Jurassic OceanSphere
While at the same time Hammond was showing Teams RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, and SSSN, Zach Gray, the professors, and the scientists the Raptor Paddock, Ed Regis was quite giddy and on the roll when he led Teams ARBN, BRNZ, NDGO, and Dr. Oobleck around the lagoon that was about 150 feet away from the Samsung Innovation Center. The Lagoon was as big as Lake Okeechobee and deep as Loch Ness. Half of the park's facilities were built around the one edge of the lagoon while the other edge has an estuarine river that snaked further into a river delta system, which has smaller pockets of interconnecting mangrove swamps. There was a large steel, mechanical gate placed between the Lagoon and the estuarine river.
"As you can see, when InGen first acquired the Cinco De Las Muertes Archipelago about some 30 years ago, this used to be a estuary and still is one for the many native species of fish and crocodiles, but we turned it into a mega-sized aquarium for our many species of prehistoric aquatic fish, reptiles and some interesting aquatic birds." Ed Regis explained.
"Hey, Mr. Regis, I noticed that some of the sea gulls flying about here that have some teeth to their beaks," Gwen pointed out to flocks of sea gull-like birds flying above the lagoon that have black heads with white spot at the back of their lower jaws. Their underbodies were white while their backs and wings are black with some patches and mottles of white, especially the ones on their wing feathers that highlight the placement of some of their feathers like the primary, the secondary, and alula wing feathers. Their beaks were yellow in color like their webbed feet, but the most striking thing about their beaks were that they have reptile-like teeth in them.
"Those birds are Ichthyornis, a toothed sea bird from the Cretaceous, and their fossils are found in Vale when it used to be North America with the middle of the land underwater. They're basically sea gulls with teeth and behaved like their modern counterparts as such, diving above into the water, feeding on fish. And when we cloned these birds back from extinction, their behavior pretty much proved that to be true. They're pretty easy to recreate. That's why we have so many of them flying about as this area is prime habitat for them." Ed Regis pointed to the many Ichthyornis flying about all over the lagoon along with the smaller numbers of the bigger Pteranodon soaring higher in the skies.
"Don't you keep them, um, I don't know, some kind of aviary or something? As to know not cause problem with the normal sea birds," Nadir asked.
"Actually, we found out that other than being the occasional nuisance with lost food and items, they mind their own business. At one time, yes...we considered creating a space for them in the Prehistoric Bird Aviary, out of concern that they might breed with the local seagulls. However, much to our surprise, these prehistoric birds only interact with each other of their own kin and no other sea birds. So that scratched out the need for such as they form large colonies consisting of tight-knit family groups." Ed Regis said as he saw three individuals of the toothed sea birds squabbling each other as one of them caught a fish.
"Wait a minute, sir, you allow them to roam free throughout the island? Then how do you guys keep them on the island if they can fly away so easily?" Dr. Oobleck asked with some concern on his face as he and the others learned from the tour that these cloned recreations of prehistoric animals can't necessarily out in the rest of Remnant.
"Glad you asked, Doctor Bartholomew. You guys probably have not seen it since you came through basically the back door to Isla Nublar. Did you notice about some of those huge towers that looked like huge power towers?" Regis asked them an important question.
Oobleck and the Huntsmen-in-training looked around and noticed what looked like skyscraper-sized tower rods with radio-like transmitter antenna at the apex dotted around and 15 miles beyond the park and 10 miles into the sea beyond the river delta.
"Yeah, we did see some. At least, I did, but what the heck for?" Nolan shrugged his shoulders.
"That...young man, is what keeps our Pteranodons, the birds, and our marine wildlife from venturing off from the coast, or trekking further into the island continent. These towers produce an invisible, electromagnetic force field that surrounds this entire park. Not to worry, the force field has no effect on electronics. We have tuned the power as such that it won't interfere with our daily routine."
"Well, I am not seeing the force field. The animals may still get curious wanting to leave the place," May pointed out.
"If you can't see it and if neither our animals can't see it, then it shows our mega security barrier is working as it ought to be. The last thing we want is for the animals to think they're trapped. The force field is not meant to be seen, but to be felt. Meaning, let's say if a Pteranodon just happened to fly within 10 meters of any of these towers, the first thing the pterosaur would experience is a change in the magnetic field since these guys tend to fly and migrate at great distances and rely on the planet's magnetic waves to guide their way. The change produced by the force field would make the pterosaur do a detour back to the island. That's our first line and one that has proven to be the most humane and helpful in deterring would be travelers. The second and last layer, which is a little more intrusive, but not much, is that the force field would produce an electric shock."
"Whoa...whoa...whoa...an electric shock?" Nebula was a little startled at that, "How much of a shock are we talking about?"
"About 25,700 Volts. Enough to give an average Huntsman quite the shock of his life," Ed Regis answered casually, which unnerved some of the guests.
"Mr. Regis, I beg your pardon, but 25,700 Volts?! That's enough to electrocute a Huntsman even if his Aura is active! Let alone animals like the Brachiosaurus and all that!" Oobleck exclaimed in a startled tone.
"I wouldn't worry so much about the dinosaurs as I would about a careless worker and visitor straying too close to the limits defined by the force field. Through our genetic cloning and research, we've discovered that not one, but all of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures we've brought back from extinction have the genes and the ability to generate their own Aura. And believe me, Doctor, these animals, not our modern ones, produce large levels of Aura; the smaller ones produce about the same amount or slightly higher amount than we do, and the ones bigger than a dog produce about twice and three times as much than ours. With the Alphas, or rather very old, experienced individual animals, about four or five times." That had everyone's jaws drop and their eyes bigger than saucers.
