Phineas and Ferb's Dinosaur Adventure – Chapter 7: Allosaurus Fragilis
A/N: Alas, we're nearing the end of my story. Hope this story still maintains the "feel" of the show. So far, what has been your favorite dinosaur that's appeared in the story? If you like Apatosaurus, Allosaurus and Ornitholestes, then you are going to absolute fall in love with this chapter! Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Phineas and Ferb.
"It's going perfectly!" Doofenshmirtz cried. "Just like I planned!"
The Ornitholestes were quickly getting to work. Under Doofenshmirtz's command, they'd already moved "out of the Stone Age" as Doofenshmirtz put it, because he'd given the Ornitholestes the ability to make metal tools. An Ornitholestes blacksmith was busy near a blazing fire, creating axes and saws. Other Ornitholestes were chopping down tree after tree to create a fortress; others chopped and carved the wood into building material, others were actually building the fortress, others were guarding the construction site and still others were capturing more Ornitholestes so that Doofenshmirtz could put them under his control. In a sense, the dinosaurs had the mind of a robot.
"Isn't it wonderful, Perry the platypus?" Doofenshmirtz asked, not really looking at his nemesis. "I mean this is actually working like a dream. Soon I'll have my own dinosaur empire! And there's nothing you can do about it, Perry the platypus. Ha! The only thing I'll have to figure out, other than the surviving extinction thing, is how to—no, Doris," he yelled to a nearby Ornitholestes who was hammering log into the ground away from the construction site. "The wood stays on site. I mean, how are we supposed to build if it's all the way over there?" The dinosaur began picking up its wood pile to move it. Doofenshmirtz sighed. "As I was saying, Perry the platypus, the only thing I haven't worked out yet is just how to get electricity. I was going to build an Electricity-inator but I'd need to bring my other mechanical parts and then I'd have to enlarge the time machine just to fit all my equipment inside. And on the other hand, if I figured I could bring some sort of Electric-inator-creator-inator, but then I'd have to–
POW! Perry had leaped up and slammed his fist into Doofenshmirtz's face. The scientist fell to the ground.
"Wait a second! How'd you get out of my trap?"
Doofenshmirtz saw that the T. rex skull's teeth were now scattered around the skeleton; amid them was a pair of tooth pliers.
"Aw come on!" Doofenshmirtz cried. "That skull was non-refundable, Perry the platypus. Non-refundable!"
Perry cocked one of his eyebrows.
"What? I paid 15 bucks for that thing!" Doofenshmirtz sighed. "Anyway . . . where was I? Oh yeah." Then he addressed the Ornitholestes. "You guys! Get that platypus!"
The Ornitholestes immediately dropped their work and cast their dark nefarious glaze upon Agent P. They snarled and slowly began to stalk closer to the duck-billed mammal. They slowly encircled him.
". . . and so that's why we nicknamed her Stegosaurus," Buford concluded his story.
"So let me get this straight," Baljeet began, "you gave that girl that nickname just because she took a dinosaur personality quiz and got Stegosaurus?"
"Yep."
The group walked briskly through the open plains on their way back to the fern prairies. While walking, they passed the herds of Camptosaurus, the couple of Stegosaurus and the Apatosaurus herd; they were all feeding peacefully in their Jurassic home.
"You know, it's kind of funny," Phineas said, "that pretty much every single time someone time travels in a movie, book or TV series, they always go to the Cretaceous. People hardly ever visit the . . . hey guys, look at this, tracks!"
Phineas drew the others' attention to a set of large footprints heading into the same direction they were going. Each footprint was the size of a pickup truck tire!
"Pretty big tracks," Vanessa observed. "Apatosaurus?"
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Probably a young adult."
Ferb bent down to take some up-close pictures.
Phineas said, "But what's interesting me is the set of smaller set of three-toed tracks; they're heading in the exact same direction as the Apatosaurus. I think this is an Allosaurus, and its stalking the Apatosaurus."
