Impact - 30 minutes

Elise watched as another mosasaur darted into the portal, retreating into the safety of the present. Around them, the chum had started to clear, and it appeared that the mosasaur was the last animal that was going to enter the portal.

The team had reached the open ocean a few hours ago, and had immediately gone to work chumming the water to bait in as many marine reptiles as they could. It hadn't take long for a response to form. First to arrive were a few sea turtles, most likely Osteopygis, that just happened to swim this way. Following them had been a large flock of plesiosaurs, containing individuals from four species. Attracted by the smell of fish, the group had had swiftly been sent into the present, and just in time, for following them was a pod of mosasaurs. A total of four species of mosasaurs had joined this hunt: some were from the native species Plotosaurus and Plesiotylosaurus, while the others came from what the team assumed were migrants - Mosasaurus and Plioplatecarpus. Driven on by hunger, the mosasaurs had all forced their way into the portal, with the last one having just entered. Now, the water fell silent once more as all life in it had vanished.

Knowing that it would be unlikely that the team would be able to rescue any more creatures, Elise had order them to take the Mariner inland. Best to get one last look at this ancient world before it ended.

As the team traeled further inland, though, they noticed a strange sight: floating on the ocean, untouched by predators, was a hadrosaur carcass...and on top of that was a baby Alamosaurus. The juvenile sauropod looked around, nervous, as the carcass slowly floated deeper into the waters Prehistoric Pacific. When the team drew close to it, though, the sauropodlet jumped off the carcass and began to swim inland...where a huge herd of dinosaurs was migrating south. Within a matter of minutes, the juvenile reached the shoreline, and ran toward the safety of the herd. It wasn't out of the woods yet, though, as soon, it was harried by a pair of baby tyrannosaurs...as well as their eight ton mother. Fortunately, though, luck was on the long necked leaf eater's side, as it managed to reach the safety of the herd before the rex could catch it.

The team, however, knew that none of these animals were out of the woods just yet - a greater danger was fast approaching from above. Hastily, the team prepared to place a portal in front of the herd, so that they could send the herd through it before the asteroid arrived.

That was not to be, though. The huge mass of rock and metal broke through the atmosphere mere moments after the Mariner. It soon disappeared over the horizon, where a bright light replaced it. Moments later, the shockwaves arrived, sending the herd into panic, and causing them to turn around...and that was something the team could exploit.

Turning and heading to the back of the herd, the team activated the portal over a nearby dune. It opened just as the tyrannosaur family reached the dune crest, sending the predators into the safety of the present. The rest of the herd would soon follow, and all would be saved well before the blast front reached them.

XXXXXXX

Far behind the portal, the duo watched as the team sent the saurian animals into the present. For a moment, they could only stare in bewilderment, before smiling and disappearing through a light of their own - it seemed that their intervention in history was not needed.

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Impact - 15 minutes

As the doom of the dinosaurs fast approached the earth, a herd of ceratopsians browsed. Members of the genus Ojoceratops, they had no idea their world was about to end, and were only interested in filling their very empty bellies.

Once, the meadow they had been grazing in had been the site of a great lake, enough for the herd to bathe in when they so chose. Now, though, it had long since dried up, as had the aquifer beneath it. In fact, numerous animals hid in the dry land beneath the meadow, where it was cooler during the day and warmer at night. Even tyrannosaurs used the shady cave for safety form the elements.

A loud bellow alerted the herd to arrival of a migrating horde of sauropods. Turning to watch them, the horned dinosaurs were surprised to see the herd joined not only by their entourage of hadrosaurs, but also by a group of strange colored bipeds, who were forced to constantly avoid the footsteps of the giant dinosaurs, lest they be stomped flat.

The horned dinosaurs soon lost interest in the new arrivals. Their attention was instead focused upon a group of azdharchids that were now approaching the herd, ready to try and isolate a juvenile to feast upon.

So preoccupied they were that none of them noticed as one of the bipeds circled around them and began to half bury a pair of shiny sticks into the ground.

