The blue boxes and the amplifires had been brought in, as well as three other amps. Another note lay on them. Joey read it aloud.
To make up for the small size, more will be delivered once you decide to tour. Follow the map to a werehouse you can reherse in.
Someone knocked at the door, and Joey-being closest-opened it. A boy stepped in, noticed the note and spoke up.
"Oh, you got the note. Do you want to perform?" He asked.
"Oh yeah." Tom said.
"Well, there's the Cherol ampitheater not too far from here. I'm sure we could get a good price for it. Possibly as low as a chonch and a bag of cowries."
"How many does it seat, and how many do you think would come?"
"Most of the dolphinbacks who have been exposed to your music, possibly a few Dinotopians that have heard you on the record player. Cherol seats about 3,000 people, and 50 smaller dinosaurs in the seats. Resting couches can be moved in for any large dinosaurs that come."
"Okay, how soon could we perform?" Steven asked.
"Earliest would be a week, and the latest would be a month and a half. I suggest the month and half, that allows adaquate time for traveling from the far side of the island, and proper time for preperation of stage plans." The boy replied.
"Why don't we go for the month date. We can brush up on older songs."
"Right, we'll send out forms, and reservations. Meanwhile, stage plans, set list, and a backdrop can be made. We'll move amps to the werehouse, and charged sunstones."
"Sweet." Joe said, nodding.
"Emotion." Steven added. He put all joking aside, and became serious. "Show us the way, and we'll get started."
The boy led them to an empty werehouse, and left them. They lounged in the chairs that were laying around and waited for them to bring their equipment over.
Back in America, Billie had received word that Aerosmith's plane had disappeared. She was sitting outside the Wherehouse weeping, and shaking uncontrollably. After a short search, Teresa found Billie, and tried to comfort her. Teresa helped her up, and they went to talk in the werehouse. They all had come to Boston to mourn after the news got out.
"Teresa, I want to follow him, I can't live without Joe." Billie said through gritted teeth,
"Why, just think of it as a permanent vacation." Teresa hugged Billie.
"But with vacations or tours they come back eventually."
"All right, Bil. I talk to the others, and maybe we can work something out. If we are going to do something, it has to be in secret."
"Do you want me to come?"
"No, I'll get them here. You try to sleep, it's way too late for you Billie." Teresa left, and went to wake the others. Soon April, Karen, Terry, as well as Billie and Teresa were discussing how to get there without getting noticed. It was finally agreed on a midnight flight to Perth, and from there, flying in the same direction as Aerosmith's plane had flown.
"When should we do that?" April asked, she seemed eger to follow her hubby.
"I'm sure we can do it tomorrow."
Aerosmith was in the werehouse, watching how to put the sunstones in the amps. Joe hooked his guitar up to the amp, and struck a D. The guitar was horridly ou of tune. All the sunstones were hooked up to the amps that were going to be used, including the one Steven's mic was hooked up to. after some warm ups, and tuning, they began their first rehersal in a new land.
In a small office above a shop on Prosperine's main street a Protoceratops planned out a stage plan, and hired someone to make up the set list. The hired person was Shelli's father, Greg. He also thought up a backdrop, and sent the idea to the Forbidden Mountain town of Kerihana, where the finest weavers reside. The backdrop was front veiw of T-Rex with it's mouth open, inside the mouth was Aerosmith's logo. The image was the T-Rex was going to bite down on the logo, and crush them.
Prosperine is usually quiet, but not this week. It was the Weeks of Festivals, and everyone was celebrating. The sound Aerosmith's music was dwarfed by the peace cry the went out that afternoon. The cry for peace was sent out by fishermen to the Orca{killer whales}. Orca always have had a grudge against humans, and often attacked fishermean's boats. Dolphins, who did like humans, shooed away the Orca, took the human to shore, and ate their catch. The fishers wanted peace between the two species, which the Orca didn't want. The showed this by turning away, and continuing to attack the boats.
To solve the problem of peace the fishermen didn't go out for a week. This week was the peak of the shoal's migration. This was also the week that was the most dangerous. The Orca moved into Sapphire bay, and out numbered the dolphins, so they couldn't effectivly shoo them away before any attacks, and lives were taken. Despite the aggression to people, Orca have kind and gentle hearts to their kin, and are genuinely sorry for the rage.
The reason for the hatred was lost in the shroud of history, as was the origination of Breathe deep, seek peace. That phase's meaning had been found, but it is beside the point, and will be in another story.
It was on the next day that five women arrived, and five members of Aerosmith rejoiced.
The next day, the boys were taking a break from rehersing and walking down Main Street. Brad was in the front, and all of sudden he stopped. The others, not paying attention, plowed into him, and they all collapsed into a pile on the side walk.