"Wow!" Baljeet exclaimed.
Candace said, "Oh no! No, no, no, no! No! We are not following one of those wretched killers. Didn't you see what happened to that Stegosaurus at the quicksand? He was going to be torn to shreds in a matter of seconds! We barely escaped last time! I don't know about you guys, but I have to get back home so I can get you two busted."
"There is no reason to think the Allosaurus is still nearby. These tracks might be several hours or days old."
"And we have to go this way," Phineas said. "We'll just be on the lookout for any Allosaurus that might be nearby. I'll let the Fireside Girls know to start making their way back to the time portal."
Candace groaned. "Well . . . alright. But we're making this very snappy."
"Nooo!" Irving screamed as his knees buckled and he placed his head in his hands. "I can't believe this is happening!"
"All we have to do is find out what's wrong with the machine, right?" Django asked.
"Yeah, but it's not that simple. I mean, Phineas and Ferb left me in charge of their invention, and I failed! Now it's all my fault that they're trapped in some ancient time period . . . and it's all my fault! It's all my fault!"
"OK, don't worry, we'll figure this out. Um . . . we could have a technician come over and take a look at it."
"It's no use!"
"Or we could look at the instruction manual. We could also try to recalibrate the hover-drive system and back it up with the rubber motor. Then we should be able to replugin the telephoner-magnifier and we'll finally have just enough power to turn on the time portal."
Irving looked up at Django. "I have no idea what you just said."
"Neither do I."
"Do you think we should get back to the others?" Stacy asked Isabella.
"Probably. We can do that by following this trail out of the forest," Isabella pointed out.
"Wait, what's that sound?" Gretchen asked.
The girls listened, silent and still. That familiar cawing sound was heard once again. It seemed to be coming from the area near the dinosaur nest. Not saying a word, everyone hurried toward the source of the sound, knowing that if they were noisy, they would drive off the creature.
They all peered through the foliage to see a relatively small theropod dinosaur standing above the nest. It was an Ornitholestes. The dinosaur cawed to itself again.
"So that's our culprit," Isabella whispered.
The Ornitholestes heard the sound of squeaking coming from inside the nest. It cooed. Perhaps it was the parent. Using its claws, the dinosaur scratched its way into the nest. Finally, it reached the precious young. Slowly Ornitholestes stuck its head inside the nest. A moment later, he reappeared with a newly-hatched baby dinosaur in its mouth. The girls' eyes watered at the adoring sight. Looking at his surroundings, Ornitholestes started to slowly walk away from the nest when suddenly . . .
A roar suddenly erupted from nearby as a much larger theropod! The girls gasped as the Ornitholestes dropped the baby on the ground and cawed, lowering its neck quills to appear as innocent as possible. He wasn't the parent – he was an thief! The real mother was 10 feet tall. She looked a little like a tyrannosaur, but bore two red horns on its head. The mother dinosaur roared again and stormed into view, revealing her 28-foot body! She was massive!
Adyson quickly flipped through the field guide.
"That's one angry mom!" Stacy whispered.
"It's an Allosaurus fragilis," Adyson announced quietly.
Allosaurus snapped her jaws as she slowly approached Ornitholestes. The smaller dinosaur began backing away, scared of being caught in the act of stealing. The large theropod lunged at the thief who leaped out of the way just in time before scampering off into the underbrush, screeching in fear. Allosaurus sniffed the air and roared, proclaiming this nest as part of her territory. Then she bent down to observe the baby the Ornitholestes had dropped. The baby appeared, frightened, but completely OK in every other regard. In fact, now that the mother had returned, the baby had the courage to stand up on her own two feet. She gurgled at her enormous mother.
