Dungeons and Dinosaurs
Disclaimer: Dinosaur King is owned by Sunrise, Shout Factory, 4kidsTV, and any other company I missed. I own nothing
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Flashback"
[Dinosaur Language]
DK
Things on Zeta Point haven't been the same since the Mashindano. Not only were there now several poachers living among them, the Dinosaurs' behaviour has also changed. And nobody noticed this more than Gigas, as he was the one benefiting from such behaviour changes.
The Tyrannosaurus exited his sleeping quarters and walked over to the meat trough to hopefully get a scrap at least. But, to his surprise, the other Predators saw him coming and moved out of the way to make room. "Hey, Gigas." Scar greeted him.
"Hey." Gigas said back, taken aback by the sudden change in behaviour. "Is there something I should know about?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Nehelenia asked innocently, or at least sounded like it was innocent.
"You guys have never let me eat with you before." Gigas explained as he swallowed a large chunk of meat whole. "Why the sudden change in attitude?"
"We're all one pack now." Inferno explained. "If we're to win this war, we need to start becoming one and put our differences aside."
"Riiight." Gigas said, sounding unconvinced. "I think I'll eat elsewhere today." Grabbing the largest chunk of meat that he could carry, the Tyrannosaurus left the room to meet up with his friends, who no doubt probably had a similar offer as him.
Once he was gone, Inferno shook his head with a figurative smile on his face. "He'll be back." He told himself. "They always do."
"Well, yeah. He sleeps here." Scar pointed out. This earned an annoyed growl from the Alpha Dinosaur and a tail slap to the face for the Clone.
(Intro Theme)
Once he was outside, Gigas went to find his friends by the pond. It was like most other mornings before. Only difference was this time Brontikens wasn't among them. When he did eventually find Armatus and Maximus, he told them what was going on with the clones. "I'm telling you guys, it's like they just suddenly had a personality change." Gigas told them as he wolfed down his breakfast.
"Yeah. They offered us a spot at the Herbivore trough, too." Maximus remembered. "What the heck is going on with them?"
Armatus stopped his drinking from the pond and looked up with narrowed eyes. "It's been like this all week. More specifically, since the Mashindano."
That's when it was starting to click for them. This was all a ploy to hurt Brontikens further by making him all alone. "How is the big guy anyway?" Gigas asked. "I rarely see him."
"The good news is that he's no longer depressed about losing to Pyro." Maximus said.
"Well that's good to-"
"The bad news is that he's still taking the loss pretty hard." Armatus cut Gigas off. "He's spending more time than ever training. I mean, that should sound normal for the guy, but he's been taking basically no breaks whatsoever."
"Not even to eat or sleep?" Gigas asked.
"He has his meals delivered to him, thankfully not forgetting to eat, and eats while he's training." Maximus explained. "And I have seen him return to his quarters late at night for sleep, so thankfully he's not completely off the deep end yet."
"However, if he gets his butt kicked again, either by the D-Team or Inferno, I doubt he'll get any better." Armatus added.
"And knowing our luck that's bound to happen before the end of this story." Gigas said. "We need to do something. I doubt we'd be able to recognise the guy by the end of the week."
"We could kill Inferno." Maximus suggested.
Just saying those words made all three of them shiver. "I'd like to keep my limbs, thank you very much." Armatus said.
"Yeah, I don't even know why I suggested that." Maximus said.
"I guess if revenge won't work we could always try to include him in one of our gaming events." Gigas suggested this time.
Maximus and Armatus looked at each other with uncertainty. "You do realise he'll just say he needs to train and say no, right?" Maximus pointed out.
"I'll take care of the asking. Armatus, you set up the game." Gigas instructed the Stegosaurus.
"I think you'll like the new levels I've made." Armatus said as he left to complete his task.
Leaving Gigas and Maximus alone with their own task. "How are we gonna convince Brontikens not to train for a few hours?" Maximus asked. "The guy won't stop for even five minutes."
"I never said we were convincing him." Gigas said with an evil look in his eyes.
DK
It was a busy evening on Coney Island. Many people were either eating the food served, playing arcade games, or going on the rides. One of these rides was the roller coaster. However, what no one noticed about the ride for over a year and a half was that wedged in one of the support beams was a capsule. The coaster rolled past the capsule and that was one time too many as it finally fell from its hiding place.
It landed on the ground near some broken wires and opened up. Two cards fell in between the wires and were caught by the static. The electricity flowed through the cards and they came to life.
Everybody nearby shielded their eyes as the yellow glow appeared then disappeared. From the colour of the glow you would know that it was a Ceratopsian. It was mostly red with large blue spots on several parts of the body such as the knees, feet, part of the back and tail, ribs, and particularly on the face covering the eyes, nose, and frill. On the top of the oval snapped frill, which was outlined with small blue spikes on the were two large, lighter blue spikes/horns that had darker blue stripes near the roots. But what set this one apart from all the other Ceratopsians we've seen was the horns on the face. Or rather, lack thereof. No horns above the eyes, no horns on the nose. Instead, there was a blue bump where the nose horn should be. This Dinosaur was an Achelousaurus.
Once she was released, everyone within the proximity behaved appropriately: screaming and running in circles. The Achelousaurus responded to awakening in a new world in an appropriate manner, too: walking aimlessly and destroying anything she can.
DK
At Zeta Point, Brontikens had just woken up from his sleep and was preparing another day of training. His pathetic performance during his fight with Inferno only meant he needed to train more than ever to become stronger than both the entire D-Team and Inferno. This reaction to his defeat only made him push himself harder. Why the hell was he crying? A warrior doesn't cry for anything. Especially something as pathetic as losing a fight. He's lost before, it's nothing new. Why did it matter differently now?
He continued on his way to the training room when he was stopped by his path being blocked. The sauropod knew he didn't take a wrong turn or anything. The door to the training room should've opened once he was close enough. Instead, it remained shut. "What is this?" He demanded to know. "I command you to open!" He yelled at the door, stomping his foot to intimidate the inanimate object in front of him.
"That's not gonna happen anytime soon." Brontikens turned around to see Gigas looking quite smug with Maximus by his side.
The Apatosaurus glared daggers at the duo. "What did you do?" He asked coldly.
Maximus felt the fear and backed up slightly while Gigas stayed looking smug. "Isn't it obvious? We locked the door to the training room." He told Brontikens.
