. The kids watched them leave and for a moment, they just stood there staring at the door. That was until Max turned to look at Rex and Ren.
"Where's Chomp?" Max asked hastily.
"And Paris!" Zoe added enthusiastically.
"Or Odis?" Gabriel further added.
"Up in the ship," Ren smiled.
"You wanna see them?" Rex asked the others.
"You bet!" Max smiled brightly. Rex and Ren looked to Johnathan.
"Yes, yes, I'll prepared to send you and your friends up," Johnathan told them.
"If you're all heading up to the ship, I would like to come along and have a look around inside," Reese told them.
"Sure! Rod and I can give you a tour ourselves!" Laura beamed. Johnathan used his android abilities to make the ship uncamouflaged and a tractor beam sent down to retrieve those who wishes to come aboard. Once they were inside, the ship went back into its stealth mode.
The kids went to the main console and took their respective stones, with the exception of Gabriel, who still had his Alpha Scanner on him, that didn't need the stones. At the same time, the five kids summoned their dinosaurs. Chomp, Paris, Ace, Odis, and Ebony appeared at their feet in their chibi forms.
"Chomp!" Max cheered as the small Triceratops leaped into Max's arms. The brunette chuckled before the quadruped decided that Max's name was indeed Herb and bit his nose again just like the first day they met. "Ouch! I'm so happy to see you."
Zoe kneeled down by Paris to let the Parasaurolophus nuzzle her. "I know it's only been a day, but I missed you so much, Paris!"
"Glad to see me, Ebony?" Ren asked as she pet the Stegosaurus.
"Hey there, Odis," Gabriel bent down beside the Olorotitan and stroke his crest.
"Come here, Ace," Rex called, but Ace seemed to be more intrigued by a row of strange-looking devices in a display case built into the counter. The Carnotaurus peered over them.
"Wow, what are these?" Reese asked, looking past the Carnotaurus at the devices in the display case. Laura pulled herself up so she could see over the edge into the case.
"I've never seen those before," Laura said.
"Cretacia is trying to develop a fully integrated Dino Bracer," Johnathan informed. The android opened up the display case and took one of the devices out of the case and handed it off to Reese.
"What's a Dino Bracer?" Reese questioned as she looked over the device in her hands.
"It's like the Dino Holder, but much more technologically advanced," Johnathan explained. "It has features you didn't think were possible, especially in such a small contraption." Max, Rex, Ren, Zoe, and Gabriel decided to glance over the counter into the display case and look at these futuristic devices. There were five others of those devices, and six other pieces that looked like they could be attachments. Max picked one up.
"What's this?" he asked Johnathan.
"That is a Dino Gadget. It will make the Dino Bracer even more powerful," Johnathan told Max.
Back at the Taylor household, the adults were sitting and enjoying some lemonade. Dr. Taylor caught Aki up on what was going on. He told her everything about the Owen siblings and the dinosaurs. No more secrets.
"So, Dr. Owen is coming soon?" Dr. Ancient asked Spike.
"Yes, he just sent a text message saying he's nearby," Dr. Taylor replied.
"And what about Ren's adoptive family?" Dr. Ancient asked another question.
"They're both extremely surprised to find out where Ren had come from, but unfortunately, the Hounders are in Brazil for their work, so they are unable to make it here to meet you both," Spike informed.
"Dr. Ancient and I are eternally thankful for the Hounder family and Dr. Owen for taking in Ren and Rex as babies. If they hadn't, who knows what would've happened to them!" Dr. Cretacia said.
"Before meeting you, I had no idea that people could travel through time from the future. It's really quite surprising," Dr. Drake told the Ancients.
"I'm so out of it that until this morning I thought that Chomp, Ace, and Ebony were all just rare species of dogs," Aki said as she shot a playful glare over to her husband.
"Well, the kids and I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily," Dr. Taylor tried to fib. "At least it's all over now, and we're not likely to run into someone like the Alpha Gang again.
Dr. Ancient and his wife shared an uncertain glance before they sipped their drinks and remained quiet.
Just outside the Taylor household, Patrick was carrying Dr. Owen on his back uphill. The poor man was struggling to haul the paleontologist on his back.
"I know I lost a bet, but maybe you can walk just a little while," Patrick suggested to Dr. Owen.
"Stop complaining! The house is just right up there," Dr. Owen told his assistant and pointed up at the house that they were headed to. Something began to emerge from the sky in a glowing purple light just above the Taylor's house.
"What is that?" Patrick exclaimed. The unidentified flying object seemed to have been a hovering escape-pod looking machine. It vaguely resembled an eye. A panel of the vehicle opened, and a figure walked-er rather flew out of it. He was red-skinned and looked to be physically strong. His hair was unkempt and messy, but the most notable feature about this newcomer was his two wings that beat the air to keep him lofted.
