AN: made some edits to the broken message
Miraculously, Brooklynn didn't get into a lot of hot water for sneaking into Dr. Wu's lab. The pink-haired girl suspected that the blond camper had something to do with it, which only made her feel even guiltier, since he probably had to beg for her to stay if that was the case.
Needless to say, it was still an awkward breakfast, with the pink-haired girl being unable to make eye contact with the boy, who always seemed to stare deep into her soul, almost as if trying to figure out if she's going to try something funny again. Now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure he was staring at her during the entire night, which would explain why she didn't get much sleep.
Either way, she definitely learned her lesson, and vowed to not get greedy like that again.
"Goood morning, campers!" Dave's obnoxiously cheerful tone filled the air, gathering everyone's attention.
The two counselors Dave and Roxie looked a little tired, no doubt from staying up all night trying to defend Brooklynn's actions, were each holding a hot cup of coffee, which they both gulped down, before throwing away their cups into the nearest recycling bin.
"Now, I get that the past couple of days has been...a little awkward-"
Everyone's eyes turned towards Darius, Kenji, and Brooklynn, who all chuckled or looked away sheepishly.
"-but that's water under the bridge. Now, I think we can learn from each other's mistakes and learn to be a little more careful and respect both the dinos and staff alike. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded, especially Brooklynn. Her eyes darted at Naruto, hoping that he saw her determination, but his eyes were trained onto the two counselors.
"With that being said, today's going to be a rather hot day, so we figured that the second part of today's activities would mainly involve lots of water. To be more exact, you get to help feed the fish we raise for feeding our dinos and our customers, then you get to go take a ride on the brand new yet to be opened to the public Kayak Adventure! Of course, the first thing we gotta do first is go help the caretakers take care of some of the baby dinos. Does that all sound fun?"
"Ooh! Will some of these fish be from the prehistoric era, like the coelacanth?"
Dave just gave him a playful wink, which said it all. Darius let out a cheer, his positive demeanor being quite infectious.
Despite having a recent, life-threatening close encounter with some dinosaurs, Darius still looked very excited to meet, touch, and help raise the infant dinosaurs.
(Then again, it's kind of hard to get killed by a baby dinosaur, especially when on a field trip that was actually planned out for them.)
Of course for their safety, they avoided the carnivorous ones, even though they were a lot less dangerous in their infant stage. They got assigned to the certain breeds they were ordered to help take care of.
Darius and Kenji got the Iguanodons, which seemed to satisfy Darius, since he got to observe how they playfully sparred each other using their legs and their growing thumbs. He was slightly disappointed at not being assigned the Gallimimus, but swallowed his complaint, especially after what he and Kenji already did.
Brooklynn got the Stegosauruses, being asked to help them wash between their bony plates, although she mostly just filmed the caretakers do the job. It was actually quite amusing, since all they essentially did was hose them with a tiny plastic tube connected to the sink while scrubbing them with a toothbrush.
Ben got the Ankylosauruses, much to his delight, and while he was tasked on feeding them, he spent half of his time looking for Bumpy. Last time they checked, he still hadn't found the asymmetrical infant.
Jessica and Yasmina were tasked to look after the Brachiosauruses, helping their caretakers take their temperature, weight, and all the other basic medical checkups, which includes blood drawing.
Sammy got the Triceratops, who arguably got the second coolest job next to Jessica and Yasmina, since she had to learn how to take care of the sick. It was essentially the same thing with Jessica and Yasmina's activities, but also quite different, since they wound up skipping some of the basic medical checkups.
And Naruto?
...Well, they didn't know, since he was escorted to another area. When Yasmina asked where he went, they simply said that he was needed "elsewhere." Not wanting to start another incident, the rest of the campers wisely clammed up, although that didn't stop them from speculating.
"It's definitely a carnivore," Kenji said bluntly during their break. They were given a one hour lunch break with half of the staff. While the gentle, cool mist of cold water was nice, arguably, an air conditioned cafeteria with a huge variety of food was much better than the outside, humid atmosphere.
"What makes you say that?" Ben asked. "I mean, you know what they said: no carnivores for us (thankfully), since they're still pretty dangerous as infants."
"Mm, true, but then again, I'm about 80% sure that that dude is no ordinary teenager."
"Yeah, he is pretty jumpy," Sammy agreed. "Plus, he whipped out a wicked knife too last night. It was pretty spooky - and badass."
"Well, sure, that too, but that's not what I'm talking about," Kenji shook his head. "Just curious, have any of you guys heard of the rumors of a dinosaur kid roaming Jurassic World?"
The rest of the group, even Darius, shook their heads at this, and were suddenly all ears.
"According to the rumors amongst the Jurassic World staff, Masrani and Dr. Wu discovered and cloned an ancient relative of a human that supposedly lived around the dinosaur era, being the missing link between cavemen and modern humans," Kenji started. "Due to his wild nature, however, they couldn't really keep him contained, so they allowed him free access around the park. Ever since then, if you're lucky enough, you might see him wrestle a velociraptor, or even run alongside the Triceratops everytime they go on a jog. Oh, and get this: he has sun-kissed blond hair."
This got them to ponder and talk about this rumor. Of course this seemed impossible...but considering Naruto's quirky nature, maybe this could explain a few things.
Brooklynn immediately began to flashback to him slamming his fist onto the car, and how deep of a dent he managed to make - something even the average bodybuilder would struggle to do. She shivered at how he looked her in the eye, and for a second, she felt like she was staring down an angry beast out for her blood.
"...If even a part of that is true," Jessica finally spoke up, "I guess it explains the knife. I mean, it's not a magnum, but it's better than nothing."
"That, and he got special permission from Mr. Masrani," a new voice chimed in.
"Roxie? Dave?" The two camp counselors gave them a wink as they sat down next to them, their trays full of their mouthwatering food.
"S-So is that rumor true?" Darius asked hesitantly. Roxie just scoffed at the question.
"Of course not, silly. It's just a silly rumor that some of us came up with for fun. And don't worry, Naruto knows about the rumor and sometimes he plays along with it. It's all harmless fun."
"Speaking of, where is he anyways?" Brooklynn asked, looking around the cafeteria.
"Here." Everyone turned and found Naruto, who was walking towards them with a tray full of food. Nobody failed to notice the large bandage wrapped around his right hand.
"What happened?" Kenji whistled. "Did a baby dino do that?"
"Uhhh, yeah," Naruto said sheepishly.
(30 Minutes Ago)
CHOMP!
Naruto's eye twitched as one of the infant Ceratosaurus he was tasked to take care of suddenly bit down onto his hand, choosing that over the piece of steak he tried to hand to him.
