Just a heads up, I'm going to try and get up chapter 20 Part 1 by Monday, which in addition to being MLK-Day, is my birthday, so expect a lot of updates in the next two days.
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In the Prehistoric Seas, the team is on the search for some of the first great killer sharks. Of course, doing so require them to take the plunge beneath the waves.
After a moment to suit up, the team dives beneath the waves, causing few nearby fish to scatter. To the team's surprise, though, those fish turn out to be more Glikmanius.
"Wow, these guys are common, aren't they?" noted Tai, though the water muffled his statement somewhat.
"Well, they aren't the biggest of sharks," was Violet's response. "...Are we going to rescue them?"
"If they come back, yes," was Nigel's response, "but if they don't, leave them be - I don't mind rescuing more, but I don't want us to get sepearted when we're searching for a shark as big as a great white."
Fortunately, the sharks do begin swimming toward the team, who hastily set up the underwater portal. A few moments later, and the sharks are in the safety of the present.
A swift first rescue of the day it may be, but for the team, it is a good sign.
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Back at the park, Vera is once again hard at work helping out Finn. This time, it's for a rather mundane reason - hygiene.
Few would think that a giant carnivorous dinosaur would refuse to go near a teenage girl, yet that very scene was playing itself out right now at Finn's pen. The giant carnivore, ferocious as he may be, is keeping his distance from Vera, though that might be because she is holding a hose full of cold water.
Vera sighed - who would've thought a dinosaur didn't like taking a bath? Yes, the water was cold, but he really needed to clean off all the dirt on his skin and the sparse amount of feathers he had, or he would run the risk of catching a cold... Well, whatever counted for a cold among dinosaurs. Plus the dirt covering seemed to be irritating to him.
With a groan, Vera slowly began to approach her reptilian in another effort to get him clean. Yet again, he retreated. Vera had a feeling this was going to be a problem for the rest of the day, and dearly hoped that she would be wrong.
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Five minutes later
Though unhappy and somewhat itchy, Finn was reluctantly resting on his belly as Vera began to use the funny looking snake to cover him in water. Though the water's coldness was uncomfortable, the carnosaur felt some relief as the mud and dirt caked over his skin fell away, once again exposing his scales and bare skin to the air. A few minute later, after his whole body was covered in water, Finn was surprised to see Vera holding a foaming sponge, which she began to rub all over him. The predatory dinosaur found the experience surprisingly enjoyable, and slowly began to relax.
The female human... well, he assumed she was female - she had given off a feint musky scent a few days ago that he had found similar to females of his kind when they were in heat, not that he'd ever had any luck acquiring a mate. Oddly, the scent had been mixed with blood, and shortly after he had registered the smell, she seemed to have gotten annoyed before heading of to one of those strange caves that smelled like urine and dung. Why was still a mystery to him - perhaps human had communal places for relieving themselves of bodily wastes? Some of the small mammals he'd seen in his early days also had them, so maybe it applied to bigger ones? Whatever it was, it wasn't important now.
A new scent from the North quickly snagged his attention. He recognized it as belonging to the large carnivore he'd seen some time ago. This one, though, was different - it also had the scent he associated with female creatures, so he assumed it must be a female. Perhaps it was the first beast's mate?
No, the smell was too familiar - mates had vaguely familiar scents, but with plenty of differences, indicating things like differences in age, health, or sexual fitness. This scent was too similar to the one from the first giant predator he'd seen. The one he was smelling was right now was closer than a mate to the one he'd first seen - a cousin, perhaps even a sibling.
Faintly, he saw the shape of predatory dinosaur walking on a hilltop some distance away. For a moment, he considered issuing a warning to it, but then the carnivore crested over the hill and was gone. Finn was glad for that. True, he would eventually need to deal with the intruder, but right now, he really didn't feel like getting up for any reason. Not even for a challenge
A moment later, after some prodding from Vera, Finn rolled over to his side, careful to avoid slamming his back fin into the ground, allowing Vera to begin rubbing the sponge on his belly.
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A loud crack echoed through the air as two thick bony heads collided. A moment later, a strange whining noise filled the air as a reptilian creature reluctantly backed away from a bush.
The source of the commotion was a pair of female Pachycephalosaurus, members of the park's now rather large herd of thick headed dinosaurs. The two females had been squabbling over a particularly juicy looking bush within the depths of the forest in their exhibit, neither willing to back down. Ultimately, the two had been forced to but heads, and here, experience had won out against youth, as the younger female had been forced to concede defeat to her elder.
Pachycephalosaurs were not usually social animals - adults mated for life, and while the young were doted on by their parents, they would eventually leave the nest, unlikely to ever return. That wasn't to say that large groups of them were uncommon - more dinosaurs meant more eyes watchin for predators, so groupings of ten to twenty animals were, while not entirely common, not exactly rare either. These groups, however, usually didn't last more than a few weeks, but this herd had existed for over a month, and it was unlikely to break up anytime soon. Surprisingly, aside from a few annoyed head-butts, there wasn't much tension in the herd, though it was less a herd and more a disorganized mob. The only thing that was constant in said herd was that someone was always a sentry. It didn't matter if it was a Pachycephalosaurus, Stygimoloch, Dracorex, Spharotholus, or a Stegoceras, someone was always on guard, searching the surroundings for predators.
Today, that was a lifesaver.
A loud screech from the current sentry, a mature Dracorex, caused the members of the herd closest to the fence surrounding their exhibit to retreat to where the two females had just sparred, seeking safety in the dense underbrush, their skulls and skin protecting them from the ravaging stems of the catclaws.
A moment later, the reason for the alarm appeared - the telltale shape of a tyrannosaur, specifically a nearly mature female. For a moment, the giant carnivore stared at the herd, trying to see if any had been isolated. This time, though, she would be unsuccessful - within the underbrush, all of the herd, from hatchlings who had only just left the nest before entering the portal, to adults ready to breed, were safe and accounted for. With no easy meal available, the tyrant dinosaur eventually left, unwilling to break open the fence to pursue such small prey.
The herbivores remained in the underbrush for a few minutes, before, eventually, going back to foraging. Such was life.
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Matilda really didn't mind leaving behind the dome heads - they did look appetizing, but they were too much trouble to catch. Besides, she still had a scent to track.
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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
