Nightmares are reality - Camp Cretaceous

Yacht party

That morning, as the golden glow of the sun peeked through the leaves in the trees, the silence of the forest went un-noticed as it was filled with the chattering of the campers. All of them - save for Darius and Ben - were sat on the sofa talking about what they were most excited to see when they first got back home. 
Eventually, when the sun had just reached over the emergent layer of the trees, Darius and Ben woke up. They had both fallen asleep just before the others got up on Darius' bed, and the other four were questionable, but didn't wake them up to ask about it... But Brooklynn would probably be nosey later anyways. 

"I'm so excited to see Bessy again!"
Sammy exclaimed, her smile wide as she thought about her cattle back home. By now, everyone felt as if they knew Bessy personally. Even though they'd never met the cow in person before. Sammy told so many stories about her that it was ridiculous. 
"I wonder if she misses me. Do you think she misses me?"
She tilted her head to  the side as she waited for someone to ask her question.

With a laugh, Yaz nodded her head, slinging her arm around Sammy's shoulders before replying.
"I bet she misses you, Sammy."
She said, stifling the rest of her laugh as she pulled away from the younger girl. Squeezing her shoulder before they were suddenly interrupted by a quiet 'good morning' from the corner, two sets of footsteps accompanying the voice. 

"Finally!"
Kenji groaned, sitting up and looking over as Ben and Darius joined the other four by the sofa, the two of them sitting down on the floor. 
"Took you guys long enough."

"That's what we could say about your showers, Kenji."
Ben snipped back, causing the other five to laugh. Though Kenji's laugh had a hint of annoyance behind it. He and Ben never got along as well as the others had. Ever since they were first brought to the island on their first day of camp, Kenji made backhanded comments to Ben. Sure, he'd grown a little now, but there was still some tight tension between them. Sometimes it was so palpable it could be cut with scissors... Not that they had any scissors. 

It wasn't long before they started to make their way back towards the dock to the boat. They had planned to clean it up and see if there was any fuel in the storage containers by the dock so they could get off the island sooner. 


"So... did one of you have a nightmare?"
Brooklynn asked, walking beside Ben and Darius whilst the others walked a little further ahead. Darius only sighed and shook his head.

"That doesn't matter to you, Brooklynn."
Ben shrugged, slightly annoyed at how nosey Brooklynn was being. She always wanted to know absolutely everything about anyone and anything. Always asking so many questions where the answers were none of her business.

"Alright, alright, I was just asking."
She raised her hands up as if she was innocent before speeding up to catch with the others. Her arms wrapping around Yaz and Sammy's shoulders as she slipped between them. She began chatting happily with them about whatever show the four of them were always chatting about. 

"You okay?"
Darius asked, nudging Ben with his shoulder when he noticed that Ben was picking at the skin beside his fingernails. 

"Yeah. I should be the one asking you that. Are those nightmares getting worse?"
Ben quickly retaliated, swerving the topic to the best of his ability so that Darius wouldn't push anymore. 

"They're fine. It's just silly nightmares."
The younger boy shrugged. He was far too tired to notice the way Ben switched the topic ever so slightly. He'd always been rather subtle whenever he did that. 

"Hm, alright."
After that, the two caught up with the others and finally got to the boat. Despite having checked the boat for any threats the night before, they hadn't looked through it to see if there were any materials they could use. 
As they scoured the rooms, they searched the drawers for any supplies. Food, tools, fuel, bandages, anything. Kenji and Sammy were the unfortunate two to get into Tiff and Mitch's room first, and the sight was... something to behold. 
Pictures of Tiff and Mitch were placed delicately on the walls. There was one of the two together, kissing, with Tiffs foot resting on the decapitated head of a lion. Another of Tiff wearing leopard-skin clothing and pulling Mitch's hand.

"Oh, I wish I'd never seen this..."
She shuddered, pulling a disgusted face at the pictures before quickly moving from the room. Kenji remained in there though, looking through the drawers and cupboards in hopes to find something they could use. 
But, as he heard Brooklynn and Kenji's voices outside the door, a grin grew on his face and he moved to the door, flicking the handle occasionally. On the other side, Brooklynn and Kenji looked at the door with wide, scared, eyes. The door handle continued to shake and snap until the door eventually opened.