"This says," Adyson announced, "'Allosaurus were ferocious predators, but they also were caring parents toward their young. Mothers probably made nests similar to those of modern alligators, constructed of leaves, other vegetation and mud. The nest acts like an incubator and keeps the eggs snug and warm. As creatures that exhibit parental care, scent would have been very important to Allosaurus; it would have been important for the mother to get familiar with the scent of her newborns'."
Now the mother Allosaurus used her enormous claws to scrape an even larger hole in the nest. This allowed seven more babies to wobbly walk out of the nest for the very first time in their lives. All the baby dinosaurs were so cute. Unlike their gray-colored mother, the babies were brown and mottled yellow to serve as camouflage.
"Isn't it weird that those little dinosaurs will be as big and terrifying as their mother when they grow up?" Ginger asked.
"That seems so impossible," Stacy commented.
Suddenly Isabella's walkie-talkie started to emit a loud static sound, causing the Allosaurus family to look in their direction. The mother growled angrily. Quickly, Isabella turned the radio off, but their cover was already blown. Knowing she was being watched, the mother Allosaurus began to approach slowly, sniffing the air as she came.
"We're doomed!" Jenny whispered.
"Not yet," Isabella encouraged.
"What do we do then, Chief?" Gretchen asked.
The ground vibrated as the Allosaurus approached the bushes they were hiding in. There wasn't much time to think about the next course of action. If they were going to do something, they'd have to do it now.
The Allosaurus' nostrils flared as she reached the bushes. Any Allosaurus this large can pose a great danger to a human observer, but a mother with recently hatched chicks is even more dangerous. The great creature bent down and her head sniffed through the bushes; if an intruder was nearby, she was determined to find it. Her acute sense of smell detected that something had indeed been in this spot. Had she scared the intruders away already? The scent was coming from nearby.
The Allosaurus could have continued searching, but she knew that she needed to get back to her babies, as her nest is quite literally a magnet for scavengers. She turned and walked back to the nest.
Isabella watched with fright as the mighty Allosaurus stomped away from them. She and the other girls had hidden underneath a fallen, rotting red wood tree. By hiding downwind, they had been able to successfully shield their scent from the ferocious predator.
"She's gone, girls," Isabella said. The others sighed in relief. "I think Phineas was calling. I'll call him back."
She turned the dial on top of the radio for the right frequency. "Hey, Phineas. Whatcha doin'?"
"Oh there you are, Isabella," Phineas answered on the other end. "How are you guys doing over there?"
"Um, we're doing fine." Isabella giggled nervously as she neglected talking about their Allosaurus encounter. "Yep, we're doing fine."
"What did you guys find in the forest so far?"
"Well, we've seen a Jurassic mammal, a pair of ankylosaurs, a volcanic crater, lots of red wood trees and even a dinosaur nest."
"Cool. Anyway, we're on our way back to the time portal. So we'll meet you there?"
"Sure, Phineas," Isabella said, dreamily.
"Great, I'll catch you later then."
"Bye."
Isabella turned the radio off to hear the giggling of her fellow Fireside Girls. She knew exactly why.
"How's your little Crumbcake doing?" Milly asked.
"Milly!" Isabella exclaimed. She noticed her cheeks were blushing, not helping the situation. "You know what? We should probably get going. The others are ready to head back to the time portal."
Candace watched alertly as a Harpactognathus flew high over head. The creature was making a loud squawking sound. Candace glared. "Hey, no use teasing you!" she exclaimed. "I'm not the one who's going to end up being fossilized!"
"Looks like we've got a herd of Apatosaurus up ahead!" Phineas said.
True to his words, the herd of Apatosaurus they saw earlier was busy foraging in the fern prairie. The colossal animals behaved in a mild-mannered fashion, just like they did before. Unlike before however, the herd was more spread out over the prairie. A large individual near a grove of trees. He bellowed as he rose onto his hind legs, placing his front pair on a tree trunk. The tree creaked and cracked as the sauropod's weight was pushed against it and it finally fell to the ground with a loud crash.
"Not much effort there," Vanessa said.
