Playing with Fire
Disclaimer: Dinosaur King is owned by Sunrise, Shout Factory, 4kidsTV, and any other company I missed. I own nothing
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Flashback"
DK
It was a calm day on the Space Pirates ship. There hadn't been any anomalies or criminals trying to change history for a couple days now. The latest thing they had to deal with was the attempted killing of Rex. Now they were able to have a much needed break. And they were spending that break by playing Foolscap's and Gavro's new dinosaur fighting game, they've yet to agree on a title. Currently, Foolscap and Sheer were playing a match with Foolscap playing as Ankylosaurus and Sheer using Torvosaurus. The health bars at the top of the screen showed Foolscap having a lead over Sheer. "Ha, ha! You fell right into my trap, Sheer!" Foolscap bragged to his female companion. "Taste Earthquake!" He said as he activated the Super Move.
"How can you eat an earthquake? They're not edible." Gavro asked from the sidelines.
"He didn't mean literally." Sheer hissed as she mashed buttons to try and dodge the attack. But she wasn't quick enough as the Ankylosaurus slammed its forelegs onto the ground and opened up a large chasm that the Torvosaurus fell into before it closed, draining all of the Jurassic carnivore's HP.
"Ankylosaurus wins!" The announcer for the game said.
"Yeah!" Foolscap cheered, dropping his controller before continuing to gloat in Sheer's face. "Gavro, what's my score?"
"Ummm." Gavro looked down at the scoreboard he made while the two of them were playing. "Six."
"Whoo!" Foolscap exclaimed as he swung out his arms. "And how much am I beating Sheer by?"
"Uhhhh. I don't know." Gavro said as he stroked his chin.
This caused Foolscap to stop his celebrating and look at his brother with irritation. "What'd you mean you don't know?"
"I mean, you have six tallies, and Sheer has six tallies. It's hard to tell who's in the lead."
"What?!" Foolscap yelled as he grabbed the sheet. Sure enough, his score was tied with Sheer. "This is impossible! I know I'm better at this game then you!" He yelled at the female guardian.
Sheer shrugged in response. "Guess I've been practicing a lot." She smirked before spinning her controller around on her finger. "I believe one more match should decide the champion."
"Oh, you're on!" Foolscap exclaimed as he grabbed his own controller.
But before they could select their characters, Spectre's voice came over the PA. "Ooooh!" Foolscap and Sheer groaned as they covered their ears, knowing what was about to come. "It's that time of day we all enjoy! The reason why you were employed! Report to me at the dock, and be there by 10 o'clock!" He sang before saying. "That means right now, knuckleheads." And hanging up.
Once they were sure the singing, or rather poor attempt at, was done, Foolscap and Sheer uncovered their ears. "What'd he sing, Gavro?" Sheer asked.
"He sang that he wants us at the bridge now." He told them, unaffected by their boss' terrible singing.
Foolscap slumped over, knowing he would have to wait for a rematch. "This isn't over." He told Sheer, giving her the 'I'm watching you' gesture before flying out of the room to see what their boss wanted. What they didn't know was that their game was about to become a reality.
(Intro Theme)
"I don't get why you need me to tell you what Spectre says over the PA." Gavro said as they went to the bridge. "He's singing's not bad."
"You only say that because you're tone deaf." Foolscap mocked his brother. "Sheer and I would like to keep our hearing, unlike you."
"But I can hear just fine." Gavro retorted, not understanding the insult.
"Just ignore him, Gavro. He's still salty about earlier." Sheer told the muscular guardian, earning a glare from Foolscap.
Once they made it to the bridge, the door opened to reveal Spectre sitting on his hover-chair. The trio stood at attention as the door closed behind them. "Reporting for duty, Boss." Sheer told him.
"Good." Spectre said as the chair lowered and turned around so he was facing them. "I know you all were enjoying your time off from taking care of the Timeline, but I'm afraid that they call to duty has to be answered."
"Hehe, duty." Foolscap muttered, causing himself and Gavro to try, and fail, to stifle their laughter while Sheer rolled her eyes at their immaturity.
Spectre noticed this and fired a weak blast at the two giggling men, causing the two of them to freeze in place. "If you're finished, I'd to get back to what I was saying. Which was..."
"Call to duty." Sheer reminded her boss, pulling out a ninja star to make sure her partners didn't giggle.
"Ah, yes. Thank you, Sheer. As I was saying, you do remember the reason we set up our headquarters in this part of the Timeline?" Spectre asked them.
The trio thought for a bit, but couldn't recall the reason. "Because it saves us the trouble of having to make sure we don't accidentally fly pass the beginning of time into open space?" Sheer guessed.
"OK, that's one reason." Spectre admitted. "Let me rephrase the question, why is it that we kept things are they were here?"
"Because you told us to?" Gavro guessed this time.
"Yes." Spectre groaned, starting to get annoyed with their incorrect answers. "And what is the reason I told you to?"
The trio tensed, sensing the anger their boss was giving off. They all began to sweat buckets, not knowing what to say, but knowing not saying anything would make him mad. "Uhh-"
"Because Seikatsu said the Cosmos Stones are here!" Spectre yelled at the top of his lungs, his face turning red as he leapt out of his seat.
"Oooh." The three said in unison while shaking in their boots.
Eventually, the lead guardian calmed down and sat back into his seat. "I doubt I need to further explain just what exactly the Cosmos Stones are." The workers shook their heads in silence, except Gavro who though he should have been nodding until Sheer corrected him.
"Kind of hard to not know about the stones that have nearly destroyed Earth more times than we can count." Foolscap said.
As if the room they were in read his mind, images of such events played on the many screens in the background. "After Shi's asteroid hit Earth and killed all the dinosaurs, there was no one able to keep the Cosmos Stones stable, allowing them to build up more and more energy until it reached a breaking point of catastrophic levels." Sheer explained. The screens showed a large volcanic eruption that would lead to the entire African continent burning to the ground, a tsunami that swallowed Europe, an earthquake that caused China to sink like Atlantis, a tornado that destroyed New York City completely, a lightning storm that killed more than 3/4ths of all living things, and a forest overgrowth that wiped humanity from existence.
"If we guardians hadn't steeped in, these events would have possibly implemented themselves into the Timeline." Spectre reminded them as the screens faded. "And every time we try to find the stone that was the source of the problem, it would disappear off the face of the Earth, only to end up in another part of history."
"Maybe we could try searching all over the Timeline for them." Gavro suggested. "Would make for an interesting season."
"The Timeline's massive, Gavro. We'd be dead before we found one." Foolscap reminded his brother.
Sheer was about to add on when she remembered what Spectre said earlier. "Wait, you said that the Cosmos Stones are in this specific time period. Is that why you called us here?"
Spectre nodded in confirmation. "I'm not positive if the Stone Plates had anything to do with it, but the Cosmos Stones are all here and present. This gives us the chance to finally grab them and prevent any further catastrophes."
"Well, don't sweat it, Boss. We'll get those stones before you could-"
Spectre cut off Foolscap before he could finish. "And where exactly are the stones?" He asked him.