"...No, Red, that is not food. Well, I guess it is, but it's not the one I was offering you."
He sighed as he harshly blew into the infant's eyes and nostrils, causing it to recoil.
"Well, gotta get that cleaned up, and why can't you be behaved like Choco over there" he huffed as he flung the steak at the misbehaving infant while off to the side another infant Ceratosaurus this one being a Dark Brown almost Black color peacefully devoured its own stake. The infant hissed at him, before it tore apart its meal. Naruto just stuck his tongue out at it, before he walked towards the infirmary.
Man, Granny Tsunade's not going to like this.
Despite them pestering him about his hand, he refused to tell them what happened, although they all had a good idea what.
After lunch was over, they were escorted to the hatcheries, where they were given a tour and explanation of how raising the fish worked, before they themselves were tasked with certain duties. They left the hatcheries smelling a bit like fish, but had a blast learning about how it all worked.
For their hard work, they were supposed to go kayaking in the Kayak Adventure, but due to some maintenance issues, it was cancelled. It was then that Dave had an idea.
…
"Alright, beach babes, here I come!"
Kenji was the first one to fully embrace their improvised reward. Already in his black swimming trunks, he was running into the ocean, looking for any girls to impress with his wealth.
"Wait, don't forget to put on sunscreen!" Ben being Ben did not pack a swimsuit with him for the trip. Not because he forgot, oh no, but instead, he never intended on going swimming in the first place, due to his germaphobia, be it in a swimming pool or in the ocean.
Despite the fact that Ben was content with sitting under the large beach umbrella, he still began to slap on some strong sunscreen provided by the camp.
For once, the others actually took Ben's advice, and began applying some sunscreen onto themselves, although not as much as he did, the sheer amount making him resemble a Japanese ghost. All except for Jessica, who, in her rather revealing green bikini, decided to work on her tan.
"Woah, someone's daring," Sammy whistled, suddenly feeling a tad bit overdressed. Sammy was wearing a retro bikini, consisting of an orange swim bra, which was essentially just an orange shirt due to how much it covered, alongside a large, purple bikini bottom that was also rather conservative when it came to how much it revealed.
Brooklynn looked at Jess's bikini, then deadpanned when she looked down at hers. It appeared that she had a rather similar swimsuit style to Sammy. While her two piece swimsuit showed off more stomach, it still did its job on covering up her top and bottom, with her striped blue and white top being more of a sports bra than a swimsuit, and her blue bikini being more of a bikini short.
Unbeknownst to her, Darius, who was dressed in a yellow swimming trunks, looked at Brooklynn the most, before blushing, and turning his head away quickly, much to Naruto's amusement.
Naruto's eyes wandered towards Yasmina, and he couldn't help but drink in the sight of her purple one piece uniform. While simple, it did wonders to show off her athletic shape, her toned and slightly plump breasts and buttocks packaged and decorated with that rubber form fitting swimsuit. His eyes then drifted down to Yaz's thick, yet muscular thighs which, when combined with her toned backside, showed that she spent a lot of time training her lower body as a track and field focused athlete would.
The spiky-haired blond was so busy "subtly" checking out Yasmina that he failed to notice that she was doing the same to him. Despite having already seen his toned and muscular physique the day before the awkward "shower incident" as the girls had come to call it, she couldn't tear her eyes away from it. His upper body was in the coveted "v-shape" that so many tried to achieve but failed. His chest muscles, mainly his pectorals, were clearly defined and visible, and yet not bulging out in a gross manner like how some bodybuilders looked. The same could be said for his arms, which she suspected were deceptively strong despite how compact and streamlined they were. Then there was what Yaz thought could be the "crown jewel" to Naruto's frontal body...his abs. The blond was rocking a perfect and clearly defined six-pack that looked as hard as steel, which made Yasmina's mind flashback to a very lewd term to describe them that she had heard once while watching an adult animated show while training.
Yasmina's eyes continued to drift down to his toned legs, which, now that she paid attention to it, packed some serious muscle. It was then that she finally realized what swimsuit he was wearing, which was a pair of swimming trunks which was crimson-red with black flames around the leggings. While not skin-tight, it still barely managed to hide what laid beneath them...the thought and sight which caused her to bite her lip.
The athletic camper's daze was broken when she heard the blond speak up.
"You look nice in your swimsuit, Yaz. I can see that you work out a lot."
Yasmina blushed as she brushed away a few strands of stray hair behind her left ear, smiling shyly as she started picking at her ponytail. "Thanks Naruto...you also look nice in your swimsuit as well. Um...maybe later we can compare training regimens, since you also seem to work out a lot."
Naruto smiled, and opened his mouth only to be interrupted by Jessica, who whistled approvingly.
"Dang, Naruto, you looked ripped to shit. I mean, look at those abs! I bet you can grind meat on them." Jessica had apparently decided to take a break from her natural tanning session, and had come to check out Naruto alongside Yasmina. "I gotta be honest, though, I think you'd look better in a speedo." She finished her sentence with a flirty smile and a wink, causing Yasmina to blush even harder.
The blond rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled sheepishly. "Thanks for the compliments. And actually, I don't like wearing speedos, since I don't really fit in them. And yeah, I wouldn't mind comparing training regimens with you later."
He gave them a smile, before he ran towards the water to swim for a bit, leaving the two teenage girls blushing heavily with a slight glazed look in their eyes as their minds comprehended the implication behind the speedo remark. After a few moments they broke out of their stupor, thinking the same thing: Holy crap.
…
While Naruto and Yasmina were off chatting about something and eyeing each other's bodies, Brooklynn pulled out her phone to record a quick little video for her followers.
"What's up, Brooklanders! It's ya girl Brooklynn here with a short video. Now, as you can see, this time I'm coming at you from Jurassic World's epic beach resort, home to pristine white sand beaches and warm, clear blue waters." She panned the phone around to show off her beautiful surroundings.
"Now, that's a wrap for this quick update, since I gotta get my beach chill on, but don't worry, I'll be back soon! Please don't forget to like and subscribe!" And with that, she was done recording for the day - a new record for the pinkette.
The social media superstar then turned to look at Roxie, who had gotten a reclining beach chair and was currently resting on it. "Can I leave my phone here with you while I go in the water?" she asked the counselor.
Roxie smiled as she took the phone from Brooklynn. "Sure, go have fun in the water! I was planning to stay here with Jess and Ben since Dave's in the water with the others," she said, and with that, Brooklynn headed off to join the others in the water.
