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!

37. Two shoguns are better than one

Chapter 37

Two shoguns are better than one

"Do you read me Jonathan!? Come in! Come in!" cried Max desperately for an answer as he and the others aimed their communicators higher to the sky hoping for a stronger signal or that the Backlander may be able to pick up their distress call. Tensions grew increasingly thick as they got no response, "I'm just getting a bunch of static!" said Max as he grew increasingly worried about their predicament, he and the others began to sweat nervously while also under the sun's hot rays.

Cera narrowed her eyes uneasily, "Same here…." she added feeling just the same as he was.

"This is bad! We could be stuck here!" Max then gasped.

"It's not like Jonathan to not answer…." muttered Zoe feeling insecure, "I hope nothing bad's happened….."

"…." Cera what if they were found out and attacked? (Want to think positive but hard under these circumstances)

Soon another voice broke the mood they wee in but not in a good way, "Hey! Waiter bring some food…." Dr Z cried out raising his hand to the sky as the others turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.

"What's his problem now?" Cera asked in annoyance, of course of all the times to be hallucinating he couldn't have picked a worse moment.

"The heat is getting to him…." Ursula answered feeling bad for him.

"Well can you snap him out of it?" Cera suggested to her as she and the others looked back ahead to the sky to resume trying to reach the ship.

"Doctor we're not in a restaurant, we're on a cliff in ancient China." Ursula then said to him trying to snap him out of his hallucination but to no avail.

"But I'm really hungry!" Dr Z whined before wriggling around like a baby doing a tantrum, "And I'm really parched and thirsty too! Ed order me a lemonade!"

"I could drink a horse! I'm so thirsty!" Ed then cried joining him much to the others' chagrin know g now they had 2 overgrown kids to quiet down.

"I read somewhere that if you want to stop feeling thirsty, you just think of something sour." Zander then suggested as Dr Z briefly halted his whining.

"Well I suppose it's worth a try…." he breathed as he began to envision the most sour thing he could ever think of. Which happened to be Helga serving him pickled radishes in bed! Literally feeling the radishes running down his throat he widened his eyes and cringed before drool began to flow out of his mouth like a waterfall! "Urgh! Blech!" he groaned before flailing his arms out in exasperation, "Thanks a lot! Now I've got a horrible taste in my mouth too!" he yelled out loud!

Cera try to ignore them and not clobber them-tried to be mature saying not worth the energy and time

"Just ignore them Cera….just ignore them…." she told herself as her closed eyes twitched and a huge tic mark appeared on her forehead as she tried hard to block out the overbearing background noise. She was doing her absolute best to remain in self control without giving into her impulses of duct taping his mouth shut, though the temptation was really strong….

"I guess we're stuck in Ancient China…." Rex then said to the others as he looked up to the sky, which also helped Cera take her mind off the alpha gang in the nick of time, though the more urgent matter didn't seem top make her feel any better as Max soon made it clear.

"Yeah while the space pirates are getting away!" he yelled in frustration, "That means we're farther away from finding our parents than ever!" he cried as Zoe and Rex grew increasingly worried.

Not wanting them to fall into despair and give up hope, Cera then waved her arms out to them, "Now now guys, let's not panic just yet." she said calmly, "Maybe we can't reach the ship because we don't have a strong enough signal for Jonathan to reach."

"Y…Yeah, that could be it, no way anything could have happened to the Backlander." Rex nodded with a light smile deciding to hold on to the chances that it couldn't have been anything disastrous, "Like Sanzo said, let's not give up hope so easily." he then said to the rest of them as they nodded feeling a bit more assured and hopeful.

"Mhmm."

You're right." They nodded recalling everything Sanzo had told them before looking to the Alpha gang who were still trying to calm Dr Z down.

"Hey guys, would you mind picking up Dr Z? We're moving out." said Cera as Max and the others began to head down the mountain before she joined them.

The A Team blinked their eyes puzzled, "Huh? Moving out?"

"To where?" Zander and Ed each asked, after Dr Z tired himself out with all his complaining.

"Just come with us you'll see." she answered back without a backwards glance, "Unless you want to stay stuck here that is." she then added at the end which made Ed shiver at the nightmarish thought of being stranded in the wilderness all alone with Dr Z!

"I don't want that at all!" he cried turning pale at that traumatic possibility.

"Well guys what do you say? Should we follow those little ankle biters?" Ursula asked her friends as Zander shrugged his shoulders.

"Beats sitting here all day stranded here in this timeline I guess…." he replied as they reluctantly hoisted up Dr Z and carried him down the game trail after the D Team as they made their way to the wide open wasteland at the foot of the mountains.

A while had passed as the group trekked for wha seemed like hours through an endless desert, and soon Ursula was beginning to grow impatient and uncomfortable with having to carry an umbrella around all day, "Why are we walking through this wilderness? Do you expect to turn the corner and find a shopping mall with a food court?" she grumbled out loud as her hands began to ache slightly.

"Well it's possible we could find an oasis with some water." Ed suggested as the D Team looked at them weirdly for his strange answer.

"That isn't the point you guys…." Rex muttered.

"Yeah the reason we're walking is to get some place where the communicator will work." Max added.

"Yeah right, like that'll work." Zander then scoffed unconvinced along with the others in the Alpha gang. They were soon about to be corrected as a beeping sound reached their ears.

BEEP! BEEP!

"Huh?"

Cera then looked up at the alpha gang with a raised eyebrow, "You were saying?" she said folding her arms at them as they lowered their heads in shame.

"Never mind…." Zander sighed standing corrected.

"Jonathan here! Come in Max! Do you read?" the android's voice spoke through the communicator.

His voice also helped wake Dr Z up from his nap, "Hey!" he gasped in surprise as the Backlander suddenly appeared from right above them much to their surprise!

"There's the ship!" Zoe cried as the Alpha gang cheered joyfully that they were saved and didn't have to spend a mother moment out in the sun!

"Yay!" They cheered before crying out for him.

"Beam us up now please!"

"Yeah, we can't take another second in this heat!"

"I'll do that right away!" Jonathan answered through Max's dino bracer as they were all enveloped in bright light and were brought back on board at last.

"Jonathan." greeted Max as he and the D Team appeared first.

"So what happened to you?" Rex asked him firmly while still feeling rather cross.

"We were afraid you left us there."

"Or that you got attacked by the pirates or something." said Zoe and Cera feeling put off he made them worry so much.

The Alpha gang soon appeared in the ship as he began to explain, "My apologies, I….went shopping with Helga and it took quite a while…." he said feeling rather guilty before looking to the side where Helga was unloading her massive bag filled with food and supplies freshly bought from the neighbouring village markets, "She's dangerous with credit cards…." he added at the end. Despite their reasons for not answering them for so long, they were all at least grateful to be back on board and able to get back on track, especially when Helga offered out food to the lot.

"I got meat loaf and meat pies and for the doctor's tummy I got pickled radishes." she said to the group while holding up a clay pot.

"Pickled radishes?" Max asked feeling sick inside, "I think I'd rather eat lint…" as if the pickled plums back in the Carribean weren't bad enough.

"Chow time everybody!" Ursula squealed joyously as she threw Dr Z off her back before charging in to feast with the rest of the men!

"Yeah!" Men

"Aaaah!" Dr Z cried out as fall and hit his head on the floor! "Owie…." he groaned as his eyes began spinning out of control after the impact he suffered.

As the Alpha gang began indulging themselves on the food Helga and Jonathan brought back along with their dinosaurs, Max then smiled as he took out his card, "Oh well, we might as well join in guys." he said with a smile as he summoned out Chomp who then ran off to join the feast, snatching a dumpling that fell out from the bag.

"Yeah, let's eat!" Zoe smiled as she summoned Paris, Rex with Ace and then Cera with both Miku and Terry. While Terry went to job his friends with stuffing their faces like pigs, the others went to grab whatever scraps that had fallen out away from the basket so they wouldn't end up in the Alpga gang's feeding frenzy.

As they gorged down ravenously on their much needed nourishment, Helga looked upon the gang with disgust, "The way you are eating I can't even tell which of you are the humans and which are the animals." she grumbled knowing she had taught them far better manners than this.

"So what's your point?" they said uncaringly in response.

"For adults those guys really have poor table manners…." Cera sighed shaking her head in disapproval as she munched on an apple she took hold of.

