Scars

by DarkHououmon

Ever since their formation, the Dino Squad have always managed to keep Veloci in the dark about their secret. But what would happen if he did find out? And what if he was far more capable than they initially thought? Despite what fairy tales may say, the bad guys don't always lose...

28. Invasion

Caruso was confused for only a moment. He hadn't heard Liam be this brief and to-the-point many times before. Usually he would give longer descriptions or give him random information that was either useless or difficult to decipher. "Liam..what about you?"

"Do not worry about me! I'll be fine! Maybe a few bruises, internal bleeding, or scratches on the epidermis, but I'll be okay! Metamorphose now!" Liam called out, still struggling to hang into the woman. Caruso smirked softly and shook his head. That was Liam all right. Though he wondered what Liam meant by metamorphose. But then a fearful expression came into Caruso's face when he saw the woman manage to grab onto Liam. The woman pulled on him roughly, dislodging him from her back. She then proceeded to throw him onto the ground. Liam cried out in pain when his back slammed into the hard floor.

"You maladroit anemic!" The woman gripped Liam by the shirt and lifted him up. "How dare you interrupt my insubstantial dominion?!" With that, she threw Liam aside as if he were just a ragdoll. Liam banged his head against the wall and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. The woman turned her attention on Caruso, who was backing away from her slowly, his body trembling.

In a shaky voice, Caruso managed to say, "No..it..it can't be... You can't be the..." He couldn't bring himself to finish. Those irrelevant words that she spoke...that left no doubt in Caruso's mind that this was the same assassin as from the restaurant.

The woman just smiled evilly. "I told you I'd be back, kid..."

Caruso continued to move away until he felt his back press up against the wall. "Get away from me, you...you monster!"

The woman laughed. "Oh please..just call me Kista."

"Just get away!" Caruso cried out again, his eyes starting to glow faintly.

The woman, Kista, saw this and her eyes brightened up slightly, her smile turning into a grin. "That's right. Transform, kid. Let's make this interesting."

Caruso then realized what Liam meant by metamorphose. He was trying to tell him the transform. But could he really transform in here? The locker room seemed a little small, and if Kista here transformed as well, there wouldn't be a lot of room. Then again, Max did say that, when he went dino in here, he had a lot of room to move around even in T-Rex form. And what else could Caruso do to defend himself? He didn't have a choice anymore. But he found himself still paralyzed in fear as Kista walked up to him. He bared his teeth at her to try and intimidate her, but it didn't work. Kista swiftly grabbed him by the neck and pushed him into the wall. "Urgh!" Caruso cried out, grabbing onto the hand and trying to pry it off.

"Come on, kid. Transform." Kista taunted. She reached forward and started to stroke the boy's hair, just like how Victor had done weeks ago. Caruso shuddered at the touch and tried to move his head away, but it was in vain. Kista chuckled and decided to play with the boy a little more before she released him. "What's the matter?" She asked mockingly, extending a claw on her pointer finger and tracing the tip from the boy's forehead, along the side of his face, down his cheek, and stopped at the corner of his mouth, leaving a thin scratch along his face. Knowing that the area was sensitive from the bridle, Kista purposely pushed her claw into the still-healing cut, slicing it open and letting fresh blood leak from it.

Caruso cried out in pain and his struggles increased. "Help! Somebody, please help me!" He tried to scream again, but Kista quickly covered his mouth with her hand, her now extended claws digging into his face. His eyes widened in fear and he tried to get free, but Kista just gripped him tighter, holding him firmly in place.

"No one can hear you in here." Kista said, her sharp teeth bared at him in an evil grin. "You're too far away from them to hear your pitiful cries for help..." She leaned in closely to whisper into the boy's ear as if she was afraid Liam would hear it, even though he was still out cold. "And you know what the best part is..? Once I'm finished with you, your little girlfriend is next on the list. She won't stand a chance..." Caruso's eyes widened in horror and then narrowed. He glared at Kista with eyes filled with rage. Before Kista could react, the boy managed to open up his mouth and bit hard into her hand, sinking his now-transformed Stegosaurus teeth into her hand. Kista howled in pain and released Caruso.

"Don't you dare..." Caruso said as he got into a hostile position. He bared his teeth at Kista, trying to make himself seem as threatening as possible. While he was still terrified for his life, he wasn't going to let Kista get her claws on his best friends or anyone else that he cared about, not so long as he could do something about it. "Don't you even think about hurting her...or any one else!"

Kista narrowed her eyes for a brief moment, and then softened up her expression and laughed as if this whole thing was just one big joke to her. "How cute... You're trying to threaten me. You, a child, threatening me, an adult, or more specifically, a dinosaur." Her eyes glowed intensely as she chuckled, her laughs growing more and more dinosaur like. Caruso could hear hisses and growls mixed in and it did make him shudder, but he remained in his position. "So you're willing to take me on, kid? Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into?" Kista taunted him, tilting her head to one side. "All your dinosaur form will do is make this fight more interesting. It's always more fun when I kill my victims while they fight back. I was growing tired of my job at Raptor Dyne until I heard about you and your Dino Squad pals." Her smile grew dark. "Killing them will be as much fun for me as it is going to be when I kill you..." Kista laughed.

Caruso growled softly, feeling his own eyes starting to glow out of anger. He could feel his anger starting to overpower his fear, and empowering him with the courage that he didn't have before. "S-Stop laughing...S-Stop laughing now!" He demanded, his voice filled with rage. When Kista didn't stop laughing, he charged forward. His body started to glow, and he quickly grew in size. Before Kista had time to react, she felt herself being thrown into the ground by a large, mad Stegosaurus. Caruso opened up his jaws and let out a loud bellow that shook the ground beneath their feet.

Kista shook her head a few times and looked up at Caruso. At first, her eyes were wide with shock. She hadn't expected him to transform so quickly. But then a smile appeared on her face. Finally, this fight was going to get more interesting! She hoped that Caruso would put up more of a fight than he did in the restaurant. Kista chuckled as she continued to look up. Caruso had her pinned down and his mouth was open, but he hadn't tried to bite her yet. Was he actually hesitating? "What are you waiting for, weakling?" Caruso's eyes widened. "Are you too much of a chicken to make the first move..?"

'I'm no chicken.' Caruso said, but that was all he could think of to say. He quickly fell silent and just glared at Kista, eyes narrowed into slits. He closed his mouth most of the way, keeping it only part way open to expose his teeth at her.

"Great comeback." Kista said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I've heard better remarks from a trash can."

'Why you...' Caruso let out a loud bellow, trying to scare Kista. But it quickly became obvious that roaring at her wasn't going to scare Kista. It was like it didn't even faze her. She would just look at him, smiling or looking away, sometimes both, and just wait until he was finished. Frustrated, Caruso lifted up his foot, positioning it above Kista's body. It wouldn't take much effort to crush her under his weight. But even when he got the foot where he wanted it, he couldn't bring himself to go through with it. 'I..I can't do it...' He said softly to no one in particular. He lowered his foot to the ground. 'I can't do it...' Why couldn't he do it? It wasn't like Kista was begging for help or anything. But for some reason, he just didn't feel right about it. This wasn't what Moynihan had taught them to do. Even if she was their enemy, Caruso didn't know if he could go through with actually killing someone. He lowered his head as if he felt ashamed of himself for being such a coward.

Kista narrowed her eyes in disappointment. "I knew it! You're too weak to fight back! Oh how wrong I was to think that you would have the courage to stand up against me..." Kista didn't give Caruso a chance to say anything. She transformed into her hybrid dinosaur form. It doesn't take her much effort to put her feet underneath Caruso's body and pushing him off of her. Despite there being two fully transformed, fully grown dinosaurs in the room, there seemed to be enough space for the two of them to move around a little. But it still felt a bit cramped in there. Caruso knew there wasn't much room to fight, but he was too scared to change back. His anger had changed back into fear. 'You'll never change!' Kista slammed her tail into the ground, knocking over a bunch as she did so. 'You'll always be the pathetic little coward that Victor has turned you into! But how can I blame you? You're just a human. All you humans are the same...' Kista said, her eyes narrowed.

'Th-That's not true!' Caruso said, baring his teeth and lifting up his tail. 'Not all humans are like that! I...'

'But you're the exception? Oh no, not really.' Kista said, interrupting him. She didn't care if that wasn't what he was going to say or not. She just felt like saying it, felt like mocking him. 'You will find, kid, that many people are like you. Too afraid to stand up for themselves. Scared of their own shadow. Completely spineless...' Kista shook her massive head back and forth in disgust. 'I may not agree wth everything Victor says, especially about humans. But when it comes to cowardly behavior, he has my vote.'

Caruso slammed his tail into the ground. 'You'll be surprised at what humans are capable of!'

'Oh really?' Kista said mockingly, her mouth partly open in a dinosaurian smile.

'Yes!' Caruso declared.

'Then show me...' Kista said, lowering her head slightly.

Caruso hesitated for a moment. He was still feeling very afraid, but he also didn't want to look like a coward, especially now. He felt unsure about attacking Kista in there, so close to the school. But what other choice did he have? It wasn't like he could run away. Well, theoretically, he could, but he felt it was too late for him to make that decision. If he changed back and ran, she could easily gobble him up before he could reach the door. 'Okay then..I will!' He prepared to make his move. Kista waited for him, anticipating his move.

But before Caruso could make his move, there was a sudden, loud scream in the air. Caruso quickly looked towards where Liam was. Perhaps he had woken up and screamed because there were two dinosaurs in the room. But that didn't make much sense. Liam seemed to be able to control himself before. It wasn't that Liam couldn't feel fear; he just wasn't the type to scream so easily. But when Caruso looked over, he noticed that Liam was gone. Where did he go?

Then another scream ran in his ears. He looked over at Kista, who seemed unfazed by this turn of events. Her body was haunched forward as if she were about to charge a victim. Caruso looked over towards the exit where he first came in. He was shocked to see the door was wide open now and a small group of students, his gym mates to be precise, was standing there, looking up at him in horror. He couldn't tell if they could see Kista in there or not. If they couldn't see her, he felt a little glad. If they were freaking out over the presence of a large herbivore, he couldn't imagine how they'd react to a large carnivore. Caruso turned his attention back on Kista and lowered his head. He started to kick up the ground as if it were dirt and snorted loudly like a bull.

Kista hissed. 'Oh how threatening. You're going to charge me like some pathetic mammal? Go ahead!' Kista lowered her body forward slightly more, opening up her massive jaws and exposing her sharp teeth. But instead of waiting for Caruso, Kista decided to make the first move. She charged forward, mouth agape. Saliva flew into the air as her tongue hang out for a few seconds before she pulled it back in. Caruso's eyes widened and he charged to meet with Kista. Caruso tried to twist his body around to bring out his spiked tail, but the cramped space of the locker room made this turn impossible. And before he could do anything about it, Kista's jaws slammed shut around his shoulder. Caruso let out a loud roar of pain as he found himself being pushed into the ground. Kista, without letting go, then placed one of her three-toed feet onto the side of his soft abdomen. 'Let's see you try getting yourself out of this, kid!'

