A/N Has it been a long enough to wait for you all? I'm starting to think most of my author's notes are me apologizing for being late. *sigh* Oh well.

For all of you patient enough to wait, here's a new chapter! This is where the gameplay becomes a little more important and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna deal with it so I guess we'll find out! Enjoy!

Even half-an-hour after the incident with Rupert, Todd and I were still fuming. I had never seen Todd be quiet, but at the time, I wasn't about to complain. We both needed time, plus it made it easier to dig.

Todd broke the silence. "I'm sorry, Dino," he said sorrowfully.

"For what?" I asked.

"For being so weak." He replied, "If I had been stronger, I could've beaten Rupert and shown him what Fossil Fighting is truly about!"

I put a hand on his shoulder. "No one blames you for losing, Todd." He looked at me and I continued. "So you weren't strong enough this time. Whatever. That's why you've got to get stronger, so that next time, you can beat him!

He smiled and wiped away the tears that had been forming in his eyes, "Yea. That's what I'll do. I'll get strong enough to beat everyone in the Cup!"

Our B-Comps began to beep frantically. There was a message from the staff. The first round must be starting.

We both pulled up our displays to see the beautiful face of Stella.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Stella, the Staff Leader here on Ribular Island, and I'm here to announce that the starting matches of the Caliosteo Cup will begin shortly."

I could actually hear the resounding cheer this news rose from the Fighters. We would finally get to see some real battles!

Stella continued, "The first match of the Cup will take place in the Ribular Stadium and will be between Dino Sair and Todd Oscar."

Of course my first battle would be against Todd. In the first round one of us would have to lose. My stomach churned. Could I really bring myself to end Todd's dream here? Could I bring myself to end my own? I know that sounded selfish but we had wanted this since we were kids, and who knows if the chance would return. I sighed and looked at Todd. I could tell he had similar thoughts.

Before us stood the door into the Ribular Fossil Stadium, a threatening sight on its own, but the thought of fighting Todd made it worse.

"Hey, Dino?"

I looked at Todd again, "Yea, buddy?"

He flashed a determined smile, "Let's give this fight our all, no holding back!"

That settled it. Even though one of us would lose, that meant the other would win and be that much closer to wining the Cup. I nodded and we walked through the door, cheers raining down. We would fight with everything we had. Anything less was unacceptable.

If there was one thing I could say about my battle with Todd, it was that he meant business. He was using two air-attribute Vivosaurs, his Stego and a Goyle, a purple Vivosaur with red spines. That was bad news for my team, which had two water-attribute Vivosaurs, which are weak to air. Todd had already taken out my Thalasso, making it so I was getting less energy for my dinos to attack and was working on beating my Tricera.

It was time to play my trump card. I had Tricera use Enflame, increasing his attack power.

"Why would you do that, Dino?" Todd yelled from across the Stadium, "I'm about to beat it." He had Goyle attack with Body Axe, slamming into Tricera.

"You'll see," I said as the blue Vivosaur started to glow. Its Parting Blow ability had activated, further increasing its power. "Now, Tricera!" I yelled using vocal commands instead of B-Comp inputs, "Hit Goyle with everything we've got! Running Smash!"

Todd looked in fear as his Vivosaur got thrown backwards by the force of the blow and retreated to its Dino Medal. Unfortunately, due to Goyle's Auto Counter ability, Tricera was also sent back to its medal.

This was it. One on one. My Aeros versus Todd's Stego. It came down to this.

"Stego! Spike Tail!"

Stego slammed its tail into Aeros's side, but while it did a lot of damage, it wasn't enough to fall my larger Vivosaur.

"Let's finish this, Aeros." I commanded. "Wind Blast!"

Todd and I couldn't stop talking about the battle as we left the stadium.

"...and then that move with your Tricera to beat Goyle!"

...It was mostly Todd doing the talking.

"Good work in that match you two."

I jumped. Stella had snuck up behind us while we were distracted.

"It was awesome! Dino really knows how to battle!"

"You both do. Anyways, good luck with the rest of the Cup, Dino. I'm curious to see how far you'll go."

With that she returned to her office. I was ecstatic. Stella wanted to watch me progress through the Cup! I had to win now! I wondered if it was okay for a boss to marry one of his employees.

I turned to ask Todd and saw him hanging his head. I asked what was wrong.

"I had been so excited about the battle that I forgot I can't go on anymore."

I'd forgotten too. Todd couldn't keep going I could still win, but Todd was stuck. I started to think of how to cheer him up.

Suddenly, he flashed his determined smile, "Well! If I can't compete, I'll just have to cheer you on! From now on, I'm President and CEO of the Dino fan club!"

"Well," I replied, "I guess I can't lose if you're cheering for me."

We high-fived and left the Fighter's Station. Our friendship had not been broken, but strengthened by this small journey, and we had yet to know of the next great journey that awaited us.