"Yeah, good thing we're not as immature as they are right?" Zoe smiled cheekily as she ate a fresh ripe banana.

On the other side she stood corrected as Chomp ran off with a dumpling in his mouth, followed by Ace and Paris who were also hoping for a share too, along with Max who ran after them hungry himself, "Come on guys! Save some for me!" he cried out as he chased after them much to Cera and Zoe's dismay.

"Almost all of us…." they let out a sigh in disappointment.

Meanwhile Rex having had his fill went off to see Jonathan at the driver's seat, "When you went out? Shouldn't we have picked up the ship's signal?" he asked curiously.

"No, because when Helga and I left we switched off the ship's power Rex." Jonathan answered him.

"Well next time, leave it on okay?" Zoe suggested. It was at that moment when Helga put a hand on her shoulder making her turn to her, "Huh?" As she turned to look she sweetened nervously and her heart skipped a beat at Helga gazed at her with a piercing glare!

"Do you know what we call people who leave everything on when they go out?" Helga she said menacingly, "We call them!" she spun around and posed dramatically, "Wasteful enemies of ecology!" she proclaimed which made Zoe smile nervously.

"Umm err…right Helga…." she chuckled unable to argue with her logic.

"She does have a point there…." Cera sweat dropped uneasily feeling scared herself at the burly robomaid. She'd much rather take chances with the pirates again then go against Helga's decisions openly., it'd be welcoming a disaster greater than the one which wiped out the dinosaurs….

"Well now that we're back there's no time to lose, we've gotta go after this space pirates!" Max then pointed out as Jonathan responded keying in the right command protocols.

"Right!"

As he did, Helga looked down to see Dr Z was still lying fainted at the wall, "Doctor, you're not eating your radishes." she pointed out to him which made him flail his arms out like a spoiled brat!

"I'm not gonna eat those vile things! I'd rather starve!" he cried childishly as Helga walked over to him.

"Would you like me to make you a nice juicy steak dinner instead?" she asked him compassionately

"Yeeesss.…" he replied.

Quickly she dropped her facade as she picked him up like the baby he was acting as, "Nein! You'll get a bowl of mush and you'll like it!" she growled strictly.

Hearing those words made Dr Z's heart skip a beat realising she was going to feed him the same horrible mush that the Alpha gang cooked up for him months ago and now his old nightmares were returning to him, "Alright! Alright! Alright! I'll eat the radishes!" he pleaded desperately.

"Too late!" Helga spouted as she took him to his room, bringing much needed peace to the gang at last as they all got to their stations to help assist Jonathan with navigation.

As the gang flew through the time stream, smoothly and without any anomalies for a change now with Dr Z out of the picture, Max then hardened his expression as he looked ahead, "Alright guys, just like last time we've got to find the pterosaur and fast!" he said as Cera picked up Miku in her hand.

"Don't worry, Miku's on it." She said as she held the raptor in her palm and held her out ahead to act as their compass. Narrowing her eyes ahead and bringing her senses to full alert, she quickly turned to the right and pointed ahead, "That way!" She called.

"You heard her Jonathan!" Rex ordered looking to him as he nodded in response.

"Right away!" Punching on the lever, the Backlander sped ahead quickly in said direction and before long, a pair of brightly coloured wings soon opened up and came into view which the D Team caught sight of as they gazed at her in sheer awe and amazement.

"Check it out! The pterosaur!" Zoe pointed out as they caught sight of her directly ahead of them!

"The danger is increasing," she said with concern in her voice, "You must protect the cosmos stones."

"How many cosmos stones are there?" Rex then asked.

"There are 7 of the stones." The pterosaur answered them which made Max's eyes widen in disbelief.

"Whoa! And the space pirates already have 3 of them, now there are only 4 left to find." he said seriously after recovering from his shock.

"7 stones….." Cera breathed, as she began to ponder over wonder what that meant.

"The 7 must never be brought together." said the pterosaur which interrupted her train of thought.

"Why not?" Max asked.

"With their powers combined they could change all of time and space." she answered which made the group increasingly worried now that they knew the stakes were far greater than they first believed.

"And then what would happen?" Zoe asked nervously.

"Yeah, please tell us what we need to know!" Cera cried begging for answers and not wishing they be kept in the dark a second longer.

Unfortunately the time for answered hadn't yet arrived much to their frustration, "We've reached your destination." she said as she lead them to another time portal up ahead.

"Wait a sec, you didn't tell us what would happen if all the stones are brought together." said Max in a hurry before she started to turn away from them, "Don't go yet!" he pleaded, but his words fell on deaf ears, if she had any, as she flew out of sight and the Backlander ended up diving through the portal and into the next time period!

As she disappeared Cera narrowed her eyes as the light soon swallowed hem up, "She's gone again…." she breathed in disappointment as they entered the next world. At first it seems strange as the sky was apparently under them and the land above…..till they realised they actually entered upside down!

"WAAAAAH!" They screamed nearly falling form where they were, as Jonathan made a quick turn and set them all right side up in time!

"You know all that pterosaur ever does is show up with more bad news and then she takes off again." Max grumbled in annoyance that she seemed to be shoving a whole lot on them without giving them any fair explanation.

"It's like she knew her time with us is short yet still chooses to withhold what we need to know most…..but why?" Cera thought out loud to herself as she folded her arms.

"At least we now know, we have to keep the cosmos stones apart which means we're doing more than just trying to find our parents." said Zoe at least having a grasp of the situation.

"Yeah, it means we're trying to save all of time and space and let's be honest the stakes don't get much higher than that." Max added seriously.

"I couldn't agree more." Cera nodded as she then tensed her hands into fists, "Which means from here on we'll have to double our efforts too."

"Mhmm." Max and Zoe both nodded with her in agreement.

Meanwhile Rex reached in to see his TPS which was lit up with a red beacon, "The TPS system just picked up our parents in this time period." he said to them.

"Which means the space pirates are probably here too!" Zoe added seriously.

"But where's here?" Ursula asked curiously.

"The year 1572, in the Chubo region of Japan." Jonathan answered her.

"Looks like a nice place." Max stated as he saw

Cera feels looks can be deceiving

"1572 sounds very familiar.…" Zoe then said out loud having heard this somewhere in school one time, as Jonathan was about to make it clear.

"It was the age of civil wars." he said which made them all widen their eyes in shock!

"Huh!?" Of all the times they visited to be right in the middle of a war, it made the Roman empire and pirate infested seas seem like mere school fights, something they preferred to have forgotten.

Rex suddenly widened his eyes as he remembered something about this particular period in time, "Wait, I heard about this back in history class!" he gasped. Upon mentioning school Max and Zoe both soon picked up on it too.

"Yeah! It's that time when Takeda Shingen and Ieyasu Tokugawa were at war with one another for control over Japan!" Max pointed out with his finger.

"No way…..we're now actually going to see that historical battle first hand!?" Zoe widened her eyes in both amazement and shock.

Cera narrowed her eyes as she walked over to the glass front, "Way I see it, if there's a cosmos stone in play here," she said as she placed a hand against it, "Chances are we may get ourselves involved in that war, and way I see it, adding dinosaurs to a war like this is never good." she said as her expression hardened.

"I can see where you're going with this….." said Rex in agreement as he folded his arms in thought, "One wrong move and we could end up altering the course of Japan's history for years to come…." As he said that silence came upon the entire lot, a they realised their situation gad grown even more serious, not one were they in a dangerous time but they also had to keep the space pirates and even themselves in check form doing anything that could do something to alter history for centuries to come. Never had the stakes on their adventure been any higher…..

BEEP! BEEP!

A ringing sound soon came at the Alpha gang's station which caught their surprise, "Hmm?" Ursula curiously pressed it and answered, "Hello?" The person who answered back at the other end nearly gave them a heart attack.

"Ursula! You and your twits get down here now!" Dr Z's voice screamed from the other end which made the trio stutter in surprise as they jumped up and out of their seats!

"R…Right away Dr Z…." Ursula gulped as she sweated her ousel before cutting the call off. "Come on guys, let's not keep him waiting." She then said to them as they walked out to the back door to Dr Z's room to see what he wanted.

"Yeah, last time we didn't answer his call he ended up ruining our lunch and causing the dishes to fall on us…." Ed added in agreement, shivering nervously remembering he picked Terry and the others on them right after they cleaned up, only to ruin their noodle lunch and cause the shelf to fall on them, no way did they want a repeat of that again.

