Disclaimer: Darksage95 and Marc Ello Re-Yes do not own Prehistoric Park, Disney's Dinosaur, Walking with Dinosaurs BBC, Walking with Dinosaurs 2013, or Dinosaur Revolution. Also, they do not own any of the music or guest OC's in the story. They belong to their respective owners.

Soundtrack: United we Stand, Divided we Fall by Two Steps from Hell

Introduction…

There is something missing from our world. The amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if we can bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever? We're going back in time on a safari with a difference, as wild life adventurer Nigel Marven plunges into pre-history to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. His plan is to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance. Last time, Hazel and her friend, Flia, went back in time to find and rescue an Allosaurus, only to get more than they bargained for. Now, Hazel is joined by a new group of trainees like herself as they must lead everyone in Prehistoric Park to survive in a whole new time filled with danger. Welcome to the ultimate wild life sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park.

Hazel ran through the brush. The ferns and palms before her slapped against her body as she rushed passed them. Some of the ferns were a bit sharp on the edges that they made little scratches on her body. Her legs also received miniature scratches from the stray branches on the floor.

It had been a while since she was in a situation like this; being chased down due to provoking a few carnivores into attacking. The last time she was in a situation like that was when she was back in the Late Cretaceous during her first solo mission. That was about a year and a half ago, back when she first met her friends that now lived in Prehistoric Park. She was being chased by a pack of Velociraptors when she first arrived. This situation was much like that, except instead of being in a scorching hot desert, she was in a lush green jungle during the Late Jurassic.

The only thing that was similar between the two situations, besides getting chased, was the heat. The Late Jurassic was known to be a hot time in prehistory, but right now was quite literally hot. That was due to the forest fire that was made by a lightning strike from a scattered thunderstorm where no rain fell. To her left, just several yards away, she could see the smoke and the flames crawling towards her position. The cloud of burning debris hit her nostrils, filling her lungs with the scent of smoke. Her eyes started to tear a bit, but she had no time to wipe them away.

A flash of electricity streaked above. The sky lit up in frenzy with the storm looming above. Hazel flinched at the sight, but did not stop at all.

*CRASH*

*BOOM*

The thunder above banged in the sky. Her ears rang from the sudden celestial boom. She nearly tripped again when the sound threw her off. Hazel could not afford to stop now. Her ears ached for a few seconds, and then shook it off before continuing on.

Her lungs ached, and so did her muscles. They were gaining on her. She could hear their roars and screeches through the foliage. They weren't far behind; probably by fifty feet. It was only thanks to the forest vegetation and the occasional large boulders around that slowed her pursuers down. That and that she had a head start from the get-go.

Hazel ducked under branches, jumped over logs, and weaved around trees. During one of her jumps, she stumbled on the ground. A gasp escaped her when she almost fell on a sharp rock that would have broken her skull had she fallen on it. Glad that she did not meet it, she took note of the other thing that was in front of her; a three foot long branch with three smaller twigs hanging off it. She grabbed it and continued on her sprint.

The hoots, chirps, and snarls sounded louder now. Though she had been running for the next few minutes, her trip had slowed her down a bit. Any more of a delay on her part and they would catch up to her in a brief minute.

Being in a hot environment, Hazel needed to be prepared. Her attire and appearance helped her with coping with the ever-tropical climate of the Jurassic. Her medium length black hair was pulled back and held by a large claw clip into an up do and wore an athletic jade T-shirt, denim shorts, and tennis shoes, was seemingly trapped. Her new purple travel bag, while containing not as much survival supplies as her last trek to this period, did not weigh her down thankfully.

Finally, she found herself at the edge of the forest. The tree line she ran across turned into a barren edge. But her salvation was only misleading as the clearing was actually several feet away from the edge of a cliff.

Hazel skidded to a stop, her body crouching a bit in the process. Quickly looking over, she saw that the canyon below was several hundred feet down. There was a small river running across, but she had no idea whether it was deep or not. Not that it mattered anyway. Across from her was another forest, perhaps part of this one until a recent geologic event that split it apart.

She turned around. The forest blaze was starting to build up. Already, the trees inside were starting to catch on fire. She had made it out and escaped getting burned and smoked to death.

That was not the problem though. Her real problem came when five; ten-foot long, bi-crested slender carnivores came crashing out of the brush. Standing at about two feet above her, the medium-sized carnivores stalked up to her. Their teeth and claws were brandished, ready to tear her apart at the first strike. All of them sported dark brown hides, which got lighter down the underbellies. Tan vertical stripes streaked their backs while white stripes ringed around their tails. The only difference between the individuals was their crests. Three of them were bright red while the other two were a dull gray. It was sexual differentiation no doubt, since the males were more colorful than the females.

While Hazel had seen several dinosaurs in her adventures, encountering Dilophosaurus in the middle of the Late Jurassic was certainly a surprise. How they survived this long was a mystery. This was not the first time she met a creature outside of its timeline; the main examples being Baylene the Brachiosaurus along with the rest of her main circle of friends, the lemur clan from Late Cretaceous Africa, and the herd they belonged to. Nevertheless, this was a surprise, but one that was not unwelcome. Where one would view this as bad luck if they were ill-prepared, Hazel saw this as an opportunity.

The Dilophosaurus, though out of breath, inched closer to their target. The blaze behind them grew tremendously in size thanks to the dry air and foliage. Neither of them seemed to care about the impending danger that they escaped.

Still holding the branch in hand, Hazel eyed all of the predators, while inching closer to the edge of the cliff.

"End of the line, mammal," said the one named Blaine. The others kept calling out to him while they chased her through the forest. His voice was deep with a bit of an edge to it. To Hazel, it reminded her of Ron Perlman when he starred in the Hellboy movies. Since all of the other carnivores were falling behind him a bit, he seemed to be the leader. Not to mention that his crest was a brighter red than the other two males. "You've run your last."

"Oh no," she flailed her arms up while putting up her frightened façade. The demeanor was not very convincing, as all of them seemed to have taken it as some kind of an insult for not taking the situation seriously. "I seem to be in a pickle. I'm trapped in a corner. Oh, whatever shall I do?"

Blaine chuckled, his tone having some rasps in it. "Nowhere to run. You've got two choices kid. You can either come to us, where we'll give you a quick painful death, or you can fall off the cliff and have a delayed, but still painful, death."

One of the other males, a younger one with a splotch of black at the crest tip, cackled. His voice was a bit lighter, but it reminded Hazel of teenaged thug in a city. "Personally, we prefer the latter."

The alpha male sighed. "Yes Duane. I think she knows."

Hazel pondered on that, putting a hand on her chin. "So either I go to you and become your dinner or jump off where I won't become your dinner, but still die. Well that's a tricky one."

One of the females screeched in annoyance. This one, unlike the other female, had gray spots on her snout. Her accent was a bit grating to her ears, much like that of a woman with a hard New York accent. It wasn't exactly as piercing as Rascal the Troodon, but it was rough. Judging by how close she was getting to Blaine and how she kept looking at him for an answer, Hazel guessed she could be his mate, or maybe the alpha female. "Come on Blaine! Let's just finish her off! We got her right where we want her!"

The other female shrieked in reply, though in a much gritty New Jersey accent. "Yeah! I'm starving!"

"Rae! Lyssa! Be patient!" he ordered the two females.

The third male, who had no differential markings to set him apart from the other males, stalked forward as well. "Let me have the first bite!" he turned the right side of his face towards the human. Tiny scrapes and scratches stained his once-pristine face. "She threw that rock at my face!"

The human resisted the urge to snicker. Just a few minutes ago, she threw a rock at one of them, apparently this one. It was the only way to get their attention and to get them to chase her. It was for a good reason, making herself the bait. But if there were any other option, she would not have resorted to that type of violence.

"No fair Spurlock!" Duane complained at the deeper-voiced male. "I wanted to have the first bite!"

"Quiet!" the alpha male ordered. His subordinates silenced immediately.

Hazel rolled her eyes. These guys were like a comedic gang in a Saturday night show. Here she was the first human they met in their lifetime, about to die either by their jaws or by falling off the cliff. And yet they did not notice she was humored by this banter.

