Chapter 6

A fated encounter

Vicious roaring and snarling could be heard from across the dry prairies, as every heard of edible prey within range of the terrifying sounds had already cleared out and nearly no signs of life could be found except for a pair of carnivores that were fighting over control of this territory. In an area with a few large bounders and dense shrubs, one side was a megaraptor which snarled viciously and bared out her claws and fangs as she stood off against Ace, now a robust adult male carnotaurus himself who roared out in defiance as he tried to drive out the intruder who invaded his hunting grounds. The 2 predators circled one another, the tension thick in the air as they both awaited an opening to exploit, the first mistake could be the last for either one, both equipped with sharp teeth and fast reflexes.

While the megaraptor was armed with a more varied weapon arsenal, Ace had experience and instinct on his side. Due to his fear of water which made him rather paranoid before, it in turn paid off with the unexpended benefit of helping him be more aware of his surroundings and his senses always on high alert so there was rarely a moment he'd drop his guard. As they continued circling one another, Ace took notice of the raptor's legs squat momentarily before she launched herself into the air flaring out her claws to slash his vulnerable back! Unfortunately, Ace anticipated this and quickly dodged to the right as she landed and got her claw stuck in the ground! Exposed and vulnerable, Ace seized his chance as she tried to pull free, by ramming megaraptor head on and sending her against the rocks further ahead! Disorientated, she pushed herself up only for Ace to grab her neck in his jaws and bite hard! She shrieked in pain but managed to swipe out with one of her claws, prompting Ace to evade in time and release his grip.

Landing a few feet away, he let out a fierce snarl towards the megaraptor, who was beginning to tire and wince in pain from the bite marks and injuries Ace had left on her. With little choice now, she turned around and beat a hasty retreat into the distance leaving Ace to roar in triumph having reclaimed his territory. To him this was a glorious moment, he felt confident and strong like never before, with courage he hadn't felt since his early hatchling days. Feeling full of himself he then headed off in the distance to the nearby river for a drink. As he arrived he could see the water was running rather quickly and how deep it was, and yet it didn't bother him in the slightest. It was as though his days of cowering from water were long behind him, having lived through much hardship on his own with nothing but his instincts and alertness as his allies. He had come a long way and Ace not longer felt the fear of the cold monster hiding in the depths, which tied him down in his youth, as he reached in and drank calmly from the edge of the river.

What he once felt was about to take him alive, now felt most cool and pleasant as it went down his throat, thinking about how was so afraid of water before made him feel rather silly now, and with his newfound courage inside he felt he could take on anything the world would throw at him. Suddenly he then picked up the scent of something enticing as the wind blew his way. His senses perked he sniffed the air as he began to track the direction it came from which was at a perched up hill not too far from where he was. Unable to resist, Ace let his nose guide him as he followed the smell further up river. As he maintained his pace he made his way uphill, where there was a ragged gorge now with the river undercutting through down below, but Ace continued to ignore it as his mind was focused on the smell, as it lead him further away from his usual hunting grounds and into uncharted territory.

Beforelong he found the source of the tantalising smell, the carcass of a dead adult saltasaurus, its guts and throat ripped out and spilt along the ground with blood dripping out and over the cliff edge and into the water below which was how he found the scent. It was also covered in a cloud of flies, which swarmed all over the fresh kill, meaning whoever brought down this adult sauropod must have been quite huge, given the huge blade like tooth that was embedded in one of the saltasaurus' ribs and the claw marks along the softer flanks. Still from what it seemed to Ace, the predator that made the kill was no doubt long gone by now, so he lowered his guard and focused on the free meal before him. Greedily he licked his lips before gorging on the delicious fresh meat before him, tearing out bite sized chunks out with each bite and then swallowing it whole. Truly today was his lucky day and he felt he had nothing to worry about any longer….though unfortunately for him, his luck was just about to run out and to take a nasty turn….

As he feasted, it seemed as though nothing would ever spoil this moment, till the ground beneath him began to vibrate. He could feel it beneath his feat as he perked his head up and looked around, trying to feel where they were coming from. Soon they grew louder and more apparent, as Ace turned to the forest where they emanated from. His senses on high alert warning him of danger approaching, but he held his ground firmly feeling confident in himself given what he had mangled to overcome in the past up till this point as he snarled and bared his fangs ready to fight whatever would soon make itself known….how deeply he would come to regret it soon. Emerging from the darkness of the forest, Ace stepped back as his courage began to fade upon locking eyes with the predator responsible for the kill he was feasting from, standing tall and looming over him like a mountain, with fiendish purple skin and a massive head carrying a jaw filled with several bladed teeth which matched the one embedded in the saltasaurus rib!