Brontikens said nothing in reply and instead moved over to a corner where a device emerged with a keypad on it. Using his snout, he carefully pressed the buttons and entered a code into the machine. When he was done, he pressed the enter button and waited for the door to open. Nothing happened. He growled and tried again, but still nothing happened. "What is this?"
"Yeah, I might've also changed the password." Gigas told him.
This seemed to be the last straw as in speed that would make Ace jealous, Gigas was on the floor with Brontikens' foot on his head. "Tell me the code now." The Apatosaurus demanded.
Despite being only seconds from death, Gigas remained calm. "Nope." He felt the pressure from the foot on his head increase. "Ack! You can threaten me all you want, I know you won't kill me."
"And how do you know that for sure?" Brontikens asked him, slowly increasing pressure.
"Because… if you kill me then you'll never get the password." Gigas told him. "I only have it memorised. I never wrote it down, and I didn't tell anybody else either."
Brontikens looked over to Maximus to see if this was true or not. "He's right. He made me look away when he changed passwords."
"And we both know you can't force your way in or Dr.N will no doubt ban you from the room and stuff your card in a book." Gigas added.
"Ugh." Maximus groaned in annoyance. "Gigas, this is an intervention. Stop antagonising him."
"Intervention?" Brontikens backed off and looked at them both. "I don't need an intervention."
"Not from where we're standing." Gigas said as he got back onto his feet, shaking himself clean of the dust on the floor. "All you do is train, train, train, train-"
"Eat something while training." Maximus interrupted.
"-train, train, train-"
"Sleep for maybe an hour at most." Maximus added again.
"And train some more." Gigas finished. "You train so much that I'm surprised that you can still make complete sentences."
"What I do in my free time is my business." Brontikens said. "Why don't you mind your own?"
"And your health is our business." Gigas told him, dropping the smugness for a more serious approach. "I'm going to say this once and only once. You need a hobby!" He practically shouted at Brontikens. "With a one track mindset like this, you'll never win your challenge to be King!"
Seeing the tension between the two escalate, Maximus stepped in between them. "Look, Brontikens, all we ask is that you take some time off and join us for our activities. Don't think of it as taking a break. Think of it as a new form of training."
"And considering what we have planned, that last bit is very accurate." Gigas added.
Brontikens was quiet for a bit as he pondered it. "You will unlock the room when this is over, correct?"
"You have my word." Gigas answered.
Silence again as the Sauropod considered it. Whatever this new training is, it might be the key to Inferno's and Terry's undoings. "Show me."
DK
The trio of Dinosaurs walked into the main room where Armatus was already waiting for them. The Stegosaurus was currently setting up a gaming system, plugging in various plugs to the TV. In front of the television were four helmets that were plugged into the system. Armatus plugged in one final cord and saw the group enter. "Ah, perfect timing. The gang's all here."
"Let's get this over with. I have training to do." Brontikens said, eyeing the game system before glaring at Gigas. "I fail to see how video games are a form of training."
"I said you could think of it as a new form of training. I never said it was training." Gigas retorted. Maximus and Armatus rolled their eyes at the pathetic attempt to make Brontikens think differently.
"Ignore what Gigas said, mate." Armatus told the Apatosaurus. "He just doesn't want to be the weakest in the party."
"Not that you joining us would make it any different." Maximus joked.
"I swear I am one XP away from levelling up!" Gigas retorted.
Brontikens just looked at them in confusion. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Only the greatest virtual remake of a board game ever!" Armatus exclaimed as he turned on the TV by pulling a switch. "Get ready, mates, for an evening-"
"It's only 1 P.M." Maximus pointed out.
"-Afternoon of raiding dungeons and slaying Dragons!" The Stegosaurus pulled out the case for a video game from behind himself. "Welcome, Brontikens, to Dungeons & Dragons! The Video Game!"
DK
It didn't take long for the D-Team to respond to the signal and arrive at Coney Island. Once there, police arrived and escorted the kids and Dinosaurs to where the Achelousaurus was being held. "I can't believe they beat us to the Dinosaur." Terry pouted.
"Who? The Hybro Gang?" Chomp asked.
"No, the cops!" Terry almost shouted. "I mean, we didn't even get to see the Dinosaur fight at all. At least with ones we made friends with early, like Hanna and Shang, we saw them battle the Hybro Gang. This one we get nothing."
"I don't see what the deal is. You can fight them back home." Max pointed out. He was recognising the T-Rex's behaviour to their mission in Antarctica and did not want to go through that experience ever again.
"It's just not the same." Terry pouted.
"Well, this will give us the time to try and talk to it first." Rhysa said.
The team continued until they arrived at a makeshift jail that was a pit with walls that surrounded the Achelousaurus. "An Achelousaurus!" Paris identified.
"You seriously stopped a Dinosaur with that?" Tank asked rhetorically. "I'm pretty sure she should be able to shove those walls aside easily."
"Maybe she's too weak to try too." Spiny suggested, earning a whack from Tank.
"Whatever the reason, thankfully the trap worked and we can reason with her instead of fighting her." Rex said as he, Max, Rhysa and Zoe approached the hornless Ceratopsian. Chomp came too for translation.
They arrived at ground level where there was a gate loosely placed between two walls that would allow people in and out of the 'cell'. Max grabbed Chomp in his arms and held him above the gate. "Greetings, Sister!" Chomp waved.
The Achelousaurus heard Chomp's call and turned around to greet him. [Brother, I see that the oversized Mammals caught you as well.]
"Actually, they're called humans. And they didn't capture me, we're part of the same herd." Chomp explained.
[Adding Mammals into a herd?] The Achelousaurus almost laughed. [Never thought that'd ever happen.]
This attitude irked Chomp a little. "These humans are nothing like the Mammals in the old days. In case you haven't noticed, you're in the presence of the Dinosaur King himself." Gesturing to Rex with a paw.
The Achelousaurus looked over at the blond and saw that he was indeed wearing the crown of the Dinosaur King. This was a whole new level of surprise. [How on earth did that happen?]
"It's a long story that you wouldn't remember." Chomp told her. "Now, you need to come with us before more trouble happens."
Rex opened the gate for the Achelousaurus to follow them. "Come on, Achelousaurus. Just return to your card so we can leave and introduce you to the rest of the herd."