"Well, I can't say that being eaten by five crested kill mongers would be a good way to go," she started off in a sassy remark. "Personally I'd rather be eaten by something more...worthy."

The Dilophosaurus pack stalked closer to her. Their teeth now dripped by pillars of slobber. Their menacing eyes locked onto her as they imagined killing her to silence the insults she was blathering out. As they got closer, she backed up slowly to the edge of the cliff.

"I mean, come on! You guys are cool, but personally, I'd rather have my head chomped off by a Saurophagonax, an Allosaurus, or a Torvosaurus." Looking back at them, she saw they were confused at the mention of those names. This was probably the first time they heard them, or at least most of them. "Oh, I doubt you know what any of those are. I'll tell you this much, they're bigger, scarier, and would eat you guys for snacks; so much for being top dog. I'll take them any day because unlike you guys, they know how to make a clean kill. When it comes to killing, your kind is...oh what's the word? Sloppy?"

"That's it!" the one whom she threw the rock at earlier exploded. "She's dead!"

"Get her!" Blaine finally commanded.

Hazel smiled. She raised her branch up and did the one thing that the predators did not expect at all. The human crouched down, leaned back, and jumped…right when they were about to pounce on her.

The hungry predators did not need to worry about how to get to their prey, for they found themselves falling after her when they collided into each other after that attack. One misstep was all it took to send them free-falling into the canyon. Their screams and shrieks echoed like a discordant record breaking.

Almost immediately after falling, Hazel found herself being hoisted back up into the air. One quick look up and she found a giant pterosaur carrying her by the branch she held up. This one, unlike the smaller pterosaurs she encountered in this time period, had a large wingspan and a noticeable flat crest on her head. Hazel laughed; she expected this to happen, especially when she saw her come in from her peripheral vision while she distracted the Dilophosaurus earlier.

Hazel quickly dug into her pocket and found a small square object. She felt one of the buttons on it and pressed it. One part of the side of the cliff flashed with a shimmer of light as two poles that were lodged against the wall lit up. The pack of Jurassic carnivores free-fell into the portal, disappearing from the time period.

She pressed the button again, turning the portal off. When she did that, the Pteranodon that carried her flipped the human up into the air like a swing. Hazel fell onto the saddle that was given to her last year on her birthday. The branch she had with her fell into the canyon below.

The duo of explorers flew up to the canyon wall. The human worked to get the poles loose from the rocks. This was not the first time she performed this sort of feat. This was actually the second time. The last time this sort of thing happened was when she rescued Diablo, the park's Resident Carnotaurus, in the same way. That time happened when she was helping her friends and their herd with getting to their Nesting Grounds. He was rescued in time before he could fall to his death, but this rescue led up to some dramatic consequences that she had to face later.

This time, at least she didn't have to contend with those problems again.

"That went off better than I thought," she mused as she stuffed the first pole into the largest pocket in her bag.

Another streak of light illuminated the sky. The duo jumped a little at nature's surprise. Hazel nearly fell off the saddle, but caught herself when she hung onto the leather strap. Her partner slowed her hovering; the bobbing got smoother and smoother.

The crash of thunder was mild. None of them reacted as badly as the appearance of the lightning. Regardless of the status of the storm, Hazel hurried with getting her Time Poles out of the wall.

"Hazel, why is it that you always come up with the craziest ideas?" Flia ranted like a mother scolding her child. The human grimaced at the sudden outburst. "You scared me half to death! I thought you were going to die!"

"Hey it was part of the plan," she yanked out the last one when they went over to it. "You were the one that told me there was a cliff roughly a mile out from the mud pond. You were following me overhead towards the cliff when you saw me lead the Dilophosaurus to that place. So I naturally assumed you knew what I was going to do. Besides, I saw you fly in from the side before I fell off."

"You almost killed yourself!" she gave her a watchful, glaring squint. "Next time, you should tell me before you do something stupid like that!"

"I couldn't!" Hazel retorted, seemingly unfazed by the criticisms she was getting. "That would have told them what we were going to do!"

"Well the next time you come up with these crazy ideas, I may not be there to save you! Then you won't have anyone to bring you back home in one piece! And you and I both know that there will be certain individuals that will grieve when they find out you died in an outing like this!"

The woman shoved the last pole into her bag. Flia's scolding was something she grew used to, but sometimes, she did find it annoying. Hazel was learning on how to drown it out though. However, this time, the sky scout did have a point. The Asian had no way of communicating with her from the large amount of distance between each other. Yelling would not work out very well most of the time. That was something she should think of later on.

"Fine, fine," she replied in an almost defeated tone. "I'll be more careful next time. And I'll see if I can have Marcus make some kind of communicator for you so we can keep in touch when we're apart. Maybe a walkie-talkie collar, I don't know."

"Whatever can prevent this miscommunication from happening again is fine by me."

"I'll get to it when we get back then."

Their argument ended post-haste when she made that promise. Flia's temper dropped to a good level, her frustration died down like an ocean wave receding. The two of them flew over the canyon gap and then up the other side of the canyon, the human hanging onto the leather straps of the saddle. Flia landed nimbly on the edge, safe from the hundreds of feet drop. The heat of the forest blaze was nothing more than miniscule pricks on their skin.

"So what are we going to do with our other...partners?" said Flia, mentioning one other detail of their mission into this time period.

Hazel cocked an eyebrow. "You mean the new rescue team?"

The Pteranodon crossed her wings over her chest, like a human would with their arms. "You just left them behind when you lured those predators away. Not to mention they're still in the middle of that burning forest most likely trying to get acquainted with our new friends."

"Oh right…them," Hazel remembered.

This rescue mission into the Late Jurassic was supposed to be a solo mission, until Nigel persuaded her into bringing a small team of rescue trainees with her. "It's to get their feet wet", "let them see how a rescue is done", "they need to know what sort of dangers and environmental factors they would need to deal with when going through a rescue mission". These trainees, most of which were older than Hazel by quite a bit, had little to no experience with surviving in the wild, much less in a prehistoric era. They were, however, well-versed with other forms of science like zoology, biology, and a couple of botany.

The flabbergasted reactions they had when she spoke with some passing Camarasaurus like talking to a random stranger in a street the day before were priceless to her. They may already have their communicators, but their dumbfounded features made her day. Of course, she needed to teach them a few things on what sort of dangers to look out for and how to ration their supplies. She felt like a camp counselor with a few kids on summer vacation, not that she minded the opportunity though. They did ask her a lot of questions, and sometimes she was commented on for being crazy for doing what she did on the field. She didn't let the negative get her down. Hazel felt important in this, which made her feel good.

"You just left them behind when you lured those predators away. Not to mention they're still in the middle of that burning forest most likely getting acquainted with our new friends," Flia reminded again.

Hazel scoffed, flabbergasted by how offensively she put it. "I didn't forget about them. I was going to say we need to go check up on them. They've got the situation under control."

The Pteranodon raised a brow. "Really?"

"I'm sure of it!" the human pondered for a moment on the outcomes of the meeting her group would have. They were inexperienced in time traveling and they were not very seasoned with interacting with prehistoric denizens. The new communicators Marcus made for the novices did break the language barrier, but their time in Prehistoric Park was not very long. This was their first outing after all. "Well...I'm 70% sure they have it under control."

The purple and brown pterosaur rolled her eyes. Though she had no idea what sort of numerical nonsense the humans knew of, she figured well enough that there was a small chance that their "companions" were not having a good time.

"You're being irresponsible Hazel. Leaving your teammates behind while you lured the predators away and assuming they were going to be fine."

"A team of 8 keepers, including those three guys that Nigel and the others assigned as my own personal future park cabinet?" the human chuckled. "They're in a clearing with just a mud pond, the fire isn't too close to them due to the limited vegetation around, and there are no predators."

She was met with a serious glare, which made the young woman relent at Flia's pestering. "Ugh...fine. We better check on them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back within the forest…in a pond clearing

Chris jumped and rolled out of the way. The spiked tail slammed onto the dirt just mere feet from where he stood. It was a good thing he had fast reflexes, otherwise he would have been smashed under that thagomizer. Or worse, he may have been stabbed to death by those spikes.

