Dinosaur Queen

by HunterHQ

A young girl named Cera and her partner Miku awaken without a clue as to where or when they are, even as to who they are. Join them on their journey as they work together through trials of many kinds to dig up their past and piecing it together, while battling foes across space and even time itself!

6. How the Canyon Crumbles

Chapter 6

How the canyon crumbles

It was early in the morning at Zeta Point, Seth was in his laboratory keeping to himself and all his matters in the dark away from Dr Z and the others, knowing they were short sighted and couldn't never comprehend his ideals or the revolution he was determined to bring forth. He smirked to himself seeing that things had taken an unexpected turn with a new dinosaur user in the D team with an unknown dinosaur herself, but knew full well how he could exploit this to his advantage. As he prepared to activate his machine which would no doubt amplify the abilities of both stegosaurus and saurophaganax, he decided to perform a test run to ensure energy levels were stable and wouldn't cause any negative side effects, after all he needed his dinosaurs to be in perfect condition if his vision was to become a reality. The circuits lit up as he pushed up levers and pressed buttons, and the laser guns in the glass enclosures began powering up as he smiled with delight to see it was coming together…..till they suddenly shut down unexpectedly to his disappointment.

Checking his equipment's integrity he narrowed his eyes seeing that the alpha metal supplies were insufficient in powering up his device to the level of power he was hoping for. Meaning he had to find a new deposit and soon. As much as as he detested having his time taken away from his experiments he had little choice but to put them on hold for the time being, as he switched over to a screen monitor. As it switched on it showed Rod and Laura in their pyjamas while in their room working at their computers, no doubt having to do with the large amount of homework and assignments that were piled on them before they left home.

In his mind he initially planned to send them to harvest metal but then decided against it, seeing it instead as the perfect opportunity to help throw off any suspicion off his trail (especially Helga, who was beginning to get a bit nosy lately after she joined the duo on their trip to Cambodia). Furthermore, he knew that mining was a task unworthy of the 2 children, believing their talents were far better suited to capturing dinosaurs. With no other choice he decided to leave his lab to notify the 3 stooges, knowing they could also be of some other use to him as well, as he smirked placing his hand into his pocket.

Meanwhile in Dr Z's bedroom, Ursula, Zander and Ed were doing what they could to help relieve the poor old man of his excruciating back pain. This time by walking and stepping over him. First Ursula decided to practice cat walking over him in the event she would one day go on stage at a fashion show or beauty pageant, Zander tried various yoga standing poses and Ed even tried to tap dance on him! Little did Dr Z know, was that part of what they were doing was taking off some of their frustration on him by hoping to trample on him intentionally!

Eventually, having enough of their so called help Dr Z gritted his teeth and exploded with immense rage! "Gah! You call that a massage!? Stop trampling on me and get off you useless twits!" he screeched shaking his fist as they quickly jumped off in a fright!

"EEEP!" They landed on top of one another as Dr Z threw them off as they scrambled out and shook out their hands worriedly.

"We're sorry Dr Z! It's just we keep seeing this as a way to cure backaches on TV!" Ursula cried out recalling various shows where some people walked on another's back to massage them. "So we thought that just maybe it might be the ticket!"

"Actually it was more like Ed who suggested it to us! We just followed what he said and nothing more!" Zander followed as he and Ursula quickly pointed fingers at him leaving him out to dry!

He looked to each of them in horror, shocked that they were willing to turn on him without hesitation just to save their own excuses! "Say what!?"

"Enough of your excuses! Ack!" Dr Z croaked as he sat up before falling back down on his bed, "Urgh…..I need a real treatment for this back ache of mine….." he groaned and tensed feeling worse than ever. With another burst of energy he shot up straight to the trio's surprise, "Get me a massage chair now! Or better yet a chiropractor!" he spat as they stood up like soldiers ready for duty!

"O…On the double Dr Z!" They said as they rushed to the door, only to be stopped by a massive woman in a housemaid outfit!

"Not so fast!" she bellowed intimidatingly as the trio stopped in their tracks and fell backwards!

"EH!?"

As she walked in they scurried out of their way as Dr Z shivered, seeing her eyes focusing straight into his soul, "I will not allow it Dr Z! We have only just barely managed to make ends meet and I have no intention of letting your selfish whining bring us down to the red again!" she said firmly.

"Y….yeah that's right!"

"Shame on you doctor! We thought you'd know better!" Ursula and Zander followed singing with Helga as Dr Z gritted his teeth knowing what they were trying to do.

He then whimpered upon seeing Helga staring down at him with authority, "B….But my back is really killing me….." he pouted, "Also Ursula, Zander and Ed are so tired from trying to help me, don't you feel sorry for all their hard work? I wouldn't want to keep imposing on them unfairly…." he whimpered while showing his best puppy dog eyes though to no effect.

"Huh?"

"Hmph in that case." Helga then put on a rather sinister grin as she began popping her knuckles. Each one as loud as a dinner bell as the trio froze in fear and shuddered while Dr Z could feel his spine chill! "I'll give my special surefire treatment for any kind of back pain or ailment there is! Once I'm through with you your backspin will be gone just like the dinosaurs!" said Helga as the old man crept as far back as he could not his bed shaking his hands out.

"E…E…Errr Helga….There's really no need really…..I…I'm sure it'll go away just fine on it's own!" he quivered.

"Nonsense!" Helga cut him off as she took hold and flipped him onto his back as he shivered with fear, "Now stay there and hold still while I work! Don't you dare move otherwise you'll end up in a state far worse than you are right now!" she threatened as he quickly turned to his henchmen for help.

"H….Help me!" he cried pleadingly before screaming his head off, "You 3 numbskulls! Don't just stand there! Do something!"

The A team would gladly brave any kind of danger for their beloved doctor, but taking on Helga was well above their pay grade, "D…don't worry Dr Z, Helga's the expert here, I'm sure she knows what she's doing."

"We're rooting for you!"

"If anything goes wrong we promise to honour you for the rest of our days….." They each said not wishing to endanger their own health and well being much to the doctor's frustration.

"You traitors!" he screeched, "If only I could move I'd pummel you all into the ground by now!"

"Enough Dr Z! You sound worse than a child!" Helga bellowed silencing him once more.

"Y…yes ma'am….." he croaked as he tensed up, feeling Helga's brutish hand brush across his back knowing she planning out just where to apply the most pressure, or better yet pain!

"Now if we start on the spine you'll feel more relaxed afterward." she noted before staring frightingly at the helpless doctor, "Don't think of resisting, otherwise I'll be forced to use strict methods of discipline and restraining you!"

"GAAAAAAHHHH!" he screamed, as she held her hand up prepared to deliver a firm karate chop!

Ring Ring

A bell sound rung as she stopped inches from making contact. She looked out to the door as the others followed too, before she let go. "Hmmm how unfortunate my appointment with you must be cut short Dr Z. Rod and Laura are in need of me." she said disappointed as she took her leave, much to the relief of the other 4 people who felt their hearts quiet down or let out gasps of relief. "I will be back shortly, so till then stay put!" she said as she left the room.

"N….No need to rush Helga!" Dr Z cried out.

"Y….yes that's right! Take your time! Rod and Laura need you way more!" Zander followed.

"They're so lucky to have you!" Ed followed clapping his hands together.

"Why can't she be harsh to them for a change?" Ursula muttered rubbing her temple.

Dr Z then slowly turned over to the trio with a malicious grin, signalling he hadn't forgotten about what they tried to do to him earlier, not only trampling him but even trying to leave him at Helga's mercy! "As for you…."

"Gah!" they shuddered and widened their eyes as he grinned rather sadistically himself!

"Prepare to-"

"Pardon me for the intrusion doctor." a familiar voice spoke out calmly and with respect.

"Huh?" As they all turned they saw a serious blue haired man in a thick coat step in before them, the trio feeling at ease knowing that they were safe since Dr Z usually was in a good mood whenever he was around.

"Hmm? What is it Seth?" Dr Z raised in eyebrow as his trusted assistant bowed with respect.

"I came here to report that our alpha metal supply is beginning to run low once again," he said sounding rather unfortunate as he held out a small tablet depicting the supplies running low, "According to my best estimates we may have only enough to last for no more than a few days at our current rate of usage." he said.

"Gah! That's terrible!" Dr Z gasped clasping his hands on his cheeks in horror, "If that happens everything from our devices, machines or even our base could fall apart piece by piece!" he cried out.

The trio huddled together, "And what's worse? For all we know he's going to be sending us off to some horrible deposit site like in the middle of the desert or even the bottom of the ocean!" Ursula hissed with annoyance as her 2 grunts shuddered.

"Oh how I get bad memories just thinking about that….." Ed whimpered.

Overhearing the Seth smirked knowing he had just the idea to rectify their dilemma, "Fortunately, after recent excursions to harvest alpha metal, I was able to develop and improve the detector's capabilities," he said flipping to a different screen showing a newly developed alpha counter now in a sleeker and more advanced design, "Therefore it should be able to operate without any outside interference nor encounter any errors in metal detection." he explained, "In fact, I even took the liberty of testing it myself, as a result I was able to pinpoint a rather large and promising deposit hidden deep within the Grand canyon in Arizona." He said as the map projected on his screen which showed a red blinking beacon on said location.

