Jack Denham stood at the droma paddock, a smile on his face. Lifting the remote control, he opened a door and moved the lure into the enclosure at high speed. Seeing it moving, the dromas dived after the lure, following it – with Duke and Cassie leading the chase, as the older female Jane and the four youngsters followed at different angles, surrounding it. Eventually, Jack turned the lure into a wall, allowing the dromas to corner their "prey". One of the younger males took a few steps, jaws open, towards it when, suddenly…

A piercing whistle-blast echoed through the air. The dromas stopped in their tracks and turned to look at him. Jack threw them each a piece of meat; it was imperative that they be rewarded for, instead of immediately attacking a lure, to stop whenever he blew his whistle. It was a start. It was better than nothing.

Suddenly, Jack's walkie-talkie rang and he reached to pick it up. Lifting to his ear, he said, "This is Jack, who is it?" Leon's voice crackled out the other end, "It's Leon. I'm heading for Drew's office and I thought you were going on the mission today." Jack inwardly cringed; he knew he'd forgotten something. Jack sighed. "I'll see you there in five minutes; I'm done with the dromas anyway."

. . . . .

Five minutes later, Leon and Drew were sitting in the latter's office, waiting for Jack to arrive. Drew was checking his watch and tutting, whilst Leon was looking absent-mindedly at the ceiling while fiddling around with his recording device, saying monotonously, "He said he'd be here around about now." Suddenly, a voice said, "I'm here." Drew turned to see Jack walking towards him, a small smile on his face. "Where were you?" Drew asked, "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago." In response, Jack rolled his eyes and replied, "I was busy with the dromas; that's why I was late. Anyway, what are we going after?"

Drew smiled and showed them a picture of a large theropod dinosaur with comically small arms, a large, powerful head, proportionally short legs and a short horn on its head. Leon smiled, "Majungasaurus. This is a change."

Jack raised his eyebrow quizzically and said to Drew, "That's the cannibal dinosaur, isn't it?" Drew nodded. "Yep."

Leon turned to Jack and said, "Majungasaurus was a kind of theropod called an abelisaur. They were the top predators of the southern continents during the late Cretaceous, and Majungasaurus is one of the best known."

Drew nodded and said, "Correct as usual Leon . Anyway, let's get going."

And, so, they headed to the portal site. When they got there, Leon and Drew were surprised to see Collete standing on the walkway; however, Jack smiled. "Dropped by to see me off?" Collete rolled her eyes, walked up to them, and said, "I came to wish you good luck on the mission today." After a brief pause, she said, "All of you". An employee entered the time period and location and the portal whirred into life. Drew put the remote in his pocket and, after securing it, turned to Leon, who nodded, and Jack, who gave him a wink and a thumbs-up. Drew nodded at them both. As they turned to head towards the portal, Jack suddenly heard Collete shouting from the walkway, "Oh, and Jack? Promise me you'll be careful!" Jack nodded to her, and he, Drew and Leon entered through the portal.

. . . . .

Once the blinding light from the portal had died down, the first thing that hit the three adventurers was the heat – other eras had been hot, but this was almost oppressive. They looked around to see that they were standing on cracked mud - several fish carcasses and a sauropod skeleton lay on the ground and several denuded trees surrounded them.

"Christ, it looks like a bomb site," Jack muttered as he looked around the decaying land. Leon said, "At this time, Madagascar was a lot drier than it is now. This is probably a seasonal swamp; for a quarter of the year, it's filled with water and vegetation. For the rest, it looks like this. "

Suddenly, a low, trumpeting bellow began to echo through the air a couple yards ahead. Drew, Jack and Leon went rigid – they knew that sound. Following the sound, they saw a small herd of sauropods, consisting of both sexes and all ages, moving across the dried-up land. They were smaller than the ones back at the park – the largest was only about fifty feet long – and were covered in reddish-brown scales, with armour plates on their backs.

Drew and Jack turned to Leon, who identified them immediately. "Rapetosaurus – a kind of titanosaur. Madagascar's long isolation meant that ornithischian dinosaurs couldn't get there – so, not only are the titanosaurs the main herbivores, there's a bunch of unique stuff that's found nowhere else." At this, Jack snorted. "A lot like today," he admitted. "Madagascar's got lemurs, fossa, and more chameleons than anywhere else on Earth. Guess some things don't change, eh, fearless leader?" Drew nodded. "Yeah – some things really don't." He paused. "Anyway, D-bags, they're searching for water and moving at a very doable pace, so if we follow them, we'll find a watering hole!" He took off after the sauropods, "Come on, D-bags!"

At this, Jack and Leon turned to each other and Jack said, "Can you believe I got annoyed when he said that?" Leon shrugged. "Can't imagine why." They followed Drew into the desert, eager to avoid losing the sauropods.

. . . . .

"Steady now," said Harry as he manoeuvred a large X-ray camera into position.

At that moment, he and the rest of the veterinary team were busy performing an X-ray on Babar, the large male Columbian mammoth. This was a precautionary measure – a routine check-up some weeks before had noticed, beneath a healed wound, a foreign object embedded in his knee joint, which turned out to be a fragment of a spear tip. The object had been surgically removed to avoid the possibility of infection and, a week later, they were checking.

Eventually, Harry got the camera into position, turning to Linda. "How's this?" The head vet nodded. "Perfect. Just make sure he stays steady and calm everyone." As if in agreement with her, Babar let out a low contented groan.

And so, Yolanda and Linda looked carefully at the X-ray. The former soon smiled and nodded her head. "Looks like his knee healed up perfectly," she said. "And there's no sign of infection in his blood…"

"He's a tough mammoth," said Bethany as she shook her head, regarding the spearpoint, "Strange. It's like the one we found in Eshe. Remember that?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed, remembering the large harpoon-like spearpoint, which now sat as a paperweight on Linda's desk, "It really did a number on her – she's lucky it didn't hit any of her internal organs."

"Yeah," Yolanda agreed, before looking back at Babar. "Well," she stated. "With his knee joint healed, we can probably let him out back into the paddock now."

The rest of the vets agreed, and Babar was released back into the paddock. However, Bethany stood, observing the fragment in her hands. Harry eventually noticed, asking "Everything alright?"

Bethany briefly jolted, but then turned to look at her colleague. "I'm alright," she stated, "Just a brain spasm."

"What?" Yolanda asked, having overheard. Linda asked, concerned, "Is there some sort of problem?"

"Not sure really," Bethany admitted, before sighing, "I mean, the Clovis were around at that time. And they hunted mammoths. But… there's something odd about it."

"What makes you say that?" Harry asked.

