Spirits of the Ice Forest

Theodore Richardson nodded his head, a smile on his kindly face as he looked at the small group of men and women in suits that were now standing on the front yard of the Novum Florida headquarters in between him and a parked helicopter in the late morning Florida sunlight. "I take it you all had a safe trip?"

The leader of the group, a tall younger bespectacled man with dark brown hair, nodded his head in the affirmative, clearly not taking the heat very well in his stuffy looking business suit with the word 'Woodward' on a metallic nametag attached nearby his right lapel. "We did sir," he said. He wiped his forehead. "We all would have been happy to contact you virtually, but, well... it's a big topic."

"Correct indeed Steven," Theodore responded as he nodded his head - it was the future of Prehistoric Park. The time had come to decide whether allow the park to start being prepared for opening to the public. And in the meantime, business would continue as usual at the park, for already Theodore had informed Drew of the perfect target to acquire for the park's first mission for the new phase... as well as something else.

The founder of Novum looked intently at the assembled board members standing before him, his eyebrow raised as he took note of one seemingly rather concerning detail. "May I ask where the new addition to the rescue team is? I was under the impression she'd be coming here with you."

"Fear not, sir," said Steven Woodward. "She's here."

The door to the helicopter opened, and the new addition in question stepped out.

. . . . .

"So…do we know who this new person is?"

Drew Luczynski, Jack Denham and Leon Gilbertson were currently standing at the main entrance gate to Prehistoric Park, two whole weeks after the Shutdown, waiting for someone to arrive. At breakfast the previous morning, Drew had received a phone call from Theodore, who had proceeded to inform him of the long awaited target for the park's first rescue mission for the newly begun Phase 2, the fact that he and the Novum board had begun discussing whether or not to start preparing the park for opening to the public, and how the park staff would now apparently have a new member. They didn't learn much else from Theodore's message on that last detail, other than that Theodore was calling in this new staff member to work alongside the rescue team. Nobody knew who this new rescue team member would be, but they were about to find out.

At Jack's question, Drew shrugged, "No idea. Theodore didn't tell me, but they should be here around about…"

The sound of a jeep driving towards the park attracted the trio's attention to their left just in time to see a park jeep indeed slowly coming into view from down the road. Drew smiled. "Now," he said in completion of his earlier statement, trademark grin on his face and his fingers intertwined in anticipation of meeting the new addition to the rescue team. Leon and Jack also stared intently in the direction of the jeep, clearly just as curious now as Drew now that their apparent new teammate had at last arrived.

The Jeep pulled up and a woman got out of the passenger seat of the car – one of the most striking women Jack had ever seen. She had short blonde hair, light green eyes, was about Drew's height and was built like an athlete – a cheerleader, maybe. Scanning the environment in confusion, she caught sight of Drew, and her eyes widened in apparent shock...before then narrowing into a vicious glare, at which point she then started walking slowly and purposefully towards them with her fists clenched.

At this, Jack couldn't help but notice Drew and Leon looked like they'd seen a ghost. Throwing all caution to the wind, Jack, confused, asked "Who's that?" Leon said, in a voice from beyond the grave, "Cynthia Knightley." At the name, Jack looked confused, "Ok? I'm guessing you know her?" Leon nodded, before turning to Drew, "Would you like to tell him?"

Drew grimaced, "Cynthia is my ex. Figures – of all the Novum projects in all the world…she walks into mine." Still confused, Jack said, "So…was this an amicable breakup or a nasty breakup?" The woman came to a stop right in front of Drew, Jack and Leon, paying the latter two no attention, as Drew awkwardly said, "Hi, Cynth…fancy meeting you here…"

PUNCH!

As Drew was knocked back, Cynthia gave him a venomous glare and said, "I swore I'd punch you if I ever set eyes on you again," before stalking off. Watching her leave, Drew wiped the blood from his nose as Jack, once he was sure Cynthia had gone, said, "To be fair, that doesn't really tell either way."

Leon sighed. "Let's just say it's a long story."

. . . . .

Once Drew had finished wiping his bloody nose, he, Jack and Leon met in Drew's office to talk about today's mission. "Right", Drew said, anticipatorily rubbing his hands together, "This is our first mission since the Shutdown and I thought we should go after something a bit more unusual. And Theodore evidently agreed, because here's what he's told me he's chosen for today's target." He switched the projector on and an image of a medium-sized theropod dinosaur with a quiff-shaped crest on its head. "Cryolophosaurus." Jack said, curiously, "That's the Antarctic dinosaur, right?" Drew nodded, "Yup." Turning to Jack, Leon said "Well, actually, there were more Antarctic dinosaurs – Cryolophosaurus wasn't even the first to be discovered – however, it was the first to be named…" Drew raised his hand, "Anyway, I think we've waited long enough for our first Phase 2 mission – so let's get back to business!" He clapped his hands together and smirked anticipatorily. "Hop to it everyone!"

. . . . .

"So…Nikolai…we're going after Cryolophosaurus today."

Nikolai Koshkin turned to look at Jack Denham. Half an hour had now passed since Drew had debriefed Jack and Leon on the mission, and the former was currently taking advantage of a small window of time available to talk to him in the Carboniferous Dome before joining back up with Drew and Leon for the mission. "I know – Leon sent me the info-packs yesterday." Jack sighed, "Oh, yeah", before smiling awkwardly, "It's not that big, so there should be less work for you…"

Nikolai snorted – Jack, it seemed, was trying to impress him. "You are well aware that you don't need to butter me up?" Nikolai then asked. "After all, last I checked, I'm the one who had faith in you."

"Well yeah, true," Jack admitted. "But come on, it can't hurt to work for you to keep having faith in me."

Nikolai raised his eyebrow. "And why would I ever do that?"

"Oh, no reason", a now flustered Jack hurriedly explained, as Nikolai shook his head, a small smirk forming on his face. Truth be told, he was kind of messing with Jack at this point. It certainly helped that, as much as Jack wasn't likely to admit it, Nikolai already had a very strong feeling indeed as to why Jack was trying to impress him.

