Chapter 9 - Devils of the Deep
Kyle nodded his head, a look of pride on his face, as he examined the newly finished building that now stood before him. It had been three weeks since the dimetrodon mission, to allow for the building to be constructed. It was a large reinforced steel and iron structure with multiple long triangular segments upon the roof surrounding a gigantic reinforced glass dome in the centre. At the moment, it was about the same size as the Carboniferous Dome – in the future, it'd need to be a lot bigger.
Anyway, it was time he headed over to the saltwater holding tanks – only half a mile from the aquarium. He wondered what Drew and the rescue team were currently up to. "Here's hoping he knows what he's doing," he thought to himself as he headed towards the holding pens. After all, from what he knew, their target was a dangerous one.
. . . . .
"Say hello to our target," said Drew as he stood at his desk, pointing at an image of a large armoured fish, its jaws open to reveal four sharp fang-like bony extensions, two on the top and another two on the bottom. Jack whistled and Leon nodded.
"Dunkleosteus," Leon stated, an impressed look on his face. "The great white of the Devonian seas." Jack nodded in agreement. "This certainly ought to be interesting."
"Well? Chop chop!", Drew smirked, "I'm raring to go."
It was at this point that it dawned on Jack and Leon that they were working together again. And this time, Alice wouldn't be around to rein them in. They glanced at each other warily, uncertain at how this would work out.
"You really sure we're the best option?" Leon asked as Jack looked at Drew questioningly.
Drew snorted. "Don't be ridiculous," he then said, dismissively, "Everything'll be fine. You worked together in Hell Creek."
Leon and Jack were both about to point out that this wasn't true when Drew continued. "Besides, we'll be using the Ancient Mariner today, so the crew will be there the entire time." He then clapped his hands and got up and left the room, saying, "See you at the harbour", with Leon and Jack remaining for about a minute before reluctantly leaving.
Half an hour later, Drew, Jack and Leon were aboard the Ancient Mariner as it slowly revved up and headed towards the gleaming portal.
"Everyone ready now," said Kira.
"Full steam ahead," said Stavros.
Everyone failed to notice Jack and Leon surreptitiously glaring at each other. "Here's hoping you take this seriously," Leon thought, scowling. "Here's hoping you won't be too uptight," Jack thought venomously to himself. "And actually contribute."
And the mighty ship sailed through the portal and into the late Devonian period. Once the blinding light from the portal had died down, everyone decided to have a look at their surroundings. The sea was calm, the tide was low and the waves lapped gently on a nearby beach. There was no sound, aside from the lapping of the waves; the land looked utterly lifeless. It was a tranquil image of peace and serenity; everyone regarded the beautiful vista before them.
Everyone's thoughts were interrupted by Drew yelling, "Enough sightseeing, D-bags!" Jack and Leon looked at each other, whilst Drew scanned the vista, "Right, what should we do first?" It was Ballas who spoke next, "Well, it might not be my place, Kapetánio, but I'd suggest turning on the radar." Drew turned to him and smiled, "Exactly what I was thinking! Ballas, Nagayoshi, you get scanning!" He then looked to Jack, "Meet me in the locker room when you're ready – we need to get our wetsuits on." Jack nodded in agreement, and Drew left.
Once Drew had left. Jack turned to Leon and said, in a sarcastic tone, "OK, so should I use a worm or a piece of meat? 'Cos I don't know if it likes worms or not." Leon looked at Jack with a deadpan expression, "Jack, Dunkleosteus weighs five tons."
Jack smiled, subtly, and rolled his eyes, "Really? Well, we're going to need a bigger fishing pole. In fact…" he waggled his eyebrows at Leon, "we're gonna need a bigger boat". Leon rolled his eyes and stared at him, open-mouthed, "Were you seriously going to try and catch it with a fishing pole! Is this some sort of game to you?! "
Jack merely grinned at him in response, "Relax Dolittle, I was being sarcastic. Are jokes not funny in your world? Drew also said he's got something that could help us get the smaller stuff easier". He paused, " I suppose he didn't tell you that or you weren't listening," complete with a smug grin on his face. Leon growled irritably; Jack's cavalier attitude annoyed him. Before Leon could say anything, Stavros walked out on to the deck, "Sorry to interrupt a stimulating discussion, but," he turned to Jack, "Mr. Denham, you need to meet up with Drew – we've found a reef."
"Don't worry," said Jack. "Tell him I'll be there in two minutes."
"I certainly hope so." Ballas gave a brief look of concern, "He seemed pretty insistent."
"Noted, captain."
Stavros nodded, and went back to the command deck. After the man had left, Jack and Leon gave each other a look. "We'll continue this some other time," Jack hissed. Leon snarled, his eyes narrowed irritably. "Looking forward to it," he replied.
. . . . .
"This is a Novum sonar emitter", Drew said, holding a round device, "It's what the higher-ups sent us to help on marine expeditions. Basically, it emits little sonar waves to either attract animals to us or help us herd them." Jack and Leon digested Drew's statement, before he continued, "Anyway, there's no better time than now to try it out. Jack, you're coming with me."
Leon looked at Drew, "What about me? Shouldn't I be coming with you?" Drew gave Leon a look, surprised to see him. "I don't really know whether you should come or not – it could be a bit dangerous…" At this, Jack turned to Drew with a smirk, "Don't worry, fearless leader. I'll keep Dolittle from getting eaten".
Leon looked at Drew, expecting a rebuke, but saw Drew giggling, which turned into hysterical laughter, eventually joined by Jack. Leon glared at them – they were laughing at his expense. Once their laughter had died down, Leon said to Jack, indignantly, "Was that another joke?" In response, Jack gave him an arrogant smirk. "A joke based on reality, Leon."
"Anyway, let's get our gear on," said Drew. "Best to get started - I really want to be back on the Mariner by nightfall."
"As you wish fearless leader," said Jack, before surreptitiously glaring at Leon. "You do know this isn't over, right?" he whispered. "I'd be insulted if it were," Leon grumbled to himself under his breath as he and Jack followed after Drew. "Five minutes and already this mission's getting eventful," he thought bitterly.
. . . . .
Unbeknownst to the rescue team, things were getting eventful back at the park. At that moment, Rommel and another male dimetrodon were squaring off – Rommel snarled and swiped at the other male, who hissed and whipped his tail. Eventually, they both began doing a push-up motion, whilst snarling at each other.
