Jurassic World: War of the Ages – Chapter 22: Blast to the Past
A/N: What do dinosaurs and gladiators have in common? You'll find out in this chapter! Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
Lord Savas looked out across the city of Baraq, pondering. His mind was restless. He wanted to know what was happening at that battle at Pterosaur Falls. Had they killed off most of the population? Had they captured and restrained Dave Harris? Were they on their way back right now?
"Soon..." Lord Savas said, "...soon, we shall meet again, Harris. But this time, I shall be sure you do not escape. You will die at my hand."
"Lord Savas!" Keto exclaimed as she walked into the room.
"Ah, Keto. Any sign of our soldiers?"
"Not yet, but I found Opthalmos." She held up the frail-looking Archaeopteryx. He was soaked and his feathers were all fluffed out of shape. "It looks like he has been through a lot."
"My, my. I was worried when he didn't come home last night."
"That is not the most startling thing though. Opthalmos said he saw a group of humans last night. He tried to get back here and warn us last night, but as you can see, he got in a little tiffy with a clothesline."
Lord Savas frowned. "Humans?"
"Yes. This morning, we also found dead homosaurian guards lying on the street. They look like they'd been savagely killed by another dinosaur. And that's not the worst of it – Dave Harris was with those humans!"
Lord Savas gritted his teeth. "No! It can't be possible! He's supposed to be at...wait a minute...do you suppose they have been spying on us this whole time? How else would they know that we would be off fighting at Pterosaur...unless...it was a trick!"
"A trick?"
"Yes! Don't you see? Why else would they go to Pterosaur Falls? Of course it was a trick! I should have known! Those pesky humans must have left that note for one of us to find, knowing we would send soldiers after them. Then, while most of the soldiers were out of the city, Dave must have had the nerve to sneak into our city walls. Where did they go, Opthalmos?" Opthalmos shrieked. "Toward the moat? That's odd. They could be literally anywhere in the city by now."
"What shall we do?" Keto asked. "Shall I have the remaining soldiers comb the city?"
"No. Harris knows we'll do that...we'll make him come to us. Those children we captured, are they still in the cell?"
"Yes, they are."
"Good. They will come in handy."
Most of the teens were fast asleep; Zach was not one of them. He twiddled his thumbs as he listened to the sound of silence from his prison cell.
"Zach?"
Zach turned to see his brother was actually wide awake beside him. "Yeah, good morning to you too," Zach said dryly.
Gray asked, "What's gonna happen to us?"
"Hard to say, bro. I'm sure we'll be stuck in here a little while though, at least until the others get the time portal working."
"I'm scared, Zach."
"Hey...um...remember that ghost in the old house? Remember, the one in the garage? I protected you, right?"
Gray smiled a little. "You made a battle ax out of a ruler and a paper plate."
"Yeah. See nothing's gonna happen to you with me around, OK?"
"But you're not always gonna be around."
"Well, we're brothers, OK? We'll always be brothers. And no matter what, we'll always come back to each other."
"No matter what?"
"No matter what."
Just then, a loud growl came from further down the hall, but it wasn't from a homosaurian. Zach and Gray got up and went to the bars and looked further down the hallway. In a very large enclosure, they saw a huge beast, sleeping peacefully – it was a Tyrannosaurus rex! The homosaurians must have sedated this beast and brought it into the cell while the teens were sleeping.
"T. rex," Gray said.
"Look at all those scars," Zach noticed. "You think that's the same T. rex from the park?"
"Maybe."
At that moment, the doors to entrance of the prison were opened and several homosaurians walked in, led by Keto. Keto grabbed a metal pipe and clinked it along the prison bars.
"Alright, humans! Get up!"
The humans were rudely awakened. Dodgson walked over to the bars. "What are you guys doing?"
"Getting you out of here."
"Where are we going?" Burke asked.
"You shall see," Keto responded with a sly grin on her face.
Alaina winced. "Luke, I don't like the look of this."
"Me neither," Luke said. "Just stay close to me."
