AN: Hi there Fossil Fighters community! I know it has been a really, really long time and most of you probably don't care anymore . . . but I am back in business! I have decided to start this story up again and I'd love it so much if you guys would jump back on the bandwagon. Either way, I don't own Fossil Fighters, and let's bring on the chapter!
Dina gulped. "What do you mean, 'that's them'?" she hissed, taking a few large steps backwards. She knew perfectly well what Rupert meant, but she didn't want to believe it.
Rupert gulped, too, and shuffled back to stand next to her. "I mean that those people are part of one of the largest and most dangerous crime syndicates in the world!" He paused, searching for the words. Finally he croaked, "And they have their guns pointed at us!"
Dina would have replied, but a shout of "Who's there?" and the echo of ominous-sounding footsteps drawing closer and closer to her little group down on the rocky beach below prompted her instead to hit the ground and start praying nobody would see her. She made sure to pull Rupert down with her. Though he was incredibly annoying, and a world-class jerk, no way was she going to leave anybody, no matter how horrible they might have been, in the Bandits' line of fire. No way!
The white-haired boy widened his catlike eyes at her, and as Dina stared back, an unspoken agreement passed between the two of them. They needed to get their act together and come up with an escape plan, as soon as possible.
Slowly, the two began creeping backwards. Out of the corner of her eye, Dina caught glimpse of a flash of green disappearing behind a slab of pale grey. That must have been a rock (what else would it be, in this oh-so-diverse ecosystem?) and she figured this meant Todd, at least, was safely hidden for the time being. She hoped Pauleen had gotten herself sorted out, as well.
Pauleen! Dina realised with a start. Pauleen had fainted. She wouldn't be in any fit state to go hiding behind things. Heart racing, she lifted up her head to look around. Where was Pauleen?
Luckily, the ginger saw a blurry pink shape disappear behind the same rock Todd was hiding behind, and let out a relieved exhale. Pauleen had managed to get herself to moderate safety, after all. That was a relief, albeit a small one. While Todd and Pauleen were probably going to be mostly OK, she and Rupert were way too far away from the rock to have it be of any help. And where else could they go? The rock formation thirty yards away was pretty much the only hiding space the cliff was offering.
Dina and Rupert shot each other another worried look. They were screwed.
"I said, who's there?" a voice somewhere beneath them continued. The logic-inclined part of Dina matched it to the voice that had spoken earlier, then matched that voice to the footsteps, concluding the speaker was a young woman, maybe in her thirties or so, wearing very large boots and who needed to stop being so angry. The rest of Dina didn't care.
"I am not asking again," the mystery woman informed the Bandits below. She used a lot of emphasis when she spoke, and her clipped accent on top of that made her speaking sound violent, like her words were being murdered by her mouth. "If nobody is there, put down your guns and get to work. If you aren't going to answer me, put down your guns and get to work. Heck, I don't care if that Tylosaurus there in the cliff revives itself and starts tap dancing. Just get to work! The Hadley family didn't hire us so that you slackers could just stand there waving your guns around all day, they want us to find the Tylosaurus proriger and revive it for them! Now get! To! Work!" Breathing heavily, the mystery woman finished her tirade and stormed off. There was silence both below the cliff and on it, as everyone in the area stood (or lay on the ground, in the cases of Dina and Rupert) stock-still in evident fear.
"But there were people up there," one of the Bandits on the beach said eventually. Dina shrank back at the indirect mention of herself and began moving slowly backwards as the crowd of gun-wielding felons began chiming in with agreements:
"Yeah, I heard them!"
"There was, like, a group of kids, or something."
"I think one of them threw up."
And finally: "I bet they're still up there! Let's go check it out!"
A third glance passed between Dina and Rupert, this one more terror-filled than the previous two combined. Then they turned to face Pauleen and Todd, who were staring at them from behind their rock, faces drawn. The four of them were dead silent for a tense moment as they listened to the BB Bandits begin to organise themselves for the trek up the cliff, letting the fear of getting caught by the purple-clad criminals sink in before all yelling, "Run!"
And so they ran.
It was later. Dina didn't know how much later, but it was certainly later. The sun had never come out, so it could not very well be going down, but the sky around the little group of Wheatley School students was considerably darker than it had been when they'd started running.
They'd run pretty far, though, so Dina supposed it made sense. Nobody had spoken for hours, but they seemed to have all been in agreement to run, and run, and run until they couldn't hear the Bandits anymore. Which had taken a while, though whether that was because the BB Bandits were loud or because they were chasing the runaways, Dina couldn't be sure.
So she sat in silence with her little gang and tried to catch her breath.
"That sucked," said Todd eventually, breaking the spell. Pauleen, Rupert, and Dina nodded their assent. That had sucked eggs.
"That sucked eggs," Todd went on. So it had. "Like, who invited those clowns! Nobody, that's who. And holy cow! They had guns!" Angrily, the diminutive boy got to his feet and stared down at his associates (a rare opportunity for him, Dina was sure). "We could have been killed."
"But we weren't," Rupert pointed out. His tone, ordinarily dry and sarcastic, was still shaky with fear; still, Dina was glad he could see some light in the situation. She sure couldn't.
"But we could have been." Todd planted his small fists on his hips. "You guys, come on. Our lives were this close—" he spread his two index fingers apart about an inch "—this close from being over, forever. Poof!"
"Todd's right," Dina found herself saying, before her brain could register her words. "Maybe this isn't worth it. The BB Bandits are dangerous, and they mentioned the Hadleys. Who are double dangerous. Believe me, I know from experience. We could still change our project, there's still time."
"Change it?" demanded Rupert, suddenly sitting bolt upright. "Never! We can't just sit back and let these . . . troglodytes ruin our education. I say we teach them a lesson."