"Boo!"
Kenji yelled out, raising his hands up in the air. Darius and Brooklynn stumbled backward, covering their faces and screaming, thinking that something was about to attack them. When the two realized that it was just Kenji. An unamused expression on their faces as they tried to catch their breath. 
"Ha! Gotcha!"
The older boy laughed, pointing at the two of them as if it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen in his entire life. Though the others were just annoyed. Kenji had a habit of pulling stupid pranks like this. 
Even Ben was annoyed, he had been standing on the deck below when he heard the commotion, but when it was confirmed to just be another prank, he rolled his eyes. 

"Not funny, Kenji. You scared us."
Darius grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as his eyebrows knitted together in frustration. As he pulled himself to his feet, he offered his hand to Brooklynn to help her up.

"I know! You two should have seen your faces! Priceless!"
He exclaimed, his grin only widening, his hands finding solace on his hips. 

"The height of comedy."
Ben replied as he walked passed them to move back to the dock, Sammy following after them, holding a bucket of water in her hands.
As the two made their way onto the dock, Ben helped Sammy move the bucket off of the boat and towards Bumpy before leaving the two of them and going back onto the boat.

"Here you go, Bumpy! I know how thirsty you big critters can get hanging out in the sun all day long."
She said as she moved the water bucket a little closer to the ankylosaurus. Bumpy only groaned and looked up toward Sammy, her eyes darting from the girl to the bucket.
"Oops! Almost forgot!"
The girl pulled a mini umbrella that was tucked behind her hair out, a small smile on her face as she tucked it into the bucket. She'd found it in a box of party supplies in the closet just outside of Mitch and Tiffs bedroom. 
"...Actually, that's a bit of a choking hazard, I'll just take that back."
An awkward laugh bubbled in her throat as she took the umbrella back and tucked it back behind her ear, smiling at the blue dinosaur.

"Ladies? Havin' fun?"
Ben asked as he approached them once again, a smile on his face as his hand gently rested on one of the scales on Bumpy's back.

"Us? Fun? Of course! We're havin' so much fun. The most fun we can have."
Before Sammy continued blabbering on about 'how much fun' the two were having, Bumpy stood and began to walk past Sammy. Her tail bumping her and the bucket of water as she did so. When she happily moved over to Yaz, tilting her head up and eagerly accepting the gentle pats of the girls hands, a confused frown pulled at Sammy's lips. 
"Okay, sorry, but Ben, you know how big animals are kinda my thing?"
Sammy began, looking up at Ben as she nervously twiddled her thumbs. The boy nodded, tearing his gaze away from the ankylosaurus that was gently nudging at Yasmina's hands and looking towards Sammy.
"Do you ever think Bumpy just isn't that into me?"
She questioned, her thumbs running over one another in a somewhat nervous manner as she awaited for Bens response. 

Ben hummed, as if thinking of his response for a moment before actually speaking.
"Bumpy is a complicated woman. Who knows what's going on inside that beautiful dino brain of hers?"
He stated simply, as if that completely answered Sammy's question. There was silence for a moment as Ben stared at her, almost waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, he continued. 
"Of course, you may just be losing your touch since we've been on the island for so long."
The boy shrugged, trying to hide the small smirk on his face when Sammy's eyebrows furrowed. Surely she wasn't losing her touch. She'd always been so great with big animals. Bumpy wasn't that different, right?

When Ben walked away, Sammy turned her gaze back to Bumpy and decided that she would make it a mission to get Bumpy to like her. She wasn't losing her touch, and she'd prove that. 
"Challenge accepted, Bumpy. You will be mine."
She whispered dramatically, grinning. It was only when Darius spoke up that she turned her gaze away from the blue ankylosaurus.