Foolscap pauses, realizing he had no idea where to look. "Uhhh."
Spectre rolled his eyes and pressed a button on his chair. A hole opened up in the floor and a spherical object emerged from it that contained many flat circular grids on the inside. On one of the grids was a blinking red dot that was rotating in a circle. "I believe this would be helpful."
"A shiny ball?" Gavro said in confusion. "I thought we are supposed to find Cosmos Stones."
"We are. This is a detector." Sheer answered for Spectre, saving her boss the trouble. She walked up to the detector and pointed at the blinking dot. "This dot represents one of the Cosmos Stones. If we can tract its location, we'll be able to find it before it can cause another catastrophe."
"I couldn't have explained it better myself." Spectre commented. "Seikatsu spoke to me after Cretacia woke up in a dream. While she told me that while the stones don't have as much power to wipe out entire continents this time, they still could cause disasters at a smaller, but still deadly scale."
"Like I said, we can find those things once we can decipher this... contraption, and never worry about them again!" Foolscap said before opening his wings and taking off.
"Not so fast." Spectre stopped him again, causing Foolscap to stop in midair and fall to the ground. "There's one more thing you should know about."
"Ugh. What now?" Foolscap groaned in annoyance. "That we have to make sure the Alpha Gang doesn't get their hands on them?"
"Actually, yes." Spectre said.
"Wait, what?"
"How are they locating them?" Sheer asked.
"They're not. At least not yet. From what I've gathered, they've been going all over the world in search of active volcanos, where the Red Cosmos Stone should be. Thankfully, they haven't found it yet, but that's about to change as they have one volcano left in Hawaii they have to check; Mauna Loa. That is where they will find the stone."
"If the Alpha Gang run into us, they'll no doubt sick their dinosaurs on us." Sheer realized. "And there's no way we can fight off them."
"That is why it's great to have a god on your side." Spectre said as he pressed another button. The floor opened up again and revealed a table containing three white devices of varying sizes. "Seikatsu gave me these to give to you. These devices will allow you to summon a dinosaur once you place the card on the device, regardless of its element."
"So you're saying we can actually use dinosaurs?" Foolscap said as his eyes widened, growing a huge grin.
"Awesome!" They all looked at Sheer, who had an even bigger grin on her face. Realizing the attention she was receiving, her expression turned to one of embarrassment. "What? Anyone would like that kind of power."
Now it was the boys turn to roll their eyes. "Just pick one." Spectre mumbled, clearly wanting this meeting to be over with.
After a little while, the pirates had their devices: Sheer's was a chocker, Foolscap was a bandana, and Gavro's was a chest plate. "Does this make me look fat?" Gavro asked as he looked down at his stomach.
"Maybe." Sheer commented as she floated by, deciding to be nice and not at the same time.
"You're also gonna want these." Spectre said as he reached into his cape. "I stopped by the D-Lab earlier to pick them up." Out of his cape were seven cards containing Trooper, the Triumvirate of Hunters, and their respective Move Cards. "I already filled them in on everything and they are prepared for whatever the Alpha Gang or nature may throw at you." He said as he handed each of them a set. "Don't lose those, or I doubt Rex will ever trust us again with them."
"Don't worry. They'll be taken good care of." Sheer assured her boss.
"Good. Now go!" He ordered them.
"Rodger that, Boss!" The trio said before taking off through an opening.
Spectre just say in his seat in silence before leaving. "I could have told them to take a pod so they won't tire themselves out, but they trash talked my singing."
DK
At the D-Lab, Rex was spending some time with his mother by introducing her to the rest of the herd. The blonde was still wearing crutches after he had returned home to assist with his walking, his injuries not severe enough to need to rest in one of Spectre's pods. Ever since they returned to Sanjo City, mother and son were basically inseparable, spending as much time together as possible to make up for twelve years apart.
"And this is Toro and Lola; our Chiefs of Defense." Rex introduced his mother to the Torosaurus and Stegosaurus.
"Pleased to properly meet you, Ms. Cretacia." Toro said as he stood at attention like a solider.
"Please, Toro, call me Cretacia. There's no need to be formal around me." She smiled, though her sadness could be easily noticed.
Lola saw this and hit her mate's hind-leg with her tail. "Ow! What?" Toro hissed.
Rex also noticed his mother's sadness and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Excuse us for a minute." He told the two before leading his mother away. "Mom, is there something you need to talk about?" He asked her. "Is this about Dad?"
"It's just." Cretacia wiped a tear away. "I'm just so proud of you. You've come so much farther then you father ever thought you would have. You've actually been able to become friends with the dinosaurs. They see you as a friend, not just as a king." She embraces her son in another hug. "I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks, Mom." Rex blushed heavily at the praise he was receiving. True his adopted father, Dr. Owen, had also given him a lot of praise for his work, but hearing it from one of his blood relatives was another thing entirely.
"Oh, I just can't wait to show you how things are back home!" Cretacia started to gush, her mood rapidly changing for the better. "I can already see your face when I show you the museum your father's discoveries are kept."
"I can only imagine." Rex said as the two of them shared a laugh and left.
But while the two of them showed great optimism, the dinosaurs present started to show signs of concern. "Did you hear that, dear?" Lola asked her mate.
"I did." Toro nodded. "But surely he didn't mean.-"
"Why would he?" Nessie said as she walked over to them. "Cretacia has family and friends back in the future. She can't just leave them. And King Rex wouldn't want to leave his mother."
"But if he leaves for the future, wouldn't that mean..." Teddy, who joined in on the conversation, didn't want to finish that sentence.
Nessie gave the equivalent of a shrug. "Who knows? Nothing lasts forever. All good things come to an end at some point." She told them as she left, leaving the other dinosaurs to look at each other with worry. What were they to do?
DK
On one of the Hawaiian islands, the beach appeared to be normal. That is, until the sand started moving in a small bulge. And then that bulge spilt into three smaller bulges. Finally, the bulges burst to reveal the heads of the Alpha Gang. "Pwaat!" Ursula spat out the sand in her mouth. "I can't believe those stupid pilots dropped us in the middle of the ocean!"
"They didn't even warn us they were going to do a barrel roll!" Zander added.
"I'm positive that's illegal." Ed added.
"Whatever." Ursula said as she pulled herself out of the sand. "Are you sure this is the right island, Zander?"
Zander and Ed both pulled themselves out before Zander got out the Volcanic Positioning System Dr.Z gave them. "Well, if the VPS is to be believed, the last volcano has to be on this island."
"You mean that volcano?" Ed pointed at the large smoking mountain in front of them.
The trio just stared at the mountain in shock at its size, easily the largest they've ever seen. "T-that's Mauna Loa!" Zander gasped.
"Well, can't say there's no fire in that thing." Ursula said, snapping out of the shock. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with. All this heat is ruining my complexion."
"But, Ursula, you don't look any different than you normally do." Ed told her before realizing his mistake and quickly covered his head. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!"
To his surprise, Ursula didn't bash his head in like usual. "Thank you for trying, Ed, but you just don't understand how important looks are to a woman." She said before turning to Zander. "Do you still have the equipment?"