To say that his first outing into prehistory was wild would be nowhere near the level of the best description. The better description would be like stepping into a Wonderland existence where only those with the right mindset would be able to survive. The head of the expedition, Hazel Veran AKA his future boss, easily traversed this time like it was a walk in the park! The first dinosaurs they met, a group of Camarasaurus, which he remembered due to doing a bit of studying before their trip into the past, she walked up to them and asked for insight on where their target rescue may be. She wasn't worried about getting stomped on or getting ambushed by any predators in the area, not that there were any. That girl was just so…casual about being in the Jurassic! Maybe it was because that Pteranodon was with her? Flia, was it? That big flyer was both her best friend and also playing as her bodyguard.

How come she gets a Pteranodon as a partner? All he got as his wards were those annoying little…

Bah, he'd rather not think about it. Anymore distractions and he may end up getting squashed by a 3.5 ton Jurassic giant with a bad attitude.

They had been in this time period for at least 24 hours. The mission was to find and rescue a creature called a Yi, or more specifically a Yi qi, which was a small, bird-like dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic. Nigel Marven said that it was predominantly discovered in China, however, due to a recent discovery presented on CNN last week, fossils of this same creature were found in the northwestern portion of the United States. The rescue group was shown an artist's rendition of a Yi; it looked like a mix between a bird and a dinosaur. The wings were half feathered and half membrane on the way down. The coloration was a bright orange mixed with reds. The tail had three long plumes and the beak was also colored red.

Chris had no idea how such a creature could have traveled all the way from the middle of Asia to the US. One theory would be they traveled over using the small strips of land that still connected the two continents together. According to the news report, the bones were reported to have dated back to the Late Jurassic.

From what he learned about the Prehistoric Park leader and the rules of a rescue in general, finding and bringing back a target(s) is a careful process. Going around just bringing back potential Residents without getting their say-so or whether the situation was right or not has a fine line of being labeled as a kidnapper or a Samaritan. Next, bringing back a creature that was too dangerous for everyone's well-being, i.e. they planned to kill for sport, would not bode well for the park. Finally, there was the space and the resources in the park to consider. There needs to be enough to support whatever rescues they're bringing back.

Going back in time to bring back an animal, or how Veran liked to say, "Potential rescues", was a delicate process. Then again, after today, he could be wrong. Nigel and this girl were finicky about their choices in a mission.

Nevertheless, he along with 7 other novices ventured to Late Jurassic United States, 155 million years ago. The information that woman got mentioned their intended rescues lived in a forest about a few miles north of their position. Seriously, how do these dinosaurs know anything about distance? How do they know about days? Heck, how do they even know the names of their own species and others?

So many questions filled his head. It was like he was the scientist trying to find answers to everything in a work of fiction made for juveniles. Instead of referring to the group leader by her first name, he always called her by her last name; reason being was that he didn't feel like a group of adults should be led by a "child", even though she was three years his junior. That and he believed she's crazy when being in situations like these. It wasn't that he hated her; it's because her ideals clashed with his. Some days, they would just quietly respect the others' decisions, albeit reluctantly or one of them didn't care. But most days, they'd be in a full-blown verbal battle on what was right and wrong. Those situations would usually end when someone would break them up to focus on more important matters.

With all of the questions he had about communication logic with the dinosaurs, he had no choice but to bring it up to the only nearby expert. His answer made him more irritated: "Out of personal experience, it's better to leave questions like those unanswered when asking those from the distant past."

As much as he didn't like that answer, he knew was going to go nowhere with satisfying his curiosity. Hypothetically speaking, the other employees back at the park may not give him better luck either. He heeded his "leader's" advice and dropped it.

Their mission was going off smoothly, until about 45 minutes ago. Veran had been flying with Flia above their heads while they trekked through a Jurassic jungle. The cloudy skies lit up in bright flashes of light, yet no rain fell. It would seem they were going to have a scattered thunderstorm of some sort. Everyone stayed in contact with each other via walkie talkies that had a range of 40 miles. What was even better was that they were all modified by Ellis' brother, Marcus.

Ah, the Reys. Quite an interesting duo; both Filipino too, like him. Marcus was the head of the engineering department in Prehistoric Park. He was in charge of making sure that the security appliances as well as any vehicle or piece of equipment was working properly. He was also the one who made sure that each employee's communicator was working properly. Without those earpieces, they wouldn't be able to communicate with any prehistoric creature at all. He was pretty chill, much like Nigel and his supervisor, Bob. The only difference was he was informal in both fashion and personality; always talking about the newest Marvel or DC movie or the best video game of the year.

Then there was his younger brother, Ellis AKA his new trainee. He was much like his brother in style and attire, except for one thing. He was lazy. One time, he was caught napping in his brother's workshop instead of making sure the stun guns they had in their shed were working properly. They were both in an argument about it, with Marcus winning in the end. Ellis was able to fix the stun guns thankfully. He was good in his profession. He just lacked enough motivation. The guy was a jokester and sometimes his amiable personality was a bit annoying. Chris was fine with him…as long as he wasn't the center of his attention for hours on end.

With each rescue, there needed to be at least a medic or two. That was Daisy's job. Daisy White was a shy girl of 19, as of January 23, from Athens, Greece. She was soft-spoken to nearly everybody in the park. Chris could speak a little Greek, which would please her for a bit. Not everyone in the park could speak that language. The blonde was respectable and a bit sensitive if bothered the wrong way. But overall, she was a good asset to the group. Daisy may be training to be the head veterinarian of Prehistoric Park, but even she had good knowledge in medical emergencies, especially when one of the guys in the group tripped into a ditch when he didn't see that root on the ground. His leg had a sizeable gash, but that was quickly covered in a sterilized ointment and wrapped in bandages in under 10 minutes.

Hopefully she wouldn't have to do too much if anyone survived this Stegosaurus assault.

That Veran kid…she left them alone! She and her Pteranodon sped forward after their leader screamed into the radio saying that she found something. Naturally, the group hurried in that general direction but was quickly left behind. He was mad, big time. How could a leader leave her whole group? She's supposed to come back for them!

They eventually made it to some pond clearing in the middle of the forest. It was a bit barren, save for a few patches of grass here and there. The pond was mucky and gross-looking, but if you were a thirsty animal wanting to get a drink, then sanitation was considered null. But the pond did contain a few warning signs, such as the skeletons of small creatures that were within the murky shores that died when they got stuck themselves. Their leader and her flying friend weren't there, but they did encounter something else entirely.

Trapped in the mud at least a couple yards from the shore up to its chest was a Stegosaurus; a female one if the crying and the dull gray coloration were anything to go off of. Her tail was swinging around wildly as she struggled to move her legs. But that was not all that was interesting. Clinging onto her black-lined gray plates were four tiny birds. Actually, birds wouldn't be the right label. They 2 hand fingers, one of them hidden in the wings. Two of them were blue and green, while the other two were dull browns; just like modern-day peacocks. They had feathers in their wings, but the bottom half was a brown membrane, like a bat.

They were Yi qi! Those Camarasaurus weren't kidding then. There were some here. The two foot long birds were helplessly clinging onto the female Stegosaurus' plates. From what Chris learned of them, they were adept at gliding. Should they take off from those plates, they'll only find themselves stuck in the mud like the Stegosaurus.

Well, at least they found their target rescues. But there was a problem. That problem came in the form of a dark grey, bull Stegosaurus charging at them. And that was because one of the guys was stupid enough to fire their stun gun at him after thinking he was a large carnivore, thus provoking him. The other team members scattered before the tail could hit any of them. His plates flushed red, indicating his attempt to intimidate them; not much that would do because everyone else was already on edge.

Bull Stegosaurus? A female trapped in the mud. Always keeping the other humans away whenever they got close to her? Sounds like these two were mates and he probably thinks that they are there to hunt them down.

All attempts to talk some sense into the male became void quickly. He would just tell them all to buzz off with his deep, gravelly voice. Geez, he sounds kind of like a cowboy from the 1940s in his ears. That and combined with the roars and swipes of his tail and they had an angry bull that couldn't tell the difference between friend and foe.

Of course, no one would leave the couple alone. Their rescue targets were just a few feet away. What made matters worse was when they all starting shooting at him with their stun guns. Being a large animal the size of an elephant, the voltage being set at around 4 on the scale should incapacitate him. But all it did was make him madder.