Sheesh, when did he get so hotheaded? Dina wondered, idly drumming her fingers on her leg. It was an interesting change in character, to be sure. She was pretty sure she liked it. Then again, she reminded herself, anything is better than dumb jerkwad Rupert. She was simply happy for a change of pace, that was all.
But somewhat curious, now, and also still in doubt of the sanity of their mission, the ginger asked, "And how, exactly, would we do that?"
Rupert glared at her. "I don't know, we could . . . challenge them in a Fossil Battle, or something. I haven't thought this out, OK? All I know is that I'm not giving up, and the rest of you shouldn't, either." He paused. "Golly, Dina, this whole affair was practically your idea. You could stand to be a bit more positive, at least." Another pause, and his glare softened. "Please."
In return, Dina turned her head away and stared at Todd and Pauleen. Todd looked furious, though he had at least sat down, and Pauleen just looked concerned. She was probably right in being so. They had pretty much barely escaped with their lives, and they probably couldn't get to the Tylosaurus fossils now, not with the BBs swarming all over the place. Plus, on top of it all, their decidedly failed mission had sparked an argument. Things are going great for us Wheatley School kids, thought Dina bitterly.
The group fell into silence again, and Dina turned her gaze to their submarine, which was docked by a small group of trees growing by the shore of the bay and gently bobbing up and down in the grey water. The prospect of running away and doing something else with her time was an attractive one, to say the least. But Rupert had a point, loath as she was to admit it. They may not have come particularly far, but they had made it all the way here. Were they really about to let a bunch of strangers take that away from them, even if the strangers were highly dangerous?
"OK, Pretty Boy, you've got me," Dina sighed, slumping forward. "I vote we try to find a way to get back there."
"Thank you." Amazingly, Rupert didn't sound sarcastic in the least.
Todd kicked at the ground. "This is dumb," he protested petulantly, looking to Pauleen for backup. The pretty pink-haired girl merely shrugged.
"Both arguments have their merits," she said cautiously, and shifted awkwardly in her seat on the rock she was sitting on. Then she took a deep breath. "Look, I . . . I'm not going to lie. That was really scary back there, and I'm not sure I want to go back out there and face those creeps again. And we aren't out of time . . . we could go somewhere, anywhere else, do anything else." Pauleen wrung her dainty hands and hung her head, her messy pink curls falling in front of her face and swishing back and forth as she breathed deeply a few times. "But I really do want to find the Tylosaurus. It would be a huge step forward for us, for the school, and for Fossil Fighters everywhere! Plus, we'd be rich. So I . . . don't know. I just don't know."
Again, a hush washed over the four young Fighters. The wind had been kicking up, and now it was blowing increasingly larger waves into the craggy shore, where they slammed into the rocks with thunderous crashes. It would probably start raining soon – which would make a just perfect end to such a perfect day. Dina looked up to the sky and swore softly. "Well we can't stay out here all day," she decided. "No matter what we end up doing, we really just can't stay out here. The BB Bandits might come out here, and besides, the weather doesn't look too hot. We'll load up the sub again, and we'll head back to Bottomsup to regroup. Then we can decide what to do, OK?"
Nobody spoke, but slowly the Wheatley School students all began getting to their feet and heading towards the mini-sub, shuffling into an amoeba-like group formation and all bumping shoulders and hips as they walked. Spirits were low, to be sure, but as the four of them loaded into the submarine, struggling to fit through the hatch in their refusal to adopt a sensible kind of line and laughing as they did so, Dina bet they could have been lower. Maybe they'd actually end up enjoying themselves in spite of all this!
Then, as the four of them were finally about to fall back and try a different approach to getting into their submarine, the skies opened up, unleashing a torrent of freezing cold rain on their heads, soaking them all in an instant. Alright, maybe we won't end up enjoying ourselves, thought Dina, flinging her hands over her head in a vain attempt to shield herself from the sudden storm. But then she started giggling despite herself, and the others quickly joined in.
"Well, this is a bloody thing, huh?" Rupert laughed, dropping down into the submarine and reaching up a hand to help the others down. Todd took it first, then Pauleen, and surprising them both, Dina took it as well, gingerly placing her palm on top of his and hopping lightly through the hatch.
"You said it, bro," she said, shooting him a wry smile. Seemingly stunned by her pleasant behaviour, Rupert was uncharacteristically wordless as he took his usual spot on the floor by Dina's chair.
Enjoying both the effect she was having on her self-proclaimed archenemy and the newfound sensation of being a pleasant human being, Dina continued, despite Todd and Pauleen's quiet snickering: "Hey, Pretty Boy— uh, Rupert?"
"Er, yeah?"
She smiled at him as warmly as she could. "Want to take my chair for once? I'll show you how to drive this thing, if you want."
Colour flooded his cheeks. "I . . . guess," he stammered uncertainly. Still, Rupert Wheatley, in Dina's experience, wasn't one to turn up the offer of a better seat in life or in a submarine, and this time was no exception. He clambered into the swivel chair and looked at Dina expectantly.
"That's the ignition," she said, gesturing, "and that button there lowers the submarine." Rupert pushed both simultaneously, and the submarine lurched forward. The four teenagers burst into peals of laughter again.
"Take us home, Pretty Boy," snickered Pauleen, adopting Dina's unofficial nickname for the Wheatley School heir. He rolled his sharp yellow eyes dramatically and pushed the "Go Down" button again.
"I'm doing my best," he said, and the submarine dropped under the choppy surface of the water with a bloop. "I can't be good at everything, you know."
"Whatever." Dina grinned wider. "Let's just head back."
AN: Golly that was probably a very anticlimatic start to the story again. Oh well, at least it's something! I'm sure it will get better as I get used to this again. Until then . . . Katie out!