"He's got wings!" Dr. Owen gaped.
"And a very bad haircut!" Patrick added on. The two watched as the strange figure flew up to one of the windows in the house. He looked inside for a few moments, before he flew but inside his vehicle. Soon, the unified flying object disappeared, and so did the entire house!
Meanwhile inside the Backlander, the kids were walking towards the front control room for Rod to give the D-Team and Gabriel a tour of the controls of the time machine. Gabriel glances over at Zoe.
"Umm, hey. This may not be the most convenient of places, but I know I've been a jerk," Gabriel started. He fished for something out of his pocket. "To show that I truly know the right side of the line know, I want you to have this back, and I'm sorry for taking it in the first place."
Zoe looked down at what Gabriel was handing her. It was the Nature's Blessing card he took from her when he first joined the Alpha Gang.
"Wow, thanks Gabriel!" Zoe told the boy as she took the card back. The rest of the D-Team smiled at the gesture.
"That's great, Zoe!" Rex told her.
"Yeah, and Gabriel, you may not be so bad after all," Ren joking nudged him.
"Alright everyone here we are, the front control room," Rod announced. He sat in the one of the seats and went over the various buttons and levers.
"You just pick the time period you want, engage the warp drive, and hit launch. Dr. Ancient said he'll let me drive it sometime," Rod told the other kids.
"Wow," Max gaped. The door leading into the control room opened and Helga stepped into the room. "Hey, how's it going, Helga?" Max asked.
"Where are the others? It's time for calisthenics," the android maid demanded.
"The adults? They're at Max's house," Rex informed.
"We'll start with some sit-ups and go into a round of jumping jacks," Helga told the kids.
"Is she for real?" Ren asked Dr. Z's grandkids. Rod and Laura just nodded.
"We're kinda in the middle of something," Max replied to Helga.
"That's too bad, because it was on the schedule," Helga glared at Max. A phone in the control room began to ring. It was Reese's phone. She picked it up and answered.
"Hello?... Dr. Owen?... What? The house has vanished?" Reese asked into the phone, causing the kids to look at the lab assistant in alarm.
The kids, Johnathan, and Reese rushed out of the Backlander onto the ground to meet Dr. Owen and Patrick at the place the house used to be. Dr. Owen told them what he had saw. Everyone was astonished to see that the whole entire was just gone.
"What?" Max was astounded.
"My parents were in there!" Zoe exclaimed.
"And mine, too!" Max said.
"And Dr. Ancient," Rex told the others.
"And Dr. Cretacia," Ren added.
"Dr. Owen, do you really think it was an alien that did this?" Reese asked the paleontologists. Given Dr. Owen's reputation to be wacky, weird, and unpredictable, his testimony about seeing an alien was a little farfetched.
"Let me put it this way," Dr. Owen began. "He was extremely large, had wings, and flew like a bird!"
"Not just wings, but a bad haircut!" Patrick included.
"That's not possible," Gabriel said.
"Oh, but very possible, young man! I saw his wings with my very own eyes!" Dr. Owen told Gabriel.
"And I saw his haircut, too! It was very bad!" Patrick once again said.
"Guys, this is bad," Rex said as he looked at a pocket watch-looking device. Ren looked over his shoulder, her eyes narrowed at the device. "Our parents are travelling through time!"
"What do you mean?" Zoe asked.
"He means that the whole, entire house has been taken away by a time machine," Ren stated, without taking her eyes off of the device. "How's that even possible?"
"With them inside? How do you know?" Dr. Owen asked his adopted children.
"Our parents gave us the TPS device. It allows us to track them through time," Rex explained, holding out the strange-looking device.
"TPS?" Reese asked.
"Time Positioning System," Ren replied. "Kinda like GPS, but for time instead."
"That's convenient," Gabriel noted.
"The Ancients gave it to us in case we got separated. They only have one currently, but they were in the middle of making one for Ren," Rex told the others.
"And out worst fear, losing our parents again, came true," Ren glared at the ground. She was steaming.
"Don't worry, you guys. We'll find them," Zoe told the siblings.
"Zoe's right, you two," Max said, determined to get to the bottom of this. "This time's different. This time we can find out where your parents are and follow them!"
"That was a great speech and all, but the time machine's still broken," Ren told Max.
"Then we better get up there right now and fix it!" Max declared.
"You're right, Max. Let's go find our parents and rescue them!" Rex cheered.
The D-Team and Gabriel headed back up to the ship to help fix the time machine. Rod and Laura were giving them tasks to do around the ship to get things ready. Helga went to go visit the Alpha Gang and came back out to the central control room and told the others that the Alpha Gang wishes to help restart the time machine.
"Dr. Z said he wants to help us fix it?" Max raised an eyebrow at the android maid.
"He claims it is far too difficult to fix the time machine without him," Helga informed the kids.