Zander reached his hand into the sand and started feeling around. "If my calculations are correct, they should be right..." He pulled his hand out, revealing their mining tools, Alpha Scanners, and a book titled Mining for Dummies. "There we go!"
"Grab an axe, boys." Ursula told them as she grabbed one of her own. "That Cosmos Stone has run out of his places to hide."
DK
Not too far away from the Alpha Gang, the pirates were also arriving at their destination. Just as Spectre predicted, they were so tired from the long flight that it was almost impossible to keep themselves in the air. "'Gasp!' Do you.. 'Gasp!' See.. 'Gasp!' The volcano?" Sheer wheezed out. "My wings feel like they're about to fall off!"
"Maybe we could rest in that large hot tub." Gavro suggested, pointing to the large object below them.
"If that's a hot tub, I'm never getting out of that!" Foolscap yelled as he dived towards the opening of the object, his tired wings making it much easier for him to descend.
However, Gavro took another look at the supposed hot tub. "Wait, that's not a hot tub. It's a volcano."
"What?!" Foolscap screamed as he realized he was diving towards the lava. "How'd you mix up a hot tub with a volcano?!"
"Why'd you listen to him?!" Sheer retorted as she dove after him with Gavro following in suit. She was able to grab Foolscap's hand with her own, but just like with him, she too was extremely tired and didn't have the energy to pull them both up. "Gavro, help us!" She screamed at the team's muscle.
"I'm coming!" Gavro told them as he continued his dive after them, picking up speed in the process.
"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Foolscap yelled as Gavro got closer. "Pull up! You'll make us crash!"
"Well, it's too late for that!" Sheer countered as the trio braced for impact.
Thankfully for them, they didn't land in the lava. Unfortunately for them, Sheer and Foolscap slammed right into the side of the mountain, followed by Gavro landing on top of them. "Well, at least we stuck the landing." Gavro commented.
"If this is the wrong volcano and my wings are broken, I'm throwing you in." Foolscap told his brother, though it just sounded like muffles.
"Good luck with that." Sheer muffled, knowing how that would play out when considering the brothers' weight difference.
DK
Back at the D-Lab, the rest of the herd gathered for a meeting called on by Toro and Lola, Max and Zoe among them. The only ones not present were those one the mission and Rex. "Is everyone here?" Toro asked as he looked around the ground.
"I think so." Chomp replied.
"Is there a reason for this meeting?" Zoe asked them. "And why didn't you invite Rex? Isn't he your king?"
"Is this the start of a coup?" Spiny asked. "Because Tank's right here, and I doubt she'd be happy with just the thought of an uprising."
"Shut up, Spiny." Tank grumbled, knowing he was referring to a recent event she wants to move on from.
"This isn't a coup, uprising, or anything similar." Lola said. "But this is about King Rex."
"I'm gonna have to stop you there." Bali interrupted them. "Still got a month before his birthday."
"This isn't about his birthday!" Toro yelled, stomping his foot on the ground in frustration from all the interruptions. "It's about the possibility of him leaving!"
Just by saying the word 'leaving', the entire room was silent. "What'd you mean by leaving?" Max asked.
Toro and Lola looked at each other before sighing. "Look, we're not trying to start a panic by saying he's leaving right now." Lola explained. "However, we heard him talking with his mother about seeing the future as they left the lab."
"I can confirm that he did say that." Swift spoke up.
"Ahem!" Guru cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the rest, before speaking. "Well, I hate to have to be the one to tell you all, but I'm afraid that Rex leaving for the future isn't a matter of if, only when."
"What'd you mean?" Pawpaw asked, starting to get a little teary eyed. "Doesn't King Rex like us?"
"It's not a case about him liking us, young one." Beta told the Pawpawsaurus, nuzzling him slightly for comfort. "It's a matter of Rex wanting to be with his family."
"Rex had always wished he knew what happened to his actual parents." Max said.
A younger Max walked past Rex's room when he head the sound of crying. Slightly opening the door, he saw the blonde crying on his bed, tears straining his pillow.
"He would spend nights crying himself to sleep, wondering if his parents actually loved him or not and just abandoned him." Max looked down sadly. "Now that he's with his mom again, I doubt he wants to leave her."
The others didn't want to agree, but knew that Max had a point. "I doubt that Rex would leave the city unprotected while wild dinosaurs and the Alpha Gang are still a threat." Meg said. "If I had to guess, I say we'd all be gone by the end of the year."
Everyone was confused by her word choice. "What'd you mean by we'd all?" Aqua asked.
"What I'm trying to say is that if the Dinosaur King leaves for the future, so would the rest of us." The Megaraptor explained.
"So, we'd have to leave Max and Zoe?" Paris said.
"We'd have to say goodbye to you all?" Zoe said, tears starting to come out of her and Max's eyes at the realization.
"Not me." Someone spoke up. Everyone quietly gasped and looked to see it was Rocko who spoke up. "I'm not leaving." He said firmly.
"Rocko, what are you doing?" Charles quietly asked his friend. "You can't just say things like that."
"I'm sorry, dudes, but I'm not leaving. I've made friends here and I don't want to say goodbye to my homies just yet." Rocko explained himself.
"I'm with Rocko." Diamond spoke up. This didn't completely surprise everyone, but still slightly unexpected. "Come on, people. It's like everyone's forgotten that we managed to survive for a year without a king. We're not sheep who need to be guided everywhere, we're dinosaurs. We don't need someone to make all our decisions for us."
"Sounds pretty coupish." Spiny pointed out.
"I'm not suggesting anarchy. I'm saying to stop being a bunch of wimps and do things on our own." Diamond replied.
"Sounds like you want Rex gone." Chomp spoke up, hopping off his seat and looking up at Diamond. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're using this as an opportunity to become Queen."
"Why would I want that?" Diamond glared at the chibi Triceratops.
"You are the one who wants to see Dr.Z gushing blood all the time." Chomp pointed out. "As Queen, you could orchestrate a large attack on the Alpha Gang."
"Like you're giving off any different vibes." Diamond countered. "You and your brother claim to be the strongest, so I wouldn't be surprised if you both decided to become King with Rex gone."
Now it was Chomp and Terry's turn to be offended. "Why you stuck up, big headed..." What followed as a large argument amongst the herd as everyone started accusing the other of wanting the throne for themselves, leaving Max and Zoe in the middle of it all.
"Everyone, please stop fighting!" Zoe tried to reason, but her voice was nothing in the crowd but a faint whisper. Sighing in defeat, she knew she'd need help. "Max, can you-" She stopped herself when she saw that Max was not present. "Max?" She looked around but could not see the brunette amongst the feuding crowd. The pinkette walked through the angry masses before she noticed Max walking towards the exit of the sanctuary and out of the lab, his posture heavily slumped. "Max!" Zoe called out as she followed him.