However, instead of bolting out like a wild Bull, the Achelousaurus stayed put. [With all due respect, Your Majesty, I think not.]
"What'd you mean no?" Chomp asked. This got the D-Team confused. Why did the Achelousaurus not want to come with them? Did she not trust humans? Understandable since they did cage her here.
"Look, Achelousaurus." Max tried to reason with her. "If this is about humans-"
[It has nothing to do with humans.] Achelousaurus cut him off, or rather Chomp did when he translated. [I simply am just not impressed by your herd so far. You look like a bunch of babies.]
"Babies?!" Zoe repeated angrily when Chomp translated. It took both Max and Rex to hold her back from doing something reckless. "I am not a baby! I am thirteen!"
"Calm down, babe!" Max struggled to keep her in place. "I'm sure she didn't mean it like that!"
But Zoe seemed to hear what her boyfriend said a little differently. "What are you implying by calling me 'babe'?!"
The Achelousaurus was taken aback by this outburst and actually almost laughed. [Hehe. I might be willing to make you a deal.]
"What kind of deal?" Chomp asked. This got Zoe to cease her attack and allowed Max and Rex to relax.
[If you prove yourselves worthy, I might join you. I'll issue two challenges for you to face me in. If you win both, I'll join your herd. But lose one and the deal's off.]
When Chomp translated, the kids looked at the red ceratopsian. "What kind of challenges did you have in mind?" Max asked her.
The Achelousaurus responded by turning around and gestured for them to follow her. She led them to a part of the wall where there was a small hole. [While I was in here, I noticed two other humans playing a game through this hole similar to the kick rock game from the old days.] She explained. [I want you to teach me how to play it, and then one of you has to defeat me in it.]
The D-Team all squeezed together as they looked through the hole and saw two kids passing a soccer ball back and forth. "Soccer?" Max repeated.
"She wants to have a soccer match?" Rhysa asked.
"Why is it always soccer?" Rex groaned, not really enjoying having to play the sport even with his defence skills.
[So that's what it's called now.] The Achelousaurus realised. [Well, if you can beat me in a soccer match, then I might join your herd.]
The kids looked at each other with concern. It was one thing to teach a Dinosaur to play a sport, but to play a sport with a Dinosaur was a whole other story. Still, they did know someone who was rising to the challenge of playing sports with humans. "Excuse us for a moment. We need to make a call." Max said as they ushered out of the space.
[As you wish, I won't be going anywhere.] The Achelousaurus said.
They regrouped with the rest of their Dinosaurs on the beach. "Well, where's the card?" Ace asked.
"Apparently the Achelousaurus isn't interested in joining us." Rex told them
"So much for an easy mission." Tank said, glaring at Terry like the rest of the Dinosaurs.
The Tyrannosaurus shrunk back with embarrassment with the realisation he may have jinxed them. "Hey, I didn't mean to say I didn't want an easy mission. I just-"
"It doesn't matter now." Max cut him off. "She did say she would join us only if we beat her in two challenges of her choosing."
"Well, the only one we know for sure is her choosing." Zoe corrected her boyfriend. "And it's a soccer match."
"But we didn't have soccer in the old days. Just kick rock" Spiny pointed out. "Rocks are not good for kicking. Believe me, I've tried."
"Which is why we're calling in a professional." Rex said as Zoe got out her Dino Holder.
DK
Unamused was definitely the right word to describe what Brontikens was thinking right now. He's heard about this Dungeons and Dragons game, and it looked like something nerds played so they didn't come off as lone pathetic losers, instead as a group of pathetic losers.
And it seems his colleagues were those pathetic losers. "It's about time we played this again!" Maximus stomped her foot with excitement.
Gigas looked at her. "We were literally playing this last night."
"That was over twelve hours ago." Maximus retorted.
Armatus ignored the bickering and walked over to Brontikens, gently pushing over a couple coloured pencils and cards. "I'm pretty sure you already know how the game works, mate?" Armatus asked Brontikens.
"I am familiar with the concept." Brontikens said. "Just a bunch of dorks trying to overcome their own imaginations or whatever." Just the idea made him roll his eyes.
"Well, this time we have a computer take our imaginations and make them into a series of challenges for us." Armatus said. "From what Rod told me, it sold really well, though those who enjoyed being dungeon masters weren't exactly thrilled." He pointed to the pencils and cards. "All you need to do is create a character for yourself."
"Why would I need to do something as silly as that?" Brontikens asked.
"It's part of the game." Gigas explained. "You get to give yourself abilities you would never get to have in real-life."
"As long as it's family appropriate." Armatus butted in. "Just because we can't use the internet because the game wasn't invented yet doesn't mean it can't detect inappropriate designs. Trust me, I learned that the hard way when-"
Brontikens rolled his eyes and tuned him out. Honestly, what was he even supposed to create? He was already the perfect Dinosaur. At least, he was until HE came into the picture and humiliated him. Just how much he wanted to burn that smug Theropod till he was nothing but ashes. To see the flames melting his face and shearing the flesh from his bones. Wait a minute, that was something he wouldn't be able to do due to his species. But if what Armatus said was true...
Realising he had an idea, he began drawing the design for his character. Art was not a hobby of his, so the drawing didn't exactly come off as the most appealing. When he was done, he handed it over to Armatus. "Take it and do whatever it is that you do."
"Okay." The Stegosaurus said as he took the card and examined it. "Thankfully, the game is really good at reading drawings, so this shouldn't come out too ugly." A low grumble from Brontikens was heard. "Shutting up. Put the helmets on and we can begin."
"Let's just get this stupid thing over with." Brontikens said as he put on a helmet. "I have-"
"Training. We know." Maximus cut him off as she tried to put on her own helmet. It wasn't so much that they were Dinosaurs that was the tricky part as Gigas put his on with relative ease. It was the fact that she had two large horns as eyebrows. So try imagining how she puts that thing on. "Just try and have fun for once in your life."
"Maximus." Gigas growled in warning. "No picking on the new guy."
"Hey, I'm just doing what you're doing. Antagonising him 'till he complies." Needless to say, Brontikens smacked them both with his tail for that.
After Armatus finished putting in Brontikens' data, he put his own helmet on. "All right, y'all. Let's do this thing!"