"The problem is, we don't trust him," Rex immediately followed.
"Yeah, after knowing what he did, I'm with Rex. How can we know we won't betray us like he did the Ancients?" Ren asked.
"Or how could I ever trust him again after knowing that he was using me the entire time?" Gabirel questioned Helga. "I don't want to be tangled up with somebody who openly calls himself 'evil.'"
"Hey, Johnathan! How's everything going with the warp generator up there?" Max asked the other android as he looked up to a floating platform that held the butler.
"I regret to inform you that there are some complexities that are beyond my abilities," Johnathan replied.
"Gabriel, you worked alongside Seth, any of this tech stuff looking familiar?" Rex asked the boy. Gabriel just shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah. I worked next to him, but I don't know what anything does. Things here and there look vaguely familiar, but not enough to fix a whole, freaking time machine," Gabriel replied.
"If you guys want to finish soon, you should consider using Grandpa's help," Rod told them.
"If you keep an eye on him, it should be fine," Laura advised.
"No way," Ren scowled.
"But if this takes too long you can lose them forever," Gabriel said.
"I know," Rex said. He agreed with his sister. Dr. Z wasn't to be trusted. Not again.
"I think we have to take a chance on Dr. Z," Max finally spoke up. Rex opened up the TPS and looked at the dot representing their parents. It was blinking slower than before and moving like a tortoise. Ren glanced at it as well before exchanging a glance with Rex.
"Right," Rex agreed. "Go get Dr. Z."
Somewhere in the midst of time and space:
The adults stood on the porch of the house. They stared at the swirling rainbow colors that surrounded them and the house. Aki and Mrs. Drake were worried about where they were. Spike had his lasso in hand, ready to attack anything that struck him as unordinary. Dr. Drake held his giant needle in his grasp. Dr. Ancient and Dr. Cretacia looked around to try to gather intel on where they might be going.
"Where are we?" Aki asked.
"I don't know, but my lasso is ready for action!" Dr. Taylor put on a brave face for his wife.
"Travelling through time," Dr. Ancient replied.
"Travelling through time?" Mrs. Drake exclaimed.
"Yes, but there's not much to tell where to," Dr. Ancient squinted at the surroundings.
"Or when," Dr. Cretacia added. From underneath the porch, a large set of jaws popped up and roared at the set of adults. A dinosaur was climbing its way onto the porch, snapping at the hostages.
"Everyone inside!" Dr. Drake called as he pushed the sliding glass door towards the living room open. The adults filtered into the house and coward inside. The dinosaur snapped its large, teeth-filled jaws at them again, though the adults were far out of reach now.
"A Torvosaurus!" Dr. Taylor informed the others. However, something was odd about this Torvosaurus, and it was quickly pointing out by Dr. Cretacia.
"There's some kind of mark on its head!"
Looking closer, the adults could all tell that the Torvosaurus had a pinkish hexagon shaped emblem on his forehead. On the hexagon was what looked to be a diamond shape with two crescent moons coming off of it on either side. In the center of the diamond was a white circle, and inside the white circle was a smaller red circle like it was the pupil of an eye.
"Like some kind of branding," Dr. Ancient remarked. The large, winged creature that Dr. Owen had saw teleport the house away came hovering into view. He pushed the snout of the Torvosaurus away, so that he could get by. Dr. Taylor tried to use his lasso against the seemingly alien creature that had kidnapped him. The red-skinned brute held up is arm and the lasso wrapped around his wrist.
"Must be some weird kind of Earth greeting," the creature said in a dumbfounded, gruff voice. He pulled the lasso and Dr. Taylor went flying into the wall next to the alien, who just fluttered past him. "Hello to you too."
The strange monster hovered into the house and went straight to Dr. Ancient and Dr. Cretacia and pointed at them, "You two scientists, we need you to help us right away."
"Us? So, there's more of them?" Mrs. Drake asked.
"More of who?" the alien asked.
"We're not helping you! Not after you time-napped us!" Dr. Ancient stood his ground.
"Doctor, you can either help us or help him," the creature stated as he pointed to the dinosaur behind him with his thumb. "All he wants is dinner." The Torvosaurus roared as if to further reiterate the strange monster with the bad haircut's words.
Dr. Z just laughed as he looked over the damages to the Backlander. He held two handheld devices in his hands that he planned on using to fix the machine.
"I can fix this is no time at all! I just need my nose hair plucker and my beard trimmer!" Dr. Z boasted as he began to go straight to work fixing the repairs. Max, Rex, Gabriel, Ren, and Zoe just looked at each other with confusion written all over their faces.
"We're doomed," Ren said.
"Yup," Rex sighed in agreement.
"Ursula! Disentangle the dimensional wiring!" Dr. Z ordered.
"On it!" the usually cranky woman chirped as she raced across the center control room with a hoop of wire.