Matt Thompson sighed – the dimetrodon were fighting again. They had been ever since they were brought back. Due to his interest in non-mammal synapsids, Kyle had asked him to observe the Dimetrodon and try and figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, even after a week of observations, Matt had come up with nothing concrete.
Part of the problem was that this was the first time he, or anyone else, had observed the behavior of a living Dimetrodon. For example, who could have guessed that the dimetrodon were actually venomous? The discovery had come by complete accident; based on a hunch, Jack had asked the research team to take saliva samples of all the sphenacodonts (all four species of Dimetrodon, the Sphenacodon and the Secodontosaurus) and analyse them for toxic enzymes.
Sometime later, Khatin, flabbergasted, had confirmed Jack's suspicion – the sphenacodonts were all venomous, with four different hemotoxic enzymes in their saliva, designed to prevent blood from clotting.
For what felt like an hour, Matt watched as the two dimetrodon continued to hiss and snap at each other, displaying each other's sails and doing the push-up motions, before Rommel chased his rival off and bellowed in triumph.
Matt sighed. "God," he thought to himself. "It's been three weeks and I still haven't figured it out." He took a deep breath, sighed, and drew his communicator. "I've got a few ideas, but I'm still stumped," he thought to himself as he drew out his communicator and entered in the ID for Kyle, lifting the device up to his ear. A few minutes later, Kyle responded.
"This is Taymor, over?"
"Hello," said Matt. "This is Thompson. Quick question; are you busy right now?"
"My team and I are just waiting for the team to bring something back. I'm guessing things aren't going well on your end?"
Matt sighed. "What do you think? I've got a couple of ideas as to why the Dimetrodon are fighting, but I'd like you to make some closer observations – you seem to be able to handle them quite well, after all"
He heard Kyle sigh heavily on the other end of the line, before he continued, "I understand that you've been a bit overworked, but this is an issue that should be solved soon." As he said this, he noticed something – the male dimetrodons' sails had changed colour, becoming far brighter.
Kyle sighed. "I'll see what I can do when I get the chance today. Though I'll probably need to have Linda to assist me."
"That's fine with me," said Matt. He nodded his head. "I don't want to be a burden, but this is something that needs urgent resolution. What Jack and his team have said was right – the fights are getting more frequent..."
"Say no more. I'll contact Linda and see if we can get to the bottom of this."
. . . . .
Back in the Devonian, Drew, Jack and Leon had come upon a large, verdant coral reef. They looked at each other – it was strange how, really, things hadn't changed much in 350 million years. From a distance it looked like the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia today – the only difference being that, instead of clownfish, pufferfish and moray eels, there were placoderms and sarcopterygians.
They swam through the reef, in search of animals to bring back. They didn't have to swim for long before they found their first animals; a small group of grey scaled placoderms with reddish brown tails, rooting about on the seabed. Leon said, breathless, "Bothriolepis – a very common species of this time, It's a bottom dweller – it filters food from the soil." Using the sonar emitter, the team managed to lure them through the portal, into the present.
Swimming over a coral stand, they came upon a small shoal consisting of three different species of placoderm, all of different sizes, with the largest species being black-coloured with white spots on the belly and yellow with black spots near the dorsal fin and a yellowish around the mouth, another species being covered in a vivid blue, with swirly orange stripes, and a blue-greenish face, and the smallest being covered in canary yellow scales with blue stripes and purple rimmed fins. Jack turned to Leon, "Any idea what these are, smarty-pants?" Ignoring the jibe, Leon said, "Materpiscis and Campbellodus, I recognize, whilst the smaller ones might be Bruntonichthys." As Drew looked closer, he realized something else. "They're feeding on molluscs. They've congregated because there are molluscs here." After saying this, he turned to Jack and said, "Get the bait bag." Jack grabbed the bait bag and emptied molluscs onto the ocean floor. The entire shoal approached the molluscs and began feeding. Whilst they were doing that, Drew approached them and set up the portal. Grabbing some of the molluscs, he threw them through the portal. All three species followed the food through, into the present. Once the last one was through, Leon turned to Jack and Drew, "Right, what's next?"
Before Drew could say anything, something lunged out of the coral at Leon, missing his arm by inches, whipping up the sand at the ocean floor into an all-obscuring screen of silt. When the sand cleared, they got a better look at it – it was a large fish some ten feet long, resembling a cross between a coelacanth, a moray eel and a shark, with orangish scales and white spots. The predator let out a single, dismayed hiss, before recoiling back to its hiding place.
Drew and Jack both looked at Leon, who spoke, still slightly flustered, "Onychodus. A sarcopterygian – it's the Gogo Reef's apex predator." Jack turned to Drew, who was grinning, and said, "Meeting the apex predator ten minutes in? This is your dream scenario, isn't it?" Drew nodded in reply, before he began swimming towards the large sarcopterygian, who was waiting in ambush, and lifted the sonar emitter. Pressing the button three times, he smiled as he noticed the predator tensing and, eventually, diving out of its hiding spot and lunging for Drew, who reached for the remote and activated the portal just in time to send the large sarcopterygian through.
Once the sarcopterygian was gone, Jack and Leon swam towards him. It was Jack who spoke next. "So… that's five species off our checklist – of course, we still need to find another onychodus…" Drew turned to Jack and said, "Be quiet please – anyway, I'm thinking we need to split up – double our chances of success. Jack, go deeper into the reef, Leon, you're with me on the edges. We meet back here in three hours." "Right-o, skip," Jack said as he swam deeper into the reef.
. . . . .
Standing within the dimetrodon paddock, Kyle observed the sleeping Rommel, eyes narrowed in concentration. This was a situation that he shouldn't take lightly. Linda, meanwhile, was outside the paddock watching from an elevated viewing area.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The head vet asked.
"Yeah," Kyle responded, looking at the sleeping dimetrodon. "I've handled him before. He knows me."
Linda raised her eyebrow, still worried, "If you say so."
"Noted."
Kyle took a deep breath, exhaled, and then calmly stepped over the river and into Rommel's territory. "Here goes nothing."
