Power Play

-CENTRAL AMERICA-

-PACAYA VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK-

Pacaya Volcano. In 1965, it violently erupted, blanketing the earth with molten rock. Since then, it has remained quietly active, steadily unleashing a magma flow for decades. If there was ever a place for a dinosaur to live, this was it - at least, going by books old enough to have been published before the volcano blew its' top.

Gwangi surveyed his domain. For over three years, he and the Velociraptor known as Blue had lived here, free from the chaos of Las Vegas and the Neo Kobbers. They spent a lot of time in the lush jungles nearby, but they often returned to the volcano to explore and intimidate tourists. It was a strange life, but a safe one for monsters like them. They were joined by another former Neo Kobber, the giant mantis Spitfire. The three of them hunted in the jungles together, then spread out over the volcano to patrol their territory.

Today, their time here would come to an end.

It was Spitfire who detected the anomalous noise first. Her antenna twitched, and she held up a claw to stop Gwangi just as he was kicking off one of his territorial roaring displays. "Quiet. You hear that?" Blue cocked her head and listened carefully, chirping in surprise when she too heard the noise. It was a deep, low thrum, some sort of mechanical propulsion. Spitfire thought it sounded familiar, and tried to place it... ah, yes, now she remembered. It sounded like her old friend Captain Gordon's ship, the Gotengo. That flying battleship had a jet system on board that sounded similar to this. But that was the problem - similar. Not the same.

"...What is that?" Spitfire twiddled her mandibles in mild irritation at there being a question she didn't know the answer to. "Hang on, I'll get to the bottom of this." The three of them were at the fringes of the jungle, and unable to see past the canopy. Spitfire made short work of that problem, scuttling up a tree and reaching the top to peer into the sky.

It was then that she saw the airship approaching the park.

-----

 "Where are they?"

Leaning forward in the captain's chair of his airship, The Chameleon, Admiral De Loco gripped the armrests, further cracking the already-damaged leather covering, and grimaced in a way that his young but stress-lined face indicated was a standard expression.

"We were told we'd find dinosaurs here. Instead there's nothing but trees. What rubbish!"

"Captain, sir." One of the mooks working the controls turned to address his superior. His skull-like mask obscured his face (standard issue for all of the Curse grunts that worked under the collective name of The Shrapnel), but his voice gave away his mild exasperation. "They probably heard us coming and are hiding in the forest."

"Hmm, yes, that WOULD make sense." De Loco stroked his chin. Or, rather, he stroked the front of the large glass helmet he wore. "Well, in that case, nothing to do but to flush them out, right? Right! CHAMELEON! ACTIVATE FLAMETHROWER!"

"...Are you sure we should be burning down a national park?"

"We're already taking their animals, so why not? NOW BURN! BURRRRRNNNNN!!!"

As De Loco thrashed eagerly in his seat like a child who was just told he's going to McDonald's tonight, the Shrapnel soldier sighed and activated the flamethrower.

-----

"What the hell?! Are they crazy?!"

Ignorant of how correct she was, Spitfire raced back down into the forest as The Chameleon began to spray fire onto the treetops. "They're torching the place!" she cried, waving her claws at Gwangi and Blue. "We gotta get outta here!"

Gwangi stood defiant.

"What, you want to FIGHT them? HOW?!"

The allosaur tilted his head slowly, considering his two companions. Blue chirped. Spitfire looked back and forth between the two, and as the dinosaurs grumbled out a plan to one another, the mantis cringed in anticipation.

"This is gonna suck, isn't it."

-----

"I knew this was gonna suck."

The three beasts had worked together to turn a large, flexible sapling into a powerful catapult. Gwangi, Blue, and Spitfire held down the top of the tree, their muscles straining with the effort as the tree fought to return to an upright position. Spitfire heaved a sigh as the Chameleon drew dangerously close. "Alright, on three. One... two... THREE!"

All three of them let go of their grip on the ground, and Blue and Spitfire fell back. The tree's top shot up into the air, Gwangi clinging to it and roaring. The Chameleon spotted him as he was slingshotted into the air - not very far, he was very big. But it was far enough for Gwangi to smash into the bottom of The Chameleon. Unfortunately, all that really did was get De Loco's attention.

"THERE it is!" he crowed. "I knew setting everything on fire would work!"

"We're taking him aboard now, captain." De Loco's Shrapnel assistant said.

"Good, gooooood." De Loco settled back in his chair, steepling his fingers.

