Following the sounds, Drew, Alice and Adrian entered a clearing at the edge of a palm stand. The sight that greeted them was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Two male Smilodon, distinguished by their short, lion-like manes, were standing over a killed Macrauchenia. Compared to the hulking beast they had seen before, these males were scarcely more than adolescents; however, one was noticeably larger than the other. They were snarling, growling and roaring at the creature that had come to claim their kill.

The creature they were facing off against was nothing short of bizarre. It looked like a cross between a bear and a gorilla; only as tall as a giraffe. It had a dark, shaggy coat and powerful arms, with vicious looking, ten-inch claws. It let out a long, low, loud bellow at the cats.

They knew immediately what this was; the giant ground sloth Megatherium. Whilst normally a herbivore, it had been theorised, based on the behaviour of some herbivores today, that Megatherium had been an occasional scavenger, using its great size to bully smaller predators off their kills. Whatever, the case, Megatherium was the largest land animal in South America at that time; even sabre-toothed cats feared it.

The sloth continued towards the carcass with its weird, shufling gait. The two Smilodon attempted to make fake runs at the Megatherium, hackles raised and sabres flashing. In reply to this, the sloth reared up on its hind legs and roared at them, deafening every creature present.

The smaller male was beginning to back off; however, the larger male continued snarling and making mock runs at the sloth. Suddenly, the larger male slipped in a dust pocket and ended up sprawled in front of the giant sloth. With a speed that belied its massive bulk, the sloth struck out with its long arms. The male Smilodon yelped in pain as the sloth's vicious-looking, ten-inch claws found their mark. He attempted to roll back, but the sloth ambled forward and brought his claws crashing down again. The sabre-tooth dropped on his side, helpless and the sloth pummelled him until he stopped breathing. The Megatherium briefly dragged at the male's limp body, before heading to the Macrauchenia carcass. Sitting on its haunches, it tore the carcass open with its large claws and began to feed.

The smaller male stood, rooted to the spot at what had just transpired. He was now alone, probably for the first time in his life. However, it only took a growl from the sloth to convince him to retreat; he did not want to repeat what had happened to his brother. When a Megatherium wanted something, there was nothing on the plains that could stop it.

Hiding in some vegetation, Drew, Alice and Adrian all looked at each other; this was an opportunity they couldn't pass up. Setting up the portal on the path of the predator's retreat and leaving some meat as bait, they waited until the big cat approached. The Smilodon followed the trail of meat through the portal, into the present. "Now for the Megatherium.", Drew muttered under his breath. Adrian looked at him, incredulously, "How are you going to get that thing through the portal? It just killed an adult male Smilodon." Drew smirked, "Just like we did with the terror birds. It worked with them; it'll work with this."

A few minutes later, after contacting the park and setting up the portal, Alice crept up to the carcass, being careful not to anger the sloth, and hooked the end of the winch into it. Then, as fast as her legs could carry her, she ran away, with the Megatherium swiping the air and grunting at her. The winch was attached to a park Jeep on the other side of the portal, driven by Adrian. As soon as Drew gave the thumbs-up signal, Adrian activated the winch, which began pulling the carcass away. The Megatherium noticing this, began to follow the carcass, grunting with irritation. Drew yelled over the walkie-talkie, "Adrian! Hit the pedal, now!" Adrian whirred the jeep into life and began to drive forward, moving the chunk of meat with it. The Megatherium charged after the dead litopern and through the portal, into the present.

After Adrian had returned and the Megatherium had gone through the portal, Drew noticed Alice was looking at the sky. Confused, Drew said, "What are you doing?" Alice turned to him, "Look at those clouds." Drew and Adrian noticed something; storm clouds were building in the sky, almost blocking out the sun. Alice breathed out, "That means we have to get looking for the Smilodon pride; storm clouds mean lightning..." Drew breathed out, "And with this dry grass, we're standing on a giant tinder box."

Meanwhile, in the Pleistocene, Leon was still tracking the Smilodon pair; after his encounter with the Megatherium, he had followed their pugmarks for the past few miles. Eventually, he walked over a hill to see a small cave at the base of a cliff, where the two Smolodon were sat, grooming themselves in their den. With a closer look, Leon noticed they looked fairly... thin; that Macrauchenia was probably the first substantial meal they'd had in a while. A sobering realisation came to him; he was looking at the end of an era.

Leon then paused; what would Drew do in this situation? Suddenly, an idea came to him; an insanely reckless one, but one nonetheless.

He grabbed the horn, ran down the hill and began blaring it at the two cats. Reacting to the sound, they turned to acknowledge him, advancing towards this strange new creature, snarling. Leon smiled as he saw the Smilodon advancing towards him; this would work after all. Once the two big cats had gotten close enough, Leon lifted the portal remote. As the two big cats pounced forward, Leon dived out of the way, activating the portal as he did so. Unable to change their trajectory, the Smilodon leapt through the portal, into the present.

After the Smildon had gone through, Leon walked through the portal, back to the park. As he exited the portal, he saw Jack and Collete looking at him, part confused, part surprised. Climbing the ladder onto the gantry, Leon walked up to them and smiled, "Told'ja it'd work." Jack rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, the Pliocene team had tracked the Smilodon pride's pugmarks to the base of a cliff. As the team moved closer to the cliff, they noticed a small group of animals clustered together in an overhang. Approaching it, they saw the Smilodon pride, the Macrauchenia and Toxodon herds, six Phorusrhacos, four Doedicurus and several Megatherium, including a mother with a baby on her back.

Aside from a couple of occasional snaps between the sabre-tooths and terror birds, there was an air of unease; natural enemies forced by some extenuating circumstance into an uneasy ceasefire. What had forced predator and prey, as well as natural enemies, into this uneasy truce?

As if answering their question, one mighty bolt of lightning struck a patch of dry grass near to the overhang. The team could only watch as the dried vegetation was consumed by a growing blaze. Minutes later, the grasslands were in a towering inferno, getting closer and closer to the overhang. The animals snapped and quaked nervously, cowering away from the inferno as the team stood to the spot, mute with horror.

"Oh, crap."