The Dino Rogue

Rated T for swearing

"Talking"

:Talking through the Dino Daggers:

"Phone calls or recordings"

'Thoughts'

As the Dino Knights made their way across the ocean, Arch finally worked up the courage to talk to Theo. "So, uh… Theo… is this 'Rogue' guy really your ex?"

Theo looked at him before returning her focus to keeping up with the others. "No, not really… we were just really close, however we didn't part on good terms."

Arch narrowed his eyes; if he was trying to hide his jealously he wasn't doing a very good job at it. "How close?"

Tyranno called over his shoulder "Remember that ruby she asked you to get from the bottom of that volcano a while back? How do you think she knew that was down there? More importantly how do you think it got down there in the first place?"

Arch glared at Theo "Were you the one that threw it down there and wanted it back? Or did Dino A…"

Sabre cut him off "Shh, don't say his name, Tyranno will get pissed off all over again,"

"…I mean that guy throw it down there?"

Theo thought about it for a moment "Actually, I threw it at him while we were standing on the top of the volcano. Obviously I missed,"

Rick looked over at them from where he sat on Styraco's back and then at each of his "Brothers". "So, what was this 'Rogue' like before he did whatever is making you all so tense about him?"

Toro and Centro threw back their heads and answered by finishing each other's sentences like they usually did. "He often used brute force and exploitation of weak points in battle,"

"Yes, but he was also quite clever and cunning which is why I'm only partially surprised he has figured out how to shield his aura,"

Brachio looked over his shoulder at them "The question is why he would do that?"

"That's what we intend to find out. Hold on you two, I'm going to go a bit faster," Tyranno picked up the pace and the other Dino Knights followed suit.

After some time of running across miles of open-ocean, Rena slumped against Brachio's neck. "Are we there yet?"

The yellow Brachiosaurus simply chided her gently "Patience, Rena, we will be arriving shortly,"

Kaito looked over his shoulder at Rena "How about a game? First one to see Australia wins,"

Tyranno smiled, becoming slightly less tense. "Good idea, Kaito,"

Of course everyone joined the game, wanting to be the first ones to spot their destination, but some of them—mostly Tricera—got overly competitive and tried to cut the others off to increase their chances of winning.

Brachio ended up spotting the landmass first because his vantage point was from higher up in comparison to the other Dino Knights and most of the others were either trying to prevent a brawl from breaking out between Arch and Theo when the former accidently ran into the latter or were trying to join in the fight

"There it is, Australia,"

Ptera was flying overhead with all four humans on her back because when everyone stopped running they started to sink beneath the waves and would have drowned then humans if they had taken them with them. "Hey, I see it too,"

Everyone that was fighting on the sea floor stopped when Kaito relayed what they said to the others with his Dino Dagger, which made it easier for Tyranno and anyone trying to break up the fight to do so, and Tricera took off ahead of them "I'm gonna get there first!"

"In your dreams, pal!" Sabre took off after his friend like a cheetah after a gazelle.

The others followed close behind and Ptera soared higher to dive for the cove they were heading to and landed on the beach just before the others came out of the water, soft sand spraying about as she landed.

She gave them a smug look and said "What took you so long?"

Tricera gawked at her, trying to figure out how she beat him, while Sabre pointed out "Hey, no fair you can fly and we can't!"

The humans all climbed off of Ptera while she snapped back at Sabre "Hey, I had passengers and you didn't so don't tell me what's unfair!"

Tyranno put an end to the squabble-in-the-making as he came out of the water and shook himself dry. "Alright, you three, that's enough. We've got a job to do here,"

Rena looked up at Tyranno, eager to get started. "Where do we look first?"

Mammoth raised his trunk as though trying to catch a scent. "I can sense him somewhere nearby but he's either really far way or his aura is really faint,"

Rick looked around "We'll probably cover more ground if we split up,"

Brachio nodded. "Rick does have a point, although if the Rogue is nearby and not in a friendly mood we shouldn't be wandering around alone. Might I suggest breaking off into smaller groups?"

Tyranno nodded "Sounds like a plan to me," then he started dividing up the groups.

"Brachio, you, Rena and Mammoth search one area, Ptera, Sabre and Tricera, you three search another,"

Brachio nodded and he and Mammoth went north. "We will go this way,"

"And we can search those mountains over there," Ptera started flying towards the aforementioned peaks with Tricera following on the ground. Sabre started to follow but he stopped and asked "Hey, can Naomi come with us?"