Keto and the other homosaurians opened the door and led the humans out of the prison and toward a pair of huge double doors. The doors were slowly opened, revealing a massive arena that was around 272 feet long and 157 feet wide – utterly massive. Seated around the arena were what appeared to be tens of thousands of homosaurians in an amphitheater-like style. Seated directly in the center of this intimidating mob was a kingly-looking, black-colored homosaurian.
"Lord Savas," Burke whispered.
"What's going on?" Katy asked, clinging to Logan's arm. "I don't like the look of this, Logan."
"What can I do about it? Those homosaurians have spears and EMD's. I've got nothing."
Keto and the other homosaurians made the humans walk toward the center of the arena. Then they handed each human a spear and a shield before walking out of the arena and up a flight of stairs where the rest of the spectators watched on. The audience cheered and clapped with vigor and excitement.
"Why are they congratulating us?" Brianna asked.
"Who cares?" Jess said. "It's just great that we're being cheered on for once." Jess waved to her "adoring fans". "I've always wondered what it was like for celebrities to stand in front of thousands of people."
Tom raised his eyebrows. "Wait...tens of thousands of spectators...a giant arena...people standing in the center of that arena holding weapons and shields..." Tom and Luke looked at each other knowingly.
"I don't get it," Alaina said. "What do those things have in common?"
"Have you seen Gladiator?" Luke asked.
"Yes, but..." She gasped. "You don't think...?"
"Let the show begin!" the announcer cried.
"Oh, I do think," Tom replied.
Sarah listened for the snarling sounds of those wretched homosaurian-like beasts outside the Time-Travel Lab – she heard none, to her relief.
"So, um, you're saying those creeps out there are homosaurians?" Ian asked. "Why do they look so different."
"I'm not really sure," Dave responded, "but I know that a long time ago, there was a group of homosaurians that tried to overthrow Lord Savas' grandfather at the beginning of his reign. When Lord Savas' grandfather found out, he had them arrested and put in prison. No one ever heard from them again. However, there are rumors that they were thrown in the catacombs."
"Another rumor," Matt added, "is that mentally insane homosaurians are put down here in the catacombs so that they don't corrupt society."
"Assuming that's true," Claire said, "how come the homosaurians down here are pale-colored?"
"That's a common side-effect of living in dark places for long periods of time," Oscar explained. "Back in our time, there are a number of spiders, fish, crabs, salamanders and other creatures that live exclusively in caves. Because they never see light, they've adapted to loose their pigment and sense of sight, while their other senses are enhanced."
"Why is that helpful?" Ellie inquired.
"Because producing pigment and operating eyes take a lot of energy," Alan said. "In a cave, these animals don't need them, so they disable the production of pigment and working eyes and they can put that energy to good use for other parts of the body. Perhaps these homosaurians did the same."
"Can those kind of changes happen that quickly?" Alisha asked.
"They can indeed," said Alan. "Some fish species can turn from normal to pale and blind in one generation."
"Well whatever happened to those homosaurians," Billy stated, "I'm glad they're gone. How much longer on the time portal, Matt?"
"Not too much longer," he responded. "I'm already in the system. So all I have to do is fire this baby up and we can go–"
A speaker situated on the ceiling proclaimed, "Attention! Attention all citizens! Be sure to attend feeding show at Great Arena, where we will observe young humans being torn apart by a savage, never-before-seen beast. Be sure to attend."
Everyone exchanged glances.
"Do you think they're part of our group?" Matt asked.
"I wouldn't doubt it," Dave answered. "Come on, we've got to go rescue them."
"But wait!" Alisha said. "You can't go! We need you here! You two are the only ones who know how we can turn on the time portals and change the past."
Oscar agreed. "Alisha's right. Besides, Lord Savas will have your and Matt's heads the moment he sets eyes on either one of you."
"I guess you're right," Dave said with a sigh. "Then how do we save them?"
"We will," Owen answered. He gestured towards his raptors, who were standing at the ready.
"Still, you shouldn't go alone," Billy told him. "You, me, Oscar and D-Caf. We can go."
"I'm going too," Claire said.
"OK," Matt said. "Just be careful. The arena is directly west of the palace. You can't miss it."
"I'd be at the ready if I were you," Burke cautioned the others. "These homosaurians are ruthless. They'll probably release a load of raptors on us or something."
