As soon as he saw the injured toe on the Allosaurus, Tristan froze up.

Could it be? Was he really staring at Big Al?

….He had to - the toe was a big giveaway, but Big Al was also known to have a broken arm, and numerous other injuries, and a closer examination showed that this Allosaurus had lived a very rough life. He could already see several scratches and cuts on the carnivore's hide, Some showing signs of healing, others clearly fresh. This carnivore had not had it easy. All things considered, he would likely die soon.

Unless Tristan did something about it.

Tristan has no worries about whether saving this dinosaur would affect the timeline - attempts to use the time portal to change history had failed before, and that had involved rigorous testing, so why would it change now? Besides, he could not leave this dinosaur to die - it would go against everything the park stood for. Of course, getting Big Al through the portal would be problematic, seeing how he didn't seem to be able to stand. Sedating him could potentially make his sickness worse, so teanquilizing him and getting the rest of the team to drag him through the portal was off the table for now.

Speaking of the rest of the team, where were they right now?

XXXXXXXX

As a matter of fact, the team was slowly making their way toward Tristan's location - they wanted to link back up before they planned their next move. If this called for splitting up, they at least wanted to have a buddy system in place - there were too many predators out here for anyone to go it alone.

While they drove on, though, Nigel decided to seek some clarification on their earlier action.

"Why'd you all immediately try to rescue the Brachiosaurus?"

"JURASSIC WORLD!" shouted the entirety of the younger staff. Nigel and Bob went silent at that, and didn't press the question further - no additional answer was needed. The team merely drove on in silence.

Unfortunately for their planned rendezvous, their stalkers had decided to stop watching them and go on the offensive.

The sound of a branch being stepped on was the only warning the team got before a huge shape lunged at Tai, trying to snap him up in a set of massive jaws. The boy barely managed to dodge this as the Jeep swerved away, with the carnivore letting out an indignant bellow, angry to be denied its meal. Turning their attention toward the carnivore, the team was surprised to see three more of its kind charging at them, all eager to sink their teeth into human flesh.

"What are these things?" Asked Vera, who had had the miss fortuen to get dust thrown into her eyes during one swerve and couldn't see.

Marcus was the one to answer her. "Let's see: big carnivore, three fingered hands, no head crests... looks like these are Torvosaurus."

"Why are they hunting us?"

"My guess is that they were hunting the brachiosaurs before we got here, and since we cost them their meal, they want to see how filling we are," replied Lucas.

Michelle merely smiled at this. "Then I guess will have to show them we aren't worth the chase."

Her four friends looked puzzled by this, before nervous expressions covered their faces. "What do you meEEEEEAAAAANNNN-"

Michelle had floored the accelerator, and soon outpaced the predators. One, however, continued to chase her, and actually managed to catch up with her. Unafraid, Michelle waisted until the carnivore was about to strike, before slamming the breaks, causing the predator to overextend itself and fall into a heap on the earth. A moment later, Michelle blew past the carnivore, followed by the rest of the team's fleet of vehicles. Forcing itself upright, the megalosaur rejoined its kin in chasing the humans.

Eventually, the group came upon a narrow three pronged fork in the game trail they had been traveling on, forcing them to split off: Elise, Sean, and their siblings on one path, Nigel and Michelle headed down another, and Bob down the last one. The megalosaurs, in turn, split off to pursue them.

Those who followed Nigel or the siblings ultimately found themselves too winded to continue on - the terrain was flat enough for the jeeps and trucks to outpace them, and eventually, exhaustion forced them to break off the chase.

As for Bob...

XXXXXXX

The headkeeper sighed. The carnivore had given up the chase - Bob had unknowingly driven toward a herd of herbivores, whose strength of numbers had intimidated the predator off. Indeed, that had been practically the only reason Bob had survived, as the terrain had become a bit tougher, making accelerating the Jeep a problem. Add onto that the herbivores' own aggression, and he was lucky they had decided he wasn't a threat.

Getting out of his Jeep to take a breather, Bob smiled as he looked at the plate backed, spike tailed shapes of the dinosaurs that had ensured his survival. To think that he would be saved by his favorite dinosaur.

XXXXXXX

Al watched, curious, as the strange biped offered him a piece of meat. The carnivore sniffed it for a moment, taking in the strange odor, before sinking his teeth into the succulent flesh. He couldn't afford to turn down a meal at this point - hunger and dehydration were taking its toll.

Soon the biped took out a weird round thing and turned to sideways. To the Allosaurus' surprise, water came out of the round thing. The biped soon moved closer to him and began pouring more water out of the container, which the allosaur greedily gulped down, before hissing at the biped - he would not drop his guard so easily.

Both biped and carnosaur, however, soon had their attention occupied by the sound of wood being crushed. Turning to the West, the unlikely duo watched as a whip-tailed sauropod lumbered through the sparse woodland, briefly staring at the two before continuing on her way. Nearby, the rest of her herd was on the march, driven onwards by the inevitable need to feed.

For a moment, Tristan was torn on what to do - the dinosaurs in front of him, which were unmistakably Diplodocus, would make fine additions to the park, but to stand a chance at rescuing them, he would need to abandon Al, and said allosaur would probably die without treatment.

The choice on where to go, though, was soon rendered unnecessary. Seeing one of his favored prey on the march, Al managed, after some failures, to hoist himself back onto his feet and began to pursue the herbivores, ignoring the human. This was all the gratitude that could be expected from the carnosaur - if he saw Tristan again, he would be on the menu.

No longer having to worry about getting help for the Al, Tristan boarded up onto his ATV and began to pursue the herd, mindful to keep enough distance to avoid enraging the carnivore.

XXXXX

From the cover of the bushes, the hunters stared on, confused. Why had the biped helped the allo? It did not seem to benefit in any way from the great carnivore's presence, and it was unheard of for creatures to help their predators/competitors without any reward for themselves.

Pondering that answer was pointless, though - the new biped was still a curiosity, but time spent pondering what it was wasted resource best spent on pursuing the diplos. Once one of the herd had been felled, the hunters could focus on finding out what role the new creature played in the world.

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AN: To those of you who were wondering, I mentioned way back in Bistahi Destroyer that the actions taken using the time portal have no effect on the present - Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act is in effect. For the specifics, besides trying to prevent the rise of the Nazi's, efforts were made to avert the formation of Al Qaeda, stop the Trail of Tears from happening, and halt the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CHANGED. For the purposes of this story, the time portal creates an alternate timeline every time it is used, with the point of divergence being when the portal opens in the past.

Now, please, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!