Here's the next chapter, enjoy!
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After a short while of travelling, the Mariner arrives yet again at a piece of ocean filled with fish and ammonites.
When they dive down, though, they are surprised to discover what appear to be plesiosaurs eating the fish.
"What are these things?" asks Lucas. "I didn't think plesiosaurs evolved yet."
"They haven't. These are there ancestors, pistosaurs. These guys must be attracted to the fish," replies Tristan.
The quartet watches as the long-necked sea reptiles begin their approach on the fish. While some of the fish swim away, others do not notice the giants until it is too late. Quite a few fish fall prey to the pistosaurs.
"What kind of pistosaurs are these ones?" asks Marcus.
"I think these are Corosaurus," remarks Lucas, "but I think we're actually looking at two different genera here. I don't know what the other genus would be.""
"Probably Augustasaurus," replies Tristan. "It's the only other one known from North America."
"Good to know. So, how do we catch these guys?"
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While the boys formulate a plan to catch their quarry, the girls have a more... difficult task to attend to.
Michelle, Violet, Eileen, Vera and Alice are heading toward one of the aquatic pens, pulling a trio of cow carcasses behind them. Their clothes are rather disheveled and soaking wet with sweat.
"Ugh, these are heavy," coughs out Eileen, obviously unhappy with the weight she has to pull.
"We know, keep pulling," respond Alice and Vera in unison.
With great difficulty, the five finally reach the edge of the walkway, where they take a moment to catch a collective breath.
Just in front of them, a reptilian head peeks out of the water, looking curiously at the five girls. It sticks out a forked tongue, trying to determine who the new people before it are.
While the rest of the group continues to catch their breath, Eileen takes a fish out of a nearby bucket and throws it at the watching reptile, who quickly gulps it down.
"So, which mosasaur species are we feeding today?" asks Michelle, finally recovering her breath.
"Mosasaurus hoffmani," responds Alice. "It turns out that Nigel brought a pair back in the first mission, along with a pair of M. conodon. With the Tylosaurus get got from Sea Monsters, that makes three species of mosasaur at the park."
"And we have to feed them," remarks Vera. "...This is going to get messy."
"We know, now let's get started," responds Violet, who promptly shoves one of the cow carcasses into the mosasaur's pen.
The minute the corpse hits the water, the mosasaur digs in. It severs one of the legs in a single bite, hastily shredding the morsel before swallowing it. ONce the limb has reached its gullet, it returns to the carcass for more.
This time, though, its companion has joined it. The Second mosasaur ignores the limbs and instead digs into the chest of the cow, trying to consume the more nutritious organs.
The two giants soon reduce the carcass into blood, ribbons of flesh and splinters of bone. Surprisingly, they are bery civil about it, with neither animal attempting to snatch away the carcass from each other. Once they have eaten their fill, they retreat to the depths, preferring to remain hidden from prying eyes.
The girls stare at the grisly remnants of cow for a moment, before turning back two the remaining carcasses.
"Well, one down, two to go," remarks Michelle.
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While the girls deal with the rest of the mosasaurs, Tai and Aiden are busy working with several of the other residents...
Tai and Aiden are at a lake, each with a bucket of fish in hand. Aiden throws one of the fish...
...Which is promptly swallowed by a pterosaur.
...Who are the mosasaurs' opposites in almost every way.
"Wow, there are quite a few pterosaurs here, aren't there?" asks Tai.
"There are, but you have to remember, these guys are from the Jiufotang formation, and there were a lot of pterosaurs there," replies Aiden.
"Good point... which one just ate the fish you threw?"
"It's one of the Liaoningopterus. He has really bright crests, so I'd say he's a male."
"Okay."
The two boys take a moment to look at the Liaoningopterus fly away, before returning to feeding the pterosaurs. The only ones they need to feed are, with one exception, fish eaters.
But the one exception is VERY noticeable.
After all, it's standing right in front of them.
"Um, could you remind me which pterosaur is standing right in front of us?" asks Aiden.
"Sinopterus. This guy's a tapejarid: they don't each fish," replies Tai.
"Well, what do the eat?"
"Fruit," answers Tai, who promptly throws a pomegranate toward the pterosaur.
"Oh... where'd you get the pomegranate?"
Tai points to his left. Aiden looks over and sees a pomegranate tree.
"Oh."
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Back in Prehistoric Nevada, Nigel's team is still observing the pistosaurs. They're still looking for a way to rescue them.
The team continues to watch the sea reptiles swim after the fish. Thanks to their longs necks, they're able to pick off individual fish with impunity. In a desperate effort to defend themselves, the fish respond by swarming together, forming a bait ball.
Suddenly, something seems to dawn on Lucas, who swims toward Nigel and motions for the portal device.
Nigel obliges, though his expression indicates he is a little confused.
Once he has the device, Lucas swims toward the bait back, which the pistosaurs are gathering toward for a mass attack. Acting quickly, he sets up the portal and activates it. After a moment, the portal appears, flinging the fish into the present. Unable to slow down, the pistosaurs soon follow their prey into safety.
"...Good job," remarks Tristan.
Lucas responds by taking a bow (or rather, as close as one can get to a bow underwater).
The minute he looks up, though, the color seems to drain out of his face. Noticing this, the rest of the team readies to move toward him...
Until a large shadow moves over top of them.
Surprised, the rest of the team looks up. Above them is a large, serpentine creature, with paddle-like flippers.
"...Is that Thalattoarchon?" nervously asks Marcus.
"No, it isn't. I've seen this creature before, it's Cymbospondylus. And I think it's hungry."
And right now, it's on a collision course with Lucas.
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AN: Just so everyone knows, there are more than a dozen pterosaurs known from the Jiufotang formation, where Microraptor was discovered. And there is at least five of EACH OF THEM at the park.
Read and Review. This is Flameal15k, signing off.