XXXXXX

Impact - 10 Minutes

With a final push, the baby tyrannosaur broke free from his egg and took his first steps into the world. Nearby, his siblings had already brought down a lizard, and were busy tearing it apart.

Unfortunately for all of them, though, a sharp eyed Quetzalcoatlus already had them in his sights, and these young hunters would soon find themselves the hunted.

Cautiously, the pterosaur and its mate edged closer to the nest, ready to devour the hatchlings whole. They soon realized they had company, though, as a pack of Pectinodon came into view. Though far smaller than the pterosaurs, the troodontids had numbers on their side, and they did not want to share the hatchlings with anyone but themselves.

A short squabbling match broke out, where the pterosaurs and raptors attempted to make themselves look more intimidating in an effort to scare off their competitors. This was particularly difficult, as neither species was willing to use sound, lest they alert both their targets and their targets' parents to their intrusion.

Ultimately, though, no winner would be decided. The adult tyrannosaurs, who had not moved far from the nest, soon smelled the predators and, realizing the danger their young were in, charged back to their nest, forcing all of the would-be nest raiders to retreat. Their offspring saved, the adults began to nuzzle their young, unaware that another danger was coming, one they could not protect their young from.

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Impact - 5 minutes

Emerging from the waters of the crocodilian pond, the female Thoracosaurus let out a relaxed hiss - a sigh, if reptiles were capable of such sounds. Within moments, she rested upon a large stone, taking advantage of the sunlight to warm herself. Nearby, several dragonflies flitted through the air.

At eight meters long, the female gavialoid was the largest known crocodilian from what was now Hell Creek, though she had been outclassed by a few other species in her native times. None had been fossilized with more than teeth, though, making her the only large crocodilian from the area that man had described. And despite her narrow jaws, even a Dakotaraptor was still within her hunting range.

As the female eusuchian basked, though, she noticed a peculiar sight: a large number of dinosaurs were beginning to gather at the nearby plains. All of the Hell Creek Dinosaurs had gathered there, as had the majority of the former residents of the Chinle and Morrison Formations. Fi the number of humans chasing after them was any indication, this wasn't normal.

As she continued to stare on at the massive herd, however, the female crocodilian suddenly felt the urge to walk toward them. It was as if her instincts were telling her something big was about to happen, and she should be here when it happened.

Such instincts were not something to ignore - usually, they happened for a reason. Thus, somewhat unthinkingly, the gavialoid began to crawl forward, not even reacting when one of the Troodon started using her as a mount.

As she edged closer to the plains, the eusuchian noticed that large glowing lights had begun to appear, similar to the one she had traveled through to reach this new land. They were far larger than the first one, though, and if the female could make any observations off of that, then it was that there were a lot of animals that were about to come through.

As she looked around, the gavial look-alike noticed that most of the animals had taken up a sort of special formation around the clearing - the long necked herbivores were forming a barrier around the edges of the area, whilst the rest of the herbivores and carnivores filled in the gaps between the long necks. The staff, were attempting to corral the various animals, but after seeing just how many had broken out (up to and including the dragons), they'd more or less just given up and meekly formed up to deal with whatever new arrivals were going to come through the strange lights.

….What a strange gathering.

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Impact!

The park's security staff stood around the clearing, meekly trying to avoid looking conspicuous. The fact that many of the dinosaurs had escaped their exhibits was rather...disconcerting, to say the least.

The first to break out had been the pachycephalosaurs from Hell Creek, who had charged the fences until they broke. Granted, that had only happened because one part of the fence had worn out, but a breakout was still a breakout, and thus the security team had been mobilized immediately. This would be a quick capture and return missi9n, no more, no less.

As they had passed by the Dakotaraptor exhibit, though, the team had been forced to swerve to avoid hitting the park's resident pair, who darted off toward the main plains. Following them were a group of Camptosaurus, who, in turn, were followed by a group of Stegosaurus. Moments later, a mass breakout had followed, and all security team members had been mobilized to try and contain the breakout, though it soon became obvious that this was an impossibility.

