Claire and her companions peeked over a small rock formation to see about thirty war elephants sleeping peacefully on the side of the mountain, armor and all. Some of them had gold-plated dental caps, while others wore ornate saddles. Claire frowned in confusion. Although there were boxes on the elephant's backs that seemed to serve as people-carriers, there were no people for them to carry. She turned to Humphrey, who was trembling like a leaf.

"Where are the soldiers?"

"There are no soldiers. The spinosaurus June destroyed those who used to ride us."

Claire blinked.

"Spinosaurus? . . . Oh, god. Is she purple?"

Humphrey nodded. Claire's face hardened into a bitter scowl.

"That's the one that killed Flower."

With these words, Owen dug his claws into her frill.

"You guys can take the elephants, but leave June for us."

Vivian nickered in surprise.

"Wait, so we're actually killing these elephants? Isn't that a bit much? I mean, they're an endangered species . . ."

Humphrey rubbed his chin with his trunk thoughtfully.

"Well, we elephants follow our leaders because of their strength. If you were to kill June, you could become the new leader and convince the troops to stop butchering innocent creatures."

Claire stared forward grimly.

"Then that's what we'll do."

Lowery stepped in front of her, holding his hands up defensively.

"Whoa, hey, slow down there. We're talking about murder, Claire. I know you're upset about losing your child, but killing June won't bring her back."

Claire rumbled in fury.

"Flower was my everything. You don't understand, Lowery. I could have had a family. June stole my future."

"That doesn't make it right to steal hers."

Claire glared at him for a few seconds before turning away.

"Fine. You can go try whatever your stupid plan to convert them is, and the rest of us will carry out the real plan."

Claire looked over her shoulder and saw Vivian rubbing her front foot shyly. When she noticed that Claire was staring at her, she whimpered and turned her head.

"I don't want to kill people, Claire."

With an agitated moo, Claire pawed at the ground.

"These aren't people, Vivian! They're animals!"

"Yeah, well, so were your stegoceratopses. Since when did you care about assets, anyway?"

Claire growled in warning, but found that she had nothing to say. Try as she might, she couldn't quite put the reason for her change of heart into words. No matter what excuse she came up with, she found five more to contradict it. Her logic was absolutely flawed. Maybe she was trying to use her brain to analyze matters of the heart.

With a determined nod, Claire turned to her friends.

"Lowery, Vivian, Mr. Masrani; Owen and I are leaving."

Barry bounced on his wheels.

"I'm going with Owen. And I guess we're bringing Humphrey along."

Lowery nodded grimly.

"Alright, then. You guys have fun with your assassination attempt while Vivian and I take the peaceful route. I hope you find what you're looking for."

Claire sneered.

"Oh, that is so cliché. And I will find what I'm looking for, because I know what I want. I'm going to avenge Flower."

Lowery looked down.

"Is this really what she would have wanted?"

Claire snorted and pushed him to the side.

"Don't try to guilt me out of this. You don't know what it's like. Last time I checked, you didn't have kids."

"Last time I checked, neither did you."

Vivian stepped between them.

"Guys, stop. I don't want this to get messy."

Claire and Lowery held each other's gaze for a few seconds before wheeling around in fury. After a moment, the two groups split up and took alternate routes to where the elephants were sleeping.

***TSJWFEW***

Lowery ducked behind a tree, then waved Vivian over. She pattered over on light feet and joined him, but the trunk wasn't wide enough to conceal her generous girth. Nevertheless, they continued to crawl forward on their bellies (though there was no reason to do so) and hid behind a bush. They peeked over the tangle of leaves and gasped.

"That's Hoskins!"

A strange hybrid dinosaur with a dome head and a long crest lay snoring in the grass. His mechanical cyborg-arms rested on his belly, and his toes twitched as he dreamed about something pleasant. Lowery gave a deep frown.

"I hope Claire knows what she's up against. Did you tell her what happened when he attacked the airship?"

Vivian shook her head.

"I didn't mention Hoskins at all."

Lowery's jaw dropped.

"What?! Why not?!"

Vivian shrugged.

"It never came up."

Lowery sputtered like a broken kettle.

"Vivian, this is kind of important information. I thought you'd explained everything to them."

"Not everything."

"Yeah, well, couldn't you have managed to slip that in? You know, something like: 'We've been tailing these clowns for a few days, and by the way, Hoskins is alive and he has machine guns instead of hands!'."