After they left the D Team looked back to one another to discuss their battle strategy and approach for this era, hoping to brainstorm a possible plan of attack or determine their next move in locating the next cosmos stone before they did. "So what do we do now guys?" Max asked hoping someone would suggest an answer.

"Until those space pirates come knocking with a dinosaur there's not much we can do." Cera answered rather reluctantly, "Unless you want to take a chance going in blind through uncharted territory with army troops or maybe even ninjas lurking about that is." she suggested as the rest of them shuddered nervously at the thought of that happening to them.

"Good point, wouldn't want to come back looking like swiss cheese with who knows how many soldiers are down there." Zoe gulped hard as she hugged her arms around her own waist wanting to stay perfectly intact.

Max then gritted his teeth in annoyance, "Man this really bites…." he grunted as the others looked to him.

"What Max?" asked Rex as the brunette looked back at him.

"I mean the fact that we're not just out to save our parents but the fact we also have to keep the cosmos stones from falling into the space pirates' grubby hands yet we still don't know why." he huffed with a hard scowl on his face, "The only one who can gives clues about this is the Pterosaur herself, and last I checked every time we see her we alway end up with more questions than answers." he said voicing out his frustrations at them being shoved into this responsibility with so much pressure and high stakes on their shoulders, just when they had gotten a happy ending the first time when Rex finally found his parents, only to have them and their own snatched away by enemies they knew next to nothin about nor why.

Around him similar expressions of concern and worry appeared on the faces of his friends as they realised the situation they were all in, "You're right Max." Cera replied in agreement with his words, "Maybe she doesn't trust us fully or worries we might not be able to handle the truth." she then suggested her opinion though it didn't seem to make it any better for them.

"If only there was some way we could find out why the pirates want the cosmos stones or what they are and can do," Rex thought out loud as he folded his arms, "Then maybe we could stay a step ahead of them, or at least not lag several moves behind." he said as they all drifted into thought once more, though moments passed not one of them could come up with an idea which seemed feasible with the resources and knowledge currently at their disposal, which further added to their list of frustrations.

"….."

As Cera began to ponder over a possible edge they could have over their foes, she then snapped her fingers upon realising they may have something they could utilise, "Actually, I think I might be able to find just the edge we need." she said as the others looked to her intrigued.

"Really?"

"How so Cera?" Rex and Zoe asked blinking their eyes.

"Yeah, just what do you have in mind?" Max asked suspiciously as he folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at her.

She then gained a confident smirk on her face as she walked towards the back door, "How about I show you then you'll see." she said waving to them as she took her leave and the others followed after her down the hallway.

The gang soon entered the elevator as they went down to one of the garages stationed in the Backlander. As the doors opened, and they all stepped into the room they widened their eyes and gasped in surprise at what they saw.

"Whoa…."

Before them was a red ship the shape of a red sphere with 4 spiked legs around it and the space pirate symbol in the middle of it, settled in gently in the middle of the room as a number of droids were trotting about, either bringing in tools or supplies, or using them at the pod, where several orange sparks were flying out as they tested it for areas of weakness. There were also a number of computer screens around the room depicting the inside of the ship's components and circuitry while a set of cables were being hauled over to an open port of the ship from the main computer as the droids began to plug it in. The D Team couldn't believe their eyes at what they were seeing.

Max pointed out, "Is that?"

Cera nodded which confirmed their assumptions, "Yeah, it's Foolscap's pod back from China." she said as some droids pushed in a cart filled with pieces of scrap metal and debris from another corner and then settling it right in front of them, "As well as some leftover parts I recovered from Sheer's back at Rome. I had Jonathan bring it in, you know, so that nothing brought in gets left behind in the past and maybe altering future events." she said taking one piece and eyeing it carefully all round before putting it back. After that she turned around to look back to them, "But then I thought, with some salvaging or maybe even some decryption we might be able to dig up a little dirt on these space pirates and hopefully shed some light on the situation we're dealing with at the moment, like who the pirates are or what their plans may be." she said which made her friends widen their eyes and gasp in surprise at her idea which made a lot of sense and could no doubt work, "When we do, it might help illuminate new strategies to address how they work and operate so we can be better prepared for them. Or better yet when things get really drastic we could maybe find out where their hideout may be and take the fight straight to them too."

As she finished it the others all smiled with excitement and hope which they hadn't felt in a long while, "Hey that's like a really great idea!" Rex cried as a big smile came across his face.

"Yeah! They'll never see it coming for sure!" Max grinned punching to the sky excitedly, "Heh, when that time does come I can't wait to see the look on those pirates' faces when we break in and take the fight to them." He then smirked punching his hand into his open palm.

"And make them pay for all the trouble they caused." said Zoe with a firm nod.

Rex meanwhile walked over to the pod and leftover parts eying them and the working droids all around with interest, "I'm amazed Cera, didn't think you'd actually think this far." he whistled impressed.

"Heh, well I do have my moments." she chuckled blushing red sheepishly before it became slightly more serious, "Though I can't promise anything yet, I still have a lot of work to do and it's only a hope I have." She then said as she walked over to the pod where the droids had finally managed to open the hatch with a crowbar before tumbling backwards and crashing into one another! "With the advanced tech here and the more simpler tools available to me, I'm not even sure if I can get anything useful out of this tin can…." she said looking rather pained and worried if she can live up to the others' hopes, "So….don't get your hopes too up okay?" she added at the end which made the mood turn slightly more down than earlier.

The D Team could see that despite not having her parents being captured by the pirates (if she had any….) Cera was feeling pressured about failing them and just how much she cared about their cause as much as they were. That though was enough for them to smile lightly as Rex walked in to put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "Just do your best Cera, we'll take what we can get." he said to her.

"Yeah, the fact you're trying really hard yourself is good enough for us any day." Max added as he smiled folding his arms behind his head.

"We're just grateful we have you on our side." Zoe said at the end smiling brightly, which helped lift Cera's mood up a bit as she nodded back at them.

"Thanks you guys, and I promise I'll do my best." she swore as her expression hardened with determination.

The D Team smiled back, "And we promise to help you find out about your old memories when this whole mess is cleaned up too." said Rex to her in response giving her his word they'll do everything they can for her as they are for them and their parents now.

She smiled and nodded back at them, feeling touched they were still going to keep their promise on helping her since the day they first met, and also feeling confident they could do just that, "I'll be sure to remember that." she said as they all smiled happily with one another.

BEEP! BEEP!

A familiar beeping sound from their bracers soon broke the silence and ruined the mood, as they widened their eyes and gasped, "Ah!"

They took out their bracers and saw a beacon lit up on the map, "A dinosaur!" Max gasped seeing it had showed up, and that could only mean the space pirates had begun to make their move now.

"We'd better move now before we lose it." said Rex to Max and Zoe as they nodded with him.

"You guys go ahead," said Cera, "I'll stay here and see if I can speed things along here."

They then nodded agreeing with her decision, "Sure thing, we'll contact you if we need backup." said Max with a nod before rallying everyone together, "Come on team, let's move out!" he said as they all punched to the air and cheered with confidence.

"Yeah!"

"Good luck you guys." said Cera to them as they ran out of the lab room to head to the control deck where Jonathan was awaiting them. As the door closed leaving her and Miku inside she then narrowed her eyes before turning around to see the wires being installed into the time pod and data slowly being transferred out of it and into the mainframe. As it did small lines of data began to light up on screen as Cera looked up at them appear one by one, "They're counting on me, they all are…." she thought as the images of the D Team's parents and the D Team themselves appeared before her. "So there's no way I'll let them down…" She told herself as she went to the computer to begin typing, hoping to be able to decode them and unlock whatever secrets the pod may have been carrying in it before it crashed, or hopefully give her a sneak peak at their systems and security so she'd know what to expect if they did ever manage to get on board.

A task easier said than done she soon came to realise, after nearly half an hour of typing away non-stop she sweated tiredly as she took her hands away from the keyboard and stepped away to take a breather. "Hmm these files are really encrypted, this pirates must really want us to stay out of their business." She noted seeing decoding the data was very slow and had several firewalls and other security measures implanted in them too, which hindered her progress much to annoyance. Yet despite that, the urgency and her friends' hopes in her spurred her to keep trying, "Well that's not going to stop us one bit, I'll keep trying no matter what it takes." she thought as she keyed in a command routine into the computer so that it would decode the remainder without the need for her supervision.