"Is that so?" Dr Z mused before grinning and clapping his hands like an excited child, "That's excellent news! Great work Seth my boy!" he cheered as Seth smiled.

The trio shivered knowing exactly what it meant, even cursing Seth for making something so devious to send them out once more. As they tried to tip toe out, Dr Z suddenly shot them a firm glance, "You 3 could take a cue from him, maybe you'd learn to be useful for a change." he shouted making them jump and freeze in their tracks.

They turned to him shakily and held weak thumbs up, "We'll keep that in mind doctor."

"Loud and clear." Ursula and Zander each said as Ed nodded.

"You'd better." Dr Z grunted before gritting his teeth, "Well don't just stand there! You have a mission! Bring me back that alpha metal this instant!"

"Gah! Right away sir!"

"On the double!"

"You don't need to tell us twice!" They all jumped before scrambling for the loading bay for their transport, which hopefully wouldn't crash and burn for the umpteenth time. As they left the room, Seth soon did leaving Dr Z in bed, as the door shut he held out his hand from his pocket which revealed a small fly shaped droid which buzzed its wings as it took flight and followed after the bumbling trio, knowing it would prove most useful.

A large apatosaurus shaped helicopter left Zeta Point soon after and after travelling for some time it soon arrived at a vast Canyon in the middle of a barren land, "Well here we are, the grand Canyon." Said Zander eying the map as he prepared for landing.

Looking out the window, Ursula yawned in boredom as she settled her head in her hand as she leaned back in her seat, "I don't get what's so grand about it, looks like a barren wasteland to me..." she muttered.

Ed who sat next to her was reading a guidebook he got on natural wonders of the world, so he eagerly turned to answer her, "Well from what I researched it's because-"

"And I don't care." she interrupted as he sighed in disappointment.

As soon as they landed they came to a pretty opened clearing in the middle of a wide pit in the canyon, as they landed and stepped outside Ursula folded her arms and looked around proudly before nodding, "This looks like a good spot to start digging. The sooner we find some the sooner we can go home and I can get back to a 10hr beauty nap." She said to herself before turning to her 2 underlings, "Zander! Ed! Unload all the alpha droids and the mining equipment and have them dig everywhere till we find some alpha metal now." She ordered as Zander stood up firmly.

"Already on it Ursula!" He yelled before running over to the transport to unload all their equipment which included several sleeping droids and several drills and other digging tools.

"H...hey Ursula," said Ed speaking out uneasily, "Shouldn't we like make a plan first on where to dig?" He suggested, "Back in the future the canyon was still rather intact, and kinda pretty to admit, so I think that if we plan our excavation carefully we can avoid causing something like a rockslide or collapse or something and-"

"And who are you to talk about thinking Ed!?" She interrupted him once more as he jumped back in surprise!

"Gah!"

"Need I remind you that it was your job to refuel the transport on our way back from Antarctica weeks ago!?" She growled leaning in towards him menacingly while he paced backwards before stopping at a rock wall, "Not to mention it's also because of your lame brain ideas to come up with that so called mush heath food, Helga's been serving it non stop to Dr z and he's been blaming us for it every single day since then!" She shrieked before tensing her fist at him, "Just do what you're told and nothing more! Otherwise I'll use you as Terry's chew toy for life! Got it!?" She growled as Ed lowered his head sadly once more.

"Y...yes..." He whimpered before proceeding to summon Tank.

(Meanwhile)

Meanwhile it was afternoon over at the Pet Town veterinarian clinic as joyous laughter could be heard from inside one of the examining rooms of the hospital. "Ahaha! At long last! I've finally done it!" Dr Drake laughed almost sounding like a mad scientist as his glasses shone manically while he held up a beaker filled of mysterious clear liquid. "With this new super medicinal formula it'll cure any kind of ailment to animals there is! Heck, it might even work on dinosaurs!" he grinned before shivering excitement before spinning around holding it up like a parent would cherish their child's success, "Oh how I can't wait to fully load this into my mega needle and and thrust it into a poor animal's bare behind….." he said dreamily while his eyes glistened so innocent yet also evilly, "Now all I need is a willing test subject, I mean patient! Hohohohoh!"

Listening in from outside Zoe then sweat dropped and sighed with dismay and embarrassment, "Oh dear, there goes my dad going cuckoo with needles again." she groaned as Paris looked up to her, "Let's just hope you don't get sick yourself Paris…..Who knows what kind of side effects it would have…..brr just thinking about it gives me the shivers…." she added as Paris shivered herself and scurried off to the living room up front. As Zoe followed she noticed Paris had nuzzled onto a pillow on the couch while her new roommate Cera was typing at a laptop, seeming rather focused and intent at something. along with Miku who sat at the table where the laptop rested while looking at the screen.

"Hmm?" Curiously, Zoe walked up to the both of them and leaned down to see wha they were so interested in, "Hey Cera what are you doing?"

Her voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "Oh, hey Zoe I was just doing a bit of research online into possible alternatives to medicine," she answered as Miku looked up to her, "So that the hospital might be able to expand its methods and hopefully avoid the use of Dr Drake's…..needles…." she said shivering herself uneasily.

Looking around to make sure alone, Zoe leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Better not let him hear you say that, you'd be hurting his feelings…." she said.

"Will keep that in mind." Cera nodded, "Anyways, I found one that was quite interesting. Pressure point stimulation, or better yet massage and reflexology." she said as Zoe sat down interestedly to see the website Cera was on involved plenty of pressure points and reflex zones in people, "Apparently by rubbing some parts of the body helps relieve tension and pain in people, so I thought why not use this for animals too? Maybe it might have a similar effect…."

"Huh? Well what do you know….." Zoe admitted interestedly, she was so used to seeing animals take vitamins and shots she didn't think some of the human applied alternatives would be possible.

"Also I think maybe this kind of home treatment can be much cheaper and effective since anyone can do it, especially for those who can't afford it." Cera continued, "Furthermore, I'd also believe that it's much simpler since it can treat ailments at the root cause which may not be as serious as it may seem. Plus I think it makes the animals that much more happier and attached to you too, isn't that right Miku?"

"Hmm….." Zoe placed a finger to her chin in thought, after determining it in sound medical science she then grabbed Paris lying next to her and held her out to Cera, "Well when you feel like you've got the hang of it, I hop you'll let Paris be your very first patient." she said.

"Haha, I'll consider it." Cera laughed before her dinoshot and Zoe's dinoholder began blinking red at the desk near where they were. "Huh? A dinosaur?" Cera asked knowing what it meant.

"We'd better get going then." Added Zoe firmly as she stood up and went to get her device with Paris following her out.

"Mhmm." Cera nodded doing the same as Miku hopped onto her shoulder and they made their way to the D lab where everyone else had gathered.

"Where is it Reese?" Max asked as Zoe's older sister began dialling on the computer.

"The signal originated deep within the Grand Canyon in Arizona." she answered after looking closely.

"The Grand canyon!?" Dr Taylor suddenly exploded with joy as the others jumped at his sudden outburst, "Incredible! That's one of the 7 wonders of the world!" he cheered with excitement much to the dismay of the children.

"What's so interesting about a canyon dad?" Max asked.

"I mean it's cool and all but isn't it basically like a valley carved out by rivers right?" Rex followed.

"That's the thing kids." Spike smirked folding his arms, "You see it's not just a massively long and deep gorge, it's made out of many side canyons carved out by many years of erosion!" he explained dramatically while stretching his arms wide open, "In fact its' walls come in countless shades of colours ranging from brown, red and even gray! How it's formed in the first place is the mystery the world hasn't yet to solve!" he proclaimed as the D team gained some level of interest.

"When you put it that way…." Max scratched his chin.

"In fact Dr Owen and I have always wanted to plan a digging excursion there one time!" he followed before falling forward and sighing, "If only there weren't so many restrictions and laws we could have uncovered who knows how many dinosaurs…"

Rex then chuckled, "Well if it makes you feel any better we'll bring you back a new one soon enough." he said as he and Max were the first to get into the teleporter before being followed by Cera and Zoe.

"Take care you kids….." Dr Taylor sighed disappointedly still dwelling on the past.

"Watch out for each other, it's a very steep place and no doubt dangerous for sure." Reese added.

"We will Reese!" said Cera with confidence.

"See you later!" Zoe waved as they vanished in the teleport's light.

(At the Grand Canyon)

As a ball of light appeared on a large cliff of the canyon, it soon dissipated revealing the 4 children inside. Looking around herself and checking to see all was fine, Cera then nodded seeing everything was in order, "So that's what it feels like to be teleported." she thought to herself with Miku, "Not bad….."