Vivian placed her foot over Lowery's face to silence him.

"Shut up. You're going to get us caught."

Lowery frowned.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure we're doing better than Claire . . ."

***TSJWFEW***

"Quit moving around so much! You're tickling my nostril!"

Claire snorted, sending Owen tumbling across the ground. He got up and shook himself off, splattering Barry's wheel with stegoceratops boogers.

"Well, I can't just stay out in the open! What if someone sees me?"

"Just hide behind my frill. No one will notice."

Barry tapped her shoulder with his wheel.

"Claire, I was just talking to Humphrey, and he says he can find a way to sneak past the elephants without drawing suspicion."

"Great. Why do you look so uncomfortable?"

"I need you to provide a distraction."

***TSJWFEW***

Vivian hoisted Lowery into a tree with her face. Mr. Masrani crawled into her hair to avoid being squished as she pushed him higher and higher. She could hear her insect boss shouting words of encouragement, but he was too tiny for her to understand. When Lowery was properly adjusted, he scooted forward on the branch and shielded his eyes from the sun.

"What do you see?" Vivian asked, her legs still grasping the trunk.

"Hoskins is awake now. There's a weird purple boulder with a mast sticking out of it . . . Shit! It's a dinosaur! Man, it's huge. That can't be natural . . ."

Vivian snorted sharply.

"What else?"

"There's a bunch of elephants chatting by a fire. They're giving Hoskins nervous glances. They might be rebels. We should talk to them."

Vivian nodded.

"Good. What else?"

Lowery squinted in confusion.

"Uh . . . Claire is doing a sexydance for the elephants. She has a sock on her face for some reason."

Vivian rolled her eyes.

"I think you need new glasses."

***TSJWFEW***

Claire swung her hips back and forth in a slow hula. A group of elephants gathered around her, drooling like idiots.

"June never told us there were she-elephants here . . ." one of the pachyderms slobbered.

Claire smiled uncomfortably.

"Mhm. I'm an elephant. That's why I have a trunk."

She swung the sock back and forth in what she hoped was a seductive manner.

"And I have . . . um . . . ears . . ."

She lifted herself onto her hind legs and placed her hands behind her frill, still shaking her hips.

"And . . . I . . . um . . ."

Owen elbowed the back of her neck.

"Start twerking."

Claire gulped uneasily.

"Do you really think that will distract them more?"

"Oh, sure. But it's not just for the elephants' benefit . . ."

Claire had no way of looking at him, because he was sitting behind her head, but had she been able to, she would have given him a murderous glare.

***TSJWFEW***

"Wait . . . Wait . . . I see something else. There's a yellow dragon talking to a starfish. She looks angry . . . Now she looks worried . . . Now she looks relieved . . . Now she looks angry again . . . Now she's hugging the starfish . . . Now she's slapping it . . . Man, this dragon is moody."

Vivian tapped the trunk impatiently.

"What about the rebels? Any news on them?"

Lowery shook his head.

"Naw . . . But there's a giant dog guarding the starfish now. Man, this drama is really interesting . . ."

Vivian rammed her head against the tree trunk. Lowery gasped and clung to the branch in fear.

"Lowery! The rebels!" she snapped.

He crossed his arms.

"We don't even know if they're actually rebels, Viv. They could be talking about some other secret thing behind Hoskins' back."

"Like what?"

"Sex? . . . Drugs? . . . Eskimos? . . . Bagpipes? . . ."

Vivian growled.

"Stop goofing around, Lowery. This is your chance to redeem yourself."

He snuffed.

"First of all, I'm not goofing around, I'm goofing off, and second, you can't keep blaming me for the genie thing. He was very unclear-"

"Unclear, Lowery? How much clearer can you get than 'The first dinosaur to ask a question will be changed back.'?"

Lowery frowned.

"That's not verbatim. I was thrown off by his rhyming. I thought genies were supposed to do celebrity impressions."

Vivian rolled her eyes.

"Lowery, you're such a tool."

His face fell.

"That hurts, Vivian. That really hurts."

Suddenly, a third voice chimed in from behind them.

"Does it hurt as much as getting shot in the knees?"

They turned to see Hoskins grinning at them, his machine gun hands poised for action.

***TSJWFEW***

Claire waited for Barry to give her the signal before darting away from the elephants. When he flashed his brights three times, she smiled and waved at the dopey pachyderms.