"Meantime I think maybe I should get to that other project I've been working on too." She then said as she moved off to a different part of the lab to where she and Dr Cretacia once developed the dino bracers. Taking some components and installing a program into it she eventually developed a new chip in the shape of a dinosaur footprint, which she held together with a pair of forceps and she smiled proudly at what she accomplished, "Excellent once I install this new synchro chip into my dinoshot, I should be able to pull off fusion moves alone without anyone else like Max and the others." She said to herself as she opened a compartment in her dinoshot and implanted it inside, "Of course I'll still need 2 dinosaurs for it but it wouldn't hurt to have a backup plan in an emergency." She said before closing it shut. "Shame I can't use this for Max and the others since they use the stones though." she sighed feeling bad for them before cheering up again, "But they'd prefer working together much more anyways." she then said to herself knowing they wouldn't accept it anyways since they preferred to work with dinosaurs around their own element specialty.

With that out of the way she then returned back to the computer to see how much progress had been made regarding the data decryption, "Alright let's see what we've got here…." she said to herself as she brought it up on screen. So far what she uncovered wasn't anything too new, except the fact that each of the 7 cosmos stones contained the power of an entire galaxy in them. She began to shudder at the thought of what horrors may unfold when all of them are brought together like the Pterosaur feared. It was highly likely the pirates had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but even if they did would they really possess a way to control it? If they did, should it be done? The thought of it was far too risky to be used regardless of good or evil. "No way can we let those goons get their hands on the others after already having 3." She then said to herself with determination as she clenched her hand into a fist while Miku let out an agitated snarl sensing her worries.

Another thought soon crossed her mind as she flashbacked to the Cretaceous era, back when they were just about to leave a massive meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere, carrying 7 colours in it before colliding with the planet's surface, "I wonder…." thinking about it as there were 7 stones there were also 7 stone plates as well. No doubt there had to have been some connection there. The fact was clear, as she remembered Chomp, Tank and Spiny seemed to have some sort of reaction to the cosmos stones of the same matching color as their dinosaur stone element. Also what was the reason the stones were separated throughout time if that were the case? Couldn't the pirates try to take them all at once in 1 time period alone? "I need more info first…." Cera shook her head deciding to leave it at that for the time being since they didn't have any answers to work with and all they could do is wait and hope they could get more out from the pirate pods back in the lab.

As she pondered over those thoughts, Miku soon pecked at her cheek making her turn curiously to her, "Something Miku?" she asked. The young raptor then leapt down onto the work table in front of her before pointing at her pocket. Doing as she said and reaching into them, she pulled out a pair of fruit seeds which were spat out by Miku not long ago back in China, "Oh yeah, I forgot about these." she then said with a smile as she took her leave from the lab thinking it was time she took a break on this and then get back to it afterwards.

Entering the museum room, she headed to an empty slot which was nearby the displays for Rome's pizza recipe and the Caribbean's treasures and map. "Here you go guys, some nice warm soil and water for you." she said as she gently nuzzled the seeds into a clay pot filled with soil, before adding in a sprinkle of fertiliser and some water to them, making the soil moist and firm. Settling it onto the pedestal from China before leaning in and smiling at them, excited for the kind of plant they would eventually grow into. "If we're visiting 7 time eras we might as well set up 7 trophy displays too." She then thought as she pressed another button nearby, which caused a couple of vacant trophy displays to open up around the room, awaiting for a priceless relic that would soon fill in the empty space.

After that was taken care of she then took out her dinoshot and began to dial on it, "Maybe I should check in with the gang to see how they're doing." she thought since a while had passed and no word from them she felt a little worried having received no word from them as she began to initiate the call, "Max, Rex, Zoe? Come in." she said through the communicator as Max's smiling face appeared onscreen.

"Hey Cera, how's things going over on your end?" he asked her.

"Pretty slow but steady, that's best I can say." she answered him shrugging her shoulders. She then squinted her eyes slightly to see Max himself was alone much to her interest, "How about you? Where are the others?" she asked him.

"Rex and I have gone on a little scout to check out for any paths we can follow, we may have found a lead to the next cosmos stone." he answered with a smile which made her widen her eyes.

"That's great news!" she cheered with excitement, "So where is it? Maybe I can help you out while I'm here. Any helpful clues I could work with?" she asked.

Max soon sighed and shook his head with disappointment, "Afraid not….The shogun didn't give us so much as a hint as to where it is." he muttered.

"Shogun?" Cera asked blinking her eyes curiously.

"Oh yeah that's right! Get this! We actually met Ieyasu Tokugawa himself in the flesh! Can you believe it!?" Max then answered sounding quite excited.

Cera widened her eyes in surprise at Max's words, "Whoa! For real! As in the founder of the Aeto Government!?" she gasped, "Wow, it must be a real honour to have met such a great leader in Earth's history face to face, you guys are so lucky!"

Upon finishing her sentence, Max sweat dropped in dismay, "Err…not so much actually…." he replied scratching his cheek looking away from her.

His unusual response perked her interest once again, "Hmm? How come?" she asked as he let out a deep sigh.

"It's er….complicated…." He soon began to explain from the start that the shogun they found, whom they believed to be a great and noble leader was actually a grown man around the same shape as Dr Drake, only his mentality was equal to that of a spoilt brat, who made plenty of noise and complaints over the smallest things and he treated the D Team like mere peasants despite everything they did for him.

Hearing his story, Cera could only stare in disbelief at what she heard, "That's…not how I envisioned the leader of an army to behave…." she said unsure of what to think of it.

"Same here, so much for historical accuracy…." Max muttered feeling let down that everything he thought the shogun to be was a big juicy lie.

"Anyways, the fact remains he's an important historical figure so make sure to keep him safe at all times, one wrong move and it can change Japan or even the word forever."

"We'll keep that in mind, meantime let us know if you do find out anything important." he nodded back at her in acknowledgment of her warning and concerns.

Cera then began dialling on her dinoshot, "I'll send you what data I've gotten so far, I'll report back to you if I learn anything more. Over and out." she said to him before the call got cut off.

"That's quite the adventure they're having down there, sure wish we were down there too Miku." she said to her partner feeling slightly jealous that they were having a lot of fun down there, more than she thought for a dangerous time period. It was then she remembered the topic around Tokugawa, that she brought a finger to her chin in thought, "Still, if Tokugawa looks like Dr Drake, you think they could be related? Like he or even Zoe may have ancient samurai blood in them?" she pondered curious before shrugging her shoulders, "Who knows?"

All of a sudden as soon as she was done with that, she felt a strange sensation in the air which she soon picked up and put her senses on alert, "Wait a sec…." Miku too soon picked up on it before she nuzzled at Cera's cheek and squawked at her with concern, "You're right Miku, it's way too quiet." she nodded to her in agreement with her. By now they would've heard some kind of commotion by the Alpha gang by now, but so far they've heard nothing at all not even a peep….and that was worrisome because that meant something had happened to them for sure, "We'd better go see what's really going on…." she said as they took their leave and headed out to find them. Little did she know was that as the door closed behind them, a small shoot began to grow out of the soil in the pot…..

Meanwhile in Dr Z's room, the old man groaned painfully after having barely managed to finish the last mouthful of mush that Helga forced on him, as he sank back into his bed seeing the room spin around him dizzily, the putrid taste and sensation still lingering inside his palette much to his dismay, "Ugh…that's the worst thing I ever put in my mouth…..curse those nitwits for creating this nasty concoction in the first place…." he moaned in agony as he did his best to take the pain off his mind with a storybook on dinosaurs but to little success.

Before long the door opened and stepping in was Cera with Miku on her shoulder, "Hey Dr Z?" she asked politely which woke him up.

"Hmm?" Sitting up his mood turned sour as his eyes locked with her, "Oh it's you, what do you want?" he grumbled before gritting his teeth with irritation at the fact she barged into his room disrespecting his privacy, "Also, didn't anyone ever tach you to knock? Whoever said you could come in here!?" he cried out shaking his fists demanding she leave immidiately.

Ignoring him Cera took a clam look around the bedroom and to her surprise she saw no trace of the Alpha trio anywhere, and that worried her somewhat as she focused her attention on Dr Z, "Where are Ursula and the others? I haven't heard a peep from them almost all day." she asked him.