Caruso winced in pain as he felt Kista's talons digging into his side and he could feel her teeth sawing into his shoulder. He could feel his blood dripping from the wound and he could feel Kista's slimy tongue lapping it up. He struggled to get up, but Kista seemed too strong for him. The floor didn't make his situation any better either. His feet would constantly slip on the hard tiles. His claws provided very little traction here. All they did was make a loud screeching sound as his feet slipped on the ground. He tried again to get up or at least move himself into a better position to strike her with his tail, but he again slipped on the ground, his claws making the horrible scratching sound. Then he noticed Kista's reaction to when his claws scraped the ground. She was flinching. Although it was just slight, he could tell that the noise bothered her. Perhaps this could work to his advantage.

Caruso lifted up one of his feet. He flexed his claws as much as he could, spreading them as far apart as he could, and slammed his paw into the ground. He dug in his claws as deep as they could go and then started to pull back. This action made a sound similar to what he would hear on a chalkboard if someone were to scrape their nails across it. It sent chills down his spine and he wanted to stop, but he knew he couldn't. He had to see if this would work. He did the same action again, this time making sure he took a little longer to prolong the sound. He got the result that he wanted. Kista, not able to take the horrible sound, opened up her jaws and let out a huge roar. Caruso took advantage of this opportunity. He quickly got up to his feet and cracked forward, ramming his body into Kista's and slamming her into the ground.

Kista shook her head, remaining on the ground as she looked up at Caruso. Instead of being angry, she seemed rather pleased about what had happened. 'Good, good.. you're fighting back. That's what being a dinosaur is all about.'

Caruso's eyes narrowed. 'Shut up. Spare me your dino ego.'

Just then, a loud shot rang out. Caruso, unsure of what was going on, immediately ducked down. He heard the sound of metallic clanking beside him and he looked over. He could see a small puncture mark. He looked more carefully at it. It was more of a dent than a hole. It took him a few seconds to realize that someone had fired a bullet at him. He looked over towards the source and nearly gasped in horror. There was someone standing there, someone that he did not recognize. A tall man with some kind of uniform, a policeman perhaps, and he was pointing a gun straight at his face! Caruso's eyes went wide and he reared up onto his hind legs, letting out a huge bellow before slamming back down with enough force to knock the man down. Someone must have dialed the emergency number. He had to get out of there and quick!

'Looks like the battle just got more interesting.' Kista commented. She turned around and lowered her head. Then she rammed into the wall, creating a huge hole. The next thing Caruso could hear was the sound of screaming and he could hear Kista's feet slamming into the ground each time. Caruso knew he couldn't just leave his classmates to die at the claws of this monster. He had to help them! Caruso ran out of the same hold that Kista had made and could see her mockingly chasing the students. Even though she was close to some of them multiple times, she didn't try to bite them. It was like she was just playing with them, purposely scaring them half to death. Some of the students saw Caruso and became even more panicked despite the fact that he was in a plant-eater's body. But Caruso did his best to ignore the screams as he charged for Kista.

'Leave them alone!' Caruso shouted as he lowered his head and rammed his body against Kista. His plates managed to strike Kista as well this time, pushing deep against her skin. They didn't penetrate the skin, but they did cause considerable pain, making Kista roar in pain as she fell to the ground once again. This time, Caruso did not hesitate to jump on top of Kista, pinning her down with his massive weight. He looked around to see if the students were all right. Some were still around, perhaps too dscared to move. Despite the fact that he had just saved them from Kista, they were still afraid of him. To no one in particular, he said softly, 'Why..why are they still afraid of me?' But he knew the answer already.

'Why, dear, it's because you're a dinosaur.' Kista said mockingly, a sneer on her face despite her predicament. 'And as every human knows, all dinosaurs are big, nasty, ferocious monsters that would kill a human as soon as they looked at one!'

'But not everyone thinks that.' Caruso stated, but for what reason he wasn't sure. He didn't even know why he was having this conversation with Kista.

'Oh no? All humans are alike in this aspect, too. They think anything larger than them and is strange to them as monsters that should be destroyed.' Kista said, chuckling darkly. All around the ttwo, students had worked up the courage to get a little closer to see what was going on. Caruso and Kista noticed that they had an audience now, but they didn't care. Their attention was focused on each other. 'And why does it surprise you anyway? You're a strange kid, you know that? Afraid, then brave, then afraid, now brave again, and then acting surprised to see someone freak out at the sight of you?' Kista chortled. 'What are you? Suffering from kind of weird condition or something?' She asked mockingly, her teeth partly bared.

Caruso let out a roar. He felt really angry by that comment, but he slowly realized that she was right. He had been acting a little strange during this battle, particuarly how his emotions have been constantly switching from one extreme to the next and back again. He slowly closed his mouth as if he were admitting defeat. But he did still have one thing to say to Kista. 'At least I'm not as strange as you are!' He retorted bravely.

Kista snarled. 'What are you talking about, human?'

'The way you use big words to sound smart. Oh you think that makes you more intelligent, but let me tell you something, it does not! It only makes you look like an idiot because those stupid words you use have nothing to do with the conversation!' Caruso said, his eyes narrowed. 'Why, I'm sure that, deep down, you're as dumb as a rock!'

'What?!' Kista roared. She was not going to take this from some lowly mammal! Before Caruso could react, Kista grabbed his leg with her jaws. The Stegosaurus roared in pain as Kista managed to use enough force to knock him off of her. She immediately got up and pressed a foot on top of his head. 'You...!' She opened up her jaws and was about to take a bite out of Caruso when she suddenly heard a roar behind her. 'Now who could that be?' Kista said to herself as she craned her neck over to see what was going on.

'Leave my friend alone!' Rodger's voice sounded out before it was completely muted by a loud rhino-like bellow. Kista didn't have enough time to react. Rodger charged towards her as fast as he could, his head lowered to so that his brow horns faced forward. He rammed into the dinosaur, driving his horns into her side. Kista screeched loudly and tried to get free, feeling the horns digging deeper into her body. She managed to get free, but the bleeding wounds caused her to stagger a little as she moved back and prepared to attack Rodger.

'You discerning swine! I'll kill you!' Kista hissed. But before she could attack Rodger, something large and heavy slammed into her. Kista fell to the ground. Before she recovered, she heard the voices from the students shouting something about another Tyrannosaurus being in the area. Kista looked up and saw a green T-Rex towering over her, and a purebred one too! Kista had only laid eyes on a purebred T-Rex a few times, and that was millions of years ago. She staggered to her feet and glared at the green T-Rex. There was something familiar about this Tyrannosaurus. She could have sworn that this T-Rex looked an awful like how her father did.

'You mess with one of my teammates, you mess with me!' Max let out a loud roar to assert his threat. He took a step forward, putting himself between Rodger and the strange white dinosaur. He looked over at Caruso to make sure he was all right. By this time, Caruso had managed to crawl back onto his feet. He seemed to be all right. Max turned his attention back on Kista. He opened up his mouth and was ready to attack. But something stopped him. He took a look around. Despite the obvious danger, there was still a handful of students nearby, watching the fight intently. His eyes widened. If he started to fight here, he could accidentally hurt someone. 'Why are they just standing there? Why aren't they running away?'

'They seemed to be rather fascinated by this fight.' Rodger said, looking left and right.

'They'll just get in the way. We have to get them out of here.' Max said. 'Otherwise, they could get hurt!'

Rodger looked up. 'And how do you propose we do that?'

Max lowered his head. 'Easy. Watch!' Max opened his jaws and let out another roar, this time directed at the students. The students just froze in fear. Max tried roaring again, but all he seemed to be doing was making them too paralyzed to move. Then he tried another approach. He lowered his body as far as he could without falling over and started charging at the students. He got the idea from when Moynihan went raptor and chased away Veloci's men without actually hurting them. The students dispersed, running off in all directions as Max ran towards them, making sure that he stayed behind them, never passing them. A few times, he snapped his jaws, careful not to actually snag anyone, in an attempt to convince them to get out of the area.

But while Max was watching the students run away, he failed to notice Kista behind them. He suddenly felt something knock him down. When he struggled to get up, he felt a massive foot press against his neck, nearly choking him. Kista lowered her head so he could see her. 'Don't ever turn your back on me, kid...' She opened up her mouth, revealing her sharp teeth to him.

Kista roared in pain suddenly when Rodger rammed his body against hers again, his horns once again driving into her skin, creating more puncture wounds. Kista managed to free herself again and turned to face her new adversary, turning her back to the T-Rex. 'You shouldn't turn your back on me as well...' Rodger said, slowly backing away with his horns lowered as Kista walked towards him. Then she felt something grab onto her tail and pull her onto the ground. She looked up to see the T-Rex towering over her.

'The same goes for me!' Max said, lifting up his foot to stomp down onto her body. Kista's eyes narrowed and she suddenly lunged forward despite her awkward position. Her jaws slammed shut around Max's leg. His eyes widened and he roared in pain. Kista pulled backwards, causing Max to fall onto his back. She could have easily attacked him since he was the most vulnerable on that position, but she had another dinosaur to contend with.

'Max!' Rodger shouted, rushing towards Max. Kista quickly got herself off the ground and went over to deal with the Styracosaurus before he had another chance to drive those hideous horns into her body again.

'You aren't going to do that again..' Kista said. She waited until Rodger was just inches away, and then she quickly moved to one side, taking him by complete surprise. Before he had time to swing his body around a different direction, Kista slammed her jaws around his bony, spiked frill. Rodger bellowed and tried to get free, swinging his head violenty back and forth. Kista couldn't do much damage in this area and she knew that. She had another reason for biting the region. Using as much energy as she could, she pushed Rodger into the ground. Rodger crashed into the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up dirt.

Caruso, who had stayed back and watched the battle wage on, was horrified by this turn of events. 'Rodger! No!' He cried out, feeling helpless to do anything. He tried putting weight on his injured leg, but he was overwhelmed with pain.

Kista's jaws were still clamped onto the frill, blood dripping from it as her teeth drove as far as they could into the bony frill. As Rodger continued to struggle, Kista twisted her neck in such a way that she pulled Rodger's head back, exposing his throat. She positioned a foot right in front of it, flexing the claws. 'You shouldn't have interfered.' Kista said as she lifted up the foot briefly to press against the Styracosaur's neck. Rodger's eyes widened as he felt the claws digging at his throat and his struggles increased in intensity. But it didn't make much of a difference. Kista sneered, 'It's too late for you!'

Kista suddenly let out a loud screech as Max rushed forward, having recovered from the fall, and bit down onto Kista's leg, threatening to snap it in two. Kista looked down at Max, hissing at him threateningly. But despite the threat, Max refused to let go. 'As I told you before, you mess with my team, you mess with me!' Max said, letting out a threatening growl of his own. If Kista made a move towards him, he could easily close his jaws even tighter than he already was and his massive jaw muscles would crush the leg bone, easily crippling Kista so she'd no longer be a threat.

