"We're about to see one real life living dinosaur." Atticus smiled.
"You think so?" Cherry asked, very boredily.
Tim was talking with the man he was badgering earlier about his book as they wandered through the jungles.
"Uh, is there anyone else that doesn't think we should be out here?" the man asked to avoid Tim's pestering questions and opinions.
"And his book was a lot fatter than yours," Tim continued by his side. "Like this."
Cherry rolled her eyes as they walked, then tripped and fell into something. "GAH! Stupid hole..."
"Hey, you okay?" the man with a hat asked.
"Yeah..." Cherry helped herself up and dusted herself clean.
"Look at this!" Tim caught his attention again. "Come on! Look! Watch this!"
The man in the hat looked ahead. "Whoa..." he saw something, then looked to the others. "Everybody stay here."
"If it's a dinosaur, no thank you." Atticus said before going on ahead.
Tim looked curious and determined, then followed after them. The woman tried to stop them, but was unable to.
After tall blades of grass, their tour of finding dinosaurs was finally restored.
"Wow..." Tim and Atticus whispered in surprise, then saw a triceratops up close.
"It's... It's a real live breathing triceratops." Atticus smiled.
The triceratops quietly groaned as it lay down in the middle of the ground. Atticus began to quietly make his way to the dinosaur.
"Don't be scared," the man in the hat cooed to the fallen dinosaur. "Come on, it's okay. Muldoon tranquilized her for me."
The others followed after and they then met a dinosaur at long last up close and in person.
"She's sick." the man told them.
"Maybe she ate something bad or something." Atticus said as he gently began to pet the three-horned dinosaur.
Everybody gathered around the triceratops to take a look and gently stroked it as she was very weak. The important thing though was that she was a real live dinosaur like John had promised.
"I wonder what happened to her to make her sick." The man said.
"Hey, baby..." the woman cooed to the ill dinosaur.
Atticus continued to pet the three-horned dinosaur before going over to something he caught in the corner of his eye.
"She was always my favorite when I was a kid," the man in the hat commented as he stroked the skin of the triceratops. "And now I see, she's the most beautiful thing I ever saw."
Cherry came over and tilted her head at the triceratops. "Three Horn..." she whispered, reminiscent of the Land Before Time's naming for the species of dinosaurs.
The woman that was checking on the three-horned dinosaur saw where Atticus was going and decided to follow him.
"What's this...?" Atticus wondered as he saw something that caught his attention.
"Let me see that..." the woman came closer to help him out a little.
Atticus stepped out of the way so then she could see what he found. The woman found something.
"What is it?" Atticus asked.
"Microvesicles..." the woman informed.
"I've read about that plant, it's very poisonous." Atticus said.
"That's interesting..." the woman continued.
One of the park rangers came up and decided to collect it.
"Why would Hammond have these here?" Atticus asked.
"That's a good question..." the woman muttered. "What are her symptoms?"
"Imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing," the ranger diagnosed. "It seems to happen every six weeks or so."
"Hmm..." Atticus said. "She might be sick from eating those Microvesicles or is just plain sick."
The man in the hat rested his head against the triceratops, engrossed and overjoyed to be near one this up close.
"These are dilated..." the woman took a look at the dinosaur's eyes.
"They are?" the ranger asked.
"Look." the woman told him.
"Good eye, Miss..." Atticus replied, drawing out to find out her name.
"My name is Ellie Sattler, I'm a paleobotanist and the man with the hat is Alan Grant." Ellie told the boy.
The man put his hand up with a wave, then went back to observing the triceratops.
"Nice to meet you," Atticus said. "My name's Atticus and that's my friend, Cherry."
Cherry kept humming as she watched the weak dinosaur who looked on the brink of death nearly.
"Nice to meet you both." Ellie smiled.
"Likewise." Atticus smiled back.
"I'll be damned..." the park ranger muttered once he took a look at the dinosaur's pupils.
"That's pharmacological," Ellie diagnosed before looking to the large blades of grass. "From local plant life..." she then said, then decided to get up and take a look at the plants.
"Well, triceratopses are herbivores..." Cherry said. "Maybe she ate a strange plant."
"Yeah and where it might have been one of the poisonous plants that she hasn't seen yet." Atticus said.
Ellie examined the plants and bent down to take a closer look. "Is this West Indian lilac?"
"Yes," the ranger replied. "We know they're toxic, but the animals don't eat them."