"He just uses his muscle," Buford said. "You gotta use it if you're going to survive in a place like this."
Baljeet argued, "You do know that brains are useful as well, right?"
The Apatosaurus was now able to eat the delicious leaves that normally grew out of its reach. It arched its long neck over the fallen tree and began to strip the branches clean. Phineas pointed across the prairie at the forest where the Fireside Girls, Jenny and Stacy were exiting the forest. "Looks like we're just in time to meet them here. I didn't want to head back to the time portal until we were all back together so we don't have anyone get lost."
Candace squealed with excitement. "I can't believe it! All we have to do is get back to the time portal and I'll be able to bust my brothers! Ha!"
"And you're positive the time portal won't, like, disappear like everything else apparently does?" Vanessa asked.
"Not . . exactly." Candace frowned. "But, there's always the possibility that it won't."
Just then, a member of the Apatosaurus herd looked up and created a high-pitched bellow. The other members of the herd also started to make a loud hullabaloo; something was making them nervous.
"Um, guys," Baljeet started, "I think we have company."
"What do you mean, Baljeet?" Phineas asked. A roar echoed across the plains. It was a rather familiar roar, and one that struck fear into every animal in the area. Several Dryosaurus – who were once feeding below the height of the tall ferns – scampered away as quickly as possible.
At the top of a small nearby hill, stood a large Allosaurus – the lion of the Jurassic. The mighty predator clicked its claws in anticipation as it looked at the Apatosaurus herd. From behind came four more Allosaurus. This was obviously a different pack from the one Phineas and the others saw at the quicksand, and they were hungry. The largest of the allosaurs roared and the pack rushed down the hill toward the herd. Quickly, the Apatosaurus began to gather together.
"Oh dear, this doesn't look good," Phineas said.
Isabella and the other girls joined Phineas' group as they all watched the attack. The Apatosaurus herd gathered in one spot; the adults began circling the younger individuals in the herd. Unfortunately, there was still an elephant-sized baby trying desperately to reach the herd in time. But the Allosaurus were closing in!
"Look at them go!" Baljeet said.
Vanessa cringed. "You think he'll make it?"
"Hard to say," Phineas said, looking through his binoculars. Ginger and Stacy were taking pictures of the hunt while Ferb was getting video footage.
The baby Apatosaurus yelped loudly, trying to get away from the pursuing predators. But at this size, the dinosaur was so heavy that when moving about, it needed at least three legs on the ground at once – this meant it was only able to quickly amble. The closest Allosaurus emitted a loud growl. As predators, they were endowed with a set of ferocious claws on their forearms. Like those of an eagle, the Allosaurus would use them to cling into the prey while their knife-like teeth sliced through flesh.
Suddenly, an Allosaurus ran in front of the baby Apatosaurus in an attempt to cut it off. Panicking, the prey changed directions. This time another Allosaurus leaped into the air, despite its 2-ton weight, and landed on the side of the Apatosaurus! The baby yelped in pain; it rose onto its hind legs, causing the predator to fall to the ground. Then the baby continued "running" toward its herd.
"Go little guy!" Katie yelled. "You can do it!"
"I don't think he can," Buford said. "Well, that dinosaur lived a good long life among his family and friends. It's only a shame that we'll have to watch this innocent little baby dinosaur meet his untimely demise by the claws of a pack of merciless and deadly carnivores who see no reason to–"
"Buford!" Isabella groaned. "Enough of the eulogies."
"Hold on, I'm not done. When I think of this juvenile Apatosaurus, I remember how much she loved grazing in the fern prairies she called home. Most of her time was spent . . ."
The Allosaurus were closing in for the final attack. In the herd, the adult Apatosaurus seemed to finally realize that one of their herd members was in danger. A large (presumably female) individual roared and started walking briskly toward the scene of the hunt.
". . . she would have grown larger if only she'd managed to live a little longer," Buford continued. "It's a pity we weren't able to see her life blossom into bloom . . ."