Of all the predators in prehistoric Argentina, the giganotosaurus reigns at the top of the food chain as the region's alpha predator, and this large male would not stand for anyone who'd dare try to steal his food within his own domain! Eying Ace as a thief trying to steal from his prize kill, he let out a furious roar enraged and unwilling to stand for this as he stomped towards Ace! As much as the carnotaurus wanted to retreat, it was too late now as he was trapped between the giganotosaurus in front and the cliff behind him leading to the rapidly flowing river below! Seeing his options were limited, Ace narrowed his eyes and roared out in defiance hoping to warn off the giga with a show of strength that he refused to back down, a big mistake that was, as the giganotosaurus not only called his bluff but was agitated by Ace's challenge as he charged out towards the smaller carnivore aiming to tear him apart!

Ace, left with no other choice, roared and charged head on towards the giganotosaurus, lunging out at him only for the massive carnivore to swipe out his arm and smack him away! Ace was sent flying across the rugged ground behind him as he landed hard on his side! As he lay down on the ground, the giga then lost interest, disregarding him as he returned to feast on his kill. It was then his attention diverted, Ace began to stir and get back up, shaking the dust off him as he regained his balance. Being knocked away he had a chance to escape now, but he was unwilling to backdown feeling overconfident in himself as he charged at the unsuspecting giga! As the giganotosaurus turned around he was met with surprise as Ace lunged at his neck and grabbed hold of his throat, biting hard into him and drawing blood! Angered by this, the giga roared out shaking hard hoping to throw Ace off but to no avail as the carnotaurus held on biting harder into the tough scales of the giganotosaurus!

Trying another approach, the giga used his huge arms to grab hold of Ace while he was still biting, before throwing his massive body weight on him as he slammed down on the ground with Ace right below him! The carnotaurus feeling the wind knocked out of him was forced to let go and cough out! Freed, the giganotosaurus roared out baring his massive jaws this time with the intent of finishing the job as he struck down! Ace reacted quickly by kitting out his foot and landing a hit on the lower jaw of the giganotosaurus, making him stutter back momentarily! The angered alpha raised his foot attempting to crush Ace, who thankfully made it to his feet in time and then dashing out of harm's way! In response, Ace swung out his tail smacking the giganotosaurus in the face, disorientating him as he stumbled about and shook his head trying to regain his footing! Ace, narrowed his eyes seeing he had the giganotosaurus near the cliff's edge, readied himself as he lowered his head getting ready to charge and hopefully knock the giganotosaurus over the edge!

He roared fiercely and charged forth aiming to ram the off balanced giga, unfortunately due to his overconfidence he miscalculated how quickly the giganotosaurus would recover, as he opened his eyes and turned around swinging his massive tail, taking Ace by surprised as he smacked with full force, throwing Ace off the cliff and into the rapids below! As Ace plunged in head first, and struggled to keep his head afloat he could feel he was no match against the powerful pull of the current which continued to carry him downstream and pull him under several times! Feeling engulfed by the torrents, Ace found himself swallowing water each time he forced his head above only to be pulled down harder than before! Along with being smashed against rocks in the rapids or along the craggy walls, it was then Ace's buried fears began to resurface as he could feel the monster in the deep blue underneath preparing to take him down to his watery end once more! His heart began to race as nightmares that plagued him in his past were being relived as he felt the strength from him fading away…..

It was almost hopeless for him and he was soon about to give up, till he felt his feet and tail brush against the river bottom below, hinting to him he had hit shallower water. It was then with one final burst of determination he was able to grab hold of a bank nearby downstream before forcing himself up onto the bank, safe at last. Pulling himself together he began to cough out water he had swallowed, it was a miracle he survived but it came at a huge cost. Looking behind he could feel as though the river and water would sweep him away once more, his thoughts feeling betrayed about his confidence being nothing more than an illusion as his past fears caught up to him again. Without a backwards glance he tried running away as fast as he could away from the water, before fatigue and injury soon caught up to him, making him wheeze and cough out loud, before collapsing on the ground in the middle of the dry prairies. The sun shone high above him as he was forced to close his eyes, feeling the life and energy slowly being drained from him as the sun's warmth dried off his body.

High above pterosaurs could be seen flying above him, circling like vultures preparing to feast as they eagerly awaited Ace to finally give in and surrender his life. Some of them were even preparing to land, impatient and unable to wait, and wanted to finish the job quicker so they could feast. Ace could barely keep his eyes open or push himself up as he was still chilled to the bone from the river and having exhausted all his remaining energy in his struggle to escape. He let out a pained dying roar as he prepared to accept his fate in despair….till surprisingly the pterosaurs began to scatter and disperse. It was then a large metallic cage came over him, had it not been for the fact he was out of energy he would have ran out of the cage's way as it then fell on top of him. Finding himself trapped in a predicament he never thought possible, he looked around nervously and panted in fear and exhaustion wondering what would happen next. It was then that a strange blue vehicle, in the shape of a jet with a small dinosaur's head came before him and landed in front of the cage. He started in surprise as 2 strange bipedal creatures, not like any he had seen before, step out before him, one being a blond haired woman and the other in a butler's uniform as they took a long good look at the carnotaurus before them.

