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!

50. A future set in motion

Chapter 50

A future set in motion

People ran screaming as fast as they could away from the battlefield, which sent gel jarks flying uncontrollably all over the place and began turning the suburban district into a war zone! As the dust cleared, Paris, Ace and Chomp roared out fearlessly as the jarks began to run away retreating knowing this was a battle they couldn't win, despite being mindless they were smart enough to know when to turn tail and give up, as Max and his friends cheered in excitement! "Alright! We've got them on the ropes now!" Max cheered as he punched ahead, with Chomp charging reared and flinging a cue of jarks to go splat at the walls!

Ace roared out as he swiped his tail with biting wind, decapitating several enemies in the process! "Heh, I can't believe I actually forgot how fun this used to be!" Rex laughed feeling his blood was pumping intensely.

Lastly, Paris let out a sonic screech from her crest which caused some jarks to cover their heads and spasm uncontrollably before exploding as the sound destabilised their internal cellular composition and circuitry! "Way to go Paris! Keep it up!" Zoe praised her partner as Paris bellowed out loudly with pride!

With the enemies now routed, the D Team saw this as their chance to press their advantage even further.

"Come on guys! Let's go help Cera!" Max waved to them as his friends nodded back at him in agreement.

"Right!" They nodded before rushing ahead with their dinosaurs in tow!

Not far away Cera managed to deliver a somersault kick on a gel jark sending it crashing into a nearby bus stop, while Miku was able to lure 2 jarks to crash into one another before she returned to Cera's shoulder. The 2 of them smirked at each other's team work, but after hearing a loud explosion, they turned to see fires erupting around some gardens and massive holes left in the ground made after the gel jarks had landed just now! Not just that, like an infestation they had swarmed through most of the suburban households and amongst the chaos she could still here the cries of panicking civilians as they tried to get away from the invading enemies! The sights and sounds of destruction made her grit her teeth angrily, as it began to bring back very unpleasant nightmares she once suffered in her sleep, "It's just like before….I can't let that happen again…." She swore to herself as she clenched her fist at the next wave of enemies rushing at her! She braced herself for battle and Miku screeched loudly, when the gel jarks suddenly stopped in their tracks and backed away nervously much to her surprise! "Huh?" The ground began to rumble violently and when she turned around to see where it was coming from she widened her eyes in surprise!

"Cera!"

"Hang on!"

"We're here!" Max and the others cried to her as they came in full speed with their dinosaurs!

She soon brightened into a hopeful smile,"Ah! Great timing you guys!" As they regrouped together, the jarks backed off slightly before starting to turn tail and run! With the addition of the D Team and their partner dinosaurs, the jarks were slowly being routed, at first terrorising people now they were being routed as Chomp, Ace and Paris fired out blasts of lightning, wind and grass energy making short work of them! It even became rather easy for them and in fact some of them were even having fun taking them out and keeping score whoever had the most!

"Come on Chomp! Let's keep at it!" Max punched forward as Chomp swung his tail out and knocked away a handful of jarks into a wall where they went splat like pancakes!

"No way we're losing to you Max!" Rex yelled as Ace rushed ahead and bowled through a bunch of jarks like a rocket!

"And don't leave me out either!" Zoe cheered as Paris jumped into the air and slammed down on some that were trying to make a desperate run for it!

Soon the screams began to clam down and enemy numbers began to plummet rapidly with the dinosaurs entering the battlefield to turn the tide, "So far so good…." Cera breathed in relief feeling a little more at ease seeing them clean up the last couple of jarks in the area, with Paris smashing down on 2 with her front limbs and Ace grabbing one in his jaws and tossing it away! She however began to narrow her eyes in suspicion, "But still…I would've expected them to be throwing out some dinosaurs by now…..unless…." Realising they hadn't seen the ship in a while, she looked up and saw the enemy ship was leaving! "It's a diversion!" She cried out loud in alarm seeing they were misled, as she made a run towards it!

Her friends widened their eyes at her words in disbelief, "Huh!?"

"Say what!?" Max and Zoe gasped.

Rex looked ahead and pointed out in alarm, "Look! The ship!" He shouted warning them as the enemy space ship which caused all this in the first place had just moved over to a spot further off in the ditch near the intersection linking to one of the elevators going up to the main city pillar! Quickly they ran towards it only to see the ship had sent out a tractor beam from under it!

"AH!"

"They're beaming up something!" Both Max and Zoe saw a jark being taken up while carrying a metallic container with it.

"It looks like the case with the dinosaur cards dad was working on earlier!" Rex gasped recognising it before gritting his teeth, "So their plan all this time was to distract us while they get their dinosaurs back…."

"Tch! And we fell for it hook, line and sinker!" Max clicked his tongue in frustration, "Well they won't get away with it! Come on Chomp! Let's stop em!" Max shouted to his partner as the yellow triceratops roared and scooped him onto his back and they charged ahead full speed!

Rex looked to Ace next, "We're going too Ace!" Ace roared in agreement as he picked up Rex and hoisted him onto his back and they followed after them with Zoe hanging onto Paris' neck following close behind!

As they began to approach within range of launching an attack at it, a large time portal began to materialise above the ship as it slowly began to make its escape!

"Oh no! They're escaping!" Max cried in alarm before patting Chomp on the neck, "Come on Chomp! Hurry! We can still make it!" He pleaded his partner to hurry faster, in response the triceratops roared out in fury as he kicked into full speed!

Hearing them approaching from behind, Cera soon stopped running, knowing she had to draw the line right here and now. Gritting her teeth, she quickly tuned to face them, "Guys stop! That's far enough!" she shouted out loud at them catching them by surprise!

"Huh!?"

"Wh…Wha!?" Her sudden unexpected statement caused them to stutter before coming to a complete stop!

"That's far enough….sorry but I can't let you go any further than this."

Her friends "What do you mean Cera!?" Zoe cried in confusion, "We can't just let those space pirates get away after what they just did!"

"Besides we're a team! We do everything together!" Rex followed after Zoe.

Cera tensed her hands tightly as she proceeded to make what may be her hardest decision of all, "I'm sorry guys…..but I can't let you come with me….not this time…." she said painfully as she looked away from them.

Her friends widened their eyes in alarm, they knew full well what she was attempting to do this time, "You plan on taking the pirates on by yourself!?" They gasped while their dinosaurs roared out in disbelief.

"Have you lost it!?" Max yelled in anger as he tensed up, "I don't know what's gotten into you but haven't you forgotten we beat them together before!"

Rex nodded, "Yeah and we can do it again! Just let us-"

"This time is different….." She said shaking her sadly, cutting off Max knowing the truth all too clear, "I wish I could explain….but even if I have the time I can't….."

"What are you talking about?" Zoe asked her in concern and confusion.

Cera looked away from them, "If you knew who I truly am or where I came from…" Miku let out a sad coo when she said that, knowing what she was attempting to do, she didn't believe it was the smartest decision but it was the best they knew.

Her friends weren't willing to take it like that though, as Max widened his eyes in frustration and shouted out at her, "Then tell us! We want to know what's going on! What are you keeping from us!?" he demanded angrily.

She then gritted her teeth as painful tears began to squeeze out of her eyes, "I'm sorry I just can't say…." she hissed through her teeth before turning around to face the time portal ahead as the space pirate warship was teleported inside it!

"Cera!" Her friends shouted once more to try and reason with her, but she already made her decision with a heavy heart.

She let out a small smile, "It's been a really great knowing you all…but…this is where we must part ways….." she said as she prepared to step forward.

At that point unable to standby and watch any longer, her fiends rushed forward driven by instinct in an effort to stop her from doing something she would no doubt regret, "Don't do it!"

"Please wait! Let us help!"

She soon shed a single heartfelt tear from her eye, "Goodbye…." she whispered before running straight within the portal's range, leaving the D Team helpless to stop her as she soon disappeared in the light of the portal along with Miku!

Her friends' eyes widened and their hearts skipped a beat as their friends' forms began to fade away in the light, "CERA! NOO!"

"STOP!"

"WAIT! DON'T GOOOO!" Were the last words Cera could hear from them as she was drawn into the time portal with the pirate warship and it closed behind, leaving no trace of their existence in this time era anymore…..

As soon as that happened….Max, Zoe and Rex got off their dinosaurs and stumbled uneasily towards the spot where she vanished….unable to contemplate nor accept what had just took place before their eyes. As Rex and Zoe stopped where they were, standing as still as statues while staring speechlessly, Max stumbled and fell onto his knees as he looked up at the sky where the portal vanished.

"No….."

"Cera….."

"Why….." They breathed silently…..as their dinosaurs, either went to comfort them to little avail, or sniff the ground hoping to pick up the scent of their comrades….but to no success as the trail became cold much to their sadness.

In an instant Max gritted his teeth and shouted loudly in anguish to the sky, "AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!" he screamed before punching the ground multiple times, ignoring the throbbing pain or aches in his fist, he didn't care if his hand would break, it was nothing compared to the massive wound his on heart had just suffered from the loss of one of their closest friends for a reason that made absolutely no sense. As Chomp backed away knowing his partner needed his space, while the others looked on in empathy….

As he lowered his head and breathed heavily in confusion over what happened and why it did…..Zoe mustered the courage to walk to where he was, "Max…." she said to him with compassion as she put a hand on his shoulder, "We'll find her Max….I promise…" she swore seriously as he looked up to her, with reddens eyes of sadness and frustration in them, as Rex joined them both and nodded firmly in agreement with her. No way were they going to let things end like this.

"I know….we will…." Max sniffled hard as he stood up and wiped his eyes dry, then sporting a battle hardened expression clear with conviction, "And when we do….we're ending this once and for all….." he vowed not willing to be kept in the dark any longer, this was the last straw and he wasn't going to accept anymore secrets. Just because Cera said so, no way would they ever accept it, whatever she was hiding had to do with her past without a doubt, something she sit have been bearing all by herself. But no more, he vowed they were going to get to the bottom of this and not only find and help Cera with whatever ghosts from the past she was suffering from, they swore to finish things with the space pirates once and for all if it was the last thing they did.

"Mhmm." His friends nodded back at him assuring him that he had their support for this.

Once that was over, Max looked to his old partner and petted him on the nose horn praising him for his efforts, "You did great Chomp….thanks…now take a nice long rest, we'll catch up later." he said gratefully as Chomp let out a satisfied roar before Max turned him to card form.

"You too Paris…Ace…" said Zoe as she and Rex followed, their dinosaurs roaring out loud before they returned to their hands. Once all the dinosaurs were back in their cards, the sounds of a loud rocket roar made them look up in surprise!

RRRR

"Huh?" As they turned to look up they widened their eyes to see a large egg shaped ship descending from the sky, with a horned dinosaur head feature at one end, a spiked tip at the top and 3 other spiked edges on the bottom around the active thrusters!

"What's that!?" Max gasped in alarm at the unexpected UFO from above.

"Another ship!?" Zoe cried in terror worrying the they'd have to go through a round 2 now!

Rex quickly blinked his eyes recognising it instantly, "Wait! I know that ship!" he pointed out at the unmistakable logo it had right above the dinosaur head!

"The Alpha gang mark!" Max called out as Zoe narrowed her eyes.

"Then that means-"

The ship soon landed on the ground and the exhaust from its bottom thruster ceased as the dinosaur head opened up. A tongue stretched out from the mouth resembling some steps, and leaping out from it and onto the field striking rather heroic team poses were 4 not so old faces to the D Team.

"Ahahaha! Never fear! The Dinosaur King is here!" Dr Z proclaimed to the heavens.

"And his loyal followers! The Alpha gang!" The Alpha Trio announced posing as well, as 3 alpha droids also rushed out and struck a pose each resembling an A, a C and a T!

A! C! T! Alpha Cyber Troopers!

They cried as an awkward silence and a small breeze blew past them, with the D Team staring at them rather blankly. On closer inspection they noticed while Dr Z and Ed looked the same, Zander seemed tone changed his sunglasses to a sleeker black version with red highlights, Ursula on the other hand sported a more seductive bright red top along with a pair of maroon gloves, boots and a new cape too.

"D…Dr Z?"

"The Alpha gang?"

"And the old lady?" They each asked one after the other.

Ursula quickly gained a tick mark as she exploded with rage, "GAH!?" she screeched causing Ed, Zander and the alpha droids to bowl over as she shook out her fists in a flurry! "Who sad that!? Whoever did-" Looking ahead she blinked her eyes for a moment to make sure she was seeing right and wasn't getting old, rubbing them and looking again, she stuttered back in disbelief to see she was still as youthful as she always was, "Y…You brats!?" she gasped pointing out at them.

"EH!?" Zander, Ed and Dr Z looked up mirroring her shock too.

"Impossible! How did you get here to this time!?" Dr Z cried out loud as he jumped back up on his feet then looking around to see no terrified people or hear any screaming, "And where's all those slimy freaks we heard were causing trouble!?" Squinting his eyes and looking ahead to see some remains of pink slime puddles and chunks of gel jark rock lying about the premises like around walls or at fences, he then widened his eyes realising what had happened, "Don't tell me you actually defeated them all already!?"

"Late to the party as usual Dr Z…." Rex sighed with a small smile as he shook his head in pity for them

"This is why sometimes we have to do things ourselves." said Max as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Aww you're never any fun…." Ed pouted in disappointment really hoping being a hero would make him look cool.

Zander clenched a fist and clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Tch! Just when I thought we'd be rid of you ankle biters you turn up again like a bad rash!" he grumbled with spite in his voice.

"Yeah! I just knew it had to be you calling me old just now!" Ursula followed up as she pointed at them.

Dr Z suddenly shot a fierce glare at the trio catching them off guard, "Grrr! This is all your fault!" he shouted jumping up and down in a rant as they stuttered back!

"GAH!"

"If you 3 hadn't wasted time on your shenanigans we could have been here to help!" he screamed before gnashing his teeth in fury, having wanted to show off his dinosaur prowess in front of people and earn their recognition as the future dinosaur king before their eyes.

"S…Sorry Dr Z!" The trio apologised as they grovelled before the old man, prostrating themselves like slaves to a master.

"I had a really bad tummy ache and needed to use the bathroom…." Ed muttered with his face to the floor.

"I really wanted to try out some new sunglasses and I couldn't decide!" Zander then cried out, having been caught in a dilemma between a pair of white sunglasses or black one with red highlights before joining them.

"I for one thought it was time for a new change of attire!" Ursula then stated as she began striking various poses to show off her figure, "Us fashionistas have got to stay in style and keep ups with trends!" she proclaimed before eying the D Team, "In fact I think this new outfit brings out he allure in me don't you think?" she then said at the end winking at them.

The D Team had no comment for what they just saw, apart from feeling really uncomfortable and disturbed, maybe even a little sick too.

"Err…."