As she left, the arguing was beginning to heat up. Some like Guru, Paris, and Teddy were trying to break up the fighting, but to little success. Suddenly, there was the loud sound of something scrapping against metal. Everyone stopped arguing with each other and winced in pain, trying to block out the noise to no avail. Once the noise stopped, they all looked up to see Rex looking down on them from the control room, using an old nail to have scrapped against the keypad. And he did not look happy. "Busted." Spiny said.
DK
After what seemed to be hours of climbing, the Alpha Gang were able to eventually reach what seemed like a hiking trail for rest. "Finally!" Ursula exclaimed as she collapsed from exhaustion on the trail. "I don't think I can go on!"
"I know I can't go on!" Ed added as he fell to his stomach.
"We have to go on." Zander told them, tears coming out of his eyes from the exhaustion. "Dr.Z swore we'd never be allowed back if we don't find the Cosmos Stone." He then tried to put on a smile. "Besides we only have..." Looking up, he saw that they had barely been able to scale the mountain. "12,000 more feet to go."
"12,000 more feet?!" Ursula repeated in shock before collapsing again. "Ooh! I give up! No roof over our heads is worth this torture!"
Ed was about to add his own thoughts when he realized they had a trick up their seleves they haven't been using. "Ah-ha!" He clapped his fist on his palm. "This is what we have dinosaurs for!" He told his partners.
Ursula and Zander looked at him in confusion. "I don't follow." Ursula said.
"Give me a sec and I'll show you." Ed told them as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his Alpha Scanner.
"ALPHA SLASH! LET'S GO, CARE-CURRY-CAR-A-DINOSAURUS!"
In a red glow, Fang appeared beside Ed. "OK, if you can't get my species name right, don't even bother trying." The Carcharodontosaurus growled at the fat man.
"I'll have Fang here dig us a tunnel to the center of the volcano." Ed explained his plan.
"Are you ignoring me?" Fang grew a tick-mark in irritation.
"Brilliant, I love it!" Ursula commented Ed's idea, mostly because it would keep them from climbing.
"Stop ignoring me." Now Fang was getting peeved.
"Go, Fang, dig to the core!" Ed told the Carcharodontosaurus before patting him on the leg, letting him know to go loose.
Fang was about to make another remark at them ignoring him, but stopped himself. He remembered the orders that Pyro and Yeager gave him, and how much trouble he would be in if he botched it up. Not giving them a reply, he went straight to work. He charged forward and banged his head against the side of the mountain. The resulting attack did do some damage, but all that was a crack in the mountain the size of his head. "Ow!" Fang hissed in pain from the damage he sustained.
"What was that, Fang?" Ursula asked the Carcharodontosaurus, her mood turning from happy to annoyed. "Hit it again!"
Fang wanted to retort, but knew he had to keep following their orders. Once again he rammed into the same spot as before. The crack became larger, and so did his head pain. "Gah!" Fang hissed again.
"Come on, Fang! Show that mountain who's boss!" Ed cheered on, Zander and himself waving flags with the Carcharodontosaur's face on them.
Fang turned his head slightly and glared at them. "When this is over, I'm going to roast your butts."
DK
Not too far away, the pirates were having slightly better luck. Key word: slightly. "Are we almost there?" Sheer asked Gavro, who was in the front. Due to their long flight, their wings didn't have enough strength to carry them to the top so they had to scale the mountain like the Alpha Gang. However, unlike their evil counterparts, they had the luxury of crashing somewhere on the mountain so they didn't have as much to climb.
"I think so." Gavro told them, taking a quick stop to see how close the peak was, but unable to do the math. "Hey, Foolscap, how close do you think we are?"
Foolscap was too busy climbing to notice that his brother stopped climbing until his face made contact with his brother's posterior. "Oof! It doesn't matter how close you are to something if you're not moving towards it!"
"I don't know how close that is." Gavro responded.
"It means get your butt out of my face!" The skinny pirate yelled before punching Gavro's rear.
The punch lead to Gavro slightly panicking and resumed his climbing at a faster rate. In his rush, he accidentally grabbed a part of the ledge that wasn't as stable as the rest and a small piece of rock fell off. "Uh-oh." Gavro said before he fell down.
"You nitwit!" Foolscap yelled before he was dragged down by Gavro.
"No, no, no, no!" Sheer repeated before the two men dragged her down with them. The trio continued on falling until they landed right where they had started their climbing. "That's it!" Sheer yelled at the two of them as she threw their bodies off of her. "That's the third time you've dragged us down! I'm going in front this time!"
"Sheer, I don't think we can scale this thing with our bare hands." Foolscap retorted as he rubbed his aching back. "We're flyers, not climbers."
"Wouldn't it be safer for us to rest and wait for our wings to heal up?" Gavro suggested.
"The Alpha Gang are no doubt already here." Sheer reminded them both. "We can't afford to let them get their hands on that stone, or else it could lead to pandemonium."
"Assuming they would survive contact with the stone." Foolscap joked. What he was referring to was the fact that only certain individual humans can touch a Cosmos Stone without protection and not be overwhelmed by the power inside.
"There are too many chances I don't want to take." Sheer retorted, pulling out a long list of ways they could obtain the stone without touching it. "They could have a dinosaur carry it. They could've made another Grappling Claw. They could use gloves!" She emphasized the last one.
"Wait, they can use dinosaurs?" Gavro pauses the list, raising his hand like a school kid.
"Yeah." The female guardian replied dully. "What'd you think these are for?" She pointed to the new chocker around her neck.
"Then why can't we just have them get the stone? They can dig." Gavro suggested.
"That actually is a good idea." Foolscap agreed surprisingly.
Sheer, on the other hand, did not seem to agree. "You're suggesting that we have them dig into a volcano with no idea where to go and possibly risk creating an eruption!" She glared at the two of them before pulling out another list. "Do I even need to tell you the possible consequences if one of them dies?"
Both men quickly shook their heads. "We...we could ride on their backs." Foolscap quietly said.
Sheer was about to give her two cents but stopped herself. They had a lot of mountain they still had to climb to reach the peak and they were getting more and more tired each time. If they continued this, they might not have enough energy to deal with the Alpha Gang if they should encounter them, much less grab the stone. If they had the dinosaurs carve a way in, that would give them time to rest and recuperate. Sighing in defeat, she pulled out a card. "I hate it when you two are right, sometimes." She told them before she began the summoning.
"ANKYLOSAURUS!"
She placed Trooper's card on her device and it dissolved. Shortly after, a purple glow appeared and Trooper emerged from it. "Woah!" Unlike with Fang, the ledge was not as wide for him, so he almost found himself falling off, his hind legs dangling over the edge. "Are you trying to kill me?!" He snapped at the trio before climbing back onto the ledge slowly and shifting his body so it was facing the same direction as the path they were on.
"Relax, Trooper. If we wanted to kill you we would've taken you to a waterfall." Foolscap joked, not fully realizing he was behind Trooper. This was met by Trooper slamming his tail where the pirate was sitting, a narrow dodge being what saved Foolscap from being flattened. "It's just a joke, man!"
"Jokes are supposed to be funny." Trooper said as he prepared his tail for another swing.
