Chapter 12

Trouble in paradise

One morning as the sun was shining high in the sky, the prehistoric forests echoed with the sounds of a siren's call which amaneted through the trees and reaching an open space filled with ferns and bushes. It was there that an orange male parasaurolophus, that was browsing on some nearby shrubs, heard the sound as his head perked up and he looked around in interest, captivated by the beautiful melody and decided to drop what he was doing and follow the sound to its origin. As he traveled through the forest following the echoing sounds of the call, he soon found the source of it, coming from an adult female parasaurolophus, in a colouring of light green and a slightly bluish upper body stripe. This was Paris, and now at 12 meters long herself, she had finally reached adulthood, and for the first time in her life she began issuing a mating call, and already she has attracted a suitor. The male was mesmerised by Paris' beauty as he came in closer to her, to a young male who has reached maturity, Paris was indeed a great catch. While she was in heat, she was also bred to be cautious and thus he needed to prove himself worthy to her first if he was to have any chance of winning her over, as she stepped back and became rather defensive.

The male then tried to sway Paris to his beat, as he let out a rather harmonious sound from his own crest, which seemed to resonate rather well with her, as she eased up and approached him. As she was about to accept him though, a foot stomp interrupted them both, as another male parasaurolophus, a slightly larger but darker brown in colour appeared before them. He too had heard Paris' call and wasn't about to lose this opportunity for a mate, as he bellowed out a deep threatening call at the younger male. As tensions rose, Paris stepped back out of the firing line as the 2 males began to compete for the right to breed. The larger male then stood up on his hind legs and began to let out a very deep sound in an attempt to woo Paris over to his side, but to her the sound was rather unsettling and instead of feeling receptive she was rather put off and intimidated by his attempt. The younger male then responded with a calm harmony from his crest, and while not as deep as the older male's it was far more soothing and relaxing to Paris as she felt more at ease in his presence, as she decided to move closer to him.

It was clear despite being younger and smaller, the first male had a much better mating song as Paris responded back to him. Unfortunately the larger male refused to admit defeat, and instead stomped his back leg on the ground issuing a second challenge, this time a physical one, where they 2 of them would wrestle for the right this time! He bellowed out in anger, refusing to backdown thus forcing the younger male's hand as they charged at one another and delivered huge body blows to one another! As their heads smacked hard at one another's sides the sound of their bones and bodies being battered were heard, startling Paris as she remained on the sidelines worried about the outcome between the 2 males. She watched on nervously, worrying that this battle may eventually result to bad injury or even bloodshed if gone unchecked, she pondered over whether stepping in would be wise….till a new sound caught her ears, one which the males hadn't yet picked up on.

It sounded very familiar, almost identical and equal to her own initial call, as if another parasaurolophus was calling out somewhere in the distance further ahead. It was so irresistible, Paris couldn't help but turn around and head towards where it came from, leaving the 2 males to continue fighting it out. She made her way through the trees before coming to a glade which encompassed around a large craggy cliff, and to her surprise she found no signs of another parasaurolphus anywhere. Looking around she saw no foot prints, smelling the air she found no scent either, yet from her hearing she knew this was where it came from just now, unmistakably. And now…the sound had died out and she couldn't find anything or anyone around as she came up towards the cliff face to make sure. Sniffing around and confirming it was no more than a wild goose chase and hearing things, she turned around to try and return to where the males were battling….only to stop in her tracks as a gorgosaurus came out from the shadows of the trees!

She widened her eyes and cried out in shock and surprise as the gorgosaurus roared out at her and cut off her route of escape! A relative of the albertosaurus, it was by no means less dangerous or fearsome. It bared its shining sharp teeth at her, licking its lips that drooled with saliva as it closed in further, cornering Paris against the face of the cliff! Looking around frantically she let out a cry of help from her horn hoping there would be someone to come to her aid, but even if it were heard whether they could come in time was another matter. Meanwhile her predator took its sweet time savouring every second as it entered striking distance! Right before it lunged out, as Paris looked away in terror, a large shadow came upon the 2 dinosaurs. While she didn't notice, the gorgosaurus looked above to see an iron cage descending slowly onto it! Startled by the unexpected development it was forced to abandon pursuit as it rushed back into the forest just before the cage landed on the ground, trapping Paris inside much to her confusion as she looked around finding her predator gone but now she was still caught regardless!

Another sound soon followed, as 2 jets came down from the sky, one blue and the other pink, and piloting them were a pair of children as they looked upon the dinosaur they managed to catch all on their own!

