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...

29. Feral

The Dino Squad took a fighting stance, preparing to fight. But before they could go dino, they realized something. There was no way any of them could transform in here. The room was too small for their dinosaur forms and, with how heavy they would be, especially Rodger and Caruso, they might fall through the floor and wreck the lighthouse. But they still kept the stance. Oscura tilted her head, at first confused as to why they weren't transforming. Then she realized the reason and gave a hissing laugh. The Dino Squad glared at her, but they couldn't do anything about it. Moynihan did her best to keep the Troodon from attacking the children. When Oscura made a charge towards them, Moynihan quickly rushed in her direction and knocked the Troodon away with her muzzle. Moynihan turned her head to the kids.

'It's too dangerous for you children to be here now! Hurry, get away!' Moynihan called out to them, her eyes narrowed in determination. 'Don't worry about me. I'll hold her off!' But the kids stood their ground. They didn't want to abandon their teacher, especially now, when she was alone against the dangerous Troodon.

"We're not leaving." Max said, his voice filled with determination. "We're staying. We're going to help you."

Fiona looked over at him. "But how can we help? None of us can transform in here without causing a problem. Rodger and Caruso might fall through the floor, and you and I might be too tall for the room..." As she thought about it, there was one person she had forgotten about: Buzz. Fiona looked over at the punk teenager. Buzz was not as tall as they were in dino mode and, being a pterosaur, he was very lightweight. Her main concern was maybe the room was too small for his wings. But she couldn't think of anyone else who might be able to go dino and help Moynihan. "Buzz!" She called out, getting the boy's attention. "You could go dino! You're light enough to transform..."

"But..what if the room's too small for me to..." Buzz started to ask. But he was cut off when Oscura lunged in his direction. Buzz screamed in surprise and stumbled back. Oscura was suddenly thrown to the side. Moynihan had grabbed the Troodon by the tail with her jaws and thrown her as hard as she could into the wall. Moynihan then lunged towards Oscura and pinned her down on the ground. Her hand digits wrapped around Oscura's mouth, holding it shut so she couldn't bite her.

"Hurry! Transform before she gets up again!" Fiona shouted at Buzz. But Buzz just hesitated, watching the scene, unsure if he would even be much of a help if he did transform. "Buzz...!"

Just then, Oscura let out a loud hiss as she managed to knock Moynihan off of her with all the energy that she could muster. But instead of going after the downed Velociraptor, probably the easiest target at the moment, Oscura again turned her attention to Buzz. It was like she knew that he was the only one who could currently transform without a problem. She wanted to disable him before he had a chance. After that, she could quickly take out the rest of the Dino Squad, who would be helpless in their human forms. Oscura lunged towards Buzz, mouth split wide open.

Buzz screamed. Then, for what seemed like several minutes, but in reality only took seconds, Buzz closed his eyes and started to glow. In a flash, he quickly transformed into a Pteranodon. He craned his head back and let out a loud screech as he managed to knock Oscura away with his sharp talons on his feet. The claws slashed Oscura's side and the Troodon screeched in pain as she slammed into the ground. She glanced at her cuts and looked back up at Buzz and hissed loudly. She quickly climbed to her feet and lunged at Buzz, who remained where he was standing, waiting for the right moment to strike. He stood in front of his friends, his wings spread out to not only make himself look bigger, but to protect his friends from the enraged Troodon. He managed to knock Oscura down again, but he couldn't help but wonder one thing: was he strong enough to face the Troodon on his own?

* * *

At Raptor Dyne, many of the workers were leaving, most of them having been assigned somewhere else temporarily. Likely, it was just to monitor any possible mutations that might have occurred. While Victor hadn't been doing a lot of experimenting with primordial ooze recently since he discovered the Dino Squad, once in a while he had let some ooze spill into the environment, although, so far, there wasn't any detection of mutations. This concerned Victor, especially since the recent bath of ooze he let loose was the one that was supposed to be enhanced, immune to the Chillers and Spillers. He wondered if his men had failed him again, but decided not to concern himself with it just yet. He could just try again, like he normally does. Besides, it wasn't like it was a mystery what might have happened to the ooze. The Dino Squad more than likely had something to do with it.

Not all the workers were sent away on missions, however. A good portion of the workers that knew nothing of Victor's real plans were simply sent home with no explanation. They found it to be strange, but Victor had assured them that there was nothing to worry about and that they could return to work the next day. And typical of humans, they did fall for it, trusting Victor's word completely. Victor was a little surprised that no one questioned him; he had expected at least one nosy human to try to figure out what was going on, but they all went home like he had told them to. But he shouldn't concern himself with that now. He had more important things to attend to.

Victor sent most of his men away so he could shut down Raptor Dyne. It wasn't because he was leaving for the day. There was still some hours left before Raptor Dyne would usually close. Victor, however, had plans for one part of the building and he didn't want to risk any of his untrustworthy workers to find out about it. He still had the wolverine mutantsaur tied up in one of the rooms, but he didn't think it was enough. He wanted more mutantsaurs to aide him in finally taking down the Dino Squad. One mutantsaur wasn't going to work. But he couldn't just take animals and mutate them, otherwise the Dino Squad would find out about it relatively quickly. He was going to need to mutate humans again inside his laboratory, the only safe place where it's unlikely they will detect the primordial ooze in their bodies. Luckily, he had saved some of the primordial ooze he had used on Drew earlier.

Victor was inside the laboratory already, looking at the monitors. He was checking to see how much longer it would be until Moynihan's mind should be completely reformed into how he feels a Velociraptor should be like. He was pleased to learn that it wasn't going to be very long. Anywhere between an hour and three hours, according to the scanners. Victor turned away from the monitors and looked at two vials that he had prepared for his two 'guinea pigs'. They were only about halfway filled, but that's all he needed to inject into them. Three mutantsaurs would be enough, combined with Kista, Oscura, Michelle, and himself, they would be more than enough to take down the Dino Squad. They would be easily overwhelmed. They wouldn't stand a chance. Victor smirked. Once he had captured the others and taken blood samples from them, he would kill them off along with Caruso. And Moynihan would remain by his side this time, and she didn't have a choice in the matter, not anymore.

As Veloci got up from his seat, he heard footsteps behind him. He looked over to see Kista, who had a serious look on her face. This only mildly surprised Victor. While Kista can be a little silly at times, she can be serious when she wants to be. And she was a formidable opponent, he'll give her that. Veloci picked up the two vials with one hand and narrowed his eyes at Kista. "What do you want, Ms. Bakar? I'm a little busy at the moment. I thought I had told you I didn't want to be disturbed."

Kista nodded her head. "Well yes, you did tell me that. But..." Kista glanced over in one direction. All that could be seen where the many tubes of failed experiments, tables, and red walls. But it was also the same direction where the path to the large mutantsaur rooms were. "..why do you have to use those two idiots for the experiment? Do you think it is even wise to use such incompetent humans for this?"

"Normally I don't use humans." Veloci said, a small glare appearing on his face. "But it's too risky to try and take any animals. Or do you want the Dino Squad coming around and neutralizing the mutants before they could be put to good use?"

Kista said, "Well no. I understand that part. But why don't you just capture some animals? Wouldn't that have been easier?"

Victor blinked. He had forgotten about that. Kista was right. That would have been an easier task to fulfill. But he had already made up his mind and he wasn't about to change it. He didn't answer Kista and instead just quickly walked past her and made his way towards the back part of the laboratory. Kista glared in his direction, putting her hands on her hips as if she was furious that he would just walk out on him like that. But her expression quickly softened up and she couldn't help but smile. She decided to follow him. She wasn't actually done talking to him yet anyway.

* * *

Victor made it to the room where he saw his 'lucky volunteers.' In the middle of the room, although greatly spaced apart, were both Zoom and O'Ryan. Victor had never actually let them go. He had found a better use for them and decided to keep them at Raptor Dyne until he thought the time was right. He hadn't told them what he wanted to do with them and he had kept them locked in this part of the laboratory. The only time he would usually come in was to give them something to eat and drink or to let them go to the bathroom, escorted by at least two of his men, armed with a weapon, to make sure that they didn't try to run away.

Both Zoom and O'Ryan were shackled with the same type of brace that Drew, and even earlier, Moynihan were wearing. He had managed to duplicate the devise and now had two of them. This was done to make things go a lot faster. Why do one human at a time when he could do two at the same time? The shackles, just as they were with Drew, were reversed so that energy would be pumped into the humans rather than out. This would enable the primordial ooze to take a hold a lot faster, forcing the two men to transform unwillingly into the mutantsaur that Victor had assigned to them. Zoom briefly struggled with the shackles, but they were clamped too tightly. They were locked as well so he couldn't bend down and pull them off. He glanced over at O'Ryan, who was putting up more of a fight. He was constantly struggling with the shackles, but they were firmly locked in place, preventing him from getting loose and escaping.

Zoom was the first one to notice Victor was in the room. "Victor!" He cried out. He was expecting him to bring them food again like he normally did, even though he wasn't very hungry at the moment. But then he glanced down at what Victor was holding in his hands. His eyes grew wide. "What..what are you going to do with that?"

Victor only smirked at him. "This, Zoom and O'Ryan, is the reason I kept you two down here. You are going to be the lucky humans who get to be part of my next experiment."

Zoom slowly shook his head. "No..." Victor just tilted his head slightly to one side, the evil smirk still spread across his face. "You can't..please..."

O'Ryan glared over in his direction. "Stop being such a baby!" Then he looked over at Victor, his scowl deepening further. "And as for you, nobody, and I mean nobody, uses me as some sort of guinea pig! You hear me?" He glanced down at his shackles and tried to wrench his legs free from it. "If you think..I'm going to stand around here..and let you use me like I was some sort of wild animal, you've got..another think coming! I demand that you release me this instant!"

Victor narrowed his eyes for a moment, then softened his expression. He slowly walked over towards O'Ryan, Zoom watching the whole time with widened eyes. O'Ryan continued to glare even as the man came extremely close to him. The two simply stared at each other for several seconds before Victor finally broke the silence. "Did you just try to command me to do something for you?" Victor asked, acting as if he didn't hear O'Ryan's question properly.

O'Ryan nodded his head. "You heard me right, pal. No one messes with O'Ryan!"

Victor smirked. One of his hands glowed, becoming a shade of red with talons sticking out the tips of his fingers. He reached forward and gently pressed the tip of the pointer finger's claw against the underside of O'Ryan's chin. "And no one ever demands me to do anything. I do what I want." O'Ryan tried to punch Victor, but the billionaire swiftly brought up his other hand and caught the fist before it came into contact with his face. Victor lowered his transformed hand down, changing it back to normal. He then shifted the hand gripping O'Ryan's hand the same way as he did with the other. He narrowed his eyes as he squeezed O'Ryan's hand tightly, digging his talons into the man's skin, blood starting to leak from the puncture wounds.

