Review time!
Anonymous: Urania is an Alpha Dinosaur, so her current color scheme is the correct one. Nice catch on Platypelta not being known at the time that chapter was aired (except by the cards since they're from 2126)!
Salta, Argentine Republic, -69,987,623, late afternoon
The Saltasaurus loricatus was snoozing under the Sun, Enantiornis leali picking flies off her scaly hide. It was a rather hot and humid day, and she wanted nothing more than to laze about in the mud and cool off. Problem was, her herd hadn't shared her sentiments, so they'd left her on her own.
Eventually, stress gave way and she got up, looking around in fright. There was the sound of a stick breaking, and she turned to face the source. A strange...mammal? What?
The woman looked sadly at the dinosaur. "Oh, you poor thing. Where are your friends?" The sauropod lowed miserably. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not sure if you'll see your herd again, but I can take you somewhere where you'll get to meet real friends. After all, a real friend wouldn't have abandoned you like this, right?"
The sauropod said nothing, just stared at the mammal as she pulled out a strange device and pointed it at her. In an instant she felt her body and mind separating, her thoughts expanding, saw her skin on her new body change color from a uniform beige to brown on top and pale green on the bottom.
And the knowledge that she was not the only one subjected to this strange turn of events was...comforting. Perhaps they could be her new herd.
Yeah...that'd be nice.
Pará, Federative Republic of Brazil, Saturday 9/29/2007, 7:00 AM
Part of the banks of the Amazon River collapsed from the force of heavy rainfall, causing a capsule sitting on the banks to fall into the water. It drifted along until it hit a rock, causing the capsule to crack open just enough to allow water to trickle in and activate the card within.
Mocha paddled towards the shore, pulled herself out of the stream, and shook herself dry. "I'm not sure if this is the place I'm supposed to live in," she muttered. "A bit too wet for my liking. Ah well, might as well get some breakfast while I wait for the others to show up."
Zeta Point, 7:02 PM
"A dinosaur!" Dr. Z cried. "The Alpha Scanner has detected a dinosaur, so let's get a move-on!"
"Yeah, give us a minute," Ursula said. Dr. Z turned around angrily to find her playing chess with Zander, Ed watching them while eating chocolate pocky. "So, I guess it's my move, right?"
"Yes, it still is," Zander answered while brushing his long black hair. "I thought you said chess was a game of quick thinking?"
"Yeah, but I meant for you, not for me!" Ursula whined as she looked at the board with a grimace. "What am I supposed to do when all of your men have surrounded my beautiful queen?" The board was full of black pieces and only two white pieces, the queen strangely looking like Ursula.
"Don't worry, no matter what you do you're going to lose anyway," Ed said as he took a bite of his pocky.
"Who asked you?!"
"Hello?! Am I talking to myself here?! I need you three bozos to go out on a mission now!" Dr Z barked.
Ursula immediately stood up. "Yes, sir!" she saluted. "Your fearless team stands ready for action." Without looking, she kicked the table behind her. "There, I made my move. You happy?"
Surprisingly, all the pieces fell off the board except for Ursula's king and queen. "Amazing," Zander commented as he and Ed looked at the results in awe.
"How did she do that?" Ed asked, confused.
"Oh, would you look at that! I won!" Ursula cheered.
Sanjo City, 7:10 PM
"Uh, hey, Max? What are you doing in the closet?" Rex asked.
"Shh! Quiet! I'm testing out Chomp's sense of smell!" Max whispered from inside the hall closet.
"Why?"
"Because it's fun. Also I wanted to see if he has a good enough nose to find me." Footsteps. "Quiet! Here he comes."
Chomp appeared from around the corner. "All right, now where are you?" He started sniffing around before picking up a familiar scent. "Gotcha!" He ran to the closet door and began to paw at it.
Max opened the door. "Way to go! You found me!" He leaned down to hug Chomp, only for the ceratopsian to jump out of his way. Max looked to see Chomp pulling a large bag out of the closet. "You smelled dog food?"
"Huh?" Chomp looked up and saw Max. "Oh, hey, I found you!" He went back to biting the bag, trying to tear it open with his beak.
"Good nose! At least he'll never go hungry." Rex snickered. He suddenly paused. "Hey, wait a minute, I thought Triceratops were exclusive herbivores."
