Hey guys, Darksage and Marc here with a brand new DaPPA story. Now this was meant to be a Halloween story, however, due to some circumstances, we couldn't post it on time. This is a short story and is meant to happen sometime between Extinction Lasts Forever and the upcoming Prehistoric Revolution. We apologize for the huge wait. We're also working on another holiday special, the REAL Christmas special. We'll try to get that one up as soon as possible. Anyway, enjoy! Disclaimer: We don't own Disney's Dinosaur or Prehistoric Park, just the characters we created. Any real life locations mentioned in this story are not owned by us either. We also don't own any music or references to other shows.
Soundtrack: Sweet Revenge by Thomas VanOosting
Nigel's Treetop Den…
Nigel was quite busy that morning. Even with Prehistoric Park's finances secured, the Residents now outnumbered the keepers. In hindsight, the adventurer should have prepared for the sudden influx with the inclusion of Aladar's herd. Nevertheless, he had a handle on the situation.
"And there we go!" Nigel exclaimed as he sorted through the last of the paperwork for potential applicants he wished to hire. "Now I have to get these stored away."
Nigel gathered the files and proceed to make his way to the storage room section of his Treetop Den. As he opened the door of his office and took a step, he was met with a surprise.
Falling on his head was a large palm leaf filled to the brim with chilled water.
"What in the world!" The senior adventurer screamed. The top of Nigel's head was thoroughly soaked and dripped all over his clothes. Worse, the neat and immaculate files that he held were drenched as well. "Oh SONNAVAH—!"
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Ornithomimus Pond…
Making the trek to Ornithomimus Pond was a part of Bob's routine tasks. He would regularly make his rounds, inspecting their enclosure's condition and feed them when it was their mealtime. Today however, he was struggling to wheel the wheelbarrow of duck-feed to Ornith and her Flock.
"I don't remember this blasted thing being so heavy…" Bob mused as he finally made it to the enclosure. There to greet him were two of the prehistoric runners.
"Yo Bob! How goes it?" The young male Ornithomimus called out. He was hip-bumped slightly by the older female beside him.
"Manners Follower-Axel." She lightly chastised.
"Oh, right— um… Greetings Bob. How goes it?"
Ornith sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes. Hatchlings were so improper. Bob just grinned at the mother-son pair.
"Hello, Ornith. Hello, Axel." The senior keeper cordially greeted.
"Greetings Keeper-Robert." Ornith nodded as she chirped politely. "I assume you are here to drop our lunch off?"
Bob gave a short nod. "Yes ma'am. One trough of duck-feed, delivered right to your doorstep."
"Sweet! I'm starving!" Axel cheered as he dove his head into the cart of food. Ornith just groaned at her son's piggish display.
"Though, I think I'm feeling my age." Bob continued, gaining the bird-mimic leader's attention again, "The cart seemed heavier than—"
*CHOMP!*
"OW!" Axel reared his head back as he held his beak in pain. "I think I bit on a rock!"
"A rock?" Ornith cocked her head questioningly. She then reached down and brushed aside some of the feed. Just under the grains of seed were a multitude of stones. "What in the name of the Homeland?"
Bob furrowed his brows in confusion. "Where did THOSE come from!?"
Bob, Ornith, and Axel spent the next hour picking all the rocks out of the pushcart before Ornith's Flock could properly enjoy their meal.
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Elephant Herd Grounds…
"Mama, do we have to do this today?" Mikiya whined.
In the golden grasslands of Prehistoric Park, the pachyderm sisterhood grazed upon the grass for their midday meal. At the center of the territory was the family trio of Mujaji, Mikiya, and Martha; the three pachyderms considered near royalty of Mujaji's Sisterhood.
At this moment, Mujaji softly bopped her daughter's head.
"Mikiya, you must learn these lessons," the elephant matriarch chided her calf. "When it is your turn to lead the Sisterhood, then having these lessons in leadership is important."
Mikiya huffed in exasperation. "But Mama, it's so boring!"