…
A few hours had gone by, with the campers mostly spending their time swimming or playing in the water, relaxing on the beach, and, in Kenji's case, trying to hit on some girls, although failing rather spectacularly. Then again, he was hitting on mainly college girls, so that could be one reason for his failure. Dave, of course, being the "cool guy" counselor, tried giving Kenji some flirting tips, but they didn't appear to be working.
GASP!
Naruto erupted from the surface of the salty water, before shaking his head, scattering water around him. He was practicing diving to see how deep he could go, and he was confident that he had just broken a new record.
As he swam back to shore, he frowned as he observed Yasmina standing awkwardly on the beach near the water, looking a little uncomfortable as a random teenage boy with brown hair and a rather lanky body appeared to be trying to flirt with her. He deduced that judging by how uncomfortable she looked and the glare Roxie was giving the other teen, he's been going at it for a while, despite her clearly not being interested.
That's why Naruto decided to step up and try something he saw in a movie once.
Stepping out of the water like a Hollywood model, Naruto gently touched her shoulder.
"Hey babe, I thought you were going to join me in the water." Her eyes widened as she blushed a little, but he didn't give her any time to respond. Wrapping his left arm around her shoulder, he pulled her to his side before looking at the boy. "Thanks for keeping my girlfriend Yasmina company while I was away. The name's Naruto, nice to meet you."
He then topped it off by giving Yasmina a quick peck on the cheek, causing both teens' eyes to widen, and for Yasmina to blush heavily.
The random boy scowled at this loss, but knew when to quit when he could. He grumbled as he walked off to find someone else to flirt with. Once the boy was out of sight, Naruto removed his arm from Yasmina's shoulder and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Sorry about that, Yaz. I saw it work in a movie once, and I figured that it'll help get you out of that mess. You looked pretty uncomfortable and I didn't want to fight him, so I went for the second best option. Sorry if the kiss made you feel more uncomfortable, by the way."
Yasmina began fiddling with her ponytail once again. "Um, thanks for that, Naruto. He just wouldn't leave me alone and kept hitting on me. ...Also, don't worry about the kiss. It was just on the cheek, and in the end, your plan worked."
Naruto smiled as he let out a small sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. I was afraid that I was doing the same thing he was doing, but worse. Again, I'm glad that it worked, and that there was no harm done."
Yasmina smiled as she suddenly found the sand interesting. "Um, would you like to take a walk and discuss training regimens?"
Naruto nodded, his face feeling a bit warm as well. "Sure, sounds fun."
The two started walking down the beach, discussing each other's training regimens.
Unbeknownst to the both of them, Roxie had been watching the whole incident, and was smiling at how Naruto stepped in - and how she might've found a new ship.
Today, Sammy was not a social butterfly.
She had picked a spot on the beach to hang out on after her failed attempts at trying to hang out with the others. Ben was too...Ben, and Kenji was too...Kenji. Sure, she had a pleasant chat with Jess, but she eventually ran out of topics to talk about, and Jessica wound up taking a nap in the shade. She wanted to talk to Yasmina, but then she got hit on by some random guy, and she was this close to stepping in when Naruto did her job for her. After that, they decided to have a walk together, and she didn't want to feel like the third wheel.
After that, she was pretty much a loner in her group, and so she decided to build a sandcastle after swimming for a bit. It took about twenty minutes, but she eventually built a rather impressive looking sandcastle.
"O. M. G. That is just adorable!"
Sammy's moment of lonely peace was broken by a condescending tone. Looking up, she saw a pair of pretty blonde high school girls who were both wearing some rather revealing bikinis that made Jess's look conservative.
"Um, what is?" Sammy finally asked.
The girl on the right just smirked. "The fact that you're over here all alone playing in the sand like a little kid. Not to mention that eyesore you call a swimsuit, although then again, it's a lot better than that fatass body of yours."
Sammy's shocked expression fueled their laughter, curing them of their boredom.
They had initially planned to go flirt with that spiky-haired blond adonis that they saw earlier to see if they could get him to buy them some stuff, and maybe depending on the size of his dick, either give him a handjob, blowjob, or just flat out fuck him. Hell, they even thought of a plan if he was bad in bed to claim he raped him and make a bunch of money suing him in court. However, all of this was thrown out the window when they saw him walk off with that midde-eastern looking girl. So they decided to say fuck it and just ruin someone's day and after seeing a slightly chubby girl in a mismatched swimsuit, they knew they had their target.
Sammy bit her lip. She knew that words only hurt if you let them, but something about being insulted out of the blue after being left alone just made her jabs even more painful. The fact that they weren't exactly wrong just made it hurt even more…
Before Sammy could either shoot something back or just walk away, a familiar voice spoke up.
"Jeez, you girls are hot, but your ugly personalities are a huge turnoff."
Kenji had just walked up to the three, his first words being a huge shock to the girls and a surprise to Sammy.
"Hey Sam, what's up? Sorry these anorexic lamoes are bothering ya. How about we get out of here so that we don't have to hang around these peaking-in-high school future teen-strippers?"
Sammy couldn't help but giggle as she nodded. The girls sputtered as their faces turned ugly purple from rage, before they just stormed off, yelling nonsense as they tried to cool down.
"Thanks for that, Kenji," Sammy giggled, before her face dropped to a frown.
"Hey Sam, you good?" Kenji asked. "Don't let what those bitches say get to you, alright? I'm sure whatever they said was complete bull-"
"A-Am I ugly?"
"What?"
"A-Am I ugly, Kenji? A-Am I fat?"
"Oh, so that's what they said about you," Kenji sighed. He looked up and down at Sammy's body, and all though he was just looking at her for dramatic effect, he couldn't help but stare a bit longer than needed, causing her to blush and cover up her body with her arms.
"S-Sorry," Kenji stammered, scratching the back of his neck as his face burned up. "B-But no, you're not fat, Sammy. If anything, you're thicc."
"T-Thick?" Sammy repeated.
"Y-Yeah. I mean, some guys like more slender girls, but I like some girls a little meaty too…"
Their faces reddened in unison as they suddenly found themselves unable to look at each other.
"...Wanna get some ice cream?" Kenji finally asked. "It's on me."
"S-Sure." Sammy smiled, before she suddenly took his hand, running towards the ice cream bar. While surprised, Kenji didn't pull away.
…
The sun was beginning to set, prompting the campers to wrap up their beach fun and return to camp.
After some nice glasses of cold water and a refreshing shower, they huddled back outside, where they sat on some benches in the dark toasting marshmallows to make some s'mores. Illuminating the night was a large, metal fire pit, which kept them nice and warm.
"Oh god, I love these things," Naruto moaned through his bite. "It might be my second favorite thing after ramen."
"It's pretty sugary, but yes, it is pretty nice," Ben agreed, taking small bites unlike the others.