"False dichotomy, we'll eat bugs if we're desperate for protein, chew bones if we're low on calcium, and I personally quite like meat," Chomp replied, having no luck with ripping open the bag. He tsked in frustration. "Poo. Any chance you could bum a hamburger off your mom early, Max?"
"Not a chance, Chomp," Max replied as he looked longingly in the direction of the kitchen. "Mom's very strict about waiting for Dad to get home and get cleaned up before we start eating, and Dad's tied up with that braincase he got from Rex's uncle. No matter how...delicious...they...smell..." He started drooling. It was then that Max's DinoShot began beeping. "Oh, good, a distraction!"
Eighteen minutes later
"The signal is coming from the Amazon Rainforest somewhere near the municipality of Óbidos," Reese stated. "It's near one of the faster parts of the river, so be extremely careful. And pack insect repellent, my father's experimental malaria vaccine is still waiting for government approval."
"Ah, the Amazon." Spike said with a dreamy expression on his face, numerous cans in his arms. "The world's largest rainforest, home to countless exotic plants and animals. What I wouldn't give to be able to come along."
"You say that every time, Dad, but you can't," Max chuckled.
"But the bug spray sounds nice," Zoe said, eagerly taking a can from Spike and stuffing it in her bag.
"See ya, Dad." The children teleported away.
"Welp, better get back to my paper before I go home," Spike said as he stretched. "After all, my references won't cite themselves!" He laughed at his quip, but his face fell when he saw Reese giving him a flat look. "Oh, fine, be like that! At least Gideon appreciates my humor..."
"Humor. Right." Reese went back to work, leaving Spike to stew alone.
Amazon Rainforest, 7:31 AM
"Wow, this is so cool!" Max gushed as he looked around at the native trees while the D-Team summoned their "main" dinosaurs. "And really hot for so early in the morning! Man, I'm gonna need a shower after this adventure before dinner, maybe two. Now which way to the dinosaur?"
"Well, the teleporter put us in the general location, but it didn't tell us which specific area," Rex contemplated. He took out his DinoShot and frowned when he saw the small portion of the mobile symbol that was lit up. "And the tree cover means that we can't get a good phone signal, so marking our own location and following the signal to the new arrival's is a bust."
"Hear anything like a giant animal, Paris?" Zoe asked the hadrosaur.
"Not much, I'm afraid. Chomp?"
"Nope, nothing from me. Ace?"
"Not a thing. Better start looking around."
"Remember, this is a dangerous jungle so be careful every– WHOA!" Max wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and found himself sliding down a muddy hill into a puddle.
"Max!" his teammates yelled before they too slid down the hill, much more controlled than Max had slid, and met him at the bottom.
"Are you alright?" Zoe groaned as she staggered upright.
"Yeah, just a bit dirty," Max said as he wiped some of the mud from his clothes. "Aw man, now I gotta change when we get home."
"Could've been worse," Rex grunted. "At least you didn't land in quicksand."
"You can't drown in quicksand, but you can get stuck in it and die of thirst," Chomp said. The other dinosaurs glared at him while the kids gaped. "What? I'm just saying. And I'm not even sure that we'll find any quicksand this far upriver anyway, pretty sure you have to be at the mouth of the river for quicksand to form."
"Whatever, let's just go before the jaguars find us," Zoe said assertively. Just then, the sound of birds flying away filled the air. "Wait, that must be them! Let's go!"
Five minutes later
"There they are, a Saltasaurus," Rex identified as he watched Mocha tear through a bombona tree, sending toucans and bats flying away and dropping numerous small red fruits onto the ground.
Chomp quickly dove for the fruits as they fell. "Delicious," he sighed as he ate. "Just like the palms in Hell Creek used to be."
"Hey, it's Mocha! Mocha, hi!" Paris called.
Mocha swallowed and removed her head from the tree, turning her head downwards so she could see who'd spoken to her. "Oh, Paris and company, hello down there. I'm surprised to see you here. Is this the preserve whatsit?"
"I'm afraid not," Ace said. "It's the wild banks of the Amazon...River..." he trailed off as he realized how close they were to the rushing rapids themselves. His eyes widened in terror.
"Alpha Gang?" Mocha guessed flatly.
"Yeah..." Paris sighed. "We'll have to defeat you in battle so we can get you out of here."
Mocha nodded. "Fair enough. Let's do this."