"They don't look like Clovis spearpoints," Bethany explained. "They're too big, too wide and they've got harpoon-like barbs." Linda said, silently, "We'll get it to Khatin – see what he makes of it,"

...but then Linda's communicator went off, and she answered immediately. "Dr. Eberhart speaking, over?" Her eyes suddenly widened, "What?! Whoa, slow down a little. They're fighting? Oh God, that bad? Say no more. I'm on my way."

She ended the call and looked at the rest of her team. "Everyone get moving," she said. "We have an emergency at Hell Creek! Terrence and Matilda are fighting again – this time it's really getting serious!"

. . . . .

"Keep spraying!" Kyle roared as the keepers tried desperately to separate the two fighting t-rexes, but to no avail. The two siblings had begun fighting fifteen minutes ago for no apparent reason. Kyle had already shot Matilda with a tranquilizer, but the drugs took time to work. And at that moment, she had her jaws tightly locked in place around her brother's neck as he screeched in pain while also bleeding from several gashes in his head. Kyle mentally cursed, his teeth gritted, "Another emergency. It never fails," he mentally grumbled to himself.

Eventually, with an enraged hiss, Matilda released of her brother's neck after getting blasted in the face by the hose. She loomed over her smaller brother, battered and bleeding, before the tranquilizer drugs finally started taking effect. Walking forward, as if in a drunken stupor, she collapsed. The battered Terence lay on the ground, breathing heavily as Linda and her team finally arrived. Kyle smiled exhaustedly. "Better late than never," he said. Linda nodded her head in agreement before looking over towards Terrence. She gave a look of sympathy at the battered tyrannosaur, before saying "Come on everyone. Let's get Terrence to the operating room, stat!"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in the Cretaceous, Drew, Jack and Leon hiked through the desert, following the trail of the sauropods, who had stridden out of their sight. For three hours, there was no sight of the Rapetosaurus but their tracks, or any sign of water, plants, or anything other than a vast, desolate expanse of desert; however, eventually, they came over a hill to a small lake, surrounded by a small stand of forest. Well, "lake" was a bit of an embellishment – "pond" would have been more accurate, although even that would have been pushing it a bit. Compared to the desolate landscape that surrounded it, this was positively an oasis, a patch of dark green in the drabness of the desert.

As they approached the lake, they saw the Rapetosaurus drinking from the lake, dipping their long necks down and gulping water. Looking at the sauropods, Jack said, "They must have been parched." He then turned to Drew. "Fearless leader, I don't think there's any need to leave here. A lot of animals are going to be attracted by the water…"

Suddenly, one of the sauropods hooted an alarm, as Drew, Jack and Leon turned to see a large theropod dinosaur walking towards the lake. The dinosaur was covered in reddish brown scales and was about twenty-five feet long, with a low-slung, powerful-looking body and a short, rounded head with a small horn on top of it. A snarl revealed a mouth full of sharp teeth. Despite its powerful-looking head, its arms were short and almost useless-looking. Its powerful body was counterbalanced by a long tail. It came closer to the lake, letting out a shrill 'roar' that sounded like a mixture between a shrieking bird and a hissing snake and causing the rapetosaurus herd to move nervously away from the carnivore before watching warily as it bent over at the water's edge and dipped its mighty jaws in to start gulping down water.

At the sight of the theropod, Jack turned to Leon and quietly said, "Majungasaurus?" Leon nodded. "Majungasaurus." Once it had finished its drink, the theropod strode over to by the trees, lay down and began resting in the shade, ignoring the sauropods. Drew laughed. "He mustn't be very hungry, then!" Leon said, "Yeah, in a drought, water comes before food. They're probably going to stick around because there's food here." He paused, "I know this might fall on deaf ears, but I'd say we can start on something smaller…" His train of thought was interrupted by his putting his foot in a large hole, almost falling flat on his face. Drew and Jack gave him perplexed looks as, after multiple attempts, he barely managed to pull it out.

Suddenly, a loud croaking came from the burrow where Leon had put his foot, a loud croaking came from nearby, as Drew, Jack and Leon went rigid. It was Jack who spoke first, as he bent down to investigate, with a small torch in hand. "Sounds like some kind of frogs, but what kind?" Shining the light down into the tunnel, he saw a group of giant frogs staring back at him. They looked like African bullfrogs, only much larger – they were about the size of a beach ball.

At the sight of them, Drew smiled and said, "Beelzebufo – the devil frog. Another Maevarano weirdo – and the largest frog that ever lived." Jack said, "These guys must have been aestivating, like spadefoot toads. Until you, Dolittle, woke them up." He then looked to Drew, unaware of Leon's sigh. "I think I know how to get them through the portal, fearless leader."

Jack's plan was to pour a small amount of water into the burrow to trick the frogs into thinking the rains had returned. And sure enough, the frogs began to emerge, one by one, from their burrow. Once the first had gotten close enough to the entrance, Jack opened the portal – one by one, the amphibians went through the portal, into the present. Once the last had gone through, Jack turned to Drew and Leon and said, "How did I do?" Leon nodded and said, "That was pretty clever." Drew smiled in approval. However, Jack turned to look at another nearby burrow and said, "There might be some other animals in there."

Shining his torch into the other burrow, Jack saw several small snakes; one kind purplish coloured and the other kind yellow; staring back at him. Jack turned to Drew and said, "Kelyophis and Menarana. Burrowing snakes – and I have just the thing, fearless leader." Jack silently reached into his backpack and pulled a pillowcase out. Slowly, he put the Menarana and Kelyophis in. Once they were all in, he sent the case through the portal.

Jack turned to Drew and said, "Kyle's probably going to be happy we started with some of the little stuff." Drew nodded and looked at the setting sun. "Eh, we still have time to get him something bigger." He chuckled darkly, "In fact, we can send him something bigger right now...", and turned his head to where the rapetosaurus herd and majungasaurus had been … only to find they were gone.

"Where did they go?" Jack asked.

"I didn't even hear them leave," said a perplexed Leon.

Drew sighed, "Nothing we can do about it now," he admitted bitterly before nodding his head. "But we can salvage this." He took another look at the setting sun, "Come on," he said. "Let's see if we can find anything else before the sun goes down."

The team headed off, in search of more animals. Leon sighed as he walked behind Drew and Jack; an hour in and he'd screwed up. Maybe he'd ask Jack about it when they made camp.

. . . . .

Collete smiled, nodding contentedly as she looked into the Argentavis aviary from the top of her watch post. At that moment, both gigantic Miocene vultures, plus the two Andean condors they were kept with, were perched on the large tree in the centre of the aviary, scanning their territory. In the days following the mission, she'd spent a lot of her breaks at the aviary. Weirdly, she'd started to bond with Hannibal, the male.