O'Ryan's eyes widened and he stifled a cry of pain. His eyes then closed tightly, letting a few tears of pain stream down his face as Victor squeezed his hand even tighter. O'Ryan felt as if his hand was going to be ripped off any second. Finally, O'Ryan couldn't take the pain anymore and he dropped down to his knees. "Let me go..." He said as he slowly lifted up his head. He still had the glare on his face, but Victor smirked as he saw the tears on the man's face. "Just let me go..." O'Ryan whispered, his voice a harsh whisper. O'Ryan wasn't about to beg for his life. He wasn't a weakling.

Veloci considered his options. He could just let the man go. He didn't have to deal with him for much longer anyway. Or he could prolong the man's pain just for the heck of it. He deserved it, after all. He was a rather arrogant human, and a strange one at that. The guy could use a little wake up call, to show him what happens when he crosses paths with the wrong person, or in this case, the wrong dinosaur. But he ultimately decided to let him go. Why delay the experiment any further? Victor released O'Ryan's hand and said, "Next time, I won't be so merciful."

O'Ryan just glared at Victor. "Sure..whatever..." He slowly rose back onto his feet and brushed himself off.

Zoom, on the other hand, was still frightened. He glanced down at his shackles and gulped. Whatever Victor was going to do with them, there was no way they could escape. He looked back over at Victor and eyed the vials he had in his paws. "What...what is in those...?" He pointed at one of the vials Victor was carrying.

"Oh these..?" Victor lifted up one vial, looking at the orange material inside. "It's my primordial ooze, of course. I am going to use it to transform both of you into mutantsaurs...and then you will be under my control."

Upon hearing this, Zoom started to struggle against his shackles. Victor just watched him, smiling at the man's pathetic attempts to free himself. O'Ryan just glanced over at Zoom and rolled his eyes. But despite the fact that there was no way Zoom could break out of the shackles, he still kept at it. This perseverance did impress O'Ryan somewhat. Perhaps he wasn't as weak as he had initially thought. O'Ryan glanced down at his own shackles again. He felt like a weakling because he couldn't break them. He had more muscular build than Zoom, so if he couldn't break them, there's no way Zoom was going to be able to pull it off either. O'Ryan then looked at Victor. Despite Victor's demonstration of strength, he still didn't feel like he should be listening to the guy. He didn't care who, or what, he was. Absolutely no one could control him, and he wasn't about to let that change now. Following Zoom's lead, he started, again, to pull at his shackles, using as much force as he could.

Veloci looked over and saw O'Ryan was also starting to try to escape. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Humans are such stupid creatures." He commented as he started to walk a wide circle around both O'Ryan and Zoom. "They get a little encouragement and they think they can do anything." The two men paused, glancing at Victor as he continued to circle them like a hawk. "You two don't seem to fully understand the situation that you are in... And neither did Caruso."

When he mentioned Caruso's name, O'Ryan growled. "Caruso..that little brat... I'll get him!"

Veloci gave O'Ryan a sideways glance. "I'm afraid you won't. I already have someone out to perform that task already. I don't care what kind of grudge you have against that boy. I have another use for you and your little friend here."

O'Ryan bared his teeth. "He's not my friend, you abomination!"

Zoom looked over at O'Ryan. "Do you have any idea what he is? He could..."

O'Ryan chuckled darkly. "I don't care what he is. I don't care who he is. All I care about is him letting me go. He has no right to...!" Suddenly, something large and red, mixed in with what looked like pale yellow, smacked against his side. The sound of cloth ripping filled the air. O'Ryan let out a cry of pain and he quickly clutched his side. He felt something warm and sticky on his hands. He glanced down and his eyes widened. Blood was staining his hand, running through his fingers. When he moved his hand away from his side, he saw a somewhat long, somewhat deep cut in his side. O'Ryan glanced over at Victor and, for the first time, his eyes were filling with fear and dread.

Victor smirked in satisfaction. "I see that we understand each other." One of his feet was partially transformed, a large sickle claw growing out of his shoe. That claw was coated in dark red blood, and was quickly hardening and drying up. Victor had hit the man with his sickle claw with only a fraction of his strength. If he killed O'Ryan, he wouldn't be of any use to him anymore, other than perhaps a meal. Victor took a step closer and put a hand on O'Ryan's shoulder. "Caruso was able to endure pain like this for a long time before he finally gave him. You are experiencing but a fraction of the pain he had gone through. If a pathetic boy like that could endure several times more pain than this for an extended period of time, in theory, you should be able to do the same..."

O'Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn't think of anything to say. His eyes were locked onto Victor's and he couldn't stop the fear from welling up inside of him. He shook his head, trying to regain his senses. What was wrong with him? Victor was just trying to scare him. And yet, he couldn't shake off the dreadful feeling that something bad was going to happen to him if he continued to act the way he did. And when Veloci mentioned briefly what Caruso had gone through, O'Ryan started to feel a small sense of guilt at wanting to go after the boy. Normally, he wouldn't care, but after experiencing a 'fraction' of what Caruso endured, being put in his shoes, O'Ryan started to have second thoughts. He finally managed to say something. "So..are you going to kill me?"

Victor released his grip and turned his back towards O'Ryan, letting out a light-hearted laugh. "Of course not! Weren't you listening? You and Zoom are going to become my slaves. Once I get this primordial ooze into your systems, you'll transform into what I'd like to call mutantsaurs. And you will under my control; the primordial ooze will take away your will power so there's no way you can fight back and disobey my orders."

O'Ryan tried to struggle against his shackles, but the pain in his side stopped him. He gave up quickly and could only glare in Victor's direction. "Do you really think that you can...?"

Victor immediately interrupted him. "Yes, I really think I can." He immediately reached forward and grabbed O'Ryan by the neck. He pulled the man towards himself and lifted up the first vial. "Don't worry. I'll make this as painless as I can for you." He opened up the vial to reveal a long, sharp needle. O'Ryan's eyes widened as he saw the needle, but he made no attempts to struggle. Victor looked pleased at this sign of obedience and quickly shoved the needle into O'Ryan's neck. After a few seconds, the whole vial was pumped into his neck. Victor immediately with drew the needle and discarded it like it was trash. Then he made his way towards Zoom O'Donnell. "Now it's your turn..." He said with a smirk on his face.

Zoom shook his head. He glanced over at O'Ryan, looking in horror at his wound. This made Zoom afraid to say anything. He wondered if Victor was going to inflict a similar kind of injury to him if he tried to defy him. But Zoom was also equally terrified at the vial that Victor held in his hands, terrified of what was going to happen to him after it was injected. He could feel his heart racing and he quickly regretted ever wanting to join Victor as a means of vengeance. If this is what it means to have a chance to get even with someone, he would rather be dead. But there was something he wanted to ask Victor. "Why..why did you want to use us for this sort of thing? Out of everyone..why us...?"

Victor chuckled evilly. "Because you two are expendable. No one is going to miss you."

"Someone is bound to notice we're missing!" Zoom snapped, but quickly regretted it when Victor narrowed his eyes at him. Zoom turned his head away, feeling his body trembling in fear.

"If any..human...asks where you are or what happened to you..." Victor explained, pressing a claw against Zoom's throat. "..I will just tell them you both were killed in a horrible accident that completely destroyed your remains. They'll buy it. Humans will believe almost anything..." Just as he had with O'Ryan, Victor gripped Zoom's neck. While the man put up some fight, struggling, it was weak and Victor was able to hold him in place long enough to push the needle into his neck. After he was finished, he released him and took a step back. Zoom looked at him, horrified. "Now just relax you two. The primordial ooze will take effect shortly. I can assure you it's completely painless. So there's no point in struggling. You might as well relax and let the ooze run its course. There's no escape for you two..."

A laugh suddenly echoed in the room. Victor turned around and saw Kista walking in slowly, her arms crossed and a dark smirk on her face. Victor growled under his breath. How long had she been standing there? And why had she followed him? Kista slowly talked towards him, her eyes darting from Victor, then to Zoom, then to O'Ryan, and then back at Victor. She slowly shook her head. "I still see no use for them. You should have just killed them off." Zoom and O'Ryan's eyes both widened at that statement. Kista simply shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can think of that I would want to do with them. They would just get in the way."

Victor took a few steps towards her. "Don't question me, Kista. I've got it all figured out..." He pointed at Zoom and O'Ryan. "I've got a plan to wipe out the Dino Squad and they are going to help me." The two men looked at each other nervously. As much as they wanted revenge on the kids, they didn't think it would be like this. "I don't care if they are human or not. Within a few minutes, they will be something..more..."

"You mean more idiotic and violent?" Kista chortled. "You crack me up, Dr. Veloci. You really do. You go on about wanting to kill Caruso because he knew the cure, then you say that there is no cure, and then now you want to kill all of the Dino Squad. And now you want to use these two idiots, who nearly released a video that would have interfered with your plan, as part of this new plan to kill the Dino Squad?" Kista shook her head as she watched Victor bare his teeth in anger. "Is there no end to your hilarity?"

"Yes..." Victor admitted, agreeing with some of what Kista said. "I did say that Caruso knowing some cure was a lie." Victor had made up the claim of the cure just so that he would have some sort of motivation to want to kill him. But he recently found out he was wrong about something. "I had found out, however, that there may be a way to reverse the effects of the chemical. From what I examined on my monitors, the team had figured out a way to slow down the process."

"And that's bad, right?" Kista said.

Victor nodded his head. "Bad for us anyway. If they can figure out how to slow it down, they may be able to figure out how to reverse it altogether." Victor glanced over at the two men behind them, as if he were expecting them to transform soon. "It may also reverse the primordial ooze in these two imbeciles. And since Caruso was temporarily exposed to it, but recovered, he might be the key to my plan's undoing. That's why he must die."

"And what of his friends? Why do you want to kill them?" Kista asked, acting as if she didn't already know the answer. She was simply acting ignorant to get on Victor's nerves.

Victor groaned. "It is so that I won't get anymore trouble from those pestering youngsters." He explained, rubbing his head. "They've given me one headache too many with their constant interfering with my plans. I can't tell you the number of times I could have succeeded if it weren't for those little brats."

Kista chuckled. "I see..."

Suddenly the two heard screams coming from where the two men were shackled. They looked over to see the men on their knees, seemingly in pain. Their muscles were bulging, becoming larger and stronger. Their skin color was changing. Their mouths were lengthening, teeth sharpening and growing in size. Their eyes were starting to glow, their pupils resembling a cat's rather than a human's. As the two men continued to mutate, Victor just watched them with a dark smile on his face. Within no time at all, Zoom and O'Ryan would be nothing more than additions to his company, two powerful assets that will help him capture the so-called 'perfect dinosaurs' once and for all. He glanced over at Kista, who eyed the two men with her eyes widened as if she was shocked by what she was seeing. When Kista looked over at Victor, his only response was, "There is no turning back now..."