As Kyle carefully made his way over towards Rommel, the Dimetrodon started sniffing the air and snarling. At this, Kyle paused as Linda watched, breath held, before Rommel woke up, yawned, and turned to look at Kyle. For a moment, the dimetrodon's red eyes narrowed, and he snarled, before, recognizing Kyle, relaxing and let out a quiet grunt. Kyle sighed in relief and took another step towards Rommel, extending his hand towards the dimetrodon. Noticing the strip of beef in his hand, Rommel hissed, before moving slowly towards Kyle, red eyes agleam. Once he was about six feet away, Rommel paused at Kyle's extended hand and stood tensely, gazing hungrily at the beef.
"Good boy," Kyle stated at the sight of Rommel halted, yet still ready to go for the beef. "Just stay there a little bit." The head keeper counted to three, and then tossed the beef to his right. Instantly, Rommel lunged off in the direction of the meat, eventually snatching it up and swallowing it whole. Once it was gone, Rommel turned his head to face Kyle, red eyes gazing expectantly at him.
Linda nodded her head, an impressed look on her face. "Things seem to be going well."
"No kidding," Kyle agreed, before snorting in amusement, "It seems only yesterday I had to always be on my toes."
"I guess you must have earned his respect." Linda said, "In his eyes, you're the top male."
"I suppose that makes sense," Kyle admitted, before he paused, "And now you mention it, I might have an idea."
Linda raised her eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"
Kyle, still focused on Rommel, reached into his equipment bag, slowly drew out a piece of meat attached to a large bone, and tossed it away past Rommel. When the dimetrodon charged off after the bone, the head keeper looked back over at Linda. "What you said just now," he explained. "About being top male. Right, we know the dimetrodon aren't social animals – however, they do aggregate sometimes, like alligators." He looked back at Rommel once more, "So it's not much to do with social dominance. Matt mentioned that their sails had changed colour…"
At this point, Kyle suddenly burst out laughing, as both Linda and Rommel gave him a perplexed look, before he said, "It's the mating season – the males are displaying." Linda nodded, "That makes sense." Kyle nodded, "This is the mating season and the males are displaying. Good news is, most of these fights are probably going to be just noise – push-ups, mock swipes and snaps."
Linda nodded, "Yeah – however, we're still gonna have to keep an eye on them. I've seen what male alligators and Komodo dragons can do to each other." Kyle nodded, "I'll drop Jack's team a line – tell them what we think the root of the problem is."
. . . . .
Jack swam through the verdant reef, looking for animals. So far, he hadn't been successful but… early days. He at least had the advantage that he was flying solo on this one – Leon had gone off with Drew.
Of course, Drew had taken Leon with him – the one time Drew had trusted Leon to do something by himself, it had culminated in him nearly being eaten by temnospondyls. Hell, even on this mission, the Onychodus had nearly bitten his arm off. The guy was useless.
Anyway, back to reality. Looking in a crevice near a small coral, he noticed nine small tan-scaled and black-spotted creatures watching him. Each looked like a cross between a mudskipper, a coelacanth and a moray eel. He remembered from the info-packs that the lobe-finned fishes were pretty diverse during the Devonian – much more so than today. Anyway – think about that another time. He put some dead fish down near the cracks as bait and opened the portal when the little creatures came out. Once the last had gone through the portal, he chuckled – one down.
Continuing the search, he swam over a coral stand to see a small shoal of lungfish swimming through the reef – Jack could notice at least five different species in the shoal. Two species had noticeably longer snouts, with one of these being green with pink-rimmed scales while the other being a greenish blue with blue bands on the corner of the mouth and the head. Of the others, one group, coloured had tough grinding heels upon their lower jaw tooth plates. The remaining two looked like coelacanths, with one species green with pink bands and the other a uniform dark green. Jack smiled – five species for the price of one. He reached for the portal remote…
Suddenly, a large creature launched itself from the ocean floor at the shoal, who retreated, moving as if a single entity, before two more creatures lunged at the shoal, causing them to move towards Jack, who reached for the portal remote and aimed it directly at the shoal, who swam through, into the present.
Once the last had gone through, Jack turned his attention to the three predators. Whilst Jack recognized one of the creatures as another Onychodus, the two others were nothing short of bizarre. Each was about five feet long and had a front half covered in thick armour, making their heads look bigger than their bodies. The head was rounded and a fearsome gape revealed a vast mouth filled with massive shearing teeth – combined with the orange/red colour, this made the head look like an oversized jack-o-lantern.
The three predators circled each other – as if readying for a fight. It was at that moment Jack realized he could get another onychodus and whatever these new creatures were all in one go. Lifting the sonar emitter, he pressed it, causing the predators to pause and turn, almost in unison, to look at this new creature. Their rivalries forgotten, they all dived at Jack, who quickly activated the portal – all three predators disappeared through it, into the present.
Once they had gone through the portal, Jack punched the air in triumph, whilst declaring under his breath, "YES! Seven species in one go – I wonder how Drew's getting on."
. . . . .
Meanwhile, Leon and Drew had come upon a small group of large armoured fish with olive grey bodies and bright blue spots feasting upon a large placoderm carcass.
"Based on shape and facial structure, I'm guessing mcnamaraspis," said Leon.
Drew nodded his head and prepared his sonar emitter. "Let's get them."
Lifting his sonar emitter, Drew got the predators' attention and, when they barrelled towards him, sent them through the portal. Once this was done, the two friends swam onward for about an hour or so afterward before coming upon a shoal of four species of camuropiscid, each one a different colour, digging through the sandy floor with their bladed noses to search for food.
"The green ones with blue underbellies are camuropiscis," Leon explained as he pointed at the creatures in question. "The blue and yellow striped ones are rolfosteus, the grey ones with white underbellies and shorter snouts than the others are tubonasus, and the orange and tan ones are fallacosteus." Drew grinned gleefully. "Four for the price of one", before passing the bait bag to Leon. "They're crustacean-eaters, right? How about we give 'em a new taste?"
Leon nodded, dug out some shrimp, and threw it down towards the camuropiscids, and the shoal swam towards the shrimp and started feeding, following the trail to the portal. Once the last one had gone through when Leon closed the portal. "Good job," said Drew. "Now, we've still got two hours, so let's see if we can find some more animals…"
"You mean like those camuropiscis?" Leon asked as he pointed behind Drew. Turning his head, Drew's eyes widened in surprise as he saw a small group of camuropiscis. "Well, it's better than nothing," he said, "Let's get to work."
As soon as he said this, five large placoderms, bulkier than the mcnamarapsis and with dull, blue-green scales, launched themselves out of the water and began feeding on the shoal. "Harrytoombsia," Leon stated, "Another placoderm."