When all of the animals that had broken out began to gather by the main plains, though, the staff had been left completely dumbfounded. What brought them to gather here? Also, why weren't they fighting. None of the predators were trying to eat the leaf eaters, and the herbivores seemed content to stand side by side with the carnivores. But why?!

Then the time portals appeared on the plains - three of them, all set up side by side. Moments later, dinosaurs started exiting them.

First to arrive was a trio of Tyrannosaurus - a female and her two young, who were followed by a horde of ornithomimosaurs. As these herbivores thundered out of the most eastern portal, a herd of Edmontosaurus annectens began to emerge from the western one, while down the center, a group of ceratopsians - Ojoceratops, to be precise - exited the central one. Soon, all three portals were spewing out dozens of dinosaurs from well over two dozen species. Joining them were many small creatures, as well as a flock of Quetzalcoatlus. The smaller creatures were forced to dart around to avoid being trampled, while the larger ones pushed and shoved each other to try and find room to escape the apocalypse in the past.

Yet throughout all of this, none of the residents that had gathered in the plains flinched. The ceratopsians formed a phalanx of horns to ward off those that approached them, with Theo, in particular, standing side by side with Sue, uncaring for the fact that he had arrived in the park because she had tried to eat him. Both had made a ferocious display as a family of tyrannosaurs led by a female with scarred legs had charged at them, causing the aggressive tyrants to fall back. Some distance away, Big Al had side slammed a bull tyrannosaur, just barely saving a male Pachycephalosaurus from being eaten. Barely managing to stop itself from falling, and unable to attempt a counterattack due to the arrival of a female Diplodocus to reinforce Al, the tyrannosaur had instead retreated to a nearby cluster of trees, where a female of its kind was resting with three chicks. As he drew near, the babies darted toward him, while the female ambled over, and all five nuzzled.

Elsewhere, the rescue team was having some...difficulties with the new arrivals.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hastily, Nigel set the baby tyrannosaurs on the ground before darting away. Moments later, their parents arrived to defend their young, and began opening up their jaws, allowing several more hatchlings to join the cluster.

Nigel had seen the family about two minutes before impact, when a Quetzalcoatlus had attempted to make off with a few of them. Fortunately, the father had intervened, forcing the pterosaur to back off. Nigel had seen that pterosaur, along with what he presumed was its mate, fly through the portal, so he had no doubt they were safe. The babies, however, were too far from the portal to be able to reach it without being carried by the adults, thus Nigel had been forced to grab some of them in order to save all of them. Right now, he was glad the parents were not trying to eat him.

As Nigel observed the plains, idly wondering why there were so many residents here (and what exactly had caused the security team to be overwhelmed), though, a new worry began to take root: whilst he could make out the forms of most of the younger team, Tai and Tristan were still missing.

Nigel really hoped they were okay.

XXXXXXXX

Tristan fell.

Behind him, a titanosaurs thundered forward, eventually moving right past where he had disappeared. The creature payed him no mind as it darted into the portal.

As the boy recovered from his sudden drop, the first thing he noticed was that it was really dark. All he could see around him were shadows, with the only light coming from above him. He could still hear just fine, though, so he could tell that, at the very least, there were a few mammals down here.

The meadow the dinosaurs had been stampeding through had once been the site of a lake fed by an aquifer. Over many years, both had gone dry, creating a hollow chamber below the surface. The roof of the cavern had been surprisingly strong, but the asteroid impact and subsequent tremors had been enough to break it. Tristan was lucky he was the only creature to fall through, and luckier still he had hit soft earth. The greatest injuries he would receive today were some bruises.

Looking up, Tristan briefly considered trying to climb back out of the underground cavern, before deciding against it - he was not sure that he could escape before the blast front hit him. Besides, he could probably open up the portal here.

As he moved to find a good spot to open the portal, though, Tiberius' heir herd a low groaning noise. Turning toward it, he pulled out and lit a flare.

Standing literally face to face with him was a female Tyrannosaurus.

For a moment, both stared at each other, literally eye to eye.