Zoe herself smiled seeing Cera took it well before they walked over to look beyond the cliff they stood at, to the massive canyon and carved out walls and structures left behind after many rivers had passed through this land long ago, "Well looks like we're here." she said.

"Wow, this place looks incredible," Rex commented as he took in the sights while Max starched out and took a breath of air.

"The air's so fresh and the canyon just looks so magnificent too….no wonder it's a wonder of the world."

"Yeah, to think this was all made by natural processes and events, undisturbed by the hands of man too." Cera added, though the peace and serenity was soon disturbed by the sounds of large machinery and operation as it sounded not far from where they were. As they turned to its direction they could also hear a low roar as well which put them a little on edge.

"That doesn't sound natural at all….." Max muttered.

"Could be our dinosaur, let's check it out!" Rex added as they ran off in the direction at which they heard it. After coming far through the rocky footpaths and descending to one of the lower levels they were taken aback at what they found.

"Whoa look at all this!" They found themselves at the base of a newly dug section of the canyon, where several rocks seemed piled up at the entrance of a rather deep cave in one of the canyon walls, outside were several alpha droids carrying rocks out from the cave before dumping it outside. Most of which were rather clumsy as some even bumped into one another and dropped their load or even collapsed after piling too much load on themselves!

"Those are all alpha droids." said Max narrowing his eyes with his teammates. They soon felt a low rumble through the ground as a large boulder was pushed out of the cave bowling over several droids in the process! As they looked closer a purple saichania let out a shriek coming out of the cave before shaking the dust off her back.

"And there's Tank! No doubt the dino detector picked up her signal!" Rex pointed out as the alpha dinosaur stretched herself and shook her tail, despite being an earth dinosaur and enjoying digging herself, being cooped up in really tight spaces for too long wasn't something she enjoyed much, as she irritably began to walk back inside wishing she could just tunnel for the fun of it.

"That means the old-"

"SSH!" Max and Rex covered her mouth quickly in alarm as they sweated nervously, much to Cera's surprise.

"Wonder what that's about?" she thought before deciding to the their advice and not utter that word.

"Sorry I meant the alpha gang's here." Zoe muttered pulling their hands down.

"Sure looks like it." Cera commented as she and the others hid behind a rock to avoid being seen by the working droids. As they pulled out from the side slowly Cera narrowed her eyes, "What are they doing? Looks like they're digging for something, maybe mining?" she asked as the other dinosaurs along with Miku growled rather agitatedly.

"If they're mining, could it be they're looking for alpha metal here?" Max then asked.

"That could explain why there're so many robots about, not to mention all that digging too." Rex followed.

Cera blinked upon hearing their words, "Alpha metal? What's that?" She asked curiously.

"From what we've heard, it's what those creeps use in their devices and machinery." Max answered.

"Also it's very rare and highly adaptable as they said." Zoe followed as she and the rest of her teammates turned rather serious before refocusing on the mining operation up front.

Cera could tell they knew much more than they let on so she asked, "You guys sound pretty intense…..is there something else you know?"

"In a way yes….." Max replied rather uneasily.

"No doubt that metal is also what they use to make their hideout run as well as experiment on dinosaurs too." said Zoe.

"The last time they destroyed an entire refinery in order to refine a single ball of metal, it was a miracle we all got out of there alive." Rex followed as Cera covered her mouth in shock.

"That sounds….horrible….to think they'd go through all that for their own selfish means…." she said before tensing up her hand rather angrily.

"You don't know the half of it." said Max as he hardened his expression.

Cera looked around to see some of the canyon walls had chipped away and were becoming increasingly unstable no doubt due to the excess activity taking place and the digging taking place, "At this rate all their digging could end up ruining this entire natural treasure forever." she said worried.

Max then tightened his hand into a fist ready for action, "Then we'll just have to stop them!"

"Dino slash!" They all cried out slashing their cards.

"Triceratops! Roar!

"Carnotaurus! Blow them away!"

"Parasaurolophus! Bloom!

"Microraptor! Shine!"

As all 4 dinosaurs appeared on the field and roared, their presence was alerted to the alpha droids who turned to them,

"Alert! Alert! Intruders!" They cried out before charging ahead! "Attack! Attack!"

"Go you guys!"

"Take them down!" Max and Zoe each cheered as Chomp charged and bowled over several droids in his way and tossing a drill over to the side, while Paris' sound attack overloaded their circuits and caused several of them and their machines to self destruct!

Cera narrowed her eyes seeing she, Miku, Rex and Ace were surrounded on all sides, "There's quite a lot of them, let's see if we can do something about it." She thought as she called out an attack, "Energy equaliser!" As she did so, Miku shrieked and shine brightly before latching onto Ace and powering him up, he roared fiercely and Rex smiled.

"Thanks Cera!" He said as she held a thumbs up to him, "Now it's our turn Ace! Ninja attack!" He declared slashing the card. Ace charged forth splitting into several clones of himself as he evaded their incoming charges and smashed through them with ease!

Before long they managed to destroy all their machines and reduce the droids all to scrap metal, "That should take care of them!" Max cried out as he grinned with the others seeing they cleaned house.

"What's all that racket going on!?" A female voice yelled out from the caves. Before long, Tank charged out of the cave with the alpha trio in tow. As they turned to face the D team they scowled and tensed angrily.

"Not you brats again!" Ursula growled with frustration.

"It's like everywhere we go they're right around the corner." Zander grunted.

"Like gum on a shoe..." said Ed softly but also with irritation in his voice.

"Your mining operation's been cancelled old lady!" Rex yelled out pointing to them, as Ursula flared up red and stomped her foot on the ground repeatedly.

"How dare you call me that!?" She screeched, "I swear when I get my hands on you I'll-" she turned her eye to the side realising there was someone else with the D team today, being a long red haired girl and a small dinosaur perched on her shoulder.

"Wait a minute...you're..." soon the others followed her gaze and they widened them in shock, "Gah! You!" They all gasped

"You're that kid who thwarted our plans back at the woods the other day!" Zander yelled as he and the rest of the trio clenched their fists and hardened their expressions at her while she just stared seriously.

"That's right, didn't think we'd meet again like this." She said as feelings of spite and hatred welled up in their enemies.

"Grrr...because of you Dr Z's been up our back for days now!" Zander yelled.

"Yeah! You put us through so much trouble, and now we're about to shove all that down your throat tenfold!" Ursula screamed before turning to Ed, "Ed take care of them all right now!" She ordered as he stuttered and sweated nervously.

"Huh!? M..me!? By myself!?" He whimpered pointing to himself.

"Oh you're right, I can't rely on you for anything," She grumbled facepalming, "Guess I'll have to do it myself! Give me that!" She growled snatching his alpha scanner out of his hands!

"Hey!"

"Go Tank! Earthquake!" She called or slashing the card and causing Tank to glow purple as she feared up on her back legs and slammed down, causing a huge crack in the earth to split open!

The D team widened their eyes upon sight of Ursula's insane move, "What the!?"

"Has she lost it!?" They all gasped in disbelief seeing the canyon walls around them were beginning to shake and rattle too!

"Everyone move!" Cera cried out as their dinosaurs quickly leapt out of the way of the fissure That split the ground as it soon opened up into the mountain wall that was in its way making ut even more unstable!

"No Ursula! You can't use that here!" Ed cried out as Zander started to panic with him.

"Oh yeah and why not?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him. As she took a closer look she saw the canyon walls began to crack and fall apart creating a massive rockslide that was about to fill in the crater!

"That's why!"

"Aaaaaahhhh!"

"Rockslide!" Everyone screamed as the canyon filled to the brim with rocks and they all were buried alive...

As the dust settled the canyon's appearance had drastically changed, with a much wider opening as well as a new slide of rocks now filling it at the very centre.

At one wall, a rock fell away to reveal a dinosaur card capsule embedded inside it. The capsule, which was embedded inside of the cliff, fell out of the opened crag of and smashed open in half as it fell on top of the rock pile. Revealing a pair of cards inside, a dinosaur and an Earth move card. As it did, some grains of sand then spilled out and covered the cards causing them to glow purple and shine before they materialised as a moderate sized ankylosaur! It was pineapple coloured with while covered with a series of brown stripes over its back down to its sides. It's back and head was also lined with a series of bony lumps and it's tail ended with a rather bony club.

It then lowered its head down and began sniffing the air to get a feel of its surroundings, it then noticed something buried underneath the pile of rocks it stood on. As it dug through it managed to uncover a rather plump boy with spiky purple hair in a brown shirt with a large red A on it. Looking closer the Pinacosaurus also noticed what appeared to be the club of another ankylosaur was sticking out from the rock pile.

Sniffing them Both and realising they were still alive but barely, it then took compassion on them, as it hoisted Ed up onto its back then grabbed onto the end of the club and with all its strength, managed to pull out a now unconscious Tank before dragging her and Ed into a nearby cavern that had opened up nearby due to the rock fall.