He had never married or had any children in his life. However, he'd come to view Collete Dubois as the closest thing to a daughter he'd ever have. And, from observing Jack's interactions with her, he was well aware of how Jack seemed to quite simply 'fancy her' as the young keeper would so delightfully put it. He chuckled at the thought - Jack was trying to impress him, when he'd already done that.

The sound of rustling bushes caused Jack and Nikolai to look in the direction of the noise in time to see Felix and Melancholia rise up from their hiding spots and gaze curiously in the latter's direction. Chuckling, Nikolai picked up some nearby plant matter and lifted it into place near the two giant millipedes' heads and both eagerly ate. "Apologies Denham," Nikolai stated as he observed the feeding arthropleura. "It would appear that Felix got curious as to why I suddenly halted my efforts at feeding him. Perhaps we can continue this discussion later today after your mission?"

"No problem, sir," Jack said, giving a mock salute with a cheeky smile on his face. "I'll be back before you know it," he said as he turned and departed from the Carboniferous Dome.

. . . . .

"You're serious?" Yolanda Hall asked, a gleeful smile on her face as she processed what Leon had just told her. At that moment, the assistant veterinarian and Leon were seated upon a bench on the front porch of the main veterinary hospital building; for Leon had finished his preparations for that day's mission and they both had time to spare. "Your new teammate is yet another person you knew from school?"

Leon nodded his head. "For better or worse."

Yolanda giggled, raising her fists towards her chin in glee. "Well small world after all," she said, "This ought to be so much fun!"

Leon sighed. "If only it were that simple."

Yolanda raised her eyebrow in confusion. "What makes you say that?", she asked in curiosity.

Leon looked straight at Yolanda. "Let's just say that, even before she broke up with Drew, Cynthia and I didn't exactly get along."

Yolanda made a silent 'oh', thought to herself, and then looked concernedly back at Leon. "She wasn't like...Fiona or Billy...right?"

"Oh no, definitely not," Leon stated, whistling silently as if in horror at the idea. "Thank goodness not like them." He shook his head. "But even so, let's just say she's not exactly the easiest to befriend."

"There's some people I know amongst the staff who've said the same thing about Collete," Yolanda pointed out, earlier smile once again on her face. "And she and I are at least on amicable speaking terms. What's gonna make the new girl any different?"

Leon chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head as he worked to think up an appropriate response. At this point, with how many months had passed since the day he'd first properly met and gotten to know her, Yolanda had become one of his closest friends at the park - and from what he remembered about his past experiences with Cynthia, he couldn't help but worry that any effort Yolanda made to befriend Drew's rather rigid and humourless ex would be doomed to failure. Although admittedly, this wasn't quite the only reason Leon had reason to feel distaste for Cynthia either. "Well to be completely honest..."

Yolanda's communicator went off. Wincing, Yolanda directed an apologetic look at Leon before then answering her communicator. "This is Hall, over?" She listened intently as the person on the other end of the line spoke. "Understood," she then said. "On my way." She ended the call and slipped her communicator back into her pants pocket. "That was Dr. Eberhart," she said. "Boggs and Dil are ready for their checkup." She looked apologetically at Leon. "Sorry to cut this short. We can continue this later, right?"

"No problem," Leon said, flashing Yolanda a thumbs up and nodding his head in understanding. "I should probably be heading off to join back up with Jack and Drew for today's mission anyway. Best of luck for today."

Yolanda giggled. "Right back at you."

And at that, the two parted ways.

. . . . .

Once Leon and Jack had returned, the team met up at the portal. Already Drew had his usual trademark grin on his face in anticipation of the coming mission. He looked towards the nearby technician, flashing him a thumbs up in the process. "Fire away." The technician nodded, entered in the appropriate coordinates, and then summoned the portal with the pressing of the appropriate button. At the sight of the portal, Drew directed his grinning face towards his two companions. "Ready?" Jack gave Drew a thumbs up. "You bet fearless leader." Leon rammed his right fist against his left palm. "Born ready," he determinedly growled. "Off we go then!" Drew yelled excitedly; at which point he and his two companions confidently marched their way through the portal and into Jurassic Antarctica.

As they left the portal upon arrival, the first thing that hit the team was the cool air. They looked around to see where they had emerged and the sight was breath-taking. They had emerged in the middle of a large, temperate forest, with a canopy of podocarpus and araucaria trees, a denser mid-canopy of ferns and cycads and a lush forest floor, covered in semi-dormant plants.

Drew looked at his teammates and said, "This mustn't be long after winter; the plants are only just starting to photosynthesize again." He remembered reading about the bizarre climactic system of Jurassic Antarctica on the info-packs; Antarctica, unlike the rest of the world at the time, had distinct seasons, with summers of 24-hour sunlight and winters of total darkness. In a way, not entirely different from how it was in modern times to be honest.

Suddenly, a bipedal, fast-moving shape moved through the forest, moving so fast it was practically a blur. As it moved through the undergrowth with a speed unrivalled, it briefly jumped onto a fallen podocarpus tree, allowing Drew, Jack and Leon to see it in detail for the first time. It was slightly bigger than the Nanosaurus back at the park, at about seven feet long, with much of that length being its long, stiff tail, and its entire body was covered with downy feathers; the feathers being reddish-brown with green stripes on the back, grading white on the underbelly. Another distinctive feature of it was its eyes; disproportionately large for its head, and which darted watchfully throughout the clearing, scanning for potential predators in the bushes. However, unlike the Nanosaurus, it had two, sabre-like teeth, like a musk deer. Suddenly, it turned to look at the three adventurers, squawked in alarm and tore back through the undergrowth, disappearing as quickly as it had arrived.

Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other confusedly, before Jack and Drew turned to Leon, who said, "This must be some kind of heterodontosaur – this is the Early Jurassic and heterodontosaurs were found in the southern continents." He thought to himself. "However, odds are it's a new species; which makes sense, the fossil record in Antarctica isn't all that great." Drew and Jack looked at each other – already they knew what they had to do next. "Let's see where he's headed," Drew said, and they began walking down the trail the basal ornithopod had left.