"Zander! Switch out the star alignment unit!" Dr. Z demanded.
"Right away, Dr. Z!" Zander pitched in as he carried some boxes to a different part of the room.
"Ed! Make sure the electricity is running to the destination finder!" Dr. Z instructed.
"Yes, Dr. Z!" Ed piped up as he went in a third direction to go check on his assigned area.
"Everyone!" Reese's voice interrupted as she walked into the room. "I just finished work on the Dino Bracers." Reese opened a case and all of the Dino Bracers, and their gadgets, were inside. Max was the first one to rush over and pick one up and examine it.
"So cool!" Max said. Rex, Zoe, and Gabriel rushed over to pick one up.
"These are great, Reese!" Zoe said as she fasted her Dino Gadget to her belt.
"They look great!" Rex praised as he placed his Dino Bracer to his left wrist like he was going to attach it but didn't.
"May I?" Gabriel asked Reese.
"Go ahead, Gabriel," Reese smiled down at the boy. Gabriel's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Awesome!" Gabriel was just about to fasten the Dino Bracer to his wrist when Ren interrupted him.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" the blue-eyed girl asked. Gabriel froze in confusion.
"What?" he asked.
"You need a stone to work those, and Zoe has the grass stone," Ren deadpanned.
"Oh... well, then here, Ren," Gabriel was defeatedly as he gave the Dino Bracer to Ren.
"Sorry, me and technology involving the dinosaurs don't mix. I'd rather stick with the stone," Ren said as she passed up the offer of the Dino Bracer.
"Then, here, Reese. Take it back," Gabriel told the lab assistant as he handed it back. Reese was about to take the Dino Bracer back when Rex's works stopped her.
"Come on, Ren, it'll be a fun new experience," Rex said.
"Yeah, and we're all trying these out for the first time too! Why don't you give it a test, go?" Zoe asked. Ren stared as the accessory, then looked at her friends who were eying her with anticipation.
"Fine, I'll give it a shot," Ren said, making the others smile. Gabriel changed the direction of handing his off from Reese to Ren. Ren took it in her hands and fastened it to one of her wrists. Ren picked up one of the Dino Gadgets and clipped it to her sweatpants pocket. "I feel like I'm gearing up to go on some secret FBI mission or something."
"That's the fun of it!" Max smiled.
"Maybe next I can figure out how to extend the range of the TPS system," Reese told the kids.
"You can do that?" Ren suddenly perked up.
"I can most certainly try," Reese assured.
"You know, there's a crystal around here somewhere that should have all the information you need on it," Rod said as he walked up to Reese.
"Oh?" Reese asked.
"Yeah, I bet if we take it down to the D-Lab, I bet you can figure out how it works, Reese," he said.
"Then what do you say we get going right now?" Reese asked Rod.
"Dr. Owen get away from me!" Ursula screeched, thoroughly interrupting the conversation. Everyone turned to watch Dr. Owen chasing Ursula around the room.
"But it's been so long, Ursula!" Dr. Owen exclaimed.
"I don't care, you old creep!" Ursula retorted.
"Stop, Dr. Owen!" Patrick tried to separate the two. Especially since Ursula was supposed to be helping with the time machine repairs.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Rex asked. Dr. Owen stopped to look to his son, then at his daughter.
"Just trying to convince Ursula-" Dr. Owen began before he was sharply cut off by Chomp, Ebony, Paris, and Ace running into him, followed by Patrick who fully toppled him over. Dr. Owen recovered quickly and sat back up. "to be your new mother."
"No chance!" Ursula scowled.
"Dr. Owen, Dad," Ren began. "We have a mother now."
"Oh yeah... you both now have two dads and a mother now," Dr. Owen said, as he looked down to the ground.
"I have three dads and two mothers," Ren spoke up, she which earned her an elbow to her side from Gabriel. "Ow!"
"Anyways, we're both really lucky to have a dad like you and two birth parents that will take extremely good care of us as well. I couldn't wish for a better ending," Rex smiled.
"Oh Rex, Ren, you are the ones who are amazing. Rex, you were the best thing that has ever happened to me, and Ren seeing you come into our lives made me the happiest father I could have ever been. I should have never doubted us as a family. Not ever," Dr. Owen told his children. His miniature speech was almost enough to make the siblings cry. Then, the mood shifted as music began to play. Everyone looked to see where it was coming from, to see Zander flaunting around Reese.
"Oh, my angel~ I love my dinosaur," Zander began to sing. "But when I look into your eyes, I think I love you more. Be-"
Dr. Z jumped and kicked Zander to the ground, very effectively stopping the song right in the middle of it.
"Zander! Stop fraternizing with the enemy! There's no time for romance here!" Dr. Z shrieked before he pointed at Dr. Owen. "And you! You're distracting my workers with your disgusting puppy love!" Dr. Z forcibly sent Dr. Owen and Patrick back down to the ground. Dr. Owen crossed his arms.
