Episode 11

Training Daze

“Chip, will you please quit offering to help this guy with his chores?” Rob groaned as he fiddled around, trying to get a better grip on the bucket he was carrying. He was getting tired of hauling water buckets around. Actually, he was tired of hauling water buckets around yesterday. And the day before that. Over the past several days both he and his other friends had to do menial farming chores for Chip's old employer Mr. Bradshaw in exchange for the use of his land for their Guardian training. Of course, Mr. Bradshaw didn't know exactly what his end of the bargain entailed.

“Sorry, Rob,” Chip replied, shifting his bucket to his other hand. “I just figure since he's letting us use his land again, we ought to be willing to help with chores again.”

“We'll help him a lot moreso once we save the world he lives in from Clonar and his goons.”

“Hmm, I never thought of that.”

Rob carefully set the water down, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and shot a glance over to Wyn. “Anyway, we could get this work done twice as fast if Wyn would actually help us. Why does he get to sit around and meditate while we do all the backbreaking labor?”

“You'll have to ask him about that. At least he's willing to help us train.”

What seemed like an eternity later, the chores were done, and it was time for training to begin. Of course our heroes were ever-so-anxious to get started.

“What do you mean you need to rest?” Wyn asked in disbelief.

Losing the last remnant of her energy—and will—to stand, Tami slumped down. “If you'd worked as hard as we have, you'd understand.”

Wyn huffed. “Okay, you can have a ten minute rest, and then training begins. Not a minute later.”

Rob stood up in objection. “And just who made you boss of--”

Chip elbowed him. “He's going to help us learn to use our powers. Just go along with it.”

Ten restful minutes later, Wyn impatiently asked, “Okay, are we ready to start?”

Rob bounced to his feet, fully recovered. “Yeah! Let's do some brawling!”

“There's far more to being a warrior than just fighting, Rob,” Wyn said. “It's about inner strength as well as outer.”

“Ho boy, I don't like where this is going,” Rob said with a grimace.

“To begin our training, we're going to practice...”

Don't say it, don't say it, please don't say it... Rob thought.

“...meditation.”

“Gah, I knew it!”

Rob grumbled as the five Guardians sat in a circle, eyes closed in meditation—loudly enough that those around him could hear. “Stupid, stupid, this is so stupid...”

“Hush, Rob,” Tami chided, eyes still closed. “I'm trying to tap into my inner psyche. Or whatever.”

Rob's semi-quiet tirade was interrupted as Chip fell against him. Confused as to what he was doing, Rob pushed him back the other way, and he tumbled to the ground, fast asleep.

“It looks like Chip is doing some really deep meditation there,” Brittany giggled.

Wyn just sighed.

The Guardians were amazed to discover how much time flies when you're meditating. “All right, that should be enough for today,” Wyn said as he stood up.

Brittany opened her eyes and gazed at the sunset peeking over the hills. “Wow where'd the day go?”

“No kidding,” Tami said. “Have we really been meditating that long?”

“Far from the best meditation I've ever seen,” Wyn commented, “but considering who I'm dealing with, I suppose it's not a bad start.”

“Not one lousy second of Guardian action...” Rob grumbled.

“Okay,” Wyn continued, “so tomorrow, bright and early--”

“Uh, how early are we talking?” Tami interrupted.

“What?”

“I have to work in the morning.”

“Yeah, me too,” Brittany said.

“...until when?”

“I work from 8 to 2.”

“And I work from 9 to 3.”

“And I have some chores around the house I need to get done,” Chip put in.

“And I'm just not an early bird,” Rob said, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

“Gah, fine. At 3:30--”

Brittany interrupted. “Uh, I'll have to change clothes when I get home from work.”

“...what?”

“I like to get out of my work clothes when I get home.”

“Yeah, and it takes about ten minutes for me to walk home from work, and another fifteen minutes to walk here from the apartment,” Tami said.

“Grr, all right. We'll meet at 4PM, and not a minute later. But we'll be hitting the ground running. We have a lot of training to do.”

And train they did. Before they knew it, an entire week of training had elapsed.

It was particularly surprising since they assumed a week consisting solely of meditation would drag on forever.

“I never thought I'd say this, but you've all done a pretty good job so far,” Wyn said as they prepared for their second week of training. “Dare I say I'm almost impressed?”

Rob flexed what little arm muscle he had. “What can I say? When you got it, you got it.”