. . . . .

"So you just stand here and wait for the portal to open?"

Head keeper Kyle Taymor nodded his head. At that moment, he and his assembled holding pens team for the day were standing near the holding pens, with Cynthia standing nearby, looking curious. That is correct," he said. "While Drew's gallivanting off on missions, I generally stand here, waiting for whatever he's brought back to arrive."

Cynthia thought to herself. "So you're just standing around here while waiting for the animals to arrive? Sounds boring."

"It can get tedious," Kyle admitted. "But believe me, there are plenty of moments of… excitement."

"I suppose that's true," Cynthia admitted, imagining what it must have been like to see some of these animals. She then looked to Kyle once more. "Permission to go look around the park? If I'm to be working here, I believe it would be wise for me to know my way around."

"Permission granted," Kyle said gesturing in the direction of further into the park's interior. "Feel free to ask as many questions as needed."

Cynthia nodded, flashing the head keeper a mock military salute in respect - it was Drew she had issues with, not anybody else. "As you wish sir," she said. "Best of luck." And at that, she turned and departed to elsewhere.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in Jurassic Antarctica, following the heterodontosaur was proving to be difficult, with Drew, Jack and Leon often encountering large logs and other obstacles that the little ornithopod had easily scaled, but the two humans were having difficulty with. Their hike through the forest was punctuated with brief glimpses of the heterodontosaurs they were following in the bushes as they walked. After about an hour's trekking, they reached a large clearing.

In the clearing, a group of the heterodontosaurs, of all ages and sizes, were feeding on ferns, mosses and liverworts. Their motions were quick and precise, their heads bent low as they nosed through the undergrowth. One of the heterodontosaurs, however, was not feeding; rather, it was perched on a tree stump, erect on its back legs and balanced on its long, stiff tail. Its head darted around the clearing, alert of the slightest sound or movement. Drew knew immediately what his role was; he was a sentry, placed to warn of any approaching danger. So far, they were lucky; the sentry hadn't detected them. Or maybe he did see them but didn't register them as a threat; after all, they had no reason to fear humans. It was an interesting thought tangent that some people had brought up a few times, but he'd never really considered until now. Drew pondered; what did these creatures make of the presence of humanity?

Suddenly, the sentry went rigid and turned his head, with lightning-fast reflexes, south-southwest and looked fixedly at the undergrowth. Drew was puzzled; he wasn't looking at them, so what could have alerted him? Drew's eyes widened; either it was the best-case scenario, a rival group… or, worst case scenario, it was some sort of predator. The sentry suddenly squawked an alarm and the group went on edge as something large began crashing through the undergrowth. Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other; whatever it was that had spooked them, they were about to encounter it.

Suddenly, an enormous black amphibian came crashing through the undergrowth. It looked like a gigantic salamander, some fifteen feet long. Its eyes were small, black and lidless, almost invisible amongst its head. Its mouth opened to reveal fearsome rows of teeth, perfect for slashing and cutting up prey. However, its body was oddly small compared to its formidable jaws and heavy, spade-shaped skull; its legs were small and rather puny, considering its massive bulk.

Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other and Leon said, "This must be a temnospondyl of some kind – it's a distant cousin of the giant amphibians back at the park. There were giant temnospondyls in this part of the world right up until the Mid-Cretaceous. Another new species."

The amphibian's movements were clumsy; its belly dragged through the leaf litter and the width of its skull made it difficult for it to push through the tangle of dead ferns. Away from the water it was bewildered, out of place amongst the lithe, fast-moving dinosaurs nearby. It half-walked, half-slithered through the undergrowth. In this state, it was vulnerable… and not just to predators.

The heterodontosaurs chittered loudly at the giant amphibian, with one or two even making little mock charges at it. It almost seemed like a game to them, as if they knew the amphibian was no threat; it had neither the speed, nor the agility to hunt on land. The temnospondyl largely ignored them and continued its slow, but determined hike towards the river.

Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other, and Jack said, "So we follow it and see where it's headed?", to which Drew nodded and said, "You just read my mind". Walking a short distance, they followed the temnospondyl to the banks of the wide green river nearby and watched as it stumbled over the pebbly beach, through a scrappy stand of horsetails and slipped into the lazy flow. Once it had entered the water, it was transformed from cumbersome landlubber to graceful predator, disappearing into the water.

As it disappeared, Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other, and Jack said, "So, fearless leader… what do we do?" Drew was about to speak, before he was interrupted by a loud chattering sound. Once the sound had died down, Drew smiled, "We follow that sound."

. . . . .

Following the chattering, Drew, Jack and Leon found a small group of dromaeosaurus-sized theropods, resembling crestless versions of the Lophostropheus back at the park, but with whitish feathers, challenging the large temnospondyl over the semi-frozen corpse of a large prosauropod. A flock of large-headed pterosaurs, covered in brownish fur sat nearby, plucking meat off the carcass whilst this was happening. This time, Leon didn't even say anything for the group to know that the theropods and pterosaurs were undiscovered species.

The stand-off was interrupted when the temnospondyl grabbed the carcass in its massive jaws and pulled, ripping it in two, and dragging the back half into the water, leaving the other scavengers with the front half. The creatures all looked, bemused at each other, before beginning to squabble among themselves. Jack sighed, "What are we going to do now?" Drew smiled, "I have an idea."

After Drew had contacted the park, summoned the portal, and set up the appropriate equipment, 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 neck; 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 dead prosauropod 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 prosauropod 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.

. . . . .

Kyle nodded his head in approval at the sight of what now lay before him and his team within the nearby holding pen. "Our first animals," he thought to himself as he watched the small pack of theropods and flock of pterosaurs curiously observing their new surroundings. "At least they're small." Nodding his head, he looked to his assembled team. "Right, you all know the drill," he said. "Let's get to work on rounding up these new arrivals and contact Khatin and his team – these are undiscovered species."

