Lava Dome V: The Journey To Ankh Ridge Part One of Four: The Road To Succession The sky had the luster of leaden gold as sirens wailed. There wasn't really any point to the klaxon - everyone knew what was coming. Vans were being loaded, eighteen-wheelers were already pulling away from the windswept loading bay of Lava Dome IV. "C'mon, son...we have to meet up with Astor!" Dino shouted over the howling winds to his trotting son, tugging him by the hand as they ran across the blacktop. Astor was driving a small Jeep perpendicular to them, heading for what passed for a large maintenance shed. A deep, pendulous voice boomed from above the clouds. "DESTROY THE WEESAURS." Dino seemed to be the only one who ignored the proclamation from on high as he hoisted his son into the back of the Jeep that Astor had slowed down. "Son...I've got to go in a different truck," he shouted. "No, Dad! No, we have to go together!" the young velociphus replied. The voice from above the clouds thundered again. "DESTROY THEM ALL." Dino slipped the Lens ring off of his finger, and put it on his son's. "Astor, take care of him for me!" Dino shouted, and buckled his son in the Jeep. Dino squinted at Astor, who only squinted and nodded back to him in reply. Dino started to run towards a different building as distant thunder rumbled, masking the sound of Astor's Jeep as it tore across the blacktop and entered the maintenance shed; the cries of Dino's son, too, went unheard by the Lensless weesaur. He was nearing the building when a loudspeaker managed to echo, "...warning to all vehicles...GDE is attacking escaping LD4 trucks...GDE is attacking escaping LD4 trucks." A blast from behind him pushed him roughly against and up the side of the building, pelting him with debris. He turned quickly to see an impossibly huge golden claw where the maintenance shed once was. Dino's heart stopped. Burning eyes seemed to dissolve the clouds between them and Dino miles above. "THE WEESAUR THREAT ENDS NOW," the titan proclaimed. "Wait a minute," Dino said aloud. "That's not how it -- " Dino's thought was never finished, though, as while a great golden clawfoot was about to descend upon him, a smack from one of Astor's clawed hands interrupted his nap. "Will you wake the hell up already?" Astor scolded. Dino just blinked a few times, sat up straight in the chair, and quickly surveyed the other assembled LD4 cronies in the board room. He then made a nasty face. "Ugh...oh, GOD I HATE when I sleep during the day! I feel like death when I wake up!" he said groggily. "Judging by the way you were twitching, I'd say you were having, gasp, another stompy dream," Helvetica commented. Dino rubbed his crest. "Naw, not really...sort of. It was about Palanth." "Y'know, you're gonna have to tell 'em some day, Dino," Astor smirked, sitting back. "Oh, thanks for volunteering there, Astor. You know I can't tell Dracon the truth! He was all upset and mopey for him." "You'd think he would've read the business section of the paper weeks ago," Khith interjected. "Golden Dragon Enterprises was going bankrupt. Palanth didn't just go off and get abducted in the Giant's Realm or succumb to a great evil or anything...it's blatently obvious he embezzled what he could and took off to some remote island where no one's gonna bother him. Yeah, that GDE.com was a real great idea, all right. Filled with ego-trip pictures of Palanth that you had to PAY for! I can't believe he had the balls to sell stock." Dino blinked and stared at Khith during his little rant, then commented, "When the hell did you get invited to important Lava Dome meetings?" Before Khith could answer, Tyrannix walked in with Logarithm Cox and Grand Prix in tow. Dino pointed a spastic finger at Tyrannix. "And what the hell is HE doing here with the Schlong Pack?" Tyrannix just raised an eyeridge and shook his head before sitting down at the table, alongside Cox and Prix. "Good Lord, krufty!" Astor chuckled. "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and people under giant clawfeet shouldn't step on ants, Dino. You are so completely out of touch with what goes on around here, ain't ya?" "What, what?" Dino shrugged. "The whole evil empire or whatever it was called that Princess Dei was trying to stir up here in town went under long time ago, you dope. The chick who called herself Princess Dei was just a half-assed minor criminal named Mary Ann Bankerbox, and they locked her up. Tyrannix was a great find from that whole affair, and now he's become quite the asset here!" Astor beamed. "He gets big for you, right?" Dino smirked at Astor. "You're damned right he does, and that's more than I can say for you!" Astor replied with a pointing finger. It was then Astor realized Cox was giving him a very nasty glare. "What's wrong with you?" "Don't ever refer to me as an 'ant'," Cox growled, "or you may find yourself running with them." Dino bit his tongue at Astor, giggling like a child. "Eh heh! Serves you right!" Cox immediately leveled his gaze over to Dino instead. "And _you_ I wouldn't even let grace my