"You're not bad looking I guess…." Max and Rex muttered sweat dropping as they looked to one another unsure of how to make of it, scratching their heads or cheeks.

"Makes you look kinda skimpy though…." Zoe huffed as she squinted her eyes at the older lady.

Ursula immediately took offence at their snarky comments as her eyes turned feral and demonic, "You take that back!" she snarled twitching her fingers with uncontrollable rage before shouting out posts about why they ought to see her as the world's most beautiful woman!

As the others tried to tune out Ursula's rants as background noise, Dr Z then rubbed his temple in disgust, "Tch! No point in helping it…..You all are a useless bunch…." he muttered in annoyance seeing them as a lost cause…still since his return home he was obsessing over where to start in building his dinosaur kingdom and pondering over how he could get them away from Dr Ancient at the time, shrugging off the distress signal as a nuisance till realising how he could exploit it to his advantage much later….then again who needed to know that? "Too bad Rod and Laura wanted to stay at home, they'd be a thousand times more reliable then you lot any day…." He then scowled at the Trio which made them lower their heads in shame that they were being outshone by children. After that he turned his attention towards the D Team trio, "So tell me then you brats….what's the situation?" he then asked folding his arms crossly not wanting to be left in the loop.

Dr Z's question caught them off guard, as they looked to one another unsure of how they should explain it, where they should begin or whether they should…. "Uhh….It's….really complicated….." said Zoe rather insecurely as she and the others looked back to the Alpha gang who were curiously awaiting their answer.

(Later)

Much time had passed, and after Jonathan was able to not only free Rex's parents from their jelly binds but also douse any runaway gel jarks with salt reducing them to mush, the rest of their remains were slowly being rounded up by cop bots and the clean up crews as well as rescue and relief teams who came to tend to the injured and damages as soon as they could. Before long, Helga arrived along with Rod and Laura having heard the news on TV and unable to stand by any longer decided to come too with permission form their parents, though like Dr Z they arrived a little too late to the party much to their disappointment.

After they regrouped and exchanged greetings, the Ancients spent several hours trying to calm down the authorities and the public considering they bore witness dinosaurs being summoned to fight against invading aliens and they demanded to know the inside story as several news copters and investigators had arrived on the scene. Thankfully they somehow managed to resolve it, as Helga was able to 'persuade' them all to leave as they were getting too nosy for their own good, much to the relief of the Ancients. After that was taken care of, the whole lot of them regrouped back at Rex's house in the living room and that was where they began to explain the event that transpired from start to finish, how the gel jarks invaded with the appearance of a new space pirate ship and more importantly Cera's actions and behaviour upon having regained her memories behind their backs…before ultimately deciding to go after the pirates alone.

Needless to say the news brought feelings of concern as well as suspicion amongst everyone gathered, sitting in the meeting room at either the couches, chairs or on the floor, as they began to wonder whom Cera was or worried about her own wellbeing now that she cut herself off from them and was alone in another time they had no idea of.

"I see….that's quite the predicament we're in…." Dr Ancient mused seriously as he folded his arms in serious thought, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to process a logical explanation for this development of events.

Cretacia sat next to him on the large couch put a finger over her chin with a very worried expression on her face, "But still…for Cera to do something drastic…..she must have really been involved in something so terrible she didn't want anyone else to get caught in it." she thought.

"Or perhaps she knew something about what's really going on this whole time…." Rex then suspected having recalled her behaviour of being quiet and insecure during her final moments before leaving them, as he leaned against the wall.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case," said Max as he sat on a nearby chair, after that as he tightened his grip on his knees, "She always did think about others and dinosaurs more than herself…even if it meant she'd have to suffer alone from it." he said painfully at the end, gritting his teeth wishing she could trust them with whatever her problems were….or was it that she didn't think they could handle the truth. Either way they couldn't deny she may have suffered something terrible once involving the space pirates and wanted them to stay away from both her and them, but it didn't make sense why she'd want that when they managed to overcome them and save the world before.

"Poor Cera…." Zoe sighed feeling almost helpless like they failed her somehow, as she lowered her head down while Laura patted her with sympathy and Rod could only look away, wanting to say something but couldn't.

An uncomfortable silence came upon the group, and seeing this Helga then stood up and bowed down as she excused herself, "I will….make some snacks and fetch everyone some tea…perhaps that should calm your nerves…." she said calmly. Even without an actual heart she could feel the emotions of sadness and worry amongst the humans gathered, and she wanted to do anything she could to help ease their troubles as she stood up to leave.

"I shall assist you." Jonathan replied as he followed her outside, not being able to take anymore of this himself as he could feel his own mechanical heart begin to ache.

As soon as the androids left though, the Alpha gang began to speak out their thoughts most inconsiderately, "Hmph! I knew something was really off about her." Ursula huffed as the others quickly turned to her and the trio.

"Just what else has she keeping from us this whole time?" Zander pondered folding his arms in thought, "Maybe she lost her memories then sided with us because of it, or maybe she turned against them then lost her memories then wanted us to stay out of it since she likes us now." he suggested.

"Well if she knows so much about those pesky pirates perhaps maybe she could have been in cahoots with them from the start!" Dr Z then shouted out loud in anger.

"Hey I heard that in movies before!" Ed cried as he held his hand out.

Max widened his eyes and glared at them with rage, "You think this is funny!?" he shouted kicking himself off the chair and clenching a tight fist at them, "Take that back now!" he growled before making an attempted lunge at them!

"GAH!" The Alpha gang huddled in terror as Max rushed at them while the others widened their eyes in shock!

"AH!"

"Max hold up!" Rex quickly ran in and was able to restrain Max in time, holding him back at his arms while Zoe jumped in between holding her arms out to stop him as he gnashed his teeth like a mad beast intending to get his hands on the Alpha gang for badmouthing his friend as they shivered together like terrified puppies!

"Max stop it!"

"Get a hold of yourself!" They shouted trying to snap him out of it but he didn't listen.

"Cera's our friend! We know her way longer than you!" Taylor shouted at the Alpha gang, "She risked her life for our parents and helped us take down the dark pterosaur! How dare you think of her like that!?" he growled not wanting to let them get away with it. As the other bystanders overheard what he said, they could understand why he was feeling so offended at the thoughtless remarks given, in fact they too were rather put off by the Alpha gang's words but still this was;t the right way to do it, no way would Cera want them to fight amongst themselves, plus in fighting was the last thing they needed at this point in time.

Rex gritted his teeth as he was finding it more difficult to keep his friend back as he tugged and pulled, his grip weakening around Max's arms, "Max! Calm down!" he shouted as he couldn't hold his breath much longer and could feel Max slowly freeing himself, a few more seconds and he'd go full primal on Dr Z and his trio!

"Let it go Max! They're not worth it!" Zoe then shouted as she ran in and hugged him close, which caused him to blink his eyes as her embrace snapped him to of his rage. She then looked into his eyes tearily, "We're better than this….and we all know Cera would never mean any wrong even if she doesn't seem to make sense at times." she said sadly before she and Rex began to hug him closer and calm him down with their presence and patting, "We'll figure this out. I promise we'll get to the bottom of this." she said to him as Max's heart began to slow down and he began to breathe normally again as his angered thoughts and raging instincts began to subside.

"Yea….s…sorry about that…." he breathed calmly as his fiends let him go and smiled seeing he was back to normal. Rex's parents along with Rod and Laura smiled feeling touched that they managed to calm down Max rom going too far, as well as feeling glad they were such great friends too.

While Ursula, Zander and Ed wheezed with relief before slumping back down on the floor in exhaustion, Dr Z however only folded his arms and looked away unwilling to apologise just yet, "Hmph…I'm only stating a possibility and nothing more! There's nothing wrong about that!" he scoffed causing the trio to turn pale and the others to glare at them once more.

"Uh oh…"

"Grampa! Knock it off!" Rod and Laura yelled at him, disappointed at how inconsiderate their grandfather could be, perhaps now they could see why Max and the others hated him so much before.

"Why you…" Rex and Zoe then began to glare at them with Max, now starting to let their anger slowly get the better of them next as they began to step towards them to give them a piece of their mind!

"Enough!" Dr Ancient then shouted loudly in anger, which made the whole lot of them turn to him as he had their full attention. He then let out a deep sigh, "I know everyone's confused about what's going on and that it all happened so suddenly right after we just got back together. And there's no denying that what Cera has been keeping secrets from us this whole time and that both her behaviour and actions require investigating." he said calmly, rubbing his temple as he was having trouble dealign with so many issues at once, "But regardless, the fact remains that the Specter and the space pirates are back…somehow….and we can't ignore that in the slightest." He then said stating their most important priority, "And that they've escaped to another time period, with the cosmos stones gone it's likely they've put a new plan into motion. Maybe for revenge even."

His statement brought up rather uneasy feelings amongst the group, they thought the battle was over after being able to destroy the cosmos stones, and yet the space pirates had returned so chances were they may be out for revenge….or something else entirely….

"Cera did seem to know something about the space pirates just now from what it looked…." said Max as he put a finger to his chin in thought.

"The way she told us she didn't want us to get involved, also she said if we knew whom she truly was or where she came from it'd really hurt us too…." Zoe added as she clutched over her chest painfully.

"Sniff….that does sound beer selfless and moving when you think about it…." Ursula sniffled feeling touched as Ed and Zander patted her compassionately to comfort her, while Dr Z scoffed and looked away from them in disgust.

"Maybe she went through something really terrible or came from a hard time involving the space pirates." Rod suggested, "After all it's clear they didn't come from this time without a doubt."

"But still that doesn't leave us many clues to work with so we can't be sure…." Cretacia then muttered pursing her lips before folding her arms crossly, "If only we had some sort of lead…."

Max's eyes widened upon hearing the word she spoke, as he soon remembered that had an important clue with them, "Wait! I got it!" he cried out which startled the group as they looked to him in alarm.

"Huh!?"

"You do Max?" Rex and Rod asked in surprise.

"Tell us now! Let us in on it!" Dr Z demanded impatiently.

Ancient then pushed him aside having had enough of his antics, "Yes, please do. Any little bit will help." he said calmly as they all looked to him.

He then nodded as he looked to them all, "This may be a long shot….but…Cera did say she got her memories when she touched the stone plate and then she saw the Pterosaur again!" he said which made some of them gasp in surprise.

"Really?"

"She said that?" Cretacia and Ancient both asked widening their eyes.

"Hey that's right!" Zoe then spoke up, "She even said it was when she touched it, the plate became that tablet! Plus it was what teleported us and the Backlander back here to the future too!"

"Wow no way!"

"That's actually kinda cool…." Laura and Rod breathed in awe and amazement at what they heard from her.

"And I thought that everything we went through was freaky enough…" Ursula muttered as she face palmed herself in dismay.

"Same here…." Zander muttered.

"Why can't we live normal lives like everybody else?" Ed cried covering his face.

Dr Z meanwhile, having just woken up from Dr Ancient shoving him to the floor, crept behind the couch and grinned sneakily to himself, "Ehehehe! Now this I really must know for myself!" he snickered rubbing his palms together as he began hatching another of his classic schemes in his head, "If I could harness that power for myself my reign as dinosaur king will be even mightier than it could ever be!"

"But what does it all mean?" Cretacia then asked curiously, "Think maybe they're connected?" she asked her husband as he folded his arms in thought,

"That's highly plausible. The stone plates enabled us to move back and forth in time before so it makes sense they'd be able to do so again…." he muttered, "But to do so on their own and evolve into a more powerful form just by Cera touching it."

"Also…to be activated when Max and Zoe touched it….could it be because they were the ones with the old stone plates once?" Rex then asked his parents.

"It could be that she may have some relation to the Pterosaur that we don't know of." Cretacia then stated as she took the stone tablet that Rex handed her, "This stone tablet will no doubt be the key to solving this whole mystery."

"Then we'll just have to keep digging and find out what it is and who it works." said Max as he pumped up his arm with determination, "The sooner we can travel through time again, the sooner we can go find Cera, get to the bottom of this and put a stop to the space pirates again!"

As he said that with conviction in his voice, everyone felt moved by what he said, as he did once before doing their darkest time once as they nodded or smiled in agreement with him before standing up together.

"And I volunteer!" Dr Z suddenly spoke up, sneaking in and swiping the stone tablet from Cretacia's and before raising it up proudly much to the group's shock and surprise.

"Huh!?"

"Grampa what are you doing!?"

"Leave it to you!? You must be joking!" They shouted or complained back at him.

He then grinned smugly holding his head up high, "Why it's only natural! After all that girl Cera did for us, how much danger she braved and how selfless she fought, she deserves a bright future, so it's only natural that I…I mean we return the favour." he corrected himself at the end, "Therefore I Dr Z volunteer myself to uncovering the secret of the stone tablet and design a brand new time machine to get us to where we need to go!" he announced before pointing up to the sky, "So that we can save her and put a stop to the dastardly deeds of those vile space pirates once and for all! It's the least I can do as a show of gratitude."

Quickly the Alpha trio bought into his facade of nobility as they began fawning over him like they always did, "Oh Dr Z we adore you!" they cheered further inflating to his ego as he began to snicker and grin.

"And it'll be my chance to get some alone time with the stones too, plus if anyone's going to get the secret of the stone plates and rule as dinosaur king of the world it's me!" he grinned to himself in delight.

Unfortunately everyone else weren't convinced in the slightest, in fact his clumsy attempts to make himself appear selfless and righteous only made his real intentions more obvious.

He then sweat dropped seeing they were onto him, son immediately he decided to drive them out, "Why are you all still here!? I can't concentrate with any of your ugly mugs leaning over me! Now shoo! Shoo! Shoo!" he then ranted waving his arms out and jumping up and down like a toddler in a tantrum.

His statement made the rest of them eye him with suspicion, "Huh?"

"Excuse me?" Clearly he had ulterior motives, the only time he did something selfless was during his youthful years and right now that man no longer existed and had deteriorated into a double sided man who always wanted something in return.

Before they could continue, Ursula and the others quickly began to push them all out the door against their will, "You heard the Doctor!"

"Clear out now!"

"That's right!" They said as they forced everyone else out of the living room and into the next hallway, as Dr Z went to key in some buttons to the house's elevator bring him into the house's workshop.

"Ow! H…Hey! Stop it!" Max and his friends cried as they felt squashed together.

"This is our house and our lab!" Cretacia cried.

"You don't have to shove!" Dr Ancient grunted in annoyance.

"H…Hey grampa!" Rod then cried as he forced his head and hand out between Ed and Zander, "At least let the rest of us help!"

"Yeah we care about Cera too!" Laura pleaded as she popped up between Rex and Cretacia.

