Chapter 9: Good Samaritans
Hunter snuck out of bed first the next morning, cooking up some omelets at the stove. He did his best as he cooked them up, putting the plate on a tray he'd found under the counter with a glass of orange juice. He tiptoed over to the bed with the tray, kicking out the legs and putting it on the table.
"Duna," he whispered, poking the dinaurian in her ribs. "Omelets…"
She sniffed, and, realizing she was awake, Hunter proceeded to leap on top of her, pinning her down as he began tickling her.
"Stop, stop!" Duna laughed, trying to squirm from under him as he only tickled her harder.
She managed to roll over so that she was on top of Hunter, but couldn't escape the tickling assault. Instead, she began tickling Hunter back.
"Okay, I surrender!" Hunter said, putting his hands up. Duna stopped, pulling her hands back, unsure, but he only resumed his tickling frenzy.
When he finally stopped, she collapsed on top of him, exhausted. She sat up slightly, her face hovering above Hunter's. She leaned into him, connecting their lips. She pressed her hands against his chest, keeping herself up slightly as Hunter pulled her into the kiss. It grew steadily in intimacy, until soon they were exchanging saliva as they wrestled their tongues. Hunter put a hand on one of her cheeks, squeezing lightly as he pushed their hips together, finding himself exceptionally hard. Duna's tail swished excitedly.
"Duna," Hunter said, pulling out of their kiss, "I love you."
Duna stared down at him, her eyes gleaming. Did he just say he…loved her? How could he love her, some dirty dinaurian. She realized he must love the human disguise, not the purple-skinned alien and pressed down on her charm.
He shook his head, pressing the charm again, reverting her to her true form before sliding it from around her neck, running his thumb across her cheekbone in affection.
"I love you," he repeated.
Duna smiled, the two resuming their kiss.
roughly 45 minutes later
"Well, you guys sure look attached today," Rosie noted as Duna and Hunter stepped into the lobby of the hotel, stuck together so close they looked as though they were conjoined. "Something happen last night you wanna tell us about?"
"More like this morning," Duna said, looking up at Hunter in her human form.
"Explains why the two of you took so long to get down here," Holt said, Rosie elbowing him.
"We only just got down here ourselves."
The elevator binged, and the trio of young friends stepped out.
"Hey, guys!" Todd said excitedly. "Guess where we're going today?"
"The Jungle Labyrinth?" Rosie said with a duh tone.
He shook his head. "Nope. We're headed for the Fossil Guild. Apparently, at the information desk there, you can pick up all sorts of little jobs and stuff."
Dina nodded her head. "We figured that since we have two days until the next round, we could use one to pick up a few Gs, and go digging on the next."
"I think they gave us two days for a reason," Holt said, flipping through his guidebook. "It says here that the Jungle Labyrinth is a pretty big Dig Site and isn't so easy to find your way in. They probably gave us the extra day to make it easier for fighters to figure out the layout, then go dig up some fossils."
"We'll be fine," Todd insisted. "Wanna come with us?"
"I'd rather play it safe," Holt admitted.
"What does it matter what you think?" Rosie said. "We're out of the Cup. It's up to Hunter and Trinity what they want to do."
"You guys can go ahead and figure out the site," Hunter said. "Trinity and I will go grab a couple jobs. We'll split what we get with you guys when we meet up tonight."
They agreed, the friends splitting up. Hunter turned to the kids.
"So, where's this Fossil Guild at?"
a few minutes later
"Sorry kids, don't have much up today," the information clerk said.
"Are you sure?" Todd asked. "Not even something that we might get paid for?"
The man shrugged. "Well, I suppose… One of my friend's at the station gave me a call. Said he could use some help with cleaning some fossils for his boss. Guess he sprained his wrist or something… He sounded desperate, might give you a jewel rock or a few Gs if you do good."
"Thanks. Anything else?"
"Over at Treasure Lake, the local news crew is looking for fighters to put on their quiz show. I guess there's something in it for anyone who can get all the questions right."
"Alright, thanks! Come on, let's go!"
Todd quickly rushed off, Dina and Dino trotting after him as Duna and Hunter followed at a more leisurely pace. Fortunately, the Fighter Station, which seemed to be their first destination, wasn't far off and they arrived quickly.
"Wait a minute," Todd said as they passed through the door. "We don't even know where this guy's at!"
Hunter noticed Stella off a few feet away talking to a staff member and called out to her.
"Hey, Stella!" he said. "Where does the staff clean fossils for research and stuff?"
"Take the stairs to the right. The room any cleaning we do should be right at the top," she replied. "Do you want me to take you there?"