He blinked his eyes in surprise, "You're actually looking for those 3 stooges? That's a first…." he mused before lying back down in his bed uncaringly, "I merely sent them down to go get me a new dinosaur, nothing new." he muttered before strapping on his eye mask and nestling into his soft bed.

Upon hearing his statement, Cera's jaw hung and she widened her eyes in disbelief at what she heard, "You did what!?" she exclaimed before shaking her fist out at him furiously, "You sent them alone and unattended in the middle of a Japanese civil war!?"

"Your point?" Was all he replied with without even looking at her in the eye, which served to irritate her even more so at his laid-back attitude.

"Grrgh! You moron! Don't you see those idiots could end up causing more damage to the timeline than the space pirates ever could!?" she growled before taking a breath to calm herself down, "Argh! There's no point talking sense into you, I'm going down there myself!" she grunted in annoyance and frustration, seeing no reason in wasting her breath a second longer with Dr Z's careless and selfish attitude, though she wasn't about to let him get away with this. Taking out her dinoshot she pressed a button on it which caused her to vanish in a beam of light as she left the room and Dr Z alone in it.

"Go ahead and knock yourself out, see if I care." Dr Z muttered uncaringly as he nuzzled in under the covers for his afternoon nap. He didn't have long to enjoy it though as his stomach suddenly began to churn which spurred him to sit up straight again as he clutched his stomach tightly in the hopes of reducing the unbearable pain coursing through his digestive system! "Urgh….my tummy hurts….need bathroom now….." he moaned as he hopped out of his bed and headed outside for the bathroom post haste.

Moments later after he left, Helga came in with a dish and a warm toasted sandwich on it, "Doctor! Your grilled cheese sandwich is ready!" she called as she stepped towards the bed only to see it was empty much to her surprise, "Hmm? He's gone?" Looking around to see no sign of him she pouted in disappointment, "How rude, and I went through all the trouble of preparing this for him…." she muttered.

(Meanwhile)

A light soon appeared in the middle of a forested area and emerging from it was Cera, with Miku on her shoulder as she stepped out onto the field and took in a breath of air. Surveying her surroundings and determining them to be safe, she then looked to her dinoshot and dialled on it, "Jonathan, send me the coordinates for the Alpha gang's last position." she asked.

"It's nearby your current location, sending it to you now." his voice replied on the other end as a map appeared on screen depicting a red marker beacon which she narrowed her eyes at.

"It's close by…" she thought to herself before looking to her partner who rested comfortably on her shoulder, "Keep your eyes and ears open Miku, we're in dangerous terrain so stay alert." she said to her, trusting the raptor to be alert and on guard too, considering her senses were far sharper than hers. Seeing the urgency in her expression, Miku nodded back at her as Cera smiled back in reassurance of her partner's capabilities, before heading off towards the beacon.

Coming upon the last marked location which was in a rather forested area, Cera soon came upon a large opening in a forested area which she end with interest, "A cave?" she asked herself before taking notice of something lying on the ground just by the entrance,"Hey it's a scanner." She said picking it up and opening it to reveal Spiny's card there, "It's Spiny's….so they were here…." she said noting the situation. After that she noticed something on the ground as she squatted down and put her hand on the ground for a closer look and examination, "Bear tracks…and footprints…." it didn't take her long to put 2 and 2 together to realise what had happened.

Apparently the gang no doubt stumbled into the cave looking for dinosaurs and ended up disturbing a family of bears that were minding their own business in there, which they chased them out of their hole and after them. Way she saw it the Alpha gang either threw the scanner at them or dropped it out of fear, "Of course….it's just like them." she muttered in annoyance knowing what they did could have easily costed them their lives, sure they survived all kinds of tight situations before but now she wasn't so sure….

Seeing standing around doing nothing wouldn't solve anything, "Well better follow them to see where it leads." she then said deciding to hit the trails. As she followed along the path through the woods she didn't know who to worry about, the A Team getting eaten by the bears, or the bears for getting attacked by a dinosaur or to get sick from eating them. Either way she had to find and save them before they hurt themselves or anyone else around them by doing something stupid.

(Meanwhile)

At the bathroom the sound of a toilet flushing was heard from outside, and stepping out of it was Dr Z, who was breathing rather heavily after having finished doing big business in the lavatory, "Phew….finally I got that garbage out of my system…." he wheezed before waving his hand to whip away the smell that came out of it. After that he felt a gurgle in his stomach which made him clench it with his hand, "Ugh…I feel so worn out I almost don't want that sandwich anymore…." he moaned as he walked off hoping to get back to his bedroom and lie down again.

Along the way he passed by the open door of the research room Cera left behind which caught his attention, "Hmm? Now what do we have here?" he asked himself as he stepped in to see the pod wreckage and the fully intact pirate pod settled in nicely in the middle of the room. Connected to one of the pods was a set of cables which were connected to a main computer, where streams of data and energy were flowing out of it and into the mainframe. As Dr Z went over to it he began to type on it and it brought up all the currently encrypted data on screen, which made him widen his eyes in amazement at the newfound potential he may have discovered! "Ah….how very interesting hee hee!" he snickered to himself deviously seeing he had great plans for his dinosaur kingdom which he couldn't wait to put into action, if he could just get his hands on one of them….

(Meanwhile)

A while later Cera, after being pointed by Miku with her sharp eyes, came to a clearing where 3 pieces of honeycomb was nestled on the ground. Looking down she saw bear prints along with shoe marks in the ground hitting she was on the right track though she had just missed them much to her and Miku's disappointment. Up ahead they took notice of a device lying down on the ground as she walked towards it for a better look, and upon closer inspection she recognised what it was, "Another scanner…." reaching for it and picking it up, she opened it to find a saichania inside it, "It belongs to Tank…." she noted before frowning, "Looks like they were here just now…." She couldn't tell whether the A Team threw their best weapons away or had slippery butter fingers.

Either way there was only one path open to her as she looked ahead, "Let's keep going." she then said to Miku as they hurried along the game trail, following after the prints they ended down a rather steep slope, which she slid down before finding an opening in a rocky hill side. "A cave….maybe they went down here….." She thought out loud as she and Miku went inside to investigate. A while had passed as they trekked through the dark caverns, the only sounds to be heard was the wind blowing or drops of water trickling down from the ceiling. Other than that was an eerie silence, "It's really dark and quiet in here…..and I don't like it…." said Cera tensely as she looked around, keeping her eyes and ears peeled as she looked around surveying her surroundings, with Miku too keeping her guar dup against anything that might try to surprise them in the shadows. Unfortunately nothing would prepare them for the surprise they were soon about to experience, as a massive explosion further off sent shockwaves through the area and caused the hanging stalagmites to rattle!

BOOM!

"AH!" Cera gasped as she was thrown off balance and off her feet, Miku screeched in alarm as she leapt off Cera's shoulder as she fell backwards! "Oof! Ow…." she groaned rubbing the back of her head as it banged against the cave ground before sitting up and looking around seeing it had passed thankfully, "What was that!?" she gasped in surprise looking around seeing nothing, which worried her since there was something dangerous down here and she and Miku may have trapped themselves with it! As Miku hopped over to her, she picked her up and put her back on her shoulder before looking ahead with narrowed eyes, "We'd better go see….." she then decided. Explosions don't just happen suddenly, especially in caves, so no doubt someone caused it, and if that was the case there was a chance of casualties. "I hope no one got hurt…." Cera thought to herself as she ran on ahead towards the direction the explosion and shockwaves came from.

As she ran ahead she widened her eyes to see a huge pile of rubble lying in the middle of a clearing, with the Alpha gang and a bear strangely removing rocks on one side, and with Chomp and Ace at full size pushing away large boulders from the rock piles, while Max, Rex and chibi sized Paris were working with the smaller ones. Seeing Zoe to be absent from the group, her heart skipped a beat and she just knew something terrible had happened just now, "AH! Guys!" she then yelled out to them as she ran towards the scene.

"Huh?" Looking up, Max and Rex brightened up with joy to see help had arrived on the scene when they needed it most of all.

"Hey look it's Cera!" Max pointed.

"Man are we glad you're here, we could really use the help!" Rex breathed out loud with relief.

As she ran up to where they were she asked with urgency in her tone, "What happened here? Care to fill me in?" as she looked to see the rock pile they were gathered around, as well as the massive bear that was with them too, "Also, where's Zoe and Shogun Tokugawa?"