Admiral De Loco

Rank: Mad Engineering Supervisor

Code Name: HAYWIRE

-----

Taking them aboard, however, was easier said than done. A desperate battle ensued on the arm of The Chameleon as Gwangi made a stand. The Shrapnel, a squadron about fifteen strong, were in a bind. They couldn't unload their best weapons on Gwangi, nor could they simply get De Loco to move the arm around and make him fall off. For the same reason, tranquilizing him in his current position would also be a bad idea. They needed Gwangi alive and healthy, and yet here he was, several times their size, trying to kill them.

"We have to lure him aboard!" one of the Shrapnel declared after a minute or two of standoff.

"And how do we do that?"

Gwangi took a step forward and roared.

"...RUN!"

The Shrapnel fled, a mess of panicked bodies and clattering equipment as they rushed back into The Chameleon. Gwangi growled and gave chase.

"BAD IDEA!" Spitfire buzzed up to The Chameleon, wings pumping and Blue perched on top of her. She waved her claws frantically as Gwangi vanished inside the ship. "Ahhhh, piss."

Once he was inside, things got simpler. The formerly running-scared Shrapnel suddenly spun around and opened fire with their tranquilizers, filling Gwangi full of sedative. The Allosaurus continued stomping forward, snarling and roaring before dipping down and chomping onto one of The Shrapnel. As he died, the others fired again. Gwangi dropped the mauled body of the unfortunate soldier he'd attacked and moved in again, but his movements were notably more sluggish now, and before he could corner another soldier, Gwangi collapsed to the floor.

Seconds later, another Shrapnel was blown off his feet by a 300-pound raptor. Blue and Spitfire had slipped into the ship while everyone was busy with Gwangi, and now they launched an attack of their own. Blue dashed across the steel floor of the ship's hold, swiping out with her claws to try and disarm Shrapnel. It worked well, several soldiers having their guns flung out from their grasps. Spitfire attacked another group of soldiers, popping up behind one, grabbing them, and using them as a shield as she dashed forward and rammed her hostage into another soldier.

It was an amazing ambush, and if there had been just Shrapnel in the hold, perhaps they would have won the day. But it was not to be. From out of the shadows of the hold's depths, two reptilian beasts stepped forward to provide reinforcements, and from the looks of their spiky, scaly hides, they wouldn't go quietly.

Each was the height of a man, though far bulkier and burlier. The purple creature, Nidoking, stomped rapidly towards Spitfire while the blue Nidoqueen sized up the raptor who matched her color with her name. Cautious of these new threats, Spitfire signaled for Blue to stand back and watch their movements to look for an opening.

That proved a costly mistake.

Nidoqueen opened her mouth and a stream of electricity pulsed from her body. Blue recoiled in shock and pain as Thunderbolt hit home, paralyzing her and dropping her to the floor. Spitfire realized Nidoking would probably try a similar trick and dashed forward, only just dodging as he swung a fist cloaked in flames. Spitfire perched atop Nidoking's back and started hacking at him with her claws. Finding this ineffective, she dipped down for a bite, only to whip her head back up and gag as Nidoking began secreting poison from his spines. Falling off the beast, Spitfire flailed her legs as Nidoking shot his tail forward and wrapped her up.

"Good job, both of you. Very good."

Stepping into the room now that all the threats were neutralized came a sharp-dressed man with a sinister smirk plastered across his face.

Giovanni

Rank: Curse Elite

Code Name: FISSURE

"A shame Moon Stones are so hard to find. An army of Nidoroyals would prove far more effective than human soldiers."

Entering after this man came De Loco, peering out from behind him and grinning to himself as he spied the two incapacitated dinosaurs. "Ah, perfect! I knew it was a good idea to bring you along, Giovanni. Just what we came for, and Blue as well! Won't Dr. Wu be pleased!"

"Yes, Wu ought to be satisfied with this. Now..." Giovanni casually walked forward, staring Spitfire in the face as Nidoking constricted his tail around her helpless body. "What is THIS? Can Wu work with this?"

"He only asked for dinosaurs." De Loco mused.

"I see. So this thing is useless, then."

Spitfire realized now what was about to happen. "Ffffuck you." she hissed, wincing as Nidoking's tail tightened around her. "You won't get away with this, you piece of shit."

Giovanni gave his Nidoking a command, gesturing sharply with a jerk of his wrist. Nidoking immediately obeyed, flexing its' tail and crunching the life out of the former Neo Kobber. Giovanni nodded approvingly as his Pokemon tossed aside the corpse, and he reached for his phone.

"Wu? Yes. Giovanni. We got the primary and secondary objectives both secured, some casualties but nothing too disruptive. We'll discuss payment once you've seen the specimens. Alright, we'll catch up later. Have the holding cells ready."

Giovanni hung up and looked over his shoulder at De Loco. "Turn this thing around and get us back to Olympia. We have a delivery to make."

-----

TO BE CONTINUED THIS SUMMER IN ZFRP.