The Prehistoric Earth team got in nasty situations. A lot. From a sandstorm, to a hurricane, to a mass extinction event, it would be no exaggeration to say that the Prehistoric Earth crew had seen and withstood everything the past could throw at them.
A giant prehistoric elephant trying its level best to squash them flat, however, was up there. "Out of the way, Leon!", Jack yelled, as he pulled him out of the way as the elephant's gigantic foot stamped the ground where he was standing, missing him by milliseconds. The enraged creature turned to look at the two humans and bellowed in indignation, shaking his head and displaying his saliva-covered tusks. However, then he prepared to charge them; there was no way they could outrun him.
Suddenly, Drew grabbed the horn and started blaring it. The Deinotherium stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the tiny human. Once he realised that he had gotten the Deinotherium's attention, Drew smirked. The Deinotherium narrowed its eyes, pawed the ground and prepared to charge. As soon as he realised this, Drew ran, at a right angle to the Deinotherium, and, once the Deinotherium started charging, pressed the portal remote, activating the portal. Not changing his trajectory, the charging probiscidean went through the portal, into the present.
Reuniting with his teammates, Jack said, "You seem back to your old self, fearless leader." Drew smirked in reply, "You're damn right." Jack sighed, "Well, bad news, the Australopithecus have gone." Drew looked across the lake at the female Deinotherium herd, "Good news, the other Deinotherium didn't."
The three humans moved cautiously; they knew how dangerous Deinotherium could be. If one of the females thought they were a danger to the calves, they would probably be killed. As quietly as possible, they made a trail of plants to use as bait, allowing the gigantic probiscideans to follow it. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present.
Now, it was time to turn their attention to tracking down the apes. Heading to the spot where they last saw the apes, they saw eight pairs of human-looking footprints, heading east. Drew smiled, "We follow these tracks, we find the Australopithecus. Easy as pie." Leon sighed, "That's tempting fate."
And so they headed off, after the apes, Roughly an hour into the tracking, Jack noticed that Leon was acting rather twitchy and nervous. Turning to him, concerned, Jack asked, "What's the matter?", to which Leon looked at him, perplexed, "Why would something be the matter?" Jack shrugged, "You just seem a little jittery, that's all; you have been for the past few days. What on Earth happened?"
Leon breathed out and said, "After the Oligocene mission, I went up to Yolanda and tried to tell her how I felt; I've had a crush on her for quite some time and I wanted to tell her it. However, I just… chickened out; my nerves got the better of me. I just have this feeling that I blew it." Jack sighed, "Personally, Leon, I don't think you blew it. There'll be other chances; you just need to take your time. After all, the Death Star wasn't built in a day." Leon gave him a perplexed look, "The saying's Rome wasn't built in a day." Jack shrugged, "Well, Rome fell, so… bad analogy." Leon looked at him, "The Death Star fell too." Jack shrugged again, "But the Death Star's cooler, so…" Leon smiled fondly and rolled his eyes, as the three adventurers continued walking.
Meanwhile, in Kenya, Adrian and Cynthia watched as the ape-man tore towards them, like a thing possessed. However, as it passed them, it caught its foot on a root and it fell heavily to the ground, throwing up clouds of dust. As the dust cleared, and the ape-man sat, breathing heavily, they could look at it in greater detail. It was about four feet tall, a little shorter than the bosei; however, its scrawny build made it look much smaller in comparison to those bulky australopithecines. It looked rather like an upright chimpanzee; with long arms, short legs and a slightly protruding face, it was still more ape than man. Its eyes were large, furtive and twitched nervously and its ears were surprisingly large. They knew what this was; a Homo habilis. A male by the looks of it.
As Adrian and Cynthia moved forward to get a closer look, the scrawny ape-man went rigid with fear. He turned to look at them, shaking like a tree in a windstorm, and cowered at them; a strangely human-like gesture. Adrian and Cynthia looked at each other, confused; what would have scared him so badly?
Suddenly, several loud, aggressive-sounding hoots echoed through the air, to which the habilis froze with terror. Adrian and Cynthia turned to see three larger ape-men running towards the habilis. The two looked at each other and decided to return to their hiding spot.
As the larger ape-men approached, Adrian and Cynthia could discern more details of them. They were much larger than the habilis, approaching the height of the male bosei and much, much more muscular and powerful-looking. They had dark fur, ape-like faces and eyes that glinted with slow-burning fury. They wore threatening leers on their faces as they advanced towards the habilis. Adrian and Cynthia knew what they were immediately; Homo rudolfensis, a larger type of ape-man.
The habilis cowered in terror at the sight of the larger ape-men; they had been chasing him for a while and, now he was prone, they moved in threateningly. The habilis male shuffled backwards through the dust, attempting to scramble upright. The leader of the rudolfensis, wielding a large stick, approached the habilis, who cowered away from him. A glint of satisfaction came in his small, piggish eyes…
Suddenly, Adrian grabbed the horn and blared it at the rudolfensis. The three larger ape-men looked around, confused, at the source of the new sound. Scared, they moved a little closer to each other; this honking noise sounded like some large, and potentially dangerous animal. Deciding to exercise caution, they retreated. After the last of them disappeared, Adrian and Cynthia got out of the clearing.
The young male habilis briefly regarded the two strange creatures; looking at the strange object in the male's hand. His intelligent mind put the pieces together; it was this object that had caused the loud honking sound, not some large animal. They had… saved him. He looked at them, before running away.
Adrian and Cynthia watched the ape-man retreat. Cynthia sighed, "We've got a lot of work on our hands. The habilis and the rudolfensis are both more intelligent than the things we usually go after. We might need some help..." Adrian nodded, "And there's only one person who's available."
Meanwhile, in the Prehistoric Earth vet offices, Will and Alice were still playing with Raksha. Will was holding a rag and the tiny bear-dog pup was sinking her little teeth into it and pulling with all her strength; it was surprisingly strong. Alice chuckled, and cooed to the little bear-dog, "Who's getting strong? You're much better than when we found you; oh yes, you were practically skin and bone". She looked at Will and smiled; after a few minutes, he smiled back.
Yolanda smiled at this; Alice and Will were really hitting it off. Her suspicions about them were right; all he needed to do was keep on trying and he'd be able to confess it all. However, their moment was interrupted by the communicator suddenly going off. Alice muttered, "Shit" and picked it up, reading the message. A half-disappointed Will said, "What's wrong?" Alice said, "Apparently, Adrian and Cynthia need help." She smiled at Will and said, playfully, "You can make yourself useful and mind Raksha whilst I'm gone". Will simply gaped in response, as Alice ran out of the vet offices and towards the portal site.
As she approached, an employee entered the co-ordinates into the portal and it whirred into life. Staring at the glowing orb, Alice sighed and approached the portal, heading into the past.
Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, Drew, Jack and Leon had tracked the Australopithecus to an open area near a large tree. The troop were standing in a clearing, using sticks and stones to dig through the soil. Occasionally, an australopithecine would pick up a root or a tuber and eat it. Jack muttered under his breath, "Amazing, isn't it? This is how we started making tools; three million years later, we put a man on the moon." Drew nodded, "Yeah. Back on subject; I've got a plan on as to how we get this lot through the portal…"
Suddenly, the bushes began to rustle, as if some animal was moving through them. The troop stopped digging and immediately went on alert, hooting and beating the ground. Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other; some predator had found the Australopithecus at about the same time as they did.