"Urgh...where am I?" Ed groaned weakly moments later as his eyes began twitching. As he opened them and bushes away some dust that had gathered on his face, he forced himself to sit up which caused a large streak of pain to surge through him. "Owie my everything..." He cringed painfully noticing his clothes had cuts on them and his face and some parts of his body had scrapes and bruises too. Especially his backside. As he looked around he was surprised to find himself sitting in what appeared to be a large circle of grass inside a rather dark cave with several stalagmites hanging above and stalactites sticking out around him. "Huh? Why am I sitting on a bed of grass?" He asked himself as he heard some low grumbling next to him. As he turned he widened his eyes to see it was Tank who miraculously had ended up with him after the rockslide occurred!

"Tank? You're okay!" He cried out as the saichania shrieked at him uncaringly As she slowly but unsteadily got up to her feet.

Despite her not liking him that much, Ed was relieved to see she was still alright in a way, before looking around nervously, But wait, where are we?" He then asked himself as he slowly working himself to his legs. As he did he heard the sounds of large approaching footsteps coming in from a dark cavern in front as Tank reared up her tail readying herself for battle.

"Huh? What's that?" He narrowed his eyes but then widened them to see a smaller but no less large ankylosaur appear from the cavern! "Whoa! A Pinacosaurus!" He gasped in surprise nearly stumbling back As Tank roared it at it. He then brought a hand to his chin in thought, "I don't remember seeing that before though..." he muttered to himself curiously before shaking his head clear, "You know what? That can wait! Go get em Tank!" He yelled out to his dinosaur who roared out!

As Tank began to walk towards the Pinacosaurus ready to attack she suddenly cried out in pain before stumbling forward and falling down!

"Gah!" Ed gasped realising her back legs still were fairly bruised and scraped by the rockslide earlier! He then backed away nervously as the Pinacosaurus then focused its attention on him as it came closer and closer! "P...please don't eat me Mr dinosaur..." he whimpered despite knowing it was a herbivore, "I...I was just kidding about attacking you honest! I-"

To his surprise the Pinacosaurus simply dropped what appeared to be a large clump of green moss before him, "Huh?" Ed blinked his eyes in surprise as he looked to the moss and back to the Pinacosaurus, who passed some over to Tank as well, who sniffed it and began eating it. As it turned over to Ed again and motioned with its head, he then got the message as he picked up his share uneasily, "Err thanks?" Was all he could say, feeling awakened about the situation. Nevertheless he didn't want to be rude since it was willing to share 'food' with him and he took a bite out of it. "Bleach! Yuck!" His eyes widened and he began spitting it out and even brushing his tongue off with his hands to get the taste out of his mouth, though it seemed to stick on to it very well...

The Pinacosaurus then lowered its head sadly and let out a sad groan as Ed quickly grabbed more of the moss "I...I mean...it's good!" He cried out as he forcefully began to eat more of it, no matter how much his mouth or stomach screamed in pain, he could see t made the wild dinosaur happy as it wagged it's tail with joy.

Looking to the side he could see Tank had eaten the last of her share of moss and she seemed to be fully reenergised herself, "Tank seems to be all better though..." Ed thought to himself in stories before realising the pain he was feeling earlier was beginning to disappear from him miraculously, "Hey I think I feel kinda better already..." he said out loud in surprise as the Pinacosaurus let out a cheerful cry.

After that he turned around and motioned with its head to Tank and Ed, urging them to come with it as it headed back down the cave it came from.

"Huh? Does he want us to follow?" Ed blinked as he got up with Tank, "Well what do I have to lose?" He then said as they followed it. As they traversed deeper after their new acquaintance they widened their eyes to find themselves at a bright underground spring, with sun light beaming through a hole above and lush moss growing everywhere around it.

"Whoa! Water!" Ed cried it as he ran over to the spring to drink as much as he could, even splashing his face with it as well, "Boy am I thirsty, I haven't had anything to drink all day!" He cried out feeling refreshed As Tank drank beside him quenching her own thirst. "Ah, I'll never take water for wanted again..." he then said gratefully before noticing Tank had gone over to where the Pinacosaurus was.

They both seemed to be sniffing one another and eventually raising their tails together and giving one another a tail-five as they smacked their clubs together playfully. After that it turned to Ed and he let out a rather happy cry to him, asking him to come over and play too, "Why is he so nice? Maybe he's just lonely..." Ed then asked himself as it seemed to flash him an innocent and trusting face as if it never saw anyone else for so many years and may have been lonely for who knows how long. He couldn't brings himself to turn it into a card after all it had done for him and Tank...

"Might as well enjoy it for now," he said to himself, deciding to join them since he couldn't beat them, "I'm sure the others are all fine….."

(Meanwhile)

"Oogh..." Zander groaned as he managed to dig himself out of the rock pile back at the open canyon. As he pulled himself free he struggled to get to his feet before stumbling about groggily, "Next time I'd better remind myself to never trust Ed with an alpha scanner while we're in somewhere unstable." He muttered to himself rubbing his sore temple, his face covered in bruises and his clothes all scraped and torn up in various places. But that was the least of his worries as he could feel an immense pain on his lower back, "Ugh...my back..." he groaned placing his hands on his hips before mustering all his inner strength to pull himslef up straight!

CRACK!

The sound of his spine realigning itself echoed through the canyon, as Zander cringed with pain, made evident on his gnashing teeth and watering eyes. "Ough...any worse and I would be in bed like dr z, and who needs that?" He mumbled to himself as his pocket then started glowing. "Huh?" Taking his alpha scanner inside he widened them at what he saw, "A dinosaur here!?" He gasped in alarm.

"Mmph!" A faint mumbling sound could be heard from around where he stood.

"Huh?" Blinking his eyes and looking around he recognises it soon after, "Ursula? Where are you?" He called out as he soon got his answer.

"You're...standing on me!" A muffled but angry female voice yelled from under him.

"Huh?" As he looked down he was taken aback to see he was standing on top of a rock, and below that rock was a pair of long legs sticking out with a pair of pink high heeled shoes at the end! "Ah!" Zander then cried out as the legs shook.

"Get me out of here!" Ursula screamed from underneath, both in anger and in a panic as she hated being cramped in such a tight dark and airless space!

"Hang on Ursula! I'll get you out of there!" Zander cried as he leapt off and got a hold on her legs and began to pull! "Heave! Hi! Heave! Ho!" He yelled with every tug before gritting his teeth and pulling with all his might! "Gargh!" He screamed at he top of his lungs as he fell backwards into the ground and Ursula was sent flying out of the pile!

"AAAAAGHHH!" She screams as her face slammed into the rock wall, as she skidded down it left behind a huge crack and in print in the wall too. "Ugh..." she then gleaned as Zander clenched his own head in alarm at what he did!

"Gah!" He cried scurrying over to her, "Ursula! Are you okay!?" He cried looking over her as she delivered a sucker punch causing his own face to cave in! "Oogh!"

"Does this look okay to you!?" She screamed pointing to her face while flaring her eyes at him, her face now covered in huge scrapes and bruises while flaring red with pain and anger!

Zander twiddled his fingers together, "Umm well..."

"Don't answer that..." she stopped him as she began to relaxing her thoughts and rub her temple, "I'd pummel you for that but we have a dinosaur now to grab so come on!" She said impatiently as she headed for the cave that was near them.

As Zander began to follow he then stopped and looked back to the rock pile, "Wait! Shouldn't we find Ed first?" He asked before clenching his face with alarm, "For all we know he could be buried underneath this massive rock pile!"

"Oh forget him Zander," Ursula muttered to him to his surprise, "By the time we get him out of this mess the brats would have beaten us to that dinosaur!" She yelled, "Besides he'll only slow us down, also serves him right for bringing the whole Canyon down on us in the first place." She then added as she went inside without a backwards glance.

"I guess..." Zander scratched his head though finding it rather harsh as he followed her in.

Meanwhile at the other side of the rock slide, the D team was busy trying to dig one another out of the rubble, with Max managing to help pull Rex out and stumbling back on the ground.

"Urgh...Boy...That was rough." He groaned as he sat down panting with exhaustion while Rex rubbed his head.

"Yeah, tell me about it...I knew the alpha gang weren't the brightest bulbs in the store, but even that was crazy for them." The both of them

"Gah! Is everyone okay!?"

Zoe looked up to him and smiled rather weakly despite still suffering a minor doozy from just now, "Y...yeah I think so Max..." she said as Cera came up to them from behind a boulder.

"It's a miracle we didn't suffer any serious injuries..." she said with relief as she held up a card, "Good thing I was able to return Miku to card form right before that rockslide came on us." She said.

"Same here for the rest of us." Added Max as he and Rex flashed their cards, and decided to keep them in for the time being just to be safe.

As Zoe checked her pockets, her heart skipped a beat as she realised something was definitely missing, "Wait a minute..."she then widened her eyes and scurried her hands about looking through the rocks for something, her expression was beginning to turn panicky and her heart racing non stop when she could find no trace of it. "Where's my card?"

"AH!" The rest of her teammates gasped realising Zoe mustn't have been able to recall her dinosaur in time like they did. Now she could be buried underneath all these rocks and in danger of getting crushed!

