“I can’t see a thing in all this fog,” said Amber, following her dad inside the Sphinx.
“It’s a pea-souper all right – it’s even messing with my spy-sight,” confessed Spynosaur, trying to waft the green smoke away with his tail. “But whatever Ego’s hiding in here, I’m sure it’s nothing I haven’t … seen … before…”
Spynosaur ate his words even before they’d left his mouth. The fog suddenly cleared, and he and Amber found themselves not in the gloomy stone innards of the Great Sphinx, but in the middle of a vast, untamed wilderness. They were surrounded by a jungle of verdant vegetation. An endless lake stretched out before them. Thick clouds rolled in a blue sky. In the far distance, a volcano belched plumes of charcoal-black smoke into the air.
“Did – did we take a wrong turn?” gasped Amber, as an impossibly large dragonfly buzzed around her head. “Where are we?”
“Not where … when,” replied Spynosaur. He scooped Amber up in his claws and leaped clear as the shadow of a huge grey foot descended upon them, striking the ground with a ground-quaking THUD.
Amber looked up. “Dinosaur!” she gasped. A vast Brachiosaurus roamed across their path, its every footfall shaking the earth. Behind them, a sail-backed, razor-toothed Dimetrodon sized up an armoured, spike-tailed Ankylosaurus. In the lake, a huge, finned Kronosaurus arched out of the water. And above them, a wide-winged Pterodactyl soared, hissing and screeching.
Amber rubbed her eyes. “Did – did we go back in time?” she whispered.
“Don’t be fooled, it’s just another mind game … literally,” replied Spynosaur, glancing around. “The fog we passed through must be some sort of diabolical, brain-bending chemical. We’re having a hallucination.”
“Do you like it? I made it for you!” said a familiar voice.
Spynosaur and Amber spun round. Looming over the thick jungle, ten times taller than any tree, was Ergo Ego. He pushed through the forest, trampling trees and casting his vast shadow over the spies. “I mean, who doesn’t love dinosaurs?”
“You can make us play your games, Ego, but you can’t make us play by your rules,” said Spynosaur. “I’m bringing you in – you and your McGuffin. And I’m going to do it in time to help Amber with her homework.”
“Da-ad,” groaned Amber.
“And you’ll be no closer to convincing P.O.I.S.O.N. to let you into their criminal club,” added Spynosaur with a growl.
“This is not about those stupid heads at P.O.I.S.O.N. letting me join their club!” Ego boomed, shaking the trees. “This is about being the most diabolical villain ever! This is about redefining what it means to be an evil mastermind! This is about proving to those stupid heads at P.O.I.S.O.N. that they should let me join their club!”
Spynosaur and Amber looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
“Wait! I mean… What I meant to say was… Shut up!” boomed Ego. He dabbed his brow with a polka-dot handkerchief and composed himself. “Very soon the forces of villainy will gather for the ultimate demonstration of my super-secret weapon. It’s going to be a special day, and I am afraid I simply cannot have you messing it up.”
“If it’s all the same with you, I prefer to keep death well and truly defied,” said Spynosaur, with a flash of sharp teeth.
“You will have to take it up with them!” cackled Ego as he began to fade. Amber and Spynosaur turned … and saw Ego’s illusory dinosaurs pacing towards them.
But this is just an illusion, they can’t hurt us … right?” said Amber, edging closer to her father.
“I’m afraid they can,” replied her dad. “Ego’s brain-fog has created a fully die-mensional illusion. Which means if we’re killed here … we die in the real world.”
“Great,” sighed Amber. Then she struck her most determined ninja stance and roared at the top of her voice. “Come and get it, you dumb dinos! I bet my dad could beat up your dads!”