"Aw man! We were so close to getting two for the price of one!" Rod gritted his teeth and snapping his fingers in annoyance as he sat in the blue jet.

His sister Laura sighed resting her head on her hand while in the pink jet, "Yeah it's a shame Rod…." She sighed feeling a bit let down before cheering up, "Oh well, at least your experiment proved to be a success."

He then smiled back at her, "Yeah, who'd have thought broadcasting a dinosaur's call would work that well in attracting not just a member of its' species but even a predator too." He commented as he pressed a button on the console making the jet lower down a speaker and then broadcast the very same sound Paris heard a while ago, ironically it was done when the siblings recorded her very own call and made some minor adjustments to turn it into a distress call rather than a mating call. "Maybe this can come in handy in helping us round up dinosaurs way better and easier for Grampa and Dr Ancient." Rod then stated as Laura nodded in agreement.

"I agree on that." Finding it a mission accomplished regardless, Laura pressed a button on the console causing the cage to generate beams of light which turned Paris into a card which landed gently on the floor of the cage, "Well, shall we try and find some more around here?"

Rod smirked eagerly, "Sure thing, let's-"

RING! RING!

"Huh?" An incoming transmission came from their comm link, as they answered it, "Hello?" The 2 of them turned pale upon hearing whose voice sounded at the other end of the line.

"Rod! Laura! Where have you two gone!?" Helga's angry voice growled at them, clearly she wasn't happy in the slightest.

"Urk!" They gulped nervously knowing if Helga was calling them now it meant big trouble. Laura then motioned to Rod to cut the call as he tried to make it convincing enough.

"Umm BZZT! Sorry Helga BZZT! We can't quite hear-"

Unfortunately Helga easily saw through their attempt at fake static as she responded, "Don't you dare play silly games with me! You are to return right now and finish your homework for today! No ifs and buts! Or would you prefer to lose your apple strudel privileges!?"

The 2 siblings then sighed in defeat realising there was no way around it, "Aww….."

"Sigh….alright Helga we'll be right there…." Rod complied seeing it was unavoidable as he ended the call and ended their little dino hunt too. "Man just when it was getting good…." He grunted folding his arms and pouting grumpily, he and Laura were on a roll, even turning it into a competition for capturing species and they had just tied with Paris, and he planned a tie breaker..

"Can't you just reprogram her to be nice Rod?" Laura suggested, "You're good with robots given you helped design a number of them to help out."

He then shrugged his shoulders, "Are you kidding me Laura? Helga's in a league of her own compared to those mindless droids and drones." After that he shivered just thinking about if he ever tried doing something apocalyptic, "If I so much get within 5 feet of her….."

"Brr….it gives me chills thinking about it….." Laura too shivered as it came to her mind too.

Regardless what Helga says goes and the 2 of them had no intention of wasting anymore time less they wanted to be banned from Helga's tasty desserts, "Well, that homework isn't going to do itself, let's go…." He grunted.

"Right behind you….." Laura muttered in disappointment as she pressed the button the cage to rise up into the air and flew back to the Backlander with them following after it in toll. While disappointed they were being called back home so soon, at least they weren't going back empty handed, and how happy Dr Ancient and Cretacia would be once they see what they've brought them. Perhaps with this they'd earn a little more respect from the adults and not to be looked down on as kids.

Down below further away the 2 male parasaurolophus were still brawling it out with one another, unaware their prized female had already been taken away….

And thus concludes Paris' story, unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the Alpha Gang saved Paris from becoming a gorgosaurus' lunch though having caused it in the first place, and thus it's shown here how Rod recorded the sounds of a parasaurolophus calling as used later in Alpha's Zeta Point.

One can call it underhanded in dino capturing but it does work when you think about it. For Paris though which male do you think she should have chosen? The larger stronger male or the smaller one with the better voice.

Stay tuned for the final 2 dinosaurs to come and you can expect them to cross paths with one another at some point too given they live in the same region and time.

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tsukikami02

To make things worse the herd have to make this dangerous crossing back and forth every year, and Paris being a teen means she has survived a few of these before and had her brushes with death.

Wonder how things will go in your next chapter.

Curious though if my story in prehistoric times has any connections to Dainason Kingdom which you are doing.

Drew Luczyński

Yup in the circle of life and in nature there is no good and evil, every living thing doing what it's programmed to in order to survive.

That's the natural world for you it's easy for things to turn bad in a new york minute.