Mujaji just groaned at her daughter's reluctance. Her Mammoth companion strode up to her niece and patted Mikiya's head.
"How about you think about it like this Mikiya." Martha lightly suggested. "The faster you learn these lessons, the faster you can do what ever you please afterwards."
Even though the calf didn't want to learn boring leadership lessons, she reluctantly agreed. Mujaji huffed slightly before continuing her lecture.
"As I was saying. The first thing you must learn is that you should expect the unexpect—"
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
The Matriarch and her family were interrupted by several members of her Sisterhood stomping and trumpeting towards them in panic. The elephant sisters cowardly blared and gathered around the leading trio.
"MATRIARCH! MATRIARCH! SAVE US!"
"What is it? What's wrong?" Mujaji was concerned about the terrified wails coming from her subordinates.
"A vicious creature leaped at our faces and attacked us!"
"'A vicious creature'?" Martha was confused. What creature could have the audacity to scare several of her elephantine sisters?
"Show me this creature," Mujaji ordered sternly. Following the frightened group of elephants, Mujaji, Martha, and Mikiya were led to a single nearby tree.
One of the Matriarch's timid followers pointed her trunk in the tree's general direction. "It's there behind the tree. It just jumped down from the branches and attacked us!"
Before Mujaji could formulate a careful plan, Mikiya swiftly made her way to the hidden mystery creature as soon as the frightened older elephant pointed.
"MIKIYA! Get back here this instant!" Mujaji trumpeted, her voice laced with stern maternal care and worry.
"I think I found it…" the tiny calf called out from behind the tree.
Mujaji and Martha expected all sorts of frightening creatures that Mikiya could have found. However, what the young calf discovered was far from the truth. In the grasp of her tiny trunk was a small stuffed toy. It was grey, with a long pink tail and comically large round ears. As Mikiya flexed her trunk around the toy, it made an adorable squeak from it's squeaker inside of it.
It was a stuffed toy mouse.
The Matriarch's right eye twitched as the pieces of her Sisterhood's terror came together. Slowly, Mujaji turned to her timid subordinates as she glared at each of them.
"Let me get this straight… you all ran away from a TOY MOUSE!"
As Mujaji berated her herd mates for their cowardice, Martha couldn't help but shake her head. Her modern relatives were so timid it was ridiculous. During the Ice Age, Mammoths weren't phased by the sight of miniscule rodents. They were too busy surviving sub-zero temperatures, mega-fauna predator attacks, and human hunters.
Martha sighed as she led her Matriarch's calf away. "Let's go Mikiya. Your mom is going to scream at your silly aunts for a while now."
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Terror Bird Fields…
Today, Sarah was in charge of caring for Espantos. Before the advent of Communicators, the assistant vet was honestly afraid of the Miocene hyper-carnivore. According to fossil records, Espantos' kind was theorized to be an efficient, cold-blooded hunter that could swallow prey the size of dogs and regularly take down mega-fauna with sledgehammer beak strikes. However, when she received her Communicator, Espantos was one of the few Residents that could brighten up anyone's day with his bubbly personality, if one were to take it in small doses; the Terror Bird's inane blabbering was an acquired taste.
Sarah was in charge of giving Espantos his lunch for the day. Surprisingly, the zany Terror Bird was actually inside his enclosure, taking a dust bath. With how often the Phorusrhacos breaks out of his home, it was rare to see Espantos meandering inside his intended habitat. Sarah was worried that she would have to drive around the entire park just to track him down. Said Terror Bird strode up to meet Sarah as she emptied the large bucket of ground meat into his feeding trough.
"Hello Doctor Sarah!" Espantos happily cried. "Welcome to my home!"
The blonde woman smiled at the cheerful greeting. "Hello Espantos. I'm just here to drop off your lunch. And like I said last time, I'm not a doctor, I'm a veterinarian."
The large avian shrugged his wings. "Meh, I think they're the same."
"I'm surprised to see you here Espantos. You're usually sprinting around the park to give the news."
