Note: Okay, time to add a new character into the picture. Some comic relief atleast.


James opened his eyes the next morning. He looked down at his mate who was fast asleep. He looked around the small camp they had constructed. His mother was shifting and tossing, probably thinking of catching fish. James scanned the camp furthermore. His brother Peter was on his back with his left back fin twitching, his mouth wide open and tongue sticking out of the side of it. He chuckled at the site of his brother. He couldn't find any trace of Sheila, Jeremiah or Edward. 'They must be out hunting,' he thought.

He looked down at his mate again and smiled. The teenaged Dolichorhynchop leaned down and pecked a small kiss on his mate's cheek. She slowly opened up her eyes to be greeted by her mate's eyes staring intently into hers.

She chuckled, "Well hello to you to love."

"Oh I'm sorry, did I wake you," he asked

"No, I was going to wake up in a few minutes anyway."

"Okay, I didn't want to interrupt your beauty sleep."

"Oh you."

"He he," he chuckled. She leaned up to nuzzle him. He smiled as her smooth skin rubbed up against his own. He hadn't felt anything like his mate's skin before. It was soft as silk but had a slight roughness to it, but nonetheless he loved it's feeling. He complied by licking her cheek. Carlia blushed from it. He saw the blush from the corner of his eye and caught it.

"Oh you blushed this time," James exclaimed. Carlia reached her head up and licked him right on the snout. James blushed an even brighter shade of red than Carlia did.

"Joke's on you," Carlia said playfully. James loved the little games they played with each other from time to time. They were truly meant for each other.

"Alright, well let's get up and get ready for breakfast," James said pointing out Jeremiah, Edward and Sheila heading back with fish in their mouths. The couple got up to help them with the load of fish. Once they divided the fish into equal groups for themselves to eat, Nariko and Peter woke up.

"Is that salmon I smell," Peter asked floating toward his food.

"Yep, and this catch was a little more difficult to catch," Edward replied.

"Why is that," James asked.

"Well, we had to wrestle this from an old friend," Jeremiah responded.

Sheila spoke up, "Nariko, remember our family's surface friend, Daniel?"

"You mean the Hesperonis?"

"Yea."

Carlia chimed in, "What's a Hesperonis?"

"Well it's a flightless bird that swims on the surface of the water," Sheila explained.

"Hm, sounds like a waiting snack for a Tylosaurus," James said.

"Hey, who you callin a waiting snack," a voice behind the group asked.

"Daniel," Nariko exclaimed.

"Nariko, my, my, my, haven't you and Sheila grown up too much already," Daniel exclaimed.

"Yeah well, you can't stop these things from happening," Sheila said.

"Yeah I guess you're right, but then again when you were young you always were right," he said comically. "Well who is this?" He swam over to James. "I'm assuming this is your mate Sheila," he asked.

"No, that's Nariko's son and my son-in-mate."

"Oh." Daniel hid his face with embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

"No, my mate died while getting to the birthing grounds."

"Well, I'm sorry for your lost."

"Thanks." Sheila's smile went to a frown. Whenever she would look back to that horrific day she couldn't help but tear up. "Well, I should probably introduce you to everyone." Sheila said wiping the tears from her eyes. Sheila motioned for Edward and Carlia to greet Daniel. "This is Edward and Carlia, my son and daughter."

"Pleasure to meet you two."

The Edward spoke up first. "Nice to meet you."

Then Carlia. "Pleasure is all mine, and this is my mate James." Carlia had pulled James over by her side with her mouth. James tried to make eye contact with the bird but it was hard for him. "Wait a minute you're a land dweller. Don't you need air to survive," James asked.

"Well actually I'm a magical Hesperonis."

"Really," James asked looking very interested now. Daniel burst out laughing. James didn't know why he was laughing.

"Oh man, of course not. We can just hold our breath for a long time," Daniel blurted out. James snarled. Carlia nuzzled him to get his attention and nodded him to stop. He sighed and figured the bird wasn't worth his time. Nariko swam forward with her other two children. "And these, included James are my children. This one is Peter and this one is Jeremiah." Jeremiah nodded to show his reply. Peter did the same.

"Yeah, anyway we have to be off but it was good seeing you," Sheila said.

"Now hold on, where exactly are you guys going," Daniel asked.

"We're going to the mating grounds, just south of here," Carlia chimed in still pretty much latched to James.

"Huh, Dolly mating grounds. Hey for old time sake let me come with ya. Plus you could use the extra MAN power," he said flexing his puny wings.

"Well it couldn't hurt I suppose," Nariko debated to Sheila.