Rex then pointed out at the Alpha gang trio, "You should ask them, they're the ones who did this!" he yelled angrily which made them turn pale seeing he was putting the blame at them!

"EH!?"

Ursula gritted her teeth and flared red with anger, "How dare you, you little brats!?" she growled taking her fists, till she froze and shuddered in terror as Cera looked towards them menacingly, piercing red eyes shone from a shade above her face and her entire being was being enshrouded with a dark aura and Miku too, her usual white and fluffy exterior turned ruffled as her eyes became slit and she snarled with the ferocity of a tiger flaring out her wings as she shrieked like a nightmare which made the Alpha gang's blood run cold!

"Urk…" they gulped and huddled together in terror as she stepped towards them.

"Start….talking…now…." she demanded as they began to sweat bullets, unable to look away or even move because of the glare she was shooting them!

"W….Well you see…." Ursula swallowed what seemed to be a rock in her throat as it ached immensely. Zander and Ed were right about to wet their pants and lost their ability to speak, and seeing that Cera wasn't going to take their nonsense a second longer Ursula twiddled her fingers seeing there was no way out for them but to confess….though it wouldn't bode well for them either way…."It's quite a long and funny story actually heheh…."

As she stated everything that had happened since they left the ship-

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Cera exploded in a rage so loud her voice echoed through the entire cavern system some of the stalagmites above even shook too! It was one thing to go rescue 3 idiots who were only talented at getting themselves and others into danger, but for them to carelessly toss away their dinosaurs and endanger her best friend like they just did was really crossing the line for her, as she stomped towards them popping her knuckles, while Miku's snarling jaws dripped with saliva ready to sink them into warm flesh and blood!

"WAAAAAAAHHH!" They all screamed in terror, flailing their arms out like terrified birds before prostrating themselves before her, "We're so sorry!"

"You'd better be," she hissed before looking away from them in disgust as she been to grab some of the larger rocks and toss them away with little effort, "Cos if I see so much as a scratch on Zoe or the shogun, I swear I'll serve you 3 up as sushi then feed you guys to Spiny in a heartbeat!" she swore as the Alpha gang gulped hard and lowered their heads in shame before resuming their punishment of rock removal without another word, for their sakes….

Nearby Max and Rex stared in complete and utter disbelief at what they just saw, "Remind me never to get on Cera's bad side ever Rex…." Max whispered to him.

"Noted Max." Rex nodded in agreement knowing even she could even pacify Terry in full sized form if she went all out like she just did as they returned to clearing the rocks away without another word. Suddenly Ace began to look up and sniff the air rather restlessly, which Cera soon took notice of as she looked to Rex feeling concerned, "Hey Rex, Ace is acting kinds funny." she said alerting him.

"Hmm?" He then looked up and saw she was right, "Hey what's up Ace? Is there something wrong?" he asked puzzled as the carnotaurus suddenly ran off in another direction further ahead, "Where're you going? We've got rocks to move!" he cried out to him, but his pleas were ignored which spurred him to follow after his suddenly wild partner.

As they ran off, Cera and Miku both looked on curiously, "Is he sensing something close by? Like an enemy? Or is he hungry or-" Cera then widened her eyes as she recalled a similar situation like this, "Wait, I remember…." Her mind flashbacked to the time Spiny was agitated back at Treasure Island, and then Tank who had apparently gone berserk in the mountains. Both times they were near a cosmos stone that matched their element, "Could it be?" she had to see it herself to confirm as she looked to Miku, "Let's follow him and see what's going on." she said as her partner responded with a squawk to which she nodded back at as she followed after both Rex and Ace as they ran down a certain tunnel further away from the cave in.

"Ace!" Rex called out to him but once again his cry was ignored as the carnotaurus kept running onward to what appeared to be a dead end. It was then Rex began to slow down as he carefully observed his surroundings with interest, "I don't think we've been down this tunnel yet..." he noted as Cera soon came up to him.

"I don't think we've even covered a fraction of this entire cavern system yet, so everywhere can look new." she said after catching up with him.

"Good point." He nodded back at her in agreement before looking ahead to see Ace, who was wagging rather excitedly in front of a strange case that was sitting nicely in an opening on the cave wall, "Ace there you are!" Rex called out to him, but getting no response and his attention solely fixated on the case he felt he had to step in and intervene. "Come back Ace! We need you!" He said to him rather crossly at being unhelpful in such a time of need. It was when Ace began to reach out for it, that he and Cera soon realised the reason for his strange behaviour, "Huh?" Lifting the case's top half open it revealed inside a glowing white stone shaped and looking exactly like the other 3 before it! It didn't take them long to realise what it was, "A cosmos stone!" He gasped in amazement that they actually found the legendary stone that Tokugawa spoke of and now it was theirs!

"It...looks like the same colour as the wind stone plate..." Cera breathed in awe as she saw it indeed matched the element of wind, and seeing how Ace was indeed reacting to it there had to have been some connection with the cosmos stones and the dinosaurs, like the stone plates did….but what? She felt that was a mystery she should try to unravel and hopefully it would shed light on the situation they were dealing with at the moment.

Ace however soon began to stare at the stone and wag his tail restlessly as if he was being influenced by the stone and not in a good way, it was when he started licking his lips and tried to snap it up that Rex decided to call him back! "Whoa!" he gasped in surprise as he pressed a button to return Ace to card form and then summoning him back in chibi size. "Easy there Ace! We can't have you gobble up our bargaining chip with the pirates can we?" he said with nervously laughter as he reached over to take the case with the stone inside. As he took it though, Ace still couldn't help but tug at Rex's pants or jump up with excitement at the case, prompting Rex to hold it higher where he couldn't reach though it didn't make things any better as Ace also tried nibbling at his leg too.

"It's just like...with Chomp, Spiny and Tank..." Cera thought to herself putting a finger to her chin in thought, which confirmed for her the stones were no doubt connected with the dinosaurs like the stone plates were, or at lea thad some sort of effect on them, "We'd better tell the others about this." she said to Rex as he nodded back at her.

"Let's go back. Hopefully they've gotten Zoe out of there by now." he said as they hurried back the way they came to the main chamber.

As they arrived back they saw Max helping Zoe out of the rubble much to their relief, but also to see the Alpha gang run for their lives again as the papa bear and cub charged after them once more, resuming their chase skit as before much to Rex and Cera's dismay.

"Oh boy..." Rex frowned as he shook his head and face palmed.

Cera then let out a deep sigh she was holding in, "Guess I'd better go after them again...just when I finally found them." she muttered as she asked off ahead of Rex and Ace, "Sometimes I wonder why I bother…." she added at the end.

"You be careful Cera, it can be really tricky finding your way around in this place." he said to her with concern as she nodded back at him.

"I will, thanks for the heads up Rex." she said back to him as she focused on ahead where the Alpha gang and bears had disappeared into the darkness and out of sight, much to her annoyance now that she had to find them in the dark too. Along the way she decided to stop by check on Zoe, who was being supported by Max a bit while Paris was nuzzling at her with relief she was alright, "Hey Zoe, glad you're okay." said Cera as she and the others looked up to her.

"Yeah," she nodded as a bead of sweat dropped down her cheek, "It's a miracle but me, the shogun and that bear cub are all in one piece." she said which made Cera herself smile relieved too.

"Glad to hear it." she replied before hearing the sounds of the Trio screaming up ahead which made her frown return upon being reminded, "I'd love to stay and catch up on what happened, but I've got to go find those 3 baboons before they do something destructive again like they just did." she said as the others nodded understandably as well as in agreement.

"Yeah, please do, wouldn't want anyone else to get tangled up in their mess like we just did." Max added as she walked past them.

"Take care of yourself!" Zoe waved to her as she ran past the rubble pile.

Looking to it, Cera widened her eyes slightly as she saw a plump man pull himself painfully out from the rocks, as well as taking note of his face and body features, "That's...Tokugawa?" she breathed as he began gasping for air, recuperating after the shock of the rock collapse just now. She stared in amazement, not jut at the fact he was a notable japanese figure but also at the resemblance he bore to Zoe's father, "He really does look like Dr Drake..." she noted, "Could it be they're related? Like he's the ancestor of Dr Drake?" she thought to herself, "If so, then maybe Zoe's got warrior blood in her too?" Which wouldn't be too farfetched since she's fiery and spirited. She then shook her head reminding herself she still had a trio of stooges to rescue from a pair of hungry bears so that had to wait for now, "I'll worry about that later, right now I've got work to do." she told herself before running ahed and looking back behind her, "Keep that stone safe you guys, we're counting on you." she then thought to herself wishing them the best as she entrusted them with the stone and to look after both it and each other, before parting ways with them for the time being.