"I am so over her," Dr. Owen huffed.
"It's for the best," Patrick consoled.
"I still love you!" Dr. Owen yelled back into the sky where the Backlander was hidden. Patrick just sighed.
Sometime during the rest of the commotion, Reese headed back down to the ground with Rod and Laura to check out the crystal that the two kids were talking about. Reese had been running some very complex tests in order to understand how the crystal worked in order to possibly help the group with the Time Positioning System.
"The TPS system seems to be far more than simply a tracking device," Reese stated aloud.
"Really? What else can it do?" Rod asked.
"Well, it says here that the TPS possesses the ability to see into other time periods," Reese replied as she traced her finger along a line on the laptop, reading it aloud.
"You're kidding!" Rod smiled.
"Rod, we can use it to see our parents!" Laura beamed.
"Yeah!" Rod cheered before he paused and looked to Reese. "As long as that's okay, Reese."
"I don't see why not," Reese mused to the kids. After all, what harm could two kids do by peeking into the future for a short while?
"Alright!" Laura celebrated. She took out a projector. She played the video that she had stored on it of her and Rod's parents saying goodbye to them before heading off into the past. Now she'd be able to see what they were doing at this exact moment.
"The signal's getting weaker," Rex frowned looking at the TPS system. Ren stood next to her brother and looked over his shoulder at the handheld device with furrowed eyebrows.
"What happens if it disappears?" Max asked/
"What do you think happens when it disappears?" Ren asked Max in a flurry of anger and impatience. "Our parents disappear along with it, that's what!"
"Take it easy, Ren. The ship will be ready to go in no time," Zoe assured. Ren took a deep breath.
"Yeah, it's not like it's gone yet, there's still time," Gabriel stated.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry, that was kind of uncalled for on my part. I'm just frustrated," Ren huffed.
"We all are, Ren. All of our parents were in the house," Max told the blonde-haired girl. Which was true with the exception of her adoptive parents and Gabriel's parents.
"Where even are your parents? Do they even know where you're at?" Ren questioned the newly dark-haired boy.
"Nope. I only live with my dad and my sister. My dad is a nightshift doctor's assistant and my sister's several years younger than me and we aren't all that close. Needless to say, I have free reign to kind of do whatever," Gabriel replied.
"For example, how you were able to just go to Zeta Point whenever you wanted and help Seth?" Rex suggested.
"Or like how you could change your hair color after you quit the Alpha Gang?" Max asked.
"Exactly. Besides, with the power of time travel, we can come back to this exact moment, and no one would even notice we were gone," Gabriel replied. "Speaking of which, are we going to be going soon. we have people to save!"
"What's with the rush?" Ursula questioned upon her, Ed, and Zander walking into the room.
"You can never rush genius!" Zander reminded Gabriel.
"So, is that's why Seth's plan worked better? He took actual time to think on it?" Gabriel mused.
"Be quiet you brat!" Ursula screeched. "Why are you even here? No one on this ship entirely trusts you."
Gabriel looked to the D-Team to back him up, but Ursula was right, they weren't fully trusting of him either, "I guess I'm just here for the ride and to see what happens."
"Luckily for you, my dear boy, I have fixed the machine!" Dr. Z announced upon entering the room.
"It's really fixed?" Rex asked as he looked away from the Time Positioning System and perked up at the news.
"I said I fixed it, I fixed it! And now, I'm telling you that it's fixed! Am I the greatest, or what?" Dr. Z boasted to the kids. The Alpha Gang cheered. Zander even threw a small handful of confetti.
"Now quickly, put the stones in the warp panel," Dr. Z told the D-Team as he pointed to the console in the middle of the room. All four members of the D-Team took their stones out of their newly acquired Dino Bracers and placed them gently into their places in the panel, while all keeping their dinosaurs out in their chibi forms. Chomp, Paris, Ace, and Ebony watched their owners put away the stones before they went to go play.
The dinosaurs decided that they were going to play a small game of chase. Odis was quick to join their little game. While Paris was running from Ace, she collided and bumped straight into Terry. The D-Team dinosaurs and Odis stopped playing as the stared at Terry, Spiny, and Tank. Oh yeah, they would have to be sharing the same space now too. Talk about awkward.
"Now, Johnathan, try to fire up the warp generator!" Dr. Z ordered the android butler.
"Alright then, here we go!" Johnathan declared as he pressed a button on the control panel. The time machine whirled to life and the ship began to shake as it prepared to take off into the space and time continuum.
"Nothing like the sweet sound of time folding in on itself," Dr. Z sighed romantically.
"That's what you call a sweet sound?" Zoe muttered softly.
"Now all you have to do is select the time period you want to go to and in no time, we'll be there," Dr. Z explained the mechanics as he flipped a few more switches in the control panel. "All together now, who's the greatest evil scientist of all time?"