Tyranno looked over his shoulder to try to look at the woman. "If it's alright with her,"

Naomi looked at the Smilodon and smiled. "I would love to,"

Tyranno lowered his head to the ground so she could climb off of him and onto Sabre's back.

As the cat took off, Tyranno looked at Styraco. "Styraco, you and your brothers search the area west of here,"

The Styracosaurus nodded "Understood,"

Rick looked at him "Okay, this is probably a stupid question, but is it alright if I go with you guys?"

Styraco chuckled "Of course, Tyranno told us brothers to search that area and that includes you too, Rick,"

Toro and Centro nodded and said in unison "Yes, all for one and one for all. Brothers to the end!"

Rick smiled "Just checking,"

Tyranno looked at Dino Ictheo. "Theo, you and the Dino weapons search that little forest over there,"

Theo followed his line of sight and saw the eucalyptus forest he was talking about. "Alright, come on boys," she ran towards the forest in her knight form since her dino form wasn't much good on land while the Dino weapons followed her in their dino forms.

Tyranno looked at Stego, who was the only remaining Dino Knight besides himself. "Well, Stego, I guess it's just you me and Kaito,"

Stego rolled his eyes "Oh joy,"

Tyranno said good-naturedly, finally sounding like his usual self. "Let's try looking in those mountain peaks over there since Ptera, Tricera, Sabre and Naomi are looking in those other ones.

As the two of them took off, Tyranno sent a message to the other Dino Knights and Rena and Ricks Dino Daggers while speaking out loud for Stego and Kaito. :Everyone be careful out there. Use the buddy system and report back if you find anything.:

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After a short time, Kaito, Tyranno and Stego came to an area that mostly consisted of farms and ranches.

They stopped at a dirt road just as a truck drove by; luckily they were hidden from view and the truck kept going.

Once they were certain the coast was clear, Kaito asked to be put down which puzzled Tyranno "What's wrong, Kaito?"

Kaito pointed in the direction the truck had gone. "We can't let anyone see you guys, if I can scout ahead I can give you guys a heads up and distract anyone that tries to get close so you guys can find a hiding spot.

Tyranno saw his point and lowered his head to let the boy climb down. "Alright, but be careful… and just so we're clear I'm not hiding in any more narrow crevices," he added jokingly but froze when he picked up a familiar scent while his head was low to the ground.

Stego noticed almost immediately "What is it, Tyranno?"

Tyranno slowly stood back up. "…on second thought, maybe you should stay put, Kaito. I think I just found his scent,"

Kaito climbed back up onto Tyranno's shoulders and the T-rex started off with Stego running alongside like a hunting dog. "Yeah, he's close, I can sense his aura getting stronger,"

They kept running until they came to the back forty of someone's farm and stopped.

Tyranno looked around. "Huh, that's odd, his aura vanished again,"

Stego sniffed the ground "Yeah, but his scent is still here so he's definitely been here, we can follow that instead,"

And so they followed their noses until they came to what appeared to be an abandoned quarry.

"The trail ends here, but I don't see any other signs of him anywhere,"

Stego notice something on the ground "Hey, Tyranno, how's this for a sign?"

Tyranno and Kaito looked over at where Stego was standing and saw scuff marks, a few places where the ground was actually singed and—most importantly—a dinosaur foot print.

Tyranno's eyes narrowed "Yeah he's been here alright, but where could he have gone?"

Kaito spotted a cave on the other side of the quarry at the rim of the pit. "There's a cave over there, think he could have gone in there?"

The two Dino Knights looked in the direction he was pointing and Stego compared the size of the cave with the size he remembered their former comrade being. "He could have but we're going to have to check to make sure,"

Tyranno put his tail between Stego and the quarry when he started walking towards the dug-out ramp that led into the pit. "Wait Stego, I don't know if anyone still uses this quarry but I can smell the scent of a human, maybe two… we need to be careful or someone will see us,"

Kaito raised his hand "I'll go look, that way if anyone does come no one will see you,"

"And we can stomp anyone or anything that gives you trouble!" Stego agreed.

Tyranno also agreed, albeit reluctantly. "Alright but be careful,"

Once he let the boy down, Kaito stepped out of the trees and into the clearing that surrounded the quarry but before he could actually get to the dug-out entrance to the pit he heard someone shout "Oi, kid, what are you doin' out here?"

Kaito turned and saw a young woman with light brown hair wearing blue jeans, a blue-and-white cap that had the words "Brumby Tough" printed on the front and a navy blue vest over a blue-and-white plaid flannel shirt riding a bay horse into the clearing a few yards away.