"Yes sir," said all the assembled holding pens team members in unison.

. . . . .

After the small theropods and pterosaurs had been sent through the portal, the team stood by the shore of the river, looking in. The water was full of small invertebrates and algae, to which it owed its green colour, but Drew, Jack and Leon could make out several dark shapes swimming through the water; other temnospondyls who had made the journey from the forest. Some were noticeably smaller and red-coloured with a light blue stripe on their backs – probably a different species. Leon turned to Drew and asked, "How are we going to get this lot back through the portal? Use bait?" Drew smiled. "Nope. We're going to throw down a portal grenade."

And, so they stood on a bend in the river, close to where the temnospondyls were congregating. Leon emptied the bait bag into the water, whilst Drew threw in, and activated, the sonar device. The combined smell of fish and the vibrations in the water caused the nearby amphibians to approach it, both out of hunger and curiosity. When they had all gotten close enough, Drew threw down a portal grenade and the portal opened up underwater, and the amphibians began to swim through it, with a small school of steely grey fish ended up unwittingly sucked through the vortex as well. However, as the last large black temnospondyl went through, it flicked the portal grenade with its tail and the device came flying out of the water, before hitting a rock at high speed. Drew approached to notice that the casing was cracked and sighed, "It's broken. I'll have to send this off to Novum to be fixed."

Walking out onto the river coast, Leon turned to Drew and asked, "So… what do we do next?" Drew's answer was cut off by a low, trumpeting call echo through the air. Jack turned to Leon and said, "I suppose what we do next is follow that sound." Drew smirked, "Yup".

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back at the park, Alice Denham and Leon and Adrian Sky were currently at the quetzalcoatlus aviary, quietly observing the ten mighty azhdarchids as they calmly feasted together on a cow carcass. Adrian smiled fondly as he watched Cirrus and Nimbus calmly feasting together side by side alongside the rest of their flock. Alice, noticing Adrian's smile, nodded and smiled in return. "It's nice to see that things are still going well with them". Adrian chuckled, a slight blush forming on his face. "That's certainly true," he admitted.

Seemingly oblivious to Adrian's blushing, Alice looked back at the quetzalcoatlus, a look of determined focus on her face. "So," she then said in a half curious and half awkward tone. "Jack says that you might know the new girl… Thoughts on whether that's a good sign or not?"

Adrian shrugged. "I suppose that will depend on the kind of impression she leaves when we actually meet her..."

"Well, well, well, what a small world indeed."

Caught off guard, Adrian and Alice looked in the direction this sudden new voice had come from...

...at which point Adrian's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of someone he had never expected to see – ever. "Cynthia? What are you doing here?"

Cynthia chuckled, her eyes narrowing and smile widening in an amused smirk. "Good to see you, Gonzo." She placed her hands on her hips. "Nice to see that my blowhard ex and his super intelligent stooge aren't the only familiar faces I'll apparently be working with around here."

Alice looked at Adrian, her eyebrow raised in confusion. "You know this girl?"

Adrian sighed, and looked back at Alice with an awkward grimace on his face. "Alice," he said before pointing at Cynthia. "Say hello to Cynthia Knightley; our new teammate… and Drew's ex."

Cynthia guffawed. "Don't be so glum," she said. "God knows that Rain Man and I will be doing enough of that."

Alice gaped at Adrian again uncomprehendingly. "Rain man?"

"Her nickname for Leon," Adrian sighed.

Cynthia, meanwhile, took a look at the quetzalcoatlus, nodding her head afterward with a clear look of impressed approval on her face. "Quetzalcoatlus. Nice," she said before flashing Adrian a thumbs up. "Nice work Gonzo," she said, half mockingly and half in genuine respect. "You always loved birds and pterosaurs back in school and that was one of your favourites."

Adrian sighed again. "Any particular reason you're here at the quetzalcoatlus aviary?"

"Just getting the lay of the land," Cynthia responded haughtily, her head raised appropriately to match. "Kind of important that I know the lay of the land." She nodded her head. "Anyway, I got a lotta ground to cover so… good to see you again Gonzo." She looked at Alice, her eyebrow now raised. "And who are you?" Alice was just about to answer when Cynthia raised her hand as if to forestall Alice. "You know what? Never mind. I'll figure that out later." She turned to her right and started walking away to elsewhere. "Toodles noodles."

At this, Alice breathed out and turned to Adrian, WShe's...quite a character. Honestly not really sure what to think about her."

Adrian sighed. "At this current point in time, that's probably for the best." His communicator went off, and he drew it out to answer. "This is Sky, over?" He listened carefully to the person calling him. "Say no more," he then eventually said. "I'm on my way." He hung up his communicator and looked to Alice. "That was Dr. von Schorzberg. A newly discovered species of Jurassic Antarctican pterosaur has been sent through to the park, and he wanted to know if I was willing to help take part in giving them a name."

"Go right ahead," said Alice, nodding her head. "I've got some business to attend to at La Pampa Plains anyway. I'll catch you later."

Adrian nodded, and the two parted ways, filing their earlier encounter with Cynthia to the very back of their minds as they did so.

. . . . .

Two species of prosauropod were browsing in the clearing – the larger species being covered in greyish scales and being about twenty feet long, whilst the smaller species was a paler blue colour and was about eight feet long. They were accompanied by the heterodontosaurs from before, scampering around the giants' feet, feeding on dropped conifer needles and cycad fruits. Leon quietly said, "The big prosauropods are definitely Glacialisaurus, but I think the little ones might be another undiscovered species. And likely so are the hypsilophodonts..."

Leon was suddenly interrupted by the sound of cracking vegetation as a herd of large, dark-coloured sauropodomorphs entered the clearing – they were only slightly bigger than the Glacialisaurus, but they were much heavier-built, with the pillar-like legs of a true sauropod. Moving to a strand of conifers, they browsed.