"Paris!" Zoe the cried or as she began digging through the rocks frantically, till miraculously she was able to uncover a greenish crest with a blue tip. As she did, the rocks began to stir and emerging from them was none other than Paris herself! She let out a loud bellow to her comrades to show she was fine as they all smiled with joy and relief. "You're okay!" Zoe cried out most happily of all, though it was short lived as her partner then slumped down to the ground with exhaustion!

"Ah!" Everyone gasped

"Oh no Paris!" Zoe ran over to her to check for any serious injuries. Living with her parents has taught her a bit about animal biologist, something Cera also recently came to familiarise herself with. Checking the dinosaur's large body she fortunately could find no open wounds or signs of serious injury, though she seemed to be breathing rather heavily with wheezing as well.

Cera narrowed her eyes and obsevred carefully before looking to Zoe, "She's just exhausted, nothing too serious, though I wouldn't recommend sending her into battle for a while." She said as Zoe's eyes began to water a bit.

"Oh Paris..." she sniffled knowing that Paris no doubt shielded then from the rocks which was the reason why there were all in one piece in the first place. She stroked the hadrosaur's face gently as she opened up her eyes weakly to her partner who smiled back at her, "Here, you take a nice long rest now." Said Zoe with compassion as she returned her to a card.

Seeing she was still worried, Max walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry too much Zoe, I'm sure your dad can fix her up when we get back." He said encouragingly as she looked to him.

"Y...yeah I guess..." she said softly.

Little did she know, Cera then narrowed her eyes at the card, seeing an opportunity for her to try it a certain theory of hers later on.

Her thoughts were then interrupted as Rex called out, "Hey check this out!" He said as they all came to him seeing his dinoholder flash, "There's a dinosaur not far from where we are! And it's a new one too!"

The others were taken aback in surprise, "Wow, what are the chances of that happening here..." said Cera curiously as Rex turned in the direction in the signal it came from, which lead to a rather deep and dark cave in front, no doubt opened when the rockslide came.

"Looks like it's somewhere inside that cave." He said.

Zoe shivered nervously, "It looks really dark in there, it could be dangerous if we were to get lost or fall down a hole or something..."

"I've got this." Said Cera stepping up to the challenge, "Dino slash! Microraptor shine!" As the lights died down, Miku appeared in her full sized form perched on Cera's shoulder, "We're counting on you Miku." She said as her raptor nodded and she glided inside.

"You sure about this?" Max then asked with concern.

Cera smiled back at him, "Miku may be small, but she's really great at climbing and her eyes are as sharp as they come." She said confident in her partner's abilities, "If anyone can find the dinosaur and a safe path for us in there, it's her."

The D team looked to one another and decided to trust her on this as they smiled back to her, "Alright if you say so then." Said Max as they waited for Miku's call.

Little did they know, was that a certain robotic fly was observing them from a safe distance while perched on the rock ledge hanging just above them.

(Meanwhile)

"And then it's like no matter how hard I try or what I do, they both they always look down on me. Sometimes they even leave me out too and they hog all the fun..." Ed whimpered as he sat down on a rock next to the Pinacosaurus who was listening in to his whims and sad tales. It hummed lowly with sympathy, while Tank nearby was taking a nice long nap after a good time of play just now. Ed then slumped forward, "Even since our time in the orphanage together we were always getting into a scuffle, sometimes even they gang up on me and make fun of me too..." he then added at the end before smiling lightly, "it's not all bad for us though, it was nice when Dr Z took us in and oh good those days were...I sure miss them when I look at things now..."

He then looked to the side and saw the Pinacosaurus had crept in closer to him and breathed gently on him to show he cared. Ed smiled seeing it cared for him, "Well thanks for hearing me out anyway Pinacosaurus, it felt really good to get that off my chest." He added as the ankylosaur brought its head closer to Ed and began nuzzling him, even tickling him with his friendly licking. "Ahahaha! Stop that it tickles ahahaha!" He laughed before widening his eyes in realisation, now seeing that dinosaurs weren't just animals, they were living and breathing creatures, with feelings and emotions too...

He then gritted his teeth in frustration, as if there were 2 sides of him clashing viciously with one another, made evident as he scrunched il his hair in his hands, before opening his eyes firmly, "Oh I can't let them take you, not after you saved our butts out there..." he thought to himself seriously as he looked to the ankylosaur who blinked at him curiously. Thinking to himself carefully and hard, he opened his yes firmly as an idea hatched in his head, "I know! I'll just get you out of here and then tell them I didn't see any dinosaur!" He thought out loud snacking his fist in the palm of his hand, "It's perfect! Nothing could go wrong with that!" He thought to himself gleefully.

His optimism However was short lived as the ceiling in front of them then collapse down! "Gaaah!" A pair of screams came too as it fell down!

CRASH

"Huh!?" Ed gasped in alarm as noise woke Tank up and startled Pinacosaurus causing it to back away nervously.

As the dust cleared it revealed Zander was lying on top of an annoyed Ursula who had a huge tic mark on her forehead, "Zander that's the last time I let you pick a tunnel..."she grumbled to the skinny man who whimpered in pain.

"Duly noted Ursula..." he said as she shoved him off and looked around them.

"Urgh now where are we now..." She grumbled.

"G...guys it's you!" Ed then gasped as he got a good look at the 2 newcomers, who looked to him in the direction he called.

"Hmm?" Upon noticing him and Tank they widened their eyes in surprise.

"Oh Ed!"

"You're okay! Oh how we were so worried about you right Zander?" Said Ursula eying Zander who then clasped his hands together and answered back as convincing as he could.

"Y...way of corse we were! We were searching high and low for you and we-" he then stopped upon noticing they weren't alone, "Hey! Is that a Pinacosaurus over there!?" He cried pointing out to the side as the yellow dinosaur was backing away nervously, sensing bad vibes coming from them.

"You're right! It is!" Ursula then gasped as Ed twiddled his fingers unsure how to respond.

"E...err...well..." things gotten even more complicated as they turned their attention on him and Tank.

"Ed! What are you doing!?" Ursula yelled, "There's a dinosaur over there and pure just sitting there with Tank doing nothing!?" She yelled before crunching her face in her hand in frustration, "Gah! Forget it! You're useless you know that!?" She grunted taking out her alpha scanner and card. "I'll bring in Terry to take care of this in a Flash!"

"Oh no, I gotta think of something quick!" Ed widened his eyes in alarm upon hearing what she was intending to do, "Wait! Stop!" he then yelled out stopping Ursula right before she could slash and call forth Terry.

"Huh?" She and Zander blinked their eyes in confusion as to his sudden outburst, but even more so he seemed to be dying them rather seriously.

Gritting his teeth he then forced some painful words out, "I found it, so it's mine!" He yelled as their jaws hung down in disbelief.

"H...Huh!?" They both gasped before turning serious.

"Just what do you mean yours Ed!?" Zander yelled in annoyance while shaking his fist.

"Yeah, we do whatever it takes to grab a dinosaur, even if it means we gang up on them! It's just what we do!" Ursula yelled afterwards, "You'd better have a good explanation for even daring to raise your voice against me!"

Ed stuttered upon hearing their words but then shook his head clear, "Yeah well..." he said uneasily before becoming serious, "Well I messed up back at the mining site earlier, and I just want to make up for it! And show you guys I am NOT a screw up!" He yelled, "So back off and let me handle this! Got it!?"

Zander and Ursula both blinked their eyes stunned and unable to comprehend what they just witnessed, Ed yelling at them? Being a man? No doubt he must have hit his head during the rock fall and now he's acting completely bonkers...

They then looked to one another for a second opinion. "Should we let him? He sounds like he means it..." Zander asked Ursula as she folded her arms on her hips and closed her eyes in thought before making a decision.

"Fine with me," she said sounding unsure of herself, "If he messes this one up, he'll be taking or shifts of nursing Dr Z for an entire month. Also he'll be taking the fall for us if we come back empty handed." She said firmly.

"Oh! Good idea! I could sure use a break from all that!" Zander clapped his hands gleefully, knowing he's loving nothing better than to get away from his whining bedridden boss for an entire month! As well as being able to use Ed as a shield against Dr Z's abuse would be the icing on the cake for them!

"You hear that Ed!" Ursula yelled out to him, "You've got your chance! Now don't mess this one up or else!" She yelled threateningly as Ed gulped down hard and turned almost pale. It was a tough call, help

"You...won't be disappointed..." he said painfully as he turned to Tank and the pinacosaurus, who was looking to them all in confusion, unable to understand what was going on...

"Sorry buddy…I've gotta do what I've gotta do…." he said painfully before yelling out and pointing at it, "Go get em Tank!" Ed yelled out as Tank turned to the Pinacosaurus and back to Ed in confliction. Ed gritted his teeth and yelled again, "We've gotta do this okay!? Just go!" Reluctantly, Tank shook her head and roared out before ramming the Pinacosaurus back catching it by surprise!