She didn't look too happy that he was there but she didn't seem like she had seen Tyranno or Stego yet so he tried to be friendly. "Hi, um… who are you?"

The young woman looked confused for a moment then looked at him in a way that wasn't too different than how Rick looked at him and Rena when they first met and answered in an Australian accent. "Diana, who're you?"

Kaito got flustered "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Kaito,"

Diana nudged her horse forward so that they approached Kaito intimidatingly. "What are you doing out here?"

Kaito jumped when he realized he didn't have an explanation and quickly rambled one out for her. "Oh, I uh… my friends and I came out here for some mountain climbing but I got separated and now I'm lost,"

Diana's harsh glare softened slightly. "Really? Hmm, don't get many tourists out here, it's no wonder you're lost,"

For a moment Kaito thought she believed him. To his surprise, however, she reached down and pulled a gun out of a holster on her belt and pointed it at him.

"How stupid do you think I am?"

Kaito froze, not wanting to provoke the woman any more than he already had.

Somewhere behind them Tyranno and Stego were watching and when Tyranno saw the gun pointed at Kaito his bones went cold.

'No!' he immediately leapt from his meager cover and stood between the two humans.

Kaito looked up at his friend in disbelief, sure he was grateful he saved him but in doing so he exposed himself to this stranger.

Diana looked up at Tyranno, wide-eyed, and slowly moved her other hand to her other side and grasped something there.

Kaito thought she was going to pull out another gun and shoot Tyranno but the Ultimate Dino Knight sensed the flare of an active aurora, similar to the flares he always sensed when Kaito, Rena or Rick used their Dino Daggers.

He was about to go investigate but was interrupted when something big burst out of the trees Diana had come out of and rammed into Stego, pushing the smaller Dino Knight down into the quarry and jumped down after him.

When Tyranno saw what it was all he could see was red and he roared with rage as he stomped down the ramp into the quarry pit and over to the usurper and rammed into him to get him away from Stego and Kaito.

After that the two started roaring at each other, charging at each other only to stop just short of each other, snapping their powerful jaws dangerously close to any part of their opponent in reach before moving away to circle each other like a pair of angry wolves.

Now that Kaito was able to get a good look at the new comer he saw that he was obviously a Dino Knight, he looked kind of like Tyranno used to before Dino Ramph made him into an Ultimate Dino Knight, except he was slightly smaller with three claws on each hand rather than two and he had two bony ridges over each eye that were flushed bright red which stood out with his dark coloring of gunmetal gray and midnight blue.

While the two of them fought, Kaito went over to Stego to make sure he was alright. "Hey, Stego, you ok?"

The blue-and-green Stegosaurus rolled to his feet, with much difficulty due to his bulk, and shook himself. "I'll live,"

Kaito let out a sigh of relief before returning his attention to the fight in time to see the two combatants were now trying to knock each other down to the ground. "I think we found the Rogue,"

Stego looked over at the fight. "I think he found us,"

While Tyranno was bigger and more powerful the "Rogue" was quicker and more agile but just then Tyranno succeeded in knocking one of the "Rogue's" legs out from under him knocking him off balance.

Kaito cheered for his friend "Yeah, you got him now, Tyranno!"

But at the same time Diana dismounted from her horse and ran towards them shouting "Allo, look out!"

The Rogue, or Allo, turned his head to see Tyranno's jaws out of the corner of his eye but he also saw that if he turned just right he could reach his throat.

But just before he could something crashed into him knocking him to the side. Tyranno gasped as the Allosaurus' teeth nicked his skin; it didn't do any real damage but it surprised him.

What didn't surprise him was that Stego was trying to push Allo back with limited success. "Stego, stay out of this!"

Stego grunted from the effort of trying to hold back the taller dino since he was making it difficult for him to push Dino Allo into the side of the quarry like he did to him. "Sorry, but I'm not going to sit back and do nothing while you two beat the tar out of each other. At least wait until the others get…

He was interrupted when something hit him on the shoulder, He looked down and saw Diana stooping down to pick up a rock and realized she had already thrown one at him.

The Australian girl threw the rock at his head this time, screaming "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

She grabbed another rock and stood back up. "You wanna pick on someone? Right 'ere Stego!" She hit her fists against her chest for emphasis and stood ready for a fight.

Allo looked over at her and hissed "Diana, Stay away," but he was barreled over by Tyranno when the Tyrannosaurus Rex attacked him again and the battle resumed.

Just then they heard heavy footfalls and looked up to see Brachio and Mammoth look over the side of the quarry.