"Introducing..." the announcer said, "a never-before-seen predator. The hybridized Cristatias carnifex!"
"A hybrid?!" Tom exclaimed. "Not again!"
The doors leading to the prison were slowly opened and this is when an utterly horrifying creature stepped out into the light. It was a jagged-toothed theropod, with double crests on its head, sharp hand claws and stood 10 feet tall. It stood motionless at the edge of the arena, glaring at the humans standing before her.
"What are you thinking?" Luke asked.
"I'd say the base genome is Dilophosaurus," Tom guessed.
The Cristatias snarled as it slowly circled the humans. Saliva dripped from its jagged lipless fangs. The humans never took their eyes off of the creature. Then it ran towards them, snarling between its teeth. The group ran in the opposite direction. Burke turned and tried to block the animal's advance with his shield,, but the Cristatias merely slapped it out of his hands with his claws. Burke shoved the spear at the creature's direction.
"Burke! It's attacking, Burke!" Brianna exclaimed.
The crowd cheered as the Cristatias clenched its jaws around the spear and jerked it also from his grasp. Burke was now defenseless. He turned to start running towards the others when the hybrid attacked him again, shoving him to the ground with his claws. Burke screamed as the dinosaur bent down and began to violently tear him apart, much to the audience's delight. Burke's cries filled the auditorium and the human girls looked away from the carnage in disgust.
"We're gonna die!" Katy cried, clinging to Logan. "We're gonna die!"
"Shh!" Luke said. "We've still got a chance at this."
"How are we gonna defeat that thing?" Logan argued. "We can't out muscle it and we can't outrun it."
Luke and Alaina exchanged glances. "We've got to outsmart it," they said together.
"OK guys," Gray said. "I've got an idea. You know how Triceratops defend themselves against predators by all facing in the same direction? Let's do the same!"
"Best idea I've heard all day," said Dodgson.
The Cristatias got bored with Burke's corpse and turned its attention to Dodgson and the teenagers. It moved slowly, snarling and flashing its teeth. Then it made a mock lunge at them, but the kids stood their ground.
"Don't move!" Luke encouraged. "That's just what this monster wants us to do!"
Then the Cristatias grabbed hold Jess' spear with its teeth, trying to yank it out of her grasp. But the others were ready – Logan thrust his spear into the hybrid's side. This angered the beast and it released Jess' spear. It reared up and issued a horrid-sounding roar. But all of a sudden, the prison doors were shoved open as a green-colored Velociraptor appeared in the arena!
"They have raptors too?!" Dodgson exclaimed.
"No!" Alaina said. "It's the Raptor Squad!"
The Cristatias turned to look as the raptors made their presence known. Blue shrieked loudly. The audience cheered.
"Somehow...four Velociraptors have entered the frenzy," the announcer declared. "Things are going to get interesting."
Blue instantly saw the hybrid and she hissed at it. The Cristatias sensed the threat and roared, slowly making its way toward the raptors. The raptors held their ground. As if there weren't enough surprises already, Owen Grady also came out of the prison doors.
"Now yet another foolish human has entered the arena," the announcer said. "I'm not sure what he thinks he's going to be able to do with four raptors and a hybrid."
Owen scoffed. "You just watch."
The raptors looked back at their alpha. Owen whistled. "Sic her, girls!"
Echo screamed as she and her sisters charged towards the hybrid. The Cristatias reared up as tall as she could to appear more threatening, but this did no good as Charlie circled her and leaped onto her unprotected back. The hybrid tried to reach back and get Charlie off, but it was no use. While the raptors fought the hybrid, Owen went over to the kids.
"Owen!" Zach exclaimed.
"We're saved!" Alaina said.
"Not sure how you kids got here," Owen said, "but there's no time. We need to get back through those prison doors as soon as Claire gives the signal."
"Why can't we just go now?" Dodgson asked. "The hybrid dinosaur's busy."
"Claire's releasing an old friend," Owen told him.
Just then, Claire came running out of the prison and into the arena. Behind her, the doors were destroyed as Rexy made her entrance. She gave a loud roar that filled the auditorium with terror and amazement.
Lord Savas and Keto watched as Rexy stormed towards the hybrid dinosaur.