Wyn continued. “And now, for the moment Rob's been waiting for: it's time for you to start honing your Guardian powers.”

Everyone let out silent sighs of relief. The last thing any of them wanted was another week of meditation.

“For starters, I want to see the lot of you duke it out with one another so I can determine what areas you need to improve on.” Wyn turned to the girls. “Brittany, Tami, let's start with you two. Transform and attack each other.”

Brittany was taken aback. “Really? Do we have to?”

Wyn put his hands on his hips. “Yes, you have to. Quit being a wimp and transform, already.”

Tami rubbed her arm. “Well...okay. Dimensional Guardians, power up!”

“Dimensional Guardians, power up!”

You could cut the tension with a knife as the best friends stared each other down.

But after about two minutes of non-stop staring, the tension quickly faded.

“What are you waiting for?” an exasperated Wyn finally asked.

“I don't want to hit Brittany, she's my friend,” Tami said in an innocent tone.

“Well, you know what, if you want to get stronger, you're going to have to hit people. Plus, Brittany's going to get hit a lot anyway. Might as well be from her friends.”

“F-Fine.” Tami looked at her friend uneasily. “Brittany, I'm going to shoot an ice blast at you, okay?”

Brittany nodded. “All right. I'm going to throw my hammer at you, okay?”

“All right, on three. One, two--”

“Just attack each other!”

Reluctantly, Brittany and Tami launched their attacks...

“Hey, they canceled each other out!” Tami exclaimed with a smile.

Brittany smiled also. “Yeah, I'm glad it worked out that way!”

Wyn put his head in his hands. “This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life.”

“So, now what?” Brittany asked, turning back to Wyn.

“Move around a little!” Wyn shouted. “Jump! Punch each other! Do something!”

“Okay,” Tami said. “Brittany, I'm going to launch another--”

“Quit announcing it!” Wyn snapped. “Gah, okay, let's try a little role playing here. Brittany, pretend Tami is a powerful monster who just blew up your house and enslaved your entire family. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

Brittany looked at Tami and tried her hardest to imagine the scenario. She stifled a laugh. “Sorry, that made me giggle.”

Wyn threw up his arms. “Oh, for crying out loud, forget it! Rob, Chip, you're up.”

Rob anxiously stepped forward. “Yeah, finally, some action.”

“We'll show you girls how it's done,” Chip said.

Before Wyn could even say anything, the two of them transformed, and Rob rushed Chip. “Get ready, pal,” he said. “I'm not gonna take it easy on you.”

Chip's excitement gave way to panic. He had trained with Rob before, but having friendly sparring with Rob was different than intense training with Wyn. Before Rob could ram into him, he leaped into the air.

“Good,” Wyn commended him. “Use your flying powers to your advantage.”

“You think flying will save you?” Rob asked. “Laser Blast!”

“He's pretty fast,” Wyn commented as he watched Chip nimbly dodge Rob's volley.

Rob didn't let up on his assault. “Dodge all you want, I'll hit you one of these times.”

“C'mon, Rob, do something creative,” Wyn said.

“You mean blasting wildly isn't creative enough for you? Fine, let's try something different then.” Rob joined Chip in the air, surprising him as he appeared directly above him. “Happy landings, Chippo.” He put his arms together and smashed into him, sending him flying towards the ground.

“Good move! Now Chip, try and stop your fall.”

Chip tried to right himself, but ended up crashing into the ground. Rob landed in front of him and charged his cannon. “Think fast!”

“How's this?”

Both combatants launched their attacks simultaneously, and the force sent them flying in opposite directions.

“Quick thinking, good! Now make a quick recovery so you'll be ready for the next attack.”

The boys scrambled to their feet.

“Ready for more?” Rob asked enthusiastically.

“I guess,” Chip replied softly.

“Get up your nerve, Chip,” Wyn said. “You have to be sure of yourself if you want to win.”

“If you're just going to stand there,” Rob said, “then I'm going to take this opportunity to try out a new move.” He turned around, jumped back into the air, and fired his cannon away from Chip. The force of the blast sent him sailing towards his opponent. He extended his leg and prepared to kick him, but Chip ducked. While he was still over him, Chip punched Rob in the gut, then fired at him head on. Rob was hurled into the air and de-transformed as he hit the ground.

Chip chuckled excitedly. “H-Ha ha, I did it! Did you see that? That was awesome!”