"You can kill Foolscap later, Trooper." Sheer stopped him. "Right now we need your help. You see-"
"I know about the Cosmos Stone and how it's in the volcano." Trooper stopped her. "Let me guess, you can't find a way in because your wings don't work and you need me to dig you a tunnel in."
The pirates all looked at the Ankylosaurus in shock. "How'd you figure that out?" Sheer asked.
"When you live in a herd that's 90% full of idiots, you pick up these things." The Ankylosaurus responded before slamming his tail against the rocks, creating a large hole. After a few more swings, the was able to make enough room for himself to enter the tunnel. "You coming or what?"
"I call front seat!" Foolscap said as he hopped onto the Ankylosaurus, only for Trooper to toss him off.
"No piggyback rides!" He warned them as he continued digging. The pirates groaned as they followed closely behind. This was not going to be enjoyable.
On the other side of the volcano, things were not going much better for Fang as he continued on slamming his head against the mountain to make a bigger hole. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
DK
The tension was so thick in the D-Lab Sanctuary that you could cut it with a knife a thousand times. Rex had come down from the viewing window and into the sanctuary where he walked through the crowd of dinosaurs. Whenever he looked in someone's direction, they would lower their head like a scolded dog.
Eventually he arrived at the head of the group and took a seat. "What was it?" He asked them without turning around, the hurt in his voice clear as day.
There was a silence before Tank spoke up. "What was what?"
"What was it that upset you all?" Rex asked them as he turned around. He didn't look it on the outside, but on the inside he was breaking down from the supposed betrayal of his friends/subjects. "I try my hardest to be a good king. But I can't make you happy if you don't tell me what's wrong. Whatever it is you want me to fix, I'll try to as best I can. Please understand we try everything we can to make you all happy, but-"
"It was her." Spiny cut him off as he pointed to Diamond.
The Pachycephalosaurus glared at Spiny and snorted at him before turning to Rex, who looked at her in confusion and with slight anger. Noticing the looks she was receiving from the others that mimicked the King's, Diamond looked at Rex before saying. "Hey, I said nothing about overthrowing you, not even suggesting it. All I was saying was that we didn't need to follow you wherever you go and that we could take care of ourselves once you were gone."
"Once I'm gone." Rex repeated, now fully glaring. "Sounds suspicious if you ask me."
Diamond, realizing her situation, looked around frantically. "Hey, I was just going off what Rocko was saying!"
"Oi! Don't you drag me into this!" The Altirhinus retorted, rearing onto his hind legs. "All I said was that I wanted to stay here! You were the one who suggested an uprising because we've all apparently gone soft!"
"Staying here?" Rex now repeated, but was ignored by Diamond's response.
"For the last time, I wasn't suggesting we overthrow King Rex!" Diamond yelled in frustration. "How many times do I have to engrave it into your skulls!"
"That's enough, Diamond." Rex stopped her, raising a hand for silence. "Why would someone moving to another part of the globe be something worth holding a meeting over behind my back?"
"I believe it was something to do with what I said." Nessie admitted, though not sounding anymore ashamed than normal. "We overheard you and your mother talking about seeing the future and that started to arise worry amongst those present. Then I mentioned how you returning to the future with your mother was inevitable, how all good things would have to come to an end eventually."
Realizing what was going on, Rex's expression softened. "You all thought I was going to move to the future and you'd all have to come with me." He said. The dinosaurs all nodded in agreement. "Oh, guys, I'm sorry if I made you all worry." Rex apologized. "I was talking with my mother about visiting her home only temporarily. I do not plan on moving to another time period, especially with the Alpha Gang still at large."
A small wave of relief washed over the herd, knowing they wouldn't have to fear being separated from each other. "That's good to here. Because I'm pretty sure Max thinks you're leaving." Spiny said, killing the mood.
"Wait." Rex said. "Max was here, too?"
"And Zoe." Toro confirmed before bowing to the blonde. "Your Highness, I take full responsibility for this confusion."
Rex responded by gently petting the Torosaur's head. "It's fine, Toro. You were just concerned for the others. I couldn't ask for a better leader of the guard." He picked up his crutches and went for the door. "We can talk about this later if anyone still had questions. Right now I need to talk to Max."
DK
Trooper had little to no idea where he was supposed to dig to. All he knows is that the Cosmos Stone is active near fire, so wherever there's magma there could be the stone, and the magma should all be at the caldera. Problem was none of the idiots behind him thought to map out a path that wouldn't come with the risk of him falling into the volcano. So, in a way, he did know where he was supposed to dig to. He just didn't know how to get there without dying. His only guide being the rising temperatures, and those did not ease his concerns. "Do you have any idea if I'm getting closer or not?" Trooper decided to ask them, immediately regretting it afterwards since he knew the answer.
"If it's getting hotter, you're probably getting closer to the caldera, so I'd say yes." Foolscap replied with slight bitterness.
Bitterness that Trooper detected. He stopped digging and turned around to face the trio of pirates. "Are you saying that because you have no idea where you're going? Or is it because I won't let you ride my back?"
"...If I tell you can I ride you?" Sheer and even Gavro facepalmed at his response. If there was enough room, Trooper would've crushed him with his tail.
Instead, the Ankylosaurus decided to put his foot down before he kills himself, or risk a chain reaction that could do the same to the rest of the island. "Okay, I refuse to continue digging for you if you don't have a path charted out that would minimize the risk of me falling into the volcano."
"What do you want us to do?" Sheer asked. "We have no idea where the stone exactly is, and we can't wait to rest our wings or else it might already be gone by the time we find it"
"Oh, my wings are fine." Gavro told them. "They weren't really sore to begin with."
Foolscap turned around and glared at his brother. "And you decided to tell us now!?" He screamed before grabbing him by the throat and attempting to strangle him, which didn't really work given the size of Gavro's throat.
"Gavro, you realize you could've saved us an hours worth of failed climbing if you just carried us to the top." Sheer crosser her arms and glared at him.
"Would you have trusted him if he did try that?" Trooper asked Sheer.
"Well, not exactly..." Sheer admitted shamefully.
"Then, there you go. Don't trust idiots."
Sheer sighed as she decided to focus on the more important job, the two brothers still having their little squabble. "Look, what'll it take for you to continue helping us. And don't say a safer path because the tracker isn't giving us specifics." She pulled out a small device that had a small version of the detector map to prove her point.
"Since you can't tell if you're sending me to my death or not." He bashed the stone with his head, revealing a fork in the cave on the other side. "Use those wings of yours to figure out which path would be safest." The Ankylosaurus refused to have his death be responsible by a bunch of wannabe circus clowns.
Seeing that Trooper wasn't budging, Sheer opened her wings and slowly flew ahead. She pulled out the detector to see if it might be able to give her a hint as to the right location. However, looking at every little detail on the screen, she was unable to tell a difference. "I swear he did this on purpose." She grumbled to herself, referring to her boss, before doing eni-mini-mani-mo in her head and landing on the cave to the right. Sighing to herself, she flew into the cave.