* * *

Buzz let out a loud screech as he felt Oscura's talons graze across his leg. He felt blood drip from the wound, but he did his best to ignore it. There was several more cuts like this one on his body, mainly on his legs and tail, since they were the easiest targets for Oscura to reach. He had managed to dodge her bites, however, and also managed to injure her once or twice as well. But she was so small and so agile that he was having a hard time hitting her. He had nearly hit Moynihan instead a few times, but luckily managed to stop himself before he had done any damage. Keeping track of Oscura, however, was difficult. One minute, she'd be in front of him, and the next, she'd be behind him, lunging in for an attack.

Buzz had tried to get the others to leave, but they refused to leave him alone with Oscura and Moynihan. They were still concerned that Moynihan could go feral at any time and they thought Buzz would need their help if that ever did happen. They kept their distance from the fight and luckily Buzz was able to keep Oscura away from the others. This was one of the main reasons he wanted them to leave. While in human form, they make a more tempting target. If Oscura got her claws on them, he could easily bite them and make them very sick. And with Moynihan feral, they wouldn't be able to cure themselves from the dangerous cocktail of bacteria that would be pumped into their blood screams from the bite wound.

Oscura tried to land another bite. She lunged up into the air and snapped her jaws shut close to Buzz's wing. But she ended up missing and fell back to the ground. She shook her head, and then glanced back up at Buzz. An irritated look appeared on her reptilian face. 'Hold still, you worthless piece of trash!'

Buzz screeched in anger. 'And why should I listen to a talking rag doll?!'

Oscura hissed in fury. 'You take that back, you mutated buzzard!'

'No!' Buzz declared before he dove towards Oscura for another attack. He managed to hit her with his sharp beak, but he only managed to produce a long, small cut on her side. The injury was only enough to make her angry; it wasn't going to slow her down much at all. 'Oh man...' Buzz said, realizing what he had just gotten himself into.

'Yes..you should be afraid..' Oscura hissed at him. She glanced at her wound to see the extent of the damage.

Buzz shook his head quickly and took this opportunity to strike. While Oscura's head was turned away, he made another dive at her. His long beak opened up and he managed to land a bite on the Troodon. Oscura screeched loudly in pain as the Pteranodon's jagged beak cut into her back and side. She tried to twist her head around to bite Buzz, but Buzz was wise to this and managed to release her just before her jaws could sink into his body. He moved quickly away from her and Oscura glared up at him in frustration. She knew she wouldn't be able to reach him while he was up there, and Buzz knew it too. 'Heheheh..you can't reach me now, can you?'

Oscura hissed angrily. 'Come back down here, you flying rat!' Her long tail swished from side to side in anticipation. She lifted up her hands and arched her fingers forward, showing off her sharp claws. 'Let's see how well you fight a Troodon when you're on the ground!'

Neil shook his long head, his eyes closed. 'No thank you. I'm perfectly fine here up in the air.' He reopened his eyes and looked down at Oscura. He couldn't help but feel rather amused at how she was pacing across the floor, waiting for him to get low enough for her to attack him. She would be going after his friends if it weren't for the fact that both he and Moynihan would be able to stop her in a heartbeat. 'And I see you are perfectly fine on the ground.' He said in a joking manner.

'Laugh while you can, bird brain!' Oscura snapped, lowering her head in frustration. 'Once I get my teeth on you, there won't be anymore laughing from you!'

Buzz opened up his beak as he let out a long hiss. 'I hate to say it, but you won't be biting me, or anyone here, with your disgusting mouth!'

Oscura tilted her head in one direction. 'Are you so sure about that...?' She asked in a taunting voice. Before Buzz could answer, she asked another question, this time her tone was a little more serious. 'How can you be so certain that you would be able to stop me? You're all the way up there, and I'm here on the ground. I could easily...'

Buzz narrowed his eyes dangerously. 'I'd like to see you try!' As he said that, he suddenly dove for the Troodon, his beak opened up to take aim at the Troodon once again. Oscura narrowed her eyes and jumped up in his direction, managing to kick him in the stomach with one of her feet. Buzz's eyes widen in pain as he found himself plummeting towards the ground. Before he could stop himself, his beak struck the floor and became stuck. Buzz struggled to get his beak free.

'You're mine now...' Oscura proclaimed as she charged for the Troodon.

"BUZZ!" Max and the others cried out. They wished they could help, but there was nothing that they could do. They couldn't go dino in here. They wouldn't be able to move quickly enough to combat Oscura. And if they let themselves get bitten, they would get sick and likely die from the infection. All they could do was watch helplessly as Oscura charged towards Buzz, and they hoped that he would get free in time. But as Oscura drew closer and Buzz still wasn't free, they felt their hopes diminish. Not wanting to see this happen, the team closed their eyes and looked away. Oscura's jaws slammed shut and there was a loud dinosaurian scream filling the air. The team shuddered, and forced themselves to look over to see what had happened. To their shock, it wasn't Buzz that Oscura had bitten...

"Moynihan!" Rodger shouted in horror.

"No!" Max chimed in.

'What the...you?!' Oscura was just as shocked as the Dino Squad. Her jaws were clamped down on the Velociraptor's arm. She could feel blood running through her teeth. While she was glad that she had gotten some kind of target, she hadn't been expecting to bite Moynihan. She started to feel a little worried on what Victor might say to her if he found out what had happened. The green Velociraptor lifted up one of her feet and struck Oscura in the side, causing the Troodon to tumble backwards, creating long cuts on Moynihan with her jagged teeth.

Moynihan hissed in pain, but stood her ground. Although in pain, Moynihan simply glanced down at the Troodon, eyeing her as if the bite wasn't bothering her at all. 'I will not...ever let you hurt...those kids...!' She said through her pain, baring her sharp teeth.

Oscura lifted up her head confidently. Her bacteria-filled saliva would start working on the raptor pretty soon and when it did, the raptor would become an easy target. Oscura just needed to merely bide her time until the bacteria started to take effect. She started to walk around Moynihan, locking her eyes on the raptor's eyes. Moynihan followed Oscura's every move, waiting to see what she was going to do next. Oscura chuckled darkly, her tail swinging swiftly back and forth like a cat that was getting ready to pounce on its prey. 'You do realize what a foolish mistake you just made, don't you, you old woman?' Oscura asked, baring her teeth in a dinosaur-like grin.

Moynihan narrowed her eyes. 'I made no mistake. I jumped in front of Buzz because I wanted to protect him. That's what loved ones do. Then again, you wouldn't understand that, now would you..?'

Oscura let out a couple growly hisses, as if she were trying to laugh, but her dinosaur form prevented her from laughing properly. 'You're such a fool! You would give up your life for him? How idiotic...' Oscura shook her small head, her eyes closed. 'No wonder Victor regards humans as weak. A true species would look after itself. A true species would be strong enough to handle things on its own!'

Moynihan interrupted her with a loud screech. 'And a true species knows that they aren't the only living creatures in this world! And a true species would know that it is wrong to allow someone to get hurt, or even killed, if they could do something to change it!' She took a step towards Oscura, taking a more hostile posture. Her eyes had started to change color, albeit very slightly. Her mouth started to salivate a little more. The Dino Squad started to become concerned about this. They were afraid this was going to happen. Moynihan was in Velociraptor mode too long.

"Moynihan!" Max called out, taking a step forward. Moynihan's head turned towards him. "Please, change back! Transform back now!"

Fiona nodded her head. "Please! If you don't change back, you might lose it, just like you did before! Transform back!"

"Hurry! Before it's too late!" Rodger called out. Caruso was going to call out as well, but the change in Moynihan's eyes frightened him, and he also didn't like the way Oscura was looking at him. He couldn't help but jump to the conclusion that he was going to be her next target after she dealt with Moynihan and Buzz.

Moynihan stared at her students. Part of her wanted to listen to them. She wanted to transform back, knowing the risks of staying in this form for too long while they had not found a total cure for the chemical inside of her yet. She didn't want to become that horrid monster again. She didn't want to become a predator. She had given up that life years ago. She was a human now! A human! But when she tried to change back, despite the danger she was in, something prevented her from doing so. The other part of her mind, the raptor's mind, it was keeping her from transforming. It was taunting her, tempting her, telling her to hunt, telling her that it knows that she wants to. Moynihan shook her head rapidly. No, she couldn't let this happen! Not again! But the dinosaur's mind was becoming stronger, and eventually Moynihan felt her eyes slowly change to a bright orange.

"Oh no..." Caruso whispered, taking a step backwards. "L-Let's go..before she..."

"Her eyes..they changed to bright orange.." Max whispered under his breath. He remembered the last time that this had happened, and he was becoming frightened. He started to take several steps backwards. He was tempted to turn and run away, but his loyalty to his team, his sense of responsibility for them, kept him standing in the room despite the imminent danger.

Buzz managed to free his beak at least and surveyed the scene. Oscura wasn't moving from her spot. Her eyes were locked on Moynihan. Oscura didn't look particularly angry or happy. Rather, she looked more curious than anything else. Buzz looked over at Moynihan and quickly took notice in her change in behavior and the change in her eye color. His eyes widened. 'Guys...' He said in a frightened voice. 'I think we should get out of here...'

Moynihan started to stumble towards the kids. Her footing was so off that the students expected her to slip and fall to the ground. They were surprised that she still managed to get towards them. Moynihan lowered her head, putting her muzzle close to Max's. The jock gritted his teeth in fear. He and the others wished that they were outside where they would be safer. Max prepared to transform his hands in an attempt to defend himself. Moynihan then pulled her head back. Her body was trembling and she forced her self to take a step backwards. 'R-Run kids...please...run now...!' She cried out desperately. She lowered her head and shook it rapidly. She was getting a powerful headache, or that's what she would normally think. But she knew better. It wasn't a headache; it was her dinosaur mind taking control. She looked at them one last time and gave a final warning. 'RUN!' Just then, her eyes shifted to red.

Fiona gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. That's the exact same color Moynihan's eyes were glowing right before she had attacked her. She looked over at the others. "Guys! Let's get out of here! Now! Or she'll attack and kill us!"

Rodger looked at her. "Do you think we can outrun a Velociraptor?"

"We've got to try. Trust me." Fiona responded, who had started to back up slowly, heading towards the exit of the room.

Moynihan let out a roar and started stalking her way towards the students. Buzz had transformed back and went back to the others as they slowly made their way towards the exit. They were afraid that if they made any sudden movements, Moynihan would dash towards them. The students kept their eyes on the Velociraptor as they made their way towards the stairs. They had to get outside where they could easily fight Moynihan. As much as they didn't want to, they had no choice but to fight her. They had to subdue her and try to administer something to help her calm down. They also needed to treat the Troodon bite before the bacteria could kill her. But how were they going to subdue their teacher without hurting her?