"I can see that," said Drew as he watched the five carnivorous fish, "Leon, stay back – I'll get the sonar emitter ready." "Yes," said Leon, reluctantly.
The harrytoombsia had just finished eating before the sound of the sonar emitters caught their attention; once they were close enough, Drew sent the predators through the portal. Once the portal was closed, Leon gave Drew a look, "Why was I not allowed to be involved?".
"Didn't want to complicate things," said Drew, before shaking his head, "Come on. Let's see if we can find anything else."
For another hour, the duo continued swimming through the reef when they stumbled upon six sandy brown eurypterids, about three feet long, scuttling across the ocean floor in search of food.
"These are rhenopterus," said Leon. "The local eurypterids."
"And our very first," said Drew, his usual trademark grin on his face under his mask, as he drew his sonar emitter. "Get the sonar emitter." Leon drew out it out. "Ready." After about fifteen minutes, Leon and Drew managed to get the rhenopterus' attention, sending them through the portal once they were close enough. Once the eurypterids had gone through, Drew closed the portal and placed his sonar emitter on his belt, before activating his commlink. "Alright, Jack," he stated. "Leon and I've bagged seven species. How're things on your end?"
Drew and Leon both heard Jack chuckle, "Seven? That's how many I've got. Wonder who'll break the tie?" He paused, "Spoiler alert, my money's on me."
Leon sighed heavily, rolling his eyes under his mask. "This isn't a contest Jack."
"Yeah sure, whatever helps you sleep at night," Jack responded.
"I'm serious, Jack," Leon growled, eyes narrowing angrily. "This isn't a game!"
"Yeah, I know," Jack hissed. "It was a joke."
"This again?" Leon snarled.
"Can you two please shut up?" Drew stated, eyes narrowed in annoyance as he glared at Leon. "You're annoying me." He looked back at the communicator. "Jack, we're at the outskirts of the reef. We're sending you our co-ordinates now."
"Say no more, fearless leader" said Jack. "I'm on my way."
. . . . .
Back at the park, Adrian and Alice were in the teratornis aviary at the La Brea Grand Vista exhibit zone, trying to train the two massive prehistoric vultures to reduce their aggression. However, this was a task far easier said than done. "Good grief," Adrian hissed, briefly stepping backwards when the male teratornis, named Rocco, snapped aggressively at him. Rocco's mate shrieked at Adrian, her yellow eyes agleam as she lifted her large wings and lowered her head, trying to make herself look larger than she really was.
Alice shook her head at the sight. "Birds aren't my specialty," she stated. "However… they're pretty mean."
"No kidding," Adrian muttered, glaring irritably at the two birds. "At this rate, I'd rather deal with Drew."
Alice silently whistled. "Still annoyed at him for not listening to you about Jack and Leon?"
"Yep," Adrian admitted, shaking his head, still glaring at the teratorns. "You'd think he'd have realized." He rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable."
Alice sighed. "You are absolutely right - he just doesn't like being told 'no'" She paused, "Fingers crossed, however."
Adrian sighed, "Yeah."
The sound of hissing from Rocco and his mate got him to turn his attention back to them. "Now if only…" he grunted irritably.
. . . . .
Back in the Devonian period, Drew and Leon waited for half an hour before Jack finally appeared. "Good to have you back with us," Drew said, with a grin. "Feeling's mutual, fearless leader," said Jack, with a chuckle. Leon remained silent, scowling under his mask. Drew nodded, "Let's swim a little bit further out – see what we can find in the open ocean."
Jack and Leon nodded in agreement, and the trio swam out past the edge of the reef. Immediately, they came upon a swarm of small aquatic shrimp-like creatures. Jack said, "I didn't think shrimp evolved till the Jurassic…" Taking a closer look, Leon said, "Those aren't shrimps… I think they're anomalocariids. They should have been extinct by now. You want to bring them back, Drew?"
"Yup," said Drew, drawing out his portal remote and pointing it at the shoal before activating it. Unable to change their trajectory, the shoal went through the portal, into the present. Once the last had gone through, Drew closed his portal. "Not bad…. I wonder what they were in such a hurry for."
"I think I know why," said Jack. Drew and Leon turned their heads to look, and their eyes widened. "Ok yeah," said Leon. "That ought to do it."
Sure enough, as it turned out, there was a gigantic armoured blue and white fish leisurely swimming along several yards ahead of the team, its jaws gaping open as it proceeded to feed on a shoal of the anomalocarids. For a full two minutes, they gaped in awe at the leviathan before them. Eventually, Leon managed to say something, "That is a titanichthys. A giant filter feeder."
"Got the right name," said Jack, before he turned to Drew. "Let me guess. We're gonna rescue it?"
"Oh yes," Drew stated, eyes agleam with maniacal glee, before he turned to Leon and Jack. "Alright guys, here's the plan. I'll swim towards it and use my sonar emitter to try to get its attention." He pointed to Leon. "Leon, once I've got its attention, I want you to turn on your sonar emitter to a higher frequency." He pointed to Jack, "And, Jack, once it's close enough, I'll need you to open the portal. Can I trust you to do that?"
"Have no fear, fearless leader." Jack said, lifting his portal remote, "I can do it. No trouble at all."
Leon nodded, sonar emitter drawn out and set to double the frequency. "Ready when you are," he growled determinedly.
After about an hour of following the massive fish and letting out a constant stream of bursts from his sonar emitter, he was finally able to attract the titanicthys' attention for it to notice Jack and Leon and swim over to investigate. As the fish continued to swim towards Jack and Leon, Drew, seeing that things were now going smoothly, swam to the side, managing to outpace the titanitcthys.
"You're doing great," said Drew, smiling as he observed his teammates, "Just stay focused…"
"As you wish, Drew," Leon whispered as he kept his hand on the sonar emitter, eyes narrowed in concentration.
Jack chuckled. "Looking forward to bagging this baby", before directing a smirk towards Leon, "And winning our little contest."
Leon rolled his eyes. "Dude," he groaned. "Firstly, this isn't a contest and secondly, this wouldn't count anyway."
"Yeah, right," said Jack, lifting his portal remote, "Sounds like loser talk to me."
"If you want to play that game, technically, I'm the one leading it towards you", Leon said.
"Oh yeah, sure," Jack grunted. "Here you are, manning the noise broadcaster. Seems to be the only thing you're good for around here."