"Hey! Guys!" Rex then called out to Max and Zoe as they turned to him, "Man you're not going to believe what Ace and I just found." he said excitedly as he brought in the case.

"Oh great, what is it now? Is it another bear? Or something worse?" Max asked feeling worried after all the bad luck they've been having all day.

Rex's smile however proved otherwise, "Actually it's something better, a lot better." he smiled before looking down to the container, "Check it out!" As he opened it everyone widened their eyes at the sight of the beautiful white gemstone which was nested gently inside it.

Tokugawa widened his eyes as he saw it and he rushed over for a closer look, "Ooh! You did it! You found the legendary stone!" he breathed in awe and amazement, the stone was far more pleasing to the ey then he had ever imagined, and with it now in his possession he just knew he could not only defeat Takeda and anyone else who would dare threaten his territory, but even have the entire world grovelling at his feet!

The dream didn't last long though as a certain individual with evil intentions for the stone soon dropped in on the group, "I'll be taking that!" he yelled out surprising them.

"Huh!?" As they all looked up they saw Gavro was floating right above them aiming for the stone.

"It's that space pirate!" Zoe gasped worriedly.

"Hey! Take a hike Gavro!" Rex yelled out angrily as he shook a fist at the burly pirate.

"I already hiked quite a long way to get here. So I'm done hiking." he answered before charing at them with his arm out! "What I'm going to do is take that cosmos stone!" Everyone gasped as he lunged quickly at them, thankfully Ace quickly responded as he jumped out and bit onto his arm much to his surprise! "Gaah!" He cried as he shook the young carnotaurus off his hand! "Hey! Pick on someone your own species!" Gavro then growled in annoyance as he placed a dinosaur card at his chest plate! It then glowed and then called forth an orange spinosaurid dinosaur which hissed viciously as it stood by Gavro's side!

"A baryonyx!" Max gasped upon recognising it. Seeing the situation to be getting too dangerous for him, Tokugawa quickly ran to the sidelines behind some rocks for cover as he looked out and watched to see what would happen, at the same time wishing the D team the absolute best.

"Let's go Ace! Dino slash! Carnotaurus! Blow them away!" Rex cried out taking initiative as he called Ace forth in full sized form! Ace roared and rushed forward fearlessly while the baryonyx snarled and charged ahead at him! Both dinosaurs bashed heads against one another a couple of times before Ace managed to get under it and fling his larger opponent away.

The baryonyx however was able to manoevre itself as it landed on its feet, "Nice move! But not as good as aqua whip!" Gavro called out as he activated a water move card! Stomping its foot the baryonyx snarled viciously before firing a water whip which ensnared Ace before slamming mercilessly into the ground multiple tomes while he struggled helplessly!

"Ace needs help you guys!" Rex called out in concern seeing he couldn't take too many more hits.

"Then let's add Paris and Chomp into the mix!" Max yelled.

"You got it!" Zoe followed in agreement as they took out their cards and slashed them!

"Dino slash!

"Triceratops! Roar!"

"Spring up parasaurolophus!"

Chomp charged in, the baryonyx unable to respond in time, was then knocked down hard causing him to lose control of the water whip which in turn freed Ace. After that Ace collapsed down to the ground in exhaustion as Paris went over to his aid. "Oh no Ace!" Rex then gasped in concern.

"I'll take care of this in a jiffy!" Zoe cried out in response taking out a grass move card, "Nature's blessing!" Paris glowed green and breathed out an aura of grass and leaves which swirled around Ace, filling him with energy as he got back up and roared fully energised!

"Heh, thanks Zoe." Rex smiled with relief seeing his partner in good health again before hardening his expression looking ahead, "Now let's take him down!" He then yelled punching forward spurring Paris and Ace to get right back into battle!

Up ahead, Chomp rushed in and tossed baryonyx up into the air as it then crashed down to the ground struggling in pain! "ARGH!" Gavro growled in frustration before looking ahead angrily to see himslef outnumbered, "3 against 1? That's not very fair is it?" He muttered putting a finger to his chin in concern before reaching into his pocket, "How about I make things even then?" He then smirked as he placed a pair of new dinosaur cards on his chest plate! "Utahraptor! Achelousaurus!" Appearing on the field beside baryonyx was a speedy raptor and an orange and blue ceratopsian which both rushed in forcing Ace and Paris to back off upon facing new opposition!

"Now he's got 3 dinosaurs…." Rex narrowed his eyes as he and the others sweated anxiously.

"This'll be tough…." Max gritted his teeth as things were about to get worse.

"Alright time for spectral armour!" Gavro then cried out activating the armour for all 3 of his dinosaurs causing them to be encased in purple crystal armour!

"Let's boost this up a notch!" Max then cried out.

"You got it!"

"Let's go!" Rex and Zoe both responded as they prepared to armour up their dinosaurs too!

"AAAARGH! Element booster! Dino tector on!" All 3 of their dinosaurs were soon armored up before rushing ahead fearlessly towards their foes!

"Bring it on!" Gavro then bellowed not afraid of them in the slightest as he activated a normal move card! "Segnosaurus slap!" A brown and white therizinosaur appeared on the field and raised out its arms flashing its massive claws as it screeched at Paris making her back away warily at its arsenal of weaponry!

"Ah! A segnosaurus!" Zoe gasped taking a step back as the lumbering beast swung out its arms at Paris's face, before slapping her around with little effort disorienting her before delivering a hard punch which knocked her down, giving Achelousaurus the chance to ram into her belly repeatedly without mercy to Zoe's horror! "AH! Paris!" She cried.

"And next up! Cyclone!" Gavro followed up activating a wind move! A large tornado surrounded the utahraptor as it rushed forward towards Ace, striking him hard and sending him skidding several feet back! He dug in his claws as dust built up under them as he then crouched down trying to recover from the shock he felt!

"Grrgh!" Rex grunted covering himself with his arm before narrowing his eyes ahead seeing this was going to be tougher than they thought. Little did he know he dropped the case containing the white cosmos stone which soon caught Gavro's eye as he smirked sinisterly at it.

Nearby the baryonyx swung out its tail and knocked Chomp through a stalactite as he crashed hard to the ground! Despite the hit he took Chomp stomped his foot on the ground as he forced himself back up with determination! "Oh yeah!? Now it's our turn to attack!" Max yelled punching his arm forward!

"I couldn't agree more!" Zoe smirked taking out a move card, "But first I'll call in some backup! Go Egg attack!" Slashing the card, 3 oviraptors were soon summoned as they hissed out viciously at segnosaurus which backed away momentarily after being surprised by their sudden appearance! It then swung out its claws at em, but they easily dodged the attack as one of them spat eggs at its face making it bellow out as it tried to get the stinging sensation out of its eyes! Distracted the other 2 raptors charged in, one biting hard into its leg while another pulled back at its tail!

Instinctively it swung out its arms repeatedly hoping to be able to take them out or scatter them, but with egg fluid in its eyes it couldn't see well as its smaller but smarter enemies easily evaded its attacks before it ended up getting its claw stuck in a wall! Jerking and tugging in vain ti free itself it found itself helpless to the oviraptors as they fired out a barrage of eggs at it! Unable to defend itself it bellowed in pain before succumbing to its injuries and returning to a card which Zoe went in to grab!

Paris meanwhile was able to kick off achelousaurus as it rushed in to ram her again, before getting up and batting it away with her tail! Ace on the other hand managed to keep up with the utahraptor's speed as they struck out and vanished in blurs at one another, sparks flying as they clashed claws with horns at one another! Neither one of them giving up! As the baryonyx grabbed out at Chomp's horns and held him back a bit, he was able to muster his remaining strength to loft up the spinosaur over his head before throwing him into the wall!

Nearby, the shogun could only watch speechlessly in awe at the ferocity and fighting spirit all 3 children had, for being so young they had the hearts of true warriors in them.

"Come on Chomp! Yeah!"

"Go and take em down Ace!"