"Are you pulling our legs here, Mr. Regis?" asked a astonished Nebula with skepticism.
"If I were, Ms. Violette, then this is probably the worst joke I would ever come up with." Regis' words pretty much confirmed the veracity of the statements.
"Then why we weren't fried when we flew in here?" Oobleck questioned.
"Because the pilot of Hammond's personal airship has an InGen ID Card that we use to identify who's our employees and authorized personnel and who's not ours with the exception of certified, invited guests. Because you are invited and certified in Jurassic Kingdom's database, therefore InGen's, on behalf of Hammond, you weren't fried when the force field was automatically turned off for 3 minutes." Ed Regis explained, answering the question.
"Which makes sense," Oobleck commented.
"You say they're easily cloned. Do they ever mate in the wild outside the confines of the Hatchery and the Nursery?" Arslan asked another question regarding about the maintenance of the bird populations.
"No. Our Creation Hatcheries do all of that heavy work. I don't know too much of what happens in the Nurseries, but our animal androids helped nurture them so that they can behave functionally as best as they could, except for the mating part, as it is per protocol." Regis answered.
"Really?" Arslan cupped her chin in thought as she couldn't help, but something was missing in the explanation.
"Huh! That's cool..." Bolin joined in, "But how do the people that created these androids know what's the best behavioral set to help nurture all of the park's animals?"
"That is Dr. Wu's department. He knows more in-depth about that subject than I do, so you'll have to reserve that question for him. All I can tell you is that they program the android by the animal behavior the scientists think will best suit a particular animal based on its closest modern counterpart. But that's all I know, I am just a COO. I'm to ensure that everything in the park is working fine and in the best tip-top shape without too much problems."
"True, sorry about that, sir," Bolin apologized while Oobleck creased his eyebrow at the android part.
"It's nothing to apologize about, son. I have worked in Jurassic Kingdom, getting everything in the park set up and inspected for five years and there is still a lot for me to learn about the park." Ed G. Regis answered back with a smile.
"Where did you work before Jurassic Kingdom?" May Zedong spoke up with some curiosity.
"I used to work as operations supervisor in Valerian SeaWorld," Regis said fondly, "That was where I worked for twenty years before I took up the job offer InGen gave me."
"So what made you take up this job on a remote island such as this?" Oobleck asked out of curiosity.
"Mainly, the pay salary was better...16.67 lien per hour. How could anyone argue against that say with 14.45 lien when it has been drastically cut to 12.30 lien after the Orca debacle that put SeaWorld in crosshairs with the animal rights activists?" Regis's voice became more solemn, recalling the fateful year, five years ago when the park closed down.
"Oh yeah, I've heard that the lawsuits against animal abuses by the Hawkhorne Vale Club was so serious and loaded that SeaWorld went bankrupt shortly afterwards," Octavia remembered hearing that on the news when she was a younger girl. SeaWorld was her favorite place to go for her summer vacation whenever her parents could afford to, and she would love going for the Orca Performance shows that SeaWorld was well known for. When she learned that it closed down, she was very upset to the point that came combat training she became a little too eager to vent her frustrations on a fellow classmate of hers that earned her a week's of detention.
"That eventually caused me to resign from the job with all of the drama crashing down. That was my favorite place to work at as I love watching the sea animals from time to time. I was really sad to see them go when they had to be transferred to other zoos, but at least, they have a new home and new people to admire them. A month after that, I've managed to secure my current job here and it's been five years since."
"I bet money wasn't the only thing that made you accept the job here, right?" Brawnz said.
"True, when I heard that they were planning a similar SeaWorld in the park, that made me intrigued enough to grab the offer. Like everything else that I am still learning about the park, this SeaWorld is on a grander, larger, and more ambitious scale. All the more reason why I am eager to show you my favorite attraction and give you a sense why it is so. So let's not dilly dally along, shall we?" Ed Regis gave his most excited grin that stretched from ear to ear to the group as he led the way.
Oobleck chuckled, "You are an interesting fellow."
Ed Regis walked the left side of the Lagoon, leading them to a wide, expansive tribune with the maximum capacity of seating 300,000 people. Beyond the electric fencing and further out into the water was the presence of smaller underwater steel fencing and a larger underwater gate with a pair rows of five interlocking 'teeth', which clued to Oobleck that this aquarium was vast and wide about the size of two football stadiums, which was still relatively minor portion of the entire lagoon.
Oobleck could clearly see that there were workers cleaning the seats and floors of any water or the occasional bird excrement. Technicians were going around, inspecting the power boxes and also blueprints to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary with the tribune. One was even on a platform between and overlooking the tribune and the lagoon. That technician was looking at the computer with a young woman in an aqua blue uniform with Jurassic Kingdom logo with a Mosasaur skull on it. He said something to the woman that the computer has finished scans and about that the system was finally running good and ready to be used with the woman thanking him.
"Hello, Wendy!" Regis called out to the young woman in her late twenties, who has her long blueish dark hair tied up into a ponytail and wearing a light blue cap with the Jurassic Kingdom logo.
Wendy "Aquamarine" Regis turned her head to the sound of her father's voice. She beamed with a smile and waved at him. "Hi, sir!"
That got the others' attention as well as they greeted him with a sunny disposition, waving and some yelling good words to him. Regis waved back at them all.
"Hey! Got guests already, sir?!" One of the technicians asked him curiously about the Hunters-in-training and the Beacon Academy professor that were waving back at them.
"Yes! These Hunters-in-training hail from Shade and Haven Academies! Professor-"
"Doctor, please!" Oobleck corrected Regis.