Rob got up and cupped his hand on Chip's shoulder. “Good move, Chip! I didn't even see it coming.”

“That wasn't too bad, guys,” Wyn said. “Rob, you've got the confidence and power down pat, but you need to work on developing strategy as opposed to fighting erratically. That's going to be your biggest obstacle to overcome.” He turned to Chip. “As for you, Chip, good strategies, good moves, but you can't be so hesitant. If you hesitate to attack, your opponent will get the upper hand quickly.” Then to both of them, he remarked, “It's interesting. One's strength is the other's weakness. I think you two need to train together and learn from one another.”

Rob elbowed the girls. “Did you hear that, ladies? Wyn actually praised us. You're witnesses.”

Wyn pointed to the girls. “Now, as for you two, it's obvious the two of you can't fight each other, seeing as how you're such good friends. Since that's the case, I'm going to have you fight Rob and Chip, boys vs. girls. Rob, you'll need some time to recharge your Guardian energy, so Tami, I want you to fight Chip.”

Chip pointed his thumb towards Tami. “Me fight her?”

Tami put her hands on her hips. “Wha—what's that supposed to mean?”

Chip cheeks flushed slightly. “Oh, nothing, nothing.”

“Yeah, I'm sure. You don't think it'd be a challenge fighting a girl, huh?”

“No, that's not it, really!”

“Ooh, I know. You're afraid that a girl could kick your butt,” she teased. “Yeah. Guess I don't really blame ya there.”

“T-That's not it!” Chip said defensively.

“Mmm hmm. No need to be afraid,” she said wryly. “I don't bite.”

“Okay, enough babbling,” Wyn interrupted. “Just get to fighting.”

Chip didn't move. He reminded himself repeatedly not to be hesitant, but apparently his body didn't feel like listening to his brain.

“Aw, are you going to let me make the first move?” Tami spoke up. “What a gentleman.” She ran at Chip and threw a kick. Reflexively, Chip grabbed her leg and flipped her, and she landed on her rear. “Ow!”

Wyn clapped his hands together impatiently. “C'mon, Tami, pick up the pace here.”

Tami jumped backwards and shot an ice blast at Chip. Chip dodged and ran at her.

“Don't just use ice blasts, Tami,” Wyn said. “Find creative ways to use your power.”

Tami thought for a moment. “Ah, I know!” She covered the ground in a thin layer of ice, and Chip immediately started to slip and slide.

“Good, now attack him while he's off balance.”

She shot off an attack stronger than she had anticipated, encasing Chip in a giant ice cube. “Oh, I hope he's going to be okay in there,” she said worriedly.

Suddenly, Chip's spiral attack burst through the ice, shattering the cube.

“Use the environment to your advantage as much as you can, Tami,” Wyn said.

Chip started to levitate, effectively eliminating the threat of the icy battlefield. He fired another spiral at her.

“Don't let it hit you!”

Tami managed to put up a tall wall of ice that formed in front of her body like a massive shield. Still, the force of Chip's attack was enough to shatter it and knock her backwards.

“Okay, good idea,” Wyn said. “It didn't work very well, but it stopped the attack, at least.”

Let's see...it's going to be hard hitting him from so far away, Tami thought. Maybe I'll try what Rob did. She leaped into the air, directly above Chip.

“You encountered this same move before, Chip,” Wyn said. “You shouldn't be caught off guard by it.”

Chip shot another spiral upwards at Tami, but she quickly put up another shield, and the force of the hit sent her sailing higher into the air.

“Let's see how well this works...” Concentrating hard, Tami formed huge blocks of ice around each of her hands as she fell towards Chip.

“Uh oh.” Chip attempted to destroy the blocks with his spiral attack, but Tami was too quick. She used the first block as a temporary shield, and as the blast burst against it, she came down on Chip with the other, sending him crashing to the ground and de-transforming.

“Woo hoo, I did it!” Tami squealed.

“Way to go, Tami!” Brittany cheered.

Caught up in her victory, she forgot that she was still falling fast until it was too late; she hit the ground and de-transformed, as well.

“Mmm, but I think you need to work on your landing,” Rob joked as he and Brittany helped their comrades to their feet.

“Very creative use of moves,” Wyn said. “With ice powers, there's no limit to what kind of techniques you can come up with. Keep working on it.”