And this mission got a whole lot more difficult the moment they smelled smoke. When Chris looked over to his right, he saw the flickering of a blaze coming from the forest. Oh great…a forest fire. The dry thunderstorm above their heads had apparently resulted in a lightning strike hitting the ground. If nothing was done with these guys then they would all get roasted. Well, that was if the fire could get to them, but there was nothing that could get to them easily in this murky pond. If anything, they would all suffocate from the smoke.

"Hey, watch out!" he yelled at one of the other team members.

Chris dove forward and slammed the guy's body onto the dirt. The thagomizer swung over their heads by a few inches. He brought himself up, helping the red head as well. His brown cotton Seattle T-shirt and khaki shorts were now covered in the moist dirt. His bag, which was several feet away, thankfully did not get smashed as he threw it off as soon as the male started attacking. He couldn't really say the same for the other guy though. While his bag was also off, he had apparently landed on some dried dinosaur feces, which was now splattered all over his shirt.

"Ew!" he complained in an Australian accent. The red-head, which he remembered was Ryder, threw his Aussie hat back in frustration at the appearance of the cotton, light grey button shirt. "Ah crikey! This was my second favorite shirt!"

"Yeah well, you should have thought of that before you decided to go on this trip!" he retorted. "And watch your surroundings too!"

The poor dirtied novice hurried to the forest edge, wanting to get away from the rampaging Stegosaurus male so he could mourn the condition of his attire. Chris shook his head. They were in the middle of the Mesozoic era, about to get spiked or smashed by a dinosaur, and all he was worrying about was his shirt?

Before he could do any more on the situation, a loud caw drew him upwards. Looking up, his eyes followed a large pterosaur that circled around the clearing. The figure had a purple and brown coloration, descended slowly until it landed just a few feet from him. The Jurassic period was a time that had small flyers, not large ones. That and this one had a distinct large crest. A Pteranodon…figures. And disembarking from the pterosaur's back was a young woman in her early 20s wearing a light green athletic T-shirt and denim shorts.

A bolt of lightning streaked above them. The sound of crashing thunder made them jump. The trio looked above their heads, expecting drops of rain, only to find none. The young man sighed and crossed his arms, eyeing the recovering leader of the mission.

"Glad to see you dicking around while you ditched us," he glared at her as she approached.

She stopped before him, her face unchanged by the sharp remark he made. "Sorry, I had to lure away a pack of Dilophosaurus before they could become a problem. Considering that the forest fire was driving everyone out and they would become Jurassic barbecue if nothing was done, I had to take the chance. The rescue was pretty easy."

Flia snorted, mildly drawing the attention of the two humans. "Right…easy."

"Yeah well you left us behind to deal with a 3 ton rampaging pea-brained Stego who can't tell the difference between friend and foe!" Chris ranted, gesturing his hands over to the bull Stegosaurus that was chasing everyone away. The rescue team was screaming as they kept firing shots from their stun guns while avoiding that deadly tail. "What, were you planning to let us fend for ourselves while we juggle with dealing with a brainless bull or becoming fried by a wildfire?"

Hazel put her hands on her hips and shouted. "No! I was just taking the opportunity that was thrown in my face! And why the heck is the male Stegosaurus attacking you?"

"Both of you! Stop it! This is no time to argue!" the Pteranodon shrieked.

The two of them looked at the pterosaur, now quiet from the retort she made. "There is a time and a place for everything, but arguing while we're in a dangerous situation is not one of them. And I hope you two are aware that our other friends are having a problem they can't solve themselves."

Hazel looked back at the pond. The male Stegosaurus was busy with contending with the other humans, but there was something else that caught her eye. A female Stegosaurus was half sunk in the mud. Four Yi qi were clinging onto her plates. She face palmed.

"I got this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hazel ran over to the male Stegosaurus, veering passed a couple of the novices that tried to fire their stun guns. Hazel told them all to stop, which they obeyed hesitantly. All eyes fell on the girl as she approached the ticked off Jurassic giant.

"Conan!"

The armor-plated creature turned around. His grey, anger-filled eyes gained a sense of knowing at the approaching human. Recognition hit his features immediately. "You...you came back."

The woman chuckled sheepishly, much to the confusion and thin-worn temper of some of her associates. "Sorry, I was busy with luring those Dilophosaurus away. They won't be much of a problem now. I see you met some of my other friends."

The male looked around. His eyes followed each one of the humans that were present, even the Pteranodon female that was among them. He saw from his peripheral the same human girl draw a hand up and down. The weapons they had in their hands lowered. Conan shuddered at the misunderstanding he created. He had been attacking the ones that were with her, but all because one of them accidentally attacked, thus making him go into a rampage. As a result, he went ahead and attacked them in fear of them attacking his mate, Tsuki, due to their hostile first impression.

"I'm sorry...I didn't know they were with you, but one of them attacked me with their light sticks first," his narrow muzzle lowered apologetically.

Hazel shrugged. He was protective of his mate, so that couldn't be helped. Still, one of her eyes twitched in annoyance at the mention of one in her team attacking an innocent. "Tell me, who was the one who attacked you?"

The male looked over at the culprit, who was the young man with the red-hair that was coming back to the group after desperately cleaning his shirt. Smears of dry feces were still there; he walked tentatively in disgust as the feces touched his skin. He found the young 20-year-old woman glaring at him. The other people did the same. He staggered back, lifting his hands up in confusion.

"Uh…everything alright, mates?"

Hazel rolled her eyes and frowned at him. She turned her gaze back to the male in question. "I'll have my superiors deal with him later."

She then looked over at the trapped female, who remained silent the whole time. Her face too lit up in recognition.

"Tsuki! Are you doing okay there?" Hazel called out to her.

The lighter-colored female sighed. The Yi qi on her back relaxed a bit too; slowing drawing themselves out from behind her plates. "Hazel! I'm glad you're alive. How did you handle those fast biters? There's not even a scratch on you!"

She waved dismissively. "More on that later. Right now, we've got to get you out."

Hazel turned her attention back to her rescue group. Her face filled with determination. This was not the first time she helped with a rescue that involved a mud trap. The last time was when she first traveled back to the Jurassic in search of an Allosaurus. That Allosaurus, Alyssa, had been stuck in the mud for a few days. She was malnourished, and being in water with all sorts of bacteria, she was gravely ill.

The human and her flying companion met these Stegosaurus not long ago. They were a traveling mated pair that was going off to find greener plains after theirs dried up. The Yi qi that was with them were a traveling group that opted to stay with them due to the bugs that flitted about them. None of the little bird dinosaurs spoke to the two travelers due to their shyness.

This situation was dire. Tsuki had gone into the pond to get herself refreshed from the long journey. What she did not anticipate was that the pond was surrounded by a series of quicksand traps. Due to her immense weight and carelessness, Tsuki got herself stuck. Unlike Alyssa, whom Hazel and her friends successfully rescued months ago, she was only stuck there for several minutes.

Before Hazel and Flia could inquire more on their situation, they were stalked by a pack of Dilophosaurus. This pack, which was the same one that Hazel managed to rescue from the incoming flames, viewed Tsuki as an easy kill. Conan came in to defend his mate and the Yi qi, but the carnivores proved to be too quick for his attacks. It was when Hazel stepped in by getting their attention, thus leading up to the chase.

The flames in the forest grew larger; almost as big as the trees themselves. The crackling of the wood along with the roar of the fire filled their ears. The screams of the other denizens within resonated in the air. The heat of the fire barely touched their skin like miniscule fire ants. Smoke infuriated their nostrils.

The fire nearly encompassed the pond. Though it would not be able to spread into the clearing, anything inside it would eventually suffocate under the immense cloud of carbon dioxide. They haven't got much time left.

Hazel shouted to the lot of them, making sure they could hear her over the fire. "Okay guys! I want you to work on getting Tsuki out! Remember those chains that you guys questioned on having and yet your senior associates said otherwise?" the other keepers nodded uncertainly. "Use them! They're needed for something like this! The forest fire may not reach this place easily, but we'll eventually suffocate under a blanket of smoke if we don't hurry!"

No one countered those orders. All of them nodded in understanding.