Leon narrowed his eyes and glared at Jack, turning away from the titanichthys. "Why does that matter? You and Drew are using sonar emitters."
"Because we can get stuff done without a gizmo."
"And I can't?"
Whilst the two were arguing, the titanichthys was continuing to move closer, a fact that did not escape Drew's attention. It was getting closer and closer...and there was no sign of the portal.
"Uh guys?"
"I did well on the Carboniferous expedition without the device!" Leon snarled.
"A crassigyrinus mauled your foot – I wouldn't call that well," Jack hissed.
"Guys?"
"I'm still alive, aren't I? And besides, I've tried to better myself!"
"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it!"
"Guys?"
"Don't believe me? Well why don't you ask Yolanda then? She was there!"
"Yeah. I heard about that."
"What are you implying?"
"HEY GUYS!"
Much to Drew's consternation, the titanichthys was now inches away, and the portal still wasn't there.
"I don't need to be watched all the time or be coached through everything I do!"
"That is an exaggeration, and you know it! And need I remind you AGAIN, that I was able to rescue several of the Carboniferous animals on my own?!"
"So you were able to rescue a few bugs. Whoop-de-freaking-do!"
"First off, none of those were true bugs. Also, I brought back the pholidogaster!"
In that instant, with the titanichthys so close, Drew hurriedly darted between the giant placoderm and his two companions, summoning the portal the instant he was in position...
...just in time for the titanichthys to swim through.
Once the giant placoderm was gone, Drew shut off the portal and turned to Jack and Leon and spoke, in irritation, "Must I do everything myself?!"
Jack and Leon, to their credit, gulped, and then hung their heads sheepishly. "Sorry," said Leon. "Yeah," Jack added in.
Drew rolled his eyes, sighing irritably. "Idiots" He then took a quick look at his watch, and at his oxygen tank's levels. "Anyways, come on – we need to get back to the Mariner."
. . . . .
Half an hour later, Drew, Jack, and Leon were gathered on the top deck of the Ancient Mariner alongside Stavros, Kira, and the rest of the crew. Prior to this, Drew, Jack and Leon managed, with help from Leon and a copy of the dossier, to identify the seven species that Jack had rescued during his solo run.
"Good job, everyone," Drew said, clasping his hands together, "We may not have found our target yet, but fingers crossed, we should still be able to find it before midnight."
"Taking the storm into account?"
Drew turned to face Stavros, a confused expression. "Storm? What storm?"
Kira pointed to the sky, and everyone looked to see storm clouds gathering on the horizon near the slowly setting sun. "First saw signs two hours ago," he explained. "While you three were still underwater." He nodded his head. "We think it could hit us in another hour or two."
At this, Drew thought to himself. "Crap."
"Yeah," Stavros agreed, "A tropical storm moving that quickly's bad – and it looks like it could be a big one." He gestured to the reef, "We could lay anchor at the reef, but that comes with the risk of running aground on coral. And it won't be safe to dive."
Jack and Leon looked to Drew, who thought to himself. "Well I suppose we'd best make the most of the time we've got. Let's keep scanning – see if we can find anything."
"And if we do?" Kira asked. "Even if we find something, you'll have to go under the water to get them through to the park."
Drew thought to himself, before his eyes widened, "Does this ship have a shark cage?"
"Yes," Kira responded.
"Then there's our answer." Drew nodded his head. "If we find any animals, I'll go down in the shark cage. That way, I'm safe-ish if I'm still down there when the storm hits and I should be able to make a quick escape if things get dangerous – if an animal appears and I end up having to get extracted..."
He drew out a small orb-shaped device that Jack instantly recognized. "I use one of these."
"A portal grenade," said Jack. "Smart."
"I'll say," Leon agreed – he'd heard about the device from Alice and Drew and was interested to finally see it in action, "And Jack and I are manning the cage?"
"Read my mind." Drew nodded his head, and then looked back to Stavros, Kira, and the rest of the crew. "And I trust that, if there's a storm, you'll know what to do?"
"We can certainly try," said Stavros.
"Aye," said Kira. "We can lay anchor to provide an initial line of defence. And from there, we should be able to handle the storm. But, just in case..."
"Yeah." Drew nodded, "If things get bad, you can use the portal to bail out." He nodded his head once more. "We can always head back – we've gotten a decent haul already."
Leon rolled his eyes. "No thanks to Captain Fisherman," he grumbled under his breath.
Unfortunately, Jack heard this, and directed a withering glare at Leon. "Excuse me, but I brought back a third of the haul… without a chaperone!"
Leon raised his eyebrow. "And judging by your cavalier attitude, it's a miracle you didn't get eaten."
Jack's eyes narrowed, "Need I remind you that I was just JOKING?! For God's sake, Dolittle, must you be a stiff all the time?!"
"Boys," Stavros said, a warning tone to his voice.
"Well, excuse me for being concerned about everyone's safety," Leon growled, eyes narrowed aggressively, "Complacency kills in this line of business Jack-ass! You of all people should know that, yet here you are treating this like a game!"
"Well, excuse me, for wanting to lighten the mood every now and then," Jack hissed. "And, say what you will about my methods, I get results. You don't."
"Guys," Drew stated…
"And I was supposed to know that?" Leon snarled. "I'm not a mind reader! Considering all those crazy stunts you've pulled, I can't help but be worried!"
"I know I am", Kira said from right behind Drew. Stavros nodded in agreement, an annoyed look of his own.
Drew turned his head to glare at them. "Not helping," he grunted.
"Evidently, Theodore disagreed – otherwise, he wouldn't have asked me personally." Jack pointed his finger accusingly at Leon. "You, on the other hand, were hired because Drew felt sorry for you – you're a hanger-on, Leon."
"First off," Leon growled, "that is wrong, and you know it! And secondly, say what you will about my methods, but at least I'm not the one who's constantly jumping into situations like a brainless maniac!"
"And yet I'm still alive and unscathed," Jack hissed before pointing at Leon's left ankle. "More than I can say about you!"
"Newsflash, that only happened once, by accident." Leon spat. "As did that stumble in the Jurassic!"
"Guys, please," Drew hissed, his palm now pressed against his face.
"And I'm trying to improve myself," Leon continued. "And besides, you're one to talk. Deny it all you want, but I use a strategy! You? All you do is make a plan on the fly and trust it to luck."