"Shouldn't we send our soldiers out now?" Keto asked.
"No. I'm waiting for Harris."
"What good will that be if that T. rex kills our hybrid?"
Lord Savas sighed. "Fair enough. Send the soldiers out there to recapture that monster."
Keto gave the other and a pair of homosaurians walked over to the shed where they kept the equipment and weapons used to bring down giants such as T. rex. But when they got to the door, they found it locked.
"It's locked!" one of the soldiers cried.
"That's impossible!" said the other.
"Are you looking for these?"
The homosaurs turned to see Billy, Oscar and D-Caf holding rocket launchers.
"That doors not gonna be opened anytime soon," D-Caf explained.
"Get your hands up!" Oscar ordered. "Now!"
Neither one of the dinosaurs obeyed. "Put those down, humans," one of the homosaurians said. "You aren't smart enough to know how to use them."
"Oh really?" Billy asked. He pulled the trigger and the entire shed was engulfed in a ball of flames – the two homosaurians cooked to a crisp. "I've always wanted to do that!"
"We'd better get back," Oscar said.
"That's our queue to get out of here," Claire said.
So Owen, Claire, Logan, Katy, Luke, Tom, Brianna, Alaina, Jess, Gray and Zach headed toward the prison doors. Owen whistled, telling the raptors it was time to go. The raptors, having severely wounded the Cristatias, quickly followed their alpha. Lying on the hot, dusty ground, the last thing the hybrid saw was the jaws of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Rexy bent down and held the squirming hybrid in her jaws. Then with all the power in her jaws, she crushed the life out of this horrid beast. Suddenly, an EMD shot was fired at Rexy. Too weak to do much, the EMD only succeeded in irritating the queen of the tyrant lizards. She threw the dead Cristatias in the direction of the EMD firer, causing several homosaurians to flee.
Now angry, Rexy gave a mighty roar as she ran toward and stepped over the boundary separating the arena from the tens of thousands of audience members.
"Everyone! Please leave the stadium!" the announced declared. "We have a containment breach! I repeat! We have a containment breach!"
Rexy did not stop her rampage as homosaurians ran for their lives. She cast aside bleachers and other obstacles as she tried to reach her prey. Finally, she followed the fleeing mob out of the auditorium and onto the city streets. Rexy stomped toward the nearest homosaurian before grabbing him in her jaws and shaking him apart like a rag doll.
After going through the prison, the group ran down the empty street (almost everyone was at the auditorium), climbed down into the moat, crossed the water and were in the catacombs.
"What's the plan?" Alaina asked.
"Matt and Dave should have the time portal up by now," Claire told her, "then we go back in time and find out how to stop the apocalypse from happening."
"Where and when is he setting it for?" Dodgson asked.
"Some time and place in the year 2015," Billy answered.
"He needs to set the coordinates from Biosyn Technologies in the year 2015! That's where the explosion that caused the apocalypse came from!"
"How do you know that?" Oscar asked.
"I'll explain later. Just run."
Far behind them, they heard a voice shout, "Where are you, humans! We will find you!"
"Oh no!" Owen said. "They know we're down here somewhere."
The group burst through the door into the Time-Portal Lab.
"Is it up and running yet?" Owen asked.
"You're here just in time," Matt told him. "I just got it up and running and I'm about to set the coordinates for–"
"Biosyn Technologies! 2015!" Gray shouted.
"Biosyn Technologies?"
"Yes, and hurry," said Owen. "We've got droves of homosaurians after us."
Delta chirped as the sound of marching soldiers drew nearer and nearer.
Matt scratched his head. "I don't know the coordinates to–"
"Let me!" Dodgson said. He shoved Matt out of the way and punched in the correct coordinates. The time-travel technology came to life. On a platform in the center of the room, a glowing orb grew larger and larger until it exploded into a time portal.
"Great!" Alan said. "Let's go!"
A/N: My fingers must have been going 50 billion mph as I wrote this exciting chapter! Phew! That was exhilarating! I'm really looking forward to seeing how you guys like this chapter! So until next week, please favorite, follow and comment on this story using the review box below and I'll publish chapter 23 next week! Spare no expense!