"Yeah, you can come," Sheila, decided to let him come because they hadn't seen him in a couple years and could use an extra eye to look out for trouble.

"Yes," Daniel exclaimed.

"As long as you don't become a sitting duck for predators," Nariko commented.

"Okay for starters do I even look like a duck? I'm a Hesperonis baby, and second, any one that tries to mess with us is going to be taken down…Daniel style," He confidently exclaimed. James slapped his face with his flipper in embarrassment. Carlia laughed. "Oh come on, it won't be that bad."

"Yeah, it will be worst than I expected," he replied. Carlia smiled and nuzzled James. "All right now," she said sarcastically.

"All right chop, chop. Finish eating and let's go," Daniel exclaimed.

"Look you little pigeon, you may be part of our little family here but we take orders from our mothers," James threatened Daniel.

"Ooh, temper, temper," Daniel replied. James rolled his eyes. "Calm down, I'm not sure why your so," Daniel paused to think. "Negative."

"Look, I just don't want some bird giving away our position if say there is a rather large Tylosaurus or shark around."

Daniel gulped. James knew he had scared the living daylights out of him by mentioning the most feared of all sea monsters. Daniel chuckled nervously. "Um, well if one decides to stop by, I'll just have to open a can of kick butt on him."

James laughed. "Maybe you won't be as bad as I thought."

The Dolly and Hesperonis continued their conversation while Jeremiah, Edward and Peter separated from the group. They went to investigate some noises they kept hearing from nearby. Edward took lead while Peter and Jeremiah followed. Surprise showed on their faces when they saw what was ahead. It was a massive shark gliding through a school of fish. It was growling and snarling in frustration. For some reason he couldn't catch any fish in his mouth. He needed larger food.

"Maybe we should go," Peter said while shaking in fear.

"Yea, we need to go warn the others," Jeremiah whispered. Edward was scared but also intrigued. He had never seen a shark that size, this close up. He complied and the group of three swam off. When Peter swam off, he accidentally hit a rock on the under water hill off and landed near the shark. The shark heard the noise and cocked his body to investigate it. He swam up to the top of the hill and was just in time to see the three Dollies swim off.

The monster grinned revealing serrated and jagged teeth. "Looks like I found dinner," he paused. He thought on the subject a bit longer. "Wait, maybe there are more to snack on." He proceeded to stalk them until their guard is completely down.

Edward, Jeremiah and Peter reached the group while gasping for water. Sheila was the first to notice their terrified expressions. She looked puzzled. "What's wrong?"

Jeremiah was out of breath and Peter was too afraid to talk. Edward rolled his eyes and replied to his mother. "There was a shark. A big one."

"What kind was it," Sheila asked with concern in her voice.

"We don't know, but I don't think it saw us."

Peter and Jeremiah came about their wits and joined the conversation. Peter spoke in a frantic and panicky kind of way. "I don't think I swam so fast in my life."

"Well I'm glad you boys are alright," Sheila said with more of relief than concern. Although she was concerned, she had to find a way to defend themselves if it decides to attack them. She pointed her flipper to Edward, "Edward I want you to tell everyone that there is a shark nearby and we need to keep all eyes open if we are to defend ourselves."

Edward nodded his head and swam off to tell the others. Sheila turned to the others. "I want you two to scout around. Look for anything that may shelter us until this shark passes on."

Peter was about to protest but before he could Jeremiah said, "Right." Peter looked at his brother with terror in his eyes.

"How could you seriously be brave enough to even scout for a shark that size?"

"Come on get some guts man." Jeremiah retorted. Peter was shaking at the thought of taking on a shark. A shark, one of the main predators to Dolichorhynchops. Jeremiah and Peter set out on their scouting run. Jeremiah tried to ignore Peter's constant complaints and fears.

After a good two hours of searching for the shark they gave up and headed back to the camp. When Sheila asked them if they had seen the shark Peter with some relief replied, "No, he must've left to go find larger food than the fish he was trying to catch."

"Okay, but we should get Daniel to watch us from above since he swims on the surface of the water," Sheila said with the thoughts of a shark attack relieved from her head. She couldn't bear to see anyone suffer like her mate did.

Nighttime was closing in and they hadn't moved all day. Nariko thought it wouldn't be safe to sleep in the same place for another night. Sheila decided it would be safer to stay where they were for another night than move in pitch-dark waters. Nariko thought about it for a second and agreed. So they all decided to stay where they were.

As they all fell asleep in there own parts of the camp, Carlia cuddled up to James. While the couple and their family slept peacefully, a shadowy figure was scheming outside their makeshift camp. "Once they move in the morning, that's when I'll make my move," the shark commented to himself.