Brittany looked away shamefully. “Aw, I could never be that good.”

“We'll see about that,” Wyn said. “You and Rob are up next.”

“I dunno, Wyn, I don't want to hit Brittany,” Rob said.

“You're a warrior, Rob. Like I said before, if you want to survive, you're going to have to do things you don't want to do.”

Rob took a deep breath. “All right, then. Let's do this.”

Brittany gulped. Oh man, Rob's pretty good, she thought. He'll wipe the floor with me.

Wyn gave the order for the fight to begin, and Rob eagerly fired. Brittany scrambled away from the blast.

“Don't just dodge, Wyn said. “Get in there!”

Flustered and with no plan of attack, Brittany charged at Rob whilst dodging several more of his shots.

“She's closing in on you, Rob. Do something she wouldn't expect.”

Rob nodded at Wyn's advice. “Okay. Here's something I've been dying to try.”

He concentrated hard on focusing the energy from his laser cannon. Instead of firing, the energy seemed to build up at the tip of the blaster. Brittany skidded to a halt as the giant ball of energy grew continually larger. “I call this attack the Beam Splasher!” The ball burst like a balloon, sending dozens of laser blasts flying towards Brittany. In a panic, she began swinging her hammer wildly.

“Don't wig out, Brittany. You have to keep a cool head and analyze your situation.”

“I—I know what my situation is,” she yelled, “I just don't know what to do about it!” Then, one of the blasts that hit her hammer ricocheted off of it in another direction. “Whoa, look at that!”

“Stay focused!”

Another storm of blasts was about to rain down on her. If she wanted to stop them, she had to time her moves just right.

Unfortunately, she didn't. She was able to deflect several of the shots with her hammer, but the volley was too overwhelming; she was pummeled by shot after shot as smoke piled into the air.

“Brittany!” Rob shouted in alarm. Everyone rushed to her as the smoke cleared, and he grabbed the back of her head. “Brittany, are you okay?”

Brittany opened her eyes slowly. “I—I think so.”

“I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm so sorry!”

“She's fine, Rob,” Wyn said with no hint of sympathy in his voice. “Consider this whole thing as a learning experience. Rob, nice new technique. Perhaps you can use your wild attacks to your advantage. Brittany...” He shook his head. “What can I say, that was pretty bad.

Brittany bowed her head.

“Hey, cut her some slack,” Chip said. “She did the best she could.”

“And it was lousy. Everything was sloppy and unfocused. I can tell we're going to have to work on you the most.”

“I'm sorry...” she said softly.

“Don't be. The only way you can learn to be a great fighter is through practice. We're going to hone your skills and techniques until you're the best fighter you can possibly be.”

“Yeah, don't feel bad, Brittany,” Tami said with a smile. “It's a learning experience for all of us.”

Rob gave her a thumbs up. “We're all in this together, Brit.”

“Now that I've seen how the four of you fight in battle,” Wyn announced, “it's time to start enhancing your strengths and diminishing your weaknesses. We're going to be an unbeatable team by the time we face Clonar again. Mark my words.”

Another week passed. Wyn's latest method of training involved him taking on each of the Guardians in one-on-one battles to further test them. He was, after all, the most skilled out of all of them.

Rob was the first to be tested. In an attempt to perfect his newest technique, he used his Beam Splasher on Wyn. Either he needed more practice or Wyn was just that good; Wyn managed to jet around the rain of lasers and throw a punch at Rob, who grabbed his fist and flung him backwards. While in the air, Wyn launched his Guardian Punch, which met Rob's blast in an explosion of fire. “Good, your defense is improving, Rob,” he told him.

Tami was next. Wyn threw a punch at her, but she quickly created a thin layer of ice on the ground and managed to slide underneath him. She about-faced and shot off two ice balls. Wyn smacked one out of the way, but was knocked down by the other. “Impressive new moves. You've really learned a lot,” he said.

Then came Chip's turn. Wyn pleasantly noted how much more aggressive Chip's fighting style had become, while still keeping a reasonable level of caution. He ducked around a volley of shots and managed to close in on him and get a punch in, sending him flying backwards. Chip landed on the ground and jetted back towards Wyn, giving him a firm kick in the chest. “I can tell your lack of confidence has diminished considerably,” Wyn commented. “Great job.”