"Pssh, you think this is good? You should try some high quality flan," Kenji smirked, before taking a bite out of his treat. "Still, this is pretty good, though."
"You said it, blondie!" Sammy agreed as she wolfed down another. "Never can't stop eating these things! Unless I eat too much, then I get sick of them...until I don't."
"...It is pretty nice, yeah," Brooklynn half-heartedly agreed as she flipped through her phone.
"Oh, c'mon Pinkie, give the vlogging a rest," Jessica playfully flicked the other girl in the shoulder, before she winced. Her skin was bright red, courtesy of today's sunbathing session. It hurt to just shift around, since her clothes would rub against her sensitive skin, and she refused to put aloe on it, since, well, sleeping with goo all over your body was a fate worse than death.
"I told you tanning's a bad idea," Ben mumbled as he finally finished his first treat.
"Shut up, Ben," Jessica grumbled as she noisily munched on her s'more.
"It's not like you need the tan, ya know?" Naruto shrugged. "I thought your skin was pretty nice before."
"Aw, thanks," Jessica smiled, giving him a wink. Naruto coughed a little as he looked away.
That's how it went on for a while, with the gang holding random, simple conversations until they ran out of things to say. An awkward silence filled the air, interrupted occasionally by the background frogs and the pops and hisses of the burning firewood.
"How about a scary story!" Sammy suddenly piped up.
"E-Excuse me?" Ben stammered nervously.
"Yeah, it's basically tradition to tell spooky stories around the campfire. So, who wants to go first?"
The gang looked around at each other, before Darius finally raised his hand.
"I-I think I got one," he said meekly, before clearing his throat.
"Alright, the stage is yours, Darius~" Kenji bowed as he and the others huddled together to face the teen in the yellow jacket. Darius snorted a little at his dramatic gesture, before he got to work.
…
"... We thought it'd be fun…" Darius slowly narrated. "We thought it'd be safe. But it was horror waiting for us on the island. Claws, screaming...so much screaming."
Naruto let out a silent snort. He was narrating it like a war documentary, which in his opinion sort of ruined it. The others, however, appeared to be invested in his story, especially Ben and Kenji.
"H-How much screaming?" Ben whimpered as he leaned onto Kenji's shoulder.
"Sh! He's getting to the good part," Kenji whispered.
"The T-Rex stalked closer," Darius continued, his eyes grim and his hood shadowing his face. "Her jaws opened wide-!"
CLICK! FLASH!
Darius blinked, and everyone realized that Brooklynn had just snapped a photo of him. Naruto just facepalmed at this.
"Oh, for the blog. Go on, continue your story."
Darius sighed at this, before he quickly put his hood back on. Kenji and Ben looked just as eager to get back into the story before the mood was completely ruined.
"The T-Rex-"
"Dang!"
"Ugh!" Kenji groaned. Now the mood was ruined. It turns out that Brooklynn ran out of space on her phone, so she was trying to figure out what she could throw out and what she wanted to keep.
"I guess I'll start over," Darius grumbled, much to Ben's protest.
"Dude, relax, he's not even telling the story right now, and how is your grip this strong?" Kenji tried his best to pry off Ben, who, for some reason, was still hanging onto his right arm like a leech.
Darius cleared his throat as he attempted to start again, his hood back on.
"Shouldn't we call Yasmina over?" Sammy interrupted. They looked behind them to see Yasmina leaning over the wood and metal railing, looking down at the ground below with her sketchbook open.
Darius just laid down on his bench in defeat.
"Maybe she just wants to be by herself," Brooklynn suggested.
"...I don't understand," Sammy finally said.
"You know how some people want to be left alone?" Kenji explained.
"..." Sammy fell silent for a second before she giggled. "Kenji, you're hilarious. I think she's just shy and don't know how to make camp friends."
CRASH!
Everyone nearly leapt out of their skins as a sudden crash of thunder echoed around them. Within seconds, it began to rain.
"Maybe we could go inside!" Sammy yelped. Everyone wholeheartedly agreed with her as they dashed back in.
"...Thanks, Brooklynn," Darius grunted as he finally decided to get up. Lifting up his hood, he was about to head inside when he paused.
"You coming, Naruto?"
The blond teen was still sitting on his bench. His eyes were closed as his face was reaching for the sky.
"Gimme a second," he said. "You can go on without me."
Darius just shrugged, before he did just that.
…
Yasmina let out a silent sigh. Her sketchbook got wet from the rain, so she couldn't continue her work for a while.
On top of that, the farm girl Sammy was pestering her, trying to make friends. However, in contrast to the Texan girl, she was not a social butterfly, and preferred to "stay in her shell", as she liked to put it.
She decided to simply go to bed for the evening, hoping that the extravert wouldn't follow her.
OOMF!
She blinked as she realized that she just walked into something hard and wet.
"O-Oh, Naruto! Sorry, I-I didn't see you there. And why are you wet?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just enjoyed the rain, that's all." Naruto was completely soaked to the bone, with even his shoes being filled with water.
"Aren't you uncomfortable?" she asked him.
"No. It's quite nice, actually," Naruto shrugged. "I'm quite used to being outside a lot, which means getting wet on rainy days. Once you get used to the cold, it's quite nice, really."
"Um, right," Yasmina gulped, trying hard not to focus on how his wet shirt clung onto his muscles. "I'll just...get going then."
She quickly ran around him, her ears turning red. He just shrugged, before heading to the shower room.
Before he could head to the boy's room, his ears picked up on something. Turning towards the sound, he realized that it was coming from the girl's restroom. He was about to turn away (due to Granny Tsunade's countless warnings to never peep) when he realized what he was hearing.
Knocking on the door, he asked, "Everything alright?"
"Yeah." It was Jessica, who, from the sound of her voice, appeared to be in pain. "Just a stomach ache."
"Do you need anything?" he asked her. "Maybe a warming pad?"
"That sounds good, actually," Jess grunted.
Looks like toweling off would have to wait, Naruto thought as he trudged off.
[Jurassic World - Grazing Field (the afternoon after)]
Darius and the others whooped in excitement. They were about to ride the Gyrospheres for the first time in their lives (aside from Kenji and Naruto), and Darius couldn't be any more ecstatic.
"A shame Jess got sick last night," Naruto sighed. "She mentioned that she loved riding these things."
"Saddle up, dudes and dudettes. We're going on a cattle drive, but with dinosaurs! It's a dino drive!" Dave announced.
"And, just to be clear, these dinosaurs are herbivores, right?" Ben meekly asked.
"Weeelll, they only chewed on the last kid a little, so we're like 99% sure they're cool. Right, Naruto?" Roxie winked at the blond.