Jack gave a smile, "You've improved, Leon? You were a walking textbook – now you're a walking textbook with a gizmo. Take the gizmo away and what do you have?"
For what felt like an eternity, the two stared each other down, before Drew said, "Guys, please calm down. Look, I get it. It's been a long day, and we're all stressed out. But please, at least try to stay civil – a couple of lousy hours here and we can go home. OK?"
Jack and Leon turned their heads to face Drew, both of them with narrow eyed glares on their faces.
"Whatever you say...fearless leader," Jack hissed.
"As. You. Wish. Drew," Leon growled.
At that, the two headed off in separate directions to find their backpacks so that they could get out the ponchos they'd brought along.
As this happened, Drew could feel the glares that Stavros, Kira, and the Ancient Mariner crew were now giving him. He mentally winced, "What is with them today? Thank God for the dive."
. . . . .
The keepers at the holding pens marvelled at the titanicthys. "It's like a basking shark," said one of the keepers, a young, freckled blonde woman. This keeper was Laura Allen, a keeper from England who'd previously worked at several UK aquariums before being hired by Novum to work as an aquarist for their various projects – and now, she was at Prehistoric Park.
Another aquarist standing next to her, an American woman around the same age with freckles, grey eyes, and very long dark brown hair, nodded in agreement. Unlike the majority of the keepers present, she was dressed in a wetsuit. Her name was Marianne Nelson - 'Mia' for short. She smiled as she observed the titanichthys. From a young age, she had been fond of aquatic animals and, perhaps appropriately, she was also a good swimmer – she had been swimming since she was five years old and had been the star of her swim team in high school, even winning a local championship.
Whilst the marine reptiles and small fish had been fun, the aquatics team were excited to work with the many strange fish of the Devonian period.
Even Nikolai and Colette were impressed. "It's certainly awe-inspiring," Colette grudgingly admitted. Fish weren't her thing, but she had to admit that it was magnificent.
"Indeed." Nikolai nodded, "It's almost a pity that Kyle isn't here to see it." He paused, "Almost."
. . . . .
Meanwhile, back at the dimetrodon paddock, Linda and Kyle were observing the male dimetrodon. At that moment, two of the adult males were displaying. The youngsters were all keeping their distance and Rommel was feasting upon a slab of steak. Whilst three of the females were watching the males displaying, the largest, who had been named Otrera was moving towards Rommel. Rommel lifted his head to look at her.
As the large female continued making her way towards Rommel, Linda directed a look towards Kyle out of the corner of her eyes. "Well, that's interesting."
Kyle thought to himself. "Not surprised, he's the biggest and strongest male, with the most colourful sail – those are attractive qualities." He thought to himself some more. "Funny thing is, they seem like a perfect match."
"What makes you say that?"
"He's the largest male and she's the largest female. Personality-wise, they're both powerful, aggressive and temperamental and they both dominate the aggregations – all the others submit to them."
Linda thought to herself. "Birds of a feather, I suppose." She paused. "Of course, we'll need to see if you're correct."
"Yeah", Kyle responded.
About a minute later, Otrera came to a stop inches away from right behind Rommel. It was at this point that she let out a low grumbling bellow. Rommel tensed up and turned his head to look at her, red eyes narrowed inquisitively with a portion of meat dangling from his mouth. For what felt like an eternity, Rommel and Otrera stared each other down, red eyes narrowed. It wasn't just Kyle and Linda taking an interest- even the other two males had paused their displaying to see what would happen.
After what felt like an eternity, Rommel emitted a low bellow, dropped the steak portion and crouched down and started waving his tail side to side. Otrera did the same, a low reverberating rumbling pouring from her jaws. About a minute later, Rommel and Otrera started slowly walking around in circles together.
Linda nodded her head. "Looks promising," she whispered to Kyle.
"Yeah," Kyle whispered back, "But just in case, we'd best keep watching."
. . . . .
Back in the Devonian period, Drew and the rest of the team were currently still sailing the Mariner around the edges of the reef in search of a Dunkleosteus, but to no avail. Drew sighed – it was possible he'd miscalculated. A rarity, he knew, but it was possible. Maybe they'd been sticking too close to the reefs – the titanichthys they'd seen had been on the edge of the reef. But…
Suddenly, Drew heard a beeping noise; it was the radar. It had picked something up. Looking at it, he noticed several large blips moving under the boat. Smiling, he grabbed a periscope to see what they'd come upon. Sure enough, he could see a shoal of Titanichthys swimming around, accompanied by a shiver of small sharks – he could see two different species. He recognised one as Stethacanthus, but he didn't know what the other was. Why the Titanichthys were gathering was unclear; possibly for the mating season or some sort of annual migration, but Drew knew they had to act quickly – the opportunity was too good to pass up.
He looked to Leon, Jack, and the Ancient Mariner crew. "Alright everyone. Time to lay anchor. We've found some animals to rescue. There aren't any dunkleosteus, but… three species in the price of one."
"He's right," said Leon, who had now started taking a turn at the periscope. "Dunkleosteus or nor, we can at least go ahead and get that titanichthys we rescued before some company. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to go ahead and rescue this shiver of stethacanthus and… gogoselachus either."
Drew smiled. "Of course he'd know," he thought to himself.
At that moment, thunder split the air, and everyone looked up to see that the storm clouds were now directly above them; seconds later, rain began to pour from the sky.
"Good thing we've got our ponchos on," said Jack.
"No kidding," Leon grumbled.
"Alright everyone, let's get moving," said Stavros, surprisingly authoritative, "The storm's only just reached our position, so as long as we hurry, we should be able to lay down the anchor in time! Once we've done that, we need to get the ship stable long enough for Drew and his team to do their job."
"Yes captain," Kira and the rest of the crew said in unison. Kira then turned his head towards Jack and Leon, his eyebrow raised. "Can we trust you?" This was an important question. With the storm coming upon them, they'd need to keep the ship afloat – neither of them would be able to watch Leon and Jack.
Jack and Leon looked at each other, carefully considering what Kira had asked, and then nodded their heads to indicate yes. "I think so," said Leon.
"We'll take that as yes," said Kira. He nodded his head. "Good luck."
"You heard him everyone," said Stavros, before clapping his hands "Move out!"