"Four species for the price of one", Drew muttered, "This might be our easiest mission yet." He lifted the portal remote, pressed the button and… nothing happened. Drew tried again and again, but nothing happened. He heard Jack say, "Umm, Drew… We have a problem." Drew turned to him and said, "Yeah, I know, the portal isn't-". Suddenly, he trailed off as he noticed the herd of Glacialisaurus bellowing at something in the forest, as a large shape moved through the trees.

. . . . .

Collete Dubois was contentedly leaning against the viewing area railing of the dire wolf paddock, a small smile on her face as she watched the pack napping peacefully in the shade of a tree. She had to admit, it was surprisingly relaxing nowadays to hang out with Nero and his pack now that the dire wolves and the Pleistocene coyotes had had a lull in hostility – Dag was still nursing his pride from the Shutdown. "It really is nice," she thought to herself. "Getting some peace.".

"You seem to be enjoying yourself."

Collete turned her head in time to see Nikolai standing nearby. She let her small smile widen ever so slightly at the sight of her commanding officer. "I certainly am, captain," she responded, nodding her head as she did so. She'd never admit it, but she was starting to view Nikolai as the closest thing to a father she had. She'd never known her biological father – he'd died when she was just a toddler, and her mother had followed soon after. She'd mostly been raised by her paternal aunt – she had never learnt much about her mother's family, except they were Spanish. But ever since she and Nikolai had started working together on this project, she'd come to see Nikolai as a kind of surrogate father...like now. "I take it the bugs have decided to let you leave?"

Nikolai chuckled, shaking his head side to side. "Da," he responded. "That they have." He took another look at the sleeping dire wolves before then looking back at Collete. "I take it you quite appreciate having peace and quiet here now that the rivalry between them and the coyotes is finally over?" Collete nodded her head proudly. "Oui," she said. "That I do." She looked back at the sleeping Pleistocene wolves and coyotes. "It's funny," she admitted. "I don't think it's over by a long shot - I think Dag's nursing his pride. Jack said that being beaten mustn't have done good for his ego."

Nikolai nodded his head. "I know the feeling," he stated, before directing a sly grin towards her, his eyebrow raised in amusement. "You seem to taken to him," he then said, allowing his tone to let the full implications sink in.

True to form, it did not take long for Collete to realize exactly*what Nikolai was insinuating. "Oh no," she stated, eyes widened and sounding quite flustered. "Not like that! God, no! He's just a friend! A really good friend! That's all!"

"Right, sure," Nikolai chortled, shaking his head side to side in clear disbelief. "And I would like you to have front-row seats at my coronation as the next Queen of Sheba," he then said sarcastically, clearly not at all fooled. He paused, "A joke - Denham has been teaching me." Collete promptly narrowed her eyes and glared irritably at him in a clear 'seriously dad?' fashion. Nikolai chuckled again, and then patted Collete on the shoulder in equal parts respect and equal parts fatherly affection. "Don't worry Collete, I'm just messing around. And regardless." He winked. "Your secret's safe with me."

Collete groaned. "I repeat, da..." She stopped herself, gritting her teeth and clenching her eyes shut briefly in a mental facepalm as she just barely stopped herself. "I repeat, captain, that it's not like that."

"Da, sure," Nikolai said, still sounding rather unreassuringly jovial, "Whatever makes you feel comfortable." Collete sighed. This would be harder than thought.

Quite frankly, it was almost a relief when she and Nikolai soon both got the call from Kyle to come join them at the holding pens.

. . . . .

Drew, Jack and Leon watched as the sauropodomorphs became more agitated, stamping and bellowing at whatever creature in the bushes had spooked them. The heterodontosaurs moved to underneath the sauropodomorph herd, coming closer to the more intimidating targets for protection from the predator. Suddenly, the bushes went quiet; it was as if the predator had never been there. The herd briefly relaxed…

When, suddenly, a large theropod burst out of the bushes, moving so fast it was practically a blur and tore towards the herd. The heterodontosaurs took off into the forest, taking the opportunity afforded by the theropod being distracted by the larger prey. The sauropodomorphs all took off in the same direction, moving as if a single entity, with the theropod in hot pursuit. As the herd stampeded towards them, Drew Jack and Leon looked in horror, with Jack turning to Drew and asking, "Aren't you going to set up the portal?" Drew turned to him and yelled, "It's not working! It isn't goddamn working!" As he said those words, his eyes widened at what he'd just said. Leon's eyes widened, and he yelled, "AGAIN?!". Jack gulped, and then directed his nervous gaze towards the still rapidly approaching herbivores, "Oh, God."

In that instant, they all decided to run, sprinting away from the stampeding herd to the edge of the river and watched the spectacle. The theropod snapped at the edge of the herd, like a sheepdog, in order to weed out weaker individuals. However, the chase was taking its toll and it was visibly panting. Eventually, it stopped, tired, as the herd stampeded away from it.

Now, Drew, Jack and Leon could get a better look at it. There was a vague resemblance between it and the Allosaurus back at the park; however, it was smaller, at only about twenty feet long, and was more streamlined and lightly built. Its arms were long and well-muscled, with three-fingered hands. Its head was longer, shallower and had a more pointed muzzle than the Allosaurus. It was colored a greyish color, with black patches; perfect for forest camouflage. It had an upwards turning crest on its head, almost like a quiff – however, this didn't take away from how brutally efficient this predator looked.

Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other; this could only be Cryolophosaurus, the top predator of the area. The theropod, its ambush failed, snarled in disappointment, before walking back into the forest, disappearing silently into the trees. The prosauropod herd could be seen downriver, calmer now after their narrow escape, peacefully browsing at the trees while the smaller heterodontosaurs resumed their own earlier browsing upon the foliage closer to the ground.

Drew, Jack and Leon looked at each other; what was the plan now? Drew said, "We head to the herd, downriver."