"Yeah. It didn't really hurt though. It was more like a weird massage, really."
Somehow, this only made Ben flinch even harder.
"Park personnel are moving the herd to fresh grazing land on the other side of the island, and we get to ride along behind the herd!"
"Are you kidding me? Dinosaur migration patterns are my jam!" Darius nearly squealed.
"...You may want to consider a new jam, bro." Kenji patted Darius on the shoulder, before he walked over to the counselors. "So, are you sure these things are waterproof? Looking pretty grim out here and hair this awesome does not come easy."
"I thought all you did was slap on some hair gel and use a hair brush," Naruto commented. Kenji gave him an annoyed look, making him raise his hands in mock surrender.
"Your hair is gonna be fine, Kenji," Dave reassured boredly. "The storm's already moved up the coast away from us."
"Cool! Time to show these fools what a Gyrosphere master can do."
"Oh, no way." Roxie grabbed Kenji by the arm. "You are riding beside Ben. As a passenger."
"Seriously? But he's so…" He glanced back at Ben, who had already stepped into an open Gyrosphere. The boy nervously pushed a button, which caused the hamster-ball like vehicle to jerk forward, sending the teen flying into the glass surface.
"Live it up, tough guy." Roxie chuckled. "Besides, ever since a certain somebody lost control of the machine, we now have to have each sphere be ridden by two people always."
She looked at Naruto as she said this, causing him to grumble in embarrassment.
"You crash into the Hot-Dog Guy's stand and run over him one time…"
"You did what now?" Kenji snorted. "Dude, you gotta tell me that story."
Naruto's ears turned bright red as he hopped into the jeep.
…
["The headsets are for emergencies."] Roxie explained through her radio. ["You can always reach us on Channel 6.]
["Let the herding be-gin!"] Dave announced like a sports announcer, and just like that, the teens were on the move.
BANG!
The jeep and everyone in it rocked forward as Ben accidentally rear ended them.
["Okay, we can do this…"] Ben muttered as he experimented with the controls. The result was the Gryosphere constantly spinning around as they moved past the counselors, with Kenji just staring at the duo with a deadpan look that probably meant, "Kill me."
Naruto snorted at the sight, wishing he had Brooklynn's phone to record this.
It didn't take them long to catch up with the herd. They got to witness the dinosaurs up close moving in a single group, with some of Jurassic World's staff members on Kawasaki Brute Force 750 ATVs leading them back into the group.
["Are you seeing this?"] Darius breathed, marveling at the sight of being right at the foot of the titanic beast.
["Ooh, what's your favorite color?"] Sammy asked Yasmina. ["Favorite food? What's your favorite food color?"]
["Orange, orange, and orange."] Yasmina replied wearily. That part got Naruto's attention out of all the radio chatter.
Okay, now I think I really like her, he grinned. He decided to focus on the two girls' conversation, seeing as how Darius and Brooklynn's were mostly one sided, and seeing as how Kenji and Ben's consisted of mostly frustrated groans.
["Jokes. I love jokes."] Sammy giggled. ["What do you and your friends do for fun?"]
["I train. Alone. Quietly."] Yasmina answered with a tired tone.
["Really? Dang. I'm used to being around people 24/7. My sisters. My daddy. My mama. Abuela. My cattle. Heh heh, my momma says that I have a knack of dealing with critters-WOAH!"]
Naruto flinched as Sammy suddenly let out a yelp. Then again, having one suddenly turn the Gryosphere to shut them up would rattle anybody.
"Really, Naruto? Spying on other people's conversations? How American," Roxie teased.
"S-Sorry," Naruto blushed, before choosing to switch back to Darius and Brooklynn's channel.
…
Darius didn't like Brooklynn very much.
Oh don't get him wrong, she's pretty cute. It's just that she's always just so...absorbed into her own world. And sure, he's sort of like that too, but at least he doesn't wind up sucking up the attention towards him, right?
...Oh, wait a minute.
Ah well. The point is that Darius didn't like the pinkette too much. Okay, maybe they had some things in common, but at least he's not that self centered to the point where he sucks the fun out of everything else around them.
But still, he wasn't going to try to hold it against her. Nah, he wasn't really like that. And besides, he wanted Jurassic World to remain a fun and magical place, and if he had to keep up a smile and a peppy attitude to make it happen, then why not?
"How awesome is this?" Darius asked his shotgun passenger. "We get to see dinosaurs soo close."
No response. Darius took a deep breath, before he turned towards the girl beside him.
"Brooklynn?"
"You used to be cool. You made Jurassic World boring?! Lame. No one...likes you anymore." Brooklynn's face looked downcast as she read some of the recent comments.
Darius looked back onto the road, suddenly feeling awkward. He forgot that Brooklynn's job was to be a social media star, which means that she essentially had no choice but to always be and stick out her camera. Hearing her sound so downcast while reading her recent comments just made him feel bad for being angry at her.
"Uh, hey, can you believe that an Ankylosaurus's tail is strong enough to shatter bone?"
Damn it, why'd you have to start off with that?! Darius cursed out at himself.
"Can you believe that I don't care?!" Brooklynn snapped back. Darius blinked, stunned at the venom that just shot out of her mouth. Not sure if he wanted to hit or or snap back at her, he chose to just look away, focusing on driving the vehicle.
"..."
"..."
Brooklynn's feeling of frustration quickly turned into guilt. Whatever feeling of victory she felt from that jab quickly left her system, making her feel even more hollow than before.
"I'm sorry," Brooklynn quickly said, her eyes looking down in shame. "I'm sorry. I'm just...having one of those days."
PMS? Darius wondered, and he had to stifle a chuckle.
"There's a lot of pressure when your whole life is about being popular. I-I'm not like you. You know, I can't just tell a lame story and move on."
...This bitch. Darius was seriously this close to taking her phone and chucking it out the side door.
"It wasn't that lame," he protested quietly.
"It was, but you're not even fazed!" Brooklynn exclaimed. "I just...need people to like me."
The pinkette fell into silence as the two just looked at each other.
"You wouldn't understand," the social media star said sadly.
…
"Of course I don't understand! 'Cause you are literally the worst driver I've ever seen, bruh."
"If by worst you mean safest, then yes," Ben replied, never taking his eyes off the ground. "Yes I am."
"So not a compliment," Kenji groaned. "Come on, faster, faster, FASTER!"
Just then, thunder began to roar from the dark heavens above as the sky grew black from heavy clouds.
…
"I thought you said the storm rolled up the coast!" Roxie exclaimed, looking up at the sky nervously.
"Well, it must've rolled back down," Dave theorized. "It's okay. Aside from messing up Kenji's hair, what's the worst that can happen?"
