Drew, Jack and Adrian walked through the Cretaceous forest, with Keehar flying alongside them. They hadn't seen any animals since their encounter with the Mei long. As they walked, they scanned the trees for Microraptor, catching vague glimpses of creatures scurrying through the branches. However, the glimpses were too fleeting to be identifiable as anything.
Drew looked at his compatriots and said, "Since looking isn't working, we may need another plan. How about we try-". He was cut off by a loud, low reverberating squawk that echoed through the forest. He scanned the forest, to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. Once he had, he began walking towards the sound, Jack, Adrian and Keehar following him. Following the sound, they entered a clearing and saw a dinosaur standing in front of them.
It was smaller than they had been expecting; only about the same size as the Mei long. There was also a vague similarity in appearance; however, this new dinosaur had a longer, more rounded head, as opposed to the Mei long's sharp, pointed muzzle. Its teeth were also different too; rather than the sharp, serrated teeth of the Mei long, it had large incisor teeth, like that of a rabbit.
Unlike the camouflaging green-brown plumage of the Mei long, this dinosaur had an extravagant crest of blue-green feathers on its head, a similarly coloured fan on its tail and long, slightly darker feathers on its arms. The dinosaur threw back its head, let out another booming cry and jumped up and down, lifting his tail to expose his tail fan, bobbing his head to show off his crest and flapping his arms to reveal his wing feathers.
Drew knew what it was immediately, "According to the info-packs, this is Incisivosaurus; another kind of feathered dinosaur from this area. As you can tell from the buck teeth, it's a herbivore." Jack pointed at the Incivisosaurus, "I'm guessing this is a male; what with the bright colours and the vigorous displaying. This, fearless leader, looks like a mating display."
True to Jack's word, they noticed another Incivisosaurus enter the clearing; this one was slightly smaller and a dull brown. This was evidently a female; she lacked the extravagant tail fan and head plumage seen on the male. The male, after seeing this new arrival, resumed his displaying vigorously, interspersing it with high-pitched pinging sounds to draw the female closer. Eventually, she turned her back to the male and lifted her tail to expose her cloaca.
Turning away, Jack tittered, "I think they need to be alone, if you catch my drift", raising his eyebrows, causing his compatriots to start giggling. "Oh, stop it", Adrian giggled. "Yeah", Drew said, barely stifling back laughter himself, "Keep your eyes on the mission." Keehar, for his part, looked confusedly at the humans; what were they so amused by?
After the Incivisosaurus had finished mating, Drew, still stifling back the urge to giggle, aimed the portal remote at the clearing. The two oviraptorids stood, transfixed, at the glowing orb and walked through it; the female first, followed by the male. When the male had gone through, Drew shut the portal off and turned to his team, "Right what we do about the Microraptor is-", before Jack's voice interrupted him. "Uh, fearless leader? You'd best come over here; you'll want to see this."
Drew ran over to see Jack, Adrian and Keehar standing in front of a series of tracks; and large ones at that. Each was about a foot wide. Drew bent down to regard them; they looked rather familiar. He couldn't identify what specific animal species they had come from, but he knew what kind of animal had made them…
Suddenly, a high, chirping call echoed through the forest, causing the team to look in the direction of a large tree. They watched as a small shape leapt from the branch, spread its arms and legs and gracefully glided down to the print and began digging for grubs.
Now that it was on the ground, they could look at it closer. It was small, barely over two feet long, with a body that was covered in iridescent black feathers, with its only bare parts being its feet, muzzle and fingers. Its arms and legs were covered in long, asymmetrical feathers, like those on a bird's wings. Like the Utahraptor back at the park, it had a sickle claw on its second toe. They all knew what it was immediately. Drew muttered, in awe, "Microraptor". Suddenly, the little dinosaur turned to notice those regarding it and climbed back up into the trees at lightning speed, disappearing before they could blink.
Drew turned to his compatriots and said, "That's a Microraptor. The reason why it ran back up the tree is, since it can't fly, it can't take off from the ground. We can use that." Jack, Adrian and Keehar looked at each other puzzled. "How?", Jack said. Drew smirked, "Easy."
Meanwhile, back at the park, Leon was brainstorming ideas about what to do about the Stegosaurus. Sure, this was only going to be temporary, but something still needed to be done.
It hadn't just been today; the Mesozoic Safaris herbivores had been having compatibility issues for quite a while now, with situations simmering to the occasional conflict would occur over water, food or territory. It was mostly the smaller herbivores; everybody knew better than to challenge the giant sauropods. Maybe it was due to the fact that they'd all been thrown together with animals they would have never interacted with in nature; the fear of the new. Elephants, gazelles and rhinos were all accustomed to each other, which was why-….
Suddenly, Leon had an idea. He knew what to do about the problem, until breeding season had ended and the testosterone levels of the male stegs got back to normal He immediately began sketching designs in. The solution could only be-.