"Still, can't believe he openly calls himself evil," Gabriel rolled his eyes. Dr. Z hit a button and a bunch of different lights began to flash all at the same time. Dr. Z even pushed himself back in his chair.
"That isn't supposed to happen!" Dr. Z panicked. "I didn't tell it where we wanted to go!"
"WHAT?" Max, Rex, Ren, Zoe, and Gabriel exclaimed. Suddenly, the Backlander began to move and in the blink of an eye, it vanished out of the sky into a swirling tunnel of colors known as the Time-Space Continuum.
The D-Team, Gabriel, and the Alpha Gang trio rushed to the front windshield of the ship and stared out in horror at the swirling tunnel that surrounded them.
"No one set a destination!" Zander gulped.
"I know," Ed whimpered.
"So then, where is this thing taking us?" Ursula asked.
"Or rather, when?" Zoe corrected.
"Wish I knew," Rex sighed.
"Why does it matter?" Dr. Z's voice boomed over them. He wasn't scared at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He was laughing. "We're travelling through time! That's all that matters!"
"What about our parents? That was the mission!" Ren yelled at Dr. Z.
"I knew we couldn't trust him," Ma scowled.
"Actually, you were the first one to say that we should take our chances," Gabriel sighed. Rex opened the TPS again and tapped on it.
"This is bad, we're losing them!" Rex growled.
"We were tricked!" Max hissed. Dr. Z just laid back in his chair and crossed his legs. It seemed as if he wasn't bothered by any of this.
"I didn't trick you. Though I would've if I thought about it," Dr. Z replied. "What's important is that we're on our way."
"To where exactly?" Ren asked.
"You've got no idea, do you, you old geezer?" Gabriel glared.
"That's obscene," Dr. Z waved them off.
"Tell us the truth, Dr. Z," Zander suddenly turned towards the scientist. "We're racing uncontrollably through time, and you have no clue where we're headed!"
"And now we're separated from Rod and Laura!" Ed added.
"What?" Dr. Z suddenly froze up.
"Now that Ed mentions it, I haven't seen them since they went to the D-Lab with Reese," Zoe pointed out.
"They left?!" Dr. Z yelped.
"If we keep going like this, we'll end up at the beginning of time!" Ursula informed the others in a panicked hurry.
"Or the end of time!" Rex added.
"Either way, I don't want to find out what happens," Ed gulped.
"I didn't think of that," Dr. Z commented.
"I can't steer us to our time destination. Those controls aren't working at all," Johnathan told the others.
"So much for being the greatest scientist of all time," Gabriel scoffed. "I'm going to go see if I can't figure out what's going on in the central control room." With that, Gabriel rushed out the door to the front control room and headed towards the room where Seth's lab used to be. Odis followed him.
"Johnathan, could you possibly make a crash landing?" Max asked the android.
"I could but we would risk one of two things," Johnathan replied.
"Like what?" Ren asked.
"The crash itself would be one thing. The other would be the time period in which we would end up," Johnathan informed. The lights in the ship turned red and a loud beeping noise could be heard.
"Do it, Johnathan!" Rex ordered.
"Alright, hang on!" Johnathan said as he pushed the steering mechanics for the ship. The Backlander swerved and the tunnel seemed to stretch out in the direction they turned until a rip at the end began to form. It was like they were tearing themselves out of the Time-Space Continuum. The Backlander emerged into a time period, and almost immediately into some trees.
The Backlander suddenly lifted it front end up as the warning lights and alarms cut off. Though, this did not prevent the ship from dropping, though it greatly slowly down the momentum of the Backlander.
"We're going down!" Max hollered. The ship crashed forcefully into the ground, despite the fact that there was something trying to hold it back up into the sky. Every passenger in the front control room went hurdling towards the front windshield. They all crashed in a compact pile.
Everyone groaned from the impacts was they picked themselves up one by one. Gabriel stumbled into the control room followed by a very dizzy Odis.
"Sorry everyone, I tried keeping it up in the air by overriding the steering mechanism from the central control room," Gabriel told the others as he rubbed his head. "I guess it wasn't enough to keep us from crashing."
Johnathan, Dr. Z, and the Alpha Gang began to survey the front control room of the Backlander to see if anything was damaged during the impact.
"Never to fear, young lad. You slowed us down. If you hadn't done so, the crash may have been more severe," Johnathan informed Gabirel, which helped to put a small smile on the boy's face. "At first inspection, nothing looks to be damaged, but I should take some time for a proper surveillance."
"Nothing's damaged?" Zoe asked.
"That's a relief," Rex sighed.
"Where are we?" Max said as he glanced at his surrounds. Vegetation was everywhere from trees, to vines, to bushes, to ferns. A river was just ahead.