Conan walked up to her. His eyes that once had shame were now filled with that same resolve she had. "Kid, I mistook these guys as pests rather than your friends. My mate is in trouble and so are those little 'fuzzballs'. I want to make up for it. Think you can overlook my mistake and allow me to help?"

"Of course!" she smirked. "We'll need all the help we can get."

He too smiled.

"Alright, let's get moving," she looked back at the other novices. They began to congregate towards the shore, where Tsuki and the Yi qi were. "I want three chains lassoed around her!" she said waving an arm out in command.

The next few minutes proceeded on with little distraction. The storm above did nothing to stop the team of humans and their prehistoric companions from working to get the quicksand victims out. If anything, the flash of lightning provided some extra light, if only briefly and the crash of thunder only motivated them to go faster. Hazel directed Tsuki to try to get one foot out so that she could place it on a large palm she found lying about. It was placed there with the help of Flia. The leaf was not decayed yet and it still held its green appearance despite being away from its mother plant. It was also large enough to accommodate the herbivore's foot shape.

The other humans looped three chains that were hooked together around her front, towards the first few plates. The Yi qi backed away, so the chains would not hit them. Then, the Stegosaurus did the same on the other foot, albeit with more difficulty due to putting so much pressure on it from the first leg. The chains also looped successfully on that side. The foot on the next leaf Flia placed sunk into the mud, but it did not become as stuck thanks to the tiny platform. Both of Tsuki's legs were coated in mud, but now they were atop large leaves that would serve as miniscule protection from getting further stuck.

A few more palms were placed in a consecutive path in front of her so that she would use them as platforms towards the shore.

Now all that was left was to get Conan into the mix. One of the chains was wrapped around him the same way. It was a bit tight for the Stegosaurus, but he quickly adjusted to the binding as it was necessary to get his mate out.

The rescue began as soon as everyone was in position. Three of the novices, including the young man named Ryder, were in the leftmost chain, with Flia grabbing onto the end with her talons as she was in the air. Chris, Ellis, Daisy, and Hazel herself were in the middle. Conan was in the last one. Their combined efforts pulled the chains taut, but with progress. Tsuki's body gradually pulled itself out of the mud inch by inch. The female plated giant laughed as she watched herself get freed. But that was not without her helping too. She wormed her front feet out and placed them onto the next to leaves before her. They too sunk into the mud with a gurgling squish.

Hazel was happy that the plan was progressing well, but Tsuki's back legs were still stuck. And the fire was getting closer to them. They won't be able to get Tsuki out in time before they would all suffocate.

"It's not enough!" she screamed in her thoughts.

Then, Hazel remembered something. Sometime after her first arrival in Prehistoric Park, she had watched Nigel's rescues of the previous Residents. The cameramen were very diligent in recording each one of his exploits. One of which involved the rescue of the Carboniferous bugs from a wildfire that scorched their swamp home. The time period was filled with so much oxygen that a single spark would light up a whole forest. During his mission, Nigel's jeep had gotten stuck in the mud. He needed some way to get the jeep out before he too became barbecued.

Which gave Hazel an idea.

She abandoned her post and ran to the forest edge. The other members of the team yelled for her to come back. The bull Stegosaurus and the Pteranodon eyed her in confusion. They all watched as she brought out her time poles, set them up, and activated the Time Portal. A shimmer of light erupted, and a rippling wormhole appeared. Those that had not seen the Time Portal before merely gawked in awe.

Hazel turned back to them quickly. "You guys keep at it! I'll be right back!"

She disappeared into the wormhole, ripples spreading out to the edges like an otherworldly pond.

Chris, who was the most vocal, shouted his complaint. "Seriously!? Again!? What the hell is wrong with this girl!? Is she intending to leave us behind!?"

"Just do as she says and keep pulling!" Flia ordered the rest of them.

Minutes passed without much progress. Tsuki still remained stuck, but her back legs were leaning towards the shore. The fires in the back had already encompassed around the pond. The smell of smoke and burning wood were stronger than before. The yells and cries of effort now included coughs. Their skin was nearly being kissed by the fire.

Everyone was just about ready to give up. Their muscles ached and their backs burned. The smoke in the air burned their lungs. Those that were terrestrial bound were just about ready to collapse from lack of proper oxygen.

That was, until a ray of hope appeared.

Hazel charged out of the portal. A thick cable and hook were in her hands. She bolted down to the shore. Quickly rounding the chains together, she wrapped the cable around them and secured the three with the hook in a knot. The last thing she did was pull the cable taut twice.

"Come on everyone! Pull!"

Everyone complied. The combined efforts and battle cries overpowered the screams of the fire. And it did not take very long for their work to finally pay off.

The muddy earth relented the hold on its prisoner. Tsuki's legs finally felt air again. The mud sloshed and plopped as the Jurassic giant hustled over the palms onto shore. The grey armor female gasped and panted. Her body was now free of the trap.

There was no time to celebrate though. The blaze had reached its peak. Conan was about to go and embrace his mate until the large flyer near him stopped him.

"Conan, we need to get out of here!"

"She's right!" Hazel agreed. "Everyone, get to the portal! Let's go before we become Prehistoric filets!"

The huge group pulled the tired female towards the light. Though tired, she complied. The Yi qi that were on her clung on tightly as their ride lumbered on. One by one, the rescuers rushed into the odd vertical time pool. No one needed to look back to see that the scenery had changed.

Hazel felt the familiar feel of the portal around her body. To her, it was like going through a still pond for a swim. Only, she did not get wet. Her skin tickled from the sensation of the portal radiation around her. The feeling was brief; one second, she was in the Jurassic period in the middle of a burning forest, and the next, she was back in the 21st century.

The group rushed up near the Holding Pens. Once Tsuki and her little wards were finally through, the portal closed behind them. The heat of the blaze in the Jurassic disappeared. Now all that anyone could see was one part of a lush green valley surrounded by mountains. The air around them was not scorching; it was hot, but at a much better level.

Conan quickly rushed up to his mate. The two of them embraced each other; happy to have escaped a terrible fate. They were alive, and they were together. The Yi qi on Tsuki's back cheered; their voices lacked the southern tones of the Stegosaurus but had a bit of a refined air to them. It was surprising considering that their line is from Asia rather than the United States.

The other keepers that were present gathered around the rescue team. All of them congratulated them on a job well done. The Stegosaurus and the Yi qi were led away by a team of vets towards the infirmary. While they did not appear to have any major injuries, the vets did not want to take a chance by not giving them a full check-up. Conan was covered in minor bruises due to the scuffle he had with the rescue team on the misunderstanding. Tsuki and the Yi qi may have been exposed to some harmful substances while they were exposed to the quicksand. It was a small chance, but it was better than not checking.

After Flia commended her on her performance in the field and flew off to get some rest in the Valley Plains, Hazel took the time to observe the homecoming event. She watched as the team received congratulatory remarks. They all received pats on the back and uplifting words. The lot of them laughed and retold their adventure. Well, that was until one of them mentioned Ryder messing up when he shot Conan by accident. A few glares and scolding were what he got before he was led away by a fellow employee back to his room for a shower plus a change of clothes.

The woman sighed. They all had a lot to learn. Moving over to the front of the Holding Pens, she met up with a certain Brachiosaurus that was being helped by Julie, Marcus' assistant in the engineering department. She just removed the cloth shackle on the elder sauropod's ankle when Hazel went up to her. The immense titan smiled happily with the approach of one of her dear friends.

"Hey Baylene. Thanks for the assist. This mission would have never been accomplished without you."

"Ah, you are most welcome, Hazel," Baylene replied warmly.

It was by luck that Hazel found Baylene. When she arrived back in Prehistoric Park, she was yelling at the other keepers for the whereabouts of any other Resident passing by. None of them knew what to tell her as they did not see any Resident pass by recently. Hazel was about to go for the nearest ATV and drive off to find a potential candidate when she heard some rumbling come towards her. Coming to her was Baylene, who was passing by to get some water in the waterway that snaked around the park. The woman approached her and asked her for a favor. Baylene was not busy at all and jumped at the opportunity to help in a mission.