sole." Helvetica leaned over to Khith. "We really work for the Company O'Love, don't we?" "I'm just here for the robot sex," Khith replied nonchalantly. Dino, Astor, Helvetica, Khith, Tyrannix, Cox and Prix performed the intellectual equivalent of flicking boogies at each other for several more minutes before a young anthro deinonychus woman and her even younger raptoress assistant strode into the room, immediately silencing them all. Dino stood. "Ahem! Oh, uh...hi there! I'm the Dinosorceror, and these are my feeble-minded lackeys whose names are of little import. Whom might you be?" The deinonychus cocked her head sideways. "I'm...Stacy Fellowes. You...invited me here today, remember?" Dino, of course, having no knowledge of anything that (a) didn't occur in the past twelve hours and (b) didn't have to do with claws or food, stammered for a few moments before playing along. "Oh, oh! Of course! And this must be your assistant...um...er." The young raptoress' left eye twitched several times, making almost a wet clicking sound as the lid blinked. "My name is Elena. I am most pleased to meet you, Mr. Dinosorceror, sir," she smiled methodically yet warmly. Khith's robo-radar was, of course, immediately set off, and his own inner workings began to get warm themselves. "Ah, Elena, of course!" Dino continued, waiting for support from his beloved co-workers that he was actually naïve enough to think would come. "And...um...you're here to..." he said, sitting back down. "...introduce what is sure to be a very popular addition to your already wonderful LD4 product line," Stacy graciously continued, placing a small suitcase on the table and flipping it open. Elena stood attentively by Stacy's side, looking on with a glassy stare. Stacy took out a small wooden board that had a rusty nut and bolt fastened through it. She handed it to the saurian nearest to her, which happened to be Cox. Cox held it and eyed it with little interest. "Okay, suppose you have this really worn-down, rusty nut you have to get off of this bolt," Stacy began. "And all you have at your disposal is your regular old toolkit. Here, try to get it off." Elena, from seemingly out of the blue, handed the proper size wrench to Cox. Cox held the board in one hand and the wrench in the other, trying to undo the nut. "It's not possible," he concluded after a few turns. "The head is too rusty and worn down for the wrench." "Ah ha!" Stacy beamed. "But not so for...the MPEG Wrench!" She presented a sleek black looking crescent wrench with a singular red button on it. "A...what?" Dino stammered. "Just watch," Stacy said. As Cox held the board, Stacy placed the square-headed wrench around the rusty nut. Pressing the button, the bolt appeared to blur and get larger and square-like until it became a uniform color and precisely fit the wrench. She turned it easily, brushing a few artifacts aside. "You see? With the MPEG Wrench, any nut -- no matter how worn or stuck -- can be easily molded into a nice square shape that will turn with ease! I have developed this MPEG technology over the course of many years, and this is just one of the many applications. Nuts that conform perfectly are only the -- " Jenn slammed the door to the boardroom against the wall -- she had apparently been standing in the doorway unnoticed for several moments prior. "Who the hell would buy an 'MPEG Wrench?'" Everyone turned to Jenn, startled, and Stacy blinked a few times. "Excuse me?" "What the hell do you need with an MPEG Wrench? What's wrong with a pair of Vise-Grips?" Jenn snarled, stalking around the edge of the conference room, heading for a nervous Dino. Stacy became flushed with anger. "Now listen here! This technology --" Jenn interrupted, " -- is a complete waste of time, money and effort. Whatever my idiotic husband said he'd let you do to get your claws on him is NOT the official standing of Lava Dome Four Enterprises." Jenn was now hovering over Dino, who was slinking lower in his chair. Stacy wouldn't back down. "But if you just give it a chan -- " "Thank you very much, miss," Jenn chrred sarcastically, "but we won't be needing your 'technology.' Good day to you." Stacy's eyes boiled. "But if you JUST -- " Jenn snarled! "I said...good...day!" Stacy stance tightened as she trembled momentarily. Never breaking Jenn's icy stare, she gathered up the elements of her demonstration with Elena's help. Dino, in the meantime, had already skittered down under the table and crawled out the door to the conference room. Stacy was just about to leave the room as well, but whereas Elena walked out, Stacy turned back towards Jenn one last time. "You'll regret this." Stacy snorted a warning-sound of her own, and clacked noisily down the hallway. "This is the last time I let that little weesaur decide _anything_," Jenn chrred, and stomped out of the room after Dino. Cox broke the silence in the room after several moments, observing something. "Why do you look so cheerful, Astor?" Astor sighed, shrugged, and smiled. "'Cause it wasn't Dino who invited her here." Stay tuned for Part Two: Fall Out!