"I must say Dr Cretacia, this is quite a find." Jonathan nodded with affirmation while Cretacia folded her arms on her hips and smiled pleased herself.

"Mhmm, I agree Jonathan." She added as she took a closer look at Ace's muscular body and well maintained horns, "Those strong and defined horns, along with a well built physique….he's definitely a healthy dino for sure." She commented, knowing that despite his injured state he was a dinosaur at the peak of his prime, "A dino who's definitely taken good care of himself, no doubt he's been eating his vitamins and getting plenty of exercise for sure!" She cheekily added, no doubt he suffered some sort of unfortunate incident prior to capture, but luckily he need not worry about that anymore as they were here to take care of things. Ace was unaware of this though, as he let out a fierce snarl at the 2 creatures who were capturing him.

Jonathan narrowed his eyes and held an arm in front of his boss, "Dr Cretacia! Stand back!" He had the impression this carnotaurus as agitated and bad tempered, but Cretacia, smiled lightly having another idea as she put his hand down to his surprise as she walked closer to the weakened dinosaur.

She then folded her arms and scowled grumpily at him, "Well I must say, someone's rather snippy. You ought to show a little more gratitude to the ones saving your life you know." she huffed before smiling with sympathy, "Then again, it looks like you've also had a rough time too so I can't really blame you…." She said to him as she reached a hand inside through the bars much to Jonathan;'s concern that Ace would easily lash out in fear! But he held back, believing Cretacia knew what she was doing as she began petting the carnotaurus on his snout, "There there, it's okay we're only here to help you, I promise." She said in a kind loving tone, making Ace feel more at ease, sensing no hostility or malicious intent behind her actions, as his breathing slowed while sniffing her closely. Also…deep down he could sense what felt like….another life deep inside her belly, something she herself was unaware of yet. It was then he closed his eyes unable to stay awake any longer as he fell unconscious, while Cretacia tapped a button on a device she held which caused the cage to fire beams of light onto the carnotaurus turning him into a card.

Smiling with satisfaction she whispered to the card, "It's alright, you can rest easy now, you're in good hands now, I promise." She said as the cage began to hover back into the air and fly back to the Backlander which was cloaked high above them.

With their first successful capture in Argentina, "Well then, shall we find another specimen?" Cretacia then asked as Jonathan began to escort her back to their hovercraft.

"Mhmm, I'm right behind you." He said in response.

She nodded as they began to walk back to it. A few steps though she then knelt down feeling an unusual churn in her stomach and a weird feeling inside her as she held in her mouth covering it as she felt herself about to throw up. "Ugh…." She groaned uncomfortably as Jonathan patted her on the back and supported her.

"Is there something wrong Dr Cretacia?" He asked with concern worried it may be some kind of prehistoric illness she could have contracted.

She smiled back at him waving her hand, "N…No I'm fine Jonathan." she insisted as she stood back up again just fine, "I'm sure it's just some mild indigestion that tub of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream I had a little while ago. Nothing more and nothing to worry about haha…." She laughed stumbling momentarily as she sat back inside the hovercraft with Jonathan coming in after her.

"I did try to warn you not to indulge yourself in sweets binging but you wouldn't listen to me…." He sighed shaking his head with disapproval, "Let's go back to the ship for now, I'll make you some warm tea, hope that helps." He suggested as their engines began to start up.

"That would be very nice Jonathan." Cretacia smiled appreciatively before cheering up, "Though I could go for some cookies to go with it too."

"Oh dear…." Jonathan groaned facepalming himself as they took off, hoping that Cretacia wouldn't get air sick and throw up before they get back.

And thus concludes Ace's story, how he has lived on his own and momentarily overcame his fear of water only to be dragged into it again. Though thankfully he overcomes it for good later on.

Managed to see the hint with Cretacia? How she at the moment was unaware of being pregnant with Rex but thinks of her condition as a coincidence, though Ace seems to know there is much more to it than meets the eye, could say it's fate or destiny. Decided to have her have cookie cravings given she did give Rex a cookie recipe once so maybe he likes cookies. It could also explain her happy go lucky attitude with her sugar rush having a permanent impact on her as well leaving her with so much energy and positivity even after Rex was born.

Something I feel aware of, mapusaurus no doubt came after giganotosaurus since it hunted argentinosaurus which likely didn't appear in Ace's time period, but I assume megaraptor may have lived in the same environment as him.

Reply to reviews

Drew Luczynski

-Wow this is the first time you replied first. Hope you're feeling better. So you watch Dinosaur Planet also? Yes maybe I took a few references from there but Ace had it way rougher, also next chapter will be something more original.

tsukikami02

-Yeah and because of that his parents find him a burden. That's the law of the jungle there. Don't worry though Ace is now in a better family now.

It's an option you don't need to if you don't want to.

Maybe an idea can be the Ancients' time in the prehistoric past carding dinosaurs.