Micelle could only stare, unsure how to react, as the two reptiles sized each other up, each attempting to intimidate the other. The female rauisuchian had reared up to intimidate her challenger, but the lizard showed no signs of backing down. Tristan had managed to pacify the rest of the new comers using some of the bait meat and plants, but for this one newcomer, removing a potential rival was of greater priority than filling its belly. Tristan was attempting to divert its attention away from the wounded crocodile relative, but so far, he wasn't having much luck.
Well, Michelle was going to have to change that. Sighing, the girl closed her eyes, took in a deep breath...and charged the lizardlike creature. The female Postosuchus could only stare on as Michelle knocked the opposing carnivore over. For a moment, Tristan was too stunned to act, but then, he got to work helping his teammate tie the creature's mouth shut. Once that was finished, calm returned to the clearing.
Somewhat winded, Michelle turned her attention back to her temporary leader. "What the heck is this thing?"
"Ophiacodon. The portal opened up to about two hundred ninety million years ago, and these guys ran through. NOt sure why they did that.."
"There was a forest fire. Some wood smoke came through the time portal."
"Okay. Well, these guys ran through, and now they are stuck here. I can also confirm the fat ones are Diadectes, while the amphibians are Trimerorachis. As for why the portal screwed up, I blame our fuzzy friends.
"Fair enough...Um, can I ask you something?"
"Can it wait until we get these guys back to the present? I don't think the amphibians will last long in the heat."
"...Fine."
Swiftly, and with some annoyance, Michelle reactivated the portal, making sure that this time, it went to the present. Meanwhile, Tristan coaxed the amphibians, as well as the phytosaurs, into the portal. Soon, they were in the safety of the present...well, most of them, anyway.
As the last pair approached the portal, the lights on the portal sticks suddenly turned red, before promptly turning off, closing the temporal anomaly, and leaving the remaining creatures trapped in the past. The two phytosaurs looked around, confused, while the two teens just stared for a moment...and then they yelled and swore like sailors.
"WHAT THE HELL?"
"OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!"
This ranting continued on for a short while, with the rest of the creatures steadily backing away from the angry humans. Eventually, though, the duo calmed, and decided to approach things rationally. Tristan, for starters, decided to see what exactly had gone wrong. "Let me check the manual for this thing, see if this is a known error for the time portal."
"Nigel made a manual for that?"
"My dad did - he tested this thing to hell and back before the park was made. Safety is a big concern for him."
"I suppose that is reasonable...hey, how come he hasn't come to the park? He doesn't have any business meetings this month, does he?"
"Not officially."
"...And unofficially?"
"How do you think the park is funded?"
"..Your dad, maybe some anonymous donations from charities?"
"Well, that's true, but this is an expensive venture. While my family is wealthy enough to finance this park on our own, even with donations from charity, that'd still be a large amount of many spent on some secret project. Enough for people to get suspicious."
"And wildlife groups can't help with that?"
"They can help, but seriously, we're rescuing a lot of gigantic animals. Plus, wildlife groups still have to work toward saving modern animals."
"...So your dad got some businesses to help fund us?"
"Yeah. The BBC is one of them, and I think he actually managed to get Google, Microsoft, and Sony to pitch in, plus Universal."
"How'd he do that? Did he promise Universal that he would send them so dinosaur behavior stuff for the next Jurassic Park film?"
"...Actually, yes."
"...Oh. What about the other ones?"
"I don't know. Maybe it was some engineering assistance? A lot of the stuff we use at the park has other applications that the public could really benefit from."
"Good point. Now-"
"Before you say anything, I have some good news."
"Yes?" Michelle asked, annoyed once again to be cut off.
"Well, I've figured out the portal problem. The sticks are overheating - the heater must have gone offline when our fuzzy friends bit it."
"Great. So how do we get these creatures to safety?"
"We find the others. Nigel gave everyone who had a time portal a device to track the others. Right now, I'm seeing three portals, two close together, and one farther away, but its moving around really fast. Probably Alice and them, chasing after the carnivores."
"They're still being chased?"
"No, they're chasing the dinosaurs - the portal's moving too fast to be a human or a dinosaur. Maybe they got a pair of motorcycles and decided to try an rodeo the little dinosaurs."
"Maybe. Poor dinos. Well, let's head off toward them...oh, and one question, please."
"Yes?"
"Just how do you track the portal devices?"
"They emit a noise at radio frequency 87.6 FM, with the noise getting louder when the portal is open."
A low booming noise drew the duo out of their conversation. The once clear skies were now filled with clouds, some of which looked rather nasty. Dusk had arrived, and the darkening sky made the clouds look even more menacing. Expressions darkening to match the sky, the duo decided to get moving. They prepared to bait the animals to follow them but that proved to be unnecessary - it appeared the creatures had come to associate the group and followed them of their own will, with even the tree dwellers moving down to join them... or at least hide in their bags.
XXXXXXXX
High above the duo, a male Peteinosaurus watched them, eagerly waiting for the time they would stop and provide more food for him to eat. Hopefully, the giant pterosaurs that were also following them would not bully him off of the meal.