"I was just taking a little vacation." The Phorusrhacos glanced from side to side before leaning closer to the blonde vet. "Don't tell anyone, but even though I like running I get tired sometimes and like to do other things… Like knitting!"
Sarah, while perplexed at the odd snippet at the end, giggled slightly and nodded. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
Their small talk continued as Sarah dumped 2 more buckets of ground meat until she noticed a speck of brown lodged inside the mounds of red meat. Gingerly, the assistant vet pulled out the brown anomaly from the meat. She didn't remember grinding up brown chunks of food into the Terror Bird's lunch. Sarah then broke the fragment and gave it a curious whiff.
"Chocolate?" Sarah's eyes widened in terror as she snapped her gaze back to Espantos. The Terror Bird already had a mouth full of his meal.
With his mouth full Espantos mumbled, "Well, down the hatch~!"
Throwing back his head, the chocolate filled meat slid down the Terror Bird's gullet.
Assistant veterinarian Sarah trembled in fear. "Oh dear…"
Espantos' eye widened and dilated as he began to shake sporadically.
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Herd Grounds…
Aladar was making his rounds with his Herd, making sure he could satisfy whatever they might need. As he made his way closer to the main part of Prehistoric Park, his routine patrol was interrupted.
"DAD!"
Rushing up to meet the ornithopod were the young forms of Talin, Alden, Charon, and Tirech. From the looks on their faces, they were rather upset.
"What's wrong kids?" Aladar questioned.
Charon was the first to speak. "Your uncle Zini scared the living daylights out of us!"
"Yeah, he made us think that a raptor was going to eat us!" Tirech added.
Alden's sensitivity made him slightly teary eyed as he tried to reign in his feelings of fear and hurt. "Can you tell him to stop? Please Dad?"
Before he could inquire further, he was cut off again from another familiar voice.
"ALADAR!" An enraged feminine voice called out. Stomping toward the Alpha Iguanodon was an incredibly peeved off Hazel. The young adventurer's clothes looked a little ruffled and stained with multiple greenish-brown smears. "Where is Zini?!"
The sea foam green Iguanodon was stunned at the rage his human friend was displaying. "Hazel? What happened to you?"
"I spent the last 2 hours picking bu—Ah, Ah, AH!" Fidgeting uncomfortably, Hazel swiftly dove her hand into her shirt's neckline. In her grasp was a disgustingly large cockroach, still wriggling in her hand. Hazel immediately threw the offending insect a distance away, startling the younglings at the surprise bug projectile. "Your 'Monkey's Uncle' threw Twitch and Scorpio's roach lunchboxes into my room!"
"What's all the racket down here?" Before Aladar could respond, coming down from the sky was Flia. "Your arguing woke me up from my nap..." the Pteranodon was confused at the sight of her two friends and the younglings giggling. "What?"
"Hehe… Um, Flia. You got a little something on your face." Hazel giggled, momentarily forgetting her own difficulties.
"And your wings," Aladar added behind a restrained chuckle.
Glancing down, Flia was flabbergasted at the many purple squiggly lines that marred her wings and body.
"What in Gotama's name!? WHAT HAPPENED!?" Flia shrieked.
"Well, from the tiny hand prints covering your face, this is probably Zini's work." Hazel concluded after closer inspection. She turned back to Aladar with a serious look on her face. "Aladar, what Zini is doing has got to stop."
"Look Hazel, I get that what he's doing is in poor taste, and trust me I will talk to him about it, but they're just harmless pranks," Aladar said.
Hazel huffed, "Harmless now. But what happens when someone get hur—?"
*BOOOOOOM!*
The gathered group all jumped in panic at the sudden explosion followed by the sound of alarms echoing through the air from Prehistoric Park. Hazel's radio crackled to life and shouts of panic came through the walkie-talkie.
"This is vet Sarah… it appears that Espantos ate some chocolate again." Following Sarah's calm and worried tone was another familiar, hyper voice.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! I AM ESPANTOS, ALL OF YOUR BASES NOW BELONG TO ME! MWAHAHAHAHA!"
Off in the distance, another explosion rocked the area and set fire to another section of the park.
