Part 4
The Scottish swamps were almost identical to the North American ones; the same smell of rotting plants hung in the air and the sounds of large, buzzing insects still echoed in the air. As the team set up camp in one of the few dry places they could find, Drew began to discus his plans for the mission, "Alright guys, we'll split up. Me and Alice will look for a female Arthropleura, while Adrian goes after some Meganeura. I'm assuming I can trust you to capture a decent amount, Adrian?" Adrian, who was polishing a type of water gun (it was used as a capture gun for flying insects), looked up at Drew and smiled. "Mate, I am the best sniper for this job and you know it." He said all this in an exaggeratedly fake Aussie accent.
Alice, perplexed, turned to Drew for an explanation. Drew rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "We used to play TF2 a lot when we were younger; he still does. His favourite class is the Sniper, and, whenever he chose it, he'd start talking Australian as a way to 'get into character'". Alice sniggered, as the two began to head out in search of giant millipedes.
Back at the park, Jack and Leon were getting ready to introduce the Hyneria to each other. This time, they were trying to be more prepared. Key word; trying. They entered the aquarium, heads held high. Leon looked at the tank, with an arrogant smirk; he felt like he could take on the world". Jack was scanning through the shark husbandry manual Mia had given them (since, from what Alice and Adrian had reported, it was deemed the best model), when his eyes suddenly widened. Oh my God", he muttered under his breath. Leon turned to him, wearing a smirk, "OK Jack, what does the info say?". Jack turned to him and breathed out, "There's a problem. Do you know how to read French?".
Adrian was currently approaching a large watering hole. That didn't change wherever in the world you went to; watering holes would always attract wildlife. He briefly scouted the area and hid behind a tree. His plan was to catch the dragonflies off guard when they arrived. His prediction was soon proven to be correct as giant dragonflies cascaded down from the nearby trees. Whilst several were green, like the ones back at the park, others were a bright blue in colour. They knew the green ones were female; this meant that the blue ones had to be males. "Alright, buggies", Adrian thought to himself, 'Let's dance.'
At the park, Jack and Leon were leafing through the book, trying to find some form of translation or the French text; neither of them could speak or read the language. Finally, Jack had enough and threw the book to the floor, "Oh God! It's all in French!". Jack and Leon looked at each other in horror. Jack turned to the nearest keeper and ordered, "We need to find someone who can speak French; it's the only way we can understand this and get back in Drew's good books."
Back in the Carboniferous, Adrian had his water gun rifle pointed at a dragonfly as he landed on a log. He looked through the scope and aimed perfectly, pulled the trigger, and yet somehow still missed. He swore, "Curse you physics!", to the trees above, as he reloaded his gun and tried again.
At the park, there was no translator in the area. So Jack and Leon had only one thing left to try; they had to translate it all themselves. They transferred the French text onto Google Translator and Leon pressed the button that said French translator. Soon, the translation came up. Jack and Leon looked at each other in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense", Leon said. "What are we going to do?", Jack said in quiet desparation.
Back in the Carboniferous, Adrian was now hiding behind a tree, on the edge of the water, hoping for an opportunity to sneak up on the lightning-fast dragonflies. He aimed his rifle at the nearest one and began to fire. However, he would never get the opportunity; an enormous amphibian lunged out of the lake's depths and grabbed the dragonfly, with a speed that belied its massive bulk. The creature began to swim back to the depths, with its meal in its jaws, when it was grabbed by Adrian, who looked at it grimly, "Oh no, you don't, you wannabe croc. You and me are going on a little trip.", Adrian grabbed the struggling amphibian and carried him back to shore when he would hope the amphibian would stay. That question was soon answered, of whether or not the amphibian would stay as, when Adrian placed him down, he noticed the amphibian's legs were tiny in comparison to its sinuous body.
At the Devonian section of the aquarium Leon and Jack exited the building with smug looks on their faces. "That was a lot easier than what I was expecting", Leon said. "I agree, let's get brunch", Jack proclaimed, almost arrogantly.
Back in the Carboniferous, Adrian was waiting for more Meganeura, spending the time catching more amphibians, several of which were currently contained. With the amphibians securely contained, he soon began moving back into the pond, hiding behind a tree and aimed his rifle at a another male on the log. He raised his rifle, and pulled the trigger. Amazingly, he managed to get a hit. He rushed in to grab his prize, suddenly causing panic amongst the giant insects. Adrian didn't waste any time grabbing his rifle and shooting again.
Drew and Alice's search wasn't going much better; they hadn't found anything. As they headed back to camp, they saw a large log. Hoping to repeat what happened in Kansas, they attempted to flip it over. However, their efforts were naught; the log was a real log and it had some not so friendly inhabitants living in it. Several small, black scorpions were hiding under the log. The scorpions gave defensive positions, raising their stingers and clicking their claws aggressively at the new arrivals. "Any idea what species these are?" Alice asked. Drew responded with, "Pulmonoscorpius. They're probably venomous, so be careful of the stingers. However, I'd doubt it has an effect on humans." Alice nodded and said, "OK. I'll grab these guys and bring them back to camp; you check on Adrian". Drew was a little unsure about this but he trusted that Alice knew what she was doing. After a brief period of walking, he soon found the watering hole Adrian was at. And it seemed he was having the time of his life.
"Boom, headshot! Boom, headshot! Boom, headshot!", he said, constantly pulling the trigger of his water gun. However, he soon realised that he had forgotten to refill it; now it was shooting nothing but air. Drew decided to let him have his fun, as he looked at what Adrian had caught. The dragonflies he had caught were in a butterfly net hanging from a tree while the amphibians were struggling to move in the shallows, with their mouths tied shut. Drew immediately identified the species as Crassigyrinus, an almost entirely aquatic amphibian. Grabbing them one by one, he opened the portal and sent them through to the present. He decide to wait until tomorrow for the dragonflies, as it was getting dark out.
Soon Drew and Adrian were at the camp, waiting for Alice to arrive. After a few minutes, she arrived, carrying several Pulmonoscorpius and with several sting marks as testament. She placed them in the animal carriers they'd taken and looked at her teammates, "I take it all back now; grabbing scorpions is never easy." Drew nodded in agreement.
"So, mate", Adrian asked his leader, "Did you find any Arthies yet?" Drew looked at Adrian questionably. "You can stop with the accent now." Adrian smiled awkwardly, "Eh, might have done it a couple times too many back in the bog… now I can't break out of it."
Drew rolled his eyes and began, "Well to answer your question; no, we didn't. We'll have to try again tomorrow." After this, he yawned "Well I'm going to bed, if any of you need me. Whatever you do, don't start a fire."
"Why not?", Adrian asked. Drew said, "The oxygen in the atmosphere makes it very volatile; one small spark could turn this whole swamp into an ash field." The two nodded in understanding. Drew went into his tent, turned off his lantern, and prayed that nothing would happen in the interim.
To be continued