Finally it was Brittany's turn. With grace and agility, she backflipped, sidestepped, and dodged every single attack Wyn threw at her. While Wyn took a moment to catch his breath, she used the opportunity to hurl her hammer at him. Even tired, he was able to catch it and throw it back at her. Then, in a maneuver that made Wyn's jaw drop, she flipped in the air, caught the hammer, landed on her feet, and hurled it again. Before he could react, the hammer smashed into him.

Brittany bounced up and down happily. “Yay, I got him!”

“Graceful,” Rob said. “I'd give it an 8.6.”

“Woo, that's showing 'im, Brit!” Tami said.

“I'm impressed!” Chip said.

Brittany couldn't help but blush.

Wyn walked up to her, rubbing his bruised side. “Remarkable improvement. It looks like speed and agility is your area of expertise. Well done.”

“And here I was beginning to think those two years of gymnastics class were a waste of time,” she chuckled.

Wyn looked at each of the Guardians in turn. To think they were the same inexperienced kids he'd met just several weeks earlier. They almost made him think of...actual warriors. “I have to admit, you've all improved considerably since training has begun. Now it's time to--”

“Wait a sec,” Rob interrupted. “Before we start something else...I was just thinking...if we're going to work together, we're all going to have to have attack names.”

“Attack names?” Brittany asked.

“Yeah. It'd be kinda silly if Wyn and I are the only ones who call out our attacks. You guys need to name your attacks, too.”

“What do we need attack names for, anyway?” Tami asked.

Rob stuttered, trying to think of a halfway decent reason outside of the fact that he thought it was cool. He turned to Wyn, hoping he'd have something profound to say. “Wyn, what do you think?”

Wyn stood stone still with a steely reserve. “Isn't it obvious enough?”

Everyone leaned in close to him in anticipation, expecting him to divulge another meaningful nugget of wisdom from his reservoir of fighting knowledge.

“Because it's cool.”

Everyone groaned in disappointment.

“You heard the man, Wyn knows what he's talking about,” Rob said. “So let's get to naming.”

Brittany was the first to suggest something. “Can I call my attack the 'Heart Hammer?'”

Rob grimaced. “Heart Hammer? Your attack has nothing to do with hearts!”

“Is that a problem?” she asked innocently.

“Uh, yeah. The attack has to reflect what it does.”

Tami suggested “Hitting Hammer.”

“Yuck, no. It has to roll off the tongue better than that.”

Chip suggested “Pummel Hammer.”

“Hey, that's a good one!” Rob turned to Brittany. “What do you think of that, Brit?”

Brittany looked down at her hammer, as if just then realizing that she had in her hands a potent weapon. “I don't know...it sounds so violent.”

“Good, violence is cool,” Rob turned back to Chip. “Okay, Chip, your turn.”

Chip rubbed his chin. “Something creative, huh? How about...'Super Spiral Blaster?'”

Rob shook his head. “Too long. Attack names have to be short and catchy.”

Tami suggested “Spiral Blaster.”

“Eh, he shoots it from his hands. When I think of a blaster, I think of a gun.”

“Ooh, I have a cute one!” Brittany said. “'Green Beam!'”

Rob cocked his head to the side and glared at her. “Um, ew? Cool warriors don't use bad puns in their attack names.”

Chip shrugged. “Well, considering how high-tech these armors are, I'd assume they're computerized. How does 'Cyber Spiral' sound?”

“Dude, that's awesome! You have a knack for attack naming, Chip. Okay, Tami, your turn.”

Tami tried out a number of poses, as if her armor was a fashion accessory that further benefited from being associated with a cool name. “I was thinking something like 'Ice Freeze' or 'Freeze Blast.'”

“The first one is too boring, and you can't use the second because I already have 'blast' in my attack name. We're going for variety here.”

“'Ice Shot?'” Chip suggested.

“'Ice Sting?'” Brittany threw in.

“Brittany, that's perfect!” Rob said. “What do you think, Tami?”

“I guess that sounds okay.”

“Good. Now we all have attack names to call out when we fight.”

Wyn snapped them back to attention. “Okay, that's done and over with. Let's get started on our next training exercise.”

“Hey guys, can we play?” The voice was fairly obvious for the Guardians to place, one that was often heard at the most inconvenient of times. Several feet away from them stood Trey and Troy, who, Wyn wagered, had sensed the menagerie of Guardian energy and wanted to see what they were up to. While their tone sounded challenging, their lax postures gave the impression that they weren't much in the mood for fighting.