"It's getting late. We might as well rest up here. We can scavenge for more in the morning."
Darius stated. They had only been able to search the boat and get open three storage containers - none of which had anything useful in them - and it was already around four in the afternoon. Well, it wasn't that unbelievable when it took half an hour to walk to the boat - or an hour when Darius and Sammy kept getting distracted by dinosaur behavior and how similar it was to the livestock that Sammy had back at her ranch. They'd left camp at around noon, meaning they got to the boat at about one in the afternoon. So they'd spent about three hours - obviously estimating the time as they couldn't keep exact track of it - searching the boat and the three shipping containers they could get open. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, pump the breaks, bro!"
Kenji protested, putting his hands out as if to stop Darius from doing something before tucking them into his pockets and pulling out some stuff. 
"Look around! We've got a few hours of sun, a whole boat at our disposal, and these sick sunglasses!"
He exclaimed, holding out a few pairs of sunglasses for each of them. 
"If that doesn't scream yacht party, I don't know what does."

It took a moment of hesitation for Darius to agree, but once he did, they all decided to make the best out of the situation.
Ben and Yaz used most of the time to swim and mess around in the water - seeing as they were the two with the most practical clothing to swim, and they both liked swimming anyways.
"Here's what eight years of diving lessons looks like."
Yasmina announced, lifting her arms over her head before diving into the water, managing to do a couple flips before she plunged into the water.
"Here's what running from an Allosaurus and tripping and falling off of a waterfall looks like!"
Taking a couple steps back, Ben readied himself, getting a run up before he jumped off the edge of the dock and fell into the water, splashing Yaz. The two laughed and splashed each other for a bit before climbing back out and challenging each other to do different types of dives.

Brooklynn and Darius on the other hand were lounging on the sunchairs with sunglasses on, bathing in the warm evening sunlight.
"We're not just leaving the island tomorrow, we're leaving in style."
The pink-haired girl said with a soft sigh, fixing the sunglasses so they sat comfortably on her face. A relaxed smile pulling at her lips as she placed her hands behind her head, leaning back against the chair. 

"I've got to admit, I could get used to the yacht life."
Darius admitted with a low breath, looking up at the sun through the sunglasses. 
"But there is still one thing we need to do before we go... prank Kenji back for scaring us."

When Darius said that, Brooklynn immediately sat up, moving the sunglasses to sit on the top of her head with a wide, mischievous grin. 
"Oh, you know I'm down for that."
She nodded her head enthusiastically.
"So, what are we going to do?"
Her and Darius both thought for a while before Darius came up with an idea, looking over at Brooklynn and taking off his own sunglasses.

"I've got it! We take his captains hat."

"Uh-huh, and then?"
Brooklynn probed, trying to get the rest of the plan. But when Darius seemed a little lost for words, she sighed.

"And... we don't give it back?"
At least the boy was trying, she had to give him that. 
"Yeah, lame, sorry."
He shrugged, pulling his sunglasses back down over his eyes and leaning back against the seat.
"When you've got a brother like Brand, you're usually the prank victim, not the prank planner."

The teenager on the chair next to him nodded her head and thought about better ideas of what they could do.
"It's got to be something epic or he'll never leave us alone."
She stated, brushing a strand of her hair behind her hair as if that would help her think about what prank they could do as revenge for all the pranks Kenji had done to them over the last few months. 
"What if we slowly and methodically make Kenji believe he never existed? Then, just when he's on the verge of total madness, we'll be like, 'Gotcha!'"
Brooklynn suggested, a nearly evil glint in her eyes as she turned to Darius. The boy furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her as if that was the most insane thing that he had ever heard. Especially considering that he had been the victim of mostly harmless pranks. Definitely not pranks like that. 

On the deck above them, Kenji and Sammy were looking around a few more of the rooms to see if there was anything else they could use to make the party even more fun.

"Ooh, water bottles, beach towels, more of those fancy, tiny drink umbrellas, sad beach ball..."
Sammy listed each item she saw as she filtered through one of the many boxes they'd found in one of the storage cabinets. She lifted the beach ball to her face and began to blow into it to inflate it.