Hunter shook his head. "Nah, we've got it."
"Okay. But try to be quiet up there; there should be staff working in there."
The friends headed up the stairs, finding themselves in front of a door with a sign that read "Staff Only Cleaning Room" on it. They entered it, finding a staff member nursing an injured hand bound up in some bandages.
"Oh, you must be the kids Clerk said were coming to help me," the staff member said. He counted them silently. "There are five of you. I only have four fossil rocks, but I'm sure you guys can share."
"Why can't you clean them yourself?" Dina asked.
The staff member smiled sheepishly, holding out his injured hand. "While I was cleaning fossil rocks, my Super Drill slipped, and I nearly lost a finger. Stella wanted me to get these fossil rocks cleaned quickly and cleanly, but I've only got a few minutes left before she wants them. Think you kids can help? There'll be something in it for you."
"It's no problem," Hunter said. "I've dealt with things just like this on Vivosaur Island. Like, legitimately, just like this. We can handle it."
"Oh, good," he said. He produced four fossil rocks, and Hunter mentally shot himself. They were T-Rex fossils.
"You guys should leave this to me," Hunter said. "These sorts of rocks are the most difficult kind I know of to clean."
"You don't know me and Dina," Dino said. "I betcha we'll have ours done before you and your girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" the staff said in astonishment. "I was certain you and Duna would be together…"
"Not this crap again," Hunter growled. "Honestly, who here actually watches my Fossil Battles?"
Todd raised his hand.
"Thank you, Todd."
"Huh? Oh no, I just had a question," he said. "I was wondering if you and Duna and Dina and Dino are going to be cleaning fossils, what am I going to clean?"
"These are T-Rex fossil rocks," Hunter said. "It'd probably be best for me to handle them, but your friends want to be hardheaded about it. The stone encasing a T-Rex fossil is almost as hard as diamond."
"Oh. Well, I'll just be your guys' cheerleader then!" He grinned widely, and Hunter realized that nothing seemed to put this kid down.
They each grabbed a fossil rock, heading for the cleaning table. Hunter and Duna produced their array of cleaning equipment, but Dino and Dina each only had a standard issue drill and hammer.
"Let's go," Hunter said, grabbing his Hyper Hammer and pounding away on the fossil rock.
He looked over to see how the other two were doing after he'd softened the rock up a bit, and was shocked to see they were already practically done.
"How did you do that so fast?"
"We just did," Dino said. "We've got this sixth sense where we can see exactly where and how to hit the rock, and in two or three swings, the whole thing just sort of crumbles."
"Fun," Hunter said, resuming his cleaning. "Sounds kinda like me when I'm in a Fossil Battle. I just know when to attack, defend, or get the hell outa there."
Duna and Hunter finished their fossil rocks quickly after, there clean flawless.
"Thanks, kids. You're life savers." He thought a second. "Here, split this amongst yourselves."
He passed them a pouch, and Dino opened it to reveal 5,000 Gs.
"Whoa, really?" Todd asked.
The staff member nodded his head. "Yeah. Trust me; you haven't seen Stella when she's angry!"
They exchanged thanks and the friends departed. Next was the quiz show at Treasure Lake. Hunter realized that not all of them might be very well informed on vivosaurs, the likely subject of the quiz show.
"What do you three know of vivosaurs?" Hunter asked.
"That they're big, cool, and tough all at the same time!" Todd said excitedly. He wasn't going to pass.
"I don't think that's what he meant, Todd," Dina said.
"Okay, I'm going to give you guys a vivosaur's name, and I want you to tell me everything you know about it," Trinity said. "Ready?" Everyone nodded. "Okay…Tricera."
"Proper name: triceratops," Hunter said. "Family: ceratopsian. Element: water. Diet: herbivore. Era: Mesozoic Cretaceous. Approximate length—"
"I wasn't talking to you," Duna said. Hunter blushed as the others laughed.
"Okay, this one's for Todd," Duna said. "Stego."
"Ooh, I know this one," Todd said. "Stego is a wind-type herbivore. Its full name is stegosaurus, and it's Dr. Diggins from Vivosaur Island's favorite vivosaur."
"Good job," Duna said. "Okay, Dina, tell me about Maia."
"Maia, or maiasaura, is a fire-type parasaur," Dina said. "Their name means good-mother lizard, since they are thought to have cared for their young since their fossils are usually found in huge nesting grounds of juvenile maiasaura. Like most parasaurs, they thrived on freshwater seaweed, though anything green was good for them. They lived in the same era as Tricera, and were common prey of T-Rex."