“Sure, we were just about to play a game called 'Get Lost,'” Rob said. “You can go first.”

“Training, huh?” Trey teased. “For what little good it'll do you.”

“Do you guys have a good reason for being here,” Wyn asked, ”or are you just shooting off your mouths, as usual?”

“Of course we have a good reason for being here,” Troy said. “We just wanted to see how things were faring with you guys. Oh, and to leave you a little present.”

Completely out of nowhere, a gargantuan brontosaurus landed in between the two sets of Guardians, the force of it's multi-ton stone body smashing into the ground sending ripples through the field and nearly knocking everyone off their feet.

“A dinosaur! Awesome!” Chip paused. “...Wait, what am I saying? We're gonna die!”

“H-He is pretty big, isn't he?” Brittany stammered.

“Y-Yeah. I know I'm intimidated,” Tami said.

“Meet Geosaur,” Trey announced, “a powerful Creturian made of solid stone who smashes his enemies with his Boulder Tail and Geo Wave attacks.”

Rob snickered. “'Boulder Tail?' Sounds to me like he should've got some attack-naming tips from us.”

He barely managed to skitter out of the way as Geosaur's giant tail crashed into the ground with incredible force. “But hey, if you're happy with it, who am I to judge?”

Troy crossed his arms and grinned with a sick satisfaction. “I'm sure Clonar will be quite pleased to know that his enemies are still as weak as ever.”

“Hey! Why don't you come down here and say that?” Tami challenged.

Trey wagged his finger. “No thanks. We've got stuff to do. You guys have fun with Geosaur.” Without another word, the duo took off, leaving their brute of an ally to finish the job.

Geosaur met the stupefied gazes of the Dimensional Guardians, its steely eyes barely visible under the metal helmet obscuring the top portion of its face. “So...open to ideas on how to fight this guy,” Rob finally said.

Wyn stood firm, but despite how hard he tried, even he couldn't completely hide his intimidation. “You know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

Tami strove to pull off the same confident tone. “Right. We just have to work together.”

“Okay, then.” Rob moved closer to Geosaur. “No way dino-boy can take all of our attacks at once. Laser Blast!”

The other Guardians belted out their attacks as well, along with their respective attack names.

“Guardian Punch!”

“Spiral Shooter!”

“Super Hammer!”

“Ice Freeze! ...wait, what was it again? Was that it?”

Rob covered his face as if his comrades were embarrassing him in front of the giant stone dinosaur. “I don't think any of those attack names were right.”

“It's just as well,” Wyn said, “none of our attacks had any effect.”

Everyone flicked their gazes at Geosaur, who, while physically unaffected by the barrage, was ready to retaliate. “Geo Wave!” it roared. With a mighty stomp of Geosaur's feet, the ground rippled, sending the five Guardians toppling on top one another. They all shrieked in unison as Geosaur lifted it's leg to stomp them.

“Guardians, scatter!” Rob cried.

“You don't have to tell me!” Chip said.

Geosaur roared again, having missed its targets who scrambled away just in time.

“We need to try attacking in different areas,” Wyn said, getting to his feet. “Something is bound to affect it.”

The Guardians all launched their attacks from different sides, hoping to inadvertently hit some sort of weak spot, but Geosaur stood strong.

“This is crazy,” Rob said. “We can't even scratch it!”

“Every monster has a weakness somewhere,” Wyn said, “and we'll find this one's.”

Tami hopped over Geosaur's swinging tail. “Hopefully sooner rather than later.”

“Wait a minute.” Chip fixed his eyes on Geosaur's helmet. “If Geosaur's stone body is so strong, why would it need to wear armor?”

“What are you getting at?” Wyn asked.

“Maybe it's hide is weaker in areas covered by the armor. If we can get rid of Geosaur's helmet, maybe we can damage him.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Brittany said, willing to try anything to end the battle quickly.

“All right,” Rob said, “Wyn, Tami and I will distract Geosaur. Brittany, Chip, you guys fly up there and knock off Geosaur's helmet. Maybe there's a weak spot under there. Sound good?”

Wyn shrugged. “Whatever. Let's try it.”

Rob pressed through the tall grass in front of Geosaur. “Hey, ugly, over here!” he called out. Geosaur followed his motion intently as Chip and Brittany flitted around the Creturian's head and struggled to remove its massive helmet.