"*Ahem* Doctor Oobleck, Beacon Academy's archaeologist and history teacher. They including others with them like Ozpin, Ironwood, Grant, and Gennaro are here to see our park's living attractions and to inspect if the island is safe and stable enough for public viewing," Ed "Gordon" Regis announced.
"Ooohhh...we got some tough customers here, mateys!" said one of the workers who was a Faunus and speaking in an Ozzie accent.
"You all came here at just the right moment. Because it is feeding time for our biggest and first Mosasaurus brought back from the million-year-old grave!" Wendy said as she put on her mic headphones set.
"Perfect!" Regis said and he then turned to the leading technician in charge of Jurassic OceanSphere, "Is the tribune workable?"
"We've solved all of the bugs for the mechanisms, sir. We can take it for a test run." The leading technician answered as he put on his waterproof poncho.
"Good! Because I am going to make this the first test run with our guests being the test audience for Jurassic OceanSphere." Regis was given his own poncho as he begin to wear it.
"Dang! Moving fast already?!" Roy Stallion exclaimed.
"I am already starting to like this Jurassic Kingdom park. Dinosaurs are one thing, but SeaWorld with aquatic dinos is a double win for me," Octavia had a cheeky grin on her face as she was taking in the thrill of it all, especially when this attraction was reminiscent of Valecian SeaWorld, the very place dear to her childhood.
"Trust me, miss. What you will see in Jurassic OceanSphere will make Valerian SeaWorld look like a guppy fish compared to this," Regis chuckled confidently. "And you kids better put a poncho on, especially you, Doc, because this splash is quite a big one!" He handed a pack of 13 ponchos to the Hunters.
In Mistral...
Oscar was woken up from his unconsciousness that seemed like eternity when it was only 20 minutes. His vision was fuzzy and distorted until it finally cleared to see three people familiar to him.
Family friends of his. Two of them being his childhood friends.
The first of the trio was an old man with a rugged and wrinkly appearance to his white face that had a grayish white mustache joined by white sideburns and a white beard of his round chin. He had sharp cheekbones and a large nose to him. His blue eyes were squinty and tired-looking with creases and wrinkles to his eyelids, and he wore old-fashioned spectacles to them. There was still a fire of a seasoned veteran of a warrior, however, that never truly went out from his eyes. Along with some x-shaped scar on his right eye and a claw mark scar to his jaw bone, he had lived a long life of being a Huntsman before he retired. He wore a light brown cowboy hat on his head and a dark forest bandana around his neck. The elderly man had a dark gray buttoned vest with breast pockets while wearing a white undershirt. He wore a long black poncho wrapped around his left shoulder. He wore the traditional brown belt with the silver belt buckle of a Rattlesnake on his waist. He had dirty brown jeans and long mahogany boots to him. He wielded a katana that was currently sheathed and attached to his belt on his left. A long wood rifle was slung onto his back that highlight his ancient ways compared to modern Huntsman. The old cowboy stood at 5 feet 8 inches tall.
The second to the old cowboy's left was a young man, twenty-one years old. Smoother complexion yet rough, and like his old man, also gained some scars to his cheek and on the right side of his temple just above his eyebrow. He too wore a cowboy hat, but it was darker gray in color and made out of alligator scaly hide. The only hair seen was his brown blonde hair stopping at his neck with the rest hidden in the hat. His nose was rounder, smaller and less pointed than his father's. He had amber brown eyes, hardened yet amicable. His cheekbones were sharp like his father with a smoother jawline. Thick neck muscles from the heavy lifting he had to do around the family ranch and worn around his neck was a tooth necklace made out of alligator teeth. His hands were coarse and rough with a lot of muscle and power in his arms supported by his broadened shoulders. He wore a partially buttoned up, dusty beige brown leather jacket to him with a blue buttoned collared T-shirt. The belt he wore was reddish brown with gold alligator belt buckle. He had blue jeans with thigh armor plates made out of steel and alligator scales and leathery boots made out of alligator hide. He stood at 7 feet 3 inches tall.
His weapon of choice was a broadsword made out of the jawbone of a massive alligator, complete with teeth and a steel blade. The weapon could also transform into a deadly, giant AR-15 customized rifle with a the jaw blade acting as an oversized bayonet of sorts underneath the rifle.
The third was one heck blonde bombshell of a young woman, nineteen years old. She was quite the beautiful Faunus as she had a luscious spiky mane of dirty blonde hair with long bangs, and a pair of lion ears on her head in addition to her human ears hidden beneath her mane. Soft cheekbones with a small nose and cheeks so rosy that they practically glowed. Her bright round eyes were a mesmerizing blueness of the sky on a bright sunny day; carefree, full of life, jovial, yet ferocious and willful. She had a lovely, hypnotically white complexion that went with her muscular, curvy body. Her arms were powerful, packed with a lot of muscle power, yet still feminine enough. Her shoulders were quite broad for most women of her age. Her hands and wrists were covered in yellow fur that went right up to her elbow and her palms having feline paws and her fingers having claws that could be sheathed or unsheathed at will; a rare phenomenon for a Faunus to have more than one animal trait. Her outfit was a lighter orange cowgirl jacket unbuttoned up and had two halves of a snarling lion on either side with a beige brown fur collar. She had a crimson bandana with lion fangs on her neck. She wore a black tube blouse that hugged tight to her impressive cleavage and emphasized their enormous size with each of her plump, perky breasts being the size of her head. The blouse was tight enough to show the outline of her strong 6 pairs of abs. The woman had a black belt with a roaring lion for her silver belt buckle. She had tan jeans that had some tears to them. She stood at 6 feet 7 inches tall.