"Very good," Duna said, not seeming entirely excited about the elaborate answer. "Dino, on the note of T-Rex, what do you know of it?"
"That's the easiest one of all," Dino said. "Its full name is tyrannosaurus rex or just tyrannosaurus, which means tyrant lizard, tyrant lizard king with the rex part. Some scientists think they were solo hunters, others that they were scavengers, and some think they may have hunted with packs of raptors such as velociraptor or deinonychus. Nobody's too sure about how they cared for their young, and they also lived in the Cretaceous Period."
"Excellent," Duna said. "You three should do pretty well in the quiz show."
"Think so?" Todd said with excitement, getting a nod from Duna. "Alright! Let's go!"
The younger three friends hurried off in the direction of the lake, but Hunter stopped Duna.
"What was up that?" Hunter asked.
Duna looked at him and said, "Huh?"
"Your questions," Hunter said. "You gave Todd and Dino vivosaurs that are commonly known, and Dina one that most people wouldn't know exists."
"Well, she seemed like a smart girl and all, and I figured since Stego and T-Rex are so hard to come by…"
"What do you have against Dina?"
Duna looked away in embarrassment. "She shipped you with Rosie."
Hunter couldn't help but laugh, and Duna blushed.
"Come on," he said, still smiling from the ridiculous hate motive, "we don't want to get left behind."
several minutes later
"Too bad the quiz show was only up for three contestants," Duna said. They'd found the news crew hosting the show on top of the hill at the entrance to Treasure Lake, but they were only accepting three contestants at a time, so the two decided they'd take a walk around the lake. "After what all's happened today, it seems as though we may as well have gone to the Jungle Labyrinth after all."
"Actually, I'm good," Hunter said. "Unless you'd rather get all hot and sweaty twice."
Duna shuddered. "Yeah, guess you're right." She sighed. "So, what can we do?"
Hunter looked around. They were behind the skull at Treasure Lake now. The space was relatively unoccupied and with no view of the hill. It was pretty much a patch of warm mud, the noontime sun beaming down on them.
Discretely, Hunter scooped up a handful of mud and hid it behind his back.
"Hey, Duna!" he said. When she turned, he lobbed the mudball at her, hitting her in the shoulder. "Mudball fight!"
He scooped up another handful of mud, but Duna dived off to the side, grabbing two handfuls of mud and lobbing them both at Hunter. He fell on his butt in the mud, Duna leaping onto him as they began wrestling, plastering mud on every exposed inch of the other's skin. Soon, both of them were covered in the brown muck everywhere but on their eyes and teeth.
They looked into each other's eyes for a second before they pressed together, intently kissing the other. Hunter almost took Duna's amulet to turn her to her normal self, but realized even in the hidden area it might not be a good idea to have her in dinaurian form outside the hotel.
"Sorry to Hunter/Rosie and Hunter/Duna fans," a woman's voice said, "but it would appear as though our famed Vivosaur Island Master Fossil Fighter has found love elsewhere from popular fan base beliefs."
Duna and Hunter snapped their heads over to see the quiz show host and her cameraman watching them, recording their session and broadcasting it across Caliosteo Fossil Park. Dino, Dina, and Todd were behind them, snickering.
"And what is your name, young lady?" the reporter asked, stepping over through the muck and bringing the microphone down to Duna.
"T-trinity," Duna stuttered, still flabbergasted.
"Trinity," the news lady mused. "How ironic, considering all the upsetted love triangle fans."
She went on to close, thanking Duna and Hunter for their time before heading off.
"What the hell?" Hunter said after they were gone.
"We couldn't find you," Dino said. "When they heard who exactly the people we were looking for were, they decided they'd put you two on camera."
"How much did you see?" Duna asked carefully.
Dino shrugged. "We came around right about when you guys started wrestling in the mud."
Hunter looked to the sky. They'd been messing around together for a while, the sun hiding behind some trees behind them. It was getting pretty late.
"Hey, Hunter!" Todd said. "Why don't we have a Fossil Battle?"
"Kind of off the wall, don't you think?" Hunter said, taken back by the sudden request.
"Yeah, but I really want to battle. I'm probably going to get crushed, but who cares?" He thought a moment. "If you battle me, I won't tell anybody about what happened here."
"It kind of just got broadcasted live around the whole fossil park," Hunter muttered. He shook his head. "Fine, whatever. Let's do it."
Hunter and Duna stood up from the mud, putting a few yards of space between themselves and the other three children.