"Okay, you're definitely Water, so Chomp's up for this," Max said, reaching to fullsize his companion. But it was at that moment that the ground beneath Chomp's feet gave way and he fell into the river with a loud SPLASH! "CHOMP!" the boy cried.
"Don't worry about me! I'm immortal, remember?!" Chomp cried as the current washed him away.
"Like heck I'm not going to worry! You're my friend, and friends save friends from world record rivers! Rex, give me Spiny so I can follow Chomp!"
"Alright, if you insist." Rex summoned Spiny and addressed him. "Spiny, Chomp's in trouble and Max needs your help saving him. He fell in the river and you're the best swimmer out of all of us."
"Let me get this straight. You want me to jump into a rushing river and get a tiny mini-dino out before he goes plummeting off a waterfall rather than fight the Alpha Clods or the new arrival?" Spiny asked.
"Kinda," Max shrugged.
"Sure."
Zoe did a double-take. "You whuh? But you won't be fighting."
"Hey, your stunt will be just as extreme, and saving Chomp is more important right now anyway. Let's go, Max." Spiny crouched on the ground and let Max get onto his neck, then trundled into the water and started swimming away.
"We're coming for you, Chomp!" Max shouted as they drifted out of sight.
Rex sighed. "Ace, you hunted titanosaurs in your old life, so I guess you're up this time."
"N-no w-way, Rex," Ace stammered, looking terrified at the river. "N-not with th-that river th-that c-close."
"Ace was uplifted shortly after falling into a lake, he hasn't been good with large bodies of water ever since," Paris said apologetically.
"Must I do EVERYTHING around here?" Zoe griped while Rex desummoned Ace. "Whatever! Paris, Tank's move card has no attribute, so I'll be arming you with Dino Swing. That alright with you?"
"Yeah, I can manage," Paris nodded before hearing something break. "What was that?" she asked, turning her head frantically.
From above, Mocha squinted. "It's something big...scary...and...pink? What?"
"Well, well, well, look what we have here!" a miniature Curvy crooned as he burst from the bushes. "Another lazy dinosaur to add to my collection!"
"You take one mud bath before you're uplifted," Mocha grumbled.
"Great," Rex groaned. "If you're here, then that means–" He was cut off by maniacal evil laughter.
"I hope you didn't forget us," Ursula said as she came into view. "If I need to jog your memory, we're Ursula, Zander, and Ed. Hi."
"Great, the old lady," Zoe groaned.
"Would you stop calling me old! I'm not old!"
"She said bold lady, not old!" Ed fibbed, trying to calm her down.
"Right, bold, strong, brave!" Zander added.
"Whatever! Alright, Curvy, get in there and tear them all to pieces!" Ursula commanded as Zander fullsized the ceratopsian. She then realized that something was missing. "Say, where's the brown-haired one?"
"He's...elsewhere," Rex said.
"One of his dinosaurs fell into the water and he's gone after him on the back of the Spinosaurus, hasn't he?" Zander guessed.
"How did you–"
"Something similar happened to me last week."
"In that case, Tator's going out too!" Ursula declared, swiping a second card that materialized into a magenta and gray Irritator challengeri. "Follow that brat!" she ordered. Tator silently obeyed and slipped into the water before paddling off in the direction of the current. "And as for you...Curvy, get the longneck!"
"I have a NAME, you know!" Mocha snarled as she knelt into a defensive stance. Curvy charged her and tried to knock the Saltasaurus over, but Mocha blocked the impact with her armored back, resulting in his face getting deflected to the side and numerous scrapes forming on the side of his nose.
"Go! Hit her again!" Ursula barked.
"I plan to!" Curvy sneered, aiming his nose horn at Mocha's neck.
"Not so fast! DINO SWING!" Zoe declared while slashing the card through her DinoShot. Paris picked Curvy up by his tail and threw him into the river.
"Nice one!" Mocha complimented while Curvy wobbled back to his feet. "Now let's finish him off!"
"I still have a trick up my sleeve," Ursula said, pulling out a new move card from her breast pocket and handing it to Zander. "Remember our little trump card?"
"But you don't have sleeves," Ed pointed out. Indeed, Ursula's current attire consisted of a very noticeably sleeveless dress.
"It's just an expression!" she snapped. "Do it, Zander!"
"Yes, please! I want to see what that thing does!" Curvy begged.
"Alright, Curvy!" Zander declared. "Lightning Axe!"