"Three, two, one…" Naruto suddenly began counting down.
CRASH!
A bolt of lighting streaked through the sky, followed by an ear-piercing boom of thunder. This startled a Stegosaurus, who raised itself on its hind legs. This created a chain of events, such as the said Stegosaurus accidentally wacking a nearby Ankylosaurus in the face with its spiked tail. While the second dinosaur in question was left undamaged, that didn't mean that it took it very well. It bellowed in anger as the Stegosaurus bellowed back.
Roxie and Naruto turned to look at Dave as if to say, "You had to ask, didn't chya?" Dave just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Dave then picked up the radio.
"Coming to all campers, come in!"
It seemed like a couple of them managed to hear his message, but their responses were too choppy and full of static to be intelligible.
"Right, well, let's gather up the campers," Roxie muttered as she stepped on the gas, quickly getting in front of the Gyrospheres. Thankfully, they weren't going very fast, so they were able to stop immediately.
The campers poked their heads out of their vehicles, wondering what was going on.
"Okay, so the storm's getting worse, so we're all going back to camp!" he said in a cheerful tone that nobody bought. "Fun, right?"
The campers were (for the most part) disappointed at this, while Ben and Kenji silently cheered in the background though for different reasons.
"Don't blame me, blame the storm," Dave responded to the disappointment with this.
"Personally, I blame both~" Roxie added playfully in the background, making Dave bow his head in defeat.
As Darius tried to persuade the two counselors to allow them to stay, Naruto looked up from the bed of the jeep/pick up truck. He frowned as he stared up at the darkening sky.
Man, something about the storm's not giving me good vibes, Naruto thought. It could be just me, but I think the island's trying to tell me something.
"-I'm sure with you and Roxie's capable leadership-" Darius was cut off with a stern look from Roxie.
"This is not up for discussion," she interjected firmly, before she tried the radio again. "Hello, hello, Roxie here! Can anyone hear me?"
["**i* is Vict*r Danie* speaking, c*me in! *e can't h**r you, *oxie, what *one **e you in? You need to *** *** of here! *he st*** ** ******!"]
The two counselors looked at each other in worry as the radio was beginning to fail them again.
"...Okay, new new plan!" Dave finally said. "The storm's interfering with the radio, so the three of us will drive out to tell the others we're pulling out. We'll be right back, stay together, and stay behind the herd."
It could've been just him, but Dave looked at Darius for a moment when he said the last sentence.
The counselors (and Naruto) took off, prompting the other campers to go back into their Gyrospheres. While this adventure took a boring turn, at least they wouldn't be soaked from the rain.
Another streak of lightning lit up the gloomy island, and Darius spotted one of the Sinoceratops - a juvenile, judging from its size, leap into the air in fright, before it ran off.
CRASH!
Naruto flinched as another streak of lightning just lit up the sky. Which was odd, since he was used to lightning.
Naruto shivered as he stared up at the dark, grey sky from inside the truck. Whatever light remained from above was being consumed by the stormy clouds.
Something wasn't right. And no, he wasn't afraid of the storm.
Jurassic World, or rather, Isla Nublar, was no stranger to storms, having endured one after another all these years. However this one felt different to Naruto as it felt as if there was a sense of dread hanging in the air, which ultimately confused him. Shaking his head to clear these thoughts for the moment, he turned and looked out the window to watch Dave and Roxie talk with one of the herders.
He leaned in to try to get a better understanding of what was going on when a loud roar caught his attention.
He looked up to see the herd running in stampede, and Naruto already suspected who was to blame here.
Goddamnit, Darius, he groaned internally, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Before he could do or say anything else, a Parasaurolophus and a Sinoceratops suddenly appeared. He had just enough time to slap on his seatbelt before all hell broke loose.
THUMP!
The Parasaurolophus leapt onto the roof of the car, and for once, he was thankful that he wasn't riding in the jeep bed. He was especially thankful that he got to put on his seatbelt when the Sinoceratops charged at him.
CRASH!
Naruto let out a yelp, covering his neck as the vehicle went flying through the air, landing upside down onto the earth below. The impact jerked his head painfully, giving him a headache.
His ears ringing a little from the impact, he barely heard the two counselors scream for him.
"-ruto!" one of them yelled. His ears clearing up, he realized that it was the two of them, who were trying to see if he was okay.
"I-I'm fine!" Naruto groaned.
SNAP!
Naruto yelped as he landed painfully on his shoulder, the seat belt tearing from the damage and his weight.
"Shit! Not okay anymore!" he groaned. "Landed on my freakin' shoulder."
…
It took them a few minutes to get Naruto out of the car. Thankfully, the herder came prepared, and was able to smash open the window using the butt of her shock baton.
Unfortunately, they were not out of the woods yet.
The dinosaurs were now running off to god knows where, but that was the least of their problems. From what Naruto theorized, one of them (Darius and Brooklynn most likely) had accidentally triggered a stampede somehow after getting too close to one of them, and they were now scattered in the nearby forest.
["-Help! Can you hear us?"] Naruto frowned as he listened to his earpiece. Judging from Brooklynn's frantic tone, they were in some sort of trouble and needed help. Sighing to himself as that just seemed par for the course today he turned to Dave and Roxie to tell them the bad news.
This, of course, prompted them and the handlers to rush into action. The handlers moved to corral the stampeding herd of dinos after providing Dave, Roxie, and Naruto with a spare truck to use to search for the other campers.
Which was how they ended up in the jungle, searching for the missing campers. Thankfully it wasn't very hard - every Gyroscope came with a tracking device in such occasions like these - but unfortunately, one of the vehicles was offline, indicating that it took some serious damage.
That just made the trio worry even more.
"Good news," Sammy happily chirped. "This will allow more time for us to get to know each other."
Yasmina groaned. Much to her luck, she was literally stuck in between two fallen trees and a bunch of littered branches. Well, not exactly, but their vehicle was, so they had to try to clear a way for them to leave with the said vehicle. Sure, there were no carnivores around (at least she hoped not) but she learned today that the herbivores were just as dangerous.
"Sure, let's do that...later. Much later."
Sammy just pouted at that, before a naughty grin suddenly stretched across her lips.
"Ooh! How about crushes! Do you have any crushes?"
"W-What?" Yasmina sputtered, her face turning red. "I-I don't think now is the time for-"
"Ooh, lemme guess. It's Naruto, isn't it?"
It looks like she was right. Yasmina was now as red as a tomato, trying to cover her face as she blushed hard. Heh, who knew Yasmina had a cute side like this?
