"...You mean, your father died in the American Revolution?" Richard asked the 18th century girl who was a year younger than him.
"Yeah, and my mother died two weeks ago due to some unknown illness." Charlotte sighed, life can be so unfair at times. "I guess coming here wasn't so bad after all. I was nothing more than a drifter back home."
"I see…" Richard felt sympathetic towards Charlotte. Losing a parent was always emotionally hard and he knew how she was felt.
"What about you?" Charlotte asked.
"Father hold a high position within a multinational company, mother is a housewife." Richard described. "And yeah… I guess you could say I'm living the high life…"
"And there you go." Charlotte looked over to the dinosaurs. "Two polar opposites in our world, the rich and the poor."
"That was an awesome story." Littlefoot complemented.
"Appreciate the compliments young one." Richard replied with a smile.
Charlotte looked over to the adult dinosaurs. "Now I have a question: How is it that you know of humans?"
Grandpa Longneck took a deep breath. "Well, they say some dinosaurs have encountered weird looking creatures calling themselves humans. They say the humans usually come in a time of need."
The words of Grandpa Longneck also draws Richard's attention, making him lean forward with Charlotte as Grandpa Longneck continued.
"According to the stories, only humans with the powers of the so called Illuminati can come to our world."
Richard and Charlotte were in shock, the Illuminati was indeed very real and on top of that, they were one of the few who possessed its powers.
"So that's why we were able to come." Richard looked at his Silver Illuminati Bracelet. "We have Illuminati artifacts."
"Possibly," Grandpa Longneck added. "I wouldn't be surprised that the thing you wear on your hand and the thing Charlotte wears on her neck actually is from the Illuminati."
Charlotte and Richard looked at their respective artifacts they wore, amazed at the true powers given to them from beyond.
Littlefoot yawned in exhaustion. Looking over to the little Apatosaurus, the two humans both yawned as well.
"Guess we shouldn't have looked." Richard sleepily thought.
"I think that's enough stories for tonight." Grandma Longneck gently said. "Sleep well, we leave when the Bright Circle rises into the sky."
Checking to make sure there was a round in his shotgun's chamber, Richard turned towards Charlotte and finds her sleeping soundly beside Littlefoot. He gave a gentle smile and sat down beside the two sleeping friends.
Though the adult Apatosaurus had advised him to sleep, Richard wasn't planning to get any sleep tonight. He knew certain species of predatory dinosaurs were active in the night and he knew he had to keep the two younger ones protected. In a way, he was their bodyguard, their protector.
Just before dawn, the urge to sleep was getting to Richard and he was taking 30 minute long power naps every now and then to keep himself awake. A prehistoric dragonfly known as a Meganeura flew around the heard.
Landing on Richard's face, the dragonfly jolted him awake and caused him to flail in fear and yell.
"Fuck me!" Richard shouted in shock.
"What is it?" Charlotte drowsily asked, rudely awakened by Richard's screams.
"Sorry Charlotte." Richard apologized. "Dragonfly landed on my face, startled the living daylights out of me."
Charlotte giggled. Despite looking rather tough, Richard was actually afraid of bugs. "I guess we all have our own fears."
"You might be right." Richard shook his head and looked away in sheer embarrassment.
Charlotte yawned, Richard had awoken her from her sleep and now she was wide awake and unable to sleep.
A frog jumped from a small boulder and landed right in front of the two humans, startling Charlotte and causing Richard to twitch in shock. Shooting it's tongue out, the frog caught the dragonfly. For some bizarre reason, the frog decided to open it's mouth, revealing the small bits of dragonfly remains.
"Ugh…" Charlotte turned away, grossed out by what she saw.
Richard shook his head as he watched the frog hop away. Just then, Littlefoot chased after the frog. "Hey Hopper, come back!"
"Really?" the human male groaned. "How can he be worked up over something so… so… common?
"Well he is still really young…" Charlotte reminded her 21st century counterpart. "Come on, let's go make sure he doesn't run into any trouble."
Giving a nod to Charlotte, Richard got up to his feet and ran after Littlefoot with her. Carefully maneuvering their way around the adult Apatosaurus so as not to wake them up, the two humans find Littlefoot playing with a young Triceratops in a muddy pond.