He wagged a finger at his grandchildren in response, "No kids, this is a very delicate procedure which only the most advanced methods can be used." he said to them, "Methods only I and I alone know, and to do so I can't take any chances with you lot messing up my concentration!" he shouted before hugging himself childishly, "Plus I can't have any of you precious little children get hurt now can we?" he said in a childish tone.

"But grampa!"

"That's enough now, you heard Dr Z." Ursula cut off Laura as the 3 of them managed to force the others out of the room and it not the halls much to their annoyance as they glared back at the trio who grinned seeing them on the ground at their feet.

"Now off you go to play or whatever you kids and grownups do."

"Yeah, he needs peace and quiet so please respect his privacy." Ed and Zander both smirked smugly, unaware that karma would soon come and kick them in the rear.

"That includes you 3 too!" Dr then shouted at them, catching them off guard as they widened their eyes and turned to him.

"HUH!? WHAT!?" They gasped as he lunged out and kicked at them!

"Now out! HIYAH!"

WHAM!

"YOW!"

His foot made contact with their gut, face and backsides as they were flung out of the room and smacked into the wall, as the others managed to get to of the way in time!

"Ow….Why can't he be nice for once?" They moaned as they slid to the ground and Dr Z shut and locked the door behind him.

Having had enough of today's events, Ancient didn't want to add Dr Z's antics to his list of things bothering him as he headed to the door and banged on it in anger, "Hey Dr Z! Open up this door right now!" he demanded as Max and the others shouted too.

"Yeah! Let us help too!" Max yelled.

"We're terribly sorry but Doctor Z isn't here right now. Would you like to leave a message?" Dr Z's voice came out on the intercom by the door, "No? Then good! BEEP!" The intercom ended as silence came next.

"Hey this isn't funny!" Rex yelled.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Zoe followed.

As no reply came back they sighed or grunted seeing there was no helping it now, "Tch! Typical Dr Z…." Max clicked his tongue.

"There's no helping it…once he get started he won't stop…." Ancient sighed as he rubbed his temple in exasperation.

"Yup, that sure sounds like grampa…." said Rod as he shrugged his shoulders before looking to Laura, "He never changes does he?"

She shook her head, "Nope, even dinosaurs are better at changing and evolving than he is…."

"So what now?" Rex then asked them as some shrugged their shoulders unsure of what to do now.

"We could maybe break down the door." Cretacia then spoke up which startled them as she grinned rather sneakily and rubbed her palms together, "I've even got the prefect sledgehammer for the job! Hee hee!" She giggled which made some of the others including her husband shudder, they couldn't tell if she was going or not and franky they didn't want to take chances. Then again time was of the essence and things were getting rather desperate for them, and they were about to comply with her suggestion when a voice suddenly spoke up at the end of the hallway.

"Everyone, we have brought you snacks!" Helga called as they all turned to see her carrying a tray with cubed fruit, cookies and grilled cheese sandwiches, and Jonathan was behind holding a tray with glasses of water, tea or juice with him.

"Hope this will cheer you up!" Helga sang as she flashed them before their eyes.

The smell of the freshly made snacks made the Alpha gang spring back to life from the ground as their mouths began to water at the sight of the delicious treats the androids brought them, "Woo! Snacks!" They cheered as they rushed towards them for a closer look.

Even Rod and Laura were beginning to feel rather tempted at the generous selection Helga brought them, "Wow! Cheese sandwiches! My favourite!" Rod cried before looking to see even more palette tempting goodness, "Hey those cookies look pretty nice too!"

"Hey leave some for me Rod!" Laura cried as she followed him.

Seeing how the majority of them was already hooked up on snacks, the D team and Rex's parents the sighed seeing there was no helping it now, "Well I suppose we could have a little tea break…." Ancient sighed admittedly he was feeling a little hungry too.

"Yeah no point worrying about what we can't do." Zoe shrugged her shoulders seeing no other way around it.

"Come on kids! Life is something to enjoy after all! Plus I really love Helga's home made snacks myself too once in a while! Hee hee!" Cretacia giggled as she skipped over to try some finger food only for Helga to lead them to the family living room where they'd be more comfortable.

"Hehe….Well guys when you can't beat em, join em I guess." Max chuckled as they began to leave, not wanting to be left out.

"Yeah….though that doesn't make me feel that much better…." Rex muttered as he looked behind and heard the sounds of heavy machinery, sparks and maniacal laughter echoing from the other room as he reluctantly left to join everyone else.

(Later)

An hour or so later, everyone was mostly at ease as they helped themselves to the rich snacks Helga and Jonathan provided for them. They also spent their time engaged in lively conversations and catching up with one another too on recent events that transpired on both their sides since their parting the other day. Jonathan and Helga also took the time to bring over the Alpha gang's scanners and dinosaur cards too from the vault, considering with a new battle ahead of them it'd be best if they were all properly equipped for whatever new challenges lay ahead, which they were more than happy to receive again after being parted for so long.

Rex's plan of setting up a new D Lab branch in the future was readily welcomed by Rod and Laura, which thankfully was allowed by their parents whom they've taken the time to get back together with again after so long. Of course keeping Dr Z and Seth's actions out of it too, for they didn't want any bad blood between their family at all. Soon after that, the sound of a noise siren echoed through the room with Dr Z's voice telling them to head downstairs to the workshop for it was time he showed off his greatest masterpiece yet! With that news, they all headed together for the basement workshop while Helga and Jonathan stayed behind to cleanup after them.

Before long they made their way downstairs to where Dr Ancient and Cretacia conducted their technological developments and invention, which was where they found Dr Z himself, smirking proudly to himself over his most recent accomplishment and behind him was a massive object covered by a large brown tarp, "Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced to them all as they gathered around to see what he had to show for his efforts, and he grinned knowing they'd be worshipping him for it, "Presenting the newly developed and super incredible Alpha time gate developed by none other than the great Dinosaur King Dr Z!" he proclaimed as he grabbed the tarp and yanked it off!

The group widened their eyes in surprise to see large reddish purple gate like portal device built into the wall where both its doors can open and close perfectly in order to contain the energy of the time space continuum within it! A series of cables stretched out and connected from the gate into a generator that was linked to the Ancients' capsule scanner, and inside the scanner was the stone tablet which was connected by a few rods the allowed the system to tap into and hardness the energy of the stones much like the Backlander once did. In fact Dr Z constructed it using leftover parts he salvaged from both he space pirates' time engine and the Backhander's too as he grinned and snickered with pride.

The D Team and Alpha gang couldn't help but stare in awe at his work as they gazed at it speechlessly, "Wow…." Max breathed.

"It actually looks pretty cool…." Laura admitted putting a finger to her chin.

"The old goat really outdid himself this time…." Ursula whistled as Ed and Zander nodded with her.

"I must admit it's far better than what I was expecting…." Ancient mused in interest as to how he was able to come up with something so elaborate and ingenious in such a short span of time, perhaps he had underestimated his old friend's talents all these years and should have given him the proper acknowledgement he always wanted.

Cretacia however only eyed it with suspicion before shaking her head in disapproval, "Hmmm…..sorry I don't buy it." she scoffed which made Dr Z turn pale and his jaw to hang.

"Huh!? Wh…What did you say!?" He gasped in disbelief feeling betrayed as the others looked to her questioningly.

"You shouldn't judge based on its appearance." she replied to them with a firm look before looking back at Dr Z, "Given your track record of inventions, I'd say that device is still without a question a screaming metal death trap given a few minutes or so after activating."

"Ack!" Dr Z's heart skipped a beat at her words, "Y…You take that back!" he then shouted with rage as he shook his fist at her, "How dare you accuse my inventions of being defective!?" Quickly he looked back to Ursula, Zander and Ed, hoping they'd be on his side, "Tell it to her straight that she's wrong!" he demanded as he pointed back at her.

Immediately the A Team was met with a conflicted situation, as they looked to one another unsure whether they should be telling their boss what he wanted to hear or speak the truth in love despite knowing the painful consequences that awaited them either way, "Err…."

Everyone else though soon nodded with Cretacia and decided to be brutally honest with the good doctor.

"No offence Grampa but….they kinda have a point there." said Rod shrugging his shoulders, his statement made Dr Z's jaw hang and turn pale like a ghost!

"Huh!?"

"Yup. Way we see it, you're way better at breaking things than fixing them." Max bluntly stated.

"No question about it." Rex shook his head in pity.

Very soon his trio began to side with the D Team seeing their lives mattered more than their loyalty, "You couldn't pay me enough to go in there for even a few seconds." Ursula huffed as she folded her arms on her hips.

"If the explosion doesn't kill us, the machine falling apart and collapsing on us will." Zander added at the end.

Seeing his own kids turning against him made Dr Z's heart crack into several pieces, as he flushed bright red and steamed furiously, "Grrr! You traitors! After I fed and clothed you for so long you can't even show me the respect and support I deserve!?" he screeched jumping up and down, but instead of exploding and letting loose like he always did, he decided to prove to them how wrong hey were about him and his invention, "Allow me to prove you all that my newest device is both efficient, effective and completely safe!" he swore as he began thumping at it, as each hit made a solid sound, "This device is built with the highest quality alpha metal along with some of the planet's rarest and most powerful resources!" he announced proudly, "On top of that I retrofitted it using pieces from the Space pirate engine and the Backlander's! Hereby making its integrity exceptional and able to contain the time space vortex within it!" he grinned before showing them the energy source powering the gate, "In addition to that, the generator I developed which powers it, harnesses the energy of the stone tablet!" he then declared, "Which admittedly took time to decipher and still in progress.…but nevertheless able to channel said energy to activate a portal through time and contain it within safe levels thanks to these superior stabilisers!" He then concluded as he patted it next, "Quite frankly I couldn't be more proud of it considering I put it together myself, including the paint job! Heh!" he smirked folding his arms on his hips.

"That's what we're most worried about…." said Rex, knowing how hard a fall comes right after pride.

"If that thing explodes and takes us all to kingdom come, I'll make sure Dr Z never gets any sleep or a peaceful after life." Zoe muttered crossly as some of the others began to think the same as her, which made Dr Z shudder somewhat when he imagined being haunted by ghosts of his associates every night of his life and even his after life too which probably wouldn't take very long to reach.

"Enough," Max then interrupted them as they looked to him, "Now that the machine's done and now we can use it to go after the space pirates and Cera!"

"Yes, he's absolutely right." Dr Ancient nodded in agreement with the boy, for a young child he sure knew how to lead and inspire those who were much older than him, there was just a certain form of charisma and natural born talent for leadership in him that he was truly gifted with.

"We've got no time to waste so let's get ready to roll!" Max then punched forward with determination.

"Now that's something I can agree on!" Ursula grinned eagerly, "We'll kick those pirates' highneys right into the next dimension just like we did before!" she announced.

"Oh right!" Ed and Zander cheered as they did a fist bump with one another.

Rod and Laura were tempted to join too, seeing it as an exciting adventure and wanting to help their friends save another….but that would mean exposing themselves to danger again and they'd have to leave their parents again….a hard decision which they knew no matter which they made they'd be leaving out the other and they didn't want that.

"Wait!" Rex then spoke up which made his friends look to him in surprise.

"Huh?"

"Max, Zoe." he said to them seriously as they blinked their eyes in surprise at him.

"Yeah Rex?"

His expression then frowned, "You sure you want to go through with this?" he asked them much to their confusion, "I mean…we just managed to save the universe and you guys just managed to get back to your normal lives with your parents in the past." he then explained with a deep sigh, "If we do this…there's no turning back until we see this to the end. So let me ask one more time….Is this really what you want to do?"

Max and Zoe both looks to each other and considered his words carefully, true they'd be risking themselves and worry their parents once again if they were to brave danger once more….but at the same time if it wasn't for Cera helping them they'd never have been able to save them either….so they couldn't just abandon her when they knew full well she needed help more than any of them. It was clear what their choice was as they looked back to him with clear conviction, "We are Rex." said Zoe.

"Cera's in danger, and as her friends we won't sit by and let her suffer all by herself." said Max as he clenched a hand into a fist, "She'd do the same for us and you know it."

"And I know you want to help her as much as us too." Zoe said nodding in agreement with what he said, "Plus…we really missed hanging out with you, Chomp, Paris and Ace too."

"We've been so used to having dinosaurs around no way could we stay away from them." Max chuckled, having experienced nothing but boredom without them and the adventures that came with them, now was the chance for them to explore once more, experience new things and to grow and overcome challenges like before, "Plus we just got together again after so long….no way do I want it to end so soon." he said with a bright smile.

"Max….Zoe…" Rex breathed in amazement at their conviction inspire of the risks they'd be taking for as he closed his eyes and reflected on their words he began to realise how right they were, looking back he recalled how they did so much for him before, giving him a home and helping him discover who he was in the end. Cera was no exception either, how she risked her life across the cosmos to find their parents too…perhaps it was time both they all returned the favour for her. He soon then chuckled to their surprise, "To be honest I thought you might say that….and to be honest…I was hoping for it too." he said before smirking with confidence, "Hope you've got room for one more on the team, cos if you're doing this then count me in too!" he announced as they smiled brightly!

"Rex!"

"Really!?"

He nodded back at them before holding a thumbs up! "I'm with you guys to the end." he grinned as they did a triple fist bump with one another to seal their pact.

"Haha! Just like old times!" Max laughed.

"Yeah! For Cera!" Zoe smiled

"The D Team's back and ready for action once again!" They said together in unison as their actions began to impact and move the others in the room in various ways.

"Hmph!" Dr Z stuck out his tongue in disgust, though he couldn't deny that deep down in the remains of his old heart he felt rather warm and fuzzy inside, though his ego and pride refused to let him admit it.

Others on the other hand weren't going to deny their honesty, as they surely felt inspired by their show of friendship and trust, "Aww…." Rod and Laura went while Rex's parents, Cretacia sniffled and shed an emotional tear while Ancient smiled, proudly looked on seeing how much not just their son but his friends had grown ever since they met one another and the dinosaurs. The accident which separated them for so long in turn helped take the children to new heights with the experiences they faced and the challenges they braved. The only and the right thing they could do was to support them to the very end on their choice….they weren't children anymore, now they were pretty much full fledged adults deep down inside, their only regret was not being able to take part in seeing their son and his friends grow like the other parents have.

Even the Alpha gang felt deeply moved themselves, as Ed and Zander began to sniffle and their eyes watered like fountains, "Such beautiful team spirit and trust…." Zander wept as he took out a hanky and blew his nose.

"Why don't we ever have that Ursula?" Ed sniffled, wiping his tears away to look…..then blinking in surprise to see she wasn't where she stood anymore, "Huh? Ursula?" His statement made Zander snap out of his water works show as they turned to see she was eying at the gate's generator dangerously close!

"GAH!" They widened their eyes in alarm before racing at it to stop her from doing something stupid!