* * *

As Moynihan was keeping the Dino Squad busy, Oscura quickly slipped away. She sensed that she was close to the room and she needed to get those weapons. After all, Moynihan was likely not going to keep the Dino Squad busy for long. So she needed to work fast. 'Now to find that weapon...'

* * *

RRRAAAAAAAAARR!

The Dino Squad suddenly burst through the door leading to the outside. Not far behind them, Moynihan followed in hot pursuit, snapping her jaws wildly in the air. As she passed through the door, her massive body size cracked the sides of the door way, nearly taking the wooden door itself with her. The Dino Squad rushed out onto the grass and quickly looked back. Moynihan was still following them, holding out her claws to try to slash them when she got close enough. In order to protect themselves, they quickly transformed into dinosaurs. In their dino modes, they were larger and stronger than Moynihan, but they were also slower. Max jumped in front of his friends and let out a loud roar at Moynihan, hoping to discourage her from getting any closer.

Moynihan paused for a brief moment. She glared up at the Tyrannosaurus Rex standing before her, as if she were trying to judge his strength from what she saw alone. Moynihan hissed and took a step back, and for a moment, Max thought she was giving up. But then Moynihan suddenly lunged forward, splitting her jaws open wide. Before Max could react, he felt the razor sharp teeth of the green raptor bite onto his head, dangerously close to his left eye. Max roared in pain and lifted his head up, Moynihan hanging on by her jaws and claws, which she was digging into the skin on his head and neck. Max shook his head, trying to free himself from Moynihan.

Alarmed by what was going on, Buzz took to the air. He circled above Max a few times, waiting for the right moment to strike. When he saw the opportunity, he dove down towards Max. When he got close enough, he brought out his legs. Extending his talons, he gripped onto Moynihan's long, thick tail. The raptor hissed and released her jaws from Max's head, although her claws were still dug deep into Max's head. She twisted her head around and tried to bite Buzz's feet. But her head couldn't extend that far. The only way she was going to be able to bite him was if she jumped off of Max and towards Buzz. Buzz flew back as hard and as swiftly as he could, yanking Moynihan off of Max.

Feeling the claws scraping across his head, Max let out a loud roar of pain and stumbled backwards. Buzz was shocked and felt bad, but there was no time for apologies. Down below him, Moynihan was struggling in his grasp. She was constantly trying to pull herself up and snapping at his feet. Buzz struggled to hang on to the tail, but the struggles were causing Moynihan to slip through his claws. Buzz was tempted to toss her into the ground in an attempt to defend himself. But he didn't want to hurt Moynihan and resisted the temptation. Instead, he dove down towards the ground and pushed Moynihan into the ground several feet away. He released her and flew back towards the others. Moynihan pushed herself up with her dinosaur hands and shook her long head. She glanced back over at the time and let out a loud hiss. She got up and ran back towards them, not willing to give up so easily. The Dino Squad prepared for her next attack, bracing themselves for whatever move she might make.

Moynihan lunged forward again, this time aiming for Fiona. Her jaws locked onto Fiona's neck and the force of the impact managed to knock Fiona onto her side. The Spinosaurus struggled, letting out several cries of pain and pleads for help as Moynihan sank her teeth further into her neck. In desperation to save her, Caruso stepped in. Despite the pain in his mouth, he bit down onto Moynihan's left leg, knowing it was a weak spot. Moynihan released Fiona, her eyes wide with pain, and twisted her body around, aiming for Caruso. Before Moynihan had a chance to bite into his head or neck, Caruso pulled on the raptor's leg, causing her to fall onto her back. He then threw her across the floor, watching her crash into the ground. A sense of guilt rose up inside of him. He wondered how badly he had hurt her. But at the same time, he knew he didn't have any other choice. Moynihan just wasn't in control of her self, not anymore.

'What are we going to do?' Caruso asked as Moynihan started to walk towards them again. She just wouldn't give up. 'No matter what we do, she just keeps coming right towards us!'

'We kind of noticed.' Buzz responded sarcastically.

'It's not in a predator's nature to give up easily.' Rodger said, his eyes narrowed. 'Some predators will wait a very long time before finally giving up. And I have no idea just how determined Velociraptors can be, but if I want to judge from Veloci's determination, well...' He lowered his gaze. 'I'm afraid it doesn't look very good...'

'We can't give up, guys!' Max stated. 'Professor Moynihan is counting us to save her from this terrible spell..We can't let her down!'

As Moynihan made another lung towards them, Fiona swung her tail around, knocking Moynihan away before she could do any damage. 'Yeah, but who is going to save us from her?!' She said, slightly irritable.

Moynihan shook her head rapidly. She growled in frustration and glanced over at the Dino Squad. She licked her lips in anticipation. She slowly approached them again. She drooled, saliva dripping along her jaws. She swished her tail back and forth as she eyed each of the five dinosaurs, trying to find the easiest targets. Her sickle claws clicked into the ground several times in anticipation, her hands shaking slightly as she tried to figure out where the best places would be to slash these dinosaurs to kill them quickly. Her red eyes narrowed dangerously as she pulled her lips back, exposing her razor sharp teeth at time. The Dino Squad prepared for her next attack.

But then Moynihan lifted up her head, pointing her muzzle towards the sky. She took in a few sniffs and suddenly she caught a scent. It was faint, almost nonexistent, but she detected it anyway. It didn't smell as appeasing as the dinosaurs she was currently facing, but one thing that attracted her more to this smell than to the smell of the dinosaurs' was that it smelled very weak. Whatever creature this scent belonged to, she sensed it was weak, a very easy target for her. She felt her stomach growling and her mouth salivating as she continued to smell this scent in the air. Desperate to get something to eat, Moynihan turned away from the Dino Squad and made a mad dash towards the road that led into the city.

Briefly stunned by this sudden change of events, the Dino Squad quickly recovered, realizing what was happening. They quickly rushed forward, hoping to stop Moynihan before she disappeared from sight. But Moynihan had moved too quickly and had taken cover in the foliage. The team stopped at the edge of the forested area. While they wanted so much to follow Moynihan and stop her, they knew that if they continued to run towards the city, they would be spotted. And Victor Veloci might detect them if they went into the city in dino mode. He might be able to organize an ambush and quickly find them. They couldn't risk it, especially after what happened to Fiona and Caruso on their date. They changed back into human form and looked at each other nervously.

"What are we going to do now?" Buzz asked, glancing over at the trees. "We can't follow her in dino mode without Victor finding out or risking the public seeing us... And we can't go in human form either. We'll never catch up to her and we won't have a way to defend ourselves..."

"But we were in dino mode in public before and..." Fiona started to say, but quickly stopped, feeling a little foolish.

Max glanced over at her. "It is indeed too risky to go out in public in dino mode, especially during the day time. Who knows who will see us and who knows what they will do. For all we know, they might try to shoot us!" But then he lowered his head. He couldn't help but feel going dino is the only way to stop Moynihan. It was risky, but what else could they do? If they went in human form to try to capture a green Velociraptor, people might become suspicious. They might even jump to conclusions and say that they were in league with the raptor. While it was technically true, they couldn't risk such an exposure. "But I do agree with you, Fiona. Going dino is...the only thing we can do..."

Buzz looked over at Max in shock. "Are you crazy? What if someone sees us?"

Max looked over at him. "Buzz, we've gone dino in public before. Of course we made sure no one saw us..but we were still dinosaurs in the city. I'm sure we can pull off finding Moynihan with minimal to no people seeing us..."

"But you just said.." Buzz started to say.

"I know what I said Buzz. I know I said it was risk." Max said quickly. "But while I know the risks, I also know that if we don't go dino, we won't be able to move quickly enough to find Moynihan before it's too late."

"What do you mean?" Buzz asked.

"He means.." Rodger chimed in. "...either she will cause havoc in the city, perhaps even kill some people, or..." He closed his eyes. "She'll die..."

Buzz's eyes widened. "Die...? You mean like..people shooting at her?"

"Either that, or the poison will get to her first." Max said, eyes narrowed.

Buzz was confused at first, but remembered how Moynihan was bitten by Oscura. He remembered the effects of a Troodon bite and felt sick to his stomach as he recalled how he felt after Oscura had bitten him. He realized the seriousness of the situation, and how more dire the situation had gotten all because of a single bite. He looked over at his friends, a concerned look on his face. "And what are going to do now?" He asked again. "If the people don't get her... the Troodon poison will..."

"We'll find her." Max said confidently. "Don't worry, we will..."

"Are you sure?" Buzz asked. "I mean, this isn't like before... When Veloci had her, it was a sure-fire thing that he would take her to Raptor Dyne. But now she's out in the city, doing who-knows-what... How are we going to find her...?"

"With this, of course." Rodger said, holding out his tracking device. "I'm surprised you forgot about it."

Buzz rubbed the back of his head nervously, feeling silly that he had forgotten about the tracker. It was the same tracker that helped them find Caruso. But he still didn't feel too confident. "Still...I can't help but feel that we won't be able to find her in time before something goes very wrong..."

"Don't say those things, Buzz!" Fiona said. "We can't just give up! Remember when Caruso was captured? We kept on despairing, thinking we won't ever see him again, but we persevered and we managed to find him. As Max said, Buzz, we'll find her, and we'll save her. You've got to believe that."

Before anyone else could get a word in edgewise, Max quickly walked forward, moving ahead of the others. "Come on you guys! We've wasted enough time as it is!" With that, he transformed into a T-Rex and stormed off in the path that Moynihan had taken. The others glanced at each other and nodded. One by one, they each also transformed and quickly followed Max.

* * *

Moynihan paused, standing between two large buildings. She made sure she remained in the shadows as she moved her head forward just enough to see what she had scented. Humans, a good number of them, were walking along the sidewalks, no one noticing that she was there. Of course, with her human mind now shut down, she couldn't recognize what creatures they were. All she knew was that they were completely vulnerable and should be easy for her to kill. She purred softly and lowered her body slightly, waiting for an unsuspecting human to get within striking distance. She lowered her tail and kept it still for fear she would knock over one of the trash cans close by and sound the alarm. After a few minutes of hiding, someone did come in close to her. Moynihan narrowed her bloodshot eyes and tightened her leg muscles, preparing for the attack.

As soon as the human came within striking distance, Moynihan was about to jump towards the human. But then it turned away quickly, disappearing inside the building next to her. With her primitive dinosaur mind in control, she thought it was some sort of magic trick or perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her. She shook her head, thinking she simply saw an illusion. She then turned her head and watched the other humans pass by. The chances of another human passing by this way were slim, but she had to remain focused. She eyed the humans and slowly licked her reptilian lips. She inched her way forward a little further, careful not to allow the tip of her muzzle poke into the light of the day. Her green and purple colored body did little to camouflage her here.