Curvy cackled madly as a large semicircular blade of crackling electricity rose up out of his nose horn. "Alright! Now you sniveling saurians stand no chance! Behold the might of Curvy the Einiosaurus!" He paused when he smelled something burning. "Hold on, what's that–" He was electrocuted near-instantly due to the static electricity from the blade passing through the water around his ankles and wrists, carding him soon after.
Everyone was stunned (heh, stunned) speechless. Except for Ursula, who facepalmed and quietly let out an angry breath. "Zander...why didn't you have Curvy leave the river before giving him the zappy card?" he hissed.
"He just looked so cute when he was begging!" Zander protested weakly.
"And I think I might've forgotten to feed him this morning, it'd explain why he went out so quickly," Ed added meekly (Hey, that rhymes!).
"Idiots, I'm surrounded by idiots!" Ursula complained as she pulled out her other card. "Whatever, Urania's going out next! I sure hope Tator's having more luck."
Downriver, 7:44 AM
"Faster, Spiny! We're almost there!" Max said, clutching onto Spiny's sail like he was windsurfing. Chomp bobbed in and out of the water seven feet in front of them.
"Chomp, how you doing?" Spiny asked.
"Blugh," said Chomp as he spat out some water. "I'm alright, but– OH CRAP ALPHASAUR!"
"Huh?" Spiny watched as a similar shape to his own, only smaller and without the massive sail on his back (but still with a fin on his tail...hey, that rhymes too!), swam past him and grabbed the miniature Chomp in his jaws. "CHOMP! WHY YOU–"
Then, to their surprise, the smaller spinosaur swam to the shore and set him down on the riverbanks. "Oh! Tator! Thanks, buddy," Chomp said. Tator smiled and spoke...well, his mouth moved, but no sound came out. Chomp's face fell. "Oh, no. Their experiments took away your voice." Tator nodded sadly. "Oh, Tator..."
Spiny pulled himself onto the other riverbank. "Are you on our side or the Alphas'?" Tator gave him a flat look. "Hey, Urania and Curvy seem to be all for it!" Tator made an agreeing gesture with his hands. "Alright, should we fight just to give the twits some grief?" Tator nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, let's do it! Brazilian spinosaur, meet EGYPTIAN spinosaur!" They roared at each other and began fighting.
"You okay, Chomp?" Max asked.
"Never better now that I have front-row seats!" Chomp exclaimed, sitting down to watch the fight. Max laughed and sat down next to him as they watched the spinosaurs brawl.
Upriver, 7:50 AM
Urania was currently locked in a stalemate with Paris. Nature's Blessing could undo any damage she wrought with Emerald Garden, and despite being several levels higher than Paris she was also a good deal smaller. That, and Paris wasn't fighting alone; even with the elemental advantage she had over Mocha, fighting two opponents at once was hard.
Wiping some blood from her nose with a paw, Urania glared at the Alpha Trio. "Can't you idiots summon someone else?" she hissed.
"Gee, Urania, can't handle a little two-on-one battle?" Mocha tsked mockingly. "What would your mother say?"
"Probably 'honk honk skreonk' since she wasn't uplifted to my knowledge," Paris murmured, somehow making air quotes with her hooves.
"You leave my mother out of this!" Urania growled. "Ed, summon Breeze, and Ursula, when we get back, tell Dr. Z to start thinking up some more move cards for Grass. I've seen the ones he's got planned already and quite frankly they're a disappointment."
"How so?" Rex asked, curious.
"Like I should tell you!"
"She means that most of the Grass cards Dr. Z has planned are either healing-based, or based on summoning other prehistoric animals," Ed piped up as he summoned Breeze. "Hardly any are plant-themed offensive moves."
"Wait...you mean...you mean he's turned other animals into move cards, meaning they can't be summoned by themselves?!" Zoe gasped before her face turned into one of fury. "That's sick and cruel! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, taking away their freedom like that! Paris, kick Urania's butt!"
"We shall ssssssssee whosssssse butt shall be kicked," Breeze hissed before launching herself at Paris. "Sssssomeone give me a move card!" she ordered while clinging to Paris' back, only to be bucked off shortly after, landing roughly on her own back.
"I've got one you might like," Ed said as he retrieved the one Wind card he had. "It's called Jet Shuriken."
"That will do nissssssely." Breeze felt him activate the card, and several shurikens made of condensed air materialized around her. She sent them flying at her opponents, making sure to avoid hitting Urania with them. Blood splattered from the cuts in Paris and Mocha's skin.