"Something's not right." Richard said.
"What's not right?" his 18th century counterpart asked.
"Triceratops and Apatosaurus never met each other." Being the dinosaur enthusiast and aspiring Paleontologist he was, Richard had studied a lot about dinosaurs, and he knew what dinosaurs lived in what timeline. "Why are they doing here?"
"What do you mean by Apatosaurus and Triceratops? Charlotte had no idea what Richard meant by "Triceratops" and "Apatosaurus" as both species were had yet to be discovered in the 18th century. "All I know is that I'm back in this world of extinct creatures armed only with my Flintlock Pistol and Brown Bess Musket to defend myself."
"The one with the long neck, that's an Apatosaurus." Richard explained. "And that one with a horn, that's a Triceratops. It'll have three horns when it becomes an adult."
"What do you call these groups of creatures?" Charlotte asked.
"Long necked ones are called Sauropods, the ones with horns are called Ceratopsians…" Richard continued down the list, teaching Charlotte the about the various species of dinosaurs and the families they belonged to. "...All these creatures, we have a name for them starting in the 19th century. We call them, dinosaurs."
"Which means?"
"Terrible lizard in latin. Quite a misleading name though." Richard answered. "They are not true reptiles, but rather, they are their own classification altogether. They may look like reptiles but they are actually warm blooded."
Charlotte nodded, indicating that she understood what Richard meant. Just then, they all felt the ground beginning to tremble. As the shakes started to become more violent, the two humans could figure out which direction it came from.
"Guns at the ready!" Richard yelled.
The two humans trained their long guns at the direction where the trembles came from. A few moments later, a dark olive green colored Tyrannosaurus Rex emerged.
"Sharptooth!" the young Triceratops yelled.
"Charlotte," Richard said to the 18th century girl. "Get the young ones out of here, I'm flanking that bastard."
"You're crazy!"
"Listen Charlotte, I know the chances of winning a fight against him are slim." Richard said. "But I have to distract that monster. Get the kids out of here safely."
Before Charlotte could say anything, Richard leapt up a boulder and made his mad dash across a small ledge. Gunshot reports from the Benelli M3 shotgun could be heard in the background as Charlotte made dashed to the young dinosaurs.
"Into that thorny place!" she commanded. "In in in! Further in!"
Apart from the gunshot reports and Sharptooth's snarls, there was eerie silence as the three hid themselves in the thorny forest.
"I hope he's okay." Charlotte muttered softly.
"Where's Richard?" Littlefoot asked.
"Fighting Sharptooth."
Charlotte's statement earned her simultaneous looks from the two young dinosaurs.
"Well all I can say is good luck!" the young Triceratops said. "If anyone makes Sharptooth angry, they usually don't live. By the way, the name's Cera."
"Charlotte." the 18th century girl introduced herself. "Come on, I think it is safe."
With Charlotte at the lead, the trio made their way through the thorny forest. Coming up to two separate paths within the forest, Charlotte and Littlefoot took the path on the left but Cera rebelled at the idea and takes the one on the right, prompting Charlotte and Littlefoot to go after her.
"Cera! Wait!" Charlotte shouted.
"You're going the wrong way!" Littlefoot added.
Before long, the three were out in the open and in the sights of Sharptooth. Hearing Sharptooth thundering towards them, Charlotte took aim with her Brown Bess Musket and fired. A cloud of smoke filled the air as a .69 caliber round ball penetrated Sharptooth's chin area.
Sharptooth roared in pain before shooting Charlotte an angered look. Just then, six 12 gauge S&B special slugs impacted Sharptooth in his back, causing him to turn around.
"Over here, fuck face!" Richard taunted.
Sharptooth gave Richard a snarl before following him down a ledge. Swiftly turning around, Richard expected to unleash more lead but his gun clicked empty after firing once. Looking into the chamber, Richard realized he had exhausted the ammunition supply on his weapon.
"Chase me!" he said to the monster.
In the meantime, Charlotte, Littlefoot and Cera have met up with Littlefoot's mother, and are now making their way back towards the herd. Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the distance, indicating that Richard was still battling Sharptooth.
Suddenly the ground began to tremble once again, only this time it wasn't because of Sharptooth.
"Earthshake!" Cera yelled.