With the push of a button, the game activated and the four of them were 'transported' into a forest. Gigas appeared first, though not as we know him. Instead, he stood more upright, was wearing a pair of brown shorts, and his arms were much larger. Like bodybuilders. To avoid confusion, we'll be calling them by their OC names while they're in the virtual world. And Gigas' OC was named T-Struct.
After him appeared Maximus. Like Gigas, she was also standing like a human now. She wore a green robe around herself and was holding a book in one of her hands while the other was gripped around a satchel. Meet Magicus.
Armatus was also Bipedal now. He wore nothing except an arrow quiver that went around his stomach. However, his arrows weren't the traditional kind. Instead, they were thagomizers. Introducing Spike Eye.
Last to appear was Brontikens. And he...looked absolutely no different. His teammates groaned when they saw him, except Spike Eye since he knew what was on the card. "Dude! What part of being creative did you not understand?!" T-Struct yelled at him.
"I get you're new to this, but come on! You're just asking to be the target for ridicule!" Magicus added.
The Apatosaurus said nothing and instead opened up his new, giant wings. They looked like a mixture of Dragon and Demon wings that were black on the outside and red on the inside. "Call me Shade Wing." He told the group.
This shut T-Struct and Magicus up. "A Dragon. Nice choice, mate." Spike Eye gave him a thumbs up.
"Whatever." Shade Wing rolled his eyes. Even though he had to admit he liked the idea of having wings and the ability to breathe fire, this all still felt like it was a waste of time. "What's the stupid quest?"
"Well, first I think we'd probably want to level you up." Magicus said as she reached into her satchel. "I think I have some extra XP crystals in here."
"Why would I need to level up?" Shade Wing asked rhetorically. "I can take care of myself."
"Not at level one." T-Struct told him. "You can't do anything but move around at that stage. That's why it's good to start with friends in your party so you aren't completely defenceless."
Magicus and Spike Eye's eyes widened in horror as Shade Wing glared daggers at the humanoid Tyrannosaurus. However, instead of what he would normally do to him, the Apatosaurus Dragon opened his mouth and looked like he was about to breathe fire on T-Struct. T-Struct braced for the fire, but instead only got a puff of smoke that wouldn't hurt a Butterfly.
"What?" Shade Wing fried again, and only made a smaller cloud. "What is this shit?!"
T-Struct slowly lowered his arms to see he was still alive. "OK, first of all, language. I'm positive they can still ban us for swearing if they won't let me give myself nipples." That disgusted the rest of the party. "And second, like I said, level one. That means no breathing fire, no flying, no whatever Dragons can do. Just walking around and trying to reach level two."
"And not dying." Spike Eye added.
"Just let me give you some XP crystals so you'll at least be able to fight back." Magicus said as she pulled out some blue crystals.
"I don't need your stupid crystals." Shade Wing growled.
"Yes, you do." Magicus countered. "You can't even kill a Rabbit right now."
"Oh, really?" Shade Wing said as he noticed a Rabbit hop by not too far from them.
The others could immediately tell what he was planning. "Dude, don't do it." T-Struct warned him.
"What? You're gonna complain about Animal cruelty?" Shade Wing mocked and he approached the Rabbit. But before he could reach it, a large blue message appeared in front of him asking 'are you sure?'. "What is this?"
"It's D . The dungeon master always asks, 'Are you sure before you make a decision.'" Spike Eye explained.
"You really should consider your options." Magicus told the Apatosaurus dragon.
"I've considered and made my choice." Shade Wing told them as he pressed forward.
The poor thing never stood a chance.
DK
After being revived and begrudgingly taking the XP crystals, Shade Wing went with the others to the Conveniently Placed Tavern where they'd probably find some cloaked figure that would tell them about a lost treasure or something. Honestly, he wasn't paying attention. He was still sitting at the counter and 'drinking' liquor. If he didn't have to worry about the consequences of getting drunk, he might as well try the mead.
His associates were making more progress talking to Obviously Trustworthy Hooded Guy about a supposed Stone of Awesomeness. Gigas was the one who came up with the names, if you're curious. "And they say that whoever touches the stone shall bestow ultimate power." The hooded guy explained.
"Does that include the meaning of life?" Spike Eye asked.
"...Close to ultimate power." The hooded guy said before tossing them a map. "You're gonna need this."
T-Struct caught the map and opened it up. Magicus and Spike Eye leaned in to get a better view of the map. "I don't recognise most of that pathway." Magicus said.
"Must include all the new stuff that I added this morning." Spike Eye guessed.
"So we're going into unfamiliar territory and with a new guy. This can only end well." T-Struct said with fake enthusiasm.
Rolling up the map, Spike Eye called out to their missing member. "Yo, Shade! Finish those drinks and let's get a move on!"
The Apatosaurus Dragon chugged his last glass and left the table. "Uh, Sir, you gotta pay for those." The bartender told him.
Of course asking a Dragon to pay is like asking the Hybro Gang to not screw up. Both end with people on fire.
DK
There are many things that have been said to describe Rio: knucklehead, prankster, jock, A-hole, accident just waiting to happen. But one thing he wasn't called was a cheater. And it definitely showed here as he explained the rules of soccer very carefully to the Achelousaurus, making sure she didn't miss any details. "And while humans don't have any rules against using tails, since they don't have any, we made the decision ourselves that using the tail should only be reserved for goalies since humans can use their hands to stop the ball, and many Dinosaurs can't do that." The Altirhinus finished explaining as he and the Achelousaurus stood in a stadium. Two goals were placed on opposite sides of the field for them to try and score into. First to score a goal won. "Any questions, or do you get it?"
[I'm pretty sure I got it all.] The Achelousaurus said as she got onto a crouching position. [Just kick the ball into your goal while keeping it out of mine.]
"Glad to see we're on the same page." Rio said as he got onto all fours. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you because this is your first time."
[I would worry less about me and more about you.]
A soccer ball was rolled onto the field and a whistle blew signalling the start of the game. The Achelousaurus made the first move and went for the ball. But Rio got in the way and rolled it back with one of his forelegs before she could grab it. With the ball in his grasp, he proceeded to dribble it with his head towards the Achelousaur's goal. However, just as he made the shot, the Achelousaurus leapt in the way and blocked the ball with her foot. [Nice try!] She said before she started dribbling the ball to Rio's goal.
"Come on Rio!" Stiggy, Stigga and Dread said. "Come on, come on, come on! You've gotta get the ball back!"