Then Moynihan spotted another victim heading in her direction. She was not going to mess this one up. She prepared herself for the attack again as the human drew closer and closer within striking distance. Once that distance was closed and the human could easily be pulled into the darkness without being seen, she lunged forward. She quickly snapped her jaws around the arm of the person, who was a man, and pulled him into the alley. The man slammed into the wall and slid to the floor. He rubbed his head, slowly shaking it. He wondered what had happened. It all occurred so quickly he wasn't able to make sense of what was going on. When he noticed what was standing in front of him, his eyes went wide and his face went pale.

"N-No..you're supposed to be dead..." The man whispered as the green Velociraptor slowly approached him, her leering red eyes boring through him mentally like a chain saw.

* * *

The Dino Squad arrived in the city. They kept to the shadows, hiding behind buildings. They weren't able to avoid being spotted by a couple humans, but luckily for them, no one took their claims seriously and they just foolishly walked off, feeling stupid. But the shadows weren't going to protect them for long and they knew they were going to have to get out in the open at some point. For now, though, they stuck to the shadowy parts of the building, keeping themselves as far back as they could while still being able to see the streets of the city. They were cautious as they walked along the back parts of the building, keeping their heads as low as they could and watching where they stepped. Buzz was having the most difficult time with this. To keep himself from being spotted, he was forced to walk along the ground. But being a creature of flight, this was a very difficult task for him and took much of his will power to keep himself from taking to the air.

Most of the time, they kept their eyes glued on the streets. They could see several people walking around, entering and exiting periodically, a few of them carrying bags in their hands. So far, they hadn't seen anything abnormal. No one was acting like there was a Velociraptor around. No one looked like they had been attacked or threatened by a Velociraptor. And they didn't see Moynihan anywhere, nor did they hear or smell her. It was almost like she had vanished into thin air, but the team knew that she was somewhere in the city and they had to keep looking. They had to move as quickly as possible; time wasn't on their side. They didn't know how long they had before Moynihan would succumb to the sickness, and another fear also welled up inside of them. Would Moynihan spread the bacteria if she had bitten anyone? And if so, what would they do about it?

Buzz clenched the fingers on his wings as if they were fists and glanced up at Max. 'Dude, why can't I just fly up? I promise I'll be careful not to get spotted!'

Max shook his head. 'Sorry, Buzz. But no flying.'

'But why?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find something walking along the ground?' Buzz asked.

'Hey, we do it all the time.' Fiona said, her mouth opened up lightly in a dinosaurian smile.

'Yeah, so quit complaining.' Rodger said, glancing quickly at Buzz before returning his gaze towards what was in front of him. He didn't want to bump into anything.

'But it isn't fair! My dinosaur form is designed to look for things in the sky!' Buzz said, complaining. 'I'm useless on the ground!'

'My dinosaur form isn't suited for thick forested areas.' Caruso explained, glancing up at Buzz. 'And yet, I still managed to navigate through a forest on several occasions. If I, a huge herbivore dinosaur that's supposed to be out in the open, can handle being out of my element, I'm sure you can handle walking on the ground for a short time.'

Buzz sighed. 'Okay, fine...'

Just then, Fiona caught some kind of scent. She lifted up her nose and took in a few sniffs. It smelled familiar and yet different. She quickly determined it was unlikely to be Moynihan, but she suspected that they should investigate it anyway. She looked over at Max. 'Hey, do you smell that?'

Max lifted up his nose as well, sniffing the air. He caught the scent as well. He snorted in disgust. 'Yes, and it smells horrible!' But he did recognize what it was. He had scented blood, and that gave him a sickening feeling in this stomach. No matter what it turned out to be, it definitely wasn't good news. 'Blood...I smell blood...' He said in a soft tone.

Caruso's eyes widened. 'Blood? Like..how much blood..? Where?'

Fiona took a couple sniffs again and pointed her muzzle in the direction of the smell. 'Over there!' She lifted up a dinosaur hand to point in the direction where the smell was coming from. It was an alleyway that was close by. Although she couldn't see anything, she knew that something or someone was back there.

'And from what I'm smelling, there's a good amount of blood...' Max said.

Caruso groaned. 'Do..do we have to go over there?' He glanced over at the alleyway and he felt his heart racing from fear.

'Just because there's blood doesn't mean that it's anything that...' Max started to say, but he couldn't think of how to continue. He managed to think of something else to say. 'Look, why don't we just check it out? It might help us figure out where Moynihan had went.' With that, he walked in front of his friends. Being the leader, he felt responsible for their safety. If there was anything dangerous in the alleyway, he would at least be between his friends and the danger. Although the others were reluctant, they still followed close behind Max. Once they reached the alleyway, the others hung back as Max cautiously entered the alleyway.

'Be careful.' Rodger said, looking up at Max.

Max nodded his head, glancing down at the Styracosaurus. 'Don't worry..I will.' With that, he turned back towards the alleyway. He paused briefly, and slowly moved forward. He couldn't see anything yet. The alleyway was pretty dark and Tyrannosaurus Rexes weren't night hunters. But his strong sense of smell helped guide him to the spot where the scent was coming from. At first, he couldn't see anything except what looked like a lumpy mass on the ground. He slowly lowered his nose to it and sniffed it. He pulled his head back and shook it rapidly. There was that horrible smell again and he almost gagged. He looked down again. Holding his breath, he pushed his nose against the mass. It still felt warm and he could have sworn that it moved. But it didn't feel like a dinosaur or any kind of animal he knew of. That meant it could only be one other thing. 'It's a..it's a person!'

'What?!' Fiona cried out in horror. She quickly moved forward to try and see what Max was looking at. 'Are you sure?'

Max glanced at Fiona and then looked down at the body. 'Yes..I'm sure...' He said, his voice filled with regret. At his feet was a human body, although still alive. They could see the person was still breathing, but they looked badly injured. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that it was a man. He had several cuts on his body and his clothing was covered in blood. He looked like he had put up a good fight. Whatever had attacked him didn't finish the job and left to try again somewhere else. They could only assume that it was Moynihan who had attacked the guy. The man stirred a little, but quickly fell limp again. Fiona and Max looked at each other, confused as to what to do with the guy. They couldn't just leave him there to die, and yet they couldn't take him with them. If they did, he might wake up and panic and sound the alarm.

'What are we going to do?' Fiona asked, glancing back down at the body. She found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the sight.

Max lowered his head, frowning slightly. He had to make a decision and fast. What could he do that would be best for the team? How was he going to be able to help this guy out while at the same time keeping their dino identities a secret from him? Then he got an idea. He turned around and walked up to Rodger. 'Hey Rodge..? Could you do me a favor?'

Rodger tilted his head. 'Sure, what?'

Max looked back over at the man on the ground. 'Could you change back to human and get that guy some help? He's seriously wounded and needs treatment right away.'

'Sure, but..what do I do after that?' Rodger asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

'Just come find us.' Max said. 'But don't go dino until you have found us. We don't want to risk anyone spotting you, especially alone when you'd be an easier target.'

Rodger glanced over at the man. When he saw the injuries on the man, he looked shocked. But he was also relieved that the man was still alive. He looked back up at Max. He nodded his head once. 'Okay then, Max. I'll see you guys later.' He moved himself in front of Max and switched back to human form. He rushed towards the man's side as the rest of the team quickly moved on to find Moynihan. Rodger put his hand on the guy's shoulder and gently shook him. The man shuddered and stirred, slowly opening up one eye. Rodger said, "Hey...are you all right?"

As the man started to sit up, Rodger moved away to give him some room. The man stretched a little and rubbed his head. He closed his eyes again, his hand staying on the top of his head. "I..I don't remember much of what happened. I just remember...red eyes, and then..I think I saw claws." The man muttered softly. He looked over at Rodger. "How..how did you find me? I thought no one was going to find me."

Rodger smiled slightly. "Well I don't think your body would have been too difficult to find considering it was in a public place with no covering." Then his face turned serious. "My..uhh..dog found you and he led me here."

The man quickly looked around. "A dog? Where? I'm allergic to dogs..."

Rodger quickly said, "Well he..ran off. But I can find him later. He won't get into trouble."

The man looked back at Rodger. "Are you sure that he's not here?"

Rodger folded up his arms and smiled. "Are you sneezing?"

"Well..no...I..." The man started to say before he cried out in pain as he tried to step onto his feet. He quickly fell back to the ground. His legs were pretty badly cut up.

Rodger quickly rushed over and knelt by the man. "Do you remember anything else about what had happened? What did this attacker look like?"

The man closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could. He was uncertain if he should say anything or not. He couldn't help but feel this young teenager was going to think he was crazy if he told him what he thought had attacked him. He reopened his eyes and looked at the teen. "You're..you're not going to believe this, but..."

"But what?" Rodger urged the man on. "Tell me what you saw. I promise I won't laugh at you. Just tell me what you saw."

The man glanced down on the floor. He still wasn't sure if he should tell Rodger anything, but there was something about the look on his face that told him that he could trust him. "Well, it was a dinosaur..I think..."

"A dinosaur?" Rodger asked, trying his best to sound surprised. He tilted his head in curiosity. "What kind of dinosaur?"

"A Velociraptor, I think.." The man said, confirming Rodger's suspicions. Moynihan had been there. But now one question was on his mind: where was Moynihan now..?

* * *

A loud beeping sound rang through the laboratory. Victor, who was sitting in his chair, head resting on his hands as he pondered what to do next, quickly looked up. There was several readings showing up on the scanners. He smirked when he realized what they were: perfect dinosaur signatures. He could only see four, but he was certain that he saw a fifth one earlier. The Dino Squad must have transformed and, according to the scanners, they were located in Kittery Point, which didn't surprise him too much. He chuckled and slowly shook his head. He didn't know why the pathetic group of teenagers even bothered going dino when they probably knew he'd know exactly where they were. Well, not all the time. There have been occasions where he would not notice them after they transformed, but this was rare.

Victor pondered just ignoring the signals for now. He had already developed a plot to get all five of the 'perfect dinosaurs'. He didn't need to go after them now, and if he didn't go after them, they might get a false sense of security, believing that he had either lost interest or was not able to see them in dino mode somehow. And if their sense of security was high, their guard might be lowered significantly, and with a low guard, he'd more likely be able to take them by surprise. But even if he didn't have the element of surprise on his side, he would still make sure that he'd capture all the 'perfect dinos'. There would still be a way for him to succeed, even if the answer wasn't very obvious right away. After all, how difficult could these children be to capture?

Then Victor noticed another blip on the screen. It was slightly different from the Dino Squad's signature. But it didn't take him long to realize who it was. Moynihan was in raptor mode and she was prowling the city, it looked like. At first, he wondered why she would be wandering the city, especially in dinosaur mode. It wasn't like Moynihan to be in dinosaur mode for extended period of time as of recently. Then he realized something else. His chemicals must have taken over her mind successfully. Perfect, he thought as he began typing on the computer to bring up the two avatars he had looked at earlier. Much to his delight, the two had completely switched colors and were both flashing a dark red color. That meant that the suppression of Moynihan's human mind was a success.