It shook its head and cried out in confusion, but Tank swung her tail out, barely missing as it slammed and smashed a rock down! Ed narrows his eyes as he continued to have Tank miss on purpose, hoping he'd be able to scare off the Pinacosaurus and he could 'accidentally lose it' deciding even if he had to suffer for an entire month it would be worth it...

After a while of Tank using simple throw and ram attacks to toss the Pinacosaurus around, along with near tail misses, It seemed to go well, though Ed could feel it tearing him up inside as he could see the pin in Pinacosaurus' eyes with each attack he sent and how it kept pleading out with him.

"Ed!? Quit messing around!" Ursula then yelled out impatiently.

"Yeah you can do way better than that!" Zander followed beginning to feel suspicious.

Ed realised it knowing it, and they could summon Spiny and Terry out at anytime, he had to think of something quick, "I...it's not that simple!" Ed shook out his hands before looking around for the perfect excuse to use, "It's just...This place is unstable! Just one wrong move could bring the whole selling down on us and we'll be smooshed like pancakes!" He yelled as his fiends turned pale in realisation.

"Ack...you make a good point there..." Ursula croaked before gritting her teeth in frustration, "Well hurry it up! You got us all down here and this is your chance to make it up, so don't you dare blow it!" She yelled as Ed lowered his head reluctantly.

"Okay..." He croaked as he continued to put on a convincing show. He then has Tank back it up into a corner and it turned around frantically looking for a way to escape...

"So far so good..." he breathed, "But I can't keep this up forever, sooner or later they'll see through this little act of mine..." It was then he gritted his teeth knowing there was no way out now. "Sorry pinacosaurus, but I've got no choice!" He shouted inside his mind as he slashed a move card, "Go Dino Swing!" He slashed the card as Tank roared, turning the Pinacosaurus around and grabbing its tail before swinging it around and around above her head before slamming down into the ground! It then tumbled across the cavern floor before coming to a stop near a rock wall, letting out a groan in pain before slumping down.

"Alright! You've got him on the ropes now Ed!"

"Finish him off so we can go home with a new victory under our belts! Can't believe I am saying this, but I take back all the nasty things I ever said about you!" Zander and Ursula both cheered. Though Ed didn't seem to take it all that well unbeknownst to them, knowing it came at a heavy cost for him...

"Yeah, yay me..." he muttered sadly before looking back to front of him. He the widened his eyes in surprise to see the Pinacosaurus had just gotten back up to his feet! Clearly still not beaten yet! "Huh!?" Even Tank herself was amazed at home much stamina the smaller dinosaur had in him.

"It's still standing after all that!?" Zander exclaimed in disbelief.

"That dinosaur really doesn't know how to stay down." Ursula grunted in annoyance before looking to Ed, "Ed, make sure you teach it a good lesson." She said to him as he nodded uneasily.

"Err sure will do..." as he said that he then paled and Tank began to back away nervously as the Pinacosaurus' eyes changed, this one filled with primal fury as it roared out with anger and spite in its voice!

"Is it me...or does it look angry?" Zander gulped uneasily with the others as the Pinacosaurus suddenly glowed purple!

As it glowed, the pinacosaurus roared as it caused several large rocks to erupt out from the ground in front of it before they combined together to form a massive boulder! It then made a quick spin around the boulder before using its' clubbed tail to slam into it like a baseball bat into a ball! Tank was taken aback by surprise and didn't have time to react as the boulder flew at her at a massive speed, smashing her against it like a fly on a windshield wiper and soon she and the rock were sent right at the res of the alpha gang who cried out frantically as it came close to them!

"GAAAAAAHHHH!" They screamed eating their arms out before turning around to run!

"Run away!"

"It's coming this way!" They could barley get within 10 inches of the boulder as it along with Tank smashed into them!

"AAAAAAHHHH!" They cried as the force pressed against their faces and they were sent into another cavern with a loud crash!

The pinacosaurus let out a roar in triumph, but it's victory was short lived as it soon succumbed to its wounds and it fell down to the ground, exhausted as the roof of the cave soon began to collapse around it…..

Nearby the D team had traversed deep into the cave after following Miku's directions after she scouted out and returned to them. They soon noticed their surroundings were beginning to return to normal as the battle ended.

"Hey, the battle field's gone now." Max noted seeing the cave changed back to its normal colouring and it got darker once again.

Zoe then placed her hands to her chest with worry, "Did you think maybe the alpha gang..."

In the distance they could hear the sounds of a groaning dinosaur, in both pain and sounding almost...depressed...

"That noise..." Cera could tell that was a dinosaur in distress, and be it friend or foe it was painful for her to take in, made evident as she clenched her chest and gritted her teeth feeling it's emotional and physical pain.

"It seems to be coming from over there." Said Rex as he and the others wasted no time on heading over to where the noises came from, with Miku pointing out the way.

As they arrived at the end of the tunnel, they were taken aback in horror at what they found, "Whoa! A pinacosaurus!" Max Gasped as they came face to face with the large dinosaur before them, only that things weren't as it seemed.

"It looks really hurt too..." said Rex narrowing his eyes hard as he saw the back half of its body was buried by massive boulders and it was groaning in pain with all that weight crushing it underneath, plus it seemed to be heartbroken as well as it's voice was also filled with emotional pain.

The others then turned hard and firm with anger, "I'll bet you my entire weekly allowance that it was the alpha gang for sure..." Zoe tended up while clenching her hands knot fists.

"Yeah, only they could be this heartless to a dinosaur..."

Max gritted his teeth before punching his fist into his palm angrily, "Grr! Wait till I get my hands on them for this..." he growled swearing vengeance and justice on them the next time they met.

Becoming serious, Cera then began to walk up towards the weakened and trapped dinosaur much to the surprise of her fellow D team members, "Huh? Cera what are you doing?"

As she soon stepped within arm's length of the seemingly unconscious dinosaur they all widened their eyes, "Don't get too close!"

"You might startle it!"

"It's dangerous! Get back!" They cried, knowing in its condition it's like a cornered animal ready to snap at any second!

Cera however smiled back at them reassuringly, she knew full well what it meant and she was fine with it, "It's alright, I know what I am doing." She said to them as it then opened its eyes weakly.

As it did it narrowed its eyes hard and let out a menacing growl to ward off Cera, but to everyone's surprise she reached or her hand and began stroking its forehead gently.

"It's alright, you don't have to be afraid. Everything's going to be fine." She said in a soothing mother's tone while gently brushing it over with her hand. As she did the Pinacosaurus seemed to calm down slightly as it then lowered its head and let a low growl as of it was sad or depressed. Cera then spoke again, "What's wrong? Please you can tell me. We're your friends, you can trust us."

The armoured dinosaur looked to them hesitantly, but then Miku hopped onto her shoulder and then her hand before chirping to it, as it then growled back, as if they were exchanging a conversation with one another.

As it finished Cera then smiled back with understanding, "I see...I understand now." She thought to herself before striking

it again, "It's alright, you're safe now and that's all that matters." She said as the Pinacosaurus turned its head away still feeling rather bitter or betrayed...

It was then when Miku began chirping encouragingly to it, it became at peace and closed its eyes calmly, before its body glowed purple and it returned to the form of a dinosaur and move card.

As she picked up the cards, the D team looked on speechlessly at her with widened eyes and stunned expressions, "Umm Cera, what did you just do?"

"Yeah, it seems like you were just...talking with it?" They asked.

"That's exactly what I just did." She said smiling back to them much to their surprise, "Miku and I told it that it didn't have anything to fear from us, and that we would take him somewhere safe and no one will ever harm him again." She said, "And after that he just trusted us."

"Wow, who knew you had that kind of talent..." Zoe breathed in amazement as she and the rest of he D team began to wonder who exactly was she, and what else she may be capable of that she doesn't know yet, or maybe keeping from them...

They didn't have long to think about it though, as the absence of Pinacosaurus soon caused the rock pile in front of them to grow unstable as it soon shook unsteadily and began to fall apart on them!

"Let's get out of here quick before it collapses on us!" Max cried or frantically to the others as they nodded without hesitation.

"Right!" They all said as they pressed a button causing them all to disappear in bright light, as the place they stood on soon became buried completely under piles of rocks...

Meanwhile in another cavern further away, Ed laid almost motionlessly across the cavern floor, while covered in sand, several rocks as well as many bruises. The moment a small pebble from the upper ceiling fell down and bonked him on the head he opened his eyes and groaned before coughing out a mouthful of dirt and sand, "Cough! Cough!" Sitting up and rubbing his forehead, "Well that didn't go as planned….." he said gritting his teeth as his head began to throb non stop.

"Urg…." not far away Zander was able to dig himself free from a rock pile nearby, though his glasses now were cracked, "If I had to give that new move a name, I'd call it rock roller….." he moaned rubbing his back before pulling himself up straight.