Managing to out-speed to Altirhinus, she went up to the line and gave the ball a strong kick. "Ah!" The D-Team, watching in the stands, gasped as it looked like Rio was about to lose.
But just as it seemed like game over, Rio leapt in front of the goal similar to what the Achelousaurus did and blocked the ball with his body. "I can say the same for you."
The ball rolled back to the Achelousaurus and she prepared to take another shot. But Rio would let her as he got up in her face and the two of them proceeded to stomp their forelegs on the ground, trying to get the ball from the other.
What none of the heroes knew was that the Hybro Gang was also there, watching the match from the top bleachers. "Ah, watching that Altirhinus play reminds me of when we first snagged that big-nosed Lizard." Slander sighed happily at the memory.
"What do you mean we? I was the one who did all the fieldwork!" Tred said with annoyance.
"Whatever." Cursula waved them both off. "Not only do we get the new Dinosaur, but we'll also have our little Rio back, too."
"We'll wait it out you fools." Louisa said. "We'll let them wear each other out, and then we swoop in and attack!"
But before any of them could so much as try to pull out their Scanners, the sounds of guns clicking was heard. Turning around, the trio paled when they saw a lot of cops pointing guns at them. One wrong move and they were history. "Well, that's our appearance quota for this episode." Louisa said nervously to her teammates with a terrified smile.
"Perhaps we'll get a bigger role next time." Tred said with the same nervousness, though he lacked the terrified smile.
"Perhaps if the writer will allow it next time." Cursula said, breaking the fourth wall.
"But uh, let's get out of here!" Slander said.
"See ya!" The quartet said before running away so fast that in their places were dust figures of themselves.
Back on the field, the stomping continued. It was honestly surprising that they didn't squish the ball. After a while, Rio was able to get the drop on the Achelousaurus as swipe the ball from her. Using his hind legs, he kicked the ball away from them with his left leg and towards her goal. Then it was a race against time.
Being closer to her own goal, the Achelousaurus had a bit of a head start, but Rio quickly made up for it with his own speed and gave the ball a powerful nudge with his head. Despite the Achelousaur's attempt to stop it with a dive, she crashed into the dirt a few inches short and the ball went into the goal. "And that's game." Rio said proudly, roaring in victory.
"GOAL!" Rhysa cheered.
"Way to go, Rio!" The D-Team cheered.
"I knew you could do it!" Chomp added, jumping up and down on the wall.
"It was nothing." Rio brushed it off. "At least most of it wasn't." He added quietly, finding the Achelousaurus to be quite the fighter.
"So, Sister, now that you've seen that we have the skill will you join us?" Chomp asked the Achelousaurus.
The Achelousaurus shook her head. [Tsk, tsk, tsk. Someone forgot the deal. I said you had to beat me in two challenges in order to have my approval. And, as far as I could tell, this was only one.]
"So what's the second challenge?" Chomp asked.
[You. Me. Battle on the beach.] Was her reply.
DK
And so, with their quest in sight, the four...role-players were off to start their journey. For the most part, Shade Wing kept to himself, crushing anything in his path and building up XP. The other three were a lot less destructive, mainly since they didn't need the level up and because they wanted to be here. "I don't think Night Shade's enjoying himself." T-Struct whispered so the Apatosaurus couldn't hear them.
"He just doesn't understand the importance of video games." Magicus responded. "Once he does, he'll be as addicted to this game as me."
"I really doubt that Brontikens of all Dinosaurs will be into role-play." T-Struct said back.
"You never know." Magicus replied. "You never know."
"Will you blokes be quiet!" Spike Eye hissed at them as he read the map. "I can't tell what this long thing is supposed to be."
The other two stopped their conversation and looked at the map. "I think that's supposed to be a river." Magicus said.
"Okay. That shouldn't be too hard to cross." Spike Eye said as he lowered the map. Right when he did that, they saw that it wasn't a river they had to cross but a ravine. "Oh."
"Thanks for tempting fate, Magicus." T-Struct growled at the humanoid Triceratops.
"It was a guess, moron!" Magicus retorted the accusation. "Spike Eye's the one you should be mad at!"
"Oh, like I knew what was coming!" Spike Eye yelled back before realising they were a head short. "Wait, where's Shade Wing?"
"Over here, idiots!" Looking across the ravine, they saw Shade Wing already on the other side.
"H-how did you?" T-Struct tried to ask. Shade responded by opening his wings. "Oh, right. Wings."
"Maybe you can fly back over here and give us a lift!" Magicus called out.
"Why would I do that? If you can't figure out how to cross, that's your problem." Shade Wing responded.
"Mate, we don't have the fortune of being able to fly like you can." Spike Eye pointed out.
"And we won't need to." T-Struct butted in. "Look!" He pointed towards an old bridge not far from them. Of course, the bridge looked like it could collapse at any minute and there were several missing planks.
"Great. A bridge." Magicus groaned.
"Oh, yes. Cross the obvious death trap." Shade Wing said sarcastically. "It's not like that bridge will obviously give the moment you step foot on it."
"It won't if we roll a fifteen or higher." T-Struct said as a dice appeared above him.
He punched it with his arm and immediately began running across the bridge. "Dude, what're you doing?!" Magicus yelled at him.
"I'm not waiting to see what I got!" Was his reply.
The dice stopped rolling and landed on a two. "Uh-oh." The other humanoid Dinosaurs said together.
Unaware of his impending doom, T-Struct continued across the bridge until the ropes holding it up snapped. The bridge fell down the ravine, leaving the buff T-Rex in the air. "Son of a BIIIIIIIIIIIII-" He screamed as he fell down the ravine, only stopping when he was impaled by the sharp rocks below.
Magicus and Spike Eye looked over the edge and saw T-Struct's body. "Ewww." Magicus winced at the graphic image.
Spike Eye was more annoyed than anything else. "Seriously, mate?! Come on!"
After a resurrection spell by Magicus was cast, T-Struct appeared next to them completely unharmed. "Hey, I could've made it!"
"No, you wouldn't have!" Shade Wing yelled from the other side.
"This is why you're so behind us in levels!" Spike Eye scolded his teammate. "You forget to use save points every time we pass one and you keep getting yourself killed."
"Hey! Those stupid things are never around when I need them!" T-Struct retorted.