Unbeknownst to them, Max and Zoe looked on as Rex stood before his parents. Taking a breath to ready himself he eyed them seriously as he began to ask for their approval for what may be his most important request ever, "Hey mom…dad…." he started out uneasily and choked a bit, his heart racing uncontrollably under pressure and his throat drying up, but swallowing down hard he began to finish his sentence, only to be stopped in surprise as his father stopped him.

"Say no more son, we know what you're going to ask." he interrupted, making Rex's heart skip a beat as Max and Zoe, along with Rod, Laura and Dr Z looked on. The tension began to subside as Ancient smiled at his son with Cretacia, "If that's really what you want to do then we won't stop you."

"We couldn't be more proud of you…seeing how much you've grown up….really brings a tear to my eye…." sniffled Cretacia as she used a finger to wipe away one tears from her eye, "If only we could've seen you grow up…this wouldn't have been so painful…." she said with a heartache, that they only saw him for a short time and now he'd be going off again into he world.

Rex's eyes began to water a bit too, feeling touched and moved by them supporting him and his friends on undertaking another dangerous mission, "Mom…dad…."

Ancient then placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before looking down at him proudly, "We'll be fine son…don't worry about us…." he said kindly with warm assurance too, "We trust you completely, every decision you make from here on…we'll support you to the best we can….plus this is only something you and your friends can do….so give it your best." he said feeling hurt too but then smiling with faith at Rex before holding a thumbs up at him.

Rex's eyes widened with joy as he rushed in to hug them both closely, "Ah…thanks….mom…dad…." she smiled as the family embraced one another close together as the others looked on happy for them.

"Great on you Rex." Max nodded along with Zoe.

"Mhmm."

"We wish you the best of luck." said Rod and Laura together stating they'd be ready to lend the team their support too whenever they needed it.

"Just be sure to tell your parents first….." Cretacia then added towards Max and Zoe before sweat dropping in dismay, "Even if it seems unlikely that they'll approve of it though…." she said uneasily knowing their chances were pretty slim.

Her statement brought Max and Zoe back to reality as they scratched their head or cheeks in thought, "Oh yeah…..good point…."

"This'll be pretty tricky…." They muttered knowing this would be pretty tricky for them.

As they began to ponder over how they could explain themselves to their parents, along with the Ancients and alpha siblings thinking what they could say in defence to support them, the sounds of rummaging and grunting soon caught their attention as they looked behind curiously, "Hmm?"

"Ooh, this button looks really shiny!" Ursula squealed and her eyes brightened up sparkling at the sight of an enticing bright red button, its' shiny red exterior calling out to her like a siren, with the activation sign lit around it. Before she could stick her finger out at it-

"NO!"

"STOP URSULA!" Ed and Zander quickly jumped on her and held her down in time before she could make a costly mistake!

"Hey! Get off you leeches! I just want to see what this button does!" she grunted in annoyance as she fought hard against their tugging and added weight, dragging herself with her hands and pulling along the floor before raising one of her arms at the console, her hand struggling to rich for the glowing red button that was screaming to be pressed! The bright red shining button filling her with temptation to see what it did, and she couldn't resist the urge to force her finger onto it with all her might! "GRRRGH!" she growled, gnashing her teeth and her eyes turning orange and feral while Zander and Ed struggled immensely, barely able to hold her back as she edged closer and closer to making contact with it!

"GAH! She's too strong!"

"I always knew she wasn't all human! I can't hold on!" They whined.

Dr Z then poitned out at them, "Hey! Watch it! I spent hours building that baby! Get away from that machine!" he shouted Zander and Ed lost the energy to continue, letting loose on their hold on Ursula as they all crashed into he machine instead!

BANG!

Dr Z's heart skipped a beat as they began rolling around against it, struggling to gain control over the other while their bodied kept kicking and bashing against the generator's frame! "AAH! Somebody stop them before they break something! The machine may be stable but the control module is fragile and sensitive!" he squealed looking to everyone else pleading them to do something and fast!

The others began to raise eyebrows at him, if his machine could be easily damaged by mere roughhousing then that would mean his so called safety protocols would be pretty much worthless too.

"I'll do it." Rex sighed taking initiative as he stomped towards them, "Honestly it's like babysitting a bunch of little kids…." he muttered to himself in annaoycne till he saw they came to a stop before Ed managed to grab Ursula in a headlock and Zander was able to hold her legs! "Knock it off you guys!" He shouted at them in exasperation, "We need that machine if we're going to go after Cera and the space pirates!"

The trio blatantly ignored him as Ursula grabbed and pinched Ed's arm causing him to squeal and shed tears of pain! "Hey! I just want to press the red button and see what happens!"

"No Ursula! That's a bad idea!" Ed and Zander shouted in response as everyone else looked on, sweat dropping at the scene and unable to determine how they could possibly be adults in the first place….how could they have ended up so wrong when Rod and Laura's dad turned out decent….must be to do with Dr Z's favouritism and parenting style at the time, seeing they were more henchmen material.

Rex was beginning to lose both his patience and his mind at their idiocy as he shoved himself in between them "Grr! Break it up 3! Can't you just listen for once?!" He shouted in exasperation a she tried his best to force them apart, and despite his smaller size he was able to hold his own against all 3 grown men at once much to everyone's surprise as he managed to keep them apart and grab hold of their hands when they tried to grab at either him or one another!

In the midst of all that, the 4 of them failed to realised they had gotten rather close to the generator, or more specifically the stone tablet, as Ursula's flailing hand accidentally flipped a switch and caused the container to open and reveal the exposed tablet inside! It then began to shine in a golden aura which caught everyone's eye as they looked towards it!

"Huh?"

"AH!"

Suddenly Rex, Ursula, Zander and Ed began to flow in the auras of the stones they held! Being white, red, blue and purple respectively much to their and everyone's bewilderment! "Wh…What's happening!?" Dr Z exclaimed covering his mouth seeing what he thought might actually be real magic which defied all science and everything he knew! To make matters even more crazy, the stone tablet inside the machine sensed the auras of the original elemental within in them, as the golden aura suddenly shone ever more highly! Illuminating the room in its bright radiance and forcing everyone to cover their eyes or shield themselves from getting blinded!

"GAAAAH!"

"It's so bright!"

"I can't see!"

"Somebody turn it off!"

Max squinted his eyes only able to let in a small beam of brightness through his eyelids but even that was enough to irritate his eyeballs behind, "Urgh…That light!" he then grunted as he and Zoe began to recognise it!

"It's just like before!" Zoe then shouted out as Ancient and Cretatcia looked to them in surprise!

The energies emanating from the 4 of them were quickly absorbed into the stone tablet, as tt shone in a bright rainbow colour and as the energy urged through the connector cables it caused the computers around the gate to screech in alarm as energy levels spiked beyond safety parameters and the failsafe backups were failing too as it circuits could no longer contain the power now coursing through the whole system!

Dr Z widened his eyes as he went over all the charts, graphs and readings, "GAH! The machine's overloading!? Impossible!" he gasped in disbelief while he tried typing away at safety protocols to activate them, desperate to prevent a possible nuclear meltdown and explosion but to no avail!

"I told you that your devices couldn't be relied on Dr Z!" Dr Ancient shouted at him in anger.

"You should have let us inspect it beforehand!" Cretacia followed after him.

"It's not my fault!" Dr Z protested back, "I installed several safety protocols to avoid a disaster like this!"

"Like that's doing anything now!" Max yelled as he and everyone else began shooting him fierce glares that could kill!

"Th…There's a simple explanation for this I can assure you! I uhh…just need to find it!"

"It's the stones! They're far more powerful than simulations stated!" he then isolated their power signals as the cause of the unstable power levels, "The readings are off the charts! The stabilisers can't handle this much energy at once!" he exclaimed widening his eyes as they began bulling gout of his circuits as even the keyboards sparked and blew up in front of him! "GAH!"

"Wh…What's going to happen grampa?!" Laura cried.

He stumbled back, "If this keeps up, the device will explode! Taking us and the whole house with it!" he cried grasping onto his eyebrows and tugging at them in a panic till they could rip off!

"WHA!?" Everyone exclaimed before pinning even more of the blame on him!

"You can't be serious!"

"This is your fault!"

"You got us into this! Fix it now!" They demanded him.

Dr Z's eyes spun around in panic seeing it was pretty much on him now! However seeing the situation was clearly out of his hands, he didn't want to take the chance of getting reduced to atoms nor did he want to take responsibility for this accident, it'd ruin his image as dinosaur king of it did happen, "GARGH! Enough playing the blame game!" he screeched before pouting at the generator that was glowing brightly like a rainbow, "Somebody unplug the stones and disconnect the main power lines now!" he ordered shifting the responsibility to someone else.

"Right on it!" The Alpha trio quickly volunteered as they trotted towards the machine bravely…or merely stupidly, as Ursula and Zander grabbed hold of the cables connecting to the stone and Ed grabbed had of them both! "Here we go! Heave ho!" They chanted together as they pulled on them in unison! A bad move though as the cords suddenly surged with electricity which flooded their whole systems!

BZZT!

"WAAAAH!" They cried as they were blown back into a wall, though in the process succeeded in removing the cords from the stone, but it was still surging with energy itself and aches were it could explode too if it remained in the generator!

As everyone stared at it shining ever brightly in a panic, Rex gritted his teeth as he rushed ahead to his parents' alarm!

"Rex wait!"

"Don't do it!"

He ignored them knowing his wellbeing paled in comparison to everyone else's, "I've got the stone!" Rex yelled as he pushed the A Team aside and robbed hold of the tablet, pulling as hard as he could with all his might! "Grrrgh! GAH!" he gritted his teeth seeing how tightly it was wedged into the machine, but with his last bit of strength to popped loose from the generator! With the loss of its power source the generator soon stopped glowing and the energy readings began to stabilise once again, while the gate itself let out a dying groan as the entire system shut down!

As the mechanical echoes died down, everyone looked hard and anxiously at both the gate and at Rex….seeing clam was restored….hopefully…."Is it over?" Max asked Rex as he walked up to him with Zoe for a look.

"I…think so…." he answers uneasily though not fully sure as they eyed the stone in his hands which ceased glowing and its aura vanished.

"Please say yes…." The trio pleaded as they looked up from the floor, having been charred black to a crisp and still smoking!

"Relax you sissies," Dr Z grumbled as he stomped over towards them, "Now that the power's out the machine's now out of commission crisis' been averted, nothing can go wrong now! Ahahaha!" he laughed confidently seeing how lucky they were and that they got away with it too. Just as soon as he said those words, he completely jinxed it….as the stone tablet, now fully charged with all 6 eneries, suddenly flared to life again catching everyone off guard!

"WAAAH!?"

"Oh no not again!" The trio exclaimed as they huddled together in a panic along with Dr Z!

"Everyone! Get away from the stones now!" Dr Ancient then shouted out loud in alarm seeing things had reached a critical stage!

"Take cover!" Cretacia shouted to the children while backing away!

"AAAAAAHH!" While Rod and Laura dove behind some desks with Ancient and Cretacia following behind, they looked up and widened their eyes in horror to see that the D Team and the Alpha gang hadn't moved an inch from where they were! Instead they were staring frozen at the stones as if it held them in place against their will, unable to shout a single word as they were soon enveloped in the expanding glow of the stone's light!

"REX! MAX! ZOE!"

"NOOOO!" The Ancients cried as their figures vanished in the light's glow!

"GRAMPA!" Rod and Laura cried as he and the Alpha gang were swallowed up completely in the glow too!

Before long a massive trust of energy suddenly erupted forcing them to take cover behind the desks!

"WHOAAAA!"

"Brace yourselves!" Ancient shouted as it swept over the desk and them too! As Rod covered over Laura, Ancient did the same for Cretacia as the entire room was bathed in the light of the stones!

"AAAAH!"

Not long after that, it died down and as it did, Dr Ancient was the first to stir from slumber, "H…Huh?" he muttered as he opened his eyes in confusion, "What…happened?" he thought to himself, his head throbbing with pain as he sat up and looked over the desk which eh and the others took shelter behind form the mysterious anomaly. As he did he widened his eyes and gasped speechlessly, "Oh my….look at this mess…." he breathed as he witnessed that the entire room looked almost like a war zone, with equipment and the gate now reduced to molten slag and debris in the aftermath of the stone's feedback of energy.

Seeing what it did to Dr Z's machine, Dr Ancient began to fear what might have happened to the people who may have been caught in the blast. Reluctantly he looked to the side and asked, "Is everyone okay?"

Rod and Laura began to stir as they slowly and painfully opened their eyes, "Y…Yeah…."

"I think so…." they muttered as they got up, looking rather charred themselves but still mostly intact luckily.

"Good you're safe." Dr Ancient breathed in relief before turning to see his wife lying down on the floor. He lowered himself down and nudged her gently with his hands, "Cretacia?" he asked anxiously hoping for a sign of life.

"Ugh…" to his relief, his voice was the only motivation she needed to stir as she looked up at him and opened her eyes weakly while coated with some dust and bits of debris, "Im alright my dear." she nodded back at him much to his ease, "How about-" As she looked ahead to where her son and his friends were, her heart skipped a beat to see they were gone! "AH!" Not a single trace of them or the D Team remained where they stood, the stone gone and the generator had completely melted down to nothing!

Her husband, along with Rod and Laura began to mirror her panicked feelings and expression, as they looked around frantically through the debris, lifting it aside hoping they were buried underneath at least inset doc being vaporised, "Rex!"

"Rex! Where are you!?" They cried frantically as they searched the room with a fine toothed comb, but could find no trace of the children, as not a single piece of evidence remained…as if they were completely erased from existence!

"Max and Zoe!? Are you here!?" Cretacia then shouted out, "Answer us!" she cried as she started to panic.

It wasn't just them, Rod and Laura widened their eyes to see the entire alpha gang were missing too! "Grampa! Ursula!"

"Zander! Ed! You there!?" Their cries too went unanswered. Laura quickly turned pale and clapped her hands over her cheeks in a fright, "Oh no! Were they caught up in the light!?" she then asked desperately as she turned to the Ancients, "Did the stone tablet take them somewhere?" she asked. He didn't answer but instead stared in shock and disbelief, as he began walking towards the charred rubble in front of them, much to her confusion "D….Dr Ancient?"

As he stumbled forward towards the smoking wreckage of Dr Z's time gate, he then fell to his knees "This is terrible…the worst possible thing that could have happened….." he breathed as his wife and the siblings stared at him just as shocked as he was, "What are we going to do now? Also…what will we tell their parents? That they were involved in an accident while trying to go after the space pirates and Cera?" he asked himself wondering how they'd be able to take the responsibility for this….right after they gave their son and his friends their blessing….and even if they wanted to find out where they had gone….he couldn't think of any solution that might give them the answer they wanted.