Her weapon of choice were red arm gauntlets with spiked gloves on her knuckles. The real killing features were the wrist and arm blades in the gauntlets, and the built in Dust chambers that house her Fire Dust crystals, which their energies ignite her Dust bullets in that particular incendiary element.
"Well, look who's back from the land of the unconscious! You gave us quite the scare when we couldn't wake you up!" The busty female blond Lion Faunus spoke with a Texan accent to her voice when she bent down to face him, which unintentionally gave Oscar a good view of her plentiful cleavage.
"Wow...I must be in heaven," Oscar muttered deliriously with his cheeks blushing red as a tomato as he was still half dazed.
The buxom Faunus giggled mischievously at his cute embarrassed face.
"Come on, Stella. Get your huge melons away from lil' Ozzy before you suffocate him," said the well-built, large man of a cowboy to his new sweetheart of a wife in exasperation. "We wouldn't want him to die from embarrassment, do we, deary?"
"Aw, come on, Drake! You don't mind me when you're on the receiving end of these beautiful kittens of mine," Stella Lionel Burke said to her newly christened husband, Drake N. Burke, in a teasing, flirty, semi-bashful manner flashing her toothy smile and her huge pair of 'kittens' to him.
"That's different because I am your husband, and Ozzy's just a kid who just entered into being a teenager with his hormones messing him all over," Drake was seemingly unfazed by his wife's advances with just a little blush of his cheeks.
"I know I know, hon! Hahaha...I am just messing with ya," Stella give him a pecking kiss on his cheek.
Drake smiled at that briefly before his and Stella's demeanor became concerned once more when Drake's elderly father, Donald C. Burke, helped Oscar Pines up to his feet by grabbing the young boy's hand with his deceptively own scrawny, yet big hands that was in contrast to the old man's surprising strength as he nearly yanked Oscar off of his feet.
Donald's worried, stern expression softened into a more relieved, sympathetic demeanor like a grandfather would have to his troubled grandson as his lighter blue eyes fell onto the young boy's hazel ones and said to him, "I was worried that we lost you there, son. I thought you were dead when you didn't respond for so long to our CPR efforts."
"Yeah, sorry about that, Uncle Don," Oscar scratched his head sheepishly, "I thought I was too. Thinking that I am in the afterlife, not realizing I worried you guys. By the way, how did you get here?"
"We were coming home from a routing expedition that was to snuff out some packs of troublesome Grimm that seemed getting more fidgety and on the edge with everything around them by the minute when all of the sudden, this loud roar apparently came out of nowhere," Donald answered.
"Was the commotion that loud to you guys?" Oscar asked.
"Only to Stella's lion ears," Drake pointed his thumb in direction of Stella. "You know how more sensitive her hearing is to ours."
"I don't need to have lion ears to hear whatever that was making such an awful racket coming from your barn," Stella pointed sticking her finger into one of her lion ears. "Speaking of which, whattha on Oum that is all an' good happen here?!" She then pointed to the huge burning heap that was Oscar's farm.
Oscar frowned as he got his grandfather's shotgun and answered to his childhood friends,
"I don't know. I honestly have no idea what on Remnant it was that killed Aunt Dorothy, but all I could say that it clearly wasn't around here and I almost died when I shot its mouth."
Deafening silence befell upon the cowboys and cowgirl as they were shocked by the revelation.
"Damn son," Donald lowered his head with his gruff voice sounding somber, "That's tough for you. No wonder why you're all shaken up and bruisin' and bleeding."
Drake offered a flask of water to Oscar, who greedily took it and drank to soothe his parched throat. Once that was done, Oscar thanked him.
"No problem, kid. Sorry to hear about Aunt Dorothy though. She tough, but she always had a soft heart. Tough but soft. Now I'll miss her. We all do now, brother." Drake responded and gave Oscar a hug, which the boy was grateful for as he returned the gesture.
"Poor Ozzy...," Stella joined in with her plentiful jugs smothering the traumatized and sad Oscar Pines, who didn't care at this point as he needed this.
Donald sighed, "Rachel ain't gonna like it when she hears what happened to Dorothy, especially when we're so close to the Autumn Harvest Festival."
"I doubt anyone will," Oscar said mournfully as he knew how well known she was to the local community of Georgia.
"Yeah...long night. It gonna be a very long night."
"Wanna ride back with us to our family ranch, Oscar? I think Mama Rachel is just making some Pumpkin Apple pie for supper." Stella asked.
"Since I have nowhere else to go, yeah, but what about-?" Oscar was hesitant, still reeling from the hell he had to endure.
"Mama wouldn't mind making more, especially when she learns what made you all bruised and shaking." Drake answered.
"Thanks, Drake, but I am more concerned with the dinosaur," Oscar corrected him as the three parted away from the hug.
"Excuse me, son?" Donald asked with his eyebrow raised. "Do you mean like Grimm?"
Oscar shook his head.
"The thing that attacked me and brought the barn down was no Grimm. The roar didn't belong to any Grimm either."
"Then what made that noise?" Stella narrowed her eyes.
"It's a dinosaur."
Back at Jurassic Kingdom...
"The Mosasaurus was the apex predator of the oceans in what was known as the Western Interior Sea that split North America in half about 70 to 66 million years ago." Wendy announced to the small audience comprised of her father, and the Shade and Haven Huntsmen and Huntresses. "It was thought to have hunted a variety of other large marine animals at the time. Basically anything it can sink its teeth into like large fish, turtles, giant squid, marine reptiles, smaller mosasaurs and even cannibalized some of its own kin when food was scarce."