Hazel features became despondent. "Oh no… not again."
Hazel and her friends ran off to try to rein in one of Zini's latest prank victims.
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The next day…around 8:00 AM
"We really need to pave some roads here…" Hazel muttered in slight annoyance.
"Roads?" the adult sea-colored Iguanodon inquired about the girl's stray thought. He turned his head slightly so that he could see the human that was hitching a ride on his back. Unlike yesterday, when Hazel had been wearing her usual short-sleeved gray hoodie and jean shorts, she was now wearing a light-blue T-shirt and gray knee length gym shorts. While her short hair flowed in the wind, atop her head were a pair of dark brown sunglasses.
Hazel resisted the urge to face-palm. Of course, she really needed to watch her words. Her friends from 65 million years ago were new in this time. "Um, human-made pathways," she tried to explain simply. "It makes it easier for us to use our transportation. Well um, I'm not saying I don't like how we're going. I'm just saying that since we're so close to a beach, a pathway would make it easier for us to know where we're going."
"Well, there's really no need for that if we're going this way," Flia sounded from behind Hazel. Apparently, she too decided to ride on the ornithischian rather than risk herself stumbling on her own arms just from trying to keep up. "I've been down this valley so many times before. We should reach the sea in no time."
No one else replied to that comment. If a Pteranodon that has been a veteran traveler says that there was an ocean nearby, then who were they to judge?
For over two hours, Hazel, along with Aladar, Flia, Zini, and the children had been trekking through the apparent route that Nigel had drawn for her. They left Prehistoric Park early morning so that they could spend a decent amount of time at the beach. Though the pathway Nigel drew out was poor in accuracy. They had to spend quite a bit of time maneuvering around the mountains of Prehistoric Park just to get to the main route to the beach. Flia had her gift of flight but would rather stay and make sure her friends did not get lost. Hazel was also grateful that Marcus switched off the park perimeter barrier to allow the prehistoric creatures to pass through. Truth be told, Hazel had never been to this area before, so she had no idea what to expect. The only thing that reassured her friends' safety was that it was an area completely devoid of tourists or natives. This meant that Hazel had no reason to fear on any unsuspecting human spotting some out-of-place prehistoric creatures.
According to the map, following the river Save would lead them directly to the coast. It was also a relief that the S.A.G.E.S reserved this area in case Nigel wanted to expand his park. So once again, there was no need to worry about anyone spotting them. The area they were walking through did not exactly look too picturesque though. The shore of the river looked sparse with silt along the edges. Very few obstructions were in the way, like rocks and vegetation. There were some sandbars too, something not too common among rivers. And the water, while it was in its natural state, looked more like a large lagoon rather than an expansive river.
The trees around the river did provide needed shade from the heat if they needed it. In fact, if they needed to make a pit stop, they could just rest under one of the native foliage or even have some food, at least for the herbivores. While the scenery was nothing much to gawk at in this half forest, half desert environment, everyone was confident that the river would lead them to their destination.
The young woman's idea of going to the beach for a relaxing day was a sound one. Other than wanting to have a day off from work and take the kids out for some fun, there was another reason why Hazel suggested that idea. The park was in slight disarray due to Espantos' sugar rush and most of the Residents were not too keen on seeing a certain yellow-furred lemur for a while.
Poor Espantos showed a rare moment of genuine anger when he was told that Zini caused his destructive sugar rush. He would have yelled at the lemur prankster, but the chocolate in his stomach induced a Terror Bird's version of the stomach flu. Right now, he was thoroughly puking his guts out to purge the cocoa in his system; miserable all the while.
The day before, Yar and Plio had given the poor young male a huge lecture on pulling pranks on those who did not find them funny. While tagging along with his friends to the beach was supposed to be a form of punishment, because he was given the task of babysitting Aladar's kids and their friends, he was relishing the thought of pulling some more pranks. The thought of the harsh lecture he received the day before seemed to be nothing but a distant memory.
