Drew awoke to hear something moving through the bushes and Jack and Leon yelling. Instantaneously readying himself for some giant predator, he rushed outside to see Jack and Leon sitting by the fire. He turned to them, frantically, "What's the alarm?" Jack giggled in response, "Nothing, fearless leader. Look." He pointed at several small dinosaurs standing by the camp site. Each was about three feet long and had a long neck, a small head, with a beak and a short tail. Their bodies were covered in sandy brown feathers, becoming darker on the legs and tail. Their most distinctive feature was their short, stubby limbs which only had a single finger ending in one large claw.
Leon knew what they were immediately, "They're Monokyus; a kind of dinosaur known as the alvarezsaurs. They're insectivores; that big claw is used to dig out the insects that they eat." Drew smiled, "And they're right here in front of us. Perfect opportunity; Jack, get the bait bag. There are insects in there." Jack got the bait bag and emptied a trail of dead cockroaches, which the little dinosaurs followed. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present. Once the last Monokyus had gone through, Drew shut off the portal, smiled and said, "Let's all get some sleep."
Meanwhile, back at the park, Collete was watching Balerion, the female allosaur and her two new adopted "children". Balerion had left the juveniles for the moment to get some food for them from the communal feeding area, leaving them in a hollowed-out log for their protection.
Suddenly, the bushes rustled and an Allosaurus emerged. However, this was not Balerion; this was one of the adult males, who had been named Meraxes. Meraxes sniffed the air; he had smelt a familiar odour and he was hungry. He moved closer and closer to the hollowed log, sniffing out the two baby allosaurs, who began to twitch and squeal in fear. As he approached the log, Collete lifted her communicator and rang in, "Collete Dubois reporting. There's something going on at the allosaur enclosure…"
However, just as Meraxes reached the log and was about to tear it open, he was suddenly cut off by a loud roar. He turned round to see Balerion standing in front of him. In response to the roar, he hissed defiantly, in an attempt to stand up to this larger female. Balerion approached him, snarlin and reared up, lifted her arms, showing off her powerfully-clawed fingers, and lowered her head, showing her horns in profile. This was a threat gesture. Faced with the larger individual, Meraxes backed off and slunk back off to his side of the enclosure. As he left, Balerion chased him, nipping at his heels like a sheepdog. Once he was out of sight, the two juveniles moved a bit closer to their "mother" and Balerion roared in triumph.
The next morning, Drew was suddenly awoken by a loud, honking bellow. Instananeously readying himself for whatever they might find outside, he clambered out of his tent and met Jack and Leon. Shortly after, he saw what creatures had awoken them.
A herd of incredibly large duck-billed dinosaurs was walking past the camp; the largest was some forty feet long. They were largely a greenish brown, with tan stripes on the flanks and black stripes on the tails. However, their most distinctive feature was their long, spike-like cranial crest, projected upwards and backwards, starting from over the eyes.
Jack turned to Leon and said, "I trust you know what those are." Leon nodded and said, "These are Saurolophus; a common hadrosaur in the region. They're amongst the largest of hadrosaurs and are common prey items to Tarbosaurus…" Jack rolled his eyes and said "Yep yep yep, Leon. Anyone have any idea where they're going?" Drew shrugged and said, "Probably to find water. The plan is we follow them."
Drew, Jack and Leon trekked in the direction of the herd and, after about an hour, reached a stand of forest surrounding a large lake. The Saurolophus had all reached the lake and were either drinking from the waters or browsing from the trees. However, they weren't the only dinosaurs by the lakeside. A small group of dinosaurs were also at the lake. They were large; the biggest was some thirty feet long and was as tall as a giraffe. Each had a small head atop a long neck with a bipedal gait and a heavy, deep, broad body, with short, stocky legs. Their arms were their most striking feature, almost disproportionately long compared to their bodies, with incredibly long, vicious-looking claws tipping its three fingers. Their feathers were mostly a greenish brown, being lighter on the arms and tail, with a brown-feathered neck and head. Drew smiled, "Therizinosaurus. We've found our targets. This could be our easiest mission yet…" Jack facepalmed and said, "Please don't say that." Drew said, "Why?" Jack responded with, "'Cos, fearless leader, every time someone says that, something bad happens…"
Suddenly, a Saurolophus looked up and sniffed the air, before letting out a brief, honking bellow. The herbivores suddenly went on edge. The Therizinosaurus swished their clawed arms from side to side and hissed, whilst the Saurolophus stamped and bellowed at whatever had spooked them. "Wonder what's got them so spooked?", Jack said to Drew. Leon suddenly turned behind them, his eyes widened in shock, and said, "That." Jack and Drew turned to see a Tarbosaurus, so big and so motionless that they didn't see it, standing, hidden amongst the trees. The tyrannosaur looked at the three humans with a cold glare, before moving past them and closer to the Saurolophus. Bunching together, the youngsters at the centre, the Saurolophus attempted to scare the predator off by stamping their feet and bellowing, inflating the large sacs on their heads.
Drew turned to his team quietly, "We'll have to get this done quick; we don't want the Tarbosaurus noticing us." Jack briefly looked at something nearby and said, "Uh, Drew… I might be jumping the gun here, but I think you should be worrying about more than just a Tarbosaurus." At this statement, Leon turned to Jack curiously, "Jack, what could be worse than a Tarbosaurus?" Suddenly, a second Tarbosaurus burst out from the trees and tore towards the herd. Jack turned to Leon and said, "Another Tarbosaurus; does that answer your question?"