As she had those thoughts, Hannibal finally seemed to notice her, at which point he took to the air and flew towards her before landing on the perch next to her watch point. Hannibal cocked his head, giving her a curious look. Collete chuckled, allowing a rare smile to come to her face. "Good to see you, Hannibal." Like Nero, she'd almost found a kindred spirit in the great bird.

Hannibal warbled again, nodding his head up and down as if saying 'nice to see you again' before then flying back to Imilce. Colette looked at the argentavis curiously. After Rocco, she'd been thinking about how it had only been Cirrus' intervention that had stopped the escape – maybe having something that could fly might be useful.

She then thought to herself some more. And after a swift checking of her watch, she climbed down from the argentavis aviary's watch post and headed off to La Brea Grand Vista – she had enough time.

. . . . .

Fifteen minutes later, Colette was at the dire wolf paddock, watching contentedly as the pack rested peacefully on the gathering of flat rocks by the entrance to their den. Collete smiled – they looked so peaceful.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She'd started to entertain the notion of Nero and his pack being trained like the dromas. The two species were similar behavioural-wise – and, besides, hadn't canines been tamed before...

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of yelping and growling from the coyote paddock. In that instant, Nero snapped his head upward, his teeth gritted and eyes narrowed as an angry snarl escaped his jaws. Colette winced, "Here we go," she managed to hiss before Nero lunged off of his resting spot and bolted towards the barrier between his territory and the Pleistocene coyotes, snarling. Colette sighed irritably – Nero and Dag were having another stand-off.

For weeks, the two alphas had been having stand-offs at the barrier – it was anyone's guess as to when they got through it and fought. Even for two species that were natural enemies, Nero and Dag hated each other.

Suddenly, a bear's roaring echoed from nearby, followed by a low, coughing roar. Nero and Dag both went quiet and stalked off in opposite directions. Collete sighed – Diego and Smokey were having a roaring match again. If Nero and Dag hated each other… Diego and Smokey despised each other. Drew didn't seem to notice any of that.

Really, Drew's management style was best summed up as head-in-the-sand – he'd ignored Jack and Leon's antagonism and hadn't even acknowledged the existence of the enmity between her captain and Kyle. He was either ignoring problems or deliberately shirking his responsibility to solve them – maybe both.

She sighed, shaking her head side to side with her blue eyes icy with annoyance. "At this rate, I probably should go ahead and bring forward my idea," she whispered under her breath. "We might need all the help we can get."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Alice was sitting at the American cheetah paddock watching Eshe and the rest of the coalition either napping in the sun or patrolling their territory. She was paying particular attention to Eshe, who had integrated remarkably well – the females spent most of their time on their own, separate from the males, but they all got along.

She nodded her head. She had to admit, as dramatic as things had gotten in the past, it was always nice to have a quiet moment every now and then. As she had this thought, she briefly looked towards the horizon at nothing. "I wonder how Jack's doing," she whispered to herself. It was his first mission back – and there was a lot of stuff that interested him from that time and place.

After this, her gaze turned to the veterinary facility, and she briefly wondered how things were going for Yolanda. She'd heard Terence had been badly injured in a fight with Matilda – this was going to be a difficult day for her.

. . . . .

"Slow and steady now," said Linda as she observed Yolanda, with assistance from Harry, working to implant the sutures upon the disinfected gashes on Terrence's head and neck. "Understood ma'am," said Yolanda as she and Harry carefully applied them.

For what felt like hours this continued; and Yolanda sighed with visible relief once the gashes were stitched up, "Finally. Good work everyone."

"Words out of my mouth," said Linda as she nodded in approval, "Alright everyone, let's give him one last shot of antibiotics, and get him moved over to one of the recovery pens. After that, we need to contact Kyle and Nikolai and have a little talk."

. . . . .

Elsewhere in the park, Adrian was walking through the grassy field behind his apartment to allow the orphaned young La Brea caracara he'd been caring for, and had named Hayabusa, to go on her first flight. She was currently perched upon his right forearm, on his falconry glove. She warbled inquisitively at him, her amber eyes widened in curiosity as she was carried further and further out into the grassy field. "Don't worry," Adrian said calmly as he continued walking, "Just a little bit further."

A minute later, Adrian came to a stop on a small grassy 'hill', Hayabusa still dutifully perched on his right forearm. "Alright, girl," he said. "We're going on our first flight." With a deep breath he slowly raised his right arm into the position, Hayabusa braced for take-off. "Ready? Ok, now take off!"

As she'd been trained to do, Sinew jumped off Adrian's arm flapping her wings as she slowly caught hold of an updraft. Over the last few sessions, she'd managed to build up some more strength and Adrian watched, heart in his mouth, for any stumbles. However, Hayabusa was soon flying around. Adrian gave a proud smile and said, "I knew you could do it." Hayabusa warbled, as if in triumph. For at least five minutes Adrian watched as Hayabusa flew around, scanning the ground, before lifting his right arm and saying,"Alright, Hayabusa," he said. "Time to roost."

At that, Hayabusa proceeded, as trained, to return to her perch on Adrian's forearm, which Adrian gently lowered immediately after she'd taken said position. "Good girl, Hayabusa," he said as he carefully drew out a small strip of meat and gave it to her as a reward. "Good girl," he repeated as Hayabusa carefully ate her treat.

"Not bad."

Adrian looked ahead in time to see Nikolai's first officer John Willoby standing nearby and slowly clapping his hands, "From somebody who knows, you are good. First man to fly a La Brea caracara."

"Um...thanks," Adrian eventually managed to say, before taking a quick look at Hayabusa and then looked back at Willoby, smiling. "It's certainly not every day I meet somebody I can talk falconry with."

"I know the feeling," John admitted as he nodded, before looking at Hayabusa. "I see you've been taking good care of Hayabusa."

"Yep," Adrian agreed, "With a little help from my flock, of course."

John nodded once more. "There was something I wanted to ask you."

Adrian raised his eyebrow. "I'm listening."

John opened his mouth to speak...

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"

Adrian and Willoby turned their heads to see a panicked looking Kaisumi running towards them. She came to a stop, panting and gasping as she bent over with her hands on her knees. In that moment, their earlier discussion was filed to the back of their minds as they gazed at the panting assistant researcher.

"What's happened?" Adrian asked.

"What's going on?" Willoby added in.

Kaisumi panted a couple more times, and then straightened up. "There's an emergency in Hell Creek," she said. John raised his eyebrow. "I thought that was resolved..."

"Not that one," Kaisumi hurriedly clarified, "It's Cirrus and Zephyr. They're fighting."

. . . . .