Following the prosauropod herds, they found the time had passed rapidly; by the time they had followed the herd downriver, the sun was already setting. They decided to set up camp; it would be dangerous going around the forest in the dark. Soon, they were sitting by a roaring fire; despite the fact that winter had, supposedly, passed, the night was still freezing cold. Drew had first watch. He sat on a nearby log, looking out at the Jurassic night, listening to the sounds of the forest. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice, "Hey dude." He turned to see Leon walking towards him and sitting next to him.

As they sat by the forest's edge, by the sleeping prosauropods, they could discern unseen creatures running through the undergrowth; from the looks of it, these were mostly the Antarctic heterodontosaurs. In the bushes, they also heard the heterodontosaurs' distinctive warbling vocalizations. Several largish cynodonts walked about in the undergrowth, as pterosaurs chattered in the trees, settling down for the night. At one point, there was a brief alarm when what appeared to be a Cryolophosaurus moved close to camp; however, it stayed on the edge of the forest, its powerful-looking, bipedal silhouette and glowing yellow eyes reflected in the fire's glow. In the sky the Aurora Australis, the Southern Lights, were shining, illuminating the forest below in a verdant greenish-yellow glow. It looked almost mystical.

Leon snapped out of his awe and turned to Drew, "The portal stopped working again, like it did on the Carboniferous mission – any idea why?" Drew shrugged, "Who the hell knows? I use it – I don't claim to understand it." Leon growled irritably, "Yeah, same thing happened to me and Jack's." There was a pause, before Drew said, "You seem a little…on edge." Leon sighed, "Cynthia's back – I think that's rattled me a little." He looked meaningfully at his now all too apparently faulty portal remote. "And the current situation with the portal hasn't exactly helped me feel any better." Drew sighed, "Can't say I'm surprised. You didn't like Cynth, even in school." Leon smiled awkwardly. "She was on the cheer squad with Fiona – every time you guys dragged me and Adrian to a party, it was a bit…awkward."

At his friend's statement, Drew shook his head and smiled teasingly, "That wasn't the only reason, and you know it. You were jealous, I seem to recall." Embarrassed, Leon blushed, "It was nothing – I knew you didn't feel the same way about me as I did you. We discussed that several months or so before you even met Cynthia – you told me that you didn't swing that way. And I was happy for you." Nodding his head, Leon looked up towards the moon. "And besides, there's plenty of other people out there – I'll find the right person somewhere." Drew shrugged, "And me and Cynth didn't end well anyway, so…why think about it?" He nodded his head. "But… yeah, there is somebody out there for you somewhere. You just need to find them."

At this, Leon said, almost wistfully, "You know, you can be so insightful when it comes to others, but you don't really know yourself. You're your own blind spot." In response to this, Drew chuckled, "Oh no, I know exactly what I'm like. I just can't stop myself. That's why I need you." At this, Leon's eyes widened, he smiled bashfully at Drew, and said, awkwardly, "I'm going back to sleep – see you in the morning."

"Right back at you buddy," said Drew as Leon got up from his earlier position on the log and walked over to his sleeping bag to resume his earlier snoozing. Once Leon was once again fast asleep, Drew nodded his head and checked his watch. He could probably still last a little while longer before he'd need to go to sleep. In that instant, the sound of the chittering made by the cynodonts split the air, and he looked in that direction with a grin on his face. "Perhaps this might be a good time to try to catch them," he whispered proudly under his breath as he started preparing some traps and other appropriate equipment he'd made sure to bring along for just this sort of occasion.

. . . . .

"So it's settled then?", head researcher Khatin von Schorzberg asked. "The large black ones will be called cryonychus draco, and the small red ones with blue spines will be called khionespondylus notios?"

His three most trusted young assistants Will Darrow, Matt Thompson, and Kaisumi Ishiara, all nodded their heads in agreement; and so did Adrian. At the moment, they and Khatin were gathered directly between the freshwater holding tanks and the standard holding pens. All four of the newly discovered species were present, with the two temnospondyl species each swimming around in a separate holding tank from each other, the small pack of coelophysis-like theropods messily chowing down on a pig carcass in a nearby holding pen, and the small flock of pterosaurs all curiously scouting the area from within a vaguely aviary-like holding pen next door. The rescued school of Jurassic Antarctican fish that had been rescued earlier, and swiftly identified as oreochima ellioti, had already long since been transferred to elsewhere.

"The black ones I felt would likely have been discovered frozen in ice if they'd been found in the fossil record before today and they two have some pretty large claws on their feet," Matt reasoned before then pointing at the seven large black temnospondyls. "And you gotta admit, if you split hairs, they do sorta evoke the appearance of dragons."

"And as for the little ones," Kaisumi said while gesturing towards the eight smaller temnospondyls. "With their blue spines, the color blue often being associated with ice and snow, and Khione being the goddess of snow in ancient Greek mythology, the name just wrote itself."

"Very well then," Khatin said as he noted down the now officially accepted genus and species names for the two newly discovered Jurassic Antarctican temnospondyls. This task done, he looked over towards the newly discovered theropods and pterosaurs. "And now for these two new discoveries."

"I say we name the theropods khionesaurus notios," Will suggested as he pointed at the still messily feasting theropods. He nodded his head. "Hardly original I'll admit, but appropriate nonetheless."

"No arguments from me," said Kaisumi.

Khatin noted down the newly accepted name for the theropods before he and his three assistants all looked to Adrian. "Any suggestions on what to name the pterosaurs?"

Adrian thought to himself, his finger on his chin as he carefully observed the 8 large headed small pterosaurs. Then, after a brief widening of his eyes, he snapped his fingers with a gleeful grin on his face. "Pagopteryx glacialis," he stated proudly.

It did not take long at all for the young researcher trio to show their approval. "Roughly translates to 'frozen ice wing'," Will noted, nodding his head in approval. "Sounds perfect."

"What he said," Matt agreed.

"Good job Adrian," said Kaisumi.

"We're all in agreement then," said Khatin as he noted down the newly chosen name for the pterosaurs. He clapped his hands together immediately after he'd finished this task and slipped his notepad back in his lab coat pocket. "Right. Let's go inform Kyle and his team that these animals can now be transferred to their new paddocks."