"Knew it~ Tell me, was it the muscles? Yeah, I know it was the muscles. Can't blame ya, though. He does look like quite a snacc~"
"S-Stop!" Yasmina whined.
"I'm not hearing a no~"
Before Yasmina could plead for her to stop again, their earpieces crackled to life.
["-Help! Can you hear us?"] It was Brooklynn, and she sounded scared. Sammy was the one that picked up the earpiece.
"Hello? Brooklynn? Is everything alright?!"
["-stuck in a mudhole! Sinking! Please help!"] was all they heard, before Brooklynn's signal died out.
"Hello? Hello?! Brooklynn, can you hear me?!" Sammy frantically asked, but there was no answer.
"We gotta help them!" Sammy shouted, before trying to scream for Brooklynn and Darius's names.
"Keep clearing away the branches. Then we can-wait." Yasmina's eyes lit up as she got an idea. "Wait, no. Pile the branches over there. Just pile it up!"
Sammy didn't ask why. She just nodded as she helped Yasmina pile up the branches into what turned out to be a ramp.
"Nice one!" Sammy praised, and while Yasmina didn't respond, she did smile a little at the praise. The two of them hopped back into their orb-like vehicle, and they shot forward, leaping over the giant, fallen tree.
They did it! They made it out of there! But there was no time to celebrate their success. Yasmina frantically drove the Gyrosphere as the two of them tried to frantically call for their friends through their earpiece.
"Hello! Hello! Can anybody hear me?" Yasmina frantically shouted.
"Ugh! Still no sign of- Ben and Kenji?!" Yasmina looked up, and saw that she was about to run over the said campers. Yelping in surprise, she managed to stop the vehicle in time while the two boys managed to get out of the way.
Taking a second to breathe, she stepped out of the vehicle to see that Kenji pushed Ben out of the way, and he apparently grabbed onto his back. The result? Kenji was over the shy nerd, his large body greatly eclipsing Ben's.
Kenji quickly got up, only to find that his partner was hanging onto him like a sloth. He tried to push him off, but found that he couldn't, so he just gave up with an annoyed look as he looked at the two girls.
…
"I'm pretty sure we're exceeding the maximum occupancy," Ben whined, making Yasmina roll her eyes.
Since Kenji and Ben wound up wrecking their ride, they had to squish together into Yasmina and Sammy's Gyrosphere. It was uncomfortable, but it sure beat walking in the dark and in the rain.
"I lost them! It's just static!" Sammy interrupted.
Yasmina suddenly stopped the vehicle. Something caused Yasmina to stop in their tracks. Sammy was about to tell her to keep driving when they heard someone call for help.
"I hear them! They're over there!" Kenji pointed to the right, and they quickly headed in that direction.
"Brooklynn? Darius?" Sammy yelled into her earpiece.
["Sammy?"] Everyone's eyes widened when they finally heard Darius's voice.
"Do you read me?!" Sammy desperately shouted, hoping that it wasn't a trick. "We're coming to help!"
Then, almost like a miracle from God, they finally found them! Unfortunately, it wasn't in the best of circumstances. The duo's Gyrosphere had somehow ended up in the mud hole, and they were sinking fast!
The group wasted no time hopping out of their Gyrosphere, dashing towards the sinking orb.
Ben stayed behind to try to frantically contact Dave and Roxie. Yasmina and Kenji didn't hesitate to jump into the mudhole to try to lift the orb out. And Sammy?
Well, she and Ben were currently staring at the same Sinoceratops that started this whole mess. Everyone stared at it and its large, pointy horn nervously.
Sammy let out a gulp, before she stood up.
"I've got an idea." She slowly walked towards the dinosaur, much to everyone's dismay, and picked up a fallen branch with leaves on it.
"Whaaat are you doing?" Yasmina asked in quiet disbelief, with the others doing the same. Sammy said nothing as she slowly inched closer to the dinosaur.
"Hey there…" she spoke quietly as she slowed to a snail's pace.
"I get it…" Sammy slowly said. The dinosaur slowly backed away, but didn't show any signs of it potentially charging at the girl. "It's hard to trust strangers. It's a scary world out there. But...I'll trust you if you trust me."
The others looked at this in both fear and amazement. Meanwhile, Yasmina's eyes widened a little at Sammy's words.
Sammy's hand grew closer and closer to the dinosaur's snout, until she finally touched it. The Sinoceratops moved forward- and took a bite out of the branch she was holding. She immediately let it go and backed off an inch, watching in amazement as the dinosaur began gingerly eating its treat next to her.
"Guys!" Darius's cry cut through the magical moment. "This is amazing and all, but we're still going to die!"
This brought everyone back to reality, and when they turned back, they realized in horror that their friends have indeed gotten much closer to death than before.
"Hurry!" Sammy ordered as she picked up a few fallen vines. Quickly understanding what to do, everyone got to work. Ben passed on the makeshift rope to the others. Kenji sat on a tree to help keep the line overhead and stable, and Yasmina quickly threw the rope into the Gyrosphere's hole.
Darius gave a thumbs up, indicating that they had secured their literal lifeline, when the mud finally engulfed their vehicle and their screams.
"Hurry!" Ben squeaked as Sammy frantically tied the rope around the large dinosaur's body.
"Working on it!" Sammy shot back, before grabbing the dinosaur's snack.
"Come on, sweetie!" the farm girl pleaded as she slowly backed away from the dinosaur. Thankfully, the dinosaur did its part too, with the large beast slowly following her to receive its meal.
Within no time at all, the Gryosphere began rising from the ground, completely caked in mud, all thanks to the help of nature's tank acting as the muscle needed to help raise their friends from their doom.
The second the Gryosphere touched ground again, Yasmina immediately worked her way to pry open the door frantically, hoping that it wasn't too late for them, and that she wouldn't find their bodies drowned in earth.
Much to Yasmina's relief she didn't find the lifeless bodies of Darius and Brooklynn. Instead, the two were very much alive, squatting on their seats as they tried to shrink away from the mud.
Yasmina fell onto her rear, before she began cracking up. Gone was the tension in the air, replaced by joy and relief. The others joined in, celebrating their success, just as Dave, Roxie, and Naruto drove into the scene.
"You could've been killed!" Roxie nearly yelled at the campers. "What were you thinking?!"
"That we found a lost dinosaur- and Darius and Brooklynn!" Kenji gave Sammy a fistbump for that.
"You do realize that all the dinos have tracking chips in them, right?" Naruto said. "I mean, save for the really tiny ones, but yeah. So you kind of did all that for nothing."
The group blinked, before they all groaned in unison. It was true, if the dinosaur grew big enough, they were all implanted with chips so that finding them would be much easier should they somehow breach containment. Sure, it was never really stated in the tours and the brochures, but then again, they had no reason to tell anyone about it, really.