"GARGH!" The sound of Ursula's growling made Ed jump into Zander's arms in fear as they shivered with horror to see Ursula's hand erupt from the rocks like an undead zombie! When she pulled herself up her clothes were deeply scathed and torn as she gnashed her teeth and fumed red with rage! "I can't believe I actually trusted you Ed! Not only do we NOT get a new dinosaur, but now you've got us trapped in another cave! This is all your fault!" she growled pointing at him. After that Zander quickly put him down and scurried off to save his own skin, leaving Ed quivering before a now menacing Ursula who stared down on him like a scolding parent!

He huddled at the side twiddling his fingers, avoiding as much eye contact as he could, "W…Well it was all in my good intentions….." he was able to mouth out before Ursula cut him off!

"Good intentions your butt!" she growled grabbing him by the neck and yanking him up till his eyes met hers! As he stared into them, he turned pale and his blood ran cold to see her demonic burning eyes! "What do you think Dr Z's going to do to us when we come home empty handed!? HUH!?" she growled as tears began welling up in his eyes and he began to whimper.

Losing interest in him she dropped him on the ground as he lay down covering his head.

As he did, Ursula began to rub her temple in thought while regaining her composure, "Okay Ursula calm down….you can do this," she said to herself before grinning and rubbing her hands together with a devious grin, "Before Dr Z grinds us into paste, I'm going to make sure those 2 bumbling baboons take the fall first before I do….yes that's right…..that's exactly what I'll do!" Before she could pop her knuckles to take out her frustration on both Ed and Zander, the latter's voice called out to them from the other side of the cavern.

"Maybe it's not as bad as it all seems, look at this!" he said with amazement while holding the alpha scanner and pointing it in several directions around him.

"Hmm?" As they went to see, they looked on with interest to see the scanner's readings were relatively high and only seemed to climb higher with each new direction he was turning.

"The alpha counter is going crazy! There must be tons of alpha metal lying around in here!" he said out loud.

Ursula and Ed's eyes widened, "What!?"

"For real!?" they both gasped.

He nodded eagerly to their answers, "Yes! Take a look and see for yourselves!" Handing it to Ursula, as she turned the scanner in many directions she saw Zander was indeed right. Every square inch of the room had an alpha reading of at least 70% and nowhere where they turned, the readings never fell below that level! Even the floor they stood on had large traces of alpha metal buried within, luck truly shone upon them this very day. "Maybe this day really isn't as bad a loss as it seems!" He cheered stretching his arms out with joy.

"Is this what they call a silver lining or looking on the bright side of things?" Ed then asked as Ursula paid him no mind.

"Well whatever it is, we really are saved!" she cheered as she and Zander began doing jolly dances across the room, "Oh thank you kind and merciful spirits!" they praised and sang as Ed sat it out.

He folded his arms with a smile, looking to the entrance of the cave, at first blocked by the massive boulder from rock roller, which was now beginning to crumble down and give them a way out. "Pinacosaurus…thank you….." he said to himself feeling most grateful.

(That evening)

Back at the Taylor's house, the sun had begun to set turning Sanjo City a bright orange as it parted from the city. Inside Zoe sat at the couch and looked on sadly at Paris who was coughing rather badly in front of her, even spewing gout bits of sand and dirt with each one as Max, Rex and Cera looked on sympathetically with their own dinosaurs at the chairs or standing up.

"Ack! Ack!" Paris squawked in a sore and painful tone as she then lowered her head and groaned sadly.

"Oh Paris I'm so sorry for letting this happen to you." Zoe sighed as she stroked her dinosaur's back gently before picking her up and letting her settle on her lap, "When we get home I'll have my dad look you up and treat you as soon as possible, so please hang in there….." she said as Paris curled up on her lab and let a low but painful hum.

"Poor Paris….." Max said feeling for them, also looking to Chomp feeling appreciative that the other dinosaurs were still okay.

His feelings were inroad by Rex who looked on, "Never thought I'd actually miss her singing, usually she's very lively and energetic, now she's just…..not….." Chomp, Ace and Miku both looked on feeling for their comrade, till Cera narrowed her eyes and stood up with a firm expression.

"You know what Zoe?" she said as the others looked to her.

"Hmm?"

"Remember that special massage therapy technique I talked about earlier this morning?" she asked as she kneeled down and held her arms out to Zoe, "I think I feel ready now."

Looking to her friend, to Paris and back she then put on a rather concerned expression, "You….really feel sure of this?" she asked as Cera nodded and smiled.

"It's time I tried it out on my very first patient. And who better than Paris?" she said as Zoe closed her eyes and opened them seriously.

"Okay, I trust you." she said handing the green dinosaur over to her, as she settled down on Cera's own lap. "Cera, be careful okay?"

"I will." she replied as she began stroking Paris gently to make her feel secure and safe, before feeling around for the right nerves.

As the others looked on curiously and eyed what she was doing, Max then raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "Massage? How's that supposed to help?" he asked.

"Well with people massaging some parts of the body helps stimulate pressure points and heals fatigue and tension, it's worked with animals before so it might work the same with Paris." Rex suggested.

His spiky haired friend however shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not convinced it'll work as well on dinosaurs though." he said.

"At least she's trying something you guys!" Zoe cried to him angrily which took them aback a bit.

"Hey it's better than nothing, I guess…." stated Rex as they returned to observing Cera close as she began to get serious as she focused her fingers around certain spots, as if she was feeling the little dinosaur's body for the right nerve…..

"Come on Cera, I know you can do this….." Zoe said inside her head as she narrowed her eyes seriously, and the tension began to peak as Miku and the other dinosaurs looked on with intent.

"Hmm…let's see….for most animals the reflex points for the lungs should be here, so it should probably be the same for dinosaurs….." Cera thought to herself recalling what she studied as she felt around Paris' feet, chest and back. After finally getting the points right she then smiled gently, "Okay Paris now just relax." she said in a soothing tone which made Paris at ease as she let Cera begin rubbing and pressing at the spots she made note of. After a little while, Paris seemed to close her eyes dreamily before Zoe then asked out of concern.

"Well?"

"Paris, think you can try to say something?" Cera asked as Paris opened her eyes and began to squawk softly.

"Ack….croak…."

"That's alright just take your time." said Cera once more as she took a breath and opened her mouth.

"Bark….bark…." she said with a small smile as Zoe clasped her hands together and cried out.

"Oh! Your voice is back!" she cheered plucking her partner from Cera and she began hugging her closely, with Paris barking with delight as Zoe began snuggling with her again.

As the other dinosaurs barked happily to see their friend back to normal, Max and Rex couldn't help but stare speechlessly and in amazement at what they witnessed, "No way….it actually worked!?"

Cera stood up proudly at her success, "She should be back to normal by morning Zoe," she said brushing the parasaurolophus' crest who chirped with enjoyment, "Till then just make sure she drinks plenty of water and eats softer food."

Zoe nodded, "Sure thing Cera, thank you….." she said gratefully before smiling at her, "You might have what it takes to be a real vet someday."

Cera then sweated and scratched her cheek, "Ehehe….oh I don't know about that….." she said with embarrassment before she spoke a thought of hers out loud, "Though I do wonder if acupuncture might work the same with animals too."

"Hee hee, who knows?" Zoe giggled.

Max then placed his head on his arm and pouted, "She's good with dinosaurs, tech and now with animal treatments?"

"Is there anything she isn't good at?" Rex sweat dropped and smiled as they soon noticed Chomp and Ace running around her legs, while barking with excitement at her.

Smiling with amusement she could tell what they were after, "You guys want a turn too?" she asked and they confirmed with several excited jumps and backflips to prove it. "Hahaha, okay okay one at a time now….." Cera laughed as she then kneeled down and decided to get started on giving Chomp a nice back rub.

"Heheh, guess it's turning down someone in need." Max then grinned rather deviously with Rex who decided this would be a perfect opportunity.

"Say Cera, my shoulders actually feel kinda stiff after today's mission, you think maybe you could rub my shoulders a bit?" said Rex playfully rolling each of his shoulders back and forth.

"Also, my feet feel really sore after all that walking." Max added as he lifted his feet off the floor and pointed them to her, "If you wouldn't mind?"

Cera sweat dropped nervously as she took a bit of space back, "Umm…."

"Oh no you don't!" Zoe growled, "Don't even think about it!" She quickly reached in and pinched the ears of both boys as they cried out in pain!

"YOWCH!" As they pulled away their ears began to throb all red and sore before they scowled in disappointment….though their problems had just begun….

"If you want a massage that badly….." Zoe grinned rather maliciously as she began to pop her knuckles, "How about I give it to you myself?" she then added as a certain chill came over the boys, and the other dinosaurs huddled behind Cera in fear knowing wha was going to happen.

"Uh no thanks Zoe. There's no need for it!" Rex cried out making a run for it!

"I feel better already, yup! Good as new! See?" said Max jumping up up and down before following his friend as they quickly bolted for the door!

Zoe who wasn't about to have any of it, hopped to her feet as she ran after them! "How about I be the judge of that? Now come here you two!"

"Aaaah! Stay away!"

"Leave us alone!"