As the sun set, Drew, Jack and Leon hiked through the parched forest, keeping a watchful eye out for any predator. The undergrowth was dominated by large shrubs, about as high as Jack was tall, which were packed closely together. As they walked through the scrub, something would move through it and, on occasion, they would also hear a squawking caw echoing through the bushes. As they walked out of the shrubland into a large, sandy clearing, they noticed that the time had passed quickly; the sun was now all but completely below the horizon.

Jack turned to Drew and asked, "What do we do now?" Drew turned to his teammates and said, "Scan the undergrowth; this is perfect habitat for desert animals. If we wait, some might..."

Suddenly, the shrubs rustled all around them and a familiar barking caw echoed through the clearing. The three adventurers all turned to each other in a shocked realization; the creatures that had been following them through the shrubs had caught up with them.

The caws got louder and louder as the bushes rustled, before a theropod dinosaur emerged in the clearing in front of them. It was about ten feet long and was slightly shorter than the three humans; its body was covered in a thin coating of black-and-white feathers, whilst the neck and squashed, bulldog-like head were bare and covered in red, leathery scales. It stood on two powerful hind legs, with three-toed taloned feet. The arms were disproportionately small compared to the powerful, muscular body. The creature cocked its head curiously at them.

Drew and Jack turned to Leon, who said "Dahalokely. A smaller abelisaurid. It's supposed to be extinct by now." "Apparently not," Drew breathed out, "We must have walked into their territory." Suddenly, the Dahalokely threw back its head and cawed loudly; the three humans backed closer to each other as the undergrowth rustled all around them. Suddenly, several more dahalokely burst out from different angles, surrounding them. However, the abelisaurids were hesitating, as if wondering whether to attack. The three humans were utterly rigid.

During the standoff, Jack turned to Drew. "If you've got a plan, fearless leader, now would be a brilliant time to implement it." Drew turned to Jack and whispered back, "Pass me the bait bag." Jack said, quietly, "Why?" Drew turned to him and said, "We can distract them from us." Jack quietly passed the bag to Drew, not trying to anger the Dahalokely. Once Drew had been given the bag, he grabbed a dead rat from the bag and threw it away from them. The abelisaurs followed the dead rat and eagerly began fighting over it. Drew used the distraction to activate the portal and threw another, larger rat through it. The abelisaurids charged after it, moving as if a unified entity. After the last one had gone through, Drew shut off the portal.

Jack turned to Drew, unaware of the bitter look of disappointment on Leon's face. "So, fearless leader, what do we do now?" Looking at the setting sun, Drew sighed. "We make camp. And we go looking for Majungasaurus in the morning. We're not going to find much in the dark."

. . . . .

The air in the quetzalcoatlus aviary was flooded with enraged squawks and pained shrieks as Cirrus and Zephyr stood, face to face, heads held high and their wings spread, shrieking at each other. Cirrus lunged forward, trying to bite Zephyr, who leaned back in time to avoid this attack, squawked in rage, and then jumped forward before thrusting his beak downward, with Cirrus barely dodging the blow.

It was at around this moment that Adrian, John, and Kaisumi arrived, with the last of those three pointing her finger at the battling Cirrus and Zephyr. "They started fighting about 15 minutes ago. Cirrus was with Nimbus when Zephyr attacked him," she explained breathlessly.

The three watched as Cirrus swung his wings side to side in a threat display and snapped at Zephyr. Kaisumi shook her head and she and John looked back at Adrian, as the latter said, "What should we do?". Adrian thought carefully to himself before nodding his head. "We let them fight."

Kaisumi's eyes widened. "We what?!" "Are you sure?" John asked.

"Yes," said Adrian, before looking at Kaisumi once more. "They're fighting over Nimbus. Best option, I'd say is to let them sort it out – one's going to back off eventually."

Kaisumi and Willoby looked into each other's eyes, and then back at Adrian, before Willoby said "Very well." "Hope this works out," Kaisumi stated nervously.

For what felt like an eternity, Cirrus and Zephyr continued their fight. The stalemate was broken when Cirrus suddenly lunged at Zephyr, ramming his head firmly against his taller opponent's chest, knocking him to the ground. Cirrus loomed over his larger rival, moving slowly and menacingly. Adrian, Kaisumi, and Willoby all tensed up, ready to go inside the aviary to separate them...

...but then Cirrus stoppped, screeched in Zephyr's face, and watched his rival get back up. Once Zephyr had gotten back up, he looked at Cirrus and gave him an almost respectful nod before walking away. As this happened, Nimbus and Cirrus affectionately nuzzled each other. Kaisumi smiled and nodded, "Another addition to the breeding programme," before turning to Adrian, "You were right, you know."

"Yup," Willoby agreed before looking to Adrian. "Glad things didn't get worse."

"What can I say?" Adrian stated, "I know my stuff."

"On that note, I was going to ask you earlier," Willoby added in. "I was wondering, do you think it would be possible to train pterosaurs?"

Adrian thought to himself. "Possibly," he admitted. "This is because of Jack and the dromas?"

"That's correct," said Willoby as he nodded his head. "I'm just wondering if, when that harpactognathus egg hatches, we could use it when it's big enough."

Kaisumi looked to Adrian, curiously as Adrian thought to himself. After a few minutes, he said, "I don't see why not. I can definitely help with that if Nikolai agrees to the idea."

"Excellent." Willoby flashed Adrian a thumbs up. "I'll see what the boss says about the idea."

"Sounds like a plan," Adrian responded.

Before they left, they looked in the aviary to check – they saw Cirrus and Nimbus slowly walking over towards the lake to have a drink together while Zephyr stood some distance away, looking at his rival with new respect, whilst the rest of the flock ignored them.

A crisis averted.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Alice and Tina were on a break at the former's flat, watching Dogo, the orphaned theriodictis pup Alice had hand-reared. Dogo, was chewing on a bone Alice had given him. Alice smiled, "Wouldn't you think he looks better?" Tina smiled and nodded in agreement. "You've certainly taken good care of him."

Alice chuckled and looked back in Dogo's direction in time to see the young pup gnawing vigorously at the bone, "He was nothing but skin and bones when we found him." It was around this point that Dogo walked up to his surrogate mother, looking at her curiously. At this, Tina sighed, and said "You have to admit - it's time we introduced him to his own kind. Reirei and Gogoi might not take him in, but it's our only shot. I mean cross-fostering happens in wolves."

Alice sighed, hung her head, and shook it side to side, "I know. We should." She looked at Dogo, who looked at her curiously, before patting him on the head, sighing, "It's the best option."

"Yeah – we'll work something out," said Tina.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, at the veterinary facility, Terrence was resting peacefully in a recovery pen – his injuries and the surgery had drained a lot of his energy. As he slept, he was observed from an observation deck by Kyle, Nikolai, and Linda.