Meanwhile, back in Prehistoric China, Drew and team had constructed a small fence around an area of soil, with openings filled with grubs as bait. Drew had explained the plan, "We construct the fence entirely around the openings, so when the Microraptor come down to feed on our bait, they won't be able to leave and we can get them through the portal. All we have to do is wait."
And so they did, sitting in the undergrowth and waiting for their targets to arrive.
Eventually, they saw a Microraptor gracefully glide down to their fence and begin digging for grubs. The Microraptor was then joined by a second, then a third and so on. Soon, twelve Microraptors were in the corral, digging for the grubs the team had left as bait. Drew smiled; just a little longer and they'd have…
Suddenly, two young male Incivisosaurus tore into the clearing, knocking over the fence and causing the Microraptors to scatter, climbing back up into the trees. The two rivals circled and vigorously displayed at each other. At the failure of their plan, Jack sighed, "And the best laid plans of mice and men…"
Adrian turned to his compatriots and smiled, "We can salvage something from this. Jack, can I have the horn?" After Jack obliged, Adrian walked into the clearing and began blaring his horn at the two dinosaurs, which turned to look at him. Their grudges forgotten at the sight of this new competitor, the two dinosaurs charged at him and, when they had gotten close enough, Drew opened the portal and they dived through, into the present.
Jack turned to look at the destroyed fence, "What do we do about the Microraptor?" Drew sighed and turned to look at Jack, Adrian and Keehar, "Stay there, I'm going back to the park to get some stuff that might help us." He walked through the portal, back to the present.
Meanwhile, back at the park, Collete was on watch duty in Mesozoic Safaris, keeping an eye on the male Stegosaurus, in case they did something. Collete snorted; knowing Leon, this plan was impractical, ridiculous and highly likely to end in disaster. The guy was a bunny hugger all the way through. He was a walking textbook; that was all he was.
Jack had really come to grow on her. She'd thought him annoying at first, but over time, she'd come to enjoy his company; he made her laugh. It was surprising, really, they were complete opposites; Jack was a lot more of a maverick than her. His sister, on the other hand, had been cold to her the instant they met; personality clash, she supposed. Whatever the case, they kept a mutual distance from each other.
Anyways, back to watch duty. She turned to watch the Iguanodon herd, with accompanying Polacanthus, were drinking from the lake or browsing from trees or shrubs. Suddenly, there was a loud bellow, to which the Iguanodon herd suddenly froze and looked in the direction it had originated.
One of the younger male Stegosaurus, plates flushed red with blood, was charging down the hill, bellowing loudly. As he got closer to the lake, he began trying to push his way through the Iguanodon, who began bellowing aggressively at this new arrival. In response to this, the Stegosaurus stamped his foot, swished his spiky tail and bellowed at the Iguanodon. After that, the Polacanthus swiped their viciously armoured tails at the male Stegosaurus, and the Iguanodons lashed their thumb spikes at it. The Stegosaurus, however, was showing no signs of yielding.
Collete picked up her walkie-talkie and said, "There's a Code Beserker at Mesozoic Safaris! I need help urgently." After a few minutes, several park personnel, Alice amongst them, all armed with hosepipes, rushed to the scene. Collete narrowed her eyes at the sight of Alice, but put those thoughts to rest; she had to be professional. Each staff member grabbed a hosepipe and began spraying it at the herbivores. However, it was to no avail; it looked like this was going to end in a fight.
Suddenly, a loud, hooting bellow echoed through the air, to which all creatures went silent. Turning, they saw Lightning the Argentinosaurus come charging down the hill, eventually standing between the Iguanodon herd and the Stegosaurus, which bellowed at the larger herbivore.
Lightning reared up on his hind legs briefly before slamming his front feet against the ground, before bellowing loudly at the warring herbivores. The Stegosaurus and Iguanodon both quietened, with the Stegosaurus ambling off to the other side of the lake, leaving the other herbivores in peace, before Lightning ambled off.
Well, that was unusual.
Meanwhile, in prehistoric China, Drew had returned with three net guns; one each for himself, Jack and Adrian. He explained, "We use the net guns to net the Microraptor when they're on the ground and put them in individual carriers." And so, the three adventurers and accompanying pterosaur continued through the forest, searching for Microraptor. After about an hour, they heard noise in a nearby clearing, finding a small group of female Incisivosaurus.
Watching the dinosaurs, Drew smirked, "We'll need some more females at the park anyways. I've got a plan, and it's a cracker", to which Jack, Adrian and Keehar gave him quizzical looks. This plan involved making a trail of plants to use as bait and allowing the dinosaurs to follow it. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present.
Once the last Incisivosaurus had gone through, Drew shut off the portal. Jack looked at Drew and asked, "So what's the plan now?"
Before Drew could speak, the team heard a familiar call and looked up to see several Microraptor gliding through the trees, heading deeper into the forest. Drew, smiling, turned to Jack and Adrian and said, "The plan is we see where they're headed."