"I keep telling you to save every chance you get!" Magicus yelled angrily at T-Struct.
"And I keep telling you, sorcerer, to use some goddamn magic! Cast a spell already! Fix the bridge! Make a new one! Give us the ability to fly!" T-Struct yelled as he paced around.
"I keep telling you that all those kinds of spells require me to roll a twenty!" Magicus yelled back.
"You've used that excuse so much I have a hard time believing it!" T-Struct retorted.
The two of them continued on yelling at each other, with Spike Eye watching and eating popcorn, until they felt a gust of wind and a loud thud behind them. They looked to see an annoyed Shade Wing. "If you're not going to continue, give me the password so I can get something productive done."
"Mate, if you want this bickering over with you could always just fly us over to the other side." Spike Eye pointed out.
"I carry my own weight and no one else's." Shade Wing told them.
T-Struct thought of a retort before coming up with one so perfect he smirked. "How're you supposed to find the stone without the map?"
"Why do you think I bothered flying back here?" Shade asked rhetorically. "If you're not going to let me leave until the quest is finished I want the map so I can find it on my own."
"And how are you supposed to hold it?" Magicus asked. "You got no hands, no pockets, and if you keep it in your mouth you'll most likely burn it." She pointed out each and every flaw with his plan.
"And your idea of riding me across is also a bad idea when you remember that my back is covered with spines!" Shade retorted, moving his back to prove his point.
"So basically none of us are going anywhere." Spike Eye said.
"Can't you summon something to help us cross?" T-Struct asked Magicus.
"I can try a randomizer spell, but I can't promise it'll be useful." She replied as she took out her spell book. She waved her free hand around as it started glowing. "Imagination time!" She said as she cast the spell.
In-front of them landed a large chariot. "How is that going to help you across?" Shade Wing asked. He got his answer when a rope was tossed around him like a horse. It took him two seconds to put two-and-two together. "No." He told the Dinosaurs in the chariot. "Not this again."
"It's either this or no training." T-Struct pointed out as he took the reins.
Shade Wing gave in. "Fine. But hit me with those and I'm dropping you." With that he took off.
DK
The rest of the way to the stone was relatively peaceful. Boring for those in the chariot since they had nothing to do, but it didn't bother Shade Wing as he knew this would let them finish the quest sooner so he can train. The only time he so much as looked back at his passengers was to either tell them to shut up when they were making too much noise, which was any noise in his case, or to get clarification on where to go. "Keep going until you see a mountain above the clouds." Spike Eye said as he looked at the map. "But please don't go above the clouds to find this mountain. T-Struct won't survive the altitude."
"I'm pretty sure you don't suffocate in video games." Shade Wing added his thoughts.
"You don't, but you probably saw he's kind of an idiot whenever he gets buff. I guess his brain is where he gets the muscles from."
"It was one time!" T-Struct retorted.
Shade Wing rolled his eyes and noticed a mountain up ahead that looked like the peak was above the clouds. "I'm assuming that's the mountain."
"It has to be." Spike Eye confirmed. "Look for a cave and that should be where the stone is."
Shade Wing obliged, quickly finding the cave and flying into it. Landing the chariot, the other hopped out and saw what they were looking for. "The Stone of Awesomeness!" The trio exclaimed. The stone was in the centre of the cave, spinning under a beam of light. T-Struct and Magicus wasted no time in running towards the stone to grab it. Shade Wing was compelled to do the same so he could leave, but knew the same thing Spike Eye was thinking. "Hold it, Mates!" The anthro Stegosaurus warned them as he quickly pulled out a spike and fired it on the ground in front of them.
Immediately, the sound of growling was heard. Out of the shadows emerged several weird goblin-like Creatures. "Oh, right. Traps." Magicus remembered. "I forgot about them."
"Whatever the trap, I will easily push through it." Shade Wing declared before giving a roar and charging forward towards the mass of Monsters. The monsters reacted by running towards the charging giant and grabbing onto him wherever they could. Shade Wing wasn't bothered by the biting creatures and responded by swinging his neck and tail around on the mass of Creatures.
In the back, the trio weren't targeted since Shade Wing was the one getting the Monsters' attention. But that still didn't stop them from trying to join in. "Hang on, dude!" T-Struct said as he prepared to dive in.
"I don't need your help!" Shade Wing told him. "Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours!"
"But there's no way you can beat all those Monsters alone!" T-Struct told him.
His teammates glared at him. "T-Struct!" They both helped before Magicus added. "What have I told you about antagonising him?!"
T-Struct waved his arms around in defence. "I'm just saying the truth!"
"Only you're not." Shade Wing said as he opened up his wing and took to the air. Despite being in a cave, there was enough room for him to fly. Many of the monsters latching onto him lost their grips and fell off him. "I told you before. I am the strongest of all Dinosaurs!" He wasted no time breathing fire on all the Monsters. The Creatures were basically helpless as they burned like grass in the flames. When the flames died down, only the Monsters that were still clinging onto the Apatosaurus Dragon remained. But Shade Wing was able to throw them off with ease. The remaining Monsters landed on the floor and were crushed beneath Shade Wing's feet as he landed. "I told you." He said to the group without looking back. "I'm not a weakling."
The trio looked uneasy. But before they could respond, a loud roar filled the cave.
DK
On one side of the beach stood Max and Chomp. On the other stood the Achelousaurus. The rest of the D-Team watched the event from the boardwalk. "Are you ready for this, Achelousaurus!" Max called out to his opponent.
[You're about to see they don't call me Red Champ for nothing!] Was the Achelousaur's reply, though only Chomp understood her.
"Red Champ?" Chomp repeated.
[Yeah. If you and the others all get names, so should I.] Red Champ pointed out.
"Fair enough." Chomp shrugged.
Max, not able to understand Red Champ currently, was slightly confused by the conversation. "So is Red Champ her name or-"
"It's her name." Chomp replied.
"I was thinking just Red would be better, but that doesn't matter." Max said as he got his Dino Holder out. "What matters is winning this match and taking her home with us!"
"DINO SLASH! GO, TRICERATOPS! ROAR! DINO TECTOR ON!"
[Oh so we're fighting with armour ah, well fine with me!] Red Champ said, as she roared.