It was her first rescue mission and one that she accepted wholeheartedly. In no time at all, an ankle strap was put on her and the hooked cable prepared. Hazel ran back to the Jurassic period and proceeded with the rescue with Baylene waiting for her signal.

"I was not doing anything anyway. I will be honest when I say that I feel warm and fuzzy on the inside," Baylene lightly chuckled.

"Hehe. I bet. By the way, Bob is going to have a cart full of some of our exotic fruits delivered to you. Where would you like us to drop it off?"

Baylene reared her head back in surprise. "Oh my! Hazel, you don't have to! This is merely something that was just a small task!"

Hazel swatted the air and playfully scoffed. "Psh-shaw! Don't be ridiculous! You're a hero on this mission! Not to mention it was your first one too. You deserve a reward!"

The Brachiosaurus sighed, accepting the offer. Baylene was always one to give in easily to the insistence of her friends. Well…sometimes. "Oh, very well. You can tell Bob to have the food taken to Yin's abode. I plan to have some dinner with her and the others. I hope you don't mind, but may I share my prize with them?"

"Of course! They can have some!" Hazel beamed at her.

Without another word, the Brachiosaurus walked away with a smile on her face. The Asian waved at her, happy to have called upon her when the mission was dire. She walked in the opposite direction, wanting to head over to the café to get some food.

The sun in the sky was already nearing the horizon. The subtle blues were gradually turning into a light orange. The clouds above were slowly becoming darker. Late afternoon was coming in. When she was in the Jurassic period, the thunderstorm looming above them hid any traces of the time of day. Now, seeing the condition of the sky and checking her phone, it was about 5:32. The date was March 22. She and her team had been in the Jurassic period for a little over 24 hours. That was a good record.

Hazel looked over to her right when she heard the sounds of laughter. She smiled when she saw Marcus and Suzanne talking to their trainees, Ellis and Daisy respectively. Though she did not interact with them as much, she did get to know them a little bit when they were in the Jurassic.

"Theé mou (1)," Daisy breathed out, placing a hand on her chest to calm her beating heart. "That was...was..."

"Intense? Wild? Crazy? Over the top?" Ellis finished for her, suggesting some possible descriptions.

"All of them!" Daisy laughed. "I can't believe that everyone here would think of it as something so simple, as if this is nothing new!"

"That's because they've all gone through this sort of thing before," said the young engineer. "Well, a number of them. I guess going through these rescues is something they're used to since they're surrounded by animals that died off a long time ago."

"Spot on, little bro!" Marcus half slapped, half pat his sibling on the back. Ellis nearly keeled over at the sudden hit, grimacing. Though he regained his footing, his back was a bit sore for a few seconds. "While this is something that happens every now and then, it's still pretty cool to see."

The older woman with the darker hair tied in a ponytail huffed. "Says the man who freaked out when 200 or so dinosaurs came barreling out of a portal to escape a meteor strike almost two years ago."

"Okay that was a one-time thing!" Marcus snapped. "And I had my reasons to worry!"

"Um...Marcus?" Daisy asked, getting his attention. "Did you...go through some kind of a rescue too?"

"Sure did!" the head engineer grinned. "It was sometime last year when I was helping Hazel with rescuing Alyssa."

"Alyssa?" Ellis' eyes furrowed. "Which one is she again?"

"The female Allosaurus we have," Suzanne pointed out.

"Oh right!"

The group of four went on talking about rescues of the past. Hazel softly smiled, happy to know that two of the people that she would work with more in the future were getting along smoothly in the park. They had been here for at least six months. Though they were still green when it came to experience, they were doing rather well in their new surroundings.

But, there was one that was left unaccounted for. Hazel's musings were cut off as soon as someone viciously pulled her aside. A gasp escaped her when she was brought around. An irritated Chris hissed under his breath. She failed to notice him sneak up behind her.

"What the hell were you thinking, Veran?"

"What?" she said with a lighthearted chuckle, trying to uplift the mood a bit.

"You asked a group of us for help on this mission," he started, pointing a finger at her chest, much to her annoyance. "Yet you didn't give us a full rundown of the situation. You said we were going out to rescue some group of prehistoric feathered dinos, but you neglected to tell us of the little detail on running into a rampaging Stegosaurus or his trapped girlfriend!"

Hazel frowned, her brows furrowed at the outburst. "Hey getting a group of Yi qi was the original plan, but those guys needed help. We were there at the perfect time so we couldn't turn a blind eye."

"That's fine and all, but you left us alone just as we saw you run off into the forest!"

"Didn't you see that pack of Dilophosaurus that were coming at them!? I had to do something otherwise the rescue would have become more complicated! You guys and our rescues would have become a week-long feast had I not led them away!" she rebuked.

Chris face palmed. "You failed to mention that too. Oh wait, you ran off without giving us a head's up on the radio!"

"It conked out on me as soon as those guys started chasing me!" It was true. She could not tell her team her whereabouts due to her radio running out. Next time, she would need to make sure they were fully charged before leaving on a mission.

The young man groaned. "You also ditched us when we were getting that female out without telling us!"

"I was getting someone at the park to help," she replied simply despite the hot water she was in. "Thankfully, Baylene was in the vicinity and she didn't have much to do. She gladly took the opportunity and is now being handsomely rewarded with some exotic fruits from our stores."

Chris sighed and glared at her. She crossed her arms, putting on a stoic face to hide the anger that was building up.

"Where...pray tell...are these...Dilophosaurus you speak of?" he said slowly, massaging his temples.

Hazel pointed a thumb behind her, specifically towards the Holding Pens. Looking over her shoulder, Chris saw a pack of five Dilophosaurus through the wooden bars. The ten-foot-long brown crested carnivores were gorging on a cow carcass. Their growls and eating sounds resounded from that far away. Neither of them paid any mind to the small group of keepers, or the cameraman, that were observing them from the walkways above.

The zoologist trainee pointed a finger at her, giving her a scowl. "You almost killed us by the stupid miscommunication."

Chris walked off without another word. As Hazel watched him leave, she could not help but roll her eyes at him. Stupid Chris, why did he have to be so stuck-up all the time? He was always nitpicking every single detail she did in everything she does. And he was Bob's trainee, one of the people that were part of her "personal cabinet"? She's better think about a separate office space or look for something to keep him away from her for most of the day if he's ever going to take Bob's place.

Well, that was much later. Her taking over the park won't happen for years to come. She quickly brushed the brief argument off and went her own way. Perhaps some dinner will help her forget the whole event.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that evening…Nigel's Den

Marcus flexed his arms as he situated himself on the comfy office chair. The night air brought about a cool chill, something seldom felt in the month of March considering it was one of the warm months of the year. He would usually just wear a T-shirt and his usual work jeans during his job. However, he now had an orange hoodie with the Overwatch symbol on the back. The desk in front of him was cleared of the usual paper clutter. Nigel's office space was always a bit of an organized mess from what Marcus learned; he could sympathize because his was the same way, except with a lot more clutter.

The night was dark. The light of the lamps in Nigel's office along with the only bulb light in the ceiling were the only ones that offered illumination in the sleeping valley. The distant sounds of Residents sleeping occasionally reached his ears. The trees that surrounded the office plus the darkened night sky prevented him from seeing out into the rest of the park.

Having already tended to Tsuki and Conan's new enclosure (specifically the security generator), as well as seeing to it that the Yi qi were comfortable with the Microraptor Guild, Marcus had made his way to Nigel's office for his final task of the night. The park leader had other matters to attend to that night, more specifically introducing the aspect of Prehistoric Park to the new Jurassic giants that he would be unable to handle tonight's Skype meeting, much to Marcus' chagrin since he was unprepared for this situation.

This was no ordinary Skype meeting though. This was a video conversation with the head of the South African Guardians of Endangered Species, otherwise known as the S.A.G.E.S. The secret organization was dedicated to using unconventional methods to protect animals, ranging from peaceful protests to disrupting poaching attempts through cybercrimes. Marcus always thought they were an odd group, as they would protect the environment using ways that were normally out of the norm. From his knowledge, Nigel would touch base on the park's status with the CEO of the organization to let them know how they were doing. Calls would be made every four months, so at a quarterly rate. Nigel did well to conceal the Park's secret with rescuing prehistoric creatures via time technology. All he had to do was just mention what they needed to hear. Plus, he would always have these meetings at night to reduce the risk of any Resident interrupting.