Some of the students sitting in seats of the tribune whistled at the large menu that the Mosasaurus had in its diet. Others were a little uncomfortable at the tidbit about Mosasaurus as cannibals not hesitant to devour each other when push came to shove.
"That is a rather gruesome fate even for a monster," Oobleck whispered into Regis's ear.
"It's more common among predators than any of us dare to admit, doctor. The strongest prey on the weak. There is no honor among carnivores when it comes to survival." Regis whispered back, leaving a disgusted Oobleck.
"Okay, folks! Since Scylla has not eaten yet today, she's gonna be very hungry. So do please remember to have your poncho on as she will definitely create quite the wave here," Wendy warned as a line reel carrying a dead cloned giant tuna about the size of a whale came into view 100 feet above the lagoon's waters. "And do give her a hand."
"Guys! Guys, I see something moving! It's here!" Octavia shook her partner Nebula, who was texting her friends on SnapChat, as well as shouting to get her teammates' attention as an enormous, giant shadow appeared from the depths of the lagoon.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" It didn't take long before something huge burst out through the water's surface in the form of the Mosasaurus's humongous, crocodile-like, triangular head, which was at about 75 feet long to dwarf the giant tuna that was its meal, that had its huge main jaws filled with rows of massive, sharp conical teeth open to reveal a second smaller set of jaws in its mouth! The animal's thick, short, yet muscular neck, chest, and giant flippers also appeared out of the water with the rest of its serpentine-like body concealed beneath the surface. The dorsal surface of Mosasaurus' neck was covered in blue-grayish crocodilian scutes along with some marine greenish chainmail-like scales reminiscent of Komodo dragons on the rest of its neck.
The monstrous aquatic reptile roared out from the lagoon's surface as it clamped its jaws onto the tuna with a resounding snap that sounded like a cannon going off.
"WOOOOOOWWWWW!" Everyone of the Hunters and even the technicians hollered out of amazement.
"Holy cow!" Reese gasped with her eyes bulging out of her sockets.
"Did anyone else take a picture of that?!" Nolan shouted to his peers as he videotaped the whole thing.
"Look at the size of this thing! What a monster!" Arslan, of all people, was even floored at how easily the Mosasaurus engulfed the fish in one resounding, chomping bite.
"By the brothers..." A lot of words died in Oobleck's voice box and mind as it seemed so biblical to see basically a giant sea serpent from time long forgotten emerge in front of human eyes in the modern world for the first in an extremely long time, stretching many millions of years. "This thing must be 50 meters long!"
Ed Regis only smiled gleefully not only at the audience's reaction, but also at the majesty and power of such sheer monstrosity that was the first and oldest of Jurassic Kingdom's Mosasaurus to date.
The line pulley snapped under the pulling pressure of the Mosasaurus' jaws as the reptilian leviathan now slammed and splashed into the water headfirst sideways, sending off a huge wave that splashed into the Hunters and the surrounding seats, including the workers present.
Of course, the ponchos weren't 100% waterproof as some of the water splashed onto their faces and hair, but none of them were concerned about getting wet as they were more thrilled about the awesome, epic experience they have just witnessed.
"Oh my Oum!" Octavia screamed jubilantly to her teammates, patting them on the shoulders, "That was awesome!"
"WOOHOOOO!" Brawnz hollered out like a crazy madman whose team won a Super Bowl football tournament, "What an epic splash, dudes!" He fist bumped anyone within his vicinity, including Team ARBN.
"This totally beats Valerian SeaWorld by a hundred miles!" Nadir agreed with him as he slicked back his pink hair when he got the hood off to dry it out in the sun.
Oobleck burst out laughing with uncontained, hysterical joy in the thrill of the moment that he had not enjoyed since first becoming a Huntsman as he knew he was partaking in a fundamentally historical moment that may change Remnant forever.
Then the sound of the tribune being lowered, surprised them before Wendy A. Regis explained to them,
"Okay, hang on tight, folks! We're going to give an even closer look at not only our biggest Mosasaurus, but also other marine reptiles that her kin shared the oceans with and more!"
The Hunters clapped and applauded even more as the tribune lowered them into the massive aquarium, which was the Underwater Observatory, built underneath the Jurassic Kingdom Lagoon. Soon they were greeted to the magnificent sight of not just the Mosasaurus, but throngs of several recognizably distinctive creatures of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras!
There were other mosasaurs such as two younger individuals of the genetically recreated Mosasaurus hoffmanni that were smaller than the gigantic 50-meter long Scylla at 25 meters long. All three of them have lengthy, powerful serpentine bodies with whale-like bulk to them with front and hind flippers bigger than a full grown man, and sinuous, crocodile-like tails with dorsal spikes and a tail fluke at the tip of their tails. The two adolescent Mosasaurs swam away from the aquarium just in case Scylla was still hungry enough to eat them.
Floating schools of ancient Nautilus-like cephalopods called ammonites dot the aquarium alongside bigger schools of several prehistoric fish species, including the saber-fanged Enchodus, Pachyrhizodus, Megalocoelacanthus, etc,; including a giant ancient, Great White shark-sized relative of the Black Marlin and sailfish called the King Marlin that has a much bigger, violet dorsal fin sail, more jagged looking than its modern counterparts while having teeth in its mouth and a longer nasal, beak-like sword. Then there were seven-member packs of dolphin-like Ichthyosaurs swimming alongside one another such as the titular Ichthyosaurus, the Platypterygius, and the four individuals of whale-sized Temnodontosaurus with the bigger species swimming closer to the surface. Then there were two playful adolescent individuals of Dolichorhyncops, porpoise-like polycotylid, or short-necked, plesiosaurs with long-nosed, slender snouts that swam dynamically through the lagoon like the Ichthyosaurs and were seen interacting amicably with them as both species were heard clicking and squeaking to each other. The lagoon floor was literally crawling with two species of resurrected trilobites as they left their marks with their tractor-like trails thanks to the multitude of their spindly legs beneath their armored carapaces. Marine crocodiles such as the emerald Metriorynchus that had flippers for limbs and shark-like flukes for tails that swam cautiously alongside the giant Mosasaurus, Scylla.