Laura then walked up to him from behind, "Any way we can find them?" she pleaded softly…but the scientist gave no answer, which made her blood begin to turn cold.

"Come on! There has to be!" Rod gritted his teeth unwilling to accept that their fiends were vaporised, they had to be alive!

With deep regret, Dr Ancient sadly shook his head as he spoke back to both siblings, "Kids…With the machine now damaged beyond repair…and the tracking systems offline…." he said painfully before stating the most inconvenient truth of all, "I'm afraid our options of finding out which time period they went to are….zero…" he choked at the end as Rod and Laura both turned pale and their hearts skipped a beat at the most tragic of news ever.

"No…."

"This…can't be…" They choked painfully as they fell on their knees, staring with eyes widening with despair, the thought of them having lost their loved ones never crossed their minds….but it just happened before their eyes and there was nothing they could do about it…..

Cretacia then began to cry bitterly into Ancient's shoulder, for the loss of their friends and the children…..as Ancient hugged her in closely and patted her comfortingly, as he began to shed some tears of his own almost believing they had lost their son again…this time forever….

Unbeknownst to them, behind the corner, Seth had been eavesdropping on the entire fiasco and in fact been laying low and observing from a distance since the space pirates mysteriously returned and attacked earlier. The turn of events had proven most intriguing for him, and he looked from afar seeing how he might be able to use this situation to his advantage as he smirked to himself.

(Meanwhile)

A bright light suddenly shone in the middle of what appeared to be an old decrepit alleyway, illuminating a small portion of the structure to look ancient and run down like a ruin, yet also somewhat advanced with layers of metal and brick mastered together, and as it died down it revealed the 3 members of the D Team, as they lay down dazed and exhausted after the time travel experience once again, only this time directly at the power source and without the protection of a vessel. "Urgh…." Already signs of unpleasant side effects ranging from nausea, dizziness or headaches became evident as groans and moans came from them as they lay down on the ground.

The first to stir was Zoe, as her eye twitched and she was able to get feeling back, "Oogh…my stomach…." Zoe muttered as she made her way to her knees and sat up on her legs while clutching her stomach, before standing up and stumbling away from the boys who were still down on the ground.

"Man….didn't think I'd go through that twice in 1 day." Max groaned as he pushed himself up with his arms and already he felt his head throbbing painfully as he winced from it and grasped it with his hand, before using both of them to massage his forehead n the hope of lessening his mental fatigue.

"Tell me about it Max…." Zoe answered as she opened her eyes and saw what he was doing. Making her way to her legs she stretched herself a bit, and fought past her own headache as she stumbled towards the edge of the alleyway to get a better look of their surroundings and determine where they were. When she laid eyes upon what she saw on the other side of the opening, she quick forgot about all her pain and fatigue, it flushed completely away as she widened her eyes and stared speechlessly ahead at what she saw.

Nearby Rex was able to turn himself over till he lay down on his back, but as he slowly and painfully opened his eyes he could see the sky, apparently grey and foggy for some reason, and the world spinning before him, "So this is what it feels like….remind to never do it again…." he moaned before closing his eyes hoping to rest them and hopefully he'd be able to see better again. For some reason though, as he began to breathe he could feel the air feeling rather uncomfortable and thick too….As he opened them again and sat up, he felt his vision clear at last and he thought he hoped to see better again. But as he looked up he tensed slightly to see the sky was indeed dark and rather gloomy….and there didn't seem to be any signs of a storm coming as the air felt very still and no signs of thunder or rain either…something didn't feel right and it made him feel uneasy as he looked around to see the alley they were in was enclosed with rather crumbling walls, a small piece falling off from the top and cracking as it hit the hard ground made him back away from the sides a little uneasily seeing it was still unstable and unsafe.

"I hear ya…." Max muttered back in response to Rex, though still unaware of what his friends were seeing or thinking. He stumbled about and rested his hand on the wall before using the other one to clutch his face so he could still himself, even with the Backlander he was dizzy after coming out the other end of the time portal but this really took the cake, "Note to self….never trust Dr Z with anything time related again…." he grumbled as his forehead throbbed some more, next time he saw that old geezer he was going to clobber him for this.

"Hey guys…." said Zoe in a rather soft but serious tone which made him and Rex look up to see her standing still outside of the alley opening, staring into space as it seemed.

"Yeah Zoe?" Max asked her as he blinked his eyes and began to walk towards her with Rex following behind him.

"Any idea….where we ended up?" she asked uneasily.

Max and Rex raised and eyebrow and blinked with confusion and suspicion at her odd choice of words, "Huh? Where we ended up?"

"What do you-" As soon as they stepped out into the light they froze in place and widened their eyes at what she was seeing!

"AH!"

Before them were the remains of a completely ruined civilisation, while the buildings around them appeared futuristic and advanced at some point, now many of them were reduced to rubble. Many of them had huge holes punched into them, every building shown so far being collapsed with broken windows and doors, and the walls of the city were crumbling down too. The skies were as Rex had saw just now, clouded under a blanket of black clouds and smog where no light could come through, thus leaving the earth below as a cold and dark wasteland. Around them were also the remains of ruined landmarks, old flying vehicles or robots that were abandoned to rust in piece, also some places had trees torn down and grasses burned up or charred, along with that barely a breeze blew and all that surround them was fog, darkness and the sense of sadness, despair and pain emanating all around this landscape, hinting this place suffered a massive tragedy once before. All these feelings put together with what they broke witness, overwhelmed the 3 children completely, as if time itself had stopped moving and was frozen in the worst possible moment of all!

"Wh….What is this place?" was all Max could croak painfully out his dried out throat due to his hanging jaw and speechless gasp, which was shared by Zoe who fell to her knees feeling utterly devastated by the sight.

"I….I'm not sure….." Rex breathed, feeling his own lungs and heart choking him from both the thick air and also the heart wrenching sight before his eyes.

"Did….the explosion wipe out the entire city?" Zoe asked anxiously as Max's heart skipped a beat at the thought.

"No….it couldn't have….." Rex shook his head denying that possibility, "If it did then we wouldn't be alive to see it now." He said though it didn't bring his friends much relief.

With that theory eliminated, that could only leave one possibility….and Max was reluctant to say it, "Then is this….what I think it is then?"

Zoe looked up to him along with Rex, "Max you don't think?"

Max quickly brought up his D Watch and dialled on it, "Let me see….." As the watch locked in on their current time he stuttered back as soon as he saw the reading, "This can't be right…." he breathed

"What is it Max?"

"Tell us please!" They asked him, refusing to take no for an answer, which made it all the more hard for him to handle.

He closed his eyes painfully, "You're not going to like it but…." he forced out the last bit at the end most painfully, "It says we're in the year….3000." he said with deep regret in his voice.

Rex and Zoe both widened their eyes, "3-3000!?" They exclaimed in sheer disbelief. As they looked to their own watches and did the same, the result matched that of Max's D Watch which further enforced their worries on what may be in store for humanity down the line.

"Wh…Why would the stone send us to such a horrible place and time?" Zoe asked choking hard under her overwhelmed emotions of shock.

"I….don't know….." Rex breathed heavily, "But….if this is the future…how could things possibly have ended up like this?" he then gasped horrified as Max and Zoe fell heavily on their arms and knees respectively, as they could only stare at the mass desolation that surround them.

"It's terrible…."

"No…."

Despite how bleak it looked, Max gritted his teeth unwilling to give up hope on humanity and life, as he shouted out at the top of his lungs, "Hello! Is anyone out there!" he cried pleading for an answer,

"Answer us!"

"Please!"

Zoe and Rex then cried out hoping of an answer, but all they could hear back were the echoes of their own calls bounding off the desolated walls of the ruins around them

"Nothing…." Max huffed heavily seeing no more point in trying as he gritted his teeth, clenched his fist and closed his eyes turning away, unable to look at it anymore.

"So then…is like…the entire human race wiped out? Gone like the dinosaurs?" Zoe then asked.

"I….I don't know Zoe….I hope not…." Rex answered painfully before hardening his expression, "But if that's the case…then how do we get back to stop it from happening? Also…what about Cera and the space pirates? What if we ended up in the wrong time from them?"

"Tch!" Max clicked his tongue in frustration, refusing to accept this as their fate after all the fought for to save it from destruction last time at the hands of the space pirates and the cosmos stones. The sight of this doomed future only lit the flames of determination even more so within his heart as he stood up and took a stand, "No…we can't give up! Not while everyone's counting on us!" He then shouted and clenched his hand into fist, but no matter how hard or determined he made himself look in the outside, Max could feel guilt and fear slowly beginning to grip his heart the longer he found himself staying in this terrible cold life forsaken place.

Rex could see that, as he eyed him with sympathy wishing there was something he could do for him…..but perhaps there was something he could do"Wait! I have an idea!" he cried as Max and Zoe looked to him in surprise.

"Huh?"

"You do Rex?" They asked him as he nodded back with a confident smile.

"Mhmm." Reaching into underneath his clothes he then took out the stone tablet as Max and Zoe widened their eyes in surprise at it.

"AH!"

"The stone!" They gasped before looking at him in disbelief, "You held onto it the whole time!?"

"Sure did." he nodded back confidently, "And if the stone tablet brought us here, maybe it can send us back too!"

Zoe then brightened up with hope, "Yeah you're right! Maybe after we get back and learn how to properly use it, then we can not only find Cera but maybe stop this from happening too!" she said.

"Awesome!" Max cheered pumping up his arms before letting out a sigh of relief, "At least there's a bright side to this…." It soon vanished however the moment he reached one serious factor they forgot to consider, "Though how do we use it?" he then asked his friends considering he had no idea himself.

Rex paused eying it for a few seconds before sighing in dismay, "I'm…not sure…." As he said that Max and Zoe both frowned in disappointment.

"That's just great…now we're stuck in the far future, in the middle of a ruined city with no way of calling for help…..what now?" Max grunted as he kicked away a nearby stone in frustration as Zoe looked to him sadly, understanding his pain and fear.

As she looked back to the stone which Rex held, she thought as hard as she could go back before realising something they missed, "Now that I think about it….it actually happened the same way as it did last time." said Zoe as she looked to Max, "When you and I touched it…." Then later faced Rex, "Then later Rex and the Alpha gang did…."

As she said that, Rex then pt a finger to his chin in thought, "Is it because we had the original stones once?" Thinking about it, when they first laid hands on the stones, they felt a kind of energy had bonded to them, main it so only they could use the stones and cards…maybe that acted as some sort of trigger to the stone tablet which was made from their remains!

"Say, didn't the alpha gang get sent with us too?" Zoe then asked as Max and Rex quickly picked up on her point.

"Hmm?" Looking around they found no trace of Dr Z or the 3 stooges anywhere much to their surprise.

"Hey you're right…." Max blinked his eyes in surprise.

"They're not here…." Rex muttered.

That left them with only one option, "Hello! You out there old lady!?" Zoe cried as her voice echoed through the ghostly streets of the ruined city….Much to their surprise, they heard no sound coming back, for once they had hoped to hear Ursula's voice shout back at them in denial.

"They must either be out cold or too far to hear us….even if that's unlikely…." Max then thought, hoping it wouldn't be the case, considering how they survived death countless times and how strong and can hear for miles, but in the end they were still human in the end so they couldn't overlook the possibility that a….tragedy may have fallen upon them.

"I might have an idea." Rex then suggested as he held out his dino bracer, "Last time when Cera implanted trackers into our dinoholders, mom made sure to install a similar function into the dino bracers so we can keep track of them and whoever's holding them case they get lost or separated." As he began dialling on it, Max and Zoe looked to him closely as they awaited what would happen next. He narrowed his eyes hard and a bead of sweat dropped from his cheek as minutes passed, "Let's just hope it isn't damaged…." he pleaded as his friends watched on tensely, rooting for him since this was their only hope left. As he typed in the final button the Dino bracer let out a tracking signal, displaying their location on a map onscreen, and further ahead were 3 other signals linking to their alpha scanners! "Bingo! There they are!" Rex smiled as he tensed up his hand in joy.

"Aha!"

"Alright!" Max and Zoe cheered with a chance that their friends survived, at least they hoped so but there was still only one way to be sure.

Rex then smiled at ease, "Heh, even when she's not around she still comes through for us." he thought thinking about Cera before turning serious. As much as he wanted to find her, regrouping with their allies took priority as he zeroed in on their coordinates, "They're pretty far off, wonder how they got all the way over there." he then muttered curiously.

"Doesn't matter," said Max firmly, "What does is that we found them and now we can go get them."

"Then what are we waiting for!" Zoe then tensed up ready to roll whenever they were all ready as Max nodded back to her.

Before they could run ahead towards them, Rex took another look to make sure they'd head in the right direction, but as soon as he did, he widened his eyes in surprise at what he found on his dino bracer! "AH! Wait guys! Hold up a sec!" he called out to them catching their attention.

"Huh?"

"What now Rex?" They asked as they walked up to see what was going on with him now, time was of the essence and they had to find their allies soon otherwise they'd be doomed against whatever dangers lay in wait in this unknown time.

What Rex was about to show them would change everything for them, "Look!" he pointed at it, which was a fourth signal located somewhat close to where they were much to his friends' surprise, "There's a 4th signature! And it's close by!" he cried.

Max blinked his eyes, "A fourth? Impossible…" he leaned closer for a better look, and squinted his eyes, "Unless…." As Rex began typing on it, he decided to get a fix to make sure, "It can't be…." he prayed that it was what he hoped for, and as it fixated on it, he widened his eyes in shock, "It is! It's Cera!"

"AH!?"

"No way! She's here!?" Rex and Zoe both gasped in disbelief that she was in the same time period they were sent to by the stone tablet.

Rex then hardened his expression seriously at the highly implausible coincidence, "If she is, then the space pirates have to be too!" he said as he looked ahead in the direction where it was coming from, "The alpha gang can wait, right now we have to find her first!"

"Yeah you're right." Max nodded back at him in agreement, "Plus she owes some answers too." he then added knowing that she was the reason they ended up here, no matter how hard she'll try to push them away they wouldn't stop until they found her again and the truth too.

Zoe then looked around them, shivering with the cold wind which blew across the desolated ruins as well as in fear, "She's all alone now in this ruined metropolis, no way…." she thought to herself in deep concern for her wellbeing, as Rex and Max looked at her in sympathy before looking to one another and nodding.

"Come on team let's go!" Max yelled as he waved to them before running ahead.

"Mhmm!" Zoe and Rex soon titled after him as they rushed towards the signal's location.

As they raced along the path available to them, Max looked around to see nothing but ruins of a big city on both sides, as well as passing by over a bridge which stood over a drain canal which was dried up with only a small stagnant stream flowing through it. Many of the buildings around had huge holes punched in them and pieces of landmarks eroding away in the wind too, "This place….could this be when the space pirates and Cera came from?" Max wondered as he continued seeing nothing but desolation for miles as far as the eye could see.