Victor immediately got up from his seat. It was time for him to recruit Moynihan. She was going to work for him once again, whether she wanted to or not. His telepathy should be enough to take control of her and force her to follow his commands. And since she no longer had a human mind, she would not be able to question his authority or challenge what he believed in. As of now, she was nothing more than a mere wild animal waiting to be tamed by him. But he had to get to her before the Dino Squad did. If he failed to reach her in time, those pathetic human monkeys may convert her back to their ways, stripping her of her dinosaur heritage once more. He couldn't allow that to happen.

As Victor headed towards the door, he heard someone behind him. He groaned softly. He just knew it was going to be Kista, probably to nag to him about where he was going or something. But when he turned around, he saw that it was not Kista, but Adam. "What is it, Adam?" He asked.

"Where are you going, sir?" Adam asked cautiously, hoping that he wouldn't offend Dr. Veloci.

Victor narrowed his eyes. Humans were rather curious creatures. And that curiosity might one day kill them all. Then again, Victor, at times, hoped that it would happen just so that his dinosaur domination plan would not be hindered by pesky humans like the Dino Squad. "I'm going into Kittery Point to investigate some dinosaur sightings."

"Dinosaur sightings?" Adam questioned. "You mean the Dino Squad, sir?"

Victor nodded his head. "Yes. Well them and...an old friend of mine."

Adam nodded his head in return. He was tempted to ask more questions, but decided it was best not to push Victor any further. He already looked annoyed enough as it was. So Adam decided to ask something else. He glanced over at the table where the scientists, who were currently on break, would be working on some of the latest experiments for Dr. Veloci. "What should I tell the others, sir?"

"Just tell them I'm going after the female Velociraptor that I had detained here before." Victor explained, narrowing his eyes at Adam as if he thought he were stupid.

Adam had already known that would be Victor's response. He knew that he would be expected to inform the workers of his absence. But he still didn't know one thing. Realizing that his question was too broad, he decided to be more specific. "What should I tell the workers who aren't..enlightened, so-to-speak?"

Victor thought for a moment, and then said, "Tell them..I went to a meeting."

* * *

At the school, classes have recently been dismissed. Only a few teachers, some students, and one of the school janitors remained behind. The remaining students were either studying or participating in some kind of meeting, usually sports related. The remaining teachers were either just cleaning up, preparing to leave, or they were grading papers. The principal had already gone home, so there was no one really in charge anymore, at least for the remainder of the day. The janitor was sweeping one of the many empty classrooms. He picked up a moist rag and wiped off the chalkboard and he then proceeded to wipe off each of the desks. Whenever he would find gum stuck to their underside, he had to clean them off. Then after that, he had gotten out his broom and started to sweep the room again.

Once he was done, he wiped his brow and leaned on the broom to survey his work. He wished that people would appreciate the working man more. It was a difficult job keeping the rooms as clean as possible each and every day. And it was frustrating to know that, no matter how hard he tried to keep the rooms clean, the very next day, the clumsy, rowdy, and messy teenagers would just ruin it all over again. If only they knew how difficult this stuff was to clean, maybe they would think twice before making such a mess and then leaving without cleaning it up. The working man was such an under appreciated person. Perhaps one day, he could change that.

Then he started to hear a sound behind him. He realized he had left the door open, so it was probably just one of the students trying to scare him. He smirked to himself. Perhaps he should just play along and let them approach him. And once they got close enough, he could turn around and scare them. That would teach them to appreciate him more and to not mess with him. So he waited, hearing heavy footsteps behind him. He thought that was a little unusual, but perhaps it was one of the heavier students. When he felt a hot, steamy breath hit the back of his neck, he smirked again. It was time to pull his little trap.

The janitor quickly whirled around, prepared to let out a scream to frighten the students, but he suddenly froze, his eyes widened in fear. Standing before him wasn't a student, but something much bigger and more terrifying. It looked like a Velociraptor, green with an off white underbelly and purple stripes. The eyes glowed a hideous red, glaring at him hungrily. Drool dripped from the jaws and a low hiss emitted from its jaws. "No...it can't be possible... You can't possibly be..." Then suddenly a loud roar rang through the room, followed by a scream of pain.

* * *

The scream and the roar mixed together, creating one loud, unpleasant sound, and it echoed throughout the school. It reverberated off the walls, intensifying slightly in volume, and then decreasing in volume almost just as rapidly. Some students and teachers perked their heads up at this sound, but they quickly disregarded it as something that they had just simply imagined. They immediately went back to their work.

But not everyone simply ignored the sounds. Wandering through the halls as well were four of the Dino Squad members. They had remained in dino mode as they entered the school, confident that there would be little chance for them to be spotted, and at least this way, they could still defend themselves in case they'd have to attack Moynihan. They weren't in the school for much more than a couple minutes when they heard the horrible sound. Despite the fact the sounds were intermingled together, they almost immediately recognized Moynihan's 'voice' in that garbled mess of a sound. And even if they didn't hear it, Moynihan's scent was still fresh in the air. Fiona and Max were the first ones to pick it up and were following the trail.

Buzz shuddered at the horrible sound he and the others had just heard. 'That didn't sound too good.. You think Moynihan had managed to..kill someone?'

'Yeah...' Caruso said, his eyes widened. 'Maybe we shouldn't do this...'

'The only way to find out is to investigate.' Max said. He and Fiona still continued to move forward. They were frightened by the sounds, but they still pressed themselves on. They needed to find Moynihan before Victor did and cure her before he could make her do horrible things. And they also needed to find her to save her life. She needed to be treated and fast. Max glanced down at Caruso and Buzz. 'And need I remind you that she's been bitten by Oscura?'

Fiona nodded her head, backing up Max. 'Yeah..if we don't go after her, she could die...'

'I know...But I still can't help but feel that this mission is too dangerous for us.' Buzz said, although he felt guilty about he said. He turned his head away from Fiona, not wanting to look at her and Max in the eyes. He glanced over and noticed Caruso seemed to feel just as guilty about wanting to leave.

'But are you sure we could take her on? I mean without hurting her?' Caruso looked up at Max. 'Is there a way we could detain her without actually hurting her?'

'Why are you so worried, Caruso?' Max asked, tilting his head to one side. 'Of course there's a way. Trust me.' Caruso nodded his head and turned his gaze away. But Max was able to notice that he still looked unsure about going after Moynihan. The T-Rex frowned slightly and turned his head towards Fiona. Perhaps she would be able to understand a little more as to why Caruso was acting so nervous about this plan. 'Hey, what's wrong with him?'

Fiona slowly shook her head. She was a little frustrated that Max didn't seem to understand why Caruso was acting like this. Was he not aware that maybe Caruso was suffering flashbacks from when he was captured by Veloci? Or that maybe he was worried that Moynihan was going to attack him? She glared at Max, taking him by surprise, and spoke in a slightly darkened voice. 'Why are you even asking that?'

Max blinked. 'What do you mean?'

'Have you forgotten what he's been through?' Fiona asked him coldly. 'Have you forgotten what Victor did to him? Have you forgotten the pain and suffering he had to endure? The nightmares he suffers through nowadays?'

Max lowered his head in shame. 'I'm..I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come off as such a jerk. I...' He slowly exhaled, pondering what he was going to say. He felt like a real idiot at that moment. He hadn't actually forgotten what Irwin had suffered through; he just didn't think of it until Fiona reminded him of it. He was so concerned about catching Moynihan that he had disregarded how Caruso might have felt about this situation. He felt guilty for not asking the boy if he would like to say behind with Rump. He glanced back at Caruso and realized just how nervous he looked about finding Joanne, how scared he looked. Buzz didn't look any different. He looked back at Fiona. 'I'm so sorry about what I said..really I am...'

Fiona slowly shook her head again. 'Just..don't worry about it...' She closed her eyes. 'Besides, I don't think I'm the one you should be apologizing to.' She looked over at Caruso and gave him a sympathetic look. Despite the fact that they were using telepathy, they could hear each other just fine; nothing could be kept secret from the other if they were within range. Caruso had heard everything Max had said, and Fiona could tell that he looked a little hurt by what Max had said.

'Caruso...?' Max asked, glancing over at the Stegosaurus. 'I'm sorry.'

Caruso didn't bother looking up at Max. But he did acknowledge what he had just said. 'I know you're sorry.. I didn't mean to feel upset. I know you weren't trying to be a jerk, just like how I know you didn't mean to yell at me that one day...' He quickly stopped himself, knowing he had hit a sore spot with Max. The jock probably still felt terrible about what he did, and reminding him of his mistake wasn't going to make himself feel any better. 'I didn't mean to bring that up...I...' He was about to say something when he noticed movement, although very quick, flash before his eyes. He quickly stopped in his tracks. 'Did..Did you guys see that?'

'See what?' Max asked, his mind now focused on the task at hand. He looked around the hallway, but couldn't see anything, not even a student that may have stumbled their way over here. 'I didn't see anything...'

'It moved by so fast..I couldn't tell what it was..' Caruso explained, biting his dinosaur lip nervously.

'I saw it! It went over that way!' Buzz said, moving his wing in one direction, indicating where he had seen the blur.

Fiona quickly looked up at Max. 'It's probably Moynihan! We should go after her and...' Before she could move forward, Max moved his tail in front of her, preventing her from going after the blur. She took a few steps back and glared at Max. 'What's your problem?' She asked angrily. 'Don't you want to find Moynihan? That's what you said you wanted to do...'

'But we need to be careful. We don't have to be careless and walk into a trap.' Max tried to explained. He glanced from Fiona towards the end of the hallway where Buzz claimed to have seen something. Then he looked back at Fiona. His tail was still raised out in front of him and her, to make sure that Fiona wouldn't walk out in front of him. 'We have to keep our guard up if we are to follow that sound, Fiona.'

'Yes, I know that. But how can we even begin to figure out what it is if we just stand here and do nothing?' Fiona asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. She looked down at the tail that was blocking her path. Part of her wanted to bite the tail to force Max to lift it up so that she can rush forward towards the sound. But another part of her told her that would be wrong and helped keep herself in check, preventing her from making a terrible mistake.

Max slowly lowered his tail and walked out in front of the time. He lowered his head, putting himself in a horizontal posture. He slowly started to walk forward towards the sound, doing his best not to make a sound. 'Follow me guys. Stay low and don't make a sound.' He warned them. Fiona was the first one to follow him, lowering her head to be nearly level with her body. Buzz and Caruso followed behind. Caruso didn't need to lower anything; his head was already close to the ground. Buzz tried his best to keep his body in a similar posture as Fiona and Max, but it was starting to give him a backache. A Pteranodon form wasn't made to bend like this, Buzz thought.