"You're absolutely certain that separating them is the only option?" Kyle asked.

Linda sighed, and nodded. "I know it seems impractical," she admitted. "But, if they fight again, Terence will be seriously injured… or killed."

Nikolai nodded his head. "I may not have been there," he said. "But, from what I heard, I agree that that is the best option for Terence's safety."

Kyle sighed, pinching his nose as he processed this, "I don't like this," he admitted. "But there's no other way." "However", he said, gritting his teeth. "We'll have to discuss this with Drew." Nikolai nodded his head in agreement. "Da, that too." He growled, "Hopefully, the komandir will have the sense to listen to us."

The sound of Nikolai's communicator going off split the air, the security chief reflexively drawing it out and answering the call. "Koshkin, over?" He listened carefully, and then nodded. "Understood. We'll be on our way." He ended the call and slipped his communicator back in its position on his belt. "Come," he said as he started heading off to depart from the veterinary facility, beckoning for Kyle to accompany him. "You and I must return to the holding pens. It seems that Drew's team have brought something large back."

Kyle took a deep breath, exhaled heavily and very stiffly started to follow the security chief. Linda couldn't help but shake her head side to side with a concerned look on her face. "Forget Terrence and Matilda," she thought bitterly to herself. "At this rate, it will be a miracle if they don't end up killing each other."

. . . . .

At the holding pens, Kyle and Nikolai observed from the observation railing as the assembled keepers attempted to lead the dahalokely pack into a holding pen. The abelisaurs did not make it easy, cawing and snapping their teeth threateningly at the keepers. Nikolai nodded his head. "Well at least he started small." He directed a glare at Kyle. "Something I'm sure you're QUITE happy about."

Kyle sighed, facepalming as he shook his head side to side, before lowering his palm and casting Nikolai a withering glare. "This. Shit. Again?"

"He sent the small creatures back first," said Nikolai. "He seems to be listening to us. Even these are smaller than expected – easier for your team."

Kyle narrowed his eyes even further, "Really? I've told you time and time again my team know what they're doing." Nikolai glowered, "I'll believe that once you start acting as such."

"I beg your pardon?" Kyle snarled, fighting back the urge to throttle Nikolai, "I wonder how far your lot would get without my team". At this, Nikolai narrowed his eyes, resisting the urge to hit Kyle over the head with the tranquilizer rifle.

Aaron, Carmen, Maria, and Hugo watched all this, seething in annoyance. "Here we go again," Maria grumbled, rolling her eyes irritably. "No kidding," Aaron growled before turning to Carmen. "What do you think it'll take for them to stop this?" Carmen sighed, "Until someone dies. And I'm lowballing."

Hugo snorted, rolling his eyes, "Oh, they'll kill each other before that happens. And Drew does fuck-all to mediate it." Maria hissed, "Yup – that's our peerless leader. At this rate, I'll wring his neck."

A cacophony of cawing brought their attention back to the holding pens – the dahalokey were still being difficult.

This was going to be a long day.

. . . . .

Back in Cretaceous Madagascar, Drew, Jack and Leon had set up camp on the edge of the forest, by a large, fallen log. They had made a small fire to keep any predators away from the camp. Sitting by the fire, Drew yawned. "I'm getting some sleep. Jack, the watch is yours. Leon, you can stay with him if you like," he then said as he got up and headed to his tent. Jack and Leon watched him go, before Jack, noticing how quiet Leon had been, turned to him and asked, "So…how are things?" Leon shrugged and said, "Good, good."

At this, Jack nodded and said, somewhat awkwardly, "So…you and Drew go back a long time. Care to tell me more about it?" There was a pause, before Jack added, "If you're OK with it, of course. I don't want to force you."

Leon sighed. "It's fine. Drew and I have known each other for over 10 years; we first met in 8th grade biology. The teacher put me, Drew and Adrian in a group together and we found ourselves liking each other; I hadn't had much friends, so Drew and Adrian's companionship really helped me." He trailed off, noticing Jack's smirk, "Of course, you know all that. But…are you sure you want to hear this?" Jack shrugged and said, "Well, yeah." Leon exhaled. "Drew was always the successful one; captain of the basketball team, president of the debating team, straight A's…" He shook his head. "Even after we graduated, success after success came to him; well, he's now in charge here. People always thought Adrian and I were the sidekicks, the followers…" He gave Jack a pointed look, "the hangers-on. Now, Adrian was… Adrian about it, but…" He breathed in, "I l…care about Drew very deeply, but it's not hard to be a little jealous; like I'm playing second fiddle."

Jack cocked his head and said, "Meaning?"

Leon sighed, "I'm only here because Drew put a good word for me in with Theodore. You know that, and it's high time I accepted it. Stumbling in the Jurassic, nearly getting eaten by the Crassigyrinus… that strengthened everybody's convictions. Somebody's got to be there to keep me out of trouble; I feel useless. And I hate that."

Jack smiled at him, and said, "Hey, hey, you've done great things, too. Saving Yolanda, for one. Yeah, our fearless leader is the guy in charge, but without us, he wouldn't get anywhere. And, deep down…really deep down, he knows it...even if he doesn't always like to admit it."

Leon smiled at this, and then looked thoughtfully at Jack - perhaps it was time to ask Jack some questions of his own. "Jack…can I ask a question?" Jack raised his eyebrow. "Go ahead." Leon looked at him. "Nothing upsets you, does it? No matter what happens, you're always the same." Jack sighed, "The same, am I? Little you know." Leon continued, "You're always happy; you're always making jokes…how can you do that?" Jack gave Leon a pointed look, "Everyone assumes that if you're cracking jokes, you're happy. Why?"

Leon chuckled awkwardly. "Boy, you've changed since Gogo Reef." There was a brief pause; they didn't want to mention it, but there was no avoiding it now. Jack sighed, "Remember Gogo Reef?" Leon nodded, "You called me a hanger-on. You said I was useless and you hated me." He hung his head. "I got angry because I was scared you were right."

Jack smiled, "Hey, hey, I meant the hanger-on bit. I thought you were a walking textbook. That you were only hired because you were best mates with the boss." He sighed. "I didn't say I hated you; I never hated you. Not once." He paused, "Did you hate me?"

For a moment, Leon was stunned at what he'd just now heard. Then his face fell, and he looked awkwardly at Jack, sighing, "A little bit. I mean, you should've told me that before." Jack smiled, "Hey, I didn't know what you thought about me. Amazing how things change."

There was a brief pause, before Leon smiled at Jack and said, "Thanks. For telling me that." Jack smiled. "My pleasure". As Leon got up to his tent, he turned to Jack and said, "What did you mean by amazing how things change?" Jack smiled again, "We couldn't have had this conversation before." Leon gave him a quizzical look, "Why?", to which Jack responded, "We just couldn't."