Todd sent out his vivosaurs first, a Goyle and Stego in the SZ and a Raja in the AZ. Hunter went next, Dimetro and Nychus in the SZ positions and Spinax in the AZ position. He knew Spinax had a disadvantage to Raja big time in that position, but that was his plan was to keep the inexperienced fighter focused on his strengths without realizing his weakness.
"You take first move," Hunter offered.
"Alright!" Todd said excitedly. "Raja, take out his Spinax in one blow!"
Raja roared, charging Spinax. Waiting to the last minute, Spinax extended its spikes, giving Raja a huge mouthful of them and hurting it almost as much as it'd hurt Spinax.
"Because your Raja's skills require so much FP, you're out of moves," Hunter said. "It's my turn!" He faced Dimetro, his mostly unbroken vivosaur. "Alright, Dimetro, let's see what you've got! Take out Raja!"
It gave an odd little screech, diving forward and rolling up like a wheel, twirling over to Raja and striking it again and again as it sped across the field. Soon, the tyrannosaur could take no more, collapsing back into its medal.
"Not bad, Dimetro," Hunter said. "Okay, I rotate so Nychus is in the AZ and end."
The vivosaurs switched places on the field, Spinax and Dimetro in the SZ, Nychus in the AZ. Todd looked flustered.
"Raja was my trump card," he muttered. "Now what do I do?"
"Todd!" Dino called. "Don't forget about Stego and Goyle! They've got the advantage at that range!"
Todd looked at his two SZ vivosaurs, smiling as he realized the advantage. Hunter was more experienced and had stronger vivosaurs, but he had the upper hand here.
"Okay! Goyle! Stego! Attack his Nychus!"
The stegosaur and ankylosaur roared, charging after the little raptor. They attacked simultaneously, swiping at Nychus with their tails, scissor cutting the vivosaur back into its medal.
"Nice move," Hunter commented, "but you fell right into my trap."
"What?!"
"Because Nychus has such low LP and Defense, it wouldn't have stood a chance against a direct double assault like that," Hunter said. "Very easily, given my command, Nychus could have evaded the attack, but by sacrificing it, I get a big retaliation FP bonus." Hunter smiled. "Now, Spinax, rotate into the AZ and strike down his Goyle, and Dimetro eliminate his Stego!"
The two gave out their distinct cries, carrying out their master's orders. Spinax held its ground, using its Cyclone breath attack on Goyle, totally blowing it away while avoiding its nasty Auto Counter ability and turning it back into a Dino Medal. Dimetro repeated its twirling attack, striking Stego fast and hard and defeating it as well.
Todd fell down into the mud. "I lost…"
Hunter stepped over to him, Dimetro and Spinax at his sides, and offered a hand.
"I'm not a total DB like Rupert," he said as Todd looked at his hand in confusion. He took it, and Hunter pulled him to his feet. "You didn't do all that bad. Even I've fallen for that old trick countless times. It's a really old one, like, probably the first one ever. It's easy to get caught up in the rush of the battle and fall for stupid tricks like that."
Todd nodded his head. "Yeah, you totally get it. Thanks, Hunter. Because of you, I think I may have just become a better Fossil Fighter!"
"No problem. It's late now. We should get back to the hotel."
after sunset
Hunter brought a plate of boiled hot dogs onto the pavilion where Duna was waiting half naked in dinaurian form with other condiments on the table.
"Dinner is served," Hunter said, placing the plate on the table, acting like a waiter at a fancy restaurant. Duna giggled. "It's no five star meal, but I think we need a break from omelets."
Duna grinned sheepishly, grabbing a hot dog and eating it plain. She looked up at the bottom of Rupert's pavilion.
"What do you think he's doing up there?"
Hunter looked up also. "Probably enjoying a nice, thick cut sirloin steak like all rich pricks. What else?"
Just like all rich pricks? Rupert thought, eavesdropping again. Was that how they saw him? Just another rich prick? Not that he could care what they thought of him. He was only trying to find out more about this dinaurian they'd mentioned before.
She shrugged. "Omelets would be nice."
Hunter laughed. "If this is how you are with eggs and cheese, we'd best not introduce you to chocolate!"
"What's that?"
Hunter laughed again. "Maybe I'll buy you a box some time. A big, red, heart-shaped one, full of all kinds of different chocolates with all different fillings."
Duna didn't understand why, but her mouth watered at the idea. She'd seen humans enjoying chocolate before, but her father had recommended she didn't try the addictive treat. She'd never doubted him before, but Hunter was making it difficult.
After they finished their meal, they cleaned up the table, saying goodnight before heading for bed. Rupert decided to go to bed himself, not finding any further evidence on the mentioned alien.
End Chapter