The Achelousaurus started glowing too but yellow, as in a dimension of lightning a circle of lightning appeared around Achelousaurus as a bright yellow circle appeared on her forehead, lightning then came bursting out of her sides as one yellow circle appeared on either side of her, then the one on her forehead shone brightly as shoulder blade yellow coloured armour appeared on her shoulders on each side, as more armour appeared on her sides working its way down from her front to her tail, finally armour appeared on her forehead and frill like a helmet, the Achelousaurus roared at the sky as she reared up on her hind legs and slammed them to the ground and posed as lightning flashed all around the dimension.
Once he landed with his armour on, Chomp immediately went for Red Champ and tried to pin her down by pressing his forelegs on her back, right behind her frill. But Red Champ was able to force him off and knock him down with a shove to the stomach from her nose. When Chomp got back onto his feet, he noticed the Achelousaurus was nowhere in sight. "Where did she-"
"Behind you, Chomp!" Max warned. The Triceratops had no time to react as Red Champ charged at him from behind this time and knocked him onto the ground again.
This time, instead of just leaving him, she began to push him with her nose like when Frankie uses Death Grind. She kept pushing until she crashed Chomp into a nearby shed. "Hey! You break it, you fix it!" Rex yelled at them.
"Sorry."
[Sorry.] Both of them apologised. To keep the fight away from the humans stuff, Red Champ tackled Chomp away once he was back on his feet.
"That Achelousaurus is not only fast, she's powerful." Terry said. "I wish I was the one fighting her! What about you, Rio?" The Altirhinus said nothing. "Rio?" If this was a video, this would be the part where some cliche love song would be playing as Rio stared at Red Champ with awe as she leapt into the air and pinned Chomp down at the neck like she was a Theropod. Only she used her feet to pin him down, not her teeth. Terry could immediately tell from the silence and staring what Rio was thinking. "Oh brother." He sighed with a sweat drop appearing.
Back with the fight, Red Champ decided she'd worn her opponent down enough. She began glowing yellow and activated her Move Card. [Attack Burst!] Lightning struck the Achelousaurus before she roared and it came back out, creating a large dust cloud. The fact that this was taking place on a beach only made the cloud stronger. Everyone shielded their eyes as best they could from the mini sandstorm.
Unaffected by her own storm, Red Champ ran to Chomp and used her back to shove him into the air. Once he was high enough, the lightning struck him. "So this is what my attacks feel like!" He tried to joke. But Red Champ wasn't finished as she leapt into the air after him, striking him in the stomach before going even higher and striking him on the back. This sent the Triceratops crashing back down.
"Chomp, get up!" Max encouraged his friend. However, even with the Move Card's attack complete, the dust and sand still remained in the air. "Even if he does get up, he won't be able to see a thing in all this sand." The brunet said to himself. "There has to be a way for Chomp to see in this?" As he thought, his visor gave him a small shock. "Oww!" He hissed as he took his gear off to examine it. "Stupid thing. Can't you see I'm in the middle of a fight!" He then came to a realisation. "Wait, that's it!" Quickly putting his visor back on, he turned on the horn lights and ran into the battle.
"Max, what're you doing?!" Zoe screamed at him, able to see what he was doing.
"Helping Chomp win this fight!" Max responded as he looked around for any sign of the duelling Ceratopsians. Thankfully, he was able to find Chomp getting back up after the attack. "Chomp!"
"Max?!" Chomp exclaimed in shock as the boy ran over to help him up, all be it wasn't much help. "What're you doing here?!"
"Figured you could use some light!" Max gave him a thumbs up before searching around for any sign of the Achelousaurus. Chances were she could see his light, so they both needed to be even faster than her. He was about to see how fast they were when he saw a dark shape approaching them. Not wanting to alert her, he gently tapped Chomp's leg to get his attention. When Chomp looked over at him, he pointed towards the approaching shape of Red Champ.
Chomp quickly positioned himself in time to meet her in a headlock. This surprised the Achelousaurus as she was sure she had him. [How did you see me coming?!] She asked as they struggled.
"Pays to have friends that'll always help you!" Was Chomp's reply before he batted her away with his tail.
"All right! Let's finish this!" Max declared as he swiped a Move Card. "Ultimate Thunder!" Chomp created a pathway of lightning before Red Champ was struck. His tail and eyes glowing, he slid forward before striking her dead centre. Champ was knocked back like a tumbleweed until she glowed yellow and returned to her card.
When the dust died down, Max and Chomp stood proudly with Red Champ's Card, her Move Card and Element Booster in Max's hand. "Way to go!" The rest of the team cheered as they ran down to congratulate them, though Rio looked a little disappointed for some reason only Terry knew.
Zoe arrived first and punched Max in the shoulder hard. "That was for doing something stupid!" She scolded him before giving him a kiss on the lips. "And that's for doing something genius." She said sweetly.
Max was blushing heavily and smiling like an idiot. "Hehe. I could get used to that." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
DK
The role players tensed up as they frantically searched for whatever made that noise. "What was that?!" T-Struct asked fearfully.
"Probably the guardian of the stone!" Magicus assumed, getting out her spell book.
"And I doubt he's happy we killed his Monsters." Spike Eye added.
"Let him come." Shade Wing said. "I'm not afraid of anything." Out of the shadows behind the stone emerge a large Dragon. Shade Wing was not amused. "Of all the creatures that could be the final boss, they chose a Dragon."
"Dragons are pretty tough." T-Struct pointed out. "But with the three of us at good health we should-"
Shade Wing wasn't listening as he charged towards the Dragon. The Dragon responded to this by slashing the Apatosaur's chest with his claw. This caused Shade Wing to slightly step back. Trying a more distant approach, he attempted to breath fire on the Dragon, only for the Dragon to counter with his own. The Dragon's fire proved to be stronger than Shade's as it went straight through his and knocked him down. "Mate, you're low on health!" Spike Eye told him. "Let Magicus heal you while me and T-Struct distract the Dragon."
"I don't need your help!" Shade Wing told them again as he tried attacking again.
"Don't you see the Monsters were meant to lower our health so we wouldn't have an easy time fighting this guy!?" Magicus tried to reason with Shade Wing.
"Even if it was, I won't be a weakling!" Shade Wing yelled as he was being pushed around by the Dragon. "I will triumph over all in my way!"
"You can't do this alone!" T-Struct said. "Let us help you!"
The Dragon now had Shade Wing pinned to the ground. "I will fight 'till one of us dies!"