"Yes sir!" Adrian, Will, Matt, and Kaisumi said in unison. And at that, they all started making their way over towards where Kyle and his team were waiting. As this happened, the young researcher trio took advantage of the opportunity to whisper to each other. "Hopefully we won't meet the new girl again on the way," Kaisumi whispered to her two close male companions, having encountered her alongside them not too long before they and Adrian had arrived at the holding pens for the naming process. "No kidding," Matt grumbled before then shuddering at the memory of the encounter. "And to think that I thought Collete was difficult to work with," he grumbled. Will growled, rolling his eyes to Heaven in clear irritation. "I'm almost relieved that she'll be working directly with the rescue team and keeper division instead of the research division."

Matt raised his eyebrow. "You are aware that means she'll be working directly alongside Alice right?" Will sighed wearily. "Why do you think I said I was 'almost' relieved?"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in Jurassic Antarctica, daytime had returned and Drew, Jack and Leon were sitting around their camp. The sauropodomorph herds were browsing on the trees nearby, whilst the heterodontosaurs were scampering around their feet, picking off their leftovers. In several pet carriers around the camp were the largish cynodonts, covered head to toe in black fur with white spots and with visible fangs to prove their carnivorous nature, which Leon had stated were yet another undiscovered species. Also contained in some of the additional pet carriers were a smaller, brown furred, and white striped cynodont species that Leon had recognized as an undiscovered species of tritylodon. And finally, in some nearby reinforced glass jars and bug cages were what appeared to be two species of Jurassic Antarctican beetle, according to Leon, he thought they were grahamelytron crofti and ademosynoides antarcticus, but would need some assistance from Khatin to know for sure. They would be transported back to the park when the portal started working. Drew stealthily walked up to the browsing herbivores alone and got ready to lift the portal remote. As his finger lingered over the button, he thought, "Here goes nothing..."

Suddenly, a cryolophosaurus burst out of the clearing and tore towards the herd. Shortly afterwards, a second, and slightly larger one at that, followed it. The prosauropods, and heterodontosaurs tore in the same direction, moving as if a single unified entity. Drew, trusting to luck, lifted the portal remote and pressed the button. After a couple of seconds, the portal whirred into life and the herd stampeded into it, moving as if a single entity. Drew cheered, "Yeah!" After the last one went through, the portal closed. The cryolophosaurus pair hissed in disappointment and stalked off. After that success, Drew was met by Jack and Leon, the latter of whom said, "We noticed your portal was working. So Jack and I tested our remotes in time to discover they were quite thankfully working as well." Jack nodded his head in the affirmative. "Good thing to. Because now we've got a big herd of herbivores, but, unfortunately, our targets have wandered off. So what's the plan now?" Drew was just about to answer when he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a commotion coming from the direction in which the cryolophosaurus had departed.

The Cryolophosaurus pair were fighting over the semi-frozen remains of a Glacialisaurus with a pair of slightly smaller, pale white colored double crested theropods. Now, Drew, Jack and Leon didn't know how it was possible, but the two theropods the Cryolophosaurus were facing looked awfully familiar…

Jack looked at the two smaller theropods, confused at the sight of the incredibly distinctive pair of bright orange crests upon the heads of each theropod in question as they hissed and growled, with what looked like manes of icy blue protofeathers puffing up similarly to frills as they tried to intimidate their two much larger rivals. The smaller of the two dilophosaurs had a conspicuously more brightly colored pair of crests, which was enough to let the team determine it to be the male of the pair. "I thought Dilophosaurus was only found in North America." Shaking his head, Leon said, barely audible as the apparent dilophosaurs snapped and snarled, with the cryolophosaurus pair roaring right back at them in response. "No, this can't be Dilophosaurus – although it's probably a close relative…"

Suddenly, the stalemate was broken when the male Cryolophosaurus went for the male dilophosaur-like theropod's arm and bit down – his rival gave a howl of agony as he finally let go, blood on his muzzle. The wounded dilophosaur-like theropod lunged for the Cryolophosaurus' throat, jaws at the ready to deliver what would likely be a very powerful bite – however, the male Cryolophosaurus dodged the bite and grabbed his slightly smaller rival's neck, before biting down. The dilophosaur-like theropod screeched in pain as the male Cryolophosaurus released him, sending him crumpling painfully to the ground.

The Cryolophosaurus, their victory claimed, began to feed on the carcass. As the male dilophosaur-like theropod limped off after very laboriously getting back up to his feet, followed by his mate, Drew, Jack and Leon came to one conclusion – he was going to die if he stayed here.

Turning to Jack and Leon, Drew said, "You take care of those guys – I'll handle the Cryolophosaurus by myself." Jack and Leon nodded and quietly followed the two dilophosaur-like theropods into the undergrowth. Eventually, Jack got a piece of meat out of the bait bag and dangled it in front of the double crested theropods, who turned their heads to regard the human. As the male began to head towards him, followed by his mate, Jack began to say, quietly and reassuringly, "C'mon, big fella. Follow the meat. C'mon, big guy; you know you can't stay here." Eventually, Leon activated the portal and the two theropods went through, to the park.

Meanwhile, Drew walked up to the Cryolophosaurus, still feeding on the Glacialisaurus carcass, and began blaring the horn. Noticing the noise, the two theropods turned to Drew and roared at him. They both charged at Drew. Drew ran, still carrying the carcass, towards Jack and Leon.

Once the Cryolophosaurus had gotten close enough, he yelled "Now!" and Leon activated the portal. Drew dived out of the way, just as the two larger theropods charged through, into the present. At this success, Drew smirked, "Ole." Turning to Jack and Leon, he nodded and said, "Get the cynodonts and beetles; it's time we headed home." After they had retrieved the cynodonts and beetles, they smiled at each other, summoned the portal, and walked straight through to the park, closing the portal once they had reached the park. Upon arrival, it did not take long for them to notice Adrian and Alice, plus Cynthia, the four chiefs of staff, and their respective young assistants, gathered around alongside the other keepers and guards Kyle had assembled for the day's holding pens team.