The beach trip would have been more fun if their whole friend group was with them. However, each of them had their reasons to not go. Neera opted to stay because someone needed to keep an eye on the Herd. Baylene and Eema had already seen the ocean before, but would prefer to go if ALL of their group was attending. Plus they would like it if their friends could confirm the route Nigel planned for them. Yar and Plio wanted to go, but they needed to keep an eye on the lemur clan. Suri and Aya decided to stay so that they could help repair the damage done by Zini's pranks by apologizing to his "victims". The Iguanodon girls, along with Mikiya, already had plans for the day by spending some time with Yin's Flock. Finally, the staff members of Prehistoric Park, including Nigel, Marcus, Bob, and Suzanne, were all too busy with running the sanctuary. However, every single one of them planned on visiting the coast on a day that wasn't too busy.
The plan for time at the beach was simple; the small group would spend 24 hours on the coast, or more if the staff in the Park needed more time to repair the damage. Hazel packed all the camping essentials, including two changes of clothes, her swimsuit, first aid, a flashlight, sunblock, a Caribbean floral beach towel, a drying towel, and her sleeping bag. And of course, she brought her trusty dagger in case they ran into any trouble.
"Heh, what kind of trouble? This is the 21st century, not the Mesozoic era," Hazel mused to herself.
The other items she was bringing was a large red mesh bag with all sorts of beach toys that a coworker in the park lent to them. In hindsight, they were not that heavy, but they sure were clunky when it came to carrying them. Thankfully, Tirech volunteered to carry them, mostly because his dad Sarge wanted his boy to get some exercise in. Hazel had to use some stretchable straps and some string just to secure them on the young ceratopsian's back as a result.
The objects within the sack were of many colors and were mostly in shapes that the prehistoric creatures had never seen before, sand castle toys, the large blue body board, the folded pink umbrella sticking out of the opening, the cooler with some cold food, and the oversized yellow beach ball. Hazel figured the kids would get bored quickly, so bringing these toys was also a good idea.
"Oh I'm so excited!" a certain young Parasaurolophus squealed next to the adult Iguanodon. All eyes fell on the youngling as she shuddered to contain her happiness. "I've never seen the ocean before. I mean, I've only heard some details from Flia and my mom, but I really have no idea what to expect!"
"It's just a ton of water that tastes gross when you drink it," Zini, who was lying on Talin's back, remarked indifferently. The children were walking close together, but never strayed from the sight of Aladar, as it was the rule given out by their parents. Like little ducklings with their parent, they huddled close together, with Talin in the very front, Tirech and Charon in the middle, and Alden in the back.
His reply came in the form of a scoff from the hadrosaur, along with her eyes rolling. "Way to ruin the mood…"
"What?" the lemur interjected, as if sounding offended. "It's true!"
"Meh, just don't swallow it then," the elder Iguanodon child shrugged his shoulders. "I for one can't wait to play in the…um...what was it called again?"
His voice trailed off, causing every single one of them to eye him in confusion. Talin stumbled on his words, even pausing when he couldn't think of what to say next. This went on for at least a few seconds before Hazel decided to help him out.
"You talking about the soft ground I mentioned before that's mostly associated with a beach and/or a desert?"
The blue-green youngling gasped and then beamed at her in satisfaction. "Yeah! That one!"
"That's sand," she explained with a chuckle. "I've never been to the beaches here before, but from what Nigel told me, their sands are really white and soft."
"Well I can't wait!" Tirech squealed. His enthusiastic jumping caused the toys on his back to rattle a bit. "Finally get to test these...uh...toys out in the field!"
"I want to do all of those…" Alden piped nearby, shyly expressing his enthusiasm.
With all of the excitement coming from everyone, Aladar could not help but crack a smile. He had not been to a beach in nearly two years. The last time he went to a beach was when his first home was…
The Iguanodon closed his eyes, blocking out that memory. It was a long time ago, and he had recovered from it, but the memory of losing his extended family was too painful. He vowed to focus on the here and now, rather than wallow in the sorrows of the past. Aladar had friends, a family, a herd to lead, and a new home. He did not want to be grieving his whole life.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he returned to reality, on their trip to the beach. When he first became leader of the herd, he had never known there was a beach nearby until Flia told him some time before the impromptu transfer to Prehistoric Park. Sure, that time was rough on everyone, especially since he got scarred for life by the Fireball, but everything started to look up after that. Even Hazel mentioning that the valley they now lived in was the Nesting Grounds in the future made things better.