"Brad, man, what was that for?" Steven asked.
"Hey Steven, remind you of your days with Chain Reaction?" Joey tried to joke. Steven glared at him for a second, the focused on Brad, waiting for an answer.
"I could have sworn I saw Teresa and the girls." He said, picking himself up, and helping the others up. "Sorry about that. I guess my mind is playing games with my heart."
"Do you want it to quit playing games with your heart?" It was Joey again, this time both Steven and Brad looked at him.
Brad was staring at the spot he thought he saw Teresa. He got moving after getting a good shove from Steven.
"These people celebrate everything." Steven mumbled.
"It's our way, deal with it." A passer-by said. Their accomanying Baryonx chattered at Aerosmith.
"And their too friendly for my blood."
Joe was the next one that stopped, but no one really noticed until he uttered a surprised "Billie, oh my god." He ran across the street to where he had seen her. On Dinotopia there are no cars, but there are careless dinosaurs that might not see you until it's too late. That didn't happen to Joe, he made it before one of those came by.
Joe's laughter drifted across the street over the surrounding noise. Not long after Billie's laughter was heard. Steven jogged across the street, followed closely by Brad, Joey, and bringing up the rear was Tom.
Across the street, in front of a jewelry shop, Joe had Billie in a bear hug. Tears of joy ran down everyone's faces. Terry was laughing to relieve stress, and that was silenced by Tom kissing her all over her face, and giving her a long french kiss. Teresa looked at Steven's cuts, that were begining to heal, but still scabby.
"What rock did you crawl out under from?" She asked, kissing a bite on his face, right below the nose.
"A damn heavy one, and baby, where have you been hiding?" Steven asked.
"Boston, we just got here."
"Even here we have a gig." Brad said.
"When?" April asked.
"A month and a half, I'm sure we can fit you into the backstage. You know, Theresa, you gotta help Steven hit those high notes."
"Oh funny." Steven said, he faced Teresa, and used a funny accent. "Me love you long time, 5 dolla sucky sucky." Everyone broke out laughing.
"You're still the same old Aerosmith, seems like nothing has changed." A Asian-looking teen boy, followed by a compsognathus, stopped and said. "I used to be a huge fan before I came here, but my parents made me sell all my Aerosmith stuff. It was either sell the stuff, or move out. Ain't that a bitch?"
"Something has changed that I noticed, we haven't sworn or fought like we used to." Joey pointed out.
"Something had to change, something always changes." The boy was just bragging what he had learned at school. The compsognathus pecked at the boys leg, he turned and said something to it. "Sorry, Kelsi has a problem with my bragging sometimes. She also wants me to get to school." He turned to leave.
"Hey, kid, what's your name, and where ya from?" Steven asked.
"Johnathan Davis, and Liverpool, England."
"What would you say if we invited you to hang with us?"
"I'd say oh yeah."
"Meet us at the werehouse, you'll know which one is ours."
"Okay." He turned to Kelsi, and told him something that translates into: "Tell the teacher I resign from his school, meet me at the werehouse." The little dinosaur nodded, and ran off through the streets. Steven put his arm around Teresa's waist, and rested his arm on Johnathan's shoulder.
"I managed to keep these." Johnathan pulled out a pair of rose tinted glasses, and put them on. "So, Teresa, do we match if Steven wears his glasses?"
"Oh yeah, definatly."
"Johnathan, how old are you boy, and how are you?" Billie asked.
"I'm 22, and fine, but not F.I.N.E."
"Oh well, that's good." Tom said. They all shared a good laugh. They came to the werehouse, and went on in.
It wasn't too decorated, or spectacular. Steven's sashes hung from a lower part of the ceiling. The dolphin statuettes sat on shelves facing the four directions. The fifth one sat on a hanging shelf that was suspended, and free swinging. It didn't have the distinctness of the Wherehouse in Boston, but it was there. The amps were stacked on either wall, and in the center were the guitars, amps, Joey's drums and paraphanilia, and Steven's micrphone, without the sashes tied to them.
"So, shall we give them a one song stand?" Steven asked.
"Shall we do some walk this way?" Joe answered.
"Oh yeah." They picked up their stuff, and did a quick "Sweet Emotion". A bump on the door interupted them. A protoceratops let herself in. She was bronzish/goldish in color, and had side packs strapped on.
"Aerosmith, I am a representative of the agent that will help you through out the island, and book places, if you tour. That said, I bring you more news. Dolphinbacks that have already reserved seats are also demanding that you tour. Some are traveling from across the island, and it is really hurting budgets for them to travel all the way to Prosperine." The protoceratops huffed.