"Maybe that's Mom," Isabella pointed out.
Our little Apatosaurus stopped dead in its tracks as the Allosaurus began to encircle it. They roared loudly at the baby. There was no where else for him to go! In a vain attempt to drive them away, the baby rose to his hind legs again. The Allosaurus were not deterred . . . but just as they were about to go into the attack, four of the five Allosaurus started backing away in a cautious fashion. One of them though didn't see the danger coming until, behind him, the approaching female Apatosaurus turned around and began whipping her whip-like tail around rapidly. She swept her tail in the carnivore's direction and the Allosaurus was thrown to the ground!
"Yoo-hoo!" Phineas exclaimed. "Way to go!"
"Hey!" Buford exclaimed. "I spent the last two minutes coming up with that eulogy. Now it's all a waste!"
The Allosaurus got off the ground and backed into his fellow pack-mates. The mother Apatosaurus stood next to her offspring, who was recovering from the shock of the attack. Behind the mother, a few more large Apatosaurus were approaching. The Allosaurus roared at the giants. This is when the Apatosaurus started to create loud cracking sounds with their whiplash-tails; the sound was about as loud as a firing cannonball.
The human observers covered their ears.
"Oh man!" Buford yelled. "That hurts my ears!"
As predators with sensitive hearing, the Allosaurus pack didn't like the sounds either. They shook their heads rapidly from side to side, trying to clear the sound that was scrambling their brains. Finally, they saw they'd lost this fight and they began to retreat. The Jurassic predators turned and ran away from the scene across the prairie. Now that the danger was gone, the Apatosaurus started to calm down and walked back to the main herd. The mother craned her long neck down to her baby's height and she nuzzled him; the baby seemed happy to be rejoined with its mother.
"Aw! That's so sweet!" Isabella chimed. "I'm glad that Apatosaurus was able to teach those other dinosaurs a lesson."
"I like that the little guy made it," Jenny said. "Well, he's not really little, if you think about it, but he's still cool. I'm just glad the mother was able to reunite with her baby."
"Yeah," Candace cooed as she watched the graceful behemoths return to feeding. The Jurassic scene was really quite amazing – pterosaurs soaring above, Apatosaurus roaming across the prairie, Dryosaurus scampering around the area and—"Wait a minute! We've got to get back! I'm not going to miss out on this golden opportunity to bust you. Come on! Let's get a move on."
"Sure thing, Candace," Phineas said. "Mom's probably back from Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro's house by now. We also promised to let Irving see a dinosaur before we turn the machine off."
As everyone turned and started walking back Isabella decided get one last look at the peaceful scene. Grabbing hold of her camera, she zoomed in on the Apatosaurus mother and her baby. The baby was eagerly following its mother around as she ate; she was probably teaching him what and what not to eat, an important lesson for any herbivore. SNAP! The picture was taken.
But at that moment, Isabella thought she heard a growl from nearby. She turned and saw a pair of eyes and a red-crested head glaring at her through the low-lying foliage less than 100 feet away. This was a member of the pack of carnivores Isabella had just saw attack the Apatosaurus baby . . . and considering the hunt was unsuccessful, there was no doubt in her mind that this predator was ready for its next meal.
Allosaurus, Isabella thought as a shiver went down her spine.
A/N: Well, Allosaurus and Apatosaurus definitely were given a lot of attention in this chapter, weren't they? Just so you guys and gals know, since we're nearing the end of Phineas and Ferb's Dinosaur Adventure, I'll start back with my Jurassic World story again soon. In the next chapter, look forward to more Allosaurus, a Perry/Doofenshmirtz face-off and likely the conclusion to my story. Until then, be sure to follow, favorite and review on this story, check out my "Take 2 with Phineas and Ferb – Jurassic World: Return to Isla Nublar" story so that I can continue it and I'll see you all soon! Carpe Diem!