The further they ran, the more devastated the landscape appeared to them as they passed by what appeared to be a line of dead tree trunks and foliage, which they pushed on through or climbed over, it was more than enough to make anyone's heart crack this saddened city's state….wherever it was supposed to be, "Could this be why she didn't want us to come with her? So we wouldn't see all this?" Max thought beginning understand why Cera didn't want to talk about herself or where she came from. It was then he shook his head clear and kept his gaze fixated ahead, "No, I can't think about that now, need to stay focused." He told himself, "We'll hear everything from her once we find her….." whatever she was keeping from them, they knew for certain they had to know….as both her friends and for humanity's sake.

(Meanwhile)

Further off in the distance, having made her way to a ruined open square area where the ruins of a large fountain (With a cracking statue of a brachiosaurus raised up on its legs falling apart with pieces of it littered in the now dried up basin), Cera kept her eyes at the sky searching for where the space pirate ship may have moved off to….having lost it when it took off into the clouds right after she arrived in this time period. However before losing sight of it completely she did notice it's shadow appear momentarily over this spot dropping something she couldn't make out before it vanished again….much to her disappointment.

"…." She then frowned to herself, clenching her hand into a fist tightly as she felt guilt tightening its hold around her heart. She began to wonder if cutting her bonds with her friends like that was the right thing to do after all they been through together…..feelings of conflict began to swell up in her mind when she realised she can never go back to them again after what she did to them. Realising that she quickly shook her head and trued her best not to waver in her decision which she had made, "I'm sorry guys….but I can't let you get involved with me anymore…even if we have been the best of friends I could ever ask for…." she hissed to herself, knowing it was far too late to change now…and that this was inevitable for her, considering what her truth was. Plus, she believed that this was for the best too, as her friend she didn't want them to be dragged down into the same pit she was in and suffer the same pain as she had.

Nevertheless, it didn't make it easier to know that she did betray their trust….but she was still on a mission she had to get back to and people to save as well, she had to make up for lost time for who knew how long she had been absent and what it costed her old allies here, as she steeled herself with a revived resolve for no one else would be able to undertake the task she was on. Hearing a screech up ahead, she looked to see Miku diving down from a ruined building top before descending down onto her shoulder like a trained bird, "Any sign of that ship Miku?" she asked her. In response she shook her head and cooed sadly, as Cera frowned in disappointment, "No? Must have gone into hyperdrive and escaped to someplace else…." she sighed as she stepped ahead and looked around to see nothing but a ruined landscape for miles….and no sign of any life or movement for that matter.

She narrowed her eyes knowing she did something fall here in this location and she was determined to find out what it was first before moving on, knowing any vital clue she could get was crucial to locating the enemy. "Still the trial ends here….or does it?" She thought to herself, as she shifted from looking up to down at the ground instead. As she did, she found traces of impacts and cracks in the ground followed by footprints which lead away in various directions, hinting that gel jarks may have been here probably to pick up whatever was dropped from the ship….at least that was what she suspected, when she noticed some of the impact marks and the footprints leading from them had traces of slime in them too! Kneeling down for a closer look, she picked up a small fallen twig and poked at it, as she slipped up a small sample for examination, which was when she came to a rather uncomfortable conclusion, "It's fresh….too fresh…." she mused seeing the signs all too clear, before looking around to observe her surroundings, "Wait a second….could they maybe have planted something here for me to go after?" As she asked herself that she heard some beeping sounds echoing in the distance followed by approaching slimy footsteps, which made her sweat and widen her eyes in realisation! "Oh no this is definitely a-"

"Look! There she is!" A familiar voice shouted in the distance far behind her. A voice so familiar, one she never expected to hear again since she set foot in this time period, she was caught completely by surprise as she turned around and widened her eyes in alarm!

"Huh!?"

She at first believed to be hallucinating, but a pair of other voices soon followed behind, which proved her very wrong, "It is her!"

"Come on hurry!" 3 figures soon began to appear from the dusty background behind.

Cera couldn't believe her eyes as they stepped out into the open where she could see them, as her 3 friends who somehow broke the boundaries of space and time were now racing towards where she was! "M…Max!?" She exclaimed as he ran into view out of the dust, and he wasn't alone as 2 other familiar kids his age followed in right behind! "Rex and Zoe too!?" She screamed in disbelief as Miku widened her eyes and squawked frantically, "Wh….What are they doing here!?" Like her enemies they were as persistent, she should've known she wouldn't have been able to shake them off so easily. She wanted to run, but her legs refused to budge from where she stood…..a lingering feeling of guilt and regret for what she did earlier hunkered her down as if she wanted to face the consequences of her choice.

"There you are Cera!" Max yelled angrily, his eyes fixated on her as they closed the distance between them.

"What's the meaning of all this!? Why'd you just run off like that just now!?"

"Yeah! Do you have any idea how worried we were when you-"

Hearing the slimy footsteps closely, Cera quickly cut them off, "Stay back you 3! Get out of here now! You're not supposed to be here!" she cried upon remembering why this place was dangerous

Unfortunately after the stunt she pulled earlier, much to her regret, none of the D Team were buying her words nor were they aware of the impending danger they were in and instead took offence to her trying to cut them off rudely, "No way! We're not leaving until you fess up everything!" Rex yelled back in response while Max and Zoe kept their firm glares fixed on her assuming she was trying to get away which they didn't plan on doing. Now that they found her they weren't about to let her out of their sights again!

Cera gritted her teeth in anger before shouting out at them, "No! You don't understand!" she yelled in frustration. Looking at her, seeing the urgency and worry in her eyes and tone, her friends widened their eyes realising there really was something amidst here that they weren't aware of! "There's-"

Before she could continue, the loud robotic sounds she heard earlier suddenly sounded from around the dark alleys and crevices around them!

BEEP! BEEP!

"Huh!?"

"Wh…What the!?" The noise caught them all by surprise as they looked around trying to find out what its was or where it came from.

Recognising the sounds and what they meant, Cera clicked her tongue in frustration though, "Oh no…..they've found us…." she hissed while Miku flared up her feathers in agitation.

The others looked to her in confusion, "They?"

"Who's they?" Zoe and Rex blinked wondering what she meant.

Max narrowed his eyes knowing she knew something that they didn't about the space pirates, but before he could ask a group of Gel jarks suddenly swamped in! They came in from through cracks in the rubble, through the dark alleys and out of the black mist! And even from the large group they saw with their own eyes, the beeping lights from their heads could be seen flashing either through the black fog or from within the darkened alleys and crevices of the ruins!

They were all caught completely by surprise as they were ambushed! "WAH!?"

Eventually the D Team found themselves surrounded by what would look like a sea of pink slime if seen form above and the tide was closing in on them from every corner!

Rex sweated anxiously and gritted his teeth, "Not these guys again!"

"There's so many of them!" Zoe exclaimed as she stepped back closer with Max, Cera and Rex as the gel jarks stepped closer and closer towards them, raising their arms out ready to seize them while still beeping ominously!

"I was right…it was a trap!" Cera gasped in horror realising her instincts were right.

They looked to her in alarm, "A trap!?"

Max then shouted at her, "Cera what's going on!? We demand to know!" he yelled angrily and with immense irritation.

Looking around and seeing foes on nearly every level, be it on the ground or on top of ruined buildings or even slipping out of small openings and cracks like the boneless slugs they were, Cera clicked her tongue and sweated tensely as their enemies amassed in rather large numbers on every end! "Tch! Guys this is not the time to explain and you know it!" she shouted back at them as their foes beeped sinisterly and closed in on them forcing the D Team to stand shoulder to shoulder and back to back as they gritted their teeth or hardened their gaze at their tight situation.

"Grrgh…fine alright, but after this you owe us an explanation!" Max shouted back at her seeing they had no other choice.

"Big time!" Rex and Zoe both glared at her after him.

Cera gritted her teeth hard seeing the complicated situation they were in, but soon he realised they were in it because of her, so it was her responsibility to set it right, "In all honestly I owe you more than I ever could…." she said with a deep sigh before readying herself seriously, "But we'll worry about that later, right now we need to get out of this slimy mess."

"Guess it's a good thing we've got just the clean up crew for that job!" said Max as he held up his dino bracer and everyone else did the same!

"Together guys!" Rex cried as they took out their cards!

"Dino slash!"

Slashing them in sync, all 3 of their dinosaurs appeared and roared out, forming a defensive circle around Cera and their partners as they roared out against the many enemies that were present! Seeing the enemy dinosaurs standing before them, the jarks were caught by surprise as they backed off nervously and beeped at one another unsure of how to respond, what they thought were easy prey turned out to have claws and fangs of their own to defend with!

"Hehe, not so tough now huh?" Max chuckled with confidence as Chomp roared out fiercely and stomped his foot shaking up the place a bit!

"Stay together guys, they've still got us outnumbered!" said Rex narrowing his eyes and realising there were still a LOT of foes around then, way more than just now.

"Relax, we can take em easy Rex!" Max snickered confidently seeing how anxious the jarks were as they hesitated to attack and even backed away as the 3 bellowing dinosaurs!

"Rex is right," said Cera in agreement with him as she warned Max before she and Miku got ready to fight, "We can't afford to get careless here….this is war after all…." She really hoped to leave them out of her battle, no they ended up right in the middle of it with no way of escaping it now…but…deep down inside….she was actually somewhat happy to be alongside her friends again….she couldn't explain why but….that was how she felt….like she hoped to be able to explain it to her friends one day, just not like this…."Also….something doesn't feel right…it seems almost too easy…." she then thought to herself with suspicion, realising the space pirates had to have sent more than these pawns….they had to have some trick or secret weapon in reserve knowing them.

Her answer soon came in the most dreadful form possible….when the D Team's dino bracers suddenly began to blink red upon detection….

"Huh? What the?" Rex raised his arm to see what was happening, as he eyed his dino bracer to see what was going on he stuttered back in surprise! "AH! No way!" he exclaimed as his friends looked to him in surprise.

"What is it now Rex!?" Max asked him, thinking it would be more gel jarks, but what he said next they did not expect.

"I'm picking a dinosaur signal close by!" he cried out to them.

Max and Zoe widened their eyes in disbelief, "What!?"

"A dinosaur here!?" They exclaimed. As they did Cera narrowed her eyes knowing what was coming….and it wasn't good….

"Is it the alpha gang!?" Max then asked hopefully, they could sue the backup right about now.

Rex uneasily shook his head, "No….it's an unidentified one….completely new…." he said, unsure of whether that would be a good thing or not. As he looked closer….more signals began to pop up around the dino bracer's scanners, "And there's….more?" he blinked his eyes in surprise.

"Huh?"

"M…More dinosaurs?" They each asked him in surprise.

"Yeah…" Rex nodded back at Max and Zoe. Looking again he widened his eyes, "A bunch of them actually! And they're coming here!" he then gasped which caught his friends completely by surprise!

"AH!"

Rex then gritted his teeth as he eyed the signals approaching their current location, "This can't be right….can it?" he asked himself in confusion as to how there could be so many dinosaurs in a ruined place like this, it made no sense.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake underneath their feet. The rocks and pebbles shook about in the tremors they felt through the ground, something or more like many large things were coming their way and fast! The sounds of bellows and roars echoed further in the distance and they were coming from various directions all round them, the D Team widened their eyes and sweated uneasily, as their dinosaurs looked around and bellowed in agitation at what was happening, looking around frantically trying to figure out what was going on.

Cera though, froze stiff sensing a change in the air's rhythm as Miku's eyes turned slit and feral sensing danger on instinct, "Oh no…." she breathed, something that was caught on by Max and Zoe.

"Cera?"

"Wh…What's happening?" They asked her uneasily, hoping she'd have an answer as to what was coming or what was going on in that matter.

She swallowed hard, it was clear she had an idea as to what they were dealing with, "I don't know but it looks like we're about to find out…in a really bad way…" and she didn't like it one bit.

As she finsihed, one of the nearby ruined houses was suddenly blown up as a huge cloud of dust erupted from where the structure was!

CRASH!

"AAAH!" Max and the others gasped as they looked to see, and their hearts skipped a beat at what they discovered. Appearing out of the dust were 3 large reptilian silhouettes, as the D Team waited in anticipation for these newcomers to reveal themselves! As the dust settled, emerging from them was an allosaurus atrox, along with an abelisaurus and an agustinia! Upon sighting their enemies they roared out in fury against the D Team and their dinosaurs as the skies turned multicoloured with the battlefield!

ROAR!

Max, Rex and Zoe gasped in disbelief at what they saw, "AH!"

"No way!"

"D…Dinosaurs!?" Upon closer inspection, Rex narrowed his eyes seeing they all carried one very unsettling giveaway which revealed their allegiance! "They all have the pirate's mark on them too!"

As he said that, Max and Zoe gulped and sweated anxiously realising they were really were up to their necks in really hot water! "Then that means…." Max gritted his teeth in frustration.

"This is really bad…" Zoe gulped as Cera narrowed her eyes, as if this didn't surprise her…..

Suddenly the ground began to rumble violently once more,

"WHOA!" Everyone gasped upon being shaken suddenly, and with quaking footsteps echoing behind the rugged wall, they tensed anxiously knowing what was coming next! "Not more!"

CRASH!

The nearby crumbling wall was smashed through and charging out of the dust and leaping onto the field were a pair of ceratopsians! An udanoceratops and an albertaceratops, and right behind them was an indosuchus which snarled ravenously! They too bore the marks of the spectral space pirates on their bodies and foreheads!

Snarls echoed from a hole of a separate building on the other side, and leaping out from the hole was a neovenator and a fukuiraptor! They hissed viciously before jumping out and landing gracefully onto the ground behind the D Team! And appearing out from alleys or from the dark smog around them was a dacentrurus, panoplosaurus and a large charonosaurus that let out a battle cry as the enemy forces circled around the D Team and already they could feel being overwhelmed by the sheer number of foes which surround them on every corner!

ROAR!

"AAAAH!" The D Team cried in horror as the new enemy dinosaurs joined the other ones, along with gel jark group and had them completely trapped!

"There's so many of them!" Zoe exclaimed as and Rex looked around frantically seeing enemies on every side, their dinosaurs too were becoming increasingly weary and agitated, forget chances of success, they'd be lucky if they had any chances of survival now.

"Tch!" Max clicked his tongue feeling overwhelmed, he was beginning to take back what he said about their odds, it was clear they were out of their element here as their foes outnumbered them like 10 to 1 and the numbers just seemed to be growing still!

"They're everywhere….." Rex breathed feeling the pressure slowly crushing him, as their foes were cutting off every escape route possible and already tightening their formation as the enemies snarled or roared intimidating the D Team as they began to close the gap!

"We may be in trouble here guys….." Cera swallowed hard, a complete understatement needless to say.

Rex sweated and gritted his teeth with Zoe, but Max hardened his expression refusing to yield, "Stay together guys! We can do this….I hope…" he gulped as Chomp, Ace and Pairs were backed further into a more tight bunch. It was obvious that retreating and splitting up would be the worst idea, they'd be easily caught and overwhelmed, on top of that it'd be impossible too as all their escape routes were completely cut off too! Even if they were to fight they'd have no chance against such an enormous enemy force! It was clear that their options were severely limited and still decreasing!

Not planning to give their prey any time to think up a plan, the allosaurus attrox roared in fury as it rushed ahead towards them first and a few of the other dinosaurs following after it, while the rest of them along with the gel jarks held back, to wait for an opening or to observe their prey for any weaknesses.

"Here they come!"

"Brace yourselves! Max and Rex yelled out loud while Zoe covered herself in fear.

"AAAH!" she screamed in terror as Cera stepped before her ready to use herself as a shield for her friend if necessary!

Reacting on instinct, Chomp roared fiercely at the incoming allosaurus before rushing head on fearlessly in an effort to protect Max and his friends much to his horror, "Chomp! Wait!" he cried holding out his hand but too late to stop him! Seeing the incoming attack, the allosaurus swiftly sidestepped him as he ran past, before quickly snapping at Chomp's tail and then throwing him into a stone pillar which then collapsed down on him! "No!"

"Paris! Help him!" Zoe then cried to her partner and Rex did the same.

"Quickly Ace!"

They rushed out to stop the allosaurus as it headed towards Chomp with jaws bared wide, only to be caught by surprise as the neovenator and fukuiraptor leapt o to them from out of nowhere before then biting and clawing at theme mercilessly as they roared in pain!

"NOOO!" Zoe and Rex cried in horror to see how quickly they were getting outmatched, as the small carnivores leapt off them both! As they fell to the ground disorientated, the ceratopsians charged in and flip them away further from Chomp! As they crashed to the ground, the abelisaurus ran in and chomped down on Ace's neck as he roared in pain, the fire carnivore's fangs sinking deeper into his neck and nearing his windpipe! The charonosaurus began dishing out some massive forward slams on Paris' underbelly as each blow began to choke the air and life out of her, each bellow of pain getting weaker as she got struck with the force of a battering ram to her chest!

"Paris!"

"Ace get up! Fight back!" Zoe and Rex both pleaded for their partners to hang in there, but the situation was turning most bleak for them.

Seeing the pain and suffering coming from her friends, the fear in their eyes and the anguish the dinosaurs, both allies and enemy were suffering on both ends of the battle…..Cera gritted her teeth seeing it almost like a replay of past events….like last time this all happened….."No…this can't be how it ends….not here…not now….not with….my friends…." she choked painfully, her breath being squeezed out of her lungs as she felt herself becoming overwhelmed as her friends' cries mixed in with the screams of her past nightmares…..

"CHOMP!"

"ACE!"

"PARIS!"

"HELP!"

"NOOOO!"

As the gel jarks slowly began to surround the human members of the D Team, and how their partners were suffering under the merciless enemy dinosaurs, Cera's eyes widened in horror at the suffering they were going through now…and there was one person responsible for all this, as she fell to her knees and her eyes began to tear up in despair, "This is all my fault….I let this happen…." she hissed painfully to herself as she grasped her head with her hands. Miku's squawking and pecking to get her act together couldn't react her sadly, if only she had been able to talk her partner out of this earlier…now it seemed things were too late. "I'm really sorry everyone…." Cera then said as she looked up to her friends.

They looked away from the fighting down to where she was, "Huh?"

"Cera?"

She then lowered her head in shame and guilt, "I really wish I could tell you all the truth, you have no idea how much I wanted to the moment I got back my memories…." she said softly, "But I had no way of ever telling you how….so I kept it to myself and even tried to run away from facing it." She then gritted her teeth and clenched her hand into a fist, "It's my fault for not trusting you….because of me….we may never get the chance again…." she said at the end before punching the ground with all the force in her hand.

Her friends eyed her…..realising she truly did mean what she said….that everything they were experiencing right now had to have been the reason why she wanted them to stay away…so they wouldn't suffer the same tragedy and struggles she was experiencing with the space pirates, whatever the reason was, they knew they couldn't bear to see her crying for help and suffering on her own anymore.

"Cera…."

"You can still get out of here," she then said unable to look at them in the eye, believing she lost the right to do so, "I don't want any of you to be dragged into another struggle because of-"

"Don't say that! It isn't over yet!" Max shouted back at her as she widened her eyes in surprise at his spirit still standing strong as it always had. An expression shared by his friends as they nodded with him and even smiled too, "Cera, we've been through hard times more than you can count." he said to her.

"And no matter what came our way we always prevailed over them in the end." said Rex next in agreement.

"And do you know why?" Zoe then asked, "It's cos we stick together, stand by and sheltered each other in their burdens." she answered.

"When one of us was weak, another was strong, and thus unified we're a formidable force not even the cosmos stones could stop!" said Rex with confidence.

"We understand you may have had some kind of terrible past or experience before," said Max with compassion, "We just wanted you to trust us enough that we can help you through it." He then held a hand for her as she eyed it in surprise that he was still willing to both forgive, accept and help her see this through to the end, "You did so for us, it's natural we'd do it for you too. Even if it meant we'd have to give up our own lives to do it….us and our dinosaurs." he said firmly with assurance in his voice, "We just thought you might have learned that by now, after all you just that for us." he said at the end as they nodded with him in full agreement.

"Guys…." Cera gasped speechlessly. They were right in the end…how could she have been so blind to have repeated her mistake long ago….it wasn't her place to protect her friends, it was for them all to protect one another…..Taking his hand and hardening her resolve, Max helped her stand as she sported an expression filled with confidence and clarity. In her eyes, Miku could see that the past had indeed taught them far more than they had ever learnt in their life up unto this point.

Looking back ahead, Max narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, "It doesn't matter if we're backed into a corner, we're not giving up." As he said that, Chomp was able to kick himself back up and ward off the allosaurus from getting closer as he swung out his horns at it, causing it to jump back in surprise.

"No matter who stands against us!" Zoe yelled as Paris kicked out with her foot, catching the charonosaurus off guard as it fell back!

"When we're knocked down, we always get back up!" Rex punched forward as Ace managed to shake off the abelisaurus, before grabbing its' neck with his jaws and then throwing it into the panoplosaurus as they both tumbled away into a wall which then buried them in rubble after they smashed through it!

"And fight harder than ever before!" Max yelled out loud, "Because were the D Team! And the D Team never gives up in the face of danger!" he announced to the sky proudly as the Gel jarks halted their approach, startled at the show of strength and bravery the boy did when he should be exhibiting fear, of all the humans they had terrorised not one of them showed resolve as such ever before!

Cera gasped in amazement at the courage Max and his friends demonstrated. Despite being surrounded and the odds stacked against them, the fact that they were still together, to be there for one another and help share their pain and burdens together as a team…that was what made them strong…and she now began to realise what a fool she was to even think of throwing that away. She then narrowed her eyes and nodded back at them, "You're right guys….thank you for reminding me of that." she said to them gratefully as she took a stand with them, "I promise it won't happen again….If we make it out of this….I'll make things right." she swore to them as she looked ahead to see their situation….with gel jarks and enemy dinosaurs…..it would take a miracle to save them now, but either way she was fine with whatever the outcome would be.

"There are good ways to go….and to go along with your friends….yeah this is definitely one of them…." she told herself as she closed her eyes, but not with despair but instead….feeling finally at peace with herself. Even if ti was too late fir them…it was better for her to realised her mistake than never. As their enemies amassed them and their dinosaurs regrouped once more around to protect them, despite wheezing with exhaustion and heavily battered with injuries, their resolve remained as hardened as their partners were as they readied themselves for their foes, no matter the outcome of this fight they were prepared for it. Standing with them, they looked to see Cera and Miku readying themselves along with them, as they smiled happy to have her support and she smiled back before they all hardened for battle, "It's been an honour to fight along side you…." she said to them with no regrets.

Before long, their foes having lost sense of caution rushed ahead towards them as the D Team's dinosaurs braced themselves, willing to give their loves for their partners if necessary, while the humans closed their eyes and gritted their teeth, preparing to accept what was coming and then face it with all they had.

"Urgh…" Max opened his eyes with determination and was about to use the order to attack…when suddenly the jarks stopped their assault, pausing strangely as they beeped and looked around, as if they themselves sensed something approaching. The enemy dinosaurs too did the same as they sniffed the air and either growled or grunted in agitation or anticipation much to the D Team's surprise. "Huh?"

"They're stopping?" Zoe muttered.

"What's gotten into them?" Rex then questioned suspiciously, unsure if their nervous behaviour would be a good or bad thing for them.

Cera blinked her eyes in surprise at the unexpected turn of events, "This is odd….they have us on the ropes….why would they hold their attack like that when they've come so close to taking us out for good?" she muttered in curiosity. Suddenly, the sound of wheels echoed further in the distance…..a familiar sensation…one she hadn't experienced as long as she could remember….Miku could feel it too, as she perked up and looked around restlessly along with the other dinosaurs as they tired to pinpoint where it was coming from or what it was.

"Huh? You sense something Chomp?" Max asked curiously at his dinosaur's odd behaviour.

"Paris and Ace too…" Rex noted.

"What's going on?" Zoe wondered putting a finger to her chin feeling unsure and worried about what would happen next.

Cera and Miku suddenly widened their eyes as they began toe recognise this sound, "Wait….this feeling…."

RUMBLE!

A sudden loud tremor shook through the ground, followed by sounds of collapsing and crushing in the distance! Something massive was on its way and its approach was shaking up the battlefield and everyone with it! "WAH! What now!?" Zoe cried as she and the others tried their best to stabilise their own footing! They felt this could be trouble, and sweated anxiously wondering why couldn't anything good happen to them for a change! The jarks beeped in a panic as they stumbled about and toppled around one another, while the dinosaurs roared out in surprise!

RRRRR

"Wait…why do I hear an engine roaring?" Max blinked his eyes in surprise as Rex and Zoe quickly picked up on it too, followed by the sounds of tyres scraping the ground too!

"It couldn't be…." Cera then breathed as she recognised the unmistakable sound of a vehicle nearing their location, "It's them….They came for us!" she smiled brightly as the others looked to her curiously.

"Huh?"

"Who came for us?" Rex and Zoe asked her wondering what she meant.

Looking ahead they saw a wall suddenly smashed down, grabbing everyone's attention in the vicinity! As the dust cleared, the D Team couldn't believe their eyes at what they saw before them, "WHOA!" Emerging from the dust was a large blue vehicle with a whitish front frame along, with a heavily armoured front and a green D symbol with a yellow ring on its front! It also sported a small gun like turret on top of it where the glass window frame was though there were silhouettes of a single driver riding the huge vehicle the D Team was more fixated on the massive machine that appeared out of nowhere!

"What's that!?"

"It's huge!" They gasped in amazement.

Upon sight of it, the jarks began beeping rather nervously, while the enemy dinosaurs turned towards it and roared out in agitation.

Another loud engine roar followed by wheels sounded in the back open path, and appearing out from it was a large white truck like vehicle which also sported a pair of large drills on top of its cargo load, a pair of small cannons ontop of its roof along with the same green D logo on tis front frame!

Once more the D team apart from Cera was caught completely by surprise at the new arrivals, "AH!"

"What's going on here!?" Rex and Zoe exclaimed in disbelief, they had their fair share of surprises over their trips across time and space but this was really taking the cake.

"I don't know but it looks like we're about to find out!" Max then cried as he began to sweat tensely and their dinosaurs backed away to where they were, as the enemies' attention as drawn away from them and towards the 2 massive vehicles!

"And it's going to be good." Cera then smirked to herself knowing exactly what was coming next.

Suddenly the first truck began charging the cannon on its' top which fired out a red beam of light! Quickly it materialised into the form of a huge purple giganotosaurus, which stomped its foot on the ground and let out a thunderous roar which shook the premises, causing weaker pieces of rock in the ruined buildings to crack apart and fall away, while causing the enemy dinosaurs and gel jarks to step back nervously in face of this monster! The second truck, shot out a pair of beams, one white and the other purple, and appearing from them was a sinraptor and a kentrosaurus and they both road out at the massive number of enemies fearlessly!

"Whoa! More dinosaurs!" Rex cried in amazement at what he saw, "Did those trucks just summon them!?"

"But…how!?" Zoe exclaimed seeing it to be impossible.

"I don't now but it looks like they're on our side!" Max then smiled with relief before grinning with excitement, "Hehe, not to mention they look so cool too!"

"Right on time….." Cera breathed in relief along with Miku, seeing that help had arrived for them right when they needed it most….like Max once said things are darkest before the dawn and they held out till dawn arrived for them.

As the new dinosaurs rallied together and reared out a battle challenge against the many enemies that stood before them, he gel jarks began to abandon their pursuit against the children before regrouping with the enemy dinosaurs against their new foes

Seeing the situation growing both tense and complicated, Rex looked to the others, "Quick guys, let's get Chomp and the others back into their cards." he suggested with caution, "I don't think we'd want them to be in the middle of all this."

Max and Zoe looked ahead to see Chomp and the others were already tired and exhausted, plus if these newcomers were on their side they'd only be getting in the way in their condition. "Good thinking…"

"Yeah…" They both said as they retuned their dinosaurs all to card form and Cera did the same for Miku, then summoned her to chibi size as she took refuge in her pocket. After that the D Team ran behind to take shelter behind a large stone block as they looked out form it to observe how things would go.

As the udanoceratops and albertaceratops shrieked and rushed towards the kentrosaurus, it responded growing purple and bellowing loudly as it summoned crystal crusher! 4 large crystal spears materialised around it as it charged ahead fearlessly! The ceratopsians, unable to stop in time ran right into the crystal spikes and were blown back as they crashed to the ground and returned to card form in an instant! It didn't stop there as the kentrosaurus continued onwards, ploughing through the gel jarks, either skewering them or seeing them flying like heaps of mud and rock with ease!

"Wow! Look at them go!" Max gasped seeing how their foes were sent flying away or tumbling like rag dolls!

"That's showing em!" Rex cheered with a grin as he punched forward in excitement.

The sinraptor snarled viciously as it rushed forward and began to spin around a large chunk of gel jarks along with the charonosaurus, panoplosaurus and agustinia! Running around at full speed it summoned a tornado toss using them all to fly into he air as they were sucked in but the vortex and sent spiralling into the sky and high into the dark clouds above! As the sinraptor halted its' run to catch its breath the jarks went splat all aoudad the ruined landscape before the 3 enemy dinosaurs crashed into the ground, a cloud of dust erupting where they fell and 3 lights show out as they returned to card form!