"Are there venues where we can play?" Joe asked.
"Of course, every town has atleast one small theater, open air or closed. Oh, I never introduced myself, my name is Bax." She backed up, and ran into Johnathan. "Oh hello Johnathan, shouldn't you be in school?"
"I resigned, I'm going to be hanging out with Aerosmith." Johnathan said.
Bax rose up on her hind legs, gave Johnathan a disapproving look, then did a shrug the best a protoceratops can. She put all four paws back on the ground. "Well, could you help me, and get the scolls out of my pack? I would get them myself, but my hands are kind of grounded." She snickered at her own joke as Johnathan went around, and pulled two scrolls out of the pack. Terry rolled her eyes at the joke. Everyone sat on the floor.
"Should I unroll them?" Johnathan asked.
"Of course, of course." She paused while Johnathan unrolled them. One was a map of the island, and the other was a poster of the alphabet, and the corrosponding letter underneath. "Now, this is the island, of course, the bigger 'venues' are Tree Town/Cornucopia, Sauropolis, Pooktook, Waterfall City, Sauropolis, and Chandara. We probably can fit them in, leaving three weeks between at the most."
"Why that long?" Joey asked.
"A Triceratops-drawn caravan is the fastest way around. We'll need about 3 wagons to carry the gear, and yourselves." Bax answered.
What ensued was an hour and a half talk on where to go. A list was drawn up, and Bax departed with the traditional Dinotopian greeting "Breathe deep, Seek peace."
The tour was as follows:
The next day was a day of rest. Johnathan, and Steven went to the local library. The boys, except Joe, went down to tour Cherol. The women went around Prosperine, and looked for shops that would cater to the strange stage fashions of Aerosmith. Joe had a slight fever so he stayed in the hotel. By mid morning he was feeling better, and decided to go sit in with Johnathan and Steven. They were surounded by piles of scrolls. Steven was wearing his amber-tinted glasses, and Johnathan his rose-tinted ones.
"Look, it's the dynamic duo of tinted glasses." Joe said. He pulled over a chair and sat slightly behind the two.
"Hey." Steven said.
"So, what are you doing?"
"Trying to figure out what that kid meant by a chonch and a bag of cowries." Steven said, taking off his glasses, and tucked them into a pocket on the inside of his vest.
"Hey, Steven, here it is." Johnathan said. He began to read off the scroll. "'A chonch is worth 100 American dollars. Each single cowrie is worth only one American dollar, and 50 are carried in a bag at once. This way of payment was introduced by a dolphinback, and has become widly accepted, replacing the barter system. Dinosaurs carry money via a pouch around their neck, leg, ect.'"
"Oh, so we're getting the place for cheap.
"Each ticket goes for $16 dollars." Joe said. He had moved his chair next to Johnathan's.
"How'd you find that out?"
"A poster written in English outside. I managed to read it before someone took it down. It had a nice picture. I think someone painted it straight off a picture from one of our fans."
"Sixteen?" Steven asked, surprised. "That's really cheap."
"No it's not, actually. Usual salary is $1.50 per person. People work about 40 hours a week, so their monthly salary is $60.00. Sixteen dollars is quite expensive. I just hope that the other venues aren't as bad."
"Well, that's not bad. Hold on, what's used as change?"
"Coins stamped in Volcaneum. These are sent to the main bank in Sauropolis, then circulated from there."
a bell dinged when someone came in, and Karen's voice was heard.
"You boys hungry? I brought you some spaghetti and garlic bread. I also bring stage plans, and a set list." Karen said as she set a wooden bowl on the table, and dropped the scrolls into Steven's lap. Johnathan cleared the table, then rolled out a scroll. Steven served himself some noodles, and ate them quickly.
"Hey Joe, eat some garlic bread, you can give Billie a hell of a night tonight." Steven took a chunk of bread, and stuck it in Joe's face. He swatted the attack bread away.
"I wouldn't advise that. Billie has a really bad stomach ache. I think she ate something that was spoiled. She's at the hotel right now laying down." Karen said.
"Oh my, my poor baby." Joe got up, but Karen stopped him.
"She said she wants to be alone, and sleep it off."
Joe nodded and reluctanly sat down. The set was simple with two crossing catwalks that served as lighting posts. A triangle facing up, a triangle facing down, and a square were the colors. Some of the colors over lapped. The three colors were the basic colors, over lapping created other colors. There were four fire pans around each stone, as shown in a close up, used to direct light. Two fire towers also graced the stage, and were to be lit when Joe started "Walk On Down."
Below the sketch was the set list, which was very long.
Main Show, 1st half: