Chapter 5: Alien Empire

Kansas, 300 MYA

It was sunrise. As the dawning light pierced through the large trees in the lush swamp, a nest full of eggs sat in the crevice of a tree trunk, just mere seconds away from hatching. Suddenly the shell of one egg began to crack, followed by others. Within thirty seconds, the entire clutch had begun to hatch, as the eggshells broke apart and small green heads popped out, the hatchlings cheeping nervously as they scanned their new world. However, unbeknownst to them, their new, young lives would soon be cut immensely short. Unnoticed to all, a predator began remorselessly creeping up the tree trunk to the nest and towards the hatchlings, attracted by the prospect of an easy meal. After a while, the predator reached the top and loomed over the unfortunate hatchlings, blocking the sunlight as it did so. The hatchlings had barely any time to react as the predator chittered in glee, raised its head triumphantly and brought its fangs down like a guillotine upon them, ending their brief lives.

(Intro Theme)

Prehistoric Earth

The present day

Under normal circumstances, housing rare insects wouldn't cause that much of a fuss, but when you add a little prehistory to the mix, things tend to change significantly. To this end, Jack and Leon were both overseeing the construction of a giant dome-shaped building. This building would be the park's Carboniferous house where the creatures from today's mission would beheld. A mission they wouldn't be a part of. They had a far worse fate; a fate they were trying to avoid. Leon, practically begging Kyle for amnesty, said "Come on Kyle, give us a chance. I swear we won't argue again", as Jack nodded in affirmative. Kyle simply smirked at them in response. "You're right with that." he started, as Jack and Leon's faces perked up; maybe they could avoid their assignment, after all. Such hopes were immediately crushed when he added, "After your punishment". In response to this, their faces immediately fell; they all knew what this was going to be. Kyle, seeing their shocked expressions, briefly smirked and tossed the two a notebook, "Mia put some notes on the breeding habits of fish for you two in there and I'll have some keepers nearby in case things start going to shit. Otherwise, you're both on your own; we want to see if you two can co-operate on something without either something being destroyed or you two killing each other. Now, leave me alone and let me get back to work." Jack and Leon lowered their heads and began heading like criminals heading off to execution to Hell's Oceans, where the Dunkleosteus (their first port of call) were kept. It would be a long day.

Meanwhile, Drew was currently mapping out his next mission, when Alice and Adrian walked into his office. Drew looked up at them and smiled. "Perfect, you're both here. Today, the three of us will head back 300 million years ago to the Carboniferous period. This mission is to be divided into two parts; the first half will take place in Kansas and the second half will be in Scotland. Any questions before we begin?" "Yeah." Alice asked. giving him a curious stare "When you told us about the next mission, what did you mean by 'bug hunting'?" In response, Drew turned and gave her a knowing grin, "Because the Carboniferous is when bugs ruled the planet. Thanks to the oxygen-rich atmosphere, the arthropods were able to grow much larger than what we see today." He paused, before looking them both in the eye. "Now do any of you have any phobias of bugs, spiders, that sort of thing…" After both shook their heads he continued. "Good, cause I'm counting on you both to do better than those two idiots." Alice and Adrian both knew which idiots he was referring to; he hadn't forgotten Jack and Leon's little stunt. Drew got up and grabbed his supplies before walking out.

Adrian turned to Alice, "Drew is kind of a person who holds grudges; well, he holds grudges depending on whatever the situation is." Alice nodded in understanding and they both went to grab their supplies for this mission. Soon, all three were at the portal site and, with the push of a button, the machine whirred into life and the glowing orb lazily hung in the air. Smiling at each other, the trio went through the portal, into the past. What they saw when they came out was a giant swamp; the smell of rotting plants hung in the air, mist hung low from the trees, like an all-obscuring fog and the buzzing of insects could be heard in the air. The land looked very different from what Alice and Adrian had seen in the Devonian; unlike the Devonian's quiet forests, the Carboniferous swamps were lush, warm and teeming with life.

"OK guys." Drew said, as Alice and Adrian turned their heads towards him, focusing on him in rapt interest, "I have two main targets for this mission; one for each location. Our target here is Petrolacosaurus, it's one of the first reptiles." Drew pulled out a picture of the target and his teammates got a good look at it. From its size, it looked like a rather harmless animal, but they full well knew that the animals that they really should be scared of were the gigantic bugs and amphibians that lived in this swamp alongside it (and probably hunted it).

At the park, Yolanda was currently in the underwater viewing section of the Dunkleosteus tank, watching the titanic fish swim around. She wasn't worried; she knew she wasn't in any danger, since the glass was incredibly thick. The glass had to be very heavily reinforced, in order to withstand ramming attacks (the most common method of attacking their prey) from the gigantic fish. However, this was no reassurance to Jack and Leon; they had to stand on the feeding platform above the tank, where the glass could not protect them from any attack. In order to see who was going to go first "into the jaws of death", as Jack had put it, they had resorted to the classic method for deciding whose duty it is to take up an unwelcome task; a game of "rock, paper, scissors".

"Uh, best out of… 71?", Leon proposed, in response to which Jack nodded eagerly. The crew watching groaned; they knew that Jack and Leon were simply stalling. They wanted to put off what had to be done for as long as possible; either due to their own personal fear or a lack of interest in working with each other. The keeper who was in charge of keeping the tanks divided, rolled his eyes and decided enough was enough. To get their two supervisors to actually co-operate, he lifted the divider, opening the gate between the tanks and allowing the fish to interact with each other. Jack and Leon, witnessing this scene with widened eyes, looked at each other in terror as they saw the giant fish swimming towards each other. After a moment, Leon breathed out, "Why does this always happen to us?", as Jack shrugged in reply. The two didn't waste any time in grabbing the meat in the basket and tossing it into the tank, hoping to keep the two fish from attacking each other and to avoid being chewed out by Drew again.

Meanwhile in the Carboniferous swamps, Drew, Alice and Adrian had decided that the best place to look for their target would near a watering hole; in a swamp, they were spoiled for choice. However, they couldn't just pick any place to start looking; they needed a place that a small animal could drink and not worry about getting caught by predators or trapped in mud. After a while of searching, Alice had managed to find a spot that was promising enough. However, there was a problem; the watering hole had some not-so-friendly visitors. A large amount of giant striped amphibians surrounded the lake. They were approximately ten feet long and looked like a cross between an alligator and a salamander. And, unfortunately, they weren't the friendly-looking type, shoving and snapping at each other frequently. Looking at the amphibians, Adrian said, "Hey, Hugo told me about these. These are Proterogyrinus, right?", turning to Drew for confirmation.

Drew nodded, "Yes, these guys are the top predators. As a result, they have to be rescued". In response to this, Adrian and Alice began to get the supplies ready to bring them back, before Drew stopped them. "Sadly, we aren't prepared for amphibians, so I'll have to send a message first before we can save them." In response to this, Alice and Adrian rolled their eyes and almost did a double-take. Drew chuckled at this and leaned against the nearest tree to send the message. However, soon after he did, something suddenly fell on top of him. Startled, Drew quickly shook his head, causing the object to fall off, and giving the team a chance to look at the creature that had fallen on him.

At first glance, it looked like a giant tarantula, however it was much, much bigger; about the size of Drew's head. Its body was entirely black, except for its two, easily noticeable, fangs, which were coloured a startling crimson. As the spider adjusted to its current situation, its eight small eyes scanning the area, the team backed away to give it space. "Uh, Drew", Adrian asked nervously, as the spider hissed at the indignity it was currently being subjected to, "Any idea what this is?" Drew shrugged and shook his head, "No, neither my notes nor the ones Theodore and Leon gave me said anything about a giant spider."