And here we go, Round One of the Cup!

Chapter 9: The Return of That One Guy…

*Beep beep boop*
Derrick's first round opponent is Rubicon. Please report to the Fossil Stadium.
*Boop beep beep*

I handed the bow back to Thea, who smiled at me.

"Good luck," she said before stringing her bow and pegging the target dead center.

"You too!" I called as I rushed from the clearing. I passed the Bonehead Hollow, taking a quick glance at Celestial's notable green hair heading inside. I continued on to the stadium, and checked team one last time before I entered the lobby. Inside, I saw Dina and Todd talking to the same red-coated, silver haired boy they had yesterday.

"How foolish." Was his last remark before he left them and brushed past me, glaring a bit as he walked out the door.

Dina and Todd started smiling again though, so I figured it was nothing, waved to them, and moved on towards the stadium.

Inside the common room, I saw the grey clothed boy from yesterday standing in front of the door. He seemed to recognize me as well.

"Well… So it's you." He nodded as if to confirm something. "I hope you can keep that Carno of yours under control."

"Thanks for that, by the way."

"Not a problem." We walked through the door and took our places across the field from each other. I glanced at the stands, and saw Thea seated next to Bob, Dina, and Todd. Then, I pulled out my three medals and threw them to the field. Rubicon has his out, but they were not what I expected them to be. Instead of the Vivosaurs he had used in the hall, he sent out an Aeros and a red-orange sauropod that had a ball on the end of its tail.

"And the fighters are ready. Let the battle begin!" I heard a voice come over the PA system. Music began to fill the stadium as we began. "And Derrick gets the first attack!"

"Alright then… let's see…" I was looking at the positioning of my Vivosaurs. With Carno directly in front of Aeros, I was about to call for it to attack. Then, I noticed the frightened look in Carno's eyes. "I end!" I called, hoping to avoid a scene.

"An unusual choice for Derrick to end his turn. Is he planning something big, Trip?"

"I dunno, but when he moves, it's gonna be BIG, Ty."

"That only works if you don't repeat what I said."

Rubicon made to move, and called out, "Menchi Stomp." The Vivosaur, which I assumed to be Menchi, lifted up its forelegs and slammed them into Carno, who roared in pain.

"And Rubicon takes advantage of the elemental and Range advantages of his Menchi. Good thing for Derrick that Rubicon doesn't have enough FP for a follow-up attack."

I looked cautiously at Carno, only to see that it was now completely focused on the Aeros in front of it, snarling as it stared down the feathered Vivosaur. Taking advantage of this, I started my attack.

"Carno Fang on Aeros!" Carno complied without resistance and bit down on the light blue Vivosaur. Aeros, while looking heavily damaged, did nothing but shake Carno off of it, and let it return to its position. "Elasmo, front and center! Elasmo Tackle!" Elasmo zoomed straight for Menchi, side swiping it, and then returning.

"And an excellent use of range by Derrick, Ty."

"Go Menchi, finish Carno." I looked in surprise to see Menchi's feet lifting off of Carno's medal. After dashing out to pick it up, I called for another attack.

"Elasmo Combo! Proto, go hit Aeros with Headlong Rush!" They headed for their respective targets, Menchi falling as my purple Vivosaur bit onto is. Proto, meanwhile, shifted into a position near Aeros, head-butted it, and then moved back.

"Go, Aeros Alert." The blue Vivosaur assaulted Elasmo, and my Vivosaur landed from its usual hovering position to the ground. I willed for it to get up, and it did, head hanging a bit. I had enough FP to send in Elasmo again, and called for an Elasmo Tackle. Elasmo managed to smack Aeros back with a fin, but Aeros was unphased, and barely moved when Proto crashed into it with a Headlong Rush. I had barely finished my orders when, unbidden, Aeros sent an air blast that sent Elasmo back into the ground, where it returned to medal form. I hoped I could finish it with Double Rush, but Aeros knocked back Proto right after with another Wind Blast. Proto lay on its side in one of the front support zone spots. It could barely stand, and I felt bad about putting it through this.

A small voice popped into my head as I was considering if I should withdraw. "Grow."

"Finish it." Aeros ran up and grabbed Proto in its jaws, ready to deliver a point-blank Wind Blast. I frantically flipped through the Fossilary data on Proto until I found something that rang a bell in my head.

"Metamorphosis!" A light began to glow from Proto, and Aeros's eyes grew wide, dropping the growing Vivosaur. When the light disappeared, a blue Vivosaur stood where Proto had been. I checked my Fossilary but found no data for it. Frowning, I just called for it to attack, as the green blast hit it. It ran up, slamming Aeros.

"Aeros is on its last legs, while Derrick's newly transformed Tricera is still very healthy. Can Aeros overcome the range advantage before it's too late?"

"That would be as hard as that bagel I left out for two weeks."

"Go for it!" Tricera ran up again, smashing Aeros into the ground. Just as it seemed Aeros would stand, it slumped back into the ground, and shrank back to its medal form. Tricera roared, and returned to a medal as well.