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes; Jack and Leon's eyes widened and they looked at each other. "Get Drew," Jack whispered, "I think we have company."

. . . . .

Drew awoke to hear something moving through the bushes. 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 two groups of strange-looking crocodilians browsing on leaves – the first were small, at about two feet long, with pug-shaped faces, and were covered in greenish gold scales with greyish tan underbellies. The other ones were larger, at about five feet long, only with slightly longer snouts and a darker colouration.

Leon gazed at them quizzically. "The little ones are Simosuchus, definitely, whilst the other ones are probably something undiscovered." Drew smiled. "Jack, get the bait bag. There are leaves in there." Jack got the bait bag and emptied a trail of leaves, which the little crocodiles 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 one had gone through, Drew shut off the portal, smiled and said, "Let's all get some sleep."

. . . . .

The next morning, Drew was suddenly awoken by a rodent-like chittering. Curioous, he clambered out of his tent and met Jack and Leon. Shortly after, he saw what creatures had awoken them.

At least three different species of mammal were milling about on the forest floor. They looked like a cross between a rat and a guinea pig, with the largest being about the size of a small dog and being covered in slightly badger-like fur.

Drew and Jack looked at Leon, with the latter asking, "Any idea what these are?" Leon nodded and said, "They're gondwanatheres – the big ones are adalatherium, but I'm not sure on the other two." Drew smiled. "Prime candidates for the park. Jack, get a trail of plants." Jack got the bait bag and emptied a trail of leaves, which the mammals followed. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present. Stepping back from the site, Drew smiled and said, "Here's what we're going to do next…"

"Drew!" yelled Leon, just as Drew tripped over a giant snake. It looked like a Madagascan ground boa – however, it was the size of a Burmese python. The snake hissed indignantly at Drew before slithering back down the hill. Following it, they saw several more in a clearing, so well camouflaged, the team could only just barely see them.

"Madtsoia" said Jack, impressed. "Biggest snake here. Kind of hoping we were gonna bump into this guy." Drew turned to Jack, smiling, "I've got a plan for these guys – you've handled snakes before, so you probably know what it is." Jack smiled, "Got it, fearless leader."

About a minute later, a dead rat was placed on the ground next to the nearest snake. When the snake slithered towards the food item, it didn't notice Jack approaching it from behind until he'd abruptly, but gently, slipped his left arm around its neck while placing his upper body against the back of its head, restraining it. The large snake hissed and squirmed but couldn't free itself. Whilst this was happening, Drew set the portal up in front of the two and activated it. The Madtsoia slithered through and into the holding pens the instant Jack had released it from his hold. The three humans repeated this process with the four others, leaving a rat as bait, Jack getting them restrained, and Drew summoning the portal in time for them to slither through.

After the last madtsoia had gone through, the team went further into the forest, eventually coming upon a small group of animals in a clearing – a flock of birds, alongside a small group of dromaeosaurs. The birds were about the size of a crow and covered in black feathers, with white wingtips, a yellow throat and belly and red shins. Their most noticeable feature was their large, toucan-like beak with two small sharp teeth near the tip. The dromaeosaurs were each about two feet long and covered in black feathers with streaks of dark purple and blue on their arms.

At these, Jack smiled. "Rahonavis – a weird kind of dromaeosaur. And I'm guessing the birds are Falcatakely?" Leon nodded. "Correct," he confirmed. Drew smiled. "Two for the price of one – get the mealworms." Jack passed him the bait bag and left a trail of mealworms, which the birds and dromaeosaurs followed. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present. Turning to his teammates, Drew smiled and said, "Let's head back to the lake."

Approaching the lake, they saw a float of large crocodiles lying on the lakeshore, basking in the sun. The nearest opened its mouth, revealing a set of shark-like teeth. Drew and Jack both turned to Leon for identification, who said "Miadanasuchus – a type of large crocodile. We're going to have to be careful…" Suddenly, Drew started blaring the horn, to which Leon sighed. "Or we could just start blaring the horn," he grumbled.

The miadanasuchus' attention was attracted by the horn's blaring, and they began to advance towards Drew and his teammates, snarling. Drew smiled, and began blaring the horn again. The large crocodilians began to charge towards Drew and the portal, hissing and snarling. Eventually, one by one, they went through the portal, back to the park.

After the last miadanasuchus had gone through, the team heard a distant roar come from the desert and their eyes widened in stunned recognition. They knew that sound

The three humans followed the sound. They had, at last, found their target.

. . . . .

Leaving the oasis, they saw a dead Rapetosaurus lying in the desert. A large female Majungasaurus was feasting eagerly on the dead sauropod. Two dog-size juveniles, obviously the female's offspring, tussled and snapped as their mother fed. Drew, Jack, and Leon smiled at the domesticity of this little scene.

Suddenly, the sound of quiet footsteps alerted the team to another, smaller Majungasaurus, a male by the looks of it, stalking up to the carcass. The male moved with the clumsy gait of an adolescent animal, closer to the playing juveniles. Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other in horror – the adolescent male was going to eat them.

The male advanced towards the juveniles, jaws open…when, suddenly, the mother of the young slammed into him and sank her teeth into the male's neck. The adolescent male managed to struggle free, hissing and snarling in surprise and pain, but not without deep wounds being inflicted on his neck.

The two abelisaurs circled each other snarling and snapping, before the stalemate was broken when the female charged at the adolescent male, ramming her head against his flank, knocking him to the ground. The smaller male hurriedly got to his feet and charged towards her. However, the female dodged him and bit him in the thigh, causing him to emit a pained squeal. Struggling free, he attempted to lunge for her leg, but missed.

This was the opening the female needed. In a flash, she grabbed him by the neck, spun him 180 degrees, released him and headbutted him in his centre of gravity, knocking him to the ground. After a minute, the battered adolescent got back to his feet, hiss bitterly, and stalked away in defeat. As he limped off, the female bellowed in triumph and resumed feeding alongside her young. The adolescent limped away, nursing his wounds.

However, his troubles weren't over yet.

As he limped away, battered and bleeding, the team noticed the male Majungasaurus they'd seen at the lake the day before stalking him. Drew, Jack, and Leon looked at each other in horror. They knew what was going to happen. Why challenge the female for what was left of the Rapetosaurus carcass, when there was a completely intact meal just nearby?

Suddenly, the large male Majungasaurus charged out of the bushes and rammed the adolescent in the side, knocking him to the floor before grabbing his neck and deepening his bite, preparing to kill him. The adolescent struggled in the larger male's grip but couldn't squirm free. Hearing the adolescent's pained squeals, Jack winced. "Poor thing – he's going to die." Leon narrowed his eyes. "Not if I have anything to say about it," he growled as he drew out his broadcasting device.