Kista narrowed her eyes and moved her foot away from Rodger. He wasn't worth killing right now, anyway. Her attention became focused on Max. She decided perhaps it was best if he tried to reason with him. Perhaps if she could convince him to let her go, she could have another chance at attacking Caruso. But her mind was buzzing with questions, most prominent being that what should she do if she did succeed. She could easily try killing Caruso now. She didn't feel threatened by him or his two friends, despite the fact that one is about to break her leg. On the other hand, she had to get out of here without injury and she wondered if it was worth it to try killing Caruso now. No, there would be another chance. She would just have to explain the situation to Victor. 'Wait!'

Max paused, looking up at her skeptically. Rodger tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowing. He couldn't tell what Kista was going to do, and he didn't want to wait to find out. The only thing holding him back was Max, who was silently telling him to stay put. Caruso felt uneasy. He suspected that Kista was going to pull off some sort of trick and he wanted to do something to help. But he dared not interfere with Max while he had Kista in his jaws. What was confusing Caruso was the fact that Kista wasn't trying to bite down into Max's back. Not that he wanted that to happen, but he couldn't understand why. Unless there was a reason that he could not yet comprehend.

'Why should I?' Max asked. He could feel the blood dripping down his jaws and chin, but he couldn't do anything about it. 'If I stop now, I risk letting you try to kill off my friends!' He pressed his jaws tighter and Kista's eyes suddenly bulged in pain.

Instinctively, Kista opened up her jaws and was about to bite down on Max's back, but she restrained herself, slowly closing her jaws and pulling her head away. 'Look, if you let me go, I promise I'll leave right this instant. I won't try to attack you or your precious friends.'

Max thought about what Kista said. But he wasn't going to buy it. From what he's seen from Oscura and Michelle, he wasn't going to be fooled by Kista as easily again. Kista could still turn her back on this 'promise' of hers and attack them while they aren't looking. And, if she doesn't succeed in killing Irwin now, she could easily come back at a later time and try finishing up the job. No, he wasn't going to give her that chance. 'No. I won't let go.' Max said, eyes narrowed.

'Well if you won't me go, I'll make you!' Kista shouted, her mouth part way open.

'How will you make me let go? I have your leg!' Max said. To prove his point, he moved his jaws a little, causing his teeth to scrape slightly across the leg. Kista winced in pain but her expression remained more or less unchanged, as if she wasn't afraid. 'Why aren't you afraid? You don't care if you lose a leg?'

'Oh, but it's not me who should be afraid..' Kista growled. Finally tired of waiting, she opened her jaws again and started to turn her head into the right position. Caruso and Rodger realized what was going to happen and tried to warn Max.

'Max! Watch out!' Caruso cried out. He tried to move, but the pain in his leg prevented him from doing so.

'She's going to attack!' Rodger shouted. He wanted to do something to help, but he was afraid that he would mess things up again, like how he did when they were facing off with Peter.

'What?' Max looked up, but it was already too late. Kista's jaws snapped around his back. A horrible pain shot up Max's spine, causing him to release Kista's leg and let out a loud, deafening roar of pain. He started to struggle in Kista's jaws, trying to make her let go. He tried twisting his head around and biting her back, but he couldn't reach her. Kista carefully moved her leg back, testing it a few times to make sure the bone was not broken. When she was sure it wasn't, she went back to work on Max. She drove her teeth as deep as she could without crushing bone and lifted him off the ground and quickly threw him back down, releasing her grip on him. Max groaned in pain and tried to get up, but Kista knocked him back down with her clawed foot.

'I gave you an offer and you should have taken it. At least then, you and your two friends here would have had a chance!' Kista said, pushing her foot as hard as she could into Max's shoulder, threatening to crush the bone. 'But you had to pass it up, didn't you? Well congratulations, leader boy. You've just condemned yourself and your pathetic friends to death!' Max wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of anything. And the pain he was in was clouding his judgment. Was this how Caruso felt? Kista lowered her jaws and was about to bite into Max's throat to end his life, but she didn't have a chance to.

'No!' Rodger finally couldn't take it any longer. He couldn't just sit back and watch this happen! Rodger lowered his head and charged forward. He was able to drive his horns into this dinosaur twice. Perhaps he could do it a third time. As he ran forward, Caruso could only watch. He looked down at his leg, feeling angry with himself that he could not do anything to help. Rodger's horns suddenly drove into Kista's skin for a third time. Kista roared in pain and backed away from Max, who just remained on the floor, in too much pain to get up right away. Kista hissed angrily and turned her attention on Rodger. She got herself free and, feeling very pissed that Rodger had, for a third time, interrupted her kill, lashed out at him. She bit down onto one of his horns and started to pull him across the floor. Rodger fought to dislodge his horn and finally managed to get free.

'You will pay for your interference, you pathetic mongrel!' Kista shouted as she charged forward, snapping her jaws only inches away from Rodger's face.

But Rodger stood his ground, waving his horned face back and forth threateningly. 'No, you're the one who is going to pay!'

'You're just as foolish as all the other mammals!' Kista said, baring her teeth as she started to circle Rodger, trying to find a way to get at a more vulnerable part of him. But Rodger matched her every move and kept his head facing towards her. 'Stop moving around so much!'

'You know, I could say the same thing about you.' Rodger said, eyeing the dinosaur's legs. If he could just strike with one of them with enough force, he could break one or both of her legs. Then they could easily get away. But could he really do that? Would Moynihan approve of it? He felt reluctant to attack, fearing that Moynihan would see him as cold-hearted for doing such a thing. But thoughts of his own safety as well as the safety of his friends motivated him to consider that option.

Kista eyed her legs briefly, noticing Rodger watching them intently a few times. She quickly realized what he was thinking and she had to make sure she prevented it from happening. If she allowed this little brat break one, or worse, both, of her legs, she wouldn't be able return to work and she would have to explain herself to Victor. What was he going to say to her if he found out? But it wasn't just Victor that concerned her. She was also worried about how she was going to function with a broken leg. She had seen how humans with broken legs lived and she wouldn't be able to handle it. On top of that, they would need blood samples and she couldn't risk letting a scientist see her blood and finding out what she really was. How Peter managed to get away from it, she wasn't sure.

'I could easily kill you right now..' Kista threatened, drool dripping from her jaws.

Rodger threw his head from one side to the other, brandishing his long, sharp brow horns. 'But you're not going to kill me!' Rodger said confidently, keeping his head low so that his horns lined up with the dinosaur's legs at all times. If Kista were to charge him suddenly, he could easily thrust his head upwards and drive the horns into her body. And he was certain that the white dinosaur probably knew that already. 'Why don't you spare yourself a broken leg and get out of here?'

Kista tilted her head to one said and then tilted it the other way, making a motion similar to what birds do when they get curious about something. Kista continued to circle Rodger, seeing him as the only remaining threat in the area. Caruso's leg was too badly torn for him to fight efficiently enough and his cowardly ways would likely decrease the chances of him attacking even further. Max's shoulder was ripped up and he was laying on the ground, in too much pain to get up. The only one that remained was Rodger. Once she disabled him, she could go in for the kill. She opened up her jaws in anticipation, licking her scaly lips with her thick, drooling tongue. 'You know, I am rather hungry.. When I'm done killing you and your friends, who do you think I should have first?' She thought for a moment and quickly added, 'How about you, chubby boy? You've got a lot of meat on your bones. Perhaps you should be the first to die.'

Rodger bellowed in anger. 'I am not your main course!' Rodger snorted and kicked at the ground beneath his feet, preparing for a charge.

'Rodger... Get away from her.' Caruso said softly, a worried expression on his dinosaurian face. Rodger looked over at him, looking a little perplexed. 'We have to get out of here.. Max is badly injured.. He needs to have those wounds treated before they get worse. We can't just sit here and play games with this..this monster..'

'But Caruso..' Rodger tried to explain. 'If I turn my back on her now, she'll just attack me from behind. We have to deal with her now, or else there won't ever be a chance to help Max.'

'I know, but..' Caruso started to say, but he stopped himself, realizing there wasn't anything he could do to get Rodger to change his mind. He simply nodded and took a step back, flinching in pain as he put pressure on his injured leg.

'You better listen to your friend.' Kista said, chuckling. 'If you don't, I fear that you will regret it.'

'Why? It's not like it worries you anyway.' Rodger snorted.

Kista lifted her head up high. 'You're right.. It doesn't concern me one bit.' She then lowered her head again, a faint grin appearing on her face. 'But you should be worried. Aren't you the least bit afraid that I'll inflict damage on you? Are you at all concerned that I might kill you with a single bite?' Rodger winced slightly, but stood his ground. 'Such courage...a shame it'll be wasted once you die!' With that, Kista charged towards Rodger, mouth split wide open. 'Don't say I didn't warn you!' Then a loud roar sounded out from her throat, nearly shaking the ground.

'I won't back down.' Rodger said, refusing to run from his current position. His eyes were narrowed in determination and he waited just for the right moment. If he could just get into the right position at the right time, he might just have a chance...

'All right then..' Kista said, narrowing her eyes. 'It's your funeral.'

'We'll see about that, now won't we?' Rodger said, offering a smile of his own. Kista didn't answer him, but acknowledged his words with a nod of her head. They continued to circle each other, trying to find an opportunity to attack the other's vulnerable areas. Rodger kept his eyes focused on Kista's leg, waiting for her to move into a position where her legs would be an easier target. Kista kept her eyes focused on Rodger's flanks, which were completely unprotected. That was one thing she never understood about ceratopsian dinosaurs. They had developed such interesting defensive and offensive weapons on the head, but they neglected the rest of their body. Rodger knew that if he attacked too quickly, Kista might get the upper hand. Likewise, Kista couldn't attack right away, not with those horns facing her. She'd have to come up with some way to force Rodger into making a grave error. And she thinks she knows how.

Kista suddenly chuckled. 'You know, I'll be honest. I've never came across a human like you. Even when faced with danger, you stand your ground. I don't know whether I should regard you as brave, or as just another stupid human.'

'If you know anything about humans, you should have realized that we humans look after one another.' Rodger stated.

Kista tilted her head. 'Oh really? Is that way you humans kill one another? Is that why many of you torture others and leave them to day? And is that why you wage war on one another?' Rodger's eyes widened. 'You know it's true, don't you? If humans care so much about each other, then why do you all spend so much time trying to kill the other?' Kista realized she was getting somewhere when Rodger's movements became more stiff and he seemed a little less responsive. That should give her a chance to move in for a strike. She started getting into position, hoping that Rodger's mind was slow-witted enough to permit her access to his vulnerable flanks.

'That's..that's not true..' Rodger said, shaking his head in disbelief. He didn't want to fall for Kista's mind game, but her words were sinking in. He knew them to be true.

'It's not?' Kista said mockingly. 'Then tell me, why do you humans attack one another? The mass murders? The serial killers? The wars? If what you say is true, then how come so many innocent people have died over the years?'

'You don't understand humans! How could you? You're a dinosaur!' Rodger declared, snorting in anger. 'Dinosaurs don't have the same kind of feelings and emotions that humans do!'

'Aren't you a dinosaur yourself?' Kista asked in a softer tone, lowering her head slightly.