Brittany strained. “Ugh, it's too heavy!”

Geosaur, having caught on to their gambit, began waving its head wildly in an attempt to shake the gnatlike Guardians off.

“Looks like you need some real muscle, then.” Wyn sneaked around to Geosaur's tail, climbed up onto its back, and helped them pull the helmet off. Geosaur reared back, sending the three of them—and its helmet—flying, and exposing a green gem attached to his forehead that glinted in the sunlight. Tami was quick to point it out.

“A weak spot if I ever saw one,” Rob said. “Think you're up to getting it, Tami?”

Tami looked uneasy, but nevertheless said, “I guess I can give it a shot.”

“All right. Get on my hands.”

Tami cautiously stepped into Rob's hands, and he flung her upwards as he fell to the ground as a result of another Geo Wave. “Ice Sting!” she called out as sheformulated a huge ice ball and smashed it against the gem. With a burst of energy, the gem shattered. Geosaur roared, then began to crumple to the ground. Tami shrieked as Geosaur's massive head loomed down on her, but Rob leaped up and grabbed her in midair, saving her from harm as Geosaur crashed into the ground, unconscious.

“Hey, I think you got your attack name right that time,” Rob pointed out as they landed.

“It's going to take some practice,” Tami said with a smile.

Chip wiped the dust off his armor. “Did we really just take down a giant dinosaur ten times our size?”

“Looks that way, doesn't it?” Wyn said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

Brittany sighed. “What a rush that was!”

“Well, we took the big lug down...” Rob said, “now what do we do with it?”

“It's quite simple, really.” Wyn cracked his fist and stepped forward. “We eliminate it.”

Chip was quick to put his hand in front of Wyn's path. “Hey, whoa, we don't have to go that far, do we?”

“I thought you all finally were getting it through your skulls that we can't let these monsters stay in this world,” Wyn said. “We have to destroy them for the good of the planet. Plus, do you want to try to explain to that farmer guy why there's a giant stone dinosaur lying unconscious in his field?”

Chip shook his head. “No, there has to be another way. There just has to be.”

“How about we make things a little easier for you?” The new voice was accompanied by both a fire and electric blast crashing into Geosaur. With one final roar, Geosaur vanished in a bright flash of light.

“Wha--? No!” Brittany cried out, shocked at the sudden act of brutality.

“I thought you guys had stuff to do,” Wyn said angrily as he pointed an accusing finger at Trey and Troy.

“We do,” Trey responded. “We just wanted to check and see how you were getting along with your new playmate.”

“And it looks like it was a very bad dinosaur,” Troy added. “And bad dinosaurs get punished.”

“How could you guys do such a thing?” Tami snarled. “You make me sick!”

Troy misunderstood her remark. “Well, it wasn't me. The last time I was sick I wasn't contagious.” Trey smacked him upside the head. “Ow!”

“Taking down Geosaur. Now that's an impressive feat,” Trey said. “I'm sure Lord Clonar will have something to say about that.”

“Enjoy your victory now,” Troy said. “Chances are you won't enjoy many more. Smell ya later.”

“I'm really getting tired of them,” Tami mumbled as they raced off.

“They're the least of our worries right now,” Wyn said. “I think today's battle has shown us that our training has really bore fruit, but until Clonar and his henchmen are dealt with, we can't sit on our laurels. We have a lot more training to do.”

---

Clonar kept his gaze on the computer console in front of him the duration of Trey and Troy's report. “So, they were able to defeat Geosaur, hmm? Interesting.”

Trey scratched his head. “You mean...you're not mad, sir?”

“Not at all. Quite impressed, actually. Geosaur is a formidable servant of mine. At the pathetic level they were at when I fought them before, there was no way they could take down a Creturian like that. Nice to see they're actually improving in their fighting skills.”

“But...isn't that a bad thing?” Troy asked, also confused.

Clonar scoffed. “Bah. I'll admit I was slightly concerned when I first heard about the Guardians, but ever since my battle with them, my concern has diminished to near nothing. Now my sights are set solely on the conquering of this pathetic planet.” He snickered evilly and lowered his voice. “And it's about time for the conquest to begin.”

What does Clonar have planned? Can the Dimensional Guardians overcome it? Has their training been enough? Things kick into high gear as the ultimate battle for the planet begins, next time on Dimension Heroes!

TO BE CONTINUED...