"Look!" Ren pointed at a herd of Triceratops walking towards the river from the opposite side.
"Triceratops!" Max exclaimed as he pressed himself against the glass of the Backlander. Chomp barked excitedly at seeing members of his same species.
"That means we're in the-" Zoe began.
"Cretaceous Period," Rex nodded and confirmed.
"Woah," Gabriel gaped as he joined the D-Team up near the front windshield and watch the dinosaurs around them. "This is amazing."
Ren glanced to the boy that had joined them by her side, but in doing so, she realized how empty the rest of the front control room really was.
"Hey guys, where's the Alpha Gang?" Ren asked. The D-Team plus Gabriel began to glance around. Ren was right, the Alpha Gang was nowhere in sight, not even Dr. Z.
"There!" Rex said as he pointed to the Alpha Gang trio and Dr. Z running through the foliage.
"You five go. Get Dr. Z and the other back to the ship. I'll handle any damages that the Backlander may have sustained during our crash," Johnathan told the kids.
"Let me stay and help you," Gabriel said. "I want to learn more about how the time machine works."
"Very well then, follow me," Johnathan said before he walked out of the front control room. Gabriel hurriedly trailed behind him with Odis bringing up the rear.
"Let's go, you guys," Max told the rest of the team.
"Right," The rest of the D-Team nodded before they followed Max off of the ship.
"How brilliant am I getting us back to the age of the dinosaurs?" Dr. Z boasted to the rest of the Alpha Gang as they reached a small field full of herbivores: Triceratops, Maisauras, Saurolophuses, and Olorotitans dotted the area as they grazed. "I'll tell you how brilliant! I'm super, amazing brilliant! This proves that I am destined to become the Dinosaur King!" Dr. Z took out his Alpha Scanner and the all-to-familiar Tyrannosaurus Rex card. "Alpha slash! You're up, Terry!"
The notoriously large and monstrous dinosaur appeared in front of the collective herds of herbivores and roared over them all.
"Capture all those docile, grass-munching vegetarians!" Dr. Z ordered Terry. The Tyrannosaurus lunged in at a Miasaura, who dodged the large carnivore with ease. Terry then turned to snap at a Saurolophus, who turned away and ran from Terry.
"Hey, you leave those dinosaurs alone!" Max yelled at Dr. Z as he and the rest of the team arrived on the scene.
"Sure, I'll leave them alone," Dr. Z told Max as he rolled his eyes. "As soon as I capture them all and take them all back to join my dinosaur kingdom!"
"You just never change," Ren told the Alpha Gang.
"Once a villain, always a villain," Zoe agreed.
"Let's put a stop to this, you guys," Max said as he took turned Chomp into a card and held the Triceratops card in his hand. Max held his left arm with his Dino Bracer out horizontally in front him and slashed the card. "Dino slash! Go, Triceratops! ROAR!"
"I agree, let's go, Ace," Rex said as he also held out his arm with his Dino Bracer out horizontally and slashed his card. "Dino slash! Carnotraurus, blow them away!"
"Come on, Paris," Zoe said as she turned her Parasaurolophus into a card. Unlike the two boys, she held the arm with her Dino Bracer straight up into the air and slashed her card. "Dino slash! Spring up, Parasaurolophus!"
"Let's go, Ebony," Ren said as she pressed buttons to make Ebony turn into a card. She smiled at the card when it actually appeared in her hand. "Dino slash! Stegosaurus, let's rock and roll!" The four dinosaurs of the D-Team were all out and ready to fight against Terry.
"Four against one? That's no fair," Dr. Z pouted has he selected a move card from his assortment. "Go, Terry! Volcano Burst!" Fire drooled out of Terry's moth before he sent a blazing trail of fire hurdling towards a stray herd of Triceratops. Chomp and Paris dove in the way of the attack to protect the innocent bystanders.
Terry was about to use the same move again but was cut off short by Ebony's tail spikes and the assistance from a wild Ampelosaurus hit his side. The Tyrannosaurus skidded across the ground where he was intercepted by a headbutt from Ace and a feral Allosaurus. The larger dinosaur got beat around in the other direction. Terry went flying over onto his side. The Tyrannosaurus landed heavily on the ground. Paris and a stray Saurolophus ran up on the weakened Terry and headbutted the Tyrannosaurus again. Terry flew even further and landed even harder against the earth.
"Let's finish this up, Chomp," Max told the Triceratops. The brunette pressed a button on his Dino Gadget. All of Max's move cards hovered in a circle around him.
"That's new," Ren observed.
"I kind of like it!" Zoe smiled.
"Ok, Max, finish it!" Rex cheered on. Max pulled a move card from the air. The rest of the cards orderly filtered their way back inside of the Dino Gadget on Max's waist. Max took the card in his card and swiped it in his Dino Bracer, similarly to how he summoned Chomp onto the battlefield.