The team made it to the end of the hall. Max looked over at Buzz and gestured for him to come forward. Buzz came forth and glanced down the hallways. He searched his mind to try to remember exactly which direction he had seen the blur flash by. He quickly pointed in the direction, to the right of where they were currently standing. He looked over to see if he could see anything, but the hallway looked completely empty. Max stepped up and lifted his muzzle upward to take a few sniffs. When he caught the scent that he and Fiona picked up earlier, he knew Buzz had found the right path. He nodded his head to Buzz and then to the others. They continued on their way, walking as quietly as they could as to not alert whatever it was that Buzz had spotted.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a door slamming open. The team froze in their tracks, preparing to face whatever it was that was coming at them. Within a couple seconds, they were shocked to see a human running towards them. He didn't look like he was trying to attack them. He looked rather frightened, as if he had just seen something terrible. When he got closer, they could see that he was the school janitor and he was covered in blood and his clothes looked torn. It didn't take long for the team to realize that the man had been attacked by Moynihan. There was nothing else that it could have been. The only thing that they could think of that could inflict wounds like that was a Velociraptor.

The janitor continued to run towards them, his head turned back to see if the dinosaur was following him. He quickly looked out in front of him so he could see where he was going. When he noticed what was in front of him, he suddenly screamed and halted in his tracks. He looked up at the four dinosaurs in the hallway, his body shaking uncontrollably. A Pteranodon, a Spinosaurus, a Stegosaurus, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex were staring at him with glowing yellow eyes. "This..this cannot be happening..." Unable to take the shock of being attacked by a raptor only to be confronted by four other dinosaurs, the janitor's face went pale and he fainted, tumbling to the floor.

Buzz blinked a few times and looked up at Max. 'You killed him.' He said in a joking manner.

Max glared down at him. 'Shut up, Buzz.'

The team didn't have time to think about what to do with the janitor. Almost immediately after Buzz cracked his joke, there was another loud sound coming from where the janitor had come from. A door was suddenly knocked down, straight off its hinges. A large, green figure jumped forward, landing a few inches in front of the collapsed door. It was quickly revealed that it was Moynihan. There was blood on her claws and on her mouth as well. For a few seconds, her head was turned away from the team, looking down the hallway to see if her prey had run in that direction. Then she turned her head over, her blood red eyes narrowing as she spotted not only her prey, but the Dino Squad as well. She let out a loud hiss, bringing up her hands threateningly as she slowly approached the team.

'Moynihan!' Max called out, trying to get through to her before they had to fight. He took a step forward. The green Velociraptors' eyes widened in shock and took a step backwards. At first, Max thought that Moynihan was coming to, but, much to his disappointment, he realized that she was just merely reacting naturally to the presence of a larger predator. She had expected him to attack her. Once she realized that Max wasn't going to bite her, she resumed her aggressive posture and stalked towards him, baring her teeth. 'Moynihan, please stop this! It's us! Your students! Don't you remember us?'

Moynihan responded with a loud hiss. Fiona took a step backwards. 'She doesn't recognize us, Max! We have to get out of here!' She called out to Max desperately. When Max remained where he stood, Fiona started to panic. 'Max! Get away from her!'

Max shook his head. 'I'm sorry, but I..I can't. Not now. We have to help her...'

'How can we help her if she just wants to kill us?' Caruso asked, lifting up his head slightly, tilting it to one side in confusion. 'If we get too close to her, all she's going to do is try to tear out our flesh. I agree with Fiona on this. We have to get out of here before she can hurt us.'

'As much as I agree with you guys..' Buzz said as he walked forward slowly. 'How are we going to help her if we can't even get near her?'

'Come on, you guys. There has to be a way to do this..' Max said, standing his ground as Moynihan continued to walk towards him. She let out several hisses at him, likely a ploy to chase them away or to frighten them. Max realized that Moynihan was trying to get them away from the janitor. She likely saw them as a threat and was going to try defending her 'kill'. Max quickly moved in front of the janitor, blocking Moynihan's access to him. Just as he suspected, Moynihan grew angry about this and let out several loud roars. Then she lowered her body briefly and then lunged forward. She brought her foot claws forward, preparing to slash Max.

'Max! Look out!' Buzz cried out, his eyes wide with fear.

Reluctantly, Max turned to his side and struck Moynihan down with his massive tail. Moynihan crashed into the ground, but quickly recovered. She shook her body slightly, trying to regain her senses. She quickly glared up at him and let out another roar. 'Moynihan! Try to remember who you are!' Max called out to her, hoping to get through to her. But Moynihan refused to listen. When Max moved his head a little too close to her, she snapped her jaws at him, just barely missing him. Max quickly pulled his head away.

'It's no use, Max!' Fiona called out to him. 'We should have brought our Chillers with us!'

Caruso swallowed hard and took a few steps forward, positioning himself next to Fiona. He looked up at her. 'Well we didn't. Now what do we do?' He turned his head to look at where Moynihan was. His eyes widened when he saw her lunging again, this time towards him and Fiona. He growled softly and let out a bellow as he turned his body to one side and struck Moynihan, knocking her away. But he was so close to Max that he almost struck him as well. Moynihan hissed as she got up to her feet again. She turned her head towards the janitor and then looked up at the four dinosaurs standing before her. Her lips curled back and she turned her head from one side to the other, hissing loudly. 'She wants the janitor? But why?'

'Because the janitor is meat. And Velociraptors eat meat.' Fiona said, dipping her muzzle down to look at Caruso. 'I thought you would have known that.'

Caruso felt like smacking himself in the head for forgetting that. But he didn't have time to say anything when Moynihan charged towards them again. This time, she lunged towards Fiona. 'No! Look out, Fiona!' He called out. Fiona looked over, but it was too late for her to react. In a split second, Moynihan's teeth and claws would be inside her neck. But before Moynihan could make contact with her, Max reacted quickly, slamming his jaws on Moynihan's tail. He held her in his jaws for a few seconds and then tossed her across the floor, careful not to throw her too hard because he didn't really want to hurt her. 'Perfect timing!' Caruso said, sounding impressed.

'Yeah...' Fiona said, glancing at where Moynihan was. She looked up at Max. 'Thanks.'

'Don't thank me yet, Fiona. We still need to get her out of the school somehow.' Max replied.

'How are we going to do that?' Caruso asked. 'From what I'm seeing, she's not exactly in a talking mood.'

Max tilted his head. 'Well yes, you've got a point...'

Then Fiona got an idea that might just work. 'What about meat? Velociraptors eat meat. Maybe we could lure her outside with some steak or something.' She looked at her friends. 'Do you guys think that would work?'

'Yeah.' Buzz said, moving his wings up slightly as if he were shrugging them. 'Do you have several pounds of steak handy?' He said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

'The meat idea could work.' Max said. He let out a roar to try to keep Moynihan away from them. He felt that Moynihan was less likely to attack them if they stayed in the small area. But Moynihan was still brave enough to approach them and attack them, even though she knew she would likely fail each time. She had no advantage here. 'But how do we get to the kitchen?' He looked at the situation he and his friends were stuck in. Moynihan was blocking their path towards the lunch room. They would have to move in past her in order to gain access to the lunch room. But how were they going to do that?

Before Max could think of anything, he suddenly saw someone rushing towards the Velociraptor. Max's eyes widened as he realized it was Liam. How did Liam find them so fast? How did he know they would be here? Max watched in shock as Liam called out towards Moynihan. "Over here, you reptilian bird ancestor!" Moynihan turned her head and spotted Liam. She licked her lips and started to approach him.

'Liam! No!' Max called out in horror.

Liam looked at Max and gave a small smile. "Do not worry about me, Rolf Maxwell! I will be fine! Get away while you can!" As he said that, Moynihan lunged towards him. Liam reacted quickly and ducked down, allowing the raptor to sail over him. He quickly straighted himself back up and turned to face his attacker.

Caruso let out a bellow of shock. He couldn't believe what Liam was doing. Earlier, Liam had risked his life to save him from Kista. Now the boy was laying his life on the line once again, this time to save them all from Moynihan, who had gone into feral mode. What was the boy thinking? Didn't he realize the danger he was putting himself in? Was he not aware of what could happen to him if he was unable to save himself from the Velociraptor? 'Liam! You idiot! Get out of here! We can handle her!' Caruso shouted without stopping to think.

'Why are you doing this?' Buzz asked, his mouth open in shock as Liam continued to lure Moynihan towards him. He didn't know if the boy was brave or just plain suicidal. He had no means of defending himself against the raptor. If anything, they should be the ones protecting him from her.

"I do not want to see you guys get cut up by her sickle, razor sharp predator claws." Liam said as he backed up slowly, Moynihan slowly moving towards him, licking her chops. "While I keep her preoccupied with myself, you can get out of here and be safe. Do not worry about me; I can handle myself on my own. Just go!"

Just then, Moynihan let out a loud hiss. Liam screamed in fear and he turned and ran down the hallway. Sure enough, the enraged raptor took off after him, stimulated by the thrill of the chase. The Dino Squad could only watch in horror as the two disappeared down the hallway, vanishing completely from sight. The Dino Squad wanted to chase off after them, but their larger size hindered this. They were too large to run in the hallway together unless they went in a straight line, and that would interfere with how fast they could likely be going. In order to have a better chance at running in the direction where Liam and Moynihan disappeared into was if they reverted to human form until they found them. The team transformed back into human form and were about to take off after Moynihan and Liam when they were suddenly interrupted by someone behind them.

"Yo!" A voice sounded out from behind. The team jolted in shock and turned around to see Rodger standing there. Rodger smirked lightly and said, "Man, you guys scare so easily..And I thought I overreacted when you pulled that one prank on me about..a year ago I think?" He chuckled.

Baring her teeth angrily, Fiona stormed over to Rodger. "Don't ever do that again!"

"Yeah!" Buzz said. "You scared the heck out of us! Why did you sneak up on us like that?"

"Call it a mean streak." Rodger said jokingly before waving his hand dismissively at his own statement. "Just kidding. I didn't mean to scare you guys, really. I apologize." He walked over to Max. "I did what you asked of me. I was able to take that guy to someone who agreed to take him to the hospital. After that, I tried to track you guys down. Took me a little while to reach the school, so I apologize for my late entry."

"Well, better late than never." Max said, smiling. "Just to make sure, that guy didn't see any other dinosaurs, right? He didn't see us wandering around the city?"

Rodger shook his head. "No. He had only seen Moynihan, and no one else. He even started questioning his sanity and wondered if it was actually a dog that had attacked him. I sort of..helped him along and sort of convinced him that it was a dog." He shrugged his shoulders. It was a relief to him and the team that the man started to think it was a dog that had attacked him. That would help keep the dinosaur encounter a secret, especially from Dr. Veloci or any of his men. Rodger then remembered the other mission they had come out here to do: finding and capturing Joanne Moynihan and bring her back to the safety of the lighthouse before Victor found her. But he couldn't see her anywhere, although his scanners indicated that she was here. "Where is Ms. Moynihan?"