For everyone at Prehistoric Park, they would refer to the S.A.G.E.S. as the organization that supplies the park with all the supplies they need to keep the sanctuary running, ranging from funds, food, living essentials, emergency equipment, and everything needed to keep the Residents happy. In other words, they were the "big boss" that was the only reason why the park is still running now, besides the whole "selling Resident fecal matter to entrepreneurs without telling them where they came from".

Marcus never met anyone from that organization, but tonight was going to be his first. He was nervous; there was no doubt about it. He was about to talk to the head of the organization that supports the park! Nevertheless, he did his best to keep himself calm.

He logged onto Nigel's computer using the credentials he gave him. The wallpaper containing the Prehistoric Park logo rang to life. He did not waste any time looking over the rest of the applications he had on his screen, as he brought the mouse pointer over the Skype icon. Marcus quickly typed in the username and password.

"Okay…let's do this."

As soon as 7:45 hit, a separate calling screen popped up, along with the tune of the incoming Skype call.

"Geez…they're prompt," his eyes bulged at the sudden impeccable timing of the caller. Marcus inhaled and pressed the answer button.

The screen turned from black to showing a woman in her mid-30s wearing a dark suit. Behind her was a world map that was hanging in a golden intricate frame. The woman's brunette hair was tied into a bun. Her dark-rimmed rectangular glasses hung just above her nose. If anything, she looked just like any model in a magazine posing for the latest business trends. Her face was angular and her eyes were the darkest shade of gray. Her makeup was subtle too. One glance at her and anyone could mistake her for any ordinary employee in an office job. It was hard to believe that a woman that was about ten years Marcus' senior could lead such a large organization.

Seeing her now, he regretted putting on the Overwatch hoodie. He felt immensely underdressed for the occasion.

"Hello, this is Marcus Rey, the head of the Engineering department in Prehistoric Park. Is this Lorrie Rain?" he introduced as professional as he could.

"Um..yes. This is she," she straightened her glasses. The gaze she gave him equated to an eagle staring down a potential prey. "Is Nigel Marven there?"

Marcus gulped, trying to not let the analysis of the CEO get to him. "Sorry, ma'am. He's currently taking care of some important business here at the park and is unable to make it to tonight's call. He asked me to talk to you in his stead."

"I see. What sort of business is it that he should miss on this important meeting? And why couldn't his other colleagues do it? Suzanne and Bob would sometimes take it if he was unable to."

The head engineer balled a fist under the desk. He resisted the urge to show any sign of discomfort. "He couldn't put me in there?" he complained in his thoughts. "Am I not that important? Frigging plothole, he and I are going to have a word about this when this is done."

"They are busy with preparing the accommodations of some of the new Residents in the park," Marcus quickly explained without revealing the identities of the new rescues. "One of them needed medical attention and the rest needed to be taken care of."

The engineer mused silently. He thought of the outcome of her reaction if she found out the Residents he was talking about were the Stegosaurus couple, the Dilophosaurus pack that sounds like they came straight from the Big Apple, and the Yi qi troupe, whom he discovered the leader was named Wynndi per a brief conversation with her earlier. She would have fallen out of her seat in shock or just thought that he was speaking nonsense. Like that was ever going to happen, because he would never give the park's biggest secret away.

"I see…" Lorrie frowned at the alibi she was just given. "And what are these Residents?"

"I don't know," Marcus lied. A drop of sweat fell down his cheek. "I'm just in charge of Engineering and park security. I just got word we got some new additions, so I have no idea."

The CEO's eyes narrowed. He feared that she could see through his façade. He hoped that she would just drop it, considering that he was not in charge of overseeing the Residents but rather making sure things in Prehistoric Park went smoothly. If she kept pressing on wanting more answers, then he may just break under the pressure.

No, he couldn't let that happen. Not in a million years. He didn't want something like the events of ET to occur. All of the Residents put into a secret facility where they would be dissected and studied where they would be denied their freedom? Or worse, the whole park being revealed to the public would be disastrous! Tourists coming in every day, wanting to get up close and personal like it was a zoo! It would be like a Jurassic Park movie come to life!

"Hm...I suppose I can't exactly press further on the topic since the man I wished to speak with is not present."

Marcus inwardly sighed. Thank goodness she decided to drop it. He kept his professional appearance up while relaxing the tense muscles he had.

"Heh...sorry about that," he made a light chuckle. "Hey, if it's okay with you, Nigel is requesting to have a bit more land on the east coast to accommodate for the ever-growing roster. I don't know what his plans are, but I think he wants to rescue some aquatic animals."

Lorrie's brows furrowed. "Aquatic animals, you say? He seems a bit excited with expanding his park since he requested some more land further south of the sanctuary the last time we spoke."

She sighed and then nodded. "Very well, I'll grant him his request. He'll expect to have a letter of confirmation from me within a week's time."

The engineer smiled. "Great! Thanks! I'll tell him that."

Lorrie relaxed her features. The hard gaze she gave him lightened. "Good. I wanted to talk to him about the status of the park, but since he is not available, I will inquire about it another time. Have a good evening, Mr. Rey."

"I will," he nodded.

"And please…tell Nigel to be a bit more cordial with the timing. Also, you may want to pick a more appropriate outfit the next time you appear in front of someone of a higher position in the near future."

Marcus looked down at his sweatshirt. His face took on a deep shade of red when the CEO took note of his attire. The regret hit him again like an incoming truck on a highway. He knew he should have changed it but he had no time to since the call was quite prompt.

When he looked back up, he saw that the calling screen disappeared. Lorrie had ended the call. While he was glad she hung up, Marcus felt ashamed for not looking his best in front of her. He must seem like a kid in her eyes for not looking business appropriate. Then again, Nigel always wears his polos and loose vests. He's always informal to her. So why did she nitpick him?

"Probably because he's the park's leader and I'm just an associate of his," he mused.

The man leaned back into the office chair. The weight of having to perform that conversation alleviated from his shoulders. Now, his body felt a little bit lighter.

"Nigel better pay me extra for this," Marcus wiped the sweat from his face. It was not hot in the office, but the stress of the conversation did cause him to heat up a bit. "Speaking of which...he and I are going to have a word about updating his 'Contacts Database'."

Just then, the sound of banging on the floorboards brought his attention to the doorway into the office. Looking over, he saw his assistant Julie come in. Her usually tied up hair had loose strands falling out of the messy bun hairstyle from all that running. The woman's chest expanded and retracted, her body hunched over from running over to this place.

"Marcus," she breathed in gasps. "We've got a problem."

He sat up immediately. "What is it? Some Resident is upset about something?"

She shook her head. "No. Nigel needs some help with the 'Resident transfer', specifically our new carnivorous Residents."

"Oh," he relaxed a little. It was just park duty, nothing serious. "Why didn't you radio me about it?"

"Well, I didn't want to disturb you with your meeting. I didn't want to reveal anything 'classified' with her."

His eyes bugged in knowing. "Oh. Good point." Marcus got up and went over to the woman. "Lead the way."

The two left for the Holding Pens without another word. It was a good thing he told a team of engineers to get one of their blank enclosures prepared. As soon as he received word that Hazel once again brought back more than what she promised, he thought about using one of the unused enclosures prepared. Nigel and his protégé would always bring back Residents that were not in their agenda; something that usually happened here in Prehistoric Park.

Now they needed him to help with getting the Dilophosaurus into their new home. He hoped they were reasonable enough to deal with.

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S.A.G.E.S headquarters…

Lorrie leaned back in her chair, her thoughts looming around the recent video chat she had.

Prehistoric Park. It was a place where endangered animals are looked after in the safety of human captivity. It was a sanctuary where small parts of the world's biodiversity could be protected from the stresses caused by human activity and the changing planet. The employees bring in endangered or rare species to be raised in hopes they would flourish again.

And yet, the name described a place that would contain something more ancient than creatures from the 21st century.