"Check it! Party poppers, roman candles, tons of yacht rock CDs."
Kenji exclaimed, raising up the items he'd found and proudly displaying them.
"They might have been evil, but Mitch and Tiff knew how to throw a yacht party."
Before Kenji could go on more about how excited he was about the party, Sammy had managed to fully inflate the ball, throwing it at Kenji's face with a giggle. 
"Very funny, Sammy."
He sighed, picking the ball up before gently tossing it back to her.
"Sammy, would you say—"
Once again, the beach ball hit his face and Sammy erupted in a fit of laughter, grinning widely as she held her hands around her ribs as if she was in pain.  Kenji shook his head before going through the box again to see if there was any other cool stuff in there. 
When his hand pulled out a box, a mischievous grin grew on his face. 

"Might be too intense? Maybe we..."
Right as Darius was about to suggest another idea, a loud crackle and pop filled the air right beside them. It sounded just like a gunshot to them as they were unaware what had caused the sound. The two quickly ducked for cover and held their hands over their heads as an attempt to protect themselves. 
It was only when the rain of long pops stopped did they hear the laughter that it had been carrying. The two of them looked up to see the very man they had been plotting to prank back leaning over the railing of the deck, a wicked grin on his face. 

"Seriously, Kenji?"
Darius groaned, crossing his arms over his chest. An unamused expression on his face as he looked from the pink haired teenager next to him up to the older boy on the top deck. 

"I know, right?!"
As his laughter began to fade out, he packed up the box of stuff and shook his head, letting out another huffed bout of laughter.
"Too easy, too easy."
He muttered. 
Once he was out of sight, Darius turned back to Brooklynn with a determined look on his face. 

"All ideas are back on the table. The more intense, the better."
Darius stated. He was determined to get Kenji back for all these pranks that he had done on them. Brooklynn pumped her first in the air, an equally evil look on her face. The two then ran off to see if there was anything on the boat they could use to scared the older boy with.

Brooklynn opened yet another box, and began to look through it as she talked with Darius about other things they could do. 
"Come on, there's gotta be something in here to scare Kenji with."
Darius mumbled, half to himself as he filtered through a bunch of crap. Most of it was just paper plates, cutlery and other useless stuff.

"Like these fireworks?"
Brooklynn suggested, pulling out several fireworks from the box she was looking through. Smiling wickedly at the younger boy as he nodded his head. Suddenly, they were interrupted when Kenji slid down from the ladder that lead up to the steering wheel and spoke up. 

"Eyes up, yo. Captains on deck!"
He exclaimed, talking himself up like he was the most important person there. The two crouched over the boxes quickly stood, and Brooklynn hid the fireworks behind her back, plastering an innocent smile on her face as she kicked the box she was looking in backwards. 

"Oh, hey, Cap. I mean, Kenji."
Darius was always rather bad at pretending to be innocent. Or even just lying, for that matter. He had always been bad at it. So Kenji furrowed his eyebrows at the feigning innocence and looked at the boxes between them.

"Just checking on my crew. What are you two up to?"
He asked. Brooklynn and Darius both stumbled over their words for a moment whilst trying to come up with a reply.

"We were just saying that—"
Darius' excuse was quickly cut off by Brooklynn as she spoke loudly and excitedly.

"We were just saying that it's starting to get dark. We should probably wrap up the party."
She stated, looking over to Darius. The boy just nodded, smiling back at Brooklynn before turning back to Kenji.

"Yeah, so we can be fresh to get supplies in the morning."
The younger boy added after a moment, still wearing that uneasy smile on his face as Kenji looked down at him with a squinted, unamused expression.

"You expect me to believe that?"
With that, the older boy leaned forward, practically towering over the two teenagers. The frown on his face clear for a moment before it faded off into a grin.
"When we've got these babies!"
Suddenly, he reached into his pockets and pulled out two packs of solar powered candles. At the sight of the candles, Brooklynn and Darius both let out a sigh of relief. Kenji wasn't actually suspicious of them.
"Already put 'em out on deck. Yacht party saved!"
He cheered. Raising his hands in the air as his grin grew wider. Following Kenji's gesture, the two teenagers looked behind him and saw the plethora of candles laid out on every single surface. But right as they were about to comment on it, the entire boat rocked and a loud clattering sound filled the air.