"Stand still you!"

"AAAAAAHHHH!" As the house echoed with the sounds of footsteps, screaming and eventually several popping bones, Cera couldn't help but laugh in amusement which was soon followed by the other dinosaurs.

"Hahahahah!"

(Meanwhile at Zeta Point)

"What's this!? You 3 clods DARE come back without that new dinosaur card!?" Dr Z yelled enraged from his bed as the A team huddled together and shivered before him, as if they were stranded in the cold!

"W…well not exactly Dr Z…." Zander croaked as his teeth could be heard chattering as he shook! He and his friends were starting to turn pale as Dr Z stood up and grabbed an electrical lightning rod which he was patting and fingering with his hand.

Ursula smiled weakly as she tried her best to defend them, "But wait! We have something that you'll definitely be pleased with!"

"I don't want to hear any of it!" Dr Z cut her off suddenly, "Once again you have betrayed my trust and now it's time for you to face the consequences!" he roared as he switched on the rod which began to spark and prepared to throw it straight at his henchmen with all his might as they huddled together and screamed in a panic!

"GAAAAAAHHHH!"

Right before he could release the rod from his hand, the door to his room suddenly opened, "Pardon me for the intrusion doctor." said Seth politely as he stepped in much to everyone's surprise.

"Huh?"

"Seth? What brings you here?" They also looked to their new unexpected arrival and were more surprised to hear what he had to say.

He turned to the Trio and smiled lightly before looking to the old man in bed, "As much as it amuses me to see the ordeals you put them through, I'm afraid I must strongly suggest that you withhold your punishment." he said.

"Oh!" the Trio's eyes shone brightly with hope and they quickly huddled behind him, using him as a buffer against their abusive boss whose jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

It took Dr Z several minutes to process what his ears had just heard as he picked himself up and yelled, "Just what do you mean withhold my punishment!? They came back empty-handed! They deserve to be punished!"

"Not quite." Seth smirked in response as a small fly like droid flew into the room and landed in his open palm, as everyone looked with interest. "You see I dispatched a special spy drone in order to observe their progress," he explained as he pressed a button on its abdomen causing a certain chip to be ejected from it. "I originally intended this for field studies in hostile environments, as well as to study the behaviour and attack patterns of our foes or to determine the causes of any failure in the field so we would improve and not repeat any previous mistakes, as well as delivering a just punishment for said failure….."

"How….interesting….." Dr Z commented admittedly as the trio said nothing and looked on.

"But what I discovered was most intriguing." Seth continued as a monitor screen came down from the ceiling and Seth inserted the chip inside, "Take a close look at this." He said as a recording played on screen, depicting the Alpha gang's battle with the D team at the canyon. While everything seemed to go the way as it usually did, with the D team getting the upper hand as usual, a new girl stepped into the battle and with an unusual device she summoned forth a white feathered dinosaur much to Dr Z's amazement.

"Gah! Th…That's a microraptor!" he gasped being taken aback speechlessly while his 3 henchmen simply smirked and snickered seeing they were right all along. Dr Z pointed out weakly, "But…that's impossible! That wasn't among the dinosaurs we lost when our machine broke down and we were stranded here!" he then gasped.

"S…see! We really were telling the truth the other day! Hehehe….." Ursula laughed rubbing her plans together as she popped her head out from behind Seth.

"Yeah, so that means we're off the hook right?" Zander followed while Ed clasped his hands together uttering prayers of some sort.

Ignoring their chatter Dr Z leaned back in bed and teared up emotionally, "I've always wanted to bring 1 of those back with us," he sniffled before gritting his teeth and shaking his arms in a childish tantrum, "But they wouldn't allow it! Can you believe it?! And now someone else has one instead of me!? Unacceptable! Outrageous!" he then yelled as he grabbed pillows one by one and began throwing them off his bed in a fury and even biting down on another in frustration, nearing ripping the stitching apart.

"M…Maybe they snuck 1 in as a secret?" Ed asked speaking up, "Like some kind of apology gift or even a birthday present?"

Dr Z placed his head on an arm as he began to think about it, "Hmm….that sounds nice….." he muttered before recalling something and he gritted his teeth and screamed! "But still, a microraptor!? Such a puny dinosaur gave you 3 bozos so much trouble when it's barely the size of a chihuahua!?" He yelled scaring the Trio and making them all jump, referring to the previous day when they blew their mission at the forest even with all their unfair edge with all their devices and machines. "For that you're still going to the big house!"

"EEEEEEKKKK!" They turned pale and huddled together in the corner.

Seth then turned rather serious, not wanting to waste anymore time with this nonsense, but saw this as an opportunity, "If I may doctor." he spoke up, "The discovery of our new enemy is actually significant gain for us, but if you wanted something more from this mission," He pressed a button on the remote as it depicted the many large rocks that they brought back to their lab from the Grand Canyon, where many droids were hammering at it with pick axes and other tools before bringing them over to the other stations to be condensed and refined. "They were also able to bring back a supply of much needed and near pure alpha metal deposit. A deposit which should be easy enough for me to extract the metal without any trace of impurities at all, an extremely rare success I have to admit." He said.

"Did you now?" Dr Z raised an eyebrow as they looked back to, and they bowed down grovelling before him.

"Y…yes that's right!"

"We were just about to tell you but you didn't give us the chance!"

"And well, sure we may have lost the dinosaur but if we didn't then we wouldn't have found it! Honest!" They each said with as much innocent smiles as they could.

Steh then pushed them out of the way as he handed Dr Z the chip from the monitor, "My chip here has recorded all the proof they require to back up their claims. Therefore, I strongly believe you should reward them for their hard efforts, or at least let them off easy just this once." he said as Dr Z closed his eyes and folded his arms in thought.

"Hmm…"

As the trio looked to Seth puzzled as to why he would be sticking up for them, he simply shot back a smirk at them which made them step back and sweat nervously, knowing that look meant they owed him, and when you owe Seth back you really owe it big time…

"Very well then," Dr Z spoke up catching their attention, "I'll let it slide just this once. All because Seth said so."

Ursula, Zander and Ed all placed hands to their chests and breathed sighs of relief knowing the worst was over…at least for now….."Phew…."

"For a second I thought we'd be dinosaur chow…."

"Same here….." They each said slumping down to the ground with exhaustion, knowing they couldn't take another moment like that.

"But don't get any funny ideas!" The old man suddenly yelled back which made them jump up!

"AAAAHHHH!"

"Mark my words I will not tolerate another failure!" he threatened shaking his fist, "Otherwise next time I'll send you off to my weapons testing room and use you lot as test subjects! Understand!?"

They all bowed down and went into begging dog positions, "Thank you Dr Z!"

"We hear you loud and clear!"

"We shall never forget this kindness!" They each cheered and cried as Seth took his leave having enough. As he left, Rod and Laura each poked their heads from the side of the door to see everything playing out differently from what they envisioned.

"Whoa, they actually came back with something and didn't get punished for once by grampa?" Laura commented covering her mouth in deep surprise, seeing their grandfather nice to the A-Team of all people was something that comes once in a lifetime to them.

"Guess maybe we're still very sick huh?" Rod then groaned placing a hand to his head checking his temperature and rubbing his forehead.

His sister then nodded in agreement, "Yeah, must be seeing and hearing things…..or maybe it's like a sign of the apocalypse?"

"Better get back to bed then." her brother said rather uncaringly, as he began walking back to the room folding his arms behind his head as she trotted after him.

"I'm with you Rod….." she said.

A little while later the 3 nincompoops exited Dr Z's room without so much as a single scratch as Ursula and Zander came out laughing rather joyously, "Ahahahahah! This really is a miracle!" Ursula cried out dancing in a spin.

"The spirits of mercy, luck and kindness really are shining on us today!" Zander sang as he held his arms up to the ceiling as if he was giving praise and worship to forces above!

Meanwhile Ed simply stood back casually and smiled folding his arms, "That…..Or maybe there's something about this being nice to dinosaurs thing after all….." he said before giving a wink.

Hope you enjoyed this new dinosaur hunt chapter. Since Ursula and Zander had their nice moments with a dinosaur, in Ruff and Ready and Dinosaur Amour respectively, I thought Ed should have one too.

I couldn't have done this without the help of darkblade2814, who helped me come up with the plot for this, looking forward to welcoming anyone else who may be interested in this too.

In response to pokemonking0924

Glad you enjoyed what I wrote so far, thought of making Miku more of a status dinosaur since she's small and not suitable for direct combat. Feather arrows is a nice idea but wanted to make something more unique since for example pachycephalosaurus has laser ray from its head and megalosaurus controls gravity.

I hope to make it as best i can for her to develop with each of the D team and their families in preparation for an OC season 3. Also yeah wanted to have an idea for the bones too since they weren't seen again for so long and wanted to address that loose end. A nice idea for the trench but they didn't do his chant so it wouldn't be fully accurate though haha.

I think I do have a plan for an irritator to be a wild dinosaur and it will be an important OC chapter too.