'Well..yes and no..' Rodger said, unsure of what to think of Kista's question. In a way, he wasn't a dinosaur; he can just transform into one. But in a way, perhaps he was a dinosaur. Rodger wasn't sure what to think and became very confused. While he was confused, he failed to notice Kista getting into position. His mind was filled with so many questions that his perception of what was going on around him was warped and jumbled up. As Rodger tried to figure out how to interpret Kista's question, he felt a horrible pain in his side. He felt teeth, sharp and strong, digging into his body. He let out a bellow of pain and realized he had been tricked.

Kista's jaws were clamped down on Rodger's side, blood pouring from the wound. Rodger struggled to get free, snapping his beak at Kista's tail. But he missed every time. Kista pulled her head back, painfully pulling Rodger to one side. With a powerful thrust of her head, she managed to fling him in one direction, smirking in a dinosaurian way as she watched him crash into the ground, a blood trail being left behind. Rodger shook his head and managed to get back into his feet, albeit moving a little slower due to the wound on his side. Kista lowered her body and flashed her razor sharp teeth in his direction, threatening to attack him if he tried to fight back again.

Rodger roared and charged forward. Kista narrowed her eyes. Due to Rodger's slower speed caused by the pain, she was able to have enough reaction time to move her body out of the way just in time. Furious that Rodger dared to attack her again, Kista bit down onto his flanks, this time on the other side. Rodger cried out in agony, thrashing his body to try and get himself loose. But he found himself being picked up and tossed in one direction again as if he were a rag doll. He struggled to get onto his feet again, but he felt Kista's feet press against his head, pinning it to the ground. He was forced to keep his eyes closed to avoid the claws digging into his eyeballs.

'You have no idea when to give up, do you?' Kista said, baring her teeth. 'You should have just backed off. You should not have gotten involved. Now look where it has gotten you.' Rodger was angry at Kista, but he dare not say anything given his precarious situation. Kista snorted and lowered her head. 'I could easily kill you now if I want to.' Kista said, her eyes locked into Rodger's vulnerable flanks. She could easily tear into his flesh and give a fatal blow. But something was stopping her. This fight didn't seem very complete. Should she back down from the fight and attack later?

'Then why don't you finish me then..?' Rodger said halfheartedly, daring to open up one eye to look up at her. 'That's what you wanted to do, isn't it? Isn't that what Victor Veloci wants you to do? Come on, what are you waiting for?'

'Rodger, are you crazy?!' Caruso cried out, his eyes widened in horror. 'You can't...!'

'Relax, Caruso. I am not going to let her kill me.' Rodger said confidently. 'Besides, I don't think she has it in her. I mean, if she really was going to kill any of us, wouldn't she have done it already? I'd say she's just messing with us.'

Suddenly, Kista moved her foot off of Rodger and quickly clamped her jaws around his head. Rodger roared in pain as the teeth dug into his face. Because of his horns being in the way, Kista's jaws were around his muzzle, behind the horn. She bit down hard, but not using all of her strength. If she wanted to, she could easily break his jaws with her own. 'You really shouldn't judge me like that, kid.' Kista said, tasting Rodger's blood in her mouth. 'I could easily snap your neck or break your mouth.' She applied more pressure and Rodger, feeling the teeth slicing the skin on his face, closed his eyes tightly and waited for the final blow. But it didn't come. Kista suddenly released him and stepped away from him. 'But not now. I think I've had enough fun with you three for one day. I could easily kill you all now, but I'll wait until all five of you are together. That should make things a lot more interesting.'

'Wait!' Max cried out, who had finally gotten up onto his feet. His wound was still bleeding, creating many trails of redness down his back. 'You're just..letting us go? After all that? I don't understand..'

'It's simple, boy.' Kista said, looking at him with a sideways glance. 'I would rather fight when you are up to full strength and altogether. It would make the fight seem more fair and more interesting, if you know what I mean. I admit, I was disappointed in this fight, but it's my fault anyway.' She chuckled light-heartedly. 'I should have waited until all five of you were together.' She turned her head away.

'But it doesn't make much sense.' Rodger said as he climbed up to his feet. 'I thought you worked for Victor Veloci and that you were going to kill Caruso no matter what...'

Kista laughed. 'Well you got that part right!' Caruso's eyes widened in fear. 'But I would rather give him more of a chance to fight back. He seems too cowardly right now. It doesn't seem as much fun if the prey doesn't fight back. True, I wanted to give him a quick death, but it's always more fun when they die fighting.' She turned her massive head towards Caruso. 'The next time we meet, I expect you to at least try to defend yourself. And do a better job next time. You were so pathetic...'

'Hey!' Max roared at her. 'Don't talk to him like that!'

Kista turned her head towards him, her eyes glowing more intently than before. 'If I were you, boy, I wouldn't be back talking to someone who had just defeated you in battle! Or do you want another wound to match the one on your back?' Max snarled at her, but fell silent. Kista smirked. 'I didn't think so..' Kista turned her back on the trio and began to walk away.

'Just one more thing..' Rodger said, interrupting her. Kista stopped and looked over at him. 'What is your name?'

Kista blinked a couple times, but she quickly gave her answer. 'My name? Well you and your little friends may call me Kista Bakar... Expect to see me again soon...' With that, she turned and walked away, leaving the trio behind, alone and bloodied.

* * *

"What?!" Fiona cried, her eyes widened in shock.

"Are you guys serious?" Buzz asked, sounding just as frightened as Fiona.

Groaning in pain, Rodger managed to nod his head. "Yeah..it's true.."

Caruso, Max, and Rodger, after the fight with Kista, had went to the school nurse. While in the waiting room, Caruso found out that Liam had told Max and Rodger what was going on and that's how they were able to find him so quickly. Caruso made a mental note to himself to think Liam if he saw him again. The students had a hard time coming up with some kind of explanation for their injuries, but they managed to convince the nurse that it wasn't anything that needed investigation. They managed to convince her it was due to their own stupidity and the school nurse scolded them for it. She was able to treat their wounds the best that she could, although being a school nurse meant that she had rather limited supplies at her disposal. She managed to clean and dress their wounds the best that she could and she gave them some medicine to try to kill the pain. But she recommended them to see a real doctor as soon as they could.

After visiting the nurse, the trio met up with Fiona and Buzz. The two were shocked to see what state that they were in, covered in bandages and bleeding. They wanted to know what had happened. At first, Max, Rodger, and Caruso were reluctant to talk about it that second. But they eventually gave in and explained what had happened. Realizing how close the three came to getting killed frightened Buzz and Fiona. It didn't make them feel any better knowing that they weren't there to try and save them. A sense of guilt welled up inside both of them, and they wished that they had been there to aide them in the fight. But there was nothing they could do about it now. They were both grateful that the trio were still alive and hadn't suffered any fatal injuries.

"Should we tell Moynihan about it?" Buzz asked, turning his head to glance down the hallway. The three were in one of the hallways of the school. They had made sure the coast was clear before they talked about what had happened.

"We probably should.." Fiona said, agreeing with Buzz. "She has to know about this."

Rodger shook his head slowly. "No, we can't tell her. Not here."

"Why not?" Fiona asked, her head tilted in confusion. Why did Rodger not want them to tell Moynihan what had happened? Didn't she deserve to know?

Rodger looked down the hallway to make sure that no one was coming by. Then he turned his attention back to Fiona. "Well, don't you remember? Moynihan decided to stay home today. She said she wasn't feeling to well and she was worried that it was a virus and she didn't want to spread the virus in school."

Feeling embarrassed about having forgotten, Fiona smiled nervously. "Oh yeah, I remember that. Perhaps we should go to the lighthouse now?" Then she realized something. "No, we couldn't leave. School isn't over yet."

"Today isn't your day, is it?" Rodger said, smiling at his attempted joke. He hoped it would lighten up the mood a little.

Fiona glared at him, but then smiled, realizing that Rodger didn't mean any offense by what he said. "Yeah. With everything that's been going on, my mind is just.. a jumbled mess."

Buzz nodded his head. "Yeah, same here. I mean, what do we do now? Someone just tried to kill Caruso, but then just got up and walked away for no apparent reason other than wanting to fight all five of us.. How should we react to that? I mean, it could be a trap..."

Max sighed softly. "I'm starting to believe that myself, Buzz. I can't think of any logical reason for her to leave. She had the upper hand. She could have finished us off, not that I would have wanted her to. And while I'm grateful that she decided to let us go, I can't help but remain worried about this situation. She could easily attack again at any time. We don't even know what she looks like."

"I do..." Caruso suddenly said, who had remained quiet most of the time after Kista had left them. The group looked over at him, waiting for him to continue. Caruso bit his lip softly, not wanting to remember what happened. But he knew that they needed this information. It was vital for them to avoid another surprise attack from Kista. "It's the new school librarian."

Rodger's eyes widened. "You mean the one that was only recently hired? The one that was there when we borrowed that biology book?"

"I-I wasn't there.." Caruso said. "But yes. That librarian. She's the one."

Max narrowed his eyes. He had suspected that teacher since the first encounter with her. And now Caruso had provided the proof he needed to confirm his suspicions. The librarian was an enemy. "I knew it! I knew there was something wrong with that woman."

"Are you serious?" Buzz asked, sounding as if he didn't want to believe what he was hearing. "I had talked to her and she seemed pretty nice to me. Oh sure, a little weird, but she didn't seem like the type of person to do such a thing..."

Fiona looked over at Buzz. "And Victor Veloci doesn't seem like the type of person to be trying to wipe out humanity, and yet we know for a fact..that's what he's trying to do."

"But what I'm wondering is, why a librarian?" Max asked, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Of all the school positions that Victor could have sent her here for, why did she become a librarian? We aren't there that often." He looked at Rodger and corrected himself. "Well, most of us aren't, anyway. But my point is that she would have had a better chance at getting one of us if she were, oh say, the school cook or even one of our teachers. But why a librarian."

Rodger thought about that for a couple minutes. It did seem a little strange that Kista chose to be a school librarian rather than someone who would have more contact with students. It didn't seem like it would have served her mission well enough if she were too far away from her intended targets most of the time. Surely, she would have wanted a position that would allow her to be as close to them as physically possible without arousing suspicion. And then he realized something. Perhaps there was a reason she chose the position of a librarian. "Perhaps the reason she chose to be a librarian was to decrease the chances of her getting suspected of anything."

"Come again?" Max asked, confused.

"Think about it. If she were a teacher, and suddenly one or more of us disappeared, she would be suspected because she was a teacher and had more contact with the victims." Rodger explained. "But if she were a librarian, someone who rarely talks with any students other than to help them find a book or check a book out for them, they would be less likely to be suspected right away because they weren't in contact with the students for that long." He looked at each of his friends, who seemed to be understanding what he was trying to say. "So it makes perfect sense for Kista to be a librarian, to lessen the chances of her to be suspected of homicide if she successfully kills Caruso, or any one of us."

"Well, we've got to warn the teachers about her, shouldn't we?" Buzz asked. "I mean, what if she decides to target someone else too?"

Max shook his head. "No, Buzz. We don't want to risk blowing our dino identities, and besides..who would believe us?"