All of the creatures in the open-ended aquarium swam out of Scylla's way when she moaned happily with the half of the tuna in its mouth, blood trailing through her jaws while the other bloody half of the tuna floated precariously in the water.
The students and Dr. Oobleck went even louder in their applause when Scylla chomped up the lower half of the tuna as well, growling with a pleasurable grunt.
"That's one creature I rather not swim with, but awesome still nonetheless!" Roy commented as the giant Mosasaur then cruised, leaving the underwater enclosure, allowing the smaller creatures to reappear while the Metriorynchus went to scavenge on whatever scraps they could find. As soon as that was done, they soon relaxed, cruising around the aquarium.
"The Metriorynchus are our park's marine crocodiles that have flippers for legs and have less need for such armor unlike their more freshwater relatives to stay more streamlined when moving through the water. They have a fluke-like tail like our Mosasaurs to maneuver well through the water. They feed mainly on fish and cephalopods like these ammonites, but don't worry we give them enough prepared fish food to not give them the incentive to bother them," Wendy's voice rang through the speakers. "Now we have our species of Ichthyosaurs, which share both similar appearances and ecologies to that of dolphins, and the porpoise-like, short-necked plesiosaurs, the Dolichorhyncops are about to give you guys quite the treat! These animals are very playful and acrobatic, and also very eager to meet you guys! So give them quite hand, folks!"
The audience clapped with some whistling.
The Ichthyosaurus pack were accelerating fast through the water, which prompted a response from the Platypterygius, the two Dolichorhyncops, and even the Temnodontosaurus. The dolphin-like and Orca-like creatures were not only swimming, but they were doing underwater acrobatics! Even five shark-sized King Marlins joined in on the fun as they accelerated through the water like flashing missiles thanks to their purple violet fins and sail that contrasted with their bluish green, and silvery scales. All of these animals, like the Mosasaurus, in the aquarium were larger than their real life counterparts from the fossil record with the Ichthyosaurus being up to 18 feet long. The Platypterygius being 30 feet long. The Temnodontosaurus up to 50 feet long on average. And finally the King Marlin at about 35 feet long.
"Joining on the fun are also our King Marlins, prehistoric relatives of the Black Marlins! Intelligent, energetic, and also colorful! Give them a round of applause as they also do their thing!"
It was like watching an underwater ballerina as the animals swam in pairs, doing their circles of eight while jumping up and about through the lagoon and up above the water's surface before splashing back down. The Dolichorhyncops adolescents that were about two-and-half feet long swam in perfect coordination with each other and their peers. Joyful squeaks could be heard as they chattered with the ichthyosaurs and two of the King Marlins that communicated with their dorsal sails that flashed in several shades of purple and blue. All of this going while they performed their jaw-dropping acrobatics like Olympic gymnasts and swimmers at the same time.
"This is incredibly spectacular," Arslan said in awe of the animals.
"This certainly brings back memories when we used to go to SeaWorld together, doesn't it?" Dew asked Octavia with both of them crying happy tears.
"Hehehe...*sniff*...it does, but this is so much more," Octavia responded.
The Dolichorhyncops, some of the Ichthyosaurus, one King Marlin and a curious Temnodontosaurus swam to the glass, much to the onlookers' surprise.
Their surprise was met with equally surprised and curious stares from the animals.
Ed Regis waved hello and the Ichthyosaurus, Dolichorhyncops, and Temnodontosaurus waved their fins in response, garnering pleasant gasps from the Hunters.
"Good Oum, they're truly intelligent creatures. Fascinating! I'm sure my wife would be thrilled to see this," Oobleck said.
Ed Regis quickly asked for a portable microphone and the worker quickly gave him one. He spoke into it,
"Hey, kids! Don't be so shy! Come on, give them a wave! Just give them a wave! Hahahaha!"
Everyone, except for Arslan and May, waved back at the inquisitive aquatic reptiles and fish. The marine reptiles waved, chirping and clicking with the clacking of their beak-like jaws. The King Marlin responded with her sail turning bright violet and blue bright spots appearing to indicate her excitement at the response she received.
The creatures then rejoined their peers as they performed one grand act of finale of double figures of eight. Then with one beautiful flourishing move of jumping and doing their sideway somersaulting through the water surface and up in the air before coming down with a magnificent splash.
The applause was even louder.
Then two unexpected visitors came through the aquarium gate that had every Hunter whooping and hollering at the top of their lungs.
The first to come in was a giant marine turtle that had the combination of the Hawksbill Sea Turtle's sharp curving, hawk-like beak and saw-like egdes of its shell, the bony ridged, spiked shell of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle with three rows of seven scutes down the carapace, and the flipperlike limbs of the huge Leatherback turtle. The plastron had yellow five plates. It was none other than Archelon, the ancient giant sea turtle of the Late Cretaceous that lived alongside Mosasaurus. Measuring up to 10 meters long, this Archelon was twice the size of her ancestral counterpart. With a mottled bronze, amber shell carapace and a dark green scales with a dull yellow mark on its beak and head, brown on its neck and yellow on its sides, this turtle certainly had a distinctive profile.