The Saurolophus stampeded, moving as if a single unified entity, with the Tarbosaurus in hot pursuit; whilst the hadrosaurs were faster, the Tarbosaurus could easily keep pace with the hadrosaurs. Not wanting to miss the opportunity that this afforded, Drew turned to Jack and Leon and yelled, "Now!" Hurriedly, Jack and Leon set up the portal in the direction to which the herd was stampeding. Not changing their course, the entire herd stampeded through the portal, into the present.
The Tarbosaurus, surprised at the sudden disappearance of their prey, turned their attention to the Therizinosaurus. Advancing towards the bird-like dinosaurs. The lead Therizinosaurus raised his massive, clawed arm and slammed it into the tyrannosaur's head, sending it spinning. Its companion charged towards the Therizinosaurus, which threw its arm into the dinosaur's flank, leaving three long gashes on its side. One of the Tarbosaurus snarled at the Therizinosaurus, which swished its arms from side to side and hissed menacingly in response. Defeated, the two tyrannosaurs slunk off… and turned their attention to the three humans.
As the two giant theropods moved towards them, Drew's eyes widened, "Oh. Crap." Drew, Jack and Leon ran in different directions; the two Tarbosaurus followed Drew, cornering him behind a hollow log. Jack and Leon watched in horror as the tyrannosaurs advanced towards Drew, "Oh my God", Jack said, "They're going to kill him." Leon looked in horror, "What can we do?", to which Jack replied, "There's always something we can do. Pass me the horn."
As the Tarbosaurus bore down on him, Drew could smell their fetid breath and feel their cold stares. Drew reflected; he'd had many near-death experiences on these missions. But, this would be how it ended; eaten by tyrannosaurs in Cretaceous Mongolia.
Suddenly, he heard the horn blaring; that was odd. The Tarbosaurus paused their remorseless advance, and turned to the source of the sound; Jack and Leon. The Tarbosaurus snarled in indignation and advanced towards Jack and Leon, the former of whom kept on blaring the horn; once they had gotten close enough, Leon activated the portal, sending both of the tyrannosaurs through to the present.
Drew turned to Jack and Leon, "Why did you do that? You guys could have died." Jack smiled and said, "Drew, we're a team. Watching each other's back is what we do. Now, all we need to do is bring back our targets…" So, they approached the Therizinosaurus, who were peacefully browsing by the lake, and left a trail of plants as bait for the dinosaurs to follow. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, sending them through, into the present. Once the last had gone through, Drew turned to Jack and Leon and said, "Let's go home."
When they walked through into the park, they met Kyle, Linda and Collete at the walkway and walked up to them. Jack turned to Collete and said, "Told you I'd stay out of trouble", to which she smiled at him in response. Meanwhile, Leon asked Linda, "How'd it go?", to which she smiled, "It went perfectly." Kyle asked Drew, "What happened whilst you guys were gone?", to which Drew smiled, "I'll explain it to you later." In response, the head keeper rolled his eyes.
Soon, all the Cretaceous Mongolia creatures had been transferred to their new homes. The Velociraptors had been moved to a paddock in Raptor Territory and were currently napping in the shade of a large tree, waiting for food to arrive. The Tarbosaurus pair had been moved into a large paddock in Theropod Kingdom and were currently roaming their territory, waiting for their next meal. Meanwhile, the Mononkyus were being kept in Discovery Outpost, in the yard the juvenile allosaurs had vacated, and were currently searching through their exhibit for the insects that the keepers had hidden for them.
The Saurolophus, Protoceratops and Therizinosaurus had been transferred to Mesozoic Safaris to join the eclectic mix of herbivores there. Each group had been transported in the park's large containment trucks. The Therizinosaurus were in the forest section of the enclosure, browsing from the trees, the Protoceratops were resuming their mating season battles, whilst the Saurolophus were mingling with the other herbivores in the plains section.
Meanwhile in the vet offices, Linda was checking on the long-term patients; at this moment, numbering only Cirrus. Linda smiled at how well the day had gone; their plan to get the baby allosaurs adopted had worked perfectly. Things were going well; which the staff of Prehistoric Earth couldn't say all that often. As she left, so Harry could relieve her, Cirrus walked over and stuck his head out. Linda briefly paused and stroked his head.
Next time on Prehistoric Earth
The team go back to Cretaceous Texas
(Two large theropods move towards a Jeep)
To rescue the biggest crocodile ever
(A giant crocodile grabs a hadrosaur)
Meanwhile, back at the park, the staff find they may have bitten off more than they can chew
(A pack of Velociraptors surround Jack)
All next time on Prehistoric Earth: Every Golden Scale!
Animals rescued:
Saurolophus angustirostrus: 25 (12 males, 13 females)
Protoceratops andrewsi: 36 (13 males, 23 females)
Velociraptor mongoliensis: 6 (3 males, 3 females)
Mononykus olecranus: 14 (7 males, 7 females)
Tarbosaurus bataar: 2 (1 male, 1 female)
Therizinosaurus cheloniformis: 11 (3 males, 8 females)