Besides, why else would they allow the herbivores to roam if losing them was a 24/7 possibility?
"...Well, we still did pretty awesome on getting Darius and Brooklynn out of that mudhole," Kenji finally said.
"Yeah! It was Sammy's idea to use the vines and the Sinoceratops to fish us out of there," Darius added.
"That was pretty creative," Roxie admitted, "but that doesn't mean you all are out of the woods yet. Now stay in your bunks. Until we're back, Naruto's in charge."
And with that, the elevator doors slid shut on them, leaving them in awkward, mud-smelling silence.
Naruto, who stared at the metal doors for a few seconds, finally turned around with a blank look on his face.
"Okay, so who was the donkey-brain that got you guys in trouble again?"
…
Some time had passed by, and Naruto had figured out who was responsible for today's mess. No surprise, it was Darius and Brooklynn's fault again, and he had to hold back the urge to clock the both of them.
In the end, he settled for bringing the both of them to sit down and talk about what happened and why they're magnets for trouble.
Darius's reason is because he wants to see dinosaurs so badly that he wants to get up close and personal to one, especially because he feels some sort of debt to his deceased father. Brooklynn's reason was because she was losing views and popularity, and thought that by getting close to one, she could reverse it.
He told them both that their passions/hobbies were fine, so long as it didn't endanger their lives and the lives of others. He told them that he was going to help bail them out one more time, but after that, they were gone if they stepped out of line again.
He then left the room to grab something to stress eat, leaving them feeling ashamed for what they had done.
But at least it did help with the views.
Sammy stared out into the night sky, which had cleared up nicely an hour ago. She barely noticed as Yasmina stood right next to her, her sketch book in her hand. The farm girl looked at the athlete, which returned her awkward stare.
"Um…*ahem*...I…" Yasmina expected Sammy to cut her off, but the other girl remained silent, waiting for her to finish what she had to say. "If everyone would've listened to you...if I had listened...we wouldn't have any problems."
Sammy just looked at her with stars in her eyes.
"I'm not so great at trusting new people...so my favorite color is black, my favorite food is pizza...this was what I was doing before."
Yasmina gingerly handed her book towards Sammy, who slowly accepted it. Opening it, she was greeted by the sight of some very well-detailed sketches of dinosaurs.
"I started drawing to kill time during track meets. I-I'm not very good, so you probably won't even like them."
"I don't like them," Sammy agreed. "I LOVE them!"
She quickly embraced Yasmina into a hug, much to her dismay. "I knew we were going to be friends!"
"Not...really a hugger…" Yasmina weakly complained.
"You are now!" Sammy nearly squealed, and Yasmina couldn't help but return the hug with a small smile.
"I see you two are getting along." The two split up to see Naruto leaning against the way. "A shame, though. I thought you liked orange too, Yasmina."
Sammy just giggled at that, before she walked off. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone!"
The two of them suddenly had a hard time looking at each other for a moment, before Naruto spoke.
"So, yeah, pretty neat job you guys did today," he finally said. "You know, with calming down the Sino and saving Darius and Brooklynn's asses."
"Y-Yeah. Sammy's pretty crafty," Yasmina nodded.
"So I happened to hear that you like drawing," Naruto said. "Can I see?"
Yasmina nodded as she shyly offered the book to him. Accepting it, he flipped through the pages, nodding in approval as he saw just how gifted she was.
"Mm, very nice! Love the detail with the T Rex, too. Although…" he pointed at the picture she drew, where the said T Rex was eating a man alive. "I would take out this tooth here. If you're basing the drawing off of the T Rex here, she's actually missing that tooh right there. Aside from that, though, you've got a good eye."
"T-Thanks," Yasmina fiddled with her hair. The two fell into silence as they enjoyed the view of the night sky together.
"...Can I tell you something?" Naruto finally asked.
"Sure…" Yasmina replied softly. A part of her was excited at what he was going to ask of her, and a part of her feared it. But she stood her ground, embracing for impact.
"Today, I've been getting a lot of weird...feelings," Naruto frowned. "It's like a sense of dread or impending doom"
"...What?" Yasmina finally said. While confused at the sudden grim topic, she admittedly felt a little disappointed for some reason.
"Yeah. I mean, it all started when the storm hit us the other night. I just kept getting a really bad feeling that something bad was going to happen."
"Do you usually get those?" Yasmina asked curiously.
"Sometimes, but only when something serious happens. Like, say, an injury at work or something."
It was true. Naruto once had an uncomfortable feeling in his gut, and as it would turn out, one of the workers had been pinned under a broken catwalk. After that, there were some other instances, like the weird old man who had an eyepatch on and was covered in bandages, and it turned out that they fired him for something Uncle Wu and Mr. Masrani refused to talk about.
"So you said that you got the feeling after the storm, right?"
Naruto nodded.
"Well, I'm not really the superstitious type, but it could've been an omen."
"An omen?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah. Maybe the storm was a bad sign that something was going to happen today, and Darius and Brooklynn almost drowned in mud. Maybe the storm last night was trying to tell us that."
"Yeah...maybe…" Naruto nodded. "Well, thanks Yasmina!"
He suddenly embraced her in a hug, which, while it took her by surprise, she didn't reject.
Brooklynn let out a sigh as she sat on a couch in the bunk room. Today had certainly been a long day, but assuming they didn't get kicked out tomorrow morning, it would be all worth it.
Thanks to Darius, she finally got some more amazing footage to show to her viewers, which was pretty sweet of him. It's official, she'll have to stick to him like glue. If he was a magnet for trouble, then she would be on top of him at all times to get some great footage!
...That, and he was a pretty good guy. Yeah, he's a bit nerdy, but she honestly found it kind of cute.
Wait a sec. Brooklynn frowned at her phone. She was watching a replay of the video she took today, and she just realized something strange was going on in the background. Going back a few seconds and zooming in, she realized that she was looking at Sammy, who, for some reason, looked like she just swabbed a sample out of the Sinoceratops's mouth, before putting the said sample into a small tube.
What the hell?
Meanwhile, Sammy stood right behind her in the doorway, her eyes widening at Brooklynn. Her eyes briefly darted to the nearby fire extinguisher, before looking back at the witness.
O·men - /ˈōmən/ (noun)
an event regarded as a portent of good or evil.
"the ghost's appearance was an ill omen"
prophetic significance.
"the raven seemed a bird of evil omen"
- End of Chapter 4 -
THE RADIO HIDES A SECRET MESSAGE.
IF ONLY THE CAMPERS KNEW.