Unsure how to react, Tristan could only look back and forth, trying to keep the carnivores within his sights. Given that one was swimming relatively fast and the other was obliterating the ground beneath him to create a distraction, this wasn't very easy. Adding to this was that it appeared more individuals of both species were starting to arrive, all converging on the carcass. If he didn't do something, he was about to become caught in the crossfire.

Above him, Nigel and Tristan's siblings watched the scene through the ROV, unsure what to do. Diving in to help was out of the question - it might just make the crocodilians go after them. But if they didn't act soon, they might lose Tristan. It was a dilemma that none of them wanted to deal with.

"Any ideas?!" asked a very obviously uneasy Tai. His sister merely shrugged at him - she wasn't sure what to do. Being among the younger members of the team, neither she nor younger brother were able to keep their composure as well as their elders. They were far better at it than most people their age..err, ages, but they were still kids. And sometimes, kids needed the help of their elders.

A splashing sound turned their attention to the rear of the ship, where Nigel was throwing chum into the water. The duo watched this for a moment, before turning their attention back to the ROV screen, where the crocodilians were busy tearing into the meat. It seemed they really liked the taste of modern fish.

The duo watched the carnage for a while longer, noticing in the process that their brother had managed to evade the crocodilians, and was now trying to lure away the...giant mantis shrimps...that were after the carcass. Given the size of the carcass, it was a slow endeavor, and the stomatopods were already gaining on him. Neither sibling felt he was in any danger from them, though - he was just trying to find a location to rescue them at. The real danger for him was the crocodilians, and those could only be distracted with chum for so long.

Speaking of that, Nigel was busy pulling out the largest peace of meat the park had - a tiger shark that had recently died of illness, and had washed up on the park's shore two nights prior to the mission. Once Suzanne had determined it wasn't infected with something particularly deadly, Nigel had moved it to the ship's chum stores, because bait is bait. Now, he was putting it to good use.

Then he turned to his youngest recruits. "Get the portal ready!"

Complying, Tai pulled up the controls for the aquatic portal. This one operated on a grid system, instead of using a pair of sticks or buoys. This allowed the Mariner to project portals in any direction around itself. The grid could also be set at any depth, so as to rescue animals that refused to surface. Already, Tai setting in the coordinates, while Aileen was busy helping Nigel get the shark overboard. Minute the shark hit the waves, Tai began keeping track of the depth, readying the portal to open.

The sight of such a large meal made the crocodilians forget all of the other chum and charge toward the shark, exactly as planned. Just as they were about to attack it, Tai opened the portal, sending all of the reptiles into the present.

Meanwhile, Tristan had managed to get a lead on the shrimp and was already preparing the portal. A moment later, it materialized, causing all of the shrimp to stop and stare.

It was a well known fact that human eyes had three different cones in them, allowing us to perceive red, green, blue, and any mixes of those colors. This was, ironically, how we perceived yellow - a mixing of green and blue lights. Among other creatures, dogs only had two cones to let them see green and blue, while butterflies had five. Mantis shrimps, however, had sixteen different cones, allowing them to perceive colors humans could not. The portal in front of them, though mainly blue white, could appear as many colors under water, especially with the water acting as a prism.

To humans, this produced a rainbow of colors.

To the giant stomatopods in front of Tristan, the effect could be better described as a thermonuclear bomb of light and beauty.

Suffice to say, they were mesmerized by the sight.

At least until Tristan threw the plesiosaur carcass through the portal. Then hunger dominated their minds once more.

As the last creature scuttled through the portal, Tristan deactivated it, before returning to the Mariner.

XXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later, and the new arrivals were adjusting well. The marine crocodiles had been moved to a permanent lodging, as had the other marine reptiles. The mantis shrimps, meanwhile, had been given a large area full of mostly barren rock to inhabit, using sonic barriers to repel them - the park didn't have enough steel/tungsten to make suitably tough fences for them at the moment.

For the moment, everything was calm and everyone was fine...well, except for Lucas.

XXXXXX

"What did you want to talk about?" asked Alice.

Lucas gulped. Maybe coming back to her wasn't a good idea?

"Well, um, you deleted all of my photos of you earlier.."

"Yes."

"...but you didn't delete all of them."

"Oh really?" she said, face completely calm. So scary...

"Yeah, and it looks like you deleted several pictures before and after you looked over those ones so...why did you do that?"

For a moment, Alice remained quiet, before a rather terrifying grin appeared on her face. "I spared those because I want them developed."

"...what?"

"I want to keep some of them as mementos of my time at the park."

"Okay. So you want me to develop them and give them to you?"

"Yes. And in exchange, you can keep them."

"...seriously?"

"Yes. But if you show anyone else, I'll punish you the same way I did this morning, but I will use my feet, and I WILL be using cleats. I am clear?"

"...…...crystal...…."

"Good. Now get those printed!"

XXXXXXX

Next time, the team goes after the first great predatory whale...

(Shot of the team chasing a serpentine looking whale)

...While also meeting some left overs from the past...

(Shot of several strange creatures resembling otters crossed with crocodiles being chased by the larger whale)

...And back at the park, the staff deal with the unexpected rescues...

(Shot of a giant mantis shrimp ramming a minisub)

All next time on Prehistoric Park!

XXXXXXX

AN: And done!

Okay, I'm going to add a few things to the trivia, but here are some things I want out of the way:

1. Everything after New Blood is the bonus arc for the first set of original rescues (everything from chapter 7 onwards).

2. Before anyone asks, the next mission is to rescue Zeuglodon, aka Basilosaurus cetoides - B. isis will be rescued later.

3. As for why Alice let Lucas keep the photos, vanity is a factor. She also knows he wouldn't show anyone else the photos.

4. The thermonuclear explosion of color and beauty comes from comic on The Oatmeal. The link is on the Spacebattles version of this story.

5. There's a new poll on this site about what animal should be rescued in the chapter after this one. The two choices are Helicoprion (self explanatory) or Websteroprion (giant bobbit worm).

So, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!