"Hey Paris! Show em who's boss!" The D Team cheered their partners on.

Little did they know, Gavro had snuck around behind them using his dinosaurs as decoys as he focused on Rex! "Ahahaha! Speaking of bosses, mine's gonna be real happy when I bring this back to him!" He snickered to himself as he reached out for the case behind Rex!

As he reached out and was about to grab hold of it, "Hey you kid! Look out behind you!" Tokugawa cried out to him in time!

Hearing the shogun's warning, Rex turned to look and widened his eyes seeing what was going on. "AH!" He grabbed hold of the case, but Gavro unfortunately managed to get ahold of it too as the 2 of them began to wrestle for control for it!

"GRRR!"

"URGH!"

"Hand over that cosmos stone right now!" Gavro grunted in annoyance, also slightly surprised Rex was able to hold him off fairly well.

"No way! You're not getting this one!" Rex retorted gritting his teeth determined to secure the stone in the hopes of saving their parents, while at the same time beginning to lose his grip! It almost slipped from his hand when Max took notice of him and cried out.

"Over here! Throw it!" He called, as Rex wrestled it out of Gavro's hands and then tossed it over to his friend!

Before it could reach Max, a mysterious man suddenly jumped out if nowhere and then snatched it in mid-air! "I'll be taking that!" The ninja cried out grabbing hold of it!

"Where did he come from!?" Rex gasped in alarm at the new arrival at how easily he took the stone and landed skillfuly next to Tokugawa with ease, as the shogun gasped his name in surprise.

"Hanzo!"

"The legendary stone is ours shogun now let's get out of here!" His loyal servant bowed to him with respect before turning around and squatting, "Quickly sir! I'll carry you!"

"Well done." Tokugawa complimented him as he proceeded to get on his back.

"Wait!" Zoe cried out making him and Hanzo turn to her.

"Huh?"

"Remember what we talked about?" Zoe pleaded with him as tears began to form in her eyes, "You can't leave with that stone! I need it to rescue my dad!"

Upon hearing her pleas, the shogun was beginning to feel torn and unsure. Under the circumstances he'd chosen the wellbeing of his own people as well as his goals in a heartbeat, but since traveling with the D Team he had grown rather attached to them, especially Zoe after all she and the others did fir him. Now he was beginning to feel unsure on what to do as he and Zoe stared at one another conflicted over what to do with it.

"Please…." She asked once more begging him to comply, as important as it was to the shogun it was just as important to her and the D Team as they saw it as their only hope.

Seeing how they were all conflicted and distracted over who should get the cosmos stone, Gavro quickly took to the air, "Hate to interrupt but I'm the one leaving with the cosmos stone!" He yelled as he made a rush at them!

"Paris and Ace stop him!" Rex yelled out urgently as the 2 of em responded and stood in front of the pirate's way much to his frustration!

"Grr! Gah!" He grunted backing away at the sight of both dinosaurs blocking his path!

"Shogun please we must go!" Hanzo pleaded once more with his master, "After you left I put a double in your place but there's only so long he'll be able to keep up this charade so come on please!"

The news made Tokugawa widen his eyes in surprise, "Someone's pretending to be me right now!?" He gasped.

"Yes sir, I was fortunate enough to find a man who looks almost exactly like you." Hanzo replied which caught Zoe's attention.

"Could it be my dad?" She breathed feeling a sense of hope come over her.

"Shogun at this very moment this double is leading our army on the plains of Mikatakahara. Takeda invaded our territory and we had to respond!" Hanzo continued with utmost urgency.

"We're battling Takeda!?" The shogun then gasped in shock, which was enough to convince him what he had to do, "Why on earth didn't you say so!?" He then climbed onto his back, "Let's move!" He said seriously as Hanzo managed to leap with ease while carrying his master through the cave back to the entrance, leaving Zoe to ponder over the last couple of words they said.

"So dad's acting as the shogun? And he's leading troops into battle?" Zoe mouthed in shock fearing the wellbeing of her own father, he may be tough with animals but in a war zone he'd be completely doomed...

Meanwhile the achelousaurus and utahraptor had both rushed in at Ace and Paris, lunging and striking at them both! While they were kept at bay Gavro seized his chance to get pass them! "Hey you're not going nowhere!" He then yelled out angrily while making another attempt at the cosmos stone! Hanzo however, being blindsided by him once wasn't about to let him get away with it a second time! In response he threw a smile bomb into his face "Not with my cosmos sto-whoa!" He cried covering his face as smoke erupted at his face and eyes! "I can't see!" He cried coughing in the smoke, leaving him unable to command his dinosaurs as The D Team went back on the offense!

Seizing the opportunity Max took out a move card, "Here we go Chomp! Thunder driver!" He slashed the card causing Chomp to roar as he glowed yellow! Charging forth he tossed baryonyx high into the sky! Surging with electricity he leapt up high above hid helpless foe before spinning like a pile driver and piecing down into the spinosaur and driving it into the ground while delivering a massive shock! The baryonyx then shook uncontrollably with electricity flowing through it before returning to a card.

"Zoe! Let's do a fusion move!" Rex then shouted out to her while she was still in her thoughts and spacing out after pondering over the possibility her dad had escaped the pirates' ship! Seeing she didn't respond, he then shouted once more, "ZOE!" He yelled desperately which managed to wake her up.

"Huh!?" She gasped looking to him but soon was able to get her head back in the game as she hardened her expression seriously, "Oh! Right!" They both took out a grass and wind move each before slashing them in unison!

"Botanical ninja attack!" They yelled as Paris and Ace both roared and glowed white and green! Paris summoned out a cloud of leaves with leaf slash which began to swirl and envelop around the gust of wind Ace generated when he sped up with ninja attack! Splitting into 6 clones they all surged with the sharp serrated leaves around them as they leapt out and circled both achelousaurus and utahraptor, trapping them and confusing them, before striking out mercilessly at them both! After repeated attacks from their multiple sided attacks and sharp leaves from Paris, they both roared out in pain and were completely overwhelmed by the D Team's teamwork almost instantly!

As both dinosaurs returned to card form, Zoe and Rex both ran out to grab them as they floated down to the ground slowly with the battlefield fading away. After picking them up though, a noise nearby soon caught their attention as they looked ahead in the direction it came from, "Grrrgh!" Gavro grunted rubbing his face as he smoke began to clear out. "Speedy footman I'm gonna catch you!" He then growled in anger as he charged out on the path where he saw Hanzo took off.

"There he goes!" Max pointed out the burly pirate flying off after Hanzo and Tokugawa, just as he and the others recalled their dinosaurs.

"Quick after him! Don't lose him no matter what!" Zoe then shouted out suddenly which surprised the boys at how sudden and unexpected she was.

Seeing no reason to argue or ask why she got so uptight all a sudden, both Max and Rex nodded in agreement, "Y...yeah sure we're on it..." They said still rather caught off guard before they all ran off in pursuit.

As they did, Rex then looked over to Max who ran next to him, "Hey Max." He said to him making him look.

"Yeah?"

"You get the feeling Zoe was a little distracted with the shogun earlier?" He asked him feeling suspicious of her behavior earlier.

Max then narrowed his eyes as he began to think about it, "Now that you mention it...yeah kinda." He thought out loud, "Wonder why."

Rex then narrowed his eyes, having suspicions that this would also have to do

feels they were talking just now

"Either way we have to find him and that cosmos stone before we lose another shot at saving our parents." He then said seriously as Max nodded back to him.

"Then let's do it!" He said firmly as they continued onwards.

Hope you all enjoyed this opening to Ancient Japan. As shown here I wanted there to be more dinosaurs since Gavro only used baryonyx against the D Team in the anime which I found rather unfair, and also because Chomp did most of the work, also here the gang got achelousaurus back and the utahraptor that kicked out Dr Drake. Also wanted Gavro to use an assist move too. And shown here Cera does a little work too with the space pods, so stay tuned to see her efforts bear fruit in later chapters. Also it shows here how Dr Z suddenly began to take interest in the cosmos stones due to Cera's research too.

In response to reviews:-

Drew Luczynski

-While that's true there are some bad guys are honourable and do keep their words though that doesn't mean you shouldn't have your guard up at all times, also this should teach Sanzo to be wiser too. Glad you liked the battle too.

Anonymous

-I plan to keep it to just dinosaurs in the series.