"No way…." Zoe breathed in awe at how powerful the new dinosaurs were and how quickly they were making short work of their enemies.

As the abelisaurus rushed ahead to bite at the giganotosaurus' leg, the larger carnivore swung down its head and smashed it to the ground! After that it grabbed hold of the smaller carnivore in its massive jaws before throwing it like a rag doll against the indosuchus and allosaurus! The 3 carnivores were flung into the remaining enemy dinosaurs and gel jarks as they crashed down in a huge pile! Seizing its chance, it glowed red as it charged up with fire, creating a massive flare sword in the sky before reigning it down on the helpless enemies! Flames erupted where they were as the gel jarks melted away in the immense punishing heat and the enemy dinosaurs roared in agony before turning into card form!

With the enemies wiped out, all 3 heroic dinosaurs roared out in triumph as they stomped the ground and bellowed to the dark skies as the battlefield disappeared around them too, much to the D Team's awe and amazement.

Max couldn't help but drop his jaw speechlessly, while Rex and Zoe stared and and took in that most breathtaking moment, one which they'll never forget ever in their lives as long as they lived.

"I don't believe it…."

"Incredible…." They breathed while Max suddenly regained his composure and grinned with excitement and then exploding with it!

"That…was…awesome!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

The only one of them who didn't seem that moved by the performance was Cera, in fact she only smiled feeling happy for them as if she had expected them to do just that, "Heh, looks like their skills are still as sharp as ever huh Miku?" she said to her partner who popped her head out of her pocket and chirped back at her.

Not long after that, the doors to the vehicles opened up, stepping out of the first one was a safari coloured uniformed man, with the same D logo on his assault vest which he wore over his uniform, as well as a black helmet overing over his entire head with a vizor on it so no one could see his face. From the other truck, came 2 more men in the same uniform wear as they saluted the first soldier, "Secure the perimeter! Retrieve whatever cards you can find!" he order before pointing at the battlefield where their dinosaurs were sniffing the air and scouting to make sure they were in the clear.

"Yes sir!" They saluted their superior as they ran ahead to pick up the cards of their defeated dinosaur foes wherever they could find them amongst the rubble or slime remains of the jarks.

"Just who are these guys?" Zoe mused putting a finger to her chin curiosuly as she and the others observed them work from a distance.

"And is that….a D symbol?" Rex wondered, seeing that it looked almost like the D Lab Logo they had with them.

Looking at them, Cera sighed to herself, knowing after what they just witnessed she wouldn't be able to keep anymore secrets and it would soon e time for her to spill everything, not just on herself but also about the future too….as she lowered her head down.

"Wow….." Max breathed in awe seeing the people responsible for saving them, before grinning in excitement before running towards them like a child to the zoo! "That was…amazing! Ahahaha!"

Rex widened his eyes seeing Max wasn't thinking clearly and was overcome by awe and his senses blinded to any danger these new faces may present, "AH! Max wait!" he cried but too late as max had made it over to the troopers who looked up at him approaching them.

"Hey guys! That was like the coolest thing I ever saw anyone do with a dinosaur!" he praised them waving his hands out to them in excitement, "Well not as cool as we do but who cares! You really saved our bacon there and-"

"Hold it! Stay right where you are!" The leading trooper shouted at him as he and the other 2 men aimed a pair of dinoshots at them!

"Put your hands where we can see them!"

"HUH!? Wh.…What the!?" Max widened his eyes and held his hands up, not just at the sight of the familiar device they carried which matched Cera's, but also that they were aiming them right at him as well as Rex and Zoe!

In an instant, the 3 dinosaurs that were out suddenly surround him as well as Rex and Zoe too much to their alarm as they snared and hissed menacingly at them!

"WAH!"

They shuddered and turned pale, feeling the hot breath of the great beasts breathing down their backs or necks knowing they could strike and end them at any time they wanted! They froze stiff and looked around, sweating tensely knowing that a sudden movement could provoke an attack from either the dinosaurs or their owners!

"Don't try anything, not unless you want to end up getting crushed!"

"You have the right to remain silent unless spoken to." The troopers said to them seriously, as the dinosaurs snarled menacingly at them.

The D team kids sweated tensely and gritted their teeth, raising up their arms frozen stiff, seeing they were unable to reach their dino bracers in time, it'd be foolish to try in this situation which they didn't even understand.

The lead trooper then walked up towards them, "You're not with the resistance and yet you possess dinosaurs….who are you?" he demanded as they eyed him questioningly, "State your business or you will be taken into custody. Resist and we will use force!" he then shouted as his giganotosaurus roared out a thunderous bellow!

Max quickly waved out his hands frantically, "W…Wait! You don't understand! We just got here!" he cried out to them.

"In fact we don't even know where here is!" Rex shouted after him.

"Please sir! You have to believe us!" Zoe begged desperately, though unfortunately none of their words seemed to have any effect on the troopers.

"A likely story!"

"I don't know how you gel jarks are able to speak but you won't for long!" The other 2 troopers yelled as the kentrosaurus reared up its spiked tail, the sinraptor snarled flashing its claws while the giganotosaurus bellowed ferociously as to opened its massive jaws wide ready to snap them all up and they could only widen their eyes in horror as the attacks came in!

"WAH!" They screamed covering with their arms even if it would do them no good! They closed their eyes and gritted their teeth in panic….when suddenly-

"Stand down now!" Cera then shouted out loud in an authoritative tone which the dinosaurs seemed to recognise, as they halted their attacks at the last second, inches before reaching the D Team!

"Huh!?" They all turned to look and see who it was, and blinked their eyes in surprise to see her come up before them all, "C…Cera?" She didn't seem like the Cera they knew though….it was like she was someone new altogether….

The soldiers however didn't seem too fond of someone interrupting them before they could deal with the enemy as they looked in the direction the voice came from, "Who dare-" They suddenly held back, widening their eyes behind their visors as the person who shouted out at them came into the light before them.

"AH!"

They stuttered weakly and couldn't believe what they saw, "She looks just like-" the leader trooper choked as he raised a finger weakly at her as she stared down at them with narrowed eyes an the wind lowing her long red hair out, making her figure look strong and imposing in the background before them..

One soldier shook his head in denial, "Impossible! It couldn't be!"

"Could this be another gel jark trick!?" The other said, "It has to be! She-"

"It's no trick you guys…." said Cera with assurance to them, "Tt's really me….and I can prove it too." she said firmly as as he began to reach into her pocket and take out a small feathery dinosaur whom she quickly rested on her shoulder, "Isn't that right Miku?" As she said that, Miku squawked out at them, which made the troopers and even their dinosaurs stutter in disbelief and amazement, as they finally recognised both her and that unmistakeable dinosaur.

"What!?"

"A microraptor!?" They exclaimed taking a step back at the chibi dinosaur, something the D Team could notice that they must have known each other somehow….

"But that can't be….."

"Gel jarks can only imitate the appearance of people not dinosaurs…." The 2 lower ranking officers said unable to comprehend this except for one possible reason.

"And the only person who could've earned the trust of a microraptor is none other than…." Looking to her once more, their arms grew limp as they finally realised who she was, "By the stars….it is her!" The leader then announced.

"Lieutenant!" The 3 of them then said as they quickly they saluted themselves before her and Miku, before bowing down on the ground like soldiers did to a superior officer, "Please forgive us for doubting you!" they apologised in unison, as their dinosaurs too, having sniffed them both and recognised their scent, then yielded and backed off from her friends seeing they were of no threat to them if they were with their Beta.

The D Team widened their eyes at what they heard, "Lieutenant!?" They knew Cera was many things, but for her to be a high ranking officer….during a time in the far future…over others who used dinosaurs like it was common knowledge? They've seen and experienced countless strange experiences and discoveries….but this one took the cake and ate it too…..They only looked on, deciding to hold back and wait this out, seeing that Cera knew what she was doing somehow, she was their best bet of getting out of this mess they gotten themselves into as they left her to do the talking as she began straightening out the troopers.

"Pardon our actions! We all thought we lost you!" the lead soldier bowed on the ground apologetically for his hostile behaviour just now towards both her and her friends apparently before the others followed suit, "And with everything that transpired since then we-"

Cera held out her hand stopping him, "There is no need for apologies…at least not right now." she said calmly before eying them one by one, "Take me and my friends back to base, we'll regroup and recuperate there. Explanations can come later when we're all safe and out of danger."

Immediately the soldiers saluted once more, "Y…Yes of course!"

"As you say!"

"Understood ma'am!" They each said, before the leading trooper turned to the other 2 present, "Inform the commander we're bringing in 3 civilians along with the long lost lieutenant herself!" he ordered holding his arm out as the other 2 saluted back to him.

"Yes sir!" They said as they took out dinoshots coloured green in colour and used them to returned their dinosaurs to card form which returned to their hands before they went back to their respective vehicles.

The D Team saw it all clear as day, "Did you see that?" Zoe pointed out.

Rex nodded, "Yeah…they use dinoshots too….just like Cera…." They all then looked towards Cera and Miku as she calmly observed the soldiers packing up and getting back on board their transports, "So then that means…."

"Climb aboard Lieutenant Cera, you deserve to ride in the best we can offer you." Feel shameful they can't offer anything better

Cera smiled back at them, "We'll take what we can get, and thank you saving me and my friends just now." she said.

"We are honoured to serve in the resistance!" They chanted in unison as they saluted her before climbing in and starting their engines.

As the back of the transport convoy opened, Cera walked towards and looked in, seeing a couple of benches hanging on the wall o the container, making it look something like an army or prison transport inside, it was even enough to fit a full sized dinosaur inside if necessary! It wasn't the best quality of seating but it was all they had available, "Well guys….Care to come on board?" she then offered her friends who stared awkwardly at her.

They were still recovering from the initial shock and from the whole experience after what they saw since arriving here…but standing around would get them no answers let alone anywhere,e so they nodded reluctantly, "Y…Yeah sure Cera…."

"Thanks…?" They said before following her inside the truck.

As soon as they were comfortably seated in the convoy benches inside the truck, the doors shut on their own and they were on their way. Moments passed along the long journey, and there was nothing but awkward silence between them, as they stated at one another seeing who would volunteer to initiate first or break the silence. In the end, with the his friends being unable to work up the rouge to speak, and seeing Cera herself didn't seem that enthusiastic hers,ed Max sported a firm look as he then looked up at Cera seriously, "Hey Cera…." he said as he and the others looked to her firmly though not with anger, "We really need to talk…like now…"

This time there was no way she'd be able to make excuses, with her fiends all eying her and with no way to delay it any longer….but perhaps this was a good thing and for the best of everyone….

In response Cera took in a calming breath to clear out her thoughts and set herself straight, "I know, we have a lot to catch up on…." she admitted seeing the time had finally arrived. She then looked to them, "I guess I couldn't run from it any longer….I should have known I could never run from my past nor would anything ever stop you guys from wanting to find out. If I had known about it sooner and accepted it from the start maybe you wouldn't have fallen into danger just now." she said with regret for her actions but now was her chance to make it right and she wasn't going to blow it, "That's why I won't run anymore. It's time I told you all the truth….all of it…." She said before tightening her hands on her knees, "But I warn you….it'll be far bigger and anything than you've ever seen or handled so far…..I just hope you'll be ready for it."

As she finished, the D team looked to each other, seeing that this may have been as hard for Cera as it was for them, she must have had some bad experiences prior to meeting them, and it was clear she hadn't been herself since she got her memories back and remembered all the awful things she must have went through so it would be hard for her to be able to share said information with them. At the same time, as their friends they believed they had to know for chances were it would concern them too….and as her friends they didn't want her to bear whatever burdens she was going through on her own. Having made their decision they nodded seriously at each other before looking at her calmly.

"We….understand…."

"We're all ears, and whatever your story is we're prepared for everything you have to say."

"And no matter what it is, we promise to still trust you." They each said to her having fully readied themselves for what she had to say for herself, as well as preparing to still accept her for who she is knowing she may have had her reasons, which was what they wanted to understand most of all.

She then nodded in affirmation, seeing no reason to hide anymore as she cleared her mind and began to let all her old memories come back to her, she had no intention of leaving anything out, for only by telling them the entire truth would she be able to clear her conscience once and for all. "Then alright….it's a really long story so I hope you all are ready for it…." she said with a deep sigh, not only would she be revealing her own painful past….but also about many secrets of the far future none of them could begin to comprehend. They could tell this from how she sounded, but seeing their faces of determination, she believed they should be able to handle it as she took in a clam breath and finally begin to tell them…her story, "You see it all began….long before I ever met any of you….."

If you're wondering about Cera's time, think of the xyz dimension ruins of yugioh arc v as the place where the D Team and Cera ended up. As to how it got that way, stay tuned for the biggest backstory of my entire story next chapter and brace yourself for the awesome elements to be included down the line too! As for Seth at the end, will leave it to your imagination but will assure you it's nothing bad.

Stay tuned for next chapter where Cera's true identity and backstory gets revealed, sorry if you all waited so long but the moment will come next chapter and much more. Stay tuned as well for many easter eggs and references next chapter too. Also for the record it technically wasn't Dr Z's fault this time, it was Rex and the trio since their contact with the stones left energy in them which triggered the tablet's activation.

As for the vehicles the D Team's rescuers used, let's just say they were based off existing vehicles (The rock crusher and heavy hauler) that you may recognise in a certain game in the fossil fighters franchise.

P.S-The pod the Alpha gang used is the one they enter in Operation Dinosaur rescue intro and Ursula's using her new outfit from the DS and arcade games, plus Zander also changing up his glasses too to the ones from the arcade.

In response to reviews-

tsukikami

-Yeah I thought of ways our world can be better and stated how the future addressed some of these problems. Also the weather satellite thing I got it from the movie Geostorm. Also I kinda used arc v, zexal and vrains to make the future setting here, though at the ending scene you can tell which element of arc v I used. I enjoyed the anime but felt it could have been better.

Yup Goma is way stronger and more deadly than his father despite his age and appearance, make no mistake, and has no intention of repeating their mistakes. His judgements are based on experience and anticipation. Stay tuned for the D Team will also be taken to fights they'll need with their dinosaurs more than ever.

Never thought of Miku's name like that, also as proven here Cera did come from a different time and her backstory will be revealed next chapter, sorry for not now.

Cera's appearance is based in the first few chapters of my story.

Drew Luczynski

-Yup, told you it'd be a good one. Which did you think was the bad one? The pirate lair?

Maybe, wished they showed the future more, but the far future where Cera came from is more devastating.

You'll be surprised at how far dinosaurs go in Cera's time before all this happened, as her backstory next chapter will say.