"Well, I suppose I'd better get going . . ."

One of the elephants held her back.

"Wait! Can't we get your number?"

Claire squeaked.

"Um . . . 123-3175 . . ."

"What if we wanna call long distance?" another elephant asked.

"Errr . . . Just ask the operator. Bye!"

Claire waddled away from the crowd as fast as her stubby legs could take her.

***TSJWFEW***

"Hoskins, don't do this," Lowery said in warning, "You can't just worship a giant, purple dinosaur and expect to end up in one piece by the end of the week. Didn't you ever wonder what happened to the kids on Barney?"

Hoskins gave a cruel laugh.

"As far as I'm concerned, as long as I'm at the top of the food chain, we're all good."

Vivian frowned.

"But you're made of two herbivorous dinosaurs . . ."

"Uh, hello? I have machine guns for hands. Ain't nobody messing with old Hoskins!"

Lowery shook his head.

"How do you expect to live your life without arms? How are you going to shave?"

Hoskins' hands rotated, and two knives appeared at the ends of his metal fixtures.

"I can use these."

Lowery blinked. A hint of a smile crossed his face.

"And how are you going to clean your weapons?"

Hoskins snorted.

"They detach. See?"

He dropped his mechanical arms, leaving only two metal-coated stubs on his shoulders. In the blink of an eye, Lowery sprinted forward and held him down. Hoskins barked angrily, but Vivian ran over to help.

"Wow, I can't believe that worked!" Lowery gasped.

Hoskins trumpeted in fury.

"Just wait 'til I call my attack wolves. They'll rip you apart!"

Lowery smirked.

"María took care of your slobbering puppies. They won't be coming to your aid anytime soon."

Hoskins snarled.

"I swear, you'll be joining her in hell. You should have died in that explosion, but instead, you had to make things so complicated . . ."

Vivian pushed him deeper into the ground.

"How about I complicate your face with my fist?"

Hoskins laughed.

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? Well, it looks like you won't get the chance. Wolves aren't my only allies . . ."

At that very moment, Vivian felt a gob of warm saliva land on her shoulder.

***TSJWFEW***

Claire tiptoed behind Barry as he made a full circle of the camp. Owen peeked over her frill cautiously, ready to duck down at the first sign of trouble. As they climbed higher up the face of the mountain, Claire scanned the landscape for anything that looked like a purple dinosaur. No luck. Even so, the rage burned in her belly like a hot coal.

"Claire, maybe you should change back," Barry whispered. She shook her head.

"Can't. I need to fight this 'June', and the only way to do that is if I'm a stegoceratops. Besides, I can't climb barefoot."

Barry popped open his trunk to reveal Claire's shoes. She gave him a questioning look.

"I rescued these from the plains. I figured you must have lost them somehow, because I can't imagine why you'd- Look, just change back. I don't want to draw suspicion."

"You're a talking car, Barry."

He shrugged.

"Yes, well, I'm sure I can pretend to be inanimate. You, on the other hand, may need to blend in."

Owen slid down her face.

"He's right, you know. If we're gonna fight June, we'll need the element of surprise."

"Or the elephant of surprise!" Humphrey chuckled behind them. They shot him an impatient look and turned back to each other.

"Claire, please," Owen whispered, "We need to ambush this dinosaur before attacking."

"Like we did with the Indominus?" Claire asked sassily. Owen folded his ears back and frowned.

"It's going to work this time. Trust me."

Barry nodded.

"Yeah, trust him. He's knows what he's doing. As long as we listen to Owen, nothing can possibly go wr-"

Owen used his hands and feet to close Barry's mouth-grill.

"Jesus, Barry! Are you trying to get us killed? You can't just say 'Nothing can possibly go wrong'. You'd be begging for something bad to happen."

It was then that they noticed Vivian and Lowery running towards them. They were charging through the elephant camp, not caring who they woke up in the process. As they waved their arms in a hectic pattern, they shouted something that sounded like gibberish. Claire tilted her head to listen. At first, she thought they were making up words.

"They're saying Mozaradon. What's a Mozaradon?" Owen asked.

Claire shook her head.

"I don't know. It doesn't sound like English . . ."

And then everything became clear.

Mozaradon was a portmanteau consisting of three parts: Mo-Zara-Don.

As in, Mosasaurus-Zara-Pteranodon.

As in, the monster that was headed straight for them.