Before the larger male could inflict the killing bite, Leon suddenly ran out and began blaring the recording he'd made of the majungasaurus' 'roar' at full volume. The large male Majungasaurus released his target and turned to look at Leon, snarling. Drew and Jack rushed to the injured adolescent, with the latter holding a piece of meat he'd pulled from the bait bag. The adolescent smelled the meat and rose on shaky feet. Once the adolescent was up on his feet, Drew opened the portal and the injured abelisaur limped through the portal, to the safety of the park.

However, the larger male turned to see his prey disappear and narrowed his eyes – he would not be cheated so easily. Hissing in outrage, he tore off towards the portal, before disappearing through it, to the present. Once the abelisaur was through, Leon ran up to Drew and Jack, smiling. Jack smiled at him and said, "Well done!" Drew also nodded, a proud smile on his face. "The student has become… almost as good as the master." Leon chuckled, and gave them a thumbs up.

As the three humans returned to the carcass afterward, they saw that the female Majungasaurus had moved on and taken her offspring with her. However, an assortment of scavengers were at the carcass, eagerly ripping off semi-rotting flesh. A group of sandy-brown coloured small theropods with protruding teeth and a flock of azhdarchids, with yellowish fur, were feasting eagerly on the dead sauropod. The strangest creatures at the carcass, however, were a group of large terrestrial crocodiles, each some ten feet long, who ripping huge chunks of meat, even bolting down bone.

After looking inquisitively, Leon said, "The theropods are masiakasaurus, whilst the terrestrial crocs are mahajangasuchus. I think the pterosaurs are something new."

Looking at the squalid atmosphere, Jack turned to Drew. "How the hell are we going to get this lot through the portal?" Drew smirked. "Something stupid."

After Drew had contacted the park, he ran towards the carcass, making sure to avoid rousing the wrath of the squabbling creatures and carefully hooked the winch into the corpse's thigh; the winch was attached to a park jeep on the other side. Drew ran back to the portal and gave the thumbs-up signal and the winch began pulling the sauropod carcass away. The scavengers took notice of this and began to move towards it, all united in a desire to not lose their meal. Within minutes, the dead titanosaur was yanked through the portal by the jeep dragging it. The scavengers, moving too fast to stop, dove through the portal after it and into the present.

. . . . .

Linda smiled happily as she watched the apatosaurus, brachiosaurus and brontosaurus herds gathered around the Morrison herbivore paddock's watering hole. All the adults were drinking from the water, whilst the juveniles were play-fighting – Arlo was amongst the young apatosaurus while Shorty mock-sparred with another young brachiosaurus. Two months on, Arlo had been fully accepted into the apatosaurus herd, whilst still maintaining his friendship with Shorty. The head vet said under her breath, "It turned out alright in the end, didn't it?"

Eventually, Arlo managed to win the mock fight and noticed Linda's presence, walking towards the viewing area where the woman who had saved him was standing. Linda chuckled, slipped on a protective glove, and patted Arlo on the head, the young apatosaurus rumbling happily at the contact. Linda smiled, "It's good to see you too, Arlo," she said. She'd visited Arlo whenever she could after he'd been integrated in the Morrison herbivore paddock out of concern for him. She didn't like to play favourites with her patients, but she'd become very fond of him.

At the sound of an inquisitive bellow, Arlo turned his head to see Shorty and the other juvenile sauropods by the watering hole. It appeared that they all were going to join the adults in taking a drink. Arlo looked to Linda, inquisitively. The head vet chuckled. "Go ahead. I'm not gonna stop you." Arlo grumbled in acceptance, and made his way to the watering hole. Linda smiled as she watched this happen.

Her walkie talkie suddenly went off, and she reflexively drew it out and answered. "Dr. Eberhart speaking, over?"

"Are you busy right now" responded Kyle's voice.

"Not really," Linda replied. "Is something urgent?"

"Yes. Drew's just sent back an adolescent majungasaurus. He's in a bad state."

"I'm on my way right now."

. . . . .

"Yolanda, pass me the swab, will you?"

"Here you go boss," her young assistant responded as she handed the swab to her. At that moment, the two of them, plus Harry, Bethany, and the other vets were once again in the operating room. The abelisaur had injuries on his neck, face, and one of his thighs – he'd lost a lot of blood. But he was in good hands – they were not going to let him die if they could help it. Working as carefully as they could, Linda and the rest of the vets worked on disinfecting his wounds. Once they were finished with this...

"Bethany, healing gel please." Bethany handed her a healing gel tube, and it was applied to the wounds. And once this was finished...

"Sutures please."

Harry passed Linda the sutures and she closed the wounds. And once this was done, one last shot of antibiotics was injected into the abelisaur to prevent infection. "Let's get him to a recovery pen," said Linda.

Half an hour later, the adolescent male majungasaurus had been placed inside the recovery pen next door to Terence's. The two young theropods had taken an interest in each other, sniffing at each other through the divide.

At this scene, Bethany said, "Weird, isn't it? They're the same age, similar injuries…" Yolanda giggled. "You know what they say about birds of a feather…"

The two regarded each other curiously before walking off in opposite directions. Yolanda smiled and said, "Anyone wanna bet on what Drew will say once he finds out Terence has a new BFF?"

. . . . .

Heading back towards the lake, the rescue team saw the Rapetosaurus herd, who were all either drinking from the water or browsing from the trees. However, they weren't the only animals by the lakeside – they were alongside another group of sauropods, slightly smaller and darker coloured, as well as a small herd of herbivorous crocodiles, each about twenty feet long and covered in dark green scales, with a wide, hippopotamus-like head. Drew smiled. "Not only do we have Rapetosaurus, but we also have a herd of Vahiny and some more herbivorous crocs. This could be our easiest mission yet!" Jack facepalmed and said, "Please don't say that." Drew looked to Jack, confused. "Why?" Jack responded with, "Cos, fearless leader, every time someone says that, something bad happens…"

Suddenly, a Rapetosaurus looked up and sniffed the air, before letting out a brief, honking bellow. The herbivores suddenly went on edge. "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 the mother Majungasaurus, so motionless that they almost didn't see her, hidden amongst the trees. The abelisaur looked at the three humans with a cold glare, before moving past them and closer to the herbivores. United in the face of a common enemy, the herbivores stamped and bellowed at the arriving theropod.

Drew turned to his team quietly. "We'll have to get this done quick," he whispered. "We don't want the Majungasaurus to notice us." Jack's gaze turned to something nearby and he said, "Uh, Drew…I might be jumping the gun here, but I think there's rather more to worry about than just a Majungasaurus." At this statement, Leon turned to Jack curiously. "Jack, what could be worse than a Majungasaurus?" Suddenly, several more Majungasaurus burst out from the trees and tore towards the herd. Jack turned to Leon and said, "That answer your question?"