Once the portal had been shut down, Alice walked up to Drew, Jack and Leon, having already been present at the holding pens just in time to see them arrive home, and beamed, "Welcome back!" Drew looked curiously at her, "Anything happen while we were gone?" Alice said, "Oh, you know, the usual. The new girl doesn't like you for some reason." As she said this, Cynthia rolled her eyes irritably. "But, aside from that, things went pretty well." After Alice had finished, Cynthia gave her a look and said, somewhat enigmatically while pointing at Drew, "He knows why", before walking off without another word. Jack gave a curious look, "What's all that about?" Alice shrugged, "Who knows?" Leon sighed. "Like I said to Jack. It's a long story."

"You said it buddy," Drew grumbled. He sighed, shaking his head side to side. "And, besides, we've got more important things to worry about right now."

"You can say that again," said Linda as she pointed at the male dilophosaur-like theropod with a clear look of concern on her face, "He's half-dead – if we don't get him treated soon he's going to die."

Yolanda squealed in excitement. "Oh boy, one of my first operations on a newly discovered species. This will be so awesome!"

Leon chuckled, surreptitiously directing a half companionable and half affectionate smile towards her. "Never change Yolanda," he happily whispered under his breath. "Never change."

. . . . .

An hour later, all the Early Jurassic Antarctic creatures were transferred to their new homes. The cynodonts were kept in a small indoor pen within the newly constructed and named Hanson Formation and were currently exploring their new home, rooting for food in the leaf litter. As Leon had suspected, the larger black ones were indeed a brand new species; which had been named Khionetherium minor; whereas the smaller brown ones were indeed a newly discovered Antarctican species of tritylodon.

All the other animals had likewise been moved to the new Hanson Formation zone. The Cryolophosaurus pair and Antarctican dilophosaur pair, the latter of which had been dubbed pseudodilophosaurus denhammi, had been provided separate small forest paddocks to roam about in, as had the newly dubbed khionesaurus pack. All three of the Jurassic Antarctican theropod species were currently napping in the sun within their respective paddocks, waiting for their next meal to arrive. And as it so happened, the male pseudodilophosaurus, which Jack had named Goulet, had recovered from his operation at the veterinary facility and was now recuperating alongside his mate. The temnospondyls had been provided with a large river area to swim in, and they were all happily in the water swimming around their new home, waiting for their next meal. The pterosaurs, meanwhile, had been provided a large forest aviary to fly and hunt in.

The largest enclosure contained the sauropodomorph herds and the Antarctic heterodontosaurs who were now roaming their new forested home, browsing from the trees and bushes. As Leon had suspected, the large grey sauropodomorphs were indeed glacialisaurus while the rest of the herbivores were entirely new species altogether. And naturally, all of said newly discovered species had swiftly been dubbed with brand new official names, with the heterodontosaurs being called pagodontosaurus antarcticus, the smaller prosauropods cryocheirus glacialis, and the mighty black sauropods antarctotitan imperator. And finally, at the very back of the exhibit zone were positioned, almost as if in an afterthought, a small pool of water containing the rescued oreochima ellioti as well as a reinforced glass vivarium that served as home for the beetles; with the brown ones with green stripes turning out to be ademosynoides antarticus and the grey ones with black spots being grahamelytron crofti.

And later that evening, while Cynthia was already fast asleep in her trailer that she'd claimed as her new living space and the rest of the staff were busy with their own respective tasks throughout the park, Drew was very happy as he talked on the phone with Theodore from the comfort of his office. "The mission went perfectly Theodore," he said proudly, his usual confident smile on his face. "We rescued the target and plenty of other local animals, including multiple undiscovered species. All in all, perfect way to kick off the new phase."

"Glad to hear that Drew," said Theodore's kindly voice from the other end of the line. "I trust that you don't mind the new rescue teammate the board and I selected for you?"

Drew took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I'm sure she'll prove quite useful," he then said, leaving out what was a crucial detail.

"Excellent," said Theodore, before pausing briefly. "Just so you know, the discussions about whether or not to start preparing the park for the public are off to a good start. We should hopefully have a final decision made within the next two or three months."

"Sounds awesome," Drew said. "Looking forward to hearing tit."

"Glad to hear that," said Theodore. "But fair warning, you might want to also inform the rest of the staff to expect a team to arrive to subject the park to an inspection sometime next week. Particularly since you'll also receive your next rescue mission target at around the same time."

"Got it," said Drew, flashing a thumbs up at thin air. "I'll make sure everyone's well aware of those details as well. I'll talk to you again soon."

"Looking forward to it already."

And at that, the call ended.

Rescue Tally:

* Ademosynoides antarcticus (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Antarctotitan imperator (11; 8 adults, 3 youngsters; 6 male, 5 female)

* Cryocheirus glacialis (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Cryolophosaurus ellioti (2; both adults; 1 male, 1 female)

* Cryonychus draco (7; all adults; 3 male, 4 female)

* Glacialisaurus hammeri (9; 7 adults, 2 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)

* Grahamelytron crofti (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

* Khionesaurus notios (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)

* Khionespondylus notios (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Khionetherium minor (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)

* Oreochima ellioti (17; all adults; 9 male, 8 female)

* Pagodontosaurus antarcticus (19; 10 adults, 9 youngsters; 9 male, 10 female)

* Pagopteryx glacialis (8; all adults; 4 female, 4 female)

* Pseudodilophosaurus denhami (2; all adults; 1 male, 1 female)

* Tritylodon antarcticus (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 5 female)

Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:

The Prehistoric Park crew go back to the Devonian.

(A large, lungfish-like creature lunges out of the water.)

To bring back some of the first creatures to make the leap to land.

(A group of primitive amphibians basks on a shoreline.)

Meanwhile, the park undergoes an inspection.

(Nikolai, Jack and Leon greet a team of suited people, including a woman Leon recognizes.)

All next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Life In Transition!