When Mammoth saw what was going on he immediately decided to act first and ask questions later. "Looks like they need help,"

Brachio tried to stop him but he had already jumped into the quarry with them. "Mammoth wait…"

The Brachiosaurus knew his friend would be doing more harm than good jumping into the already crowded quarry to join in a fight but there was little he could do about it now; not only was it already crowded—he had to wince in sympathy when Tyranno accidently knocked Allo into Mammoth so that he was caught between the Allosaurus and the rock wall of the quarry—but there wasn't enough room for him in the limited space.

Meanwhile, Stego glared down at Diana "As much as I hate to admit it, Allo's right, maybe you should stay out of this, little girl,"

Kaito looked at her "Wait, how did you know his name was Stego?"

Diana shrugged, not taking her eyes off of Stego. "Lucky guess, he's a Stegosaurus, is he not?"

A loud noise drew their attention to where Tyranno and Allo were still fighting and Diana growled when she saw the cause of the noise was Tyranno finally succeeding in knocking Allo to the ground so he could stomp on him.

"Seriously, what is with this bloke?" she reached into the pocket of her vest and took out a tranquilizer dart and replaced the ammo cartridge in her gun's magazine with it and pointed it at Tyranno as she flanked around them to get a clear shot.

Kaito tried to knock the gun away to mess up her aim. "Tyranno, look out! She's trying to shoot you!"

Stego was about to intervene when he sensed seismic activity rippling through the ground and called up to Brachio since Tyranno was busy and Mammoth was still disorientated from when the two fighting Dinozaurs ploughed into him. "Hey, Brachio, you sense anything up there?"

Brachio looked around for a moment before answering "Yes, I am detecting minor seismic activity nearby and I can sense a small eruption of life force that may be brought up with it,"

Tyranno and Allo stopped fighting when they heard this and Allo cursed trying to get out from under Tyranno.

The Ultimate T-rex, however, wasn't having it. "Oh no, where do you think you're going?"

Allo craned his neck to glare at Tyranno and spoke with a voice that reminded Kaito of the sound of wolves howling. "I'm going to try to stop that life force geyser before the Dragozaurs catch wind of it,"

Tyranno let him clamber to his feet, watching him skeptically. "You really think you can do that?"

Allo swung his head to clip Tyranno on the shoulder with his muzzle before darting back. "I've been doing that! Haven't you noticed there hasn't been any Dragozaur activity here yet?"

Kaito looked up at the two Dino Knights that had been trying to rip each other apart just moments before. "You've been stopping the life force from reaching the surface. If the Dragozaurs can't find any life force here there's no reason for them to come here,"

Dino Allo nodded "Exactly," then he looked over Tyranno skeptically "Hey, Tyranno, is that really you under all of that?"

Tyranno nodded "Yes it's me," he looked over at Kaito and jerked his head towards Allo "Kaito this is Dino Allo, he used to be part of our team before he went rogue. Allo, this is Kaito, one of our human friends,"

Kaito smiled up at Allo nervously "Nice to meet you,"

Allo nodded "Likewise," then he made a noise that sounded like a guttural sounding horse's nicker.

Tyranno looked at the Allosaurus, surprised that the noise prompted Diana to go stand next to him; he recognized the noise as one a grown Allosaurus makes towards their young.

When the girl was at his heels Allo smiled wryly at her "Diana, remember I told you about the other Dino Knights?"

Diana nodded "Aye, is this they?"

"Yep, some of them anyway. This is Dino Tyranno, the one you threw rocks at is Dino Stego, that guy stumbling around over there is Dino Mammoth…" he nodded over to where Mammoth finally managed to get to his feet. "And the one standing at the top of the pit is Dino Brachio. Where's everyone else? They not awake yet?"

Tyranno shook his head "Nope, everyone that was asleep after… you know… is awake and here,"

Allo's eyes widened "You brought the whole gang here? Why?"

Tyranno turned and walked out of the quarry, gesturing for the others to follow him. "We sensed your aura and that it kept fizzling out so we came out here to say 'hello'… and while we're here we can take care of that life force eruption,"

Allo looked at him and said in a mock-joyful voice "You came all this way to make sure I wasn't dead? Ah, you do care,"

Stego snorted "Don't think you're getting off that easy, Rogue,"

Brachio and Rena met them at the entrance of the quarry while Diana went to her horse and mounted. "I believe the eruption will occur somewhere north of here,"

Allo jogged behind them so Diana's horse could keep up. "I sense it too, it's going to be at… Uluru? Dammit, that's the third time this week!"