"Uh-oh," Paris gulped after using Nature's Blessing, only for her and Mocha's wounds to only partially close. "I'm almost out of energy for my card."
"And I don't have a card," Mocha added uneasily.
"HA!" Ursula declared. "Your war of attrition failed with two opponents! Now let's get those cards!"
"I'm summoning Tank," Zoe said, reaching for her other card. "Rex, summon Ace. Fear of water or not, he needs to come out and help us."
"Not necessarily!" Chomp, full-sized and still a bit wet, thundered into the fight, pushing Urania back into a tree with his horns. A branch snapped off the tree when she hit it and landed on her head, leaving her dazed.
"Impossible!" Ursula said, flabbergasted. "You were in a river! And so was Tator!"
"I ACTUALLY WON FOR A CHANGE!" a scratched-up Spiny exclaimed giddily as he rushed to join Chomp, kicking Breeze with his right foot and sending the Dilophosaurus flying into the same tree, which dropped another branch onto Urania's head.
"Now that you're all in one place, it's time to say goodnight! Even though it's still the morning!" Max said. "Electric Charge!" Chomp sent a bolt right at the two Alphasaurs, zapping both of them at once and eventually carding them.
"Isn't it funny that all three Alpha dinosaurs got carded with electricity?" Paris commented.
"Yeah, that is funny," Rex agreed.
Max handed Tator's card back to Ursula. "He wanted to stay with you," he lied. Tator had agreed to be a mole for the D-Team, as his inability to speak meant that the Alpha Gang might underestimate how much they had to keep quiet around him.
"Whatever!" Ursula seethed. "You haven't seen the last of us, brat!"
"He's not a brat! He went out there to save his friend from mortal peril!" Mocha roared. "He's more a hero than you'll EVER be! Now buzz off before I make you!" She lashed her tail dangerously close to the three villains, who got the message and left immediately in a flash of light.
"Thanks, Mocha," Chomp sighed. "I'm sorry if this wasn't where you wanted to end up."
"It's not ideal, but hey, at least I saw some friendly faces who came for me. Don't take that out of context."
"What context?" Max asked.
"I don't think we want to know," Rex replied with a disturbed look on his face.
"We'll find out where we were supposed to go, just you wait and see," Chomp reassured her. "Speaking of...which one of us did you want to pair up with?"
"I'm thinking the redhead's team," Mocha replied. "Paris and I worked well together against Urania, I wouldn't mind being partnered with her full-time."
"Really? Oh, thank you, Mocha!" Paris beamed. "Now let's do this!" She let out a booming honk that Mocha returned with a deep bellowing hiss, and they charged at each other.
Sanjo City, 8:24 PM
"So now I have three dinosaurs, which means that my DS is full," Zoe told Reese at dinner. "So what do I do if another dinosaur wants to join me?"
"You'd still be able to take their card, but you wouldn't be able to summon them unless you deregistered one of your other ones," Reese replied. "I'm guessing you'd want your third slot to be the flexible one on account of how closely bonded Tank and Paris are to you."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. How long before you upgrade us to four slots?"
"It may be a while until I can. We don't know all that much about this technology, Zoe. I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to due to time travel. Or maybe I'm supposed to invent it now so I can invent it in the past..." She sighed and massaged her temples. "I loathe time travel, I really do."
"Then let's talk about something else," Tank grunted from her bowl of kale and chard. "How's Max doing with the mud you said he got dunked in?"
"No idea, Tank. I have no idea."
Max's house, 8:30 PM
The minute Aki set the plates of hamburgers down, Max quickly snatched one up and wolfed it down ravenously. "My goodness, where are your manners?" Aki frowned. "You're acting like you were raised in a jungle."
"After the day I've had, I feel like it," Max replied before downing half his water in one gulp.
"Yeah, Max had a lot of errands to run earlier today for some friends," Rex half-lied.
"Seeing that he changed and bathed before dinner, I believe you," Aki sighed. "Spike, how's your paper going?"
"Oh, it's going fantastic, Aki!" Spike replied, distracting his wife with the intricacies of his research while Max snuck a small piece of hamburger (along with half of his soggy lettuce) to Chomp, with Rex doing something similar for Ace, who didn't swallow all of his meat so Terry could try some hamburger later on when Aki wasn't around.
All in all, a successful day.