"But..we have to do something..." Buzz said, looking at each of his friends. "..don't we?"

"Buzz has a point. We can't just sit around and allow this white dinosaur to run around in the school." Fiona said, resting her chin on her hand as she tried to think of a solution. But she couldn't think of anything they could do that wouldn't arouse any suspicion from their peers or other teachers. Kista, so far, hadn't done anything that the teachers and other students would find unusual. For them to go over and accuse her of trying to kill not one, but three students, there probably wouldn't be anyone who would believe them. They might even get in trouble with the school principal for even suggesting the idea that Kista was a possible serial killer. "But at the same time, I also agree with Max. There isn't going to be a lot of people, if any, who will take us seriously if we try to report this woman."

"So are you suggesting that we just sit around and do nothing?" Buzz asked, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Fiona shook her head. "No, Buzz. Obviously we have to do something about her." She turned her attention towards Rodger. She recalled him mentioning something about Kista possibly returning. "Didn't this woman say that she would be back?"

Rodger rubbed the back of his head. "You know, I can't remember exactly what she said..." The others looked at him strangely and Rodger looked a little confused. "What? You expect me to remember everything? In case you forgotten, our lives were at stake! I was more concerned about her actions rather than her words!" He was starting to feel rather angry with the others, but he quickly calmed himself down, realizing that they weren't trying to make him feel upset or anything. And now wasn't the time to feel angry with any of his friends. "Anyway...I do remember her saying something about wanting to fight us again. I told you that already, Fiona. She wants to fight all five of us. She said it would make things more..interesting."

Fiona nodded her head. Then she remembered there was something else she wanted to ask. "Did she attack any of the other students? You say that, when she was attacking, there was a group of students nearby, watching the fight or trying to run away."

Rodger thought for a moment. This detail he couldn't remember, considering the fact that his eyes were mostly locked onto Kista. But he tried to reply to the best of his knowledge. "As far as I know, she wasn't trying to attack any one else, no... She seemed more focused on Caruso, Max, and myself."

"Then perhaps we don't need to do anything about her right at this moment." Fiona said.

"What are you saying..?" Buzz looked at Fiona with a shocked look on his face. He had a hard time believing that she would even think that. With a dinosaur loose in the building, anyone and everyone could be a potential target. "She's a dinosaur! If we don't do anything, she might...!"

Fiona raised a hand to silence Buzz. "No...if she works for Victor Veloci, and I'm sure she does, I doubt she would want to reveal her identity to a lot of people, not unless she doesn't mind getting in trouble with Victor himself. I think she would rather keep a low profile and only go after her intended target, or targets since it seems she wants to face all five of us."

"Yes..that makes sense." Max said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "It wouldn't be like Victor to want to send an assassin that would go after anyone they find rather than the person or persons that Victor had intended for them to kill. No, Victor is too clever for that. It is very likely that he knows that if he were to have someone kill too many people within a short time period, there's a chance that assassin could eventually be captured and they'd probably trace them back to Raptor Dyne..."

"...And there would be a full scale investigation and charges could be pressed against him." Rodger said, continuing from where Max left off. "And knowing Veloci, he wouldn't want this to happen because such a situation would set him back. He'd lose his lab, his men would be arrested, Veloci himself could be arrested... He would be back to square one, if he ever was able to get out of prison."

"If we're lucky and this does happen, hopefully he'll never get out of prison." Buzz said.

"Veloci's too smart and too strong to be held by a prison for very long." Rodger stated. "It's likely he would find a way out and find a way to start over. He isn't the type to easily give up."

"Y-Yes.. I am w-well aware of that..." Caruso said softly, shuddering slightly. His mind was drifting back to the days where he was subjected to torture, particularly that human bridle he was forced to wear for many hours. Victor had shown determination in making him obedient towards him. Caruso had resisted the pain and the torture as long as he could and, at one point, felt that he would be able to outlast Victor, that he would be rescued long before he'd give in. But Victor wouldn't give up and continued to subject him to pain until, eventually, Caruso could not take anymore and submitted to Victor to avoid the torture.

Fiona noticed the boy's distress and wrapped an arm around him to comfort him. "You're thinking about...that aren't you?" Caruso nodded his head once. Fiona sighed softly. "Caruso, you really shouldn't be thinking about that.. It'll only make you feel worse."

"I-I know..I can't help it..." Caruso said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "N-No matter what I try..he always comes into my mind...and when he comes into my mind..." He couldn't finish his sentence, but the others knew what he was talking about.

Buzz looked at Caruso sympathetically, but then his eyes suddenly widened in horror. Something came across his mind, something that he hadn't thought of before. "Guys...I just thought of something..." He whispered softly.

"What is it, Buzz?" Max asked.

"What's wrong?" Rodger inquired.

"You guys remember when Moynihan was able to control those puppysaurs before she was taken away by Victor?" Buzz asked slowly.

"Yes..what about it?" Max asked, a little confused as to where Buzz was going with this. What did puppysaurs have anything to do with their current predicament?

Buzz gulped and said nervously, "Well...what if Victor can do the same thing? What if, when Moynihan succumbs to that..chemical.. Victor can control her?" He swallowed hard again. "And if he can control her..what if he specifically targets us..friends..family...? And what if his mind link with her is so strong..we can't break her from it?" The disturbing question caused the team to fall into an uneasy silence.

* * *

"I hope that idiot Kista kept the Dino Squad busy long enough.." Oscura said to herself as she slowly approached the lighthouse. She was keeping off to the side, trying to avoid the windows as much as she could. She was in human form so that the radar system wouldn't be able to pick up her signal. The Dino Squad were still in school, but she didn't know for how much longer. She would have to hurry up and make her move. Moynihan was the only one in the lighthouse at this time. Well her and that dog Rump that Michelle had mentioned before. But even so, Oscura knew that she still had to be careful. She couldn't mess up this mission. Victor didn't want her to come back empty handed. When she finally reached the lighthouse, she quickly pressed her back against the wall, trying to flatten herself against it so that Moynihan couldn't see her in case she looked out of the window.

It was going all according to plan. Kista's assignment was to keep the Dino Squad busy for as long as she could. Not much delay was needed; just enough for Oscura to drive by the school without getting spotted. She did stop for a few minutes to watch the battle unfold. She couldn't help but smirk as Kista easily overpowered three of the Dino Squad teammates. If Kista could easily defeat them, that just proved what Oscura had believed before. The Dino Squad were just a bunch of weaklings. Destroying them will be so easy. She could do it with her paws tied behind her back.

As Kista distracted the Dino Squad and Oscura made her way past the school without getting spotted, the next task was getting to the lighthouse without being spotted by Moynihan. To decrease the chances of Moynihan spotting her, Oscura decided to go on foot. It took a lot longer, but at least the old woman wouldn't see her bike heading her way. And much to her luck, there was a forested area close by, providing her with all the cover that she needed to move in rather close without getting spotted by the enemy. Oscura's assignment was to get into the lighthouse and take at least one of the weapons. Victor was specific in which weapon he wanted. He didn't tell her the function of it, but he described it as yellow with a mouth that sort of resembled a Troodon's. That wouldn't be too difficult to find.

"This is going to be too easy..." Oscura said to herself. Moynihan won't be much of a problem. She is probably feeling sick at this moment from the chemical inside of her. The chemical was delayed according to Victor and because of that, it was probably messing up her mind a little and causing nausea. It was still a prototype and he had foreseen this nausea as a possible side effect if it took too long for her to succumb to it. Regardless, however, Oscura was grateful that Moynihan was likely to be ill; that would make things a lot easier for her. But at the same time, she hoped there would be some excitement in this boring lighthouse. She could use a little bit of fun.

Oscura made her way towards the door, careful with each step so she didn't make much noise. She knew dogs had excellent hearing and she didn't want that stupid mongrel barking and alerting her presence to Moynihan. If she was careful enough, she could get to the area where Victor claimed the weapons were and grab the one he was looking for and get out as quickly as possible. Within a few minutes, she reached the door. She slowly grabbed the doorknob and turned it cautiously. She slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside the lighthouse, shutting the door behind her. She looked around. She could not see anyone yet, but that could change any second. A quick survey of her surroundings told her that she was in the living room.

It didn't take her long to notice the stairs. She smirked. Michelle had claimed to have tossed Moynihan down these steps. Curious, she walked towards them. Once she reached them, she looked up. She noticed just how long this staircase was and she couldn't help but whistle. "That was some fall..I wonder how that old hag managed to survive.. Oh well, it was probably dumb luck." She shrugged her shoulders. Her curiosity of the staircase satisfied, she quickly turned and walked away. She had to find those weapons. Now where did Victor say they were...?

* * *

Kista tossed her hair back as she stepped into the elevator. She quickly pressed a button and the sliding doors closed and she felt the contraption start to pull her downwards. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect when Victor saw her returning so soon. She wasn't gone as long as Victor had expected her to be. The school day for the humans wasn't even over and her job wasn't technically over. She had called in sick, though, so she won't get in trouble with the school. She had left so that those stupid kids wouldn't be able to get into the library and interrogate her. Though why she was so worried about that, she wasn't sure. The kids were hardly a match for her anyway. There were three of them against her and she managed to overpower them all. She chuckled to herself. Perhaps she should inform Victor of this.

As the doors opened up, Kista peered in the room. She could see some of the scientists on a nearby table, working on something that she wasn't able to recognize. It was probably some new experiment, she thought as she stepped into the room. She looked up at where the scanners were. This was where Veloci usually could be found in this part of Raptor Dyne. But this time, he was nowhere to be seen. Kista tilted her head. Well that was strange. Where could Veloci be?

Kista looked over at the scientists. She slowly walked towards them, her eyes narrowed and her lead lowered. "Hey, you guys!" She called out. The scientists looked over at her. Their eyes were slightly narrowed, but they kept their mouths shut. They knew what Kista was capable of doing and they dare not do anything to anger her. "Where is Dr. Veloci? He is usually here monitoring the scanners at this time."

One of the scientists, a female, looked away for second, rubbing her head. She looked back at Kista. "I'll be honest with you, Kista.. I have no clue." She shrugged her shoulders and went back to work. "Did you try actually looking around? I'm sure he's here somewhere."

"Yeah." A male scientist next to her said. A nervous smile was on his face. "It's not like Dr. Veloci to just neglect his work and disappear."

Kista narrowed her eyes further and snorted. Of course these pathetic humans weren't going to be able to answer her question directly. What did they know anyway? All they knew is what Victor told them. He probably could walk in the room and stride right by them and they wouldn't even notice unless he said something to them. What was she thinking, anyway, in asking them? She should have known that they wouldn't be able to answer her question. "All right then..." She said and walked away. As she walked away, a couple of the scientists sighed in relief. They had been worried that Kista was angry and they knew what would have happened if she had snapped at them. They immediately went back to work.