The herbivores stampeded, moving as if a single unified entity, with the Majungasaurus keeping pace. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, 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 herd stampeded through the portal, into the present.

The Majungasaurus stopped in their tracks, surprised at the sudden disappearance of their prey, before turning their attention to the three humans...and started moving towards them! Drew's eyes widened. "Oh...crap!", as the adult majungasaurus snarled before charging towards them! Drew, Jack, and Leon immediately ran in different directions, eager to avoid getting eaten. The Majungasaurus pack, now joined by the mother Majungasaurus' offspring, followed Drew, cornering him behind a hollow log. Jack and Leon watched in horror as the abelisaurs advanced towards Drew. "Oh my God," Jack said. "They're going to kill him!" Leon looked in horror. "What can we do?!" Jack turned to Leon, "There's always something we can do. Pass me the horn."

As the Majungasaurus bore down on him, snapping and snarling, Drew could smell their fetid breath and feel their cold stares. Drew reflected; this would be how it ended – eaten by abelisaurs in Cretaceous Madagascar.

His thoughts were interrupted by the horn blaring, followed by a shrill roar, at which the Majungasaurus paused, looking confused, before turning to the source of the noise; Jack and Leon, with the airhorn and broadcasting device, respectively. The Majungasaurus snarled in indignation and advanced towards Jack and Leon, who blared the horn and let out one last majungasaurus call respectively; once the majungasaurus had gotten close enough, Leon activated the portal, sending the whole pack, moving too fast to stop, through to the present.

Drew turned to Jack and Leon, a stunned look on his face. "Why did you do that? You guys could have died." Jack smiled and said, "Drew, we're a team. Watching each other's backs is what we do." Smiling at them, Drew nodded his head at Jack and Leon and said, "Let's go home." The team walked through the portal, into the present.

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. It was at this point that Leon noticed Yolanda peeking out from behind Linda, a concerned look on her face. Leon flashed her a thumbs up. Meanwhile, Kyle asked Drew, "What happened on the mission?" Drew smiled, "I'll explain it to you later. Anything we missed?" In response, the head keeper rolled his eyes and said, "A lot. In fact, we'd like to talk to you about something. And believe me, it's important."

. . . . .

About an hour or so later, once all the dust had settled, all the newly rescued animals had been transferred to their new homes.

All the smaller animals were kept in a large building themed after a jungle. A large pit in the very centre of the building contained a paddock with a large lake for the miadanasuchus float, with all six of the large shark-toothed crocodiles lounging about. Two terrariums to the left of the miadanasuchus pit served as home for the beelzebufo and the two smaller snake species, with the six massive prehistoric frogs all resting contentedly within the small 'pond' while the kelyophis and menarana peacefully slithered along through their shared burrows.

Another, much larger, terrarium built into the wall served as home for the madtsoia, which were all exploring their new home. A large paddock directly in between the miadanasuchus paddock and the building's main entrance served as home to the mahajangasuchus pack, which were all scouting the edges of their new makeshift island home, whilst a large exhibit nearby served as home for the simosuchus and the newly discovered herbivorous crocodile species, which Khatin and his team had dubbed ictisuchus maevaroensis; both groups were peacefully sniffling about in search of food. Another paddock to the right of the mahajangasuchus island, themed after a jungle clearing served as home for the gondwanatheres, with the larger badger-like species being adalatherium while the other two had been identified as vintana and lavanify.

A large paddock behind the miadanasuchus pit was the home for the larger herbivorous crocs, which had been dubbed kibokosuchus maximus, who were now all either browsing or drinking. The falcatakely and rahonavis shared a large aviary and were now searching for food.

Outside the building, a large forest paddock served as home for the rapetosaurus and vahiny herds, which were all calmly browsing from the trees. A large aviary next door served as home for the flock of azhdarchids, which Khatin and his team had dubbed fulminopteryx velox.

To the right of the aviary were a series of paddocks for the three abelisaurs. A small paddock with a creek running through it served as home for the masiakasaurus, whilst a larger paddock resembling a jungle clearing served as home for the dahalokely – both species were scouting their new territories in search of food. The largest three all served as home for the majungasaurus, with the five adult females and the two young juveniles all sharing one paddock as they feasted upon a cow carcass, another home to the adult male Goliath, who was sleeping and a third for the adolescent… when he recovered.

Things were once again running smoothly at Prehistoric Park… for now, of course.

. . . .

Several hours after things had calmed down, Drew smiled, as he looked at Terence, sleeping in his recovery pen. Suddenly, Terence opened his eyes, got up and stiffly walked towards Drew. At his arrival, Drew smiled, "Hey there, bud. Got into a bit of a fight today?", to which Terence cocked his head. Drew smiled, "I'll take that as a yes", before gently placing his hand on the tyrannosaur's massive nose and smiled, "You fought well, pal. You fought well. See you in the morning." He smiled, got up and left for his sleeping quarters – he had a lot to think about.

Rescue Tally

* Adalatherium hui (11; all adults; 5 male, 6 female)

* Beelzebufo ampinga (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)

* Dahalokely tokana (7; 4 adults, 3 youngsters; 3 male, 4 female)

* Falcatakely forsterae (13; all adults; 7 male, 6 female)

* Fulminopteryx velox (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)*

* Ictisuchus maevaroensis (12; all adults; 6 male, 6 female)

* Kelyophis hechti (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Kibokosuchus maximus (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)

* Lavanify miolaka (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)

* Madtsoia madagascariensis (5; all adults; 3 male, 2 female)

* Mahajangasuchus insignis (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Majungasaurus crenatissimus (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 6 female, 3 male)

* Masiakasaurus knopfleri (13; 10 adults, 3 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)

* Menarana nosymena (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Miadanasuchus oblita (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)

* Rahonavis ostromi (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)

* Rapetosaurus krausei (13; 9 adults, 4 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)

* Simosuchus clarki (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Vahiny depereti (14; 10 adults, 4 youngster; 7 male, 7 female)

* Vintana sertichi (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:

It's all hands on deck for a crocodile that ate dinosaurs!

(A massive crocodilian lunges out of a lake and snaps its jaws upon the neck of a drinking hadrosaur.)

But not without some unexpected complications.

(The rescue team waves flaming torches at a pack of troodontids surrounding their campsite.)

And an unexpected additional duty has been added to the head researcher's daily schedule.

(Khatin carefully observes a pair of ornithomimus eggs in an incubator.)

All next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Every Golden Scale!