"This is Shelby, our resident Archelon, whose species are like today's sea turtles. Being feeders of fish, jellyfish, and squid and roaming through the shallower estuarine waters and deeper oceans. Their bony shell carapaces and their scutes are what enable these giants to travel through the waters safely with their only sources of threat being larger mosasaurs, sharks, and Xiphactinus. And it has been estimated that Archelon can live up to 150 years old." Wendy said. "Shelby is about 29 years old, so she's still a relatively young sea turtle by Archelon standards."
Shelby slowly swam through the aquarium as the giant pelagic testudine approached the crowd. They were astonished by the strange familiarity that it was a sea turtle, but the novelty of the animal was its gigantic size that truly set this chelonian apart from its smaller relatives. Her motion of her flippers were so firm, yet relaxed as she was really taking her pace easily smooth and carefree.
"Man, this is getting way better than SeaWorld by the minute!" Brawnz was at this point giddy like a kid who had seen Christmas early. And May Zedong couldn't help but agree with him that this aquarium, in fact, Jurassic Kingdom was already kicking serious butt with their living prehistoric attractions.
Then swam in the second visitor that was more famous and emblematic of what most people think of pelagic fauna during the Age of Dinosaurs.
Nebula pointed with her other hand covering her mouth in an OMG expression. She shouted, "Hey, look over there!"
Her peers looked in the direction diverted away from the Archelon and they went into a hollering whoops as they caught onto the second, larger marine reptile.
The Elasmosaurus.
At up to 45.7 meters long, it owed most of its body length to its extremely long, serpentine neck that was about 27.5 meters long by itself. Its bodily proportions were iconically absurd as the 18.5 meter main body the neck was attached to was stout and whale-like with four, paddle-like flippers and a short tail. The head looked relatively tiny compared to the long neck and huge, stout body, but its jaws were lined with rows of sharp conical teeth, perfect for gripping and trapping fish with a vice-like grip. It had sky blue scales with darker navy blue stripes on the neck and back contrasted by its pale white underbelly. The iconic plesiosaur let out a pleasant wailing call that was so melodic and powerful that the room vibrated from the noise.
"Elasmosaurus are long-necked plesiosaurs in contrast to the short-necked Dollies. Living alongside other giants in Late Cretaceous oceans such as Archelon, Xiphactinus, sharks, and Mosasaurs, it had comparable competition for similar food sources and was also preyed upon by some of its contemporaries. Luckily, their long neck is an adaptation tto reach into a shoal of fish without having to expend as much energy as their short-necked cousins. Ladies and gentlemen, please give our loudest applause to our star Elasmosaurus, Elena, stretching at 45 meters long as she is our biggest plesiosaur up to date!"
The audience screamed, whistled, and clapped as Elena the Elasmosaurus approached majestically and gracefully. Every creature in the vicinity parted way for the long-necked leviathan of the sea.
Ed Regis took to front stage once more as he spoke into his mic,
"Thank you, dearie! Can I take it from here?"
"Sure thing, Dad." Wendy affirmed, which got everyone chuckling.
Regis then declared out loud, "Ladies and gentlemen! On behalf of our staff and my colleagues, we welcome you to not only to Jurassic Kingdom as a whole, but also to its grandest and most ambitious attraction next to the dinosaurs! Welcome to Jurassic OceanSphere!"
Everyone clapped and cheered at their loudest despite being a small audience. As if in response, Elena wailed loudly.
Back in Mistral...
At the still burning barn, Oscar, Donald C. Burke, Drake, and Stella were silent. Not just because of the sudden threat of Grimm in the midst as it was certainly slowly becoming reality as several shadowy forms peered through the corn field with red glowing eyes, but also due to the claim Oscar made about a dinosaur as the culprit responsible for ruining the farm. None of his three family friends could believe the claim, nor could they understand the possibility of such a thing happening. The emerging figures of the Grimm King Taijitu and two Grimm male Manticores brought their thought process to a screeching halt. The Burkes formed a defensive wall around Oscar against the creatures of the Grimm that were drawn to the earlier commotion and distress from the animals, Oscar, and his now-dead Aunt Dorothy.
"Looks like the commotion would bring in some nasty Grimm like moth to a flame...quite literally," Donald quipped, referring to the smoldering barn behind them.
"It was only a matter of time...," Oscar gulped at how nasty and intimidating the Grimm monsters were, especially the King Taijitu with its two conjoined heads with one being black and the other being pale white though the Manticores were not much better to look at due to their chimeric body parts of a lion, scorpion, and a bird.
"A matter of time before I can get my claws and paws dirty again! The way I like it!" Stella unsheathed her feline claws from her fingertips and the wrist blades unleashed from her crimson arm gauntlets. She had a toothy smile, showcasing her longer fangs with her eyes now slit like a cat.
"Hmph...doesn't look too bad. I reckon we get this over and done with soon so we can send Ozzy home before more trouble shows up," Drake unleashed his Gator Jawbone Sword as he rushed towards the King Taijitu.
A Manticore got in his way as it charged at him with the intent to gore him with its horns, but Drake dodged the attack before he swung his greatsword with the blade hacking off the tip of the offending scorpion tail appendage that was going to strike him. The Manticore roared in pain before it tried to do a backhanded wing slap. Drake blacked it with his great sword and immediately diagonally sliced through the wing and the body of the Manticore, killing it.
"You're done, bub," Drake muttered to the disappearing Manticore.
Oscar's eyes widened at how much stronger Drake, the older friend he had looked up to, had grown stronger since he last saw him on his tenth birthday. He then turned his attention to the sound of something else being ripped off as it was Stella, who severed the offending paw of the second Manticore taking a swipe at her with her wrist blades. The Manticore tried to bite her, but she held the beast back by the jaws.