"But it doesn't have to be this way if you-"
Something inside the Apatosaurus snapped at that moment. "I'M NOT THE WEAKLING I WAS IN THE DESERT, MOM! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!"
No one said anything after that outburst. The only sound in the cave was the struggling between two Dragons. But, no matter what Shade Wing tried he couldn't get the Dragon off him. The Dragon opened his mouth and prepared to fire. Shade Wing said nothing and waited for the flames of his failure to consume him. But before anything could happen to him, the Dragon suddenly moved off him.
In confusion, Shade looked up and saw T-Struct pulling the Dragon off him by the tail. "Magicus, now!" The T-Rex ordered.
The Triceratops sorcerer wasted no time in casting a healing spell on Shade Wing. "This should only take a few seconds." She assured him.
"What're you doing?" Shade Wing asked them as he felt his energy returning.
"Boy, you are dense if you can't tell what teamwork is." Spike Eye told him as he moved in front of him, arrows aimed at the Dragon for protection.
"Don't you remember the lessons you taught us about Dinosaur History?" T-Struct brought up. "How during the Triassic the Dinosaur Tribes all put their differences aside and united into one?"
"How they were able to help each other survive?" Magicus added.
"How they were able to replenish the land in the North?" Spike Eye added before they all said together. "HOW THEY MADE DINOSAURS THE RULERS OF THE EARTH?!"
Shade Wing said nothing in amazement. Both at their skills as they were hitting the Dragon with fists, magic, and arrows, but also at what they said. He remembered that story. The tribes all came together and were able to protect each other from the other Reptilian Predators at the time. The D-Team were similar. One-on-one fights were more in his favor, but when they banded together they were unbeatable. Or were they?
Using his restored strength, Shade got back onto his feet and opened his wings before taking off. Off the ground, he could get a better view of the fight. The Dragon was struggling, but the attacks seemed to be more annoying than damaging. They needed to hit harder. Hit it together. "Hey, morons!" He called out to them. The trio stopped their attacks and looked at their other teammate. "Get on my back and we'll strike him together!" He landed and lowered so they could climb on.
"But what about-"
"Ignore the spines and get up here!" Shade Wing yelled at them.
"Go! Go!" T-Struct urged the other two. The trio wasted no time in climbing onto Shade Wing's back, careful to avoid the spines, and the Apatosaurus took off again.
"Spike Eye, you're a master snipper! Do you see a weak spot?!" Shade Wing asked.
"If we get the wings he can't fly! And the mouth is where his fire comes from!" Spike Eye explained.
"All right! Here's the plan! T-Struct, take out the left wing! Spike Eye, the right! Magicus, use magic to keep him from attacking!"
"What about you?" Magicus asked.
"I'll go for the head!" Shade Wing told them. "Now go!"
The trio wasted no time getting into action. "Paralysis spell!" Magicus shouted as she cast a spell that froze the Dragon in place.
"Our turn!" T-Struct yelled as he leapt off Shade Wing and grabbed onto the Dragon's wing before yanking it off.
"Leave some for me, mate!" Spike Eye teases as he fires a barrage of arrows at the remaining wing, pinning it to the ground.
The spell wore off and the Dragon roared in pain from the damage done to his wings. "My turn!" Shade Wing told the Dragon as he took a big breath and breathed a large breath of fire onto the Dragon. The Dragon roared in pain as the flames consumed him until he was dead.
The boss was defeated. Shade Wing landed and regrouped with the others. "Oh, my god! Dude, that was awesome!" T-Struct told his friend.
Shade Wing looked uncharacteristically smug. "Well, I am the strongest Dinosaur. But I would say that this is a team victory."
Right as he said that, the game turned off. The Dinosaurs took off their helmets, and I can finally call them by their normal names again. "You really mean that?" Gigas asked the Apatosaurus.
"I wouldn't lie to you about something like that." Brontikens told them as he got up. "Now, the code?"
"Wha?" Gigas has forgotten the whole reason he was there with them in the first place. "Oh, right! It's 44427."
"So your name in numbers." Brontikens realised as he went out the door. "How predictable."
Once he was gone, Gigas turned around triumphant. "I knew he'd enjoy it."
"Even if he did, I doubt he'll be back." Maximus pointed out.
"Give him time. We're just starting to make a connection here." Gigas.
"Hey, did either of you grab the stone before the game shut off?" Armatus asked them.
"I thought you had it." Gigas pointed out.
"I thought Maximus did." The Stegosaurus retorted.
"You mean we'll have to do that whole quest again?!" Maximus yelled angrily.
"I don't think so." Gigas shook his head. "I think we still got the real prize in the end."
Meanwhile in Louisa's lab, she was rewatching Chomp and Red Champ's battle, more precisely the part where the Triceratops defeated the Achelousaurus.
"I can't believe this!" Louisa growled. "This is just pathetic of us. Achelousaurus captured! Just another capture in a long list of our Dinosaurs captured by those brats! Thanks to them, Dr.N's now more angry than ever! There's just gotta be a way we can get the next card before they do!" Then an idea came to her head. "I've got it!"
DK
At the D-Lab, the team returned and introduced Red Champ to the rest of the Herd.
Rhysa then pulled out her camera and started recording everyone welcoming Red Champ into the Herd.
"Now that we have Red Champ the Achelousaurus joining our Herd, we've saved a total of 158 Dinosaurs. But we've still got lot's more rescues to do. Stay tuned!"
Next Time on Dinosaur King:
Rhysa: I just don't understand, why should we treat them any different!
Rex: Because they're monsters Rhysa!
Indominus-Rex 2: She was a friend I used to know.
Alioramus: T-Rex? Is that you?
White Slash: What are you doing Type 2?
Indominus-Rex Type 2: What I should've done! Leave you!
(Indominus-Rex Type 2 runs into a burning fire to find the Alioramus)
Rhysa: Rex we owe him the Alioramus' life, and if I remember Mufasa telling us about it, the law of Dinosaur Culture protocol demands that all debts be paid.
A/N: Well here's the next chapter done and next time we'll have the last and final Hybrid in the story, and after that they'll be NO MORE Hybrids in the story, it will take some time to write it so be patient and Sethelephant prepare to have a couple of questions you have.
Have a good Boxing Day everyone and also, I've hit over 700,000 words and hope to get even more in 2024. See you all next time.