Kista wandered further into the red-walled laboratory, looking for any signs of Victor. But no matter where she looked, she couldn't seem to find him. She finally stopped, near the edge of one part of the laboratory, and scratched the back of her head. "Now where could he be..?" She wondered. There were still other parts of the laboratory she hadn't checked, but she had her doubts that Victor would be there. These parts were rarely used and were mostly for the mutantsaurs. Victor had special rooms that he had created for mutantsaur testing, but they hadn't been used at all, largely because all his mutantsaur creations were transformed back by the pesky Dino Squad. But it still wouldn't hurt to look there, Kista thought as she turned and made her way towards one of the rooms.

Within a few minutes, she had reached one of the rooms. At a glance, it looked sort of like how that one room did that Victor had kept Caruso in. She had never actually seen it, but Victor had described it to her and this seemed to match Victor's description. She shrugged her shoulders and stepped inside. The room looked pretty clean considering no one has used this for a long time. She was surprised the doors were still open. She thought Victor had locked them up because he always seemed to lose the mutantsaurs. The closest he came to keeping some of them were the ants. The raptor had managed to get them into Raptor Dyne, but they were set loose rather quickly and then de-oozed, rendering them useless. It took Victor days to get all the ants out of Raptor Dyne before they caused more havoc.

Just then, Kista caught a strange smell. She didn't recognize it completely. It faintly resembled a wolverine, but there was something different about it. Kista couldn't hide her surprise. She wasn't expecting anything to be in this room. She quickly looked around, but saw no signs of whatever was in here. She narrowed her eyes and stood in place. Perhaps the smell was something else. Perhaps there was nothing in here. Yeah, that was probably it. Just a smell that sort of resembled a wolverine's. But it couldn't possibly be a wolverine, could it? There wasn't anything in this room, was there?

GRRAAAARRRRRRRGG...

Kista's eyes widened slightly at the sound of a growl that echoed through the room. She quickly turned around and saw, in the corner of the room, a pair of glowing eyes staring back at her. She braced herself, taking a few steps back. The creature was larger than she was in human form. But instead of transforming, she managed to stop herself. She needed to first find out if this creature was one of Veloci's experiments or not, and whether or not it was tied up. Victor would probably be angry at her if she did anything to ruin this experiment. This is probably the first mutantsaur to make it into one of these chambers. Kista was slightly impressed, but at the moment, she couldn't celebrate. Even though she was a dinosaur, she knew she was still vulnerable and she still had to be careful. She took a few more steps back as the creature started to move forward.

The mutantsaur took a few heavy steps forward. As it stepped into the light, Kista got a good look at it. It was a mutantsaur all right, and she quickly saw how it smelled like a wolverine. The body sort of resembled one, suggesting that it was a wolverine mutant. But how did Victor manage to transform a wolverine and how did he get it into Raptor Dyne without the Dino Squad on his tail? The mutantsaur's glowing eyes narrowed and it lowered its head. It opened up his jaws, revealing its sharp teeth, and roared at Kista, causing her hair to flow back from the creature's hot breath. Kista brushed her hair back and bared her teeth at the creature. "So you wanna fight? Okay then..." She said as her eyes glowed.

Before she could transform, Victor quickly walked in. He had been in another part of the room, sealed off to protect himself from the mutantsaurs whenever he would bring them in. Well if he had any mutantsaurs that is, other than this one. "Stop it, Kista!" He ordered her. Kista froze in place and looked around. "I won't have you going dino and destroying that mutantsaur. It still has some value..."

"So there you are..." Kista said, smirking softly. "I was wondering where you were." She looked back at the wolverine mutantsaur. A closer examination revealed it did have some sort of chain leash on it, attaching it to the wall. "So...how did you bring in that mutantsaur? I admit I am surprised that you managed to bring in a wolverine mutantsaur without arousing attention from the Dino Squad..."

"Well, if you must know..." Victor said, walking towards the mutantsaur, smiling. He stopped a few feet in front. Kista was surprised that the mutantsaur wasn't attacking. "..This is not a mutated wild animal."

"It's not? Then what..." Kista started to say, but the look on Victor's face told her what it was. Kista's eyes widened slightly and she shook her head. "You mean to tell me you mutated one of your own men? I thought you hated doing things like that, especially considering that they could retain their human mind and..."

"I took care of that." Victor smirked. "The ooze I gave him is my latest formula. If my calculations are correct, then not only will the Dino Squad not be able to de-ooze this mutantsaur, but I will have complete control over it. Moynihan isn't the only one who can use telepathy to control other creatures..." His eyes glowed as he said this.

Kista folded up her arms and looked up at the mutantsaur. Victor was telling the truth about him having control over the thing. How else could he get close to the creature without it trying to attack him? And it could also be why it wasn't trying to escape. Surely, the creature was powerful enough to break those chains. But it wasn't even trying to escape. It made Kista wonder why Victor had never tried this trick before. Perhaps he had just forgotten about it or it never crossed his mind. Then she started to wonder who was unlucky enough to be transformed. She smirked. Whoever it was must have done something to really piss Victor off. She looked over at Victor. "So, who was the lucky human to participate in this experiment?"

"Drew Buzmati." Victor said.

"Drew Buzmati?" Kista asked, slightly surprised. She hadn't thought of him as being someone who would defy Victor. "What did he do?"

Victor narrowed his eyes. "He destroyed the DNA sample of one of the perfect dinosaurs that he was supposed to get for me."

Kista looked at him. "Really? He managed to get close enough to one of those kids and get a DNA sample from them?"

"Sort of..." Victor said, closing his eyes. "You see, I suspected that his son could be the Pteranodon, or one of the other perfect dinosaurs. I wanted a DNA sample so I can analyze it and verify whether or not I was correct. Drew did manage to get a DNA sample for me, but in the end, he betrayed me. He smashed the vile, so I punished him by making him part of this experiment." He looked up at the creature that Drew had become. Victor couldn't help but smile. There was no chance of Drew disobeying his orders again. "Now he's under my control..."

Kista scratched her head. There was one thing she still didn't understand completely. "That's great and all, but one question..."

Victor's smile disappeared as he turned his head towards Kista. "And what is that?"

"What do you plan on doing with this thing?" Kista asked, looking up at the mutantsaur. "Are you going to unleash it on the Dino Squad or something?"

Victor smirked. "Oh don't worry about that. I figured out a use for him..."

* * *

Back at the light house, Oscura continued to look around. She had exited the living room and had explored several of the other rooms, including what looked like a huge garage. She was expecting to find the weapons there, but to no avail. Frustrated, she left and tried back in the living room. Perhaps there was a secret door or something. If only she had remembered where Victor said the weapons were. It would be a lot easier for her to find the weapons that way. She had been lucky that Rump nor Moynihan had heard her as she rummaged through the different lower level rooms. She pressed her hands against many parts of the wall, gently tapping it with one lightly closed fist to try and find any hollow spaces. But she couldn't find any and she groaned in frustration. Where were those darn weapons?!

"They've got to be here somewhere.." Oscura thought. She wondered if the weapons were even on the same floor as this one, or even the bottom floor where she assumed they trained. Perhaps it was on a higher level. Yeah, that's probably it. If she couldn't find the weapons down on this floor or in the 'training room', she should try another floor. Oscura quickly made her way towards the spiral staircase. "I might as well look up here..." She said quietly to herself. As silent as she could, she began to climb up the stairs.

Once she reached the top, she cautiously stepped out. She looked around, looking for any signs of Moynihan or Rump. At first, she didn't hear or see any signs of them and thought that they had probably left somewhere. But then, as she walked past one of the doors, she started hearing voices. She quickly looked over and noticed that the light was on and she could see shadows coming out of the bottom crack of the door. The shadows appeared to be getting larger, and at times they seemed to be getting smaller. Oscura wondered what they could be doing in there, but she couldn't stay for very long. As the voices grew louder, she quickly made her way to the nearest room. She rushed inside and shut the door as quickly and as quietly as she could. She lowered her head and peered through the keyhole.

The door slowly opened up a few minutes later and Moynihan stepped out. She was slightly pale in the face, looking as if she had a terrible fever. Her eyes looked like they were bloodshot, like she had been crying or was completely enraged about something. Rump was by her. He was keeping a certain distance from her, but at the same time, he looked concerned. His ears were folded back and he let out a few mournful barks at her. Moynihan bent down and gently stroked the dog on the head to try and ensure him that everything was all right. But it was clear, both to Rump and Oscura, watching from the doorway, that Moynihan was anything but fine.

Moynihan looked like she was limping even though she was using a cane to help support her weight. Well it didn't look like a normal limp; rather it looked almost like she was adopting a new gait, as if her normal human gait was not good enough for her. Her head was constantly low and facing forward, much like a raptor's head would be. Her mouth was partly open and it looked like she was panting, as if she was exhausted already from the walk. Her legs looked like they were shaky and weak, unable to bear her weight like they used to in the past. Oscura narrowed her eyes as she watched from the room. Perhaps she had nothing to worry about. Moynihan seemed too weak and too sickly to be able to fight back if they ever had a confrontation. She suspected that, even in raptor mode, Joanne wouldn't be much of a threat. Oscura smirked. That meant her only obstacle was Rump, who will be very easy to dispose of if it ever came to it.

Then Oscura's smile faded when she saw that Moynihan was headed in her direction. Oscura realized that Moynihan was going to come into this very room that she chose to hide in. She quickly looked around. Oscura realized, much to her stupidity, that she had gone into the bedroom. Of course Moynihan was going to want to be in here! She moved in quickly, looking for a place that she could hide. She saw a cage with a blue bird in it. But Oscura disregarded it. She managed to find a closet she could hide in. She opened up the door and quickly shut it. She cursed herself for being so stupid as to come into this room. But then again, how was she to know anyway? The room was completely dark and she was too concerned about avoiding Moynihan than to look around at the room she was hiding in. Even though Moynihan was likely going to be easy to take care of, she also wanted to grab the weapons and leave as quickly as possible. The last thing she needed was interruptions from the Dino Squad for when they come to the lighthouse.

Moynihan opened up the door and let out a soft yawn. It was too early to go to bed, she knew, but she couldn't help but feel too exhausted to stay up for much longer. Perhaps all she needed was a quick rest. Yes, that's probably all she needed. She walked into her bedroom and stretched a little, feeling a slight crack to her back as she did so. Rump walked in slowly behind her. Moynihan was too ill to realize that Rump and Cerulean don't exactly get along. But strangely, today, the two seemed to tolerate each other's presence. They merely looked at each other, tilting their heads as if they were curious. But it seemed their minds were distracted by something else. Whatever it was, Moynihan decided she could figure it out later. She made her way towards her bed and slumped into it.

Why was she feeling like this all of a sudden? She was fine yesterday. She hardly felt any different, although the thought of her going raptor on her students still haunted her mind. She still felt that fear rise up inside of her, although she felt some comfort knowing that whatever the kids had given her would have bought her some time. Unfortunately, she had forgotten how long it would last and couldn't even remember if Rodger or anyone else said anything about how long the 'cure' would last. And even worse still, she wasn't sure if they could remake this 'cure', and if they couldn't remake it, how were they going to stop her when she finally did succumb to whatever Victor had done to her?

