Chapter 7

The need to fight

Cretaceous Mongolia was a complex environment for the dinosaurs that are adapted to deal with its' rather harsh droughts and momentary rainy seasons. While much of the region had dry deserts on its outskirts during rainfall they enabled dense shrubbery and trees to sprout in area where water may be contained well example being around an oasis. In one such oasis, which acted as a refuge for many Mongolian dinosaurs from the sweltering heat and sandstorms from the outside. As a herd of opisthocoelicaudia browsed on some tree tops in one section, not too far from them a pair of saurolophus, one orange and the other green, were engaging in a mating ritual as the male tried to perform a kind of mating dance to attract the female. After a few attempts she was receptive as they both rubbed one another most affectionately.

In a more secluded shaded spot of the forest within some canyon walls, a nest of dinosaur eggs was made at the base of a large dead tree, and a clutch of 8 eggs were nestled together orderly in a sand mound mixed with twigs and branches. It was nearly time for the eggs to hatch, but there were signs that they had been discovered by egg thieves, as the nest walls had been broken down and several theropod footprints were seen about the area as they circled around the nest, along with scattered shells or the dead bodies of ankylosaur embryos amongst some smashes eggs.

A trio of oviraptors was gorging themselves on quite the breakfast buffet, having decimated nearly the entire litter of eggs as their bone crunching beaks made short work of the shells as they crushed through them and devoured the contents as the yolks leaked all over the place as they greedily made a mess of the nest. Now only 3 eggs remained, and the raptors were planning helping themselves to the last few. The leader of the trio grabbed one egg in his jaws and his jaws made contact with it! He was just about to crunch right through it, when the ground began to shake forcing him to drop the egg back into the nest making it crack a little as it landed!

The 3 egg thieves looked around in a panic the sounds of a large dinosaur crashing through the underbrush soon came into view as an aggressive mother saichania, coloured reddish brown, made her presence known to the intruder! As she shrieked out in a rage she startled the oviraptors making them leap back in surprise! Just before they could rush in and claim what was left of their booty, the mother soon rushed over to them and using her massive body covered over the eggs and waved out her tail club warning them to back off now or get crushed themselves! With little choice the 3 oviraptors were forced to beat a hasty retreat back into the underbrush.

She let out a final warning roar to warn them to never come back again, after that she moved off her nest to inspect what was left, being a first time mother she paid the price for her careless mistake of abandoning them to go foraging for food. It was a huge loss for the mother saichania…though thankfully for her, she came just in the nick of time as the remaining 3 eggs soon began to stir and crack. Hatching from the remaining eggs and tumbling out into the nest were 3 young saichania, a male and 2 females. The female that hatched from the cracked egg that the lead oviraptor dropped earlier, this was Tank, and just a few minutes old she already sported her mother's spiny back and miniature clubbed tail, though unlike the adults she and her siblings were still soft and vulnerable, as their mom sniffed them all carefully to make sure they weren't hurt at all.

While her siblings were eager to meet their mother, Tank herself being rather shy and docile, after being shaken up rather roughly earlier in her egg thanks to the raptor, huddled behind the remains of her former egg as her mother came in to sniff her carefully to ensure she wasn't hurt in the slightest. It took a little bit of time for Tank to warm up before coming up to sniff her mother back but then quickly hiding back behind her shells and covering her head nervously. Their mother decided it was time for their first meal, and making sure she didn't stray too far from the nest this time around, she surveyed her surroundings carefully before moving off to grab some ferns from some nearby bushes before bringing them over to her young and dropping it into their nest.

The first 2 saichania hatchlings eagerly munched away at their first ever meal, while Tank cowered behind her egg shell still feeling rather reluctant to come out and also feeling rather fearful about getting hurt herself too, for the experience she felt while inside her shell had left quite an impact on her, making her rather fearful of the unknown and thus she was unwilling to leave the safety of her comforts. Tank's mother grunted and huffed still feeling rather bitter about her loss from before and thus she made it her mission to raise up these remaining youngsters into the finest dinosaurs she could, but with one of them already cowering behind her own egg remains it was going to be a challenge. The sounds of rustling nearby caught the mother's attention as she quickly looked to see a pair of gallimimus having stumbled upon her nesting site in search of food.

Curious, the 3 young saichania looked up above from their nest at the newcomers as they began pecking at the ground in search of anything to eat, being omnivores said dinosaurs were very opportunistic indeed. After her experience just now, Tank's mom wasn't about to take any chances as she vowed to protect her young with every ounce of strength she had and no one was ever going to come between her and her babies ever again. In an instant she roared out fiercely at the gallimimus who screeched nervously upon being startled by her sudden growl, they expected other herbivores to be friendly with one another so to receive such hostility was quite the shock for them. Seeing how they hadn't heeded her warning she stampeded towards them, forcing them to run for cover as they retreated into the underbrush, while the saichania slammed her tail on the ground aggressively, her actions definitely catching her 3 young off guard.

Seeing how strong and brave her mom was, Tank felt more at ease in her presence as she stumbled out of the nest, tumbling out of it and then coming to a roll at her mother's leg. As the mother saichania looked down to see Tank nuzzling up to her, she licked her child back as they established a s strong bond with each other. For now Tank and her siblings could rely on their mother's protection, but this was only temporary, within the next few months they would need to learn the skills needed to survive on their own or defend themselves or else their days could still be numbered. Little did she know, Tank would eventually need to toughen herself up if she was to survive in the world one of these days.

Have to say Tank's region in Mongolia has a variety of dinosaurs to work with, here showcasing her shy docile personality before she was modified by the Alpha Gang, I don't have a solid story planned for her though.

Something I can say, Tank's aggression in the future will no doubt be dormant but one can say it's passed down by her own mother's aggressive instincts to drive any dinosaur away from her family now having nearly lost them all. A trait that will be made known for Tank in the future thanks to the Alpha Gang.

Reply to reviews

tsukikami02

-Yup his moment of glory was sadly short lived and indeed fate does deal strange hands to some individuals like Ace and Rex here. As if they were destined for it.

Okay then sure look forward to more Dainason Kingdom, sorry but the fight with Cera and Kaze will be next chapter, plus I still need to plan out the chapter too.

Drew Luczynski

-Yeah as they say pride comes before a fall and Ace let it get the better of him. As shown here I decided Tank next, was tricky coming up with a story for her so don't think it will be as impactful as the others at least for me.