Ellie knelt down and picked up a sample. "Are you sure?" she then asked.
"Pretty sure..." the ranger shrugged.
"We'll have to be sure, which means we'll check out the dinosaur's... Droppings." Atticus gulped.
"Yep." Ellie agreed, bravely.
"Dino droppings?" the man in black scratched his head. "Droppings?"
"This is gonna be gross..." Cherry mumbled.
"Wait, dino droppings?" Mo asked, interrupting the story before getting an idea of what that meant. "Eww! Gross!"
"Mm-hmm..." Cherry and Atticus hummed.
"Eww..." Even Junior seemed to be disgusted.
"But luckily, neither me or Cherry checked the droppings to see if there was any of the poisonous plant in it." Atticus said.
"The one time I catch a lucky break..." Cherry muttered.
"Don't worry, I'll handle this part." Ellie told them.
"Be our guests..." Atticus visibly shuddered. "Gross!"
"Well, no one said my job was easy." Ellie said.
The man in black then followed after.
"Who is that guy then?" Cherry asked.
Atticus shrugged.
"The blood-sucking lawyer." The other man said.
"Dr. Ian Malcom, at your service." the man in black introduced himself.
"Doctor..." Cherry and Atticus murmured at that, he did not seem at all professional.
Ellie went over to a large, disgusting pile and went to get to work, sacrificing herself for it since it was her job. Ian was about to say that was big pile of shit, but he saw that there were kids around.
"Wow, that is one big pile of-" Ian was about to say.
Atticus stopped the story since the next word was not a flattering word for younger listeners like Junior. "Uhh... Doo-Doo." he then said before continuing the story after that.
Ellie put on gloves and started to get to work. Cherry and Atticus decided to explore around while Ellie went to work since it was disgusting, even for them.
"Well, at least we finally got to meet a dinosaur..." Cherry commented, then sighed a little. "But we still haven't found my parents..."
"It's okay, we'll find them..." Atticus promised.
"And it's almost a special day, Fall will be here soon..." Cherry hinted.
"I promise you, we will find them before that day comes." Atticus assured her.
"What if we don't...?" Cherry held her heart. "I know they're out there, but I just don't know where..."
Atticus wished there was something he could do, he couldn't tell if they would find her parents or not, but either way, he would give her a special day during their search.
"Find anything, Ms. Sattler?" Cherry called as she looked out beyond the forest with Atticus while she searched the droppings.
"No, it seems she didn't eat any of the poisonous plant." Ellie said.
"That's weird..." Atticus commented. "Then what made her sick?"
"I don't know, maybe it was something else." Ellie said.
"Hmm..." Cherry and Atticus hummed as Ellie tried her best to investigate.
"She's tenacious." Ian whispered to the others about Ellie as she looked around.
"You have no idea." Alan murmured.
A little while later, they all heard the sound of thunder which caused Atticus to flinch.
"Doctors, if you please, I have to insist that we get moving." the lawyer suggested as he heard that thunder strike.
Ellie was still with Alan, looking over the triceratops. "I'd like to stay with Dr. Harding and finish up with the Trike."
"Sure," the ranger replied dryly. "I'm in a gas-powered jeep. I'll drop her off at the center before I make the boat."
"Great," Ellie nodded. "Then I'll catch up with you later."
"I suggest we get going before the storm hits." Atticus said.
"You sure you don't wanna come, Ms. Sattler?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah, I wanna stay with her a little longer." Ellie said as she knelt back down next to the sick triceratops.
"Well, okay, you want one of us to keep you company?" Atticus and Cherry asked.
"Only if you want to." Ellie replied.
Lightning flashed then as the others started to leave.
"I take it you wanna." Cherry said to Atticus about keeping Ellie company.
"Might as well." Atticus shrugged.
Cherry nodded, then left with Alan, Ian, the lawyer, the ranger, Lex, and Tim. The lightning flashed again as the thunder was coming in as it looked like a storm brewing. Atticus flinched once again, but tried to not let the storm get to him.
"You okay?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, sorry, it's just I have a fear of thunderstorms, but I'm not going to let that stop from helping in any way I can to make sure the triceratops is feeling better," Atticus said. "I also have a fear of water/ocean, but that one isn't important right now."
"Interesting fears..." Ellie diagnosed. "Why are you afraid of the water?"
"Let's just say the ocean is a great place, but if you go out too far, it can be quite dangerous, especially if you are almost about to drown." Atticus said.