Moynihan had woken up this morning with a terrible headache. Her stomach did hurt her as well, but not as much as her head. It was like her brain was at war with itself and it was causing so much pressure and pain that she just could not bring herself to go to school today. She had called in sick and had informed the Dino Squad about her absence. She had tried taking some medication earlier in the day, but they seemed to do very little to help her feel better. From time to time, Rump, sensing her distress, would nuzzle her or lick her hand to try and comfort her. While Moynihan appreciated the gestures, they did little to help her feel better. It even hurt her just to stand up. When she would sit up or stand up, her head was plagued with a whirling sensation of pain and she almost passed out a few times because of it. She wished she knew what was wrong with her, but all she could do now was try to get some rest. Perhaps she would feel better after a couple hours of sleeping.

Rump lifted up his head and started to sniff. He had caught some sort of scent in the air and it didn't smell like any of the kids, the Dino Squad, that he would see come by the lighthouse. This smelled rather different and yet almost eerily familiar. Rump's ears folded flat against his skull, memories flooding his mind of the last time a strange human had come into the lighthouse. He hadn't quite forgotten Michelle who had slashed him when she invaded the lighthouse a couple weeks ago. But Rump know that this wasn't Michelle; it was someone else, or even something else. He wasn't entirely sure if it was human or not.

On full alert, but not taking a defensive stance just yet, Rump started to search around the room. When he had come into the room, he had noticed the bird wasn't squawking at him like he normally would and that was rather strange. It was almost like the bird had seen something unfamiliar come into the room and was more concerned about the possible danger than some small white dog that couldn't really do anything to him. Rump put his nose to the ground, walking around in several circles and repeated patterns to try and locate the trail and try to find where this person or thing was hiding. When he caught it, he quickly followed it until he reached the closet. He took a few sniffs to make sure this was the right place and, doing what any dog would do, he started to bark. Simultaneously, as if in response, Cerulean started to squawk in his cage.

"Oh no.." Oscura muttered. She couldn't see what was going on from the closet, considering that there are no openings for her to look through. But she had heard Rump's panting as he approached the closet and as soon as he started barking, she knew she had been found. "Shut up, you stupid mongrel..." She muttered under her breath. It took all her willpower not to burst out of the closet and strangle the stupid animal.

Rump tilted his head and his ears perked straight up. He thought he heard something from inside the closet. He bared his teeth, sensing that a stranger was definitely in the room. He then relaxed his face. Out of curiosity, Rump lifted up a paw and scratched at the door. He repeated this gesture a few times before he started barking again. His tail was wagging to and fro and his teeth were bared slightly. He wasn't sure what to make of this possible threat and he took a step back, putting distance between himself and the closet, almost like he sensed that, whoever was inside, could leap out at any second and hurt him. All the while, Cerulean started squawking again, his calls increasing in volume every second. He flapped his wings in the cage, making it shake back and forth. But despite the noise, Moynihan remained on the bed, trying her best to get some sleep.

"Oh please you two..." Moynihan grumbled half-heartedly. "Not right now. Let me get some sleep..."

Rump turned his head towards Moynihan. Realizing that she wasn't going to get up, Rump dashed over towards her. He jumped up on the bed and walked over to her. Moynihan was laying on her back, her eyes looking up towards the ceiling. She didn't have any blankets over her; she felt too exhausted and ill to try and cover herself up at this point. Rump pushed his nose against her arm a couple times. Moynihan only groaned and gently pushed him away. But Rump was not about to give up. He continued to push her with his nose, despite being pushed back. When Moynihan wasn't budging, Rump growled softly and jumped onto her stomach.

"Rump!" Moynihan hissed softly. Rump just tilted his head and pushed his nose towards her face. Moynihan tried to turn away, but Rump was relentless. Suddenly, she felt his warm, wet tongue licking her face. Not able to take it anymore, Moynihan pushed Rump off again and this time she sat up. She glared at the dog and asked, "What is it? What do you want? I'm trying to sleep!" Rump lowered his head and whined, but then he quickly dashed over to the closet. Moynihan watched him curiously as he stood by the closet, looking at her, then at the closet, and pawing at it with one of his feet. Rump barked a few times and looked back at her, hoping that she would come over to investigate.

Moynihan, groaning, decided to see what Rump and Cerulean were so excited about. She slowly got up out of the bed. She quickly grabbed her cane, fearful that she would fall down if she didn't use it. She made her way towards the closet. She listened carefully, but she couldn't hear anything. And obviously she couldn't see anything if the door was closed. She would change her head into a raptor's, but she refrained from doing so for fear that she would succumb to her instincts and go wild. Instead, Moynihan decided to take a more direct approach. She reached up and grabbed the handle and started to turn it.

Suddenly, the door swooshed open quickly and almost violently. Moynihan felt herself being thrown into the ground with great force and she felt something standing on her. And it was too heavy to be Rump. Moynihan looked up and could see orange, scaly feet pushing against her body. But she didn't have to look up to know who it was. The small sickle claw gave it away. It was that darn Troodon again. Moynihan slowly moved her eyes upward and could see Oscura lowering her head. Oscura put her face close to Moynihan's, the jaws parted in a dinosaurian smile. "Oscura..I might have known it was you..." Moynihan said weakly, narrowing her eyes. "Just what are you doing here? If it's Caruso you want, you can't..."

Oscura pulled her head back and snickered. 'No, I didn't come here for Caruso. I came here for something more valuable than that...'

Moynihan narrowed her eyes further. "Me?" But to her surprise, Oscura shook her head.

'No, not you.' Oscura said. 'Victor will have you yet, but not now. He has something else in mind...'

"Tell me what you are after." Moynihan said in a demanding tone of voice. Forgetting about her fears of transforming, she gripped onto Oscura's foot, the one closest to her face, and her hand grew green scales and claws extended outward. She dug the claws as deep as she could make them go onto her leg. Oscura let out a loud hiss of pain, but remained where she was. She merely looked down at Moynihan with a pissed off look on her face.

'Why you little..' Oscura hissed. She quickly pulled her foot away, although this caused Moynihan's claws to cut into her skin even further, leaving several long cuts along her foot. Oscura hissed in pain and in anger. However, Oscura refused to move from where she stood. She placed the foot back on Moynihan, despite the danger, and this time pushed the claws against her stomach. Although small and weak compared to Victor's, she still pressed her sickle claw against the old woman as well, threatening to dig them in deeper if she tried a stunt like that again. 'Just try that again, you old hag, and you will witness first hand what it is like to be a Troodon's dinner!'

"I've dealt with Michelle before. I can certainly deal with you." Moynihan said defiantly.

'Michelle? Michelle?!' Oscura said almost gleefully. Then her voice grew serious. 'Don't make me laugh. She is nothing but a weakling! I am ten times better than she is!'

Moynihan tilted her head slightly to one side. "Oh, is that so?"

'Yes!' Oscura declared, straightening her neck up to make herself look proud. 'I know I am better than she is! I don't need to prove myself to anyone, least of all you!'

Moynihan smiled softly as she looked up at Oscura. The Troodon tilted her head sideways, confused as to why Moynihan was so darn happy. Moynihan decided to clear things up for her. "I guess that means you would have seen this coming!" Suddenly Oscura felt something wrap around her tail. Without warning, she was suddenly pulled violently backwards and released. She slammed against the wall, her head hitting the hard surface pretty hard. But she managed to keep consciousness. She shook her head and looked up at Moynihan in shock. The woman climbed onto her feet and, behind her, her long, flexible tail swished back and forth. "What? You've forgotten I have a tail?"

'Grrr..I'll kill you now!' Oscura declared. Without thinking, she dashed towards Moynihan. The old woman just arched her fingers as she swiftly transformed into a Velociraptor. She was so filled with the ancient urge to fight that she couldn't control herself. And now she found herself circling Oscura, waiting for the right moment to strike. After a few seconds of circling one another, the two suddenly lunged at each other. As the room became a blur of talons and colors, Rump ran under the bed in fright and Cerulean squawked loudly and, eventually, knocked over his cage, the door opening. As the fight continued, Cerulean flew out of the nearby open window, his calls echoing in the distance.

Within a short amount of time, Cerulean managed to reach the school. He didn't know where he was going. All he knew was that he wanted to get away from the lighthouse. He squawked constantly, filled with fright and confusion. He saw an open window and flew right into it. Students screamed in shock as the blue bird flew in all of a sudden. Cerulean nearly crashed into the teacher, who proceeded to swat the bird away. Cerulean managed to regain his 'footing' so-to-speak and continued flapping his wings. He made it out of the room and continued to fly frantically, trying his best to avoid all the obstacles. Papers flew in the air, students crashed into each other, people ran into the wall, others tried to avoid the crazed bird but ended up having run-ins with him. All the while, Cerulean just kept on squawking.

Eventually, the squawking caught the attention of Fiona and Max, who were in a hallway closest to where Cerulean had flown in. They didn't recognize the squawks at first and thought that a mutantsaur was attacking. They quickly ran to the location of the sounds to investigate what was going on. Although they knew they had to keep their secret dino identities a mystery from the other students, they still needed to check out the situation. For all they know, a very dangerous mutantsaur has invaded the school. People were screaming as if something was trying to kill them. They couldn't simply ignore this possible threat. Without contacting the others, the two quickly made their way to where the sounds were coming from.

"It's coming from over here!" Fiona said, gesturing for Max to follow her. The two quickly ran down the hallway, trying avoid the students as they rushed past them. Once they reached the end of the hallway, they stopped and looked around. There were two ways that they could go. They could either go left or right. Before they had time to decide, a loud squawk coming from the left revealed which way they should go. They quickly ran down the left hallway.

"What kind of mutantsaur is this?" Max asked aloud. "I haven't seen any damage to the school yet, I mean nothing other than the students just rushing by without looking where they are going." It was strange, indeed. Usually when a mutantsaur is involved, they would see some signs of the mutantsaur itself, such as damage caused by its newfound size and strength. By this time, they would usually see footprints or damaged walls or material. However this time around, they didn't see anything. It didn't make much sense to them.

Fiona thought about this, knowing Max did have a point. This was one strange mutantsaur. Even if it were invisible, it still would remain a solid and thus there should be some physical evidence of it being in the school. Then Fiona thought of something that would make some sense. What if the mutantsaur was not actually a mutantsaur? "Maybe it's not a mutant.." Fiona suggested, coming to a halt in the hallway.

Max stopped as well and looked over at Fiona. "What are you talking about? Only a mutantsaur would cause this many people to panic."

Fiona narrowed her eyes slightly and smiled. "Max, a lot of things can make people panic. Didn't you ever consider the possibility that maybe it's not a mutantsaur that's causing the problem but something else entirely? Maybe these students are just overreacting..."

Max tilted his head. "Well if it's not a mutantsaur, what could it possibly be?" His question was quickly answered when something small and blue flew out of the nearby empty class room. The small creature nearly ran into Max's face and he quickly ducked down. He looked up and quickly recognized who it was. "Hey..isn't that Cerulean? Moynihan's bird?"

Fiona looked up as well. Her eyes widened slightly. "Oh my..yes it is! But..what's he doing here?" She looked over at Max. "Moynihan never lets him outside..at least I never seen her do that."