It was so dark that she could barely see her hands directly in front of her eyes. She had to hold out her hands to make sure she doesn't fly into anything. "I swear, sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who takes any of this job serious- gah!" The female guardian was stopped when her hand touched a surface and immediately felt it burn. Her reflexes made her remove the hand from the surface and cover it with the free one. "Darn wall." She hissed. "Couldn't just be a dead end! It had to also burn my hand!" Kicking the wall in frustration, Sheer turned around and started to fly out to try the next path.
She didn't get very far before the part of the wall that she kicked started to crack. It wasn't until a piece of it fell off and light shinned through that she noticed something was on the other side. "Hang on a minute." She flew back and looked through the small hole that she had created. On the other side she could see sunlight, meaning it had to be the center of the volcano. "Guys, I've found the caldera!" She called out to her team.
About a minute later, Foolscap and Gavro, still tussling over earlier, were rolled over by Trooper. "This is the place?" The Ankylosaurus asked Sheer.
Sheer nodded in confirmation. "The caldera should be right behind this wall." She pointed to the hole she made.
"Stand back." Trooper warned her as he walked over to the wall.
With one swing of the tail, the whole wall came down. Fragments of the wall were sent in the direction of the two brothers and would've probably hurried them had they not noticed when they did. "Whoa!" Foolscap exclaimed as he let go of Gavro and flew out of the way. "Warn me next time you do that!"
"Not my problem." Was Trooper's reply as they walked though the new path.
Sure enough they found themselves on a ledge that was in the caldera of the volcano. "Well, we found the caldera." Sheer said as she looked around.
"Yeah, but we still haven't found the stone." Foolscap pointed out. "For all we know it could be inside the volcano."
"It would have to be." Trooper said as he walked over to the edge and looked down into the pit of magma. "If my memory of the legends serves correctly, Cosmos Stones need to be in direct contact with the element to activate."
"When you say activate, do you mean how they come out of being comatose, or how this one might blow us all up?" Foolscap asked.
"...Yes." Was Trooper's reply before moving back the way the came and lying down near the cave. "To whoever you decide to send after the stone, you'll hopefully be missed." He told the trio before closing his eyes.
The trio looked at each other, not knowing what to do in this situation. Sure, they've went into volcanos before, but that was with specific suits to block the heat. "Should we draw sticks?" Gavro suggested.
Before the other two could respond, the wall on the other side of the volcano started to give. Out of the dust appeared a very exhausted looking Fang. "Finally!" Fang exclaimed before collapsing due to the massive headache he had.
The Alpha Gang appeared from behind him and Ursula climbed onto his back. "Hey! Don't sleep now! We need you to get us the stone!" She started jumping on his back to try and get the Carcharodontosaurus onto his feet.
"Get someone else to do it." Fang grumbled as he tried to block out the pain from both the headache and Ursula's heels. "My head hurts."
"That won't be the only thing hurting if we can't find that stone!" Ursula reminded him.
"Tough luck doing that, old lady." Sheer told her, announcing their presence to the other trio.
"I am not an old lady!" Ursula yelled at Sheer before realizing who she was talking to. "Sh-Sheer?! What are you doing here?"
"Wasn't that obvious? We're taking that Cosmos Stone before some idiots take it."
"Hey, we're also looking for the Cosmos Stone!" Ed said, not realizing they were the idiots she was talking about.
"We know. Who'd you think she was referring to when she said idiots?" Gavro said. "Even I knew that." This lead to Ed become pale in realization and sulked in the corner in shame since Gavro of all people was smarter than him.
"I'll have you know that I recently took an IQ test and scored average, thank you very much." Zander said smugly.
"If you need an IQ test to know your intelligence, that pretty much tells everyone that you have no faith in yourself." Foolscap countered, leading to Zander joining Ed in the corner.
"Whatever! We all know that I'm far more superior than everyone here!" Ursula yelled at them, steaming coming out of her head.
"Yeah, but that's supposedly when it comes to looks." Sheer countered as she traced her body. "And, I'm pretty sure more guys find me girlfriend material than you. I'm smart, reliable, and way more attractive than you." She now was hovering slightly off the ground as she tried to look as attractive as possible. "Not to mention, still in my prime." Sheer smirked as Ursula joined the two men in the corner.
Fang groaned as he got back onto his feet. "Whatever. You're not fighting them. You're fighting me." He told the trio, unaware of Trooper's presence. "And I doubt you have dinosaur combat training."
"Wait, that's right!" Ursula realized as the trio leapt into their feet in triumph. "You knew we were coming, yet didn't think of asking any of the brats to help you in case you did run into us!" She said as she pulled out her Alpha Scanner. "Pretty sure that makes you even dumber."
"ALPHA SLASH! GO, MAPUSAURUS!"
In a red glow, the Clone Mapusaurus, Screamer, appeared next to Fang. "Looks like we get some lunch before we get that stone." Fang told the trio as he and Screamer went towards them in opposite directions.
Yet, instead of panicking, the trio seemed to be excited. "I was hopping you'd show up." Foolscap told them as he grabbed a card. "Otherwise all this preparation would've been for nothing."
"ISN'T THAT RIGHT, TORVOSAURUS!"
Gavro immediately followed in suit while Sheer snapped her fingers, altering Trooper of the oncoming threats.
"YANGCHUANOSAURUS!"
The two carnivores appeared on the path Fang was taking while Trooper got up and stood in front of Screamer. The Alpha Gang were taken aback by this. "H-how?!" Ursula exclaimed.
"I thought you needed stones to summon dinosaurs?!" Ed said.
"I call hacks!" Zander yelled at them.
"You call it hacks, we call it divine assistance." Killer told them as the battle begun.
Fang and Killer met themselves in a headlock before the Carcharodontosaur's chest was rammed by Yang. While that was happening, Trooper was sidestepping all of Screamer's snaps. Seeing that his teeth weren't working, Screamer swung his tail at the Ankylosaurus. But Trooper was able to intercept with his own tail and get into a tail-lock before tackling the Mapusaurus away.
Screamer landed with a loud thud and got back onto his feet, growling at the Ankylosaurus. "You're really starting to piss me off."
"Congratulations, now you know how I feel about everyone." Trooper replied before they went into a headlock of their own.
As they struggled to overpower the other, Ursula watched the battle from afar. "Hmm. That Ankylosaurus seems to have gotten even stronger than when we battled it in the subway." She said to herself as she pulled out a Fire Move Card. "I'm pretty sure Dr.Z will be pleased if we catch him along with the stone. And that job will be made a lot easier with Volcano Burst!"
Screamed felt the power activate and used his head to flip Trooper onto his back where he was helpless. Next, the Mapusaurus proceeded to swing his head around as fire appeared in his mouth until he dropped it towards the ground and sent of column of fire that engulfed the Ankylosaurus. "Trooper!" Sheer cried in shock before turning her attention to Ursula. "How'd you even do that? I know for a fact you don't have that Move Card!"
"Hahaha!" Ursula laughed. "You're not the only ones who got a major power boost since we last met four months ago!"
"But we really haven't seen them in almost two years." Ed pointed out. "We just knew they were helping the brats when we had to retreat."
Ursula slumped over and hit Ed on the head. "Thanks for ruining the moment, Ed." She grumbled.