"Sorry, but the only one who gets to bite me would be my hubby! Not you, buster!" Stella snarled.
The chimeric beast madly struggled with its tail taking strikes at the Faunus brawler. She adeptly swerved out of harm's way before enough was enough as she punched it hard enough to the chin to almost shatter its teeth and ruin its tongue, leaving it dazed and hurt. She jumped with feline grace of a cougar with her target being the scorpion tail. In a matter of seconds, her wrist blades severed half of the appendage. The disorientated Manticore, with its one of its front limbs already severed, toppled to the ground.
"Now that is out of the way! Time for your beatdown, chump!"
She clawed off its right wing and proceeded to beat the stuffing out of the Grimm with her spiked gloves, starting with the beast's midsection as the spikes punctured through the black flesh and cracked bone. "Hope you'll last more than a few seconds, though I really doubt it!"
Donald was strafing around, firing off rounds from his Winchester rifle at the white head of the King Taijitu with Drake already in combat with the black head. The white head was clearly annoyed by some of the shots that clearly managed to put a dent into its scales when it flashed its mouth, revealing its large fangs.
Drake was blocking a bite by the black viperine head with his sword when it was actually a mistake because the King Taijitu didn't want to bite him, but throw him aside. The black head lifted Drake and flung him across the corn field.
"Ah, shit." Donald swore after seeing his son thrown out. He quickly slung the rifle onto his shoulder as more drastic actions needed to be implemented. The King Taijitu, now that it had its two heads free to focus on the old cowboy Huntsman, wasted no time in lunging at him. However, the Burke patriarch was anything, but slow as he seemed to blur within a nanosecond and then just appear behind the King Taijitu with his katana unsheathed with its silvery blade gleaming beautifully in the lunar light of the moon. When he flicked the blade, the black head was loped off. The white half of the Taijitu reeled about in agony after losing its other half.
Next, it got shot in the back by one slug by Oscar Pines with his grandfather's shotgun. Though it didn't do much to hurt the white half and piss it off, he did serve as a useful distraction when Stella saw what was happening and quickly rushed to the boy's rescue while still holding a barely alive Manticore with her bare paw. The Taijitu lunged at Oscar in blind rage, unable to react to Stella swinging the Manticore at its face in time.
"Not bad for a first in a long time since taking up your grandpappy's gun, Oscar!" Stella complimented the boy.
"Thanks, but- Look out!" Oscar yelled, but it was hardly needed as Stella didn't take her one eye off the Taijitu as it tried to lunge at her after it recovered. And Stella was ready for it by whacking it in the jaw with her Manticore being her meat club. The force of the pummeling broke the King Taijitu's fangs and also destroying the Manticore in the process.
The Grimm snake screeched in horror before it was shortly finished off by a headshot to the head by Drake when he converted his sword into an AR-15 customizable rifle with the gun's barrel smoking hot. The Taijitu limpidly fell to the ground, dissipating into dust.
"Thanks for distracting that worm for me, Stella," Drake said as he walked up to his wife and his father, who sheathed his katana.
"No prob, Drake. No prob. Anything for you, hon." Stella and Drake did a fist bump.
"Good job, you two. You too, Oscar, even though ya still need a lot more practice with your shooting. Ya did good, but you can't just be a simple farmer boy anymore, kid," Donald gave the 'okay' hand gesture to Oscar.
"Thanks, Mr. Burke. And you're right, afterwards, I'd probably need to catch up on my shooting," Oscar admitted before there came more Grimm as they trampled more of the cornfields.
"Back for more?" Donald unsheathed his katana, but was perplexed when the Grimm Beowolves, Boarbatusks, Manticores, and Beringels stopped frozen in their tracks just when they stepped out of the fields.
"What the? Why did they stop?" asked a confused Drake, warily still kept his grip on the handle of his Gator Jawbone Sword as he noticed the unnatural fear in their red, soulless eyes.
The Burkes and Oscar also noticed that the air, which was already cool at nighttime, became a lot colder than they were used to.
"Is it just me, or has the air gotten colder all of the sudden?" Stella started shivering tightly clinging her jacket to herself.
"It's not just you, Stella. Something's wrong in the air and I don't think it is the coming of winter," Donald soon saw mist forming out of his breathing while he saw the unusual change in temperature had a little bit of effect on the Grimm as they whined and growled uncomfortably.
Stella's lion ears twitched as she was the first to hear something from behind her in the wreckage of the barn. She turned around to see, much to her shock that instead of a blazing barn, it was frozen solid, but it was what was standing in the midst of the frozen wreckage that had her chilled to the bone with her eyes shrunk fearfully as the thing growled.
She shook Oscar on the shoulder as she hissed in a whisper to him,
"*pssst* Oscar!"
"What?" Oscar turned his head to face Stella what was that about until his face lost his color when he saw it. "Uh oh..."
Donald and Drake turned around to see what's gotten Oscar and Stella's knots all twisted up until they were overcome with bone chilling dread when they saw what they saw and also why the Grimm halted dead right in their tracks.
It was the Yutyrannus, with its wounds healed and whatever burns it may have suffered during the inferno breakdown of Oscar's farm were no longer present on its feathery coat.
No.
Now it had a white, swirling Aura that whipped up a blizzard around its very presence, freezing anything within a 5 foot radius and growing. The dinosaur's eyes were not only figuratively swirling with icy, calm rage, but they were literally illuminated in an eerie white light that could only be described as ghostly. And accompanying it was a ghoulish apparition with its appearance vaguely resembling that of a savage king or warlord and covered in glacial ice.