"Lightning Strike!" Max hollered. Sparks generate between Chomp's upper two horns. The created electricity bundled itself into a neat little ball. The Triceratops fired the electrifying attack against Terry. The Tyrannosaurus was hit with a direct attack. The fire elemental dinosaur turned a bright red before being reduced to nothing but a card. Dr. Z was not thrilled with the result of this battle.
"Alpha Gang, bring out Spiny and Tank!" the evil scientist man ordered.
"I wish we could, but if we did, we would be lunch," Ursula gulped.
"What do you mean?" Dr. Z asked. He turned around to face Ursula. Standing over her, Zander, and Ed were Ebony, Ace, and Paris, alongside the Ampelosaurus, Allosaurus, and the Saurolophus. Dr. Z yelped in surprise.
"It's over, Dr. Z!" Rex told him.
"Yeah, it's time to head back to the future where you belong," Ren added.
"And for you to leave the dinosaurs alone!" Zoe stated. Ace walked up to and loomed over Dr. Z. The petit, old scientist grinned nervously to the carnivorous dinosaur.
"That's a good dinosaur," Dr. Z could feel himself beginning to sweat. "I'm going now."
Chomp looked to the herd of Triceratops that were around him. Chomp roared happily to them before he started to do a victory dance with them in celebration of their victory. Just then, the D-Team and the Alpha Gang could see two figures rushing over to them from the direction of the Backlander.
"It's Gabriel and Johnathan," Rex pointed to them.
"We have to get out of here immediately!" Johnathan ordered the group.
"What's going on?" Ren asked in alarm.
"We're in the time period of the dinosaurs' extinction!" Gabriel exclaimed.
"What?!" The D-Team and Alpha Gang shrieked. It was true. In the air, meteors were beginning to dot the sky. There were coming in fast and at random. There was no telling where they were going to land.
"Time to get out of here!" Dr. Z screeched.
"We are all in danger if we don't evacuate immediately," Johnathan ushered the group. He began to lead them back to the time machine. The Alpha Gang, Rex, Ren, and Zoe followed after returning their dinosaurs to their cards..
"Are all of the controls fixed?" Rex asked.
"Not completely. We fixed the steering, but many of the controls are still out of order," Gabriel replied.
"As long as we get out of here alive, we'll be fine," Zoe replied. Ren looked back to see that Max didn't follow them. She stopped to call back to him.
"Max, what are you doing? Come on!"
"But Chomp, he ran off with the other Triceratops!" Max replied as he pointed out to the herd of Triceratops that were beginning to flee from their demise.
"Call him back to a card! He's not too far!" Ren suggested.
"Good idea," Max pressed a few buttons on his Dino Bracer. One of the Triceratops transformed into a bright yellow light before it got transformed into a card in his hand. Max looked from the dinosaur card in his hands up at the destruction that was beginning to occur in front of his very eyes as meteors crashed into the earth one after the other.
"Watch out, Max!" Zoe called after the brunette.
"Max, hurry!" Rex urged his best friend. Max shot out of whatever kind of trance he seemed to be in and joined the others in retreating for the Backlander. A meteor hit right where Max was previously standing.
Upon returning to the front control room of the Backlander, everybody got in their seats, hoping and preparing for lift off.
"Get this tin can out of here before he become extinct along with the dinosaurs!" Dr. Z ordered.
"Working on it!" Gabriel replied as he flipped some switches. "Johnathan, you ready?"
"Just about, young Gabriel," the android butler responded.
"It's terrible," Max told the D-Team as he stared out the front windshield in horror at the devastation. "Those poor dinosaurs are doomed."
"It wasn't always mean to happen like this, Max," Rex assured.
"Such is life. It doesn't always have happy endings," Ren shrugged.
"We are ready to launch, but I still can't set a target time," Johnathan informed,
"Just get us out of here!" Dr. Z scowled. Johnathan hit the launch button and sent the Backlander flying through the air. A rift in the Time-Space Continuum opened up. The Backlander disappeared through the hole that sealed itself up behind them.
"I wish there was something we could've done," Zoe frowned.
"Me too," Max agreed.
"Fate meant for that to happen, and fate is pretty much set in stone, isn't it?" Ren commented. The mood of the room was sullen and quiet. No one seemed to want to talk or do anything. That was until a brilliant light appeared before the Backlander. It took the shape of a large bird-like creature.
"What is that thing?" Zoe asked with interest and confusion. Max's eyes lit up as he recognized the shape of the creature to be a Pterosaur.
"You are all in grave danger," the Pterosaur told them, but how? The D-Team looked between each other and realized that they were all glowing in a shining, white light. Their Dino Bracers were all emitting the same kind of energy. One that allowed the Pterosaur to communicate with them. "But if you follow me, I will guide you to safety."
"I will also guide you to your destiny."