The team looked at each other awkwardly, and then looked back at Rodger, who had started to suspect something was wrong and got a worried look on his face. Max glanced down at his feet for a few seconds and then looked back at Rodger. "She's here, Rodg, yes. But...so is Liam..."

"Liam?" Rodger asked. "What is he doing here? I didn't know he stayed here after school.."

Max shook his head. "Neither did I, not from what I can remember. But yes, he's here." He glanced down the hallway. "And Moynihan had just took off after him. Liam deliberately got her attention and had her chase him instead of us."

"He was trying to help us." Buzz said. "But that was..that was just crazy! I can't believe he would do something like that.."

"WHAT?!" Rodger screamed in horror. "Why didn't you go after him? Why aren't you doing that now?!"

"Well we were until you surprised us." Fiona said, narrowing her eyes.

"B-But even s-so..." Caruso stammered. "H-How are we g-going to help Liam in human f-form?"

Rodger smiled and held out a Chiller. The team felt a little silly that they hadn't noticed it before. The Chillers aren't exactly very small and were quite noticeable. "I was able to get a hold of this. Before I came back out here, I did stop by the lighthouse again. Oscura was gone, but it didn't look like she had raided anything. I picked up one of the Chillers and came back into town as fast as I could."

"Great!" Max exclaimed. "Now let's go find Moynihan!" With that, he and the others took off in the direction where Moynihan and Liam had disappeared, hoping they'd be able to get to Liam before Moynihan killed him, and reach Moynihan before Victor could get his filthy claws on her.

* * *

Liam continued to run down the hallway, his heart racing from both fear and exhaustion. He looked behind him, trying to see if the raptor was following him. He started to wonder why he had decided to lure the raptor away from the Dino Squad. He started to regret it, realizing how he had put his own life in jeopardy. He turned his head back around so he could see what was in front of him. He realized he was coming at a dead end. His eyes widened slightly. What was he going to do now? Then he saw the doors to one of the classrooms was open up. If he could only get inside and quickly shut the door before the Velociraptor could catch up, maybe he'd have a chance. Quickly, he rushed inside the room, thinking it was completely empty, then turned around and slammed the door shut. If he's lucky, the Velociraptor has no idea how to open up a door.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" Liam flinched at the sudden voice that called out to him. He turned around and saw McFinn sitting in the room. Liam guessed that he probably had detention and the teacher was probably out somewhere, perhaps just going to the bathroom or something. The teacher was likely going to return soon, which concerned Liam. What was going to happen to the teacher if the raptor found him? And what would happen if the teacher opened up the door and the raptor took that opportunity to come in? McFinn, annoyed by Liam's lack of response, called out to him again. "Hey, I was talking to you! Why are you in here?"

"Why are you in here?" Liam echoed back. "Why are you sitting in this rectangle-shaped room writing on a thin piece of wood with a stick of wood with charcoal at the tip? Are you in detention or something?"

McFinn cocked an eyebrow, feeling slightly weirded out by this student. "You're really weird, you know that..?"

Liam nodded his head. "Yes I know. My parents say I have Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological condition that makes me think differently form others." He quickly said.

"I didn't ask what you had." McFinn responded, folding up his arms. "I had asked you why you were back here. Did you get detention?"

Liam shook his head. "No I did not. I came here because my fight or flight response made me run until I could find a place to hide."

McFinn looked confused. He couldn't understand what Liam was trying to tell him. McFinn scratched the top of his head. "What are you talking about? Fight or flight response? I don't know what that is..."

"It's a natural response to danger or other stressful stimuli." Liam explained in his usual fast-paced way of speaking. "It prepares an organism, such as a human being or a wild animal, to either fight for its life or run away."

McFinn blinked a few times. He was still a little confused, but he thought he sort of understood what Liam was trying to tell him. "So you are saying you are..getting chased?" Liam nodded, and then turned around and looked out the window of the door, probably trying to see if he was still being followed. McFinn shook his head. From his point of view, it seemed likely that another student staying after school was just picking on Liam and was chasing him and that's why he was here. "Listen, if it's a bully problem you are having, I'm sure the teachers will be able to help you."

Liam shook his head. "No, it is not a student."

"Then what is the problem?" McFinn asked, now more confused than before. If it wasn't a student, then who could be chasing him?

"Dinosaur." Liam responded, his voice taking a slightly more serious tone.

"A dinosaur...?" McFinn whispered in fear. In normal circumstances, he would have laughed at Liam and dismiss him as a crazy person. But after seeing a dinosaur going after the lighthouse were Buzz usually goes after school, McFinn was reluctant to dismiss Liam's claim of seeing a dinosaur. He could very well be telling the truth. And what reason did he have to lie? If he simply wanted attention, why would he call out about a dinosaur, an extinct animal? Well, an animal that was supposed to be extinct that is, he thought to himself. "Where..?"

"The dinosaur is following me. That is why I came here, to try to protect myself from it. I have no idea if its hands are nimble enough to open this door. That is why I'm standing in front of it." Liam explained. He continued to look out of the door's window. So far, he couldn't see anything. But the Velociraptor wasn't far behind him. It was only a matter of time before the dinosaur caught up to him. "I suggest you find some way to prepare. The dinosaur could be here any second."

McFinn immediately jumped from his seat. Deciding to take Liam's advice, he rushed over to the teacher's desk and grabbed the long stick, usually used to point at stuff written on the blackboard. He lifted it up with one hand and quickly rushed over. He positioned himself behind Liam, adopting a somewhat aggressive posture. He was still frightened, but if a dinosaur was going to attack him, at least he wouldn't go down without a fight. Meanwhile, Liam continued to watch for the dinosaur. Just then, something flashed in front of his eyes, something green and purple. His eyes widened and he suddenly pushed himself against the door. Before McFinn had time to ask what was going on, something suddenly pushed against the door with such force that Liam almost fell over. When McFinn looked up, he could see a scaly, green face looking at them through the door's window.

"Is that..is that the dinosaur?" McFinn asked fearfully, pointing a trembling finger towards the door. Liam looked back at him briefly and nodded before turning his attention back to the door. McFinn gulped as he watched Liam struggle to keep the door closed. He could tell the boy was having a hard time with this. His feet were slipping on the floor constantly. Realizing Liam needed help, McFinn swallowed his fear and quickly rushed over. "I'll help you!" He pushed his back against the door and began to lean on it as hard as he could. He could feel his feet slipping forward, but he kept pushing back, hoping that the combined strength of him and Liam would be enough to deter the Velociraptor.

But the Velociraptor wasn't going to give up. She continued to push against the door, hissing in frustration as each passing second went by without her being able to open the door. Moynihan peered through the door. She could see two little morsels inside that would be very easy to take care of. Much easier than the janitor that she had tried to kill earlier, so there wouldn't be as much of a fight this time. All she'd need to do is knock down the door and sink her teeth into the scrawny creatures' necks. It wouldn't be too hard to simply snap their necks. After a few minutes of pushing, she hissed loudly and took a few steps backwards, a ploy to try and trick her prey into false security.

McFinn was confused by the sudden stillness of the door. He turned around and tried to look through the door's window. He couldn't see the Velociraptor anywhere. Had the dinosaur just given up and went somewhere else? "What did it go? Did we manage to make it leave?" He looked up at Liam.

Liam shook his head. "I do not think so. I think it is just trying to make us lose our guard. We must remain alert because it could come back at any second and..." Suddenly, a great force struck the door. This time, without McFinn's assistance, Liam went flying back as the door was forced to open up wide. Within a couple seconds, a large green-skinned Velociraptor stepped into the room, looming over them with drool dripping from the jaws.

"It's inside..!" McFinn whispered in a frightened tone of voice. He glanced down at the stick he still held in his hands, and then glared in the direction of the Velociraptor. He knew what he must do.

Moynihan stared down at the two boys. One of them looked really large and she wondered how she was going to handle killing him. The skinny one looked easier to kill, so she aimed for that one first. Before Liam could get up off the ground, Moynihan pressed her foot onto his stomach and pinned him down. She lowered her body and positioned her jaws over his neck. Liam shuddered as he felt the dinosaur's hot, steamy breath on his neck and tried to push her jaws away, but Moynihan was too strong and soon she had her jaws clamped around his neck. But before she could apply any pressure, something a little thin but hard smacked her over her forehead. It didn't hurt much, but it still stung her. She lifted up her head and shook it. Then she turned her red eyes towards the source of the attack. There, in front of her, she could see the fattest of the two humans holding some sort of weapon, wielding it, lifting it in the air, threatening to smack her with it again. She snorted and got off of Liam.

McFinn's eyes widened in horror as the Velociraptor started coming towards him. He continued to hold the stick up high, prepared to strike the dinosaur if she got too close to them, but his hands were starting to shake terribly from fear and he found it increasingly difficult to hold onto the stick. The raptor seemed to notice his fear as well and suddenly rushed forward. Her head collided with his chest and stomach and he was sent flying backwards. McFinn grunted in pain as he crashed onto his back. The stick was knocked clean out of his hands and was now out of reach. McFinn looked up and screamed when he saw a set of jaws coming down at him. Thinking fast, he quickly brought his hands forward and gripped the mouth, one hand on the lower jaw, the other on the upper jaw, and used as much strength as he could muster to push the head back to keep the dinosaur from biting him.

But Moynihan was too strong for him. With a jerk of her head, she managed to get free from McFinn's grasp. She glared down at him, looking annoyed at his pathetic attempt in trying to defend himself. She took a step forward, opening her jaws wide over his head. McFinn trembled in fear and put his arms over his face in a last ditch effort to protect himself. But that didn't faze Moynihan and she prepared for another attack. She opened her jaw as wide as they could go and suddenly lunged forward, expecting to tear into flesh and blood. But instead, she was met with something very different. Suddenly, she felt something hard in her mouth, something that was preventing her from closing her mouth. She lifted her head up and staggered back, struggling to remove whatever it was in her mouth.

McFinn looked up to see why the Velociraptor hesitated in attacking him. He stared in shock when he saw the raptor struggling with the long, wooden stick stuck in her mouth. She struggled, trying to bite her jaws tightly enough to snap the stick into two pieces. McFinn wondered how that stick got in the dinosaur's mouth, and then quickly realized who it had to have been. He looked over to where Liam was standing, next to him, glaring at the Velociraptor. "You..you saved me...!" McFinn whispered softly.

Liam nodded his head. "That should bide us enough time. Come on, get up before the dinosaur snaps that piece of wood in its mouth and comes after us again." He bent down and helped McFinn to his feet. They then prepared to rush out the door, but suddenly the Velociraptor jumped in front of them. The stick in her mouth had been snapped and they could see some blood in her mouth where the stick had scratched her. The Velociraptor let out a loud roar, lifting up her hands and showing her claws to the boys.