"And you call us hacks." Sheer glared at them. No doubt this had something to do with that memory thing Seth did when they made that Dinosaur Land park.
The fire seceded and revealed a torched Ankylosaurus on his back. "So, you managed to hold on." Screamer said as he approached the downed dinosaur. "You fought well. But this is checkmate."
"I don't think so..." Gavro tried to retort, but couldn't find a good insult. "Taste Venom Fang!"
He placed the Move Card on his device and a purple mist appeared by Yang, who was watching Killer smack Fang's face repeatedly with his tail. "All right! Where do I go for?" Venom asked, eyeing the cloned Carcharodontosaurus.
"Actually." Yang turned Venom around with her head. "Trooper needs your help more than us."
"Good enough for me!" The Piatnitzkysaurus cheered before running towards Screamer and Trooper. Screamer had just picked up Trooper by the tail and was about to toss him into a wall when Venom leapt onto his neck. "Surprise!" Venom yelled before breathing his toxic breath on him. The Mapusaurus clone roared in pain, dropping Trooper to the ground as he stumbled, trying to get the poison out of his eyes. This left him open to Trooper hitting him on the side with a powerful swing of the tail that sent him crashing into the wall of the volcano, Venom leaping off just as the swing made contact.
Elsewhere, Fang had managed to grab a hold of Killer's tail and was slowly dragging him towards the center of the volcano, the Torvosaur's struggles making it hard to keep his grip. "I'm pretty sure your boss would want me alive." Killer told Fang, kicking his face in an effort to make the larger carnivore let him go.
Fang, realizing he had a point, stopped his pulling. "Shoot. He's right."
"Don't worry, Fang, we can take him out with Neck Crusher!" Ed swiped the Move Card and a red glow surrounded Fang before he went straight for Killer.
"Nice try!" Foolscap told them both as he pulled out his own Move Card. "Let's heat things up with Magma Blaster!"
Magma gathered in Killer's mouth before he slammed his foot to the ground and fired. "Aah!" Ed screamed as he realized the mistake he made. The magma struck Fang dead center and sent him crashing towards the other side of the wall.
"And for an added measure, Burning Dash!" Fire gathered in Yang's mouth before she went for the downed Fang and picked him up.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Fang tried to plead, but to no avail. Yang continued on her attack until she reached Screamer. Fire in the shape on an X engulfed the two clone theropods as they dropped to the ground.
The two of them got to their feet and saw that they were surrounded. Killer and Yang advancing from one side, Trooper and Venom from the other. The two of them tried to backup, but found themselves stopped by the wall behind them. The Alpha Gang saw this and didn't like where this was going. "Ed, do something to get rid of them!" Ursula ordered the short man.
Ed thought about what he could do before he remembered a Move Card that could do the trick. "I'll use Heat Eruption!" He announced as he slashed the card.
"Heat Eruption?!" Sheer and Foolscap repeated, knowing what was the effects of using that move next to a volcano with a Cosmos Stone. "Noooo!"
It was too late as Ed had already swiped the card. A red glow surrounded Fang as he roared towards the sky. Immediately after, the magma started to bubble and rise. "Uh-oh." Fang realized what was about to happen.
"Now you've done it!" Trooper yelled at the Clone Carcharodontosaurus just before the volcano erupted in a massive explosion of now lava rocketing into the sky. The Cosmos Stone inside only made the eruption stronger and the lava spew out faster.
"No! We're done for!" The Alpha Gang screamed, realizing their mistake too late.
"Move!" Killer urged his teammates, pushing them back into the cave until they managed to snap out of the shock.
"That's our cue to get out of here!" Sheer agreed with Killer as they pirates flew out of the volcano, leaving the Alpha Gang all trapped inside.
"Aaaaah!" The trio screamed as steam started to erupt around them. They tried to run back the way they came, but steam prevented them from getting out. "This is bad!" Zander screamed.
"I don't wanna die!" Ed cried as he and Zander hugged.
"I can't die now! I still have to prove that witch wrong!" Ursula whined.
"I haven't told Yeager I loved her yet!" Fang added his dying thoughts.
"She wouldn't have accepted you anyway." Was all Screamer had to say before the ground beneath them erupted in a geyser of lava.
"Waaah!" The trio screamed as they were sent flying high into the air, the cards of their dinosaurs following them.
As the Alpha Gang were blasted away, the pirates flew down to the hole the made and met up with Trooper, who had led the hunters through the tunnels before they were blocked with steam and filled with lava. "Out of the way!" He pushed the trio out of his way as the dinosaurs quickly sidestepped out of the path of lava.
"This is bad!" Yang said. "Not only do we not know how to get the Cosmos Stone now, the volcano's erupting!"
"We'll be fine, Yang." Killer assured her. "The guardians can simply return us to our cards and we can escape without much trouble."
"And what about the people down there?" Venom gestured to the large city below them. Even from where they were standing, they could hear the sirens declaring emergency and the screams of people below.
"I'm afraid they have no chance." Sheer said grimly.
"Isn't there something we can do?" Gavro asked as the lava stared speeding up down the hill.
"Not unless we can redirect lava with out barehands." Foolscap told his brother
"So, your solution is to run away and let those people die a painful death." Trooper glared at them. "Some guardians." He huffed.
"What alternative are you suggesting?" Sheer asked the Ankylosaurus. "The ship's too far away to teleport all the people to safety."
Trooper responded by looking down at the lava, now minutes away from the village. "If we hurry, I can use my Mole Attack to create a large ditch that can redirect the flow of the lava."
"That might actually work." Sheer realized as she pulled out the Move Card and placed it on her chocker. "Good luck!"
As Trooper glowed purple, he looked back at everyone behind him. "Well, I guess this is it." He told them, knowing the chances of his survival were impossible.
"Trooper, what are you talking about?" Yang asked, not liking the grim tone of his voice.
"Tell everyone else that even though they all annoyed me to no extend, my time with them were the best moments of my life. Take care." With that said, Trooper leapt off the cliff.
"TROOPER!" Everyone cried out, but it was too late. The Ankylosaurus started spinning before he landed in the ground at started moving towards the coast, creating a huge ditch that trapped the lava inside. He kept digging faster and faster, feeling the heat of the lava coming from behind him. Finally, he had reached the cliffside looking over the ocean and dove in, the lava from the ditch falling right after him.
The water from the ocean was enough to start cooling down the lava, the red glow turning into a harden black. After about five minutes, all the lava had cooled down and had turned into rock. From the city, the people cheered at the avoided disaster, but the pirates and hunters did not feel the same joy.
After reaching the place where Trooper took his faithful plunge, the six of them just looked at the sea in silence, the only sound being the crashing of the waves. "Trooper." Sheer said quietly, tears coming out of her eyes just like everyone else.
"I'm sorry for beating you up in a video game!" Foolscap sobbed, forgetting that he actually was using the Ankylosaurus in their most recent rounds due to his grief. "I promise I'll main you from now on!"
Everyone continued on crying and mourning for about a minute before they decided that it was time to move on. "Come on." Killer told them. "We better inform the others of what's happened."