At that, the whole crew headed down below deck to get to work. As this happened, Drew and his two teammates prepared the shark cage. Once this task was done, Drew got into the cage, clad in a wetsuit and holding a dead bothriolepis he'd acquired on their earlier diving trip, closed the door, and drew out a portal grenade. "
Alright guys," said Drew as Leon and Jack watched him while locking the door to the cage. "This is my backup plan in case things get hairy – if things go wrong, I need you to pull me up". Leon and Jack nodded in the affirmative. "Good," Drew nodded, and pointed at the radar monitor and starboard camera. "Keep a close eye on those. It's the only warning if any dunkleosteus arrive. So if anything shows up, let me know. Got that?" He smiled, as a lightning bolt illuminated him, "Let's do this, guys." At that, Leon and Jack flipped the lever and sent the cage downward. As the cage was slowly lowered into the churning water, Leon activated the communicator, "Drew, buddy? Remember the anomalocariid swarm we saw in the shallows? I think that's what Titanichthys are migrating here to feed on. The sharks are probably following to feed on other animals attracted by the swarm. You're going to have to be quick – before anything bigger shows up." Jack turned to him with a glare. "I wouldn't worry, Leon – he isn't going to have to get you out of trouble." Leon ignored him.
Ignoring this, Drew flashed a thumbs up seconds before he and the cage fully submerged, taking the dead Bothriolepis with him. As he stood carefully in the cage with his right hand tightly clenched around the bars to ensure he kept his balance, he noted feelings of trepidation. The only time he'd been nervous diving was actually going into the water; afterwards, he'd been as relaxed as he'd ever been. Acting carefully, he extended the dead bothriolepis through the bars of the cage and waited. After about two minutes, the sharks began to notice the dead placoderm and moved towards the cage, moving as if a single entity. Drew waited as the advancing shoal swam closer and closer, until they came close enough to the cage for Drew to open the portal and throw the dead Bothriolepis through it. The sharks all followed the bait, like dogs after a tennis ball, and disappeared through the portal into the present.
Now for the Titanichthys. Tentatively, Drew lifted the sonar emitter and began pressing the button. The entire shoal paused and turned to look at him, beginning to move closer and closer to him and the shark cage. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the remote, allowing the giant shoal to swim through the portal, into the present.
On the Ancient Mariner, Leon and Jack had been watching all this. Jack declared, "Another success! Out fearless leader has saved three species for the price of one. Maybe you should take some lessons", he chuckled, his hazel eyes agleam. "If you were down there now, you'd be dogpiled by sharks or nearly crushed by Titanichthys or eaten by a Dunkleosteus. At least when you're up here, me and Drew don't have to get you out of trouble." He paused, "However, why listen to a brainless maniac?"
At this, Leon narrowed his eyes. "This isn't a good time."
"Why?", Jack hissed, "You've been unprofessional this whole mission."
Leon narrowed his eyes further, turning to face Jack. "And you haven't?"
"You're the one who's been calling me names."
Leon snorted. "You're the one who's been treating all this like a game."
Jack snorted. "At least I got in on talent. You're just a hanger-on – hired because you were mates with the boss."
Leon gave Jack a venomous glare and, the anger barely hidden in his voice, said, "I didn't hear a thank-you about saving Yolanda three weeks ago." Jack chuckled, "Funny, I don't remember you being called Andrias. Said it before and I'll say it again, you're a hanger-on", he finished with an arrogant smirk, as a bolt of lightning illuminated him. Leon grimaced and turned around to face Jack, fists clenched, teeth gritted, and eyes blazing with fury. As another flash of lightning went off, Leon drew back his fist as he shouted, "YOU ARE SUCH A-...!". However, their argument had blinded them to four large blips appearing on the radar and swimming directly towards Drew.
Drew, meanwhile, was about to call the crew to lift him back up when, suddenly, an enormous creature emerged from the gloom and rammed the shark cage, knocking him to the floor. Helplessly, he watched as a large, sandy brown, armoured fish rose from the depths. It was an imposing looking animal; its entire front half was covered in thick armoured, making its head look bigger than its body. A fearsome gape revealed a vast mouth filled with what looked like massive shearing teeth. Three more joined it.
Drew gulped – this time they hadn't found the target. It had found them.
. . . . .
Meanwhile, back at the park, Kyle and Linda, and the other dimetrodon, watched as Rommel and Otrera continued to circle each other, display each other's sails, and letting out the low rumbles.
Linda smiled, green eyes agleam, thinking to herself, "You get him, girl."
Kyle nodded, with an approving smile. "This is turning out well," he thought to himself. "Another species breeding."
Eventually, with a final rumble in unison, Rommel and Otrera turned around and walked in opposite directions. They hadn't mated yet, but it was early days. Linda and Kyle smiled. "Good on you, Rommel," said Kyle.
Linda nodded. "The ceratosaurus, the ornithomimus and, now the dimetrodon… we're off to a good start."
"We're going to have to be careful," Kyle stated, "when the females start building their nests. If they guard their nests like alligators, they'll be pretty hard to deal with. But that won't be for a few months yet."
. . . . .
Drew grabbed his communicator and yelled into it, "Leon, Jack, pull me up now!" However, the call fell on deaf ears; his only response was static. He didn't have time to reflect on this as a Dunkleosteus rammed the cage again, sending him flying against the wall, causing him to nearly drop the remote through the bars. Thankfully the Dunkleosteus didn't notice the commotion.
Unfortunately, Drew realized that one of his arms had been jammed into the bars and that he was trapped; in his current position, he couldn't reach the remote or the portal grenade. Now, he knew he shouldn't panic underwater; it caused you to lose air quicker – whoever said that had probably never been trapped in a cage with a giant fish trying to eat them. "What's going on up there?"
Meanwhile, on the Mariner, Leon was walking towards Jack, fist raised, when the sound of a blaring alarm split the air, jolting them both back to reality, and Jack reflexively turned to the monitor...
...only for his eyes to widen in horror. "Leon," he managed to say, "Look at the monitor!"
Reluctantly, Leon complied, at which point his eyes widened at the sight of Drew trapped, surrounded by four dunkleosteus.
At the sight of this, he and Jack both looked each other in the eyes and immediately knew what the other was thinking. Leon rushed towards the lever where the shark cage was being held, almost slipping on the soaking deck as he did so and pulled the rain-soaked lever with all his might, but it was too heavy for him.
At the same time, back under the water, the four dunkleosteus continued their assault on the shark cage. Drew winced, still struggling to free his arm, when the cage was suddenly yanked upward, as the dunkleosteus snapped fruitlessly at it.