Diana looked up at him "I'm coming too, and don't try to stop me. I know there's always a chance the Dragozaurs might show up but they don't scare me!"

Allo sighed "Fine, think Avalanche can keep up?"

Diana smiled and spurred Avalanche into a canter. "If not just go ahead, we'll catch up,"

As they ran, Rena got sick of being left out of the conversation and waved at Allo. "Hi, I'm Rena!"

Allo looked surprised to see her but returned the greeting and asked Brachio "Are there any other human friends I should know about?"

Brachio nodded "There's Rick, the Cerasaurs adopted him as their fourth brother, and there is Naomi, she is the one that excavated most of our fossils and is the curator of the Dinotarium where we are portrayed as regular fossils on display,"

"Don't forget Zach, he might be too young to actually remember us later but he is still our friend," Tyranno smiled, remembering the little baby that Kaito and Rena were asked to babysit one time.

"How could I forget? He was adorable,"

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As they ran across the outback Tyranno let everyone else know they had found Allo and told them to meet them at Uluru .

By the time the massive plateau came into view all of the Dino Knights could feel the life force bubbling to the surface.

Allo cursed in an ancient dead language that modern humans don't even know about let alone have a name and translations for. "We're not going to make it there before the eruption starts. Looks like we're going to have to stop it fast before Diamond Ryugu notices,"

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Meanwhile, in Diamond Ryugu's domain in space

"DRAGO WING!" Diamond Ryugu's irritated voice echoed throughout her habitat.

As usual, the giant black and red bat in his humanoid form few in and hovered before his mistress and showered her with flattery. "I am right here, your Eminence, ready willing and able to do your bidding. How may I serve you, o great one?"

Diamond Ryugu's green eyes glowed brighter in the darkness as she growled at him. "I am detecting a new source of life force on Earth. I want it. Need I say more?"

Drago Wing saluted her, standing stock still in midair with the only part of him moving being his wings. "Of course, your Eminence. Consider that life force yours, I shall get it for you,"

Diamond Ryugu's eyes narrowed "Don't think that this will be easy, Drago Wing. I can sense the Dino Knights near that area. It would seem you will have your work cut out for you,"

"Perhaps I can help with that,"

Drago Wing jumped at the sound of Dark Draon's voice as the magician phased through the floor below where he was hovering.

"Would you quit that! Besides, why would her Eminence listen to another one of your plans when we already lost the Drago clones because your last plan didn't work?"

Diamond Ryugu cut him off "SILENCE DRAGO WING!"

The bat cowered and pleaded his mistress' forgiveness while the Dragozaur commander looked at Dark Dragon. "However, Drago Wing does have a point, Dark Dragon. How is this new plan of yours any different than your past failures?"

Dark Dragon just chuckled darkly. "Simple, unlike Drago Wing here I learn from my mistakes. My plan to capture the human Rick and use him against the Cerasaur brothers failed because, while the plan itself was fool proof but the way it was carried out was flawed,"

He let his sentence hang to hint there was more to it and Diamond Ryugu nodded. "Continue,"

Dark Dragon smiled and explained how his plan failed and what changes he had made. Diamond Ryugu smiled. "Ah, I see. If this plan of yours works, Dark Dragon, the Dino Knights are on borrowed time. You may proceed, but fail me again…"

Dark Dragon nodded "I will not fail,"

Drago Wing crossed his arms and grumbled "Famous last words,"

"DRAGO WING!"

Drago wing stood at attention in midair when his name was called. "Y-yes, your grace?"

"You will take a squadron of Dragozaurs to gather the life force while Dark Dragon and his Dark Dragozaurs deal with the Dino Knights and if they fail it will be your task to finish the job,"

The bat bowed "Yes, your… wait what? You mean I'm just his back-up?"

Dark Dragon chuckled "How the mighty have fallen. See you on Earth," he phased back through the floor just as Drago Wing swooped down and stomped on the spot he had been.

"Who says I've fallen? Her Excellency just knows I will ensure the job will get done, you…"

His ranting was cut off by the cavern shaking and Diamond Ryugu shouting "ARE YOU STILL HERE? GET GOING!"

Drago Wing screamed as he flew off to where the Dragozaurs were waiting for him and told them the plan in a loud theatrical voice.

AN: Ooo, what's Dark Dragon going to do? Will the Dino Knights keep Australia's life force safe from the Dragozaurs? Find out next time in "The Dino Rogue"!

Comments, suggestions and predictions welcome. Any flames will be fed to Diamond Ryugu.