"Okay everyone. I know you're excited about going to the beach," he brought everyone's attention to him. "But there are going to be some ground rules."
"Aw, come on Dad!" Talin complained, showing his distaste.
"Aladar, I don't think this is quite necessary," Charon politely told him. "Our parents already told us what we need to do."
"I know, but it's just so that I understand that all of you get the point," the de facto leader explained. All of the kids groaned, and even Flia and Hazel could not help but sigh and roll their eyes. Zini, on the other hand, did not even bother to listen, as he was on the verge of dozing off.
"Rule one: stay in the shallows. I don't want anyone drowning. If anything happens to either of you," he eyed all of the kids. "Your parents are going to have my head."
His attention then went to his two sons, causing both boys to shudder in fear. Even Aladar couldn't help but feel slightly anxious. "And I definitely don't want to think of what your mother would do to me if you two got into some kind of danger."
The boys nodded their heads in earnest, understanding completely on what was expected of them. While Alden never got into any sorts of trouble before, Talin had a number of misadventures in the past. There were times when his mother Neera would give him a mouthful for doing something stupid like staying out late at night or going to the mountains in the valley without supervision. It was those times that he learned his mother may appear nice, but she can be like a predator should he get into any trouble.
"Rule two," Aladar continued. "Stay within Hazel's, Flia's, and my line of sight. This is new territory. We don't know what to expect. Plus, there may be some creatures out here that won't be as friendly as our friends back in the valley."
"Wait, but we're in a different time period," Talin interrupted his father, thinking about the situation. "If I can remember what I heard some time ago, there really aren't any huge predators that would kill us. At least, the ones from our time."
The adult alpha was about to interject when a certain human beat him to it. All eyes fell on Hazel as she added to Aladar's warning. "That's partially correct Talin. But, you're still young. The predators in this time period wouldn't dare pick on anyone the size of your dad here or Flia because they've never seen them before. However, there are still predators you should watch out for; lions, hyenas, painted dogs, heck even venomous snakes! The list goes on. Oh and let's not forget the water. If you see something sharp and curved move around on the surface, that's a shark. Then there are-"
"Okay I think they get the picture!" Flia quickly said after placing her clawed fingers over her friend's mouth. The Asian fell silent and then groaned. Moments later, the Pteranodon released her grip and gestured the adult Iguanodon to continue.
Aladar nodded at them and then returned his gaze on the children. "You see? We may be in a new place, but we still need to keep our guard up. And last but not least, there's the third rule. Behave yourselves. Don't do anything stupid."
His eyes then fell on a certain lemur that had apparently fallen asleep on his eldest son's back. Slight frustration and disappointment appeared on his features due to the fact that his adopted uncle appeared to not be listening. Aladar furrowed his eyes and called out to him.
"Zini, I hope you're listening," he warned, causing the lemur to jolt up and turn to the dinosaur.
"What!? Oh yeah! Yeah I got it! Stay out of trouble, don't wander off, and don't go to the deep end in the ocean," the lemon-hued mammal reassured. He also waved his hand out in a swiping motion as if to wipe something away. "Not a problem."
Aladar sighed and turned his attention forward. Apparently, he had been listening. Still, that did not stop him from worrying about his safety...and everyone else's.
"Well, now that that's out of the way," Hazel optimistically sounded. "Let's not let some rules drag us down. We're going to the beach to have fun. This is going to be the best day ever!"
That would be true...if there wasn't any danger. None of them noticed a large shape in the river pop up for a second and then submerge. If any of them had been paying any attention, it was that of a large predator that was eyeing his next potential meals. The small group had no idea that their perfect beach day was going to turn into a nightmare.