Then the female carnivore backed off. Her eyes stung from looking at the flare.

As she slunk away, Tristan noticed that she was not alone - she was with a small pack of her kind. They were busy feeding on the remains of a Kritosaurus. Nearby, a herd of Bravoceratops had joined some crested duckbills in eating luminescent mushrooms. Occasionally, multituberculates would gnaw on the mushrooms, only to be forced away by the hadrosaurs.

All in all, it was a rather surprising sight.

Hastily, Tristan started gathering some of the mushrooms, before preparing to set up the portal. It looked like he could get one last rescue in before leaving this perilous world.

XXXXXXXX

Within the cave, Tai felt rather cramped. Granted, that might be because he was currently at the center of a pile of scared Troodon.

The maniraptorans had huddled around him, as had a juvenile Tyrannosaurus, a yellow Sphaerotholus, and a female Ankylosaurus, who also had a few scutelings with her.

The apocalypse sure made for strange companions.

Of course, seeing how the world outside the cave could best be described as hell at the moment, strange bedfellows was not really surprising.

Whilst the area outside the cave was literally scorching, though, the inside was still relatively cool. That, and the fact it was an easy form of shelter, was why Tai and the various dinosaurs within the cave had used it as shelter when the impact had occurred. In Tai's case, though, it was less 'used it as shelter' and more 'been forced inside to avoid being tramped by a subadult tyrannosaur and a fully grown ankylosaur with young'.

As the disaster passed outside, Tai pulled out the communicator Nigel had provided him Might as well tell everyone he was okay.

XXXXXXXX

"So, where are they?" asked Michelle.

"We're still trying to find them," replied Elise. "The stampede was pretty big, and the total number of new arrivals is still going up. But don't worry, we WILL find them. They are family, and we do not leave family or friends behind."

"Good."

Just then, the two felt a buzzing in their pockets. Pulling out the timestream ignoring communicators Nigel had given them, the two girls found that they had two new messages, from the two boys they happened to be looking for.

"Fell into underground cave, can still walk, setting up portal now," said the one from Tristan.

"Trapped in cave, still fine, will activate portal once it cools down," read the one sent by Tai.

Elise shared a look with Michelle, before moving to make a response...only for the resident female Thoracosaurus to gobble up the communicator.

Elise stared at the gavial. The gavial stared back, unconcerned.

Then Elise kicked the eusuchian in the side. "Give. It. Back."

Enraged, the crocodilian hissed at her, only for the human to step on her long snout, forcing it shut.

As Elise began to whale on the giant crocodilian, Michelle froze, unsure how to react, before sending return messages to the two temporally displaced siblings. Better to let them know the team in the present know how they were doing than make them feel ignored.

Plus, Elise was acting really stupid.

As the last of the two messages was sent out, Michelle called for a trauma team, and some tranquilizers - Elise was probably going to need help.

XXXXXX

Some distance, away, the rest of the boys and girls of the away team were frozen in fear, as was Nigel and Suzanne.

It was not because they were a couple of feet from some newly arrived prehistoric dragons.

It was not because two of their team mates were trapped in the past.

No, they were frozen in fear because, right in front of them, Terence and Matilda were staring at a bull Tyrannosaurus.

Who was holding a dead Ornithomimus in his snout.

The male tyrannosaur really couldn't be bothered to know who the rexes standing in front of him were.

But Terence and Matilda knew who he was, and they were not exactly happy.

For a moment, the male, larger than both of them, tried to scare them off with a loud roar.

They responded by charging him, as did the park's resident alpha male prehistoric dragon.

Vengeance would be delicious!

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AN: Welp, this took forever to get out!

For those who are wondering, yes, that was Stumpy in the last chapter. The male rex chasing the pachycephalosaur should also be familiar to Walking With Dinosaur fans who play the PlayStation.

Also, no, the female rex from When Dinosaurs Roamed America and Walking with Dinosaurs are separate animals, as this chapter has shown.

Next chapter will be up soon, but in the meantime, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!