"And it's an amazing victory for Derrick, who manages to come back from almost certain defeat with Proto's last minute Transformation into Tricera."

As the crowd cheered around me, I took a good look at the medals I had. I was surprised to find Proto rather than the image of Tricera on the medal, but in a way, I was kind of glad.

"And our next match will pit Thea against Nathan!"

"But fiiiiiiiirst we need to take a break! Intermission, go get some snacks everybody!"

"Trip, we weren't authorized to- Trip? Trip?" An audible sigh could be heard over the microphone. "Well, while we wait for him, let's get the next combatants in the stadium, shall we?"

As I exited, it almost seemed like Rubicon cracked a smile at me before a more neutral look returned to his face. He tossed out the flying Vivosaur from the other day, and flew off.

I saw another boy waiting to enter the stadium. Looking back out the door, a small sparkle of light grew into one of the largest Vivosaurs I had ever seen. I smiled, seeing the Argento Thea was so proud of and was constantly mentioning in out gaming sessions. I was almost run over by a yellow blur as I tried to make my way to the stands as fast as possible. The streak disappeared into a door marked "Commentators". I hurried into the stands just fast enough to see Thea hop down from her seat and over the wall, landing on her Argento. As I took her seat, she smiled at me from Argento's back and flung two red-rimmed medals, which grew into a small cat-like Vivosaur with large fangs, and what I assumed to be a T-Rex, judging by the crowd's reaction. The other boy emerged from the entrance, and his medals became an Aeros, an Elasmo, and a Fire-Type pterosaur.

"Wow Trip, that's three matches in a row we've seen an Aeros."

"Yep! Sure is popular!"

The boy in the blue shirt, Nathan, attacked first. "Elasmo Tackle, Fiery Dive!" His Elasmo rushed at Thea's T-Rex, who took the hit hard. Argento, however, was instantly commanded to retaliate.

"Argento, Mountain Press!" Argento's mountain-covered back rose up with Thea still on it as it brought its feet down on the pterosaur, bringing it to the ground in one hit, where it did not get up.

"And despite an Elemental Disadvantage, Argento is able to best Nathan's Dimorph with a single attack."

Nathan retrieved his Dino Medal, and sent both his remaining Vivosaurs after Argento, swapping their positions on the field between attacks to increase their power. To Thea's credit, Argento was able to take both attacks with ease. Argento's Mountain Press was able to knock Aeros out in an instant.

"Ouch, and this time, the elements work in Thea's favor allowing her to take out the Aeros."

"Something's mountain-y about this…"

"Mountain-y?"

Nathan adjusted his glasses. "Elasmo Combo!" Argento was once again able to absorb the hit. However, to everyone's surprise, Thea passed her turn. Nathan smirked, thinking he could make a comeback. His Elasmo Tackle was unable to finish the Job.

"Now, Mountain Buster!" Elasmo's eyes notably widened, as the force of Argento's attack hit it, sending it back to its medal.

"And Thea pulls off a total victory with just her Argento!"

"Told you something was mountain-y."

The look on Nathan's face was shocked, but not as much as when Thea slid off Argento and walked up to him to shake hands. He looked a bit happier, and accepted.

I left the stadium and could barely hear the next announcement. "The next battle has the mysterious Alistair battling with…"

After a small celebration party, which Bob had to abruptly leave in the middle of, I headed back towards the room. I was hoping to get to see the prize they were giving to all the fighters who won Round One.

"Did you see the guy with the silver eyes?"

"Yeah, that was freaky. And he destroyed his opponent too."

I almost thought it was the boy from Treasure Lake, but then I remembered that he had only one silver eye. While I was fumbling with the door, I heard footsteps and glanced over. I looked into his eyes, and I was suddenly drawn out of reality. Something about them… they were cold, freezing even.

I don't remember how much time had passed until Primacron shook me back to earth.

"Hey, are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah… I'm fine."

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else but, "Okay then."

I picked up a package addressed to me, and a similar one for Thea, and went inside. I sat down on the couch and opened it up, pulling out some clock-like devices. A note attached to it called them "Time Pluses". They apparently could raise the amount of time you could use in a cleaning. I smiled and put them into my case.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. I opened it and found Thea, who walked in with two more boxes.

"Well, I guess we all won then!" I motioned to the other box on the table. She grabbed hers, and apparently, they were giving everyone a set of Time Pluses.

Later, when Thea had challenged me again, she nudged me. "Hey, you're falling behind. Something up?"

I sighed, "Yeah. Well, I noticed how well you were able to fight in that match, and I was totally caught off guard by that Menchi. Despite the fact that both our teams were elementally balanced, he was still able to almost beat me, and I had more Vivosaurs than he did…"

"Well, what do you want to do about it?"

"I'm thinking I should make a site… somewhere I can collect information on all the Vivosaurs I've seen. And hopefully, the ones other people have seen."

"I have the perfect idea…"

Any guesses on what it is? Read and review, and never be afraid to let me know if there's a mistake!