Lorrie got up, leaving the luxury of her ash wood office desk behind. Being the CEO of an organization brought her perks. A large number of vacation days, a large team to call upon for any errand, a large annual salary, all the equipment she needed to run a company, and a large office where she could work and hold small meetings. Across from the vast window showing distant African mountains overlooking a dry forest at night was an old-fashioned Victorian fireplace. Brown and green themed rococo-styled furniture decorated that part of the room. Hanging above the mantle was a portrait of the Angel Falls in Venezuela; the picture looked so realistic that anyone could mistake it for an actual picture rather than an oil painting.

The floor she walked upon was a dirt-hiding, no pile camouflage gray carpet. Her black high heels clomped on it with muffled steps. Lorrie made her way to a standalone board in front of her expansive window. A map of South Africa filled its space, along with related articles about the place; old reports, official information, a satellite image of their location, statistical inquiries, and a profile of Nigel covered parts of the map.

"Nigel, what on earth are you doing there?" she pondered while staring at her board. "You request for more than enough resources for your park, you ask for more land in a short period of time, and your need for more funds have skyrocketed within the past year. Are you sure you're really running a sanctuary for endangered species and not some kind of secret facility? What are you hiding?"

Two knocks on her double doors brought her attention away from her brooding. She made her way over and placed her hand on the golden doorknob. Upon opening it, she found herself looking at a Caucasian male wearing black pants and a white shirt under a blue jacket. In his hands were two mugs of steaming coffee.

"Ah. Jason. Thanks for bringing my coffee," she allowed him to come in.

"Not a problem," he stepped into the room. The door closed behind him. The man with the curly brown hair handed his superior the white mug in his hand. "I thought you may still be in that on-call meeting with that Nigel fellow. Seems to have ended earlier than expected."

Jason King was Lorrie's right-hand man. He was the vice-leader of the S.A.G.E.S. other than helping Lorrie with overseeing the activities of the organization; he was also in charge of making sure that work in the building ran smoothly. This included reporting any problems happening in the departments and stepping in as her proxy for meetings whenever she was unable to attend, among other things. Any problem that happens such as a problem in the departments such as disputes with corporate partners or funds incorrectly sent out, he would be the first to be notified if the problems are not resolved as easily. His job was demanding, having to work overtime on some days from 8 AM to around midnight, but his efforts would be rewarded with days off.

He was a good assistant. Lorrie would always call on him for advice as well on running the organization or dealing with corporate partners. Plus, he always brought her coffee every night when she works late.

"I wasn't exactly speaking to him," she took a sip of her highland grogg with half and half swirled in it. "Just a young associate he hired some time ago that was serving as his proxy."

Jason took a sip of his Columbian dark roast with two cubes of sugar. His eyebrows went up at the mention of someone other than Nigel. "Proxy?"

"The man was busy with important matters in his sanctuary. I guess his duties in his 'park' were far more important than having a chat with his superior."

The man shrugged. "So? Perhaps that business was so urgent that it needed his attention. Why are you obsessing over him and his sanctuary?" he looked over at the billboard on Prehistoric Park. "There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. He's a busy guy to be the head of something that big."

Lorrie frowned, placing a finger on her chin in a puzzled manner. "Hm...then why did he choose a name like Prehistoric Park? Seems like an odd title for a sanctuary meant for endangered species."

The vice-leader chuckled as he took another sip of his coffee. "It's probably for some gimmicky theme. Maybe he's got some dinosaur statues around as decor while having endangered species that are direct descendants from prehistory. Or it could be like Russia's 'Pleistocene Park', which was made to bring the mammoth back through cloning. I doubt that would work since the public never got word about their status."

"Perhaps," she too took a sip of her drink, savoring the taste of the bitter yet creamy texture on her tongue. "Nigel is also using manure as fertilizer and selling it. While that's not unusual, the amounts they're selling exceed the number of animals that the park supposedly housed."

Jason gripped the handle on his mug. The smile disappeared to be replaced with an uneasy scrunch. "Well, now that you say that, it is pretty weird. How many Residents did Nigel mention he had the last time he contacted you?"

Lorrie shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "The last time I inquired about that was about a year and a half ago. I think it was a little over a hundred."

"And he didn't mention how many Residents he has now?"

"I was going to ask him that on today's meeting."

"How much of that manure does that park sell per month?" he asked next.

"Well," she thought for a moment while doing some quick math and memory work in her mind. "Calculating how much he sold in a year, it's about $1,500,000. Per month, it's $125,000. Per week, it's about $2,400. Then per day, they make about $340."

The S.A.G.E.S co-leader made an intriguing sound along with a nod. "Interesting. No ordinary park can make that much money, especially one that's in a secret location and doesn't have any tourism. Maybe he is hiding something. You think you should schedule another meeting with him? Or maybe go there yourself? This is something worth investigating."

Lorrie raised a hand. Jason was always into making radical ideas before rushing into things. She would always pull him back before executing any sort of action. Most of the time, his ideas were good ones, hence why she would consult him for advice.

"Now, now. Let's not be too hasty. Though I am suspicious about his activity, he is still following through with his contract. He runs a park meant to house endangered species so that we could protect some global biodiversity while we supply the funds and space he needs along with the salaries for all the employees. I don't want to falsely accuse him and his sanctuary when they've done nothing wrong."

He thought about it. It took a moment before he replied with an idea that caught her attention. He was always a fast thinker, which was something Lorrie admired about him. "How about this? Since you don't find it feasible to just go and check on him, why not send someone to investigate?"

Her face lit up in interest. "That's...actually not a bad idea. He is planning to expand his park southward and, as of my recent meeting with his associate, he wants to expand towards the ocean, maybe wanting to add an aquatic section to his sanctuary. No doubt the park will be undergoing renovations in the near future."

She made her way back to her desk. Placing the mug at the top right corner, she grabbed for the office phone on the opposite side. Putting the device next to her ear, she dialed a number that she had memorized a while back. A phone ringing echoed in the contraption for a few seconds. Then, the unmistakable sound of someone picking up the phone reached her ears.

"Hello?" said the receiver on the other side. The man's voice was smooth and suave, like a gentleman from an earlier age.

"Agent Rimbauer? This is Lorrie Rain, head CEO of this organization," she introduced.

"Oh!" the man exclaimed. Coughs and stammers escaped his throat before he found his voice again. "Director Rain! It's a pleasure-"

"Save the formalities for later," she cut to the chase. "I'd like to have a word with you in my office."

A series of mild crashes sounded off in the other line. Lorrie had to draw her head away to save her hearing from being lost. Using basic inference from being a business leader, she assumed that he had stumbled out of his desk due to the shock of the announcement.

"Of course, ma'am! Um...might I ask what this is about? I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I haven't been tardy and already reported to my supervisor that the major Black Market associates in China have been shut down thanks to my intervention."

She lightly chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "No, I already know of your accomplishment last month and am pleased on your performance. You've done nothing wrong. Your summons to my office is of a different manner. I will explain more upon your arrival."

"Yes ma'am," he replied promptly. "I'll come right over."

"Good," she nodded in satisfaction. "I'll expect to see you in the next 30 minutes."

Lorrie placed the phone back onto the dock. She then brought the cup back to her lips. The liquid quickly went down her throat within several seconds. Holding a meeting along with talking to both her associate and an agent she recently regarded for his impressive work in the field brought about a huge thirst. The coffee now finished, she handed the mug back to Jason, much to his surprise.

"Jason, I'm still a bit thirsty. Be a dear and fill me another cup, would you?"

Darksage: Whoo! What a ride! Looks like there's a lot of things that are going to happen coming up.

Marc: New characters you mean. Not to mention a little bit of insight into the S.A.G.E.S.

Darksage: Now a couple of things. First, the elephant in the room. Yes, Dilophosaurus were from the early Jurassic and the Yi qi were from China. Well we decided to tweak those details a bit so that they would appear in a time period and location close to where they lived. We're sorry for the inconvenience in scientific accuracy but it was necessary for the story. Second, just to clear up any confusion, this story took place right after the Christmas special. Chris, Ellis, and Daisy were not part of it because they were out of town for the holidays when the Christmas special took place. Third, the action sequences were all planned by Marc Ello. Thanks for coordinating them!

Marc: No problem!

Darksage: Last but not least, Ryder is a character created by Lucero002. We don't own that character. All rights to Ryder belong to him.

Marc: We hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one! It will be out soon .