Max nodded his head. "Something must be wrong."

Fiona's eyes widened further. "You don't suppose Moynihan is in any danger..do you?"

Max lowered his head, thinking. "I sure hope that isn't the case. But even if it is...how do you suppose we can get permission to leave school? It's not like we have any other teachers here who know our secret. We can't just walk up to the school principal and ask him to let us leave to help Moynihan who might be in danger from Victor Veloci."

"Yes, I know that, Max. I'm not stupid." Fiona said sternly. "But we can't just stand here and do nothing." She glanced over at Cerulean, who, seemingly recognizing the two, was staying close by and seemed to be calming down a little. Fiona held up a hand, two fingers pressed against one another like a perch, and whistled to Cerulean. The bird promptly flew down and gripped Fiona's fingers with his feet. He squawked a few times, but otherwise seemed calm. "And besides, we can't let Cerulean be seen."

Thinking about the students earlier, Max rolled his eyes. "It's kind of too late for that. People have already seen him."

Fiona gently stroked the bird's feathery chest. Cerulean nibbled at her finger a couple times, but didn't like the feel of the leather on his beak and turned away. He ruffled the feathers on the back of his neck as Fiona stopped stroking him and turned her attention back to Max. "Well, what do you propose we do? Just let Cerulean fly around in the school? That's a good one." Her voice was filled with sarcasm. "Let's just let him perch on my shoulder and no one will notice!"

Max looked irritated. "All right, I get it. You don't need to get an attitude." Fiona just looked away, looking just as irritated herself. Max groaned softly and his expression softened up. "Look, Fi, I'm..I'm sorry about that. I'm just so frustrated right now. I don't know what to do." Fiona still didn't respond, but Max decided not to press her any further. He looked back down the hallway to see if anyone was coming. He tried to listen for any approaching people, but he couldn't hear anything. The hallways were completely empty, at least this portion of the school was. He wondered if it was because of Cerulean. Even the teachers were gone. He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. A teacher overreacting to a bird? Now that's something.

But his smile quickly faded as his thoughts drifted back to Moynihan. It wasn't like her to let Cerulean out of his cage. How did he manage to get out? Did Moynihan knock over the cage? Unlikely..she would have tried to get him back and Cerulean usually comes when she calls him. Perhaps Cerulean opened up the cage himself while Moynihan wasn't looking? Max tried not to laugh at the thought. Again, this wasn't like Cerulean. His beak wasn't strong enough to pull the cage door lock open and he wasn't clever enough to do that anyway, unless someone managed to train him to do it. So what else could have happened? He briefly considered the possibility that Rump knocked over the cage, but this was also dismissed quickly. Moynihan had done her best to keep the two separated, knowing full well that they didn't get along very well. So what else remained? Then it hit him.

"You're right, Fiona..." Max finally said. Fiona turned over and looked at him, her expression now that of curiosity. "We do have to get to the lighthouse. There's only one thing I can think of that would explain why Cerulean is here."

"And what is that?" Fiona asked. But she suspected what the answer was.

"She's under attack." Max said sternly, eyes narrowed. "We have to tell the others."

* * *

After what seemed like hours, the Dino Squad arrived at the lighthouse. Not much time had passed, probably a half hour at most. But it felt like an eternity for them, especially with how difficult it was to get out of school. After Fiona and Max managed to talk to the others without fear of being spied on, they had to talk to their teachers, coming up with some sort of elaborate lie in order to permit them to leave. Each one told their own story and, in the end, they all worked, although some of the teachers were still skeptical of the stories. The principal was the hardest to convince. He needed a very good excuse in order to let the children leave and he wasn't the type that was easily fooled. But miraculously, they did manage to convince him to let them go. The Dino Squad had promised him that they wouldn't be doing this on a daily basis and that this might most likely be their only time requesting to leave school early. Although he allowed them to leave, the principal was still rather skeptical and kept his eyes on them as they left as if he was expecting them to pull of some sort of trick.

The Dino Squad got off of their bikes, including Fiona and Caruso, who had their bikes retrieved by Ms. Moynihan after they had foolishly left them behind. Since this was the second time or so that one or more of the Dino Squad had left their bikes behind, Moynihan had a talk with her students on the dangers of leaving their bikes unattended for very long. She warned them that one of Victor's men might find them and take them away and that would allow him to find the Chillers and the Spillers. Each of the motorcycles had at least one Chiller and one Spiller inside a case. This was so that each of the team members would have their own Chillers and Spillers handy in case they needed to de-ooze some mutantsaurs and there was no one around to help them. While this was handy to keep them 'armed' in case danger approached, it also meant that there was an increased chance of Victor finding out about the weapons. They had done their best to make sure the crazy scientist never got a hold of them. If he did, he may figure out a way to transform the ooze into something the Chillers and Spillers cannot deal with. And if that were to happen, things will just get more complicated for the team.

The team approached the lighthouse cautiously. They looked up and couldn't see any lights on. It was almost like no one was home. But the team knew Moynihan was in here. There was nowhere else she could possibly be and she did say she was going to stay at the lighthouse today, apparently not feeling too well. It wasn't so much because of Moynihan that they were being cautious. They didn't know who or what was in the lighthouse that was causing whatever problems are going on inside. And it was eerily silent. What if Moynihan had been killed? The last time they came to the lighthouse and it was unusually quiet, they came upon both Rump and Moynihan being injured. Both were lucky to have survived Michelle's assault.

Max walked up to the door and grabbed the handle. He expected it to be locked just like last time, but to his surprise, it was open. He pushed the door open and walked inside the lighthouse. He was quickly followed by his team mates. They each had their Chillers and Spillers handy, leveled, prepared to fire in case it was a mutantsaur that got into the lighthouse. While it seemed unlikely considering the lighthouse shield was online and would detect mutantsaurs, if Moynihan wasn't feeling too well, it seemed likely that she wouldn't hear the signals or not pay as much attention to them.

"Where do you think Ms. Moynihan could be?" Buzz asked, looking around the living room. He had expected seeing her down here, although he couldn't think of why. Probably because that's what he's used to seeing whenever he comes to the lighthouse any other day. Moynihan was usually in the living room, ready to greet them as they came in for training.

"She's likely upstairs, Buzz." Max responded as he made his way towards the steps. "She wasn't feeling very well, remember?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she's upstairs, laying down." Fiona agreed. "Or..was laying down until..." She couldn't bring herself to finish. She and the others didn't want to think of the possibility that something terrible had happened. Perhaps Max was mistaken. Perhaps something else had happened that allowed Cerulean to get free. Fiona looked over at the bird still perched on her shoulder. Cerulean's head bobbed up and down and he seemed to grow more anxious as they went further into the lighthouse. "I wonder why he's getting all excited..."

Caruso, who was walking next to her, just shrugged his shoulders. In an attempt to make a lighthearted joke, he said, "I-I don't know. I-I am n-not a bird brain..." He offered a small smile, but his expression softened when Fiona glared slightly at him. "I'm sorry, Fiona. I was..was just trying to..."

Fiona sighed. "I know what you were trying to do, Caruso. But please..not now..."

"Come on you guys." Max said. He was standing on the staircase now. He had started walking up when he realized the others weren't following. He gestured towards them and said, "Let's get up there now, before something terrible happens to Ms. M!" The others quickly followed him up the stairs and they continued their way up until they reached the top of the stairs.

Buzz glanced over at the door to Moynihan's bedroom. The door was shut, and, although the lights were out, he could see shadows moving along the floor. "Something is..definitely inside that room." He said in a low voice. "You were right Max. Something is attacking Ms. Moynihan."

"But we don't know that yet." Rodger said quickly. "I haven't heard any screaming or seen any signs of blood or a fight. Perhaps that's just Moynihan walking around in there."

Max's eyes narrowed slightly. "Well if that were the case, then why are there two shadows?" Max pointed to the ground.

Buzz's eyes widen. "That can't be good..."

"Maybe it's just an illusion." Rodger said, trying to reason with Max. "The mind can play tricks on you if you get too worked up over nothing."

Fiona put her hands on her hips. "Like how you and Buzz got worked up over Michelle and binded her?"

Rodger glared down at Fiona. "Hey, you helped!" Fiona couldn't think of anything to say to defend herself against that accusation. She knew Rodger was right. She had helped them tie up the girl in the first place. So she had no reason to accuse only Buzz and Rodger; she was at fault as well. Rodger's expression quickly softened up. "Look, let's not fight now." He turned his attention back towards the door. "I think the only way we are going to find out what's going inside is to take a direct approach and open it up."

"But what if it's a trap?" Buzz quickly said.

"M-Maybe it's Victor..." Caruso added, sounding even more afraid than Buzz did.

"But we aren't going to find out for sure unless we go in here." Rodger explained. "And what if Max is right? While I don't agree with him about there something being in there, I will say that there's still the possibility...and what if something is in there? Don't you guys want to make sure that Ms. Moynihan is at least safe?"

"And what if she is?" Buzz asked, scratching his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Wouldn't that mean we came all the way out here for nothing? What is the principal going to say?"

Max shook his head. "The principal's not going to do anything. I'm sure Moynihan can talk to him and explain the situation." Realizing what he said, he quickly added, "..without revealing our secret identities and missions and such, of course!" He laughed nervously, feeling embarrassed for almost leaving out that part.

Suddenly they heard a crash from inside the room. The Dino Squad immediately turned their attention towards the door. Then they heard another loud crash and then the sound of something hitting the floor with a heavy thud. This confirmed Max's suspicions. There was something inside and it sounded like, whatever it was, was currently in combat with Moynihan. But that also meant that Moyniha is likely in raptor mode. That made the team cautious about entering the room. What if she attacks them as soon as they walk in? But what other choice did they have? Hesitating only momentarily, Rodger quickly moved forward and tried to open up the door. For some reason, it had been locked, though he couldn't think of why, since it wasn't night or anything. Regardless, Rodger lifted up a foot and easily smashed the door open and the team rushed inside the room.

They quickly saw what was causing all the commotion. As they had initially suspected, Moynihan was in raptor form, but her eyes retained the normal yellow glow, indicating that she was in complete control of her dinosaur form. This came as a relief to the Dino Squad, but they couldn't relax just yet, for Moynihan was locked in combat with one of their enemies, Oscura. The Troodon was trying to bite Moynihan, but any time she came close, the female raptor managed to swat her away with a single swipe of the tail. But Oscura wasn't giving up. Each time she was knocked down, she quickly got back to her feet and tried to attack Moynihan once more. But when it became apparent the two weren't alone anymore in the fight, they paused and looked over at the team.

'Kids!' Moynihan said, her eyes widening slightly. 'You shouldn't be here!'

"We suspected that you were in trouble and we came to help!" Max said.

'How...?' Joanne started to say.

"Cerulean came to the school!" Fiona said, gesturing to the bird still perched on her shoulder.

Moynihan's eyes widened a little further. 'Cerulean...?' She hadn't even noticed her pet had gone missing.

'Well well...' Oscura suddenly said. 'Isn't this nice? Now I can kill you all!'