Some distance away, he could see a strange creature with glowing eyes chasing a group of small dinosaurs and crocodile relatives. Whenever it caught up to the little hunters, it used some kind of weird, hole filled pouch to grab them and devour them, before repeating the process with another creature. It had already caught two dozen creatures this way, which barely seemed to put a dent in its hunger. A huge cloud of dust followed in the strange creature's wake, making it hard to observe.
The little pterosaur hoped the strange creature did not see him as food.
XXXXXXX
Deeper in the forest, Nigel's team is still on the trail of the herbivores.
Cautiously, the team advanced through the woodland, trying to avoid making a sound, as they followed the footsteps of the giant herd they had watched earlier. A few meters ahead, they could see a dicynondont that had gotten separated from its group. The minute they saw it, they tried to surround it in an effort to catch it.
Then a loud howl filled the air, and the dicynodont ran off.
Unfortunately for them, the Poposaurus is still on their trail.
Elise went ballistic as the synapsid ran away. "HE'S DONE THAT FIVE TIMES NOW! WHEN THE HELL WILL WE BE FAR ENOUGH AWAY FROM HIM?! WHEN WILL HE THINK WE'VE LEFT HIS TERRITORY?! WHY WON'T HE JUST LEAVE!"
Again the Poposaurus howled. This time, however, Elise responded.
"SHUT UP!"
Surprised, the carnivore scampered away. The minute it did so, exposing its location, Elise's anger just grew - the poposaur had been right behind them, which may have been a danger, but it ha also meant that they could have sent it back to the present. Brimming with anger, Elise walked off, grabbed a stick, and started venting her anger on a nearby tree, scaring the reptiles using it as a shelter.
Sean waited for his sister to calm down, before putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, things we'll get better."
"You sure?"
"Yes. They may look bad now, but I don't think they can get worse."
A sudden flash of light occurred, followed by a massive booming noise.
"...You were saying?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Back at the park, Pamela is busy getting more fertilizer for her plants.
Cautiously, Pamela pushed the wheel barrow, always stopping for a few moments to look over her shoulder. Behind her, the male Elasmotherium stared on, waiting for her to leave.
Pam didn't really like the wooly rhino, but his dung was excellent plant food, so every few days, she may a point of shoveling up his leavings and taking them back to the greenhouse. They were much better than the horse dung the park normally used, and leagues better than her own, though she'd only bothered to use those because someone had forgotten to tell her the restroom closest to the nursery had been broken, but still...ugh. If it weren't for the fact the rest of the botany team had been forced to use their own liquid waste to water the plants for the same reason, they'd have made her the butt of many jokes.
The minute she exited the exhibit, she reset the lock, leaving the wooly rhino alone once more. Not that he cared - he was too busy grazing to notice.
Then he heard a snarl.
Looking up, he saw the park's female Yutyrannus staring at him. She had been watching him for the last hour, though hunger had not been the reason. In reality, she just wanted him to go away. His presence was threatening to her, so she'd been trying to intimidate him with hisses and growls. These had, unsurprisingly, they failed miserably, though Pam had failed to notice the dinosaur's aggression.
With the rhino now at the fence that separated the two exhibits, though, she didn't need to howl anymore. Taking advantage of her height, the tyrannosaur began to snap at the wooly rhino, occasionally sticking her arms through the fence to try and rake his body. In turn, the rhino tried to hit her with his horn, though she was mostly annoyed by his efforts. Of course, with her blows only managing to graze his fur, the two were stuck in a deadlock.
Eventually, she resorted to grabbing his horn.
That was her only mistake. The minute she did so, the rhino twisted his body, throwing the female dinosaur to the side, and into a tree. Though protected from further assault by the fence, the dinosaur's pride was wounded, and she decided to retreat. The rhino, meanwhile, returned to grazing, content with his victory.
XXXXXXXXXX
Back in the past, Michelle and Tristan are still trying to link up with Nigel and his team
Michelle watched as the rather large group of followers the pair had trudged through their footsteps, trying to find a place to rest. "How long until we get back to Nigel and your brothers and sisters?"
"A few more minutes. Now pick up the pace, it's probably going to rain soon."
The clouds seemed to choose that very moment to let loose their payload.
"...Aw, nuts."
While annoyed at getting told she was slow, Michelle couldn't help but laugh at her friend's discomfort. "Eh, some things can't be helped. Maybe the portal will work now?"
"Worth a shot."
Taking out the portal device, Tristan set it up to return them to the present. For a moment, it seemed the portal wouldn't start, but then it opened. Once again, there were shards coming out of the temporal anomaly, but this time, the two humans were able to make out images in these shards - what appeared to be a pachycephalosaur fighting a night, a giant worm, a raptor and a tyrannosaur fighting a carnosaur….(wait, what?)….and what appeared to be a large scansoriopterid flying through a forest.
A moment later, though, the sticks' lights went red, and the portal collapsed.
Confused, Michelle turned to address Tristan about the oddity, only to be interrupted by a flash of lightning. This time, though, the lightning was very close to the duo.
And it hit a tree, which ignited from the strike. Moments later, the flames moved to the nearby dry ferns, and soon a huge inferno had formed...
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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