Meanwhile, up on the Mariner, Drew had managed, with some assistance from Jack and Leon, to free his arm and exit the shark cage. Once his arm was free, he armed a portal grenade and threw it down to where the dunkleosteus were, sending all four placoderms to the park. Once they had gone through, Drew turned around to face his two teammates, "What took you so long?"
For a full minute, Leon and Jack were silent, awkwardly glancing at each other. Drew's look became questioning, his eyebrow raised.
Then Leon and Jack looked nervously at each other – who'd tell him? After what felt like an eternity, Jack sighed, and said, awkwardly, "The radio… wasn't working. Yeah, that's it." Leon nodded awkwardly in agreement.
At this, Drew's eyes narrowed, and he looked a little sceptical. However, Stavros walked into view, a disapproving glare at Jack and Leon, and turned to Drew, "Actually, Kapetánio…." Drew said, "Whatever it is, it can wait until we get back to the park", before he activated the portal attached to the upper end of the prow, and the Mariner sailed off, back to the park.
. . . . .
An hour or so later, all the rescued animals had been transferred to their new homes in the aquarium. The bothriolepis were kept in a large tank near the building's entrance designed to heavily simulate a Devonian seabed.
In the very centre of the room was a large tank set up to simulate the Devonian coral reefs, whish served as home to all the smaller fish, all deemed unlikely to harm each other – the bruntonichthys, materpiscis, and campbellodus, the camuropiscids and all five species of lobe-finned lungfish.
The gogoselachus and stethacanthus had an entire shark tunnel dedicated to them leading to the current exit of the building. The rhenopterus lived in their own tank at the right of the shark tunnel's entrance, whilst a small tank built to the left of the shark tunnel's entrance served as home for the small colony of anomalocarids. The other animals all had their own tanks scattered throughout the room, designed to simulate the Devonian reefs.
The titanichthys and dunkleosteus, meanwhile, had massive open-ocean tanks, with the titanichthys shoal in the tank to the left, whilst the four dunkleosteus lived in the tank on the right, separated in four territories, due to the risk of cannibalism.
However, Jack and Leon were in Drew's office. Stavros had told Drew what had happened. Drew was not happy. At all.
"What the hell was wrong with you?!" Drew roared, "I mean it. What happened?"
Jack and Leon both gulped and looked at each other nervously, before Jack sighed, braced himself, and looked back at Drew. "Well you see...the thing is..."
"And no excuses," Drew snarled, "I want answers! Real answers! OK?!"
Jack sighed, and directed a defeated look at Leon, who could only hang his head.
Drew groaned, facepalmed, and then sighed heavily. "Look, I don't understand what's going on between you two. But you were able to do just fine back in Hell Creek. Did you forget that today or something?"
Leon winced. "Do you want to tell him or should I?"
"Yeah," Jack admitted, "We uh, actually had a big argument that Alice had to break up."
In that instant, Drew's eyes narrowed, "And nobody thought to tell me?"
At this point, Leon and Jack both hung their heads in defeat. At this point, there was no right answer they could give.
Drew sighed, "I can't believe you two," before pointing at Jack. "You're a moron who likes getting a rise out of people", and pointing at Leon, "and you're a bigger moron for reacting to it". At Leon, his eyes narrowed further. "This was your first mission after your ankle! Did that mean nothing to you?"
Leon winced, and Jack gave him a pained look.
Drew glared at them, "Well enough is enough. I didn't think this was a big deal. But clearly, I was wrong." He paused, before saying, in a calm tone, "You two are a liability right now. Therefore…" He paused, before saying, quietly and clearly, "Until you two idiots can prove you can work together, you are both suspended from missions."
Leon and Jack both opened their mouths to speak. However, Drew stared at them, a cold smile on his face, and said, in a sing-song tone, "I'm gonna plan a team-building exercise for you – something humiliating, probably. So…", Drew took a deep breath. "You guys want to still work here?"
Leon and Jack gulped, and nodded. "Then don't be dicks", Drew said, almost inaudible, "Get out of my office – if you've still got issues, feel free to vent them elsewhere. But I've got something planned for you – and it won't be pretty."
"Yes sir," Jack and Leon said before slinking out.
Once they had left, Drew took several deep breaths, before leaving for his living quarters. He understood that some would see this as a good step; in particular, Kyle and Nikolai, who had both badgered him about this for weeks. "Show some leadership about this', you said. 'Be decisive', you said. Well, this is me being fucking decisive. Do you want me to be decisive on you two next?"
At this thought, Drew sighed. He'd cool off for a bit until details of the next target arrived.
Later that evening, things had settled down. However, the lull wouldn't last; the next mission was next week, and the rescue team was now down to three active members.
Rescue Tally
* Bothriolepis sp. (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
* Bruntonichthys multidens (19; all adults; 9 male, 10 female)
* Campbellodus decipiens (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
* Camuropiscis concinnus (13; all adults; 7 male, 6 female)
* Chirodipterus potteri (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)(J)
* Devonian Anomalocariid (72; 36 male, 36 female)
* Dunkleosteus terrelli (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)(+)
* Eastmanosteus calliaspis (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)
* Fallocosteus turneri (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)(
* Gogonasus andrewsae (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)
* Gogoselachus lynbeazleyae (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)
* Griphognathus whitei (11; all adults; 5 male, 6 female)
* Harrytoombsia sp. (5; all adults; 3 male, 2 female)
* Holodipterus gogoensis (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Materpiscis attenboroughi (17; all adults; 9 male, 8 female)
* Mcnamaraspis kaprios (7; all adults; 4 male, 3 female)
* Onychodus jandemarrai (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)
* Rhenopterus waterstoni (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)
* Rhinodipterus sp. (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)
* Rolfosteus canningensis (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)
* Stethacanthus sp. (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Titanichthys termieri (8; all adults; 2 male, 6 female)
* Tubonasus lennardensis (7; all adults; 3 male, 4 female)
* Xeradipterus hatcheri (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:
Drew and the gang go back for a little breather.
(A small group of beavers swim peacefully in a lake nearby a large dam.)
But meet some big challenges
(A large jaguar roars at Adrian from nearby the dam.)
And Jack and Leon try and patch things up
(Jack and Leon try to keep their balance on a large feeding platform as the dunkleosteus glare ominously at them.)
All next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Bonds and Bridges!
