With their insects safely secured, the team once again marched onwards in search of more animals to rescue. The once distant mountains were growing closer by the minute, though it would still be some time before the team would be at the base of the nearest one. That, of course, gave them plenty of time to search for more animals to rescue along the way. Of course, finding them would not necessarily be easy.
"So, what are the smallest kinds of critters we can find out here?" asked Marcus. "The Permian isn't exactly my specialty...or most of history before the Age of Mammals, to be honest."
"You were one to focus more on the social goals than intellectual ones," replied Alice, fighting and failing to keep the snark out of her voice.
"Says the girl who consistently gets high ranks in FPS multiplayer matches and almost missed an exam due to spending a night playing Call of Duty."
Alice froze up for a moment, before turning to face Lucas, who had a manic grin on his face. "Oh, and for the record, you still lost to me by five kills in the last match."
"...Traitor."
The rest of the team couldn't help but laugh at this - it was funny to watch their friends bicker, especially when one couldn't really offer a defense for their more...moronic decisions.
Eventually, though, the time came for the team to take a rest and have lunch. Taking shelter beneath a small clump of trees, the team settled down for lunch, taking turns watching for other creatures to rescue. Even when on break, the team refused to lose their vigilance.
This time, though, they were looking the wrong way.
Hidden within the tree roots, tiny synapsids began to crawl about, all looking for food. These creatures resembled lizards, but like all synapsids, their lineage would give rise not to reptiles, but to mammals. These ones, in particular, were part of the lineage that would one day spawn man. Normally, they were content to hide away from other creatures, occasionally venturing out away from the trees to feed on insects that did not live in the leaf litter...but the arrival of the humans had them on edge. They had never seen a fully bipedal species in this land before, and were not sure how to react. At first, they remained hidden, but as it became apparent the humans did not know that the synapsids were here, curiosity began to trump caution, leading the basal synapsids to begin approaching the beasts. In particular, the curious insectivores began to examine the team's bags, trying to see if there was anything edible inside.
This would prove to be their undoing. By the time the mammal-ancestors were able to determine there was no food to be found, the humans had finished eating and pakced up, unknowingly taking the early synapsids with them in their quest for more rescues.
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Back at the park, the newest arrivals are being settled in.
Ben watched as the giant fliers settled into a nearby dome, away from the dangers of his other companions. True, he was no danger to them, but the same could not be said in regards to the griffinfly and the scorpions. Perhaps this was why he was the only one who could access the new fliers' home, via a shallow stream connecting the Carboniferous dome to the more arid Permian one. He could swim through it, whilst the others would sink to their doom. Additionally, the water was not particularly suitable for dragonfly nymphs, ensuring that the plant eaters would not be in danger should the Meganeura reproduce.
...What was that big gray skinned thing with the white not-mandibles doing by one of the other domes?
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Al stared out of his exhibit.
The Bull Mammoth stared back, eyes reenof emotion.
The nearby staff, meanwhile, were frozen in horror, hands already on the high-powered hose they had brought with them.
The bull mammoth has wandered off from his bachelor herd half an hour ago, and the security team had been dispatched to contain it. Unfortunately, in that time, it had managed to reach Al's exhibit, and out of a desire to try out a tree that grew along the outside of the carnosaur's pen, had accidentally smashed it open. Worse still, it had done so while the Allosaurus had been wandering nearby. Now, the dinosaur and the elephant relative were staring each other down, each waiting for the other to act. Neither was inclined to back down - the bull Columbian Mammoth had never faced a predator capable of harming him at this point in his life, whilst the allosaur had taken down larger prey on his own. Whilst conflict was unlikely, so was a swift end to this conflict, unless outside intervention occurred.
Said intervention came in the form of a very tired wild deer. Amongst the few animals native this island, deer were the largest of the native herbivores, and were often targets of hunts by the natives. Seeing an exhausted deer was not unlikely at this time of year - now was their time for rutting. Fights often wore down even the strongest of the males, leaving their territories vulnerable. No, seeing a tired deer was not an abnormality.
What was abnormal was the fact that this deer was carrying another deer by the antlers. From the way the other deer's neck was bent, it was clearly dead - likely a victim of a particularly bad rut. Whilst rare, it was possible for two bucks to become trapped together when their antlers locked during rutting. Usually, one animal would die, either due to exhaustion, or breaking its neck trying to escape. The other animal would not last long, as it would be unable to run properly whilst the other male was entangled with it.
As both elephant and carnosaur stared at the odd sight, the mammoth felt a sense of pity for the deer - it had once witnessed two bulls from rival herds engaged in battle, only to end up stuck together after a poorly timed strike. Normally, mammoths would not be at risk of becoming trapped like this, but those two had both had broken tusks, and consequently gotten far closer to each other during their duel than normal. Though the two mammoths had ultimately managed to disentangle themselves, fossils had proven that other such incidents had ended far more tragically.
This time, though, it seemed that luck was on the deer's side. With some difficulty, and a fair amount of head-shaking, it managed to free itself from it dead rival, and hastily beat a retreat into the brush.
The bull mammoth and allosaur stared at the fresh carcass of the buck. Then they looked back at each other. A moment passed, and then the bull backed off, allowing Al to snatch up the carcass. Returning to the shelter of a tree in his exhibit, the allosaur began to dig in, allowing the security team to begin mending the fence in peace. The mammoth, meanwhile, took a moment to observe the dinosaur feeding, before being distracted by a keeper offering him some hay.
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Back in the past, the team had continued on with their march. Soon, though, they found themselves once again in the company of synapsids.
Before them lay a herd of caseids - fat bodies contrasting with tiny heads. The herbivores were all busy tearing into some ferns, and after a moment of staring down the humans, went back to business as usual.
Enticed by the lucky sight, the team began to set up the portal. As they finished preparations, though, several new shapes emerged from the underbrush, bringing the caseids' feasting to a halt.
"...Are those Ophiacodon?" questioned Lucas.
"Yes," replied Vera, "and I think the caseids are Casea. You think we'll need to distract the Ophiacodon so that they don't eat out other targets?"
That question proved to be unnecessary - the caseids, sensing danger, began to amble away, and ended up heading right toward the team. A flick of the portal later, and they had vanished into the present. The ophiacodonts followed them through, though the team managed to distract the hunters with a large steak.
Happy with themselves, the team continued to march onwards, unaware aside form some grumbles about their packs feeling heavier that they had hitchhikers.
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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