The others agreed, knowing that the news would devastate Rex. They had promised to keep the dinosaurs he called family safe, and they had failed in the worst possible way. But as they turned around to leave, the water below them started to bubble. Venom heard this and stopped. "What's that gurgling sound?"
"Probably just some lava cooling." Sheer waved him off depressingly.
However, Killer and Yang didn't seem convinced. "You feel that?" Yang asked her former boss.
"Yeah." Killer confirmed. "Something powerful is back there." The hunters turned around and looked back over the cliffside. "You guys might want to come here." Killer called out to the pirates. "I think whatever this is could be important."
The trio looked at each other before flying over to where the theropods were. The bubbles stared to get larger and larger until finally the water burst to reveal Trooper, his back slightly burned, but still alive. "Trooper!" They all cried with delight.
"And to think I made that whole farewell speech for nothing." Trooper grumbled as he swam to shore.
"He's alive!" Foolscap cried as he hugged Venom tightly, almost breaking the Piatnitzkysaur's neck.
"That's great, but I need oxygen!" Venom croaked.
Despite knowing that they all survived, Killer still seemed to be in thought. "That still doesn't explain the power I was feeling down there."
"What exactly are you feeling?" Gavro asked. "If you ask me, I think it's just your-"
"No, it's not me." Killer said, sharpening his gaze on the coastline before noticing something washing up onshore. "It's that." He pointed to a murky orb.
"Wait a minute." Sheer said as she flew down to investigate. The stone seemed to be covered in what looked like hot hardened rock. She could also feel the power coming off of it once she held it in her hands. "Is this?" She tried removing the rock covering the orb with her hand until she saw a small piece of red amongst the muck. "It is!" She exclaimed as she finished cleaning the orb off and flying back to the others. "We got the Cosmos Stone!" She held the stone up for them all to see.
"Yeah!" The two brothers cheered as they bumped chests.
"I guess this day ended well for everyone after all." Trooper chuckled to himself.
DK
Meanwhile, Max was sitting just outside the D-Lab. He was in deep thought about the idea of Rex, Terry, Chomp, all of them leaving for the future. He had always hopped that they would've stayed together forever. But now it seemed they would have to say goodbye very soon.
"Max?" Zoe called out as she approached from behind, slightly startling the boy. "Are you feeling better?"
"I'm fine, Zoe." Max grumbled. Knowing he was clearly not, Zoe say next to him.
"I know how you're feeling." Zoe told him. "I've known Rex for as long as you. He's practically like our older brother. And Paris, Spiny, Jet, Gertie, Futaba, all of them will be impossible to replace. But we can't hold Rex back. If this is what he wants, we should let him have it."
"I know that." Max agreed, clenching his fist in anger as tears started to slide down his face. "But that doesn't mean it'll be any easier to say goodbye!"
"Then maybe try something like sayōnara." Max and Zoe turned around and saw Rex behind them.
"Rex!" Max quietly exclaimed.
"How long were you there?" Zoe asked, fearing he might have gotten the wrong idea.
"The others already filled me in on what that meeting was for." Rex told them, placing his crutches on the ground and sitting in between his two friends. "Guys, I'm not leaving for the future. Maybe for a quick visit to see my mom's home, but I have a home here with all of you." He wrapped his arms around both of them and brought them into a hug.
"But what about your mother?" Zoe asked. "You'd be alone again after just finding your family."
Rex shook his head. "I already talked with my mom about it, and she understands completely. Besides, she's only a part of my family. You guys, Tank, Ace, Terry, Chomp, Spiny, Paris, all of the dinosaurs. You guys are my family, too." Max and Zoe said nothing in response and instead returned to hug.
DK
With the Alpha Gang, they had conveniently landed back on Zeta Point, right in front of their boss, who was sunbathing at the moment. "I'm assuming you've found the stone?" He asked without looking up from his tanning.
"Uhhhhh." Ursula said before deciding to come clean. "Yeah! Yeah, we totally found the stone!"
"Let me rephrase that." Dr.Z pulled out his gun and pointed it at them. "Did you obtain it?"
"…..You didn't say anything about obtaining it." Was Ursula's reply before the trio darted out of shooting range. While Dr.Z didn't shoot them this time, next time might not be so fortunate for the three of them.
DK
After what seemed like an hour of sitting together in the woods, the kids reentered the D-Lab. Greeting them was the rest of the team, all seeming very excited. "Max, Rex, Zoe!" Terry exclaimed as he and the other chibi dinosaurs ran over to them. "The pirates just dropped by with the others."
"Others?" Max said before remembering those absent during the meeting. "Oh, right." He snapped his fingers. "How'd the mission go?"
"Why don't you see for yourself." Sheer said as the dinosaurs moved out of the way to allow the kids though to the control panel where the pirates where with Trooper.
Upon seeing him, the kids noticed that the Ankylosaurus was wearing a medal around his neck. "Where'd you get that?" Rex asked.
"It's a Presidential Medal of Freedom." Trooper replied, looking down proudly at his new medal. "I got it from saving an entire town from a volcano single handedly."
"What?!" The kids said in shock. "You stopped a whole volcano by yourself?!" Rex asked him.
"He sure did." Foolscap replied, walking over to them. "And he also found this." He reached behind himself and showed them the Cosmos Stone. "Behold, a Cosmos Stone!"
"Whoa." The three of them said as they looked at the orb in amazement. "It's like an entire universe inside of there." Max said.
"Considering how they were formed, that seems appropriate." Rex said, remembering his lessons from Guru on the stones and their origin.
"What'd you plan on doing with it?" Zoe asked.
"We'll keep it on our ship for safe keeping from the Alpha Gang." Sheer told them, taking the stone from Foolscap and placing it on a device that locked it in place. "However, there is something we'd want you to see first."
The stone glowed even brighter before it shinned a light onto the glowing object in the center of the lab. The light formed a screen that revealed a familiar looking face for Rex and the pirates, and one of complete amazement for everyone else. "Hello, D-Team." Seikatsu greeted them.
Next time on Dinosaur King:
Toro: Ah, it feels good to be in command of a unit again.
(The herd marching behind him all crash into each other, forming a large pile of dinosaurs)
Toro: Though I believe that we will need some more training before we're ready for the battlefield of war
A/N: OK, with my classes coming to a close, hopefully my procrastination won't be a problem anymore. I mean, it's 11:00 by the time I'm posting this!
So, now we got the idea of what the Cosmos Stones are for, basically another scavenger hunt to beat the Alpha Gang at. The main reason for doing these was to give minor dinosaurs more time to shine, and open up the possibly for different interactions. It also is probably entertaining to have now another version of the Alpha Gang, except these are good guys. Expect this hunt to lead to something big.
As for the B-plot, really I just wanted to solidify that Rex and the dinosaurs were not going to leave like they did in the anime. I promise that won't be how this ends. And before anyone asks how this will affect the Timeline, the pirates did something, it worked, please don't ask what.
I believe I've said all I wanted, so hopefully we'll get another chapter in May.