We now return with our regularly scheduled update!

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Nigel and his team have found their target: the brachiosaur Sonorosaurus. Unfortunately, so has a carnosaur, and it is clearly hungry.

The carnosaur stares at the brachiosaur, tongue moving across its jaws, already salivating at the thought of such a large meal. The sauropod is a very large target, but compared to the giants that ruled before it, it is not such an imposing opponent. The fact that it is alone makes it an even easier meal, for numbers are this giant's best defense: its tale, while still dangerous, is rather small, and rearing up is out of the question.

The giant predator is lucky: while the brachiosaur heard its growl, it's still shielded from view by a push. The titanic herbivore could easily see its potential assailant if it bothered to turn its head, but its looking in the wrong direction. Its height is its greatest edge over other sauropods, but without any herd-mates to act as sentries, this edge is rather muted.

Curiously, several tiny, bipedal creatures are also near the giant sauropod. Unlike the brachiosaur, though, they have noticed the carnosaur. Normally, that would be worrisome, but the predator isn't really concerned at the moment: they're too small to make for a good meal, and hunger is already driving the carnosaur to madness, as is loneliness. As far as this beast has traveled, it has seen no other members of its kind. The last it saw of its species was a year ago, when another male had fought him for territory. The other bull had ultimately won, but with new predators already trying to lay claim to its territory, it was likely he was now dead.

And if he didn't eat soon, then this carnosaur would join him. He had been stalking this herbivore for days. While he had found a few scattered pools to drink from, he hadn't eaten in over a month. His sail-hump had slowly been thinned out b his body, an now his ribs were beginning to show against his skin. If he didn't find a meal soon, he wasn't going to survive. And he didn't want to die. Especially not before mating.

That was the imperative for all living things: live long enough to reproduce, raise fertile young, and get them into the breeding pool for the next generation. It was the one thing keeping the male going on in this time of hardship: the hope that, if he kept traveling, he could find another of his kind, a female, with which he could sire offspring. His body told him that mating season would not begin for another few months, but that was pointless if he didn't find another female. So on he'd been going.

Now, though, food was important: if he didn't eat, he wouldn't live long enough to find a mate. This was the only food source he'd seen for miles. And he really wanted it. No, he needed it. If he didn't, he wouldn't last long. He could feel the hunger pains driving him mad. And that wasn't even the worst of it: when he'd laid himself down to rest a few hours ago, he'd had trouble getting himself back on his feet. He'd had similar problems before, but now he was at his limit. The next time he fell, he might never rise again.

And that was why the male Acrocanthosaurus was getting ready to attack.

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The team was unsure what to do: Staring at their quarry was a vicious carnosaur, and from the looks of it, the predator was dead set on killing their quarry. Not that they could blame it, though: he was almost skin and bones, clearly driven to his limit by hunger. If he didn't eat soon, he'd likely expire before long. And that was something the team couldn't allow.

The only probable, though, was the actual rescue: there wasn't exactly an easy way to rescue both animals at the moment: if they tried to rescue the Sonorasaurus first, the carnosaur might kill it before the brachiosaur entered the portal. But if they tried to take the predator first, the sauropod might notice its foe and run away.

"Ugh, how are we going to rescue both of them?" growled Violet, startling most of the group... and getting the brachiosaur to look right at them.

For a moment, they all stared at each other, while the carnosaur inched closer to its quarry. Then Elise got an idea.

Before the group could react, she started yelling at the dinosaur and pointing in front of her... right where the carnosaur was making its advance. Catching on to her plan, Sean started imitating his sister, followed by tai, then Tristan and Nigel, then by everyone else. The bizarre display confound the sauropod, and, after a moment, the carnosaur stalking it, both unable to process the scene before them.

At least until the bewildered sauropod, finally seeming to realize what it saw was a type of warning, turned toward where they were pointing.

For two seconds, predator and prey found themselves staring at each other, surprise leaving both paralyzed.

Then the sauropod bellowed in surprise, turned around, and started running toward the group.

Bewildered, the predator stood still for one more second, before breaking into a sprint. IT was not going to lose its meal, especially not now!

The team, seeing the two fortresses of flesh speeding toward them, quickly set up the portal. Just as the sauropod was upon them, the portal activated, sending it into the present. Soon after, the carnosaur followed it, after which the portal snapped shut.

"Well, that was tense," remarked Tai.

"I know," replied Sean. "...Was that an Acrocanthosaurus that was chasing after our target sauropod?"

"I think it was," answered Elise. "Which is rather surprising, considering the fact that Acros should be extinct for, what, 20 million years by now?

"Yeah, that's about right," remarked Tristan. "Maybe we saved the last one?"

"Maybe."

Just then, the team heard a bellow. Turning around, the found themselves staring at an unbelievable sight: half a mile away, they saw an entire herd of sauropods bonding toward them. All of them resembled the one they had just rescued.

"Oh man, this is too good to be true!" remarked Sean, to which the team could only nod.

For once, though, it IS true.

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On the other side of the portal, well, things are getting interesting..

Just before the portal opened...

Vera was cleaning out the 'tunnel' around the portal terminus. This was where the prehistoric presidents of the park began their new lives. Here, they would enter the present, be treated for illnesses, fed as best as possible, all prior to relocating them to their exhibit. True, these new lodgings would only encompass a fraction of the animals' former territories, but that was most certainly preferable to certain death. One day, she knew, the park wanted to put some of these animals back in the wild, but for some, that would be impossible.

Still, though, for every animal that crossed through the portal, it would be time to start anew.

There was one problem, though: the tunnel around the terminus often suffered a buildup of detritus from all of the plants and debris that came through the portal alongside the new residents. While it was usually cleaned away right after the mission, recent winds had blown debris from other parts of the park into the tunnel, forcing the staff to clean it more often. And that was why Vera was in the portal tunnel right now: to clean up the mess.

When she was halfway done with cleaning it, though, the distinctive sound of the portal opening filled her ears. Without a second thought, she backed against the wall, just barely avoiding the oncoming brachiosaur. Lucky no-one was around to notice this: she really didn't want to get chewed out for not paying attention when something came through the portal.

Then a growl got her attention. Turning around, Vera's eyes went wide when she saw a Acrocanthosaurus baring down on her. It looked very hungry. Vera quickly broke into a run, only to trip over some grass. As she got back up, she noticed that the carnosaur had slowed to a walking pace. Both confused and sacred, Vera backed off from the predator, still unsure why it was moving so slow. It was looking right at her, which was part of the reason she wasn't running: if she tried to bolt, she wasn't going to get far. To her surprise, though, all the Acro did was try to get close to her. Not swiftly, but slowly, and it swayed around with each step.

Without warning, the carnosaur lunged at her. Vera managed to leap back just in time, avoiding the predator's vicious bite... as well as its falling body: carried forward by its momentum, the predator crashed into the ground, sliding on its belly for a moment before going still.

As Vera scrambled to her feat, she watched as the Acro stared at her, eyes unfocused and hazy. SHe got ready to run as the Acro got back up... only to become alarmed when the carnosaur fell back down onto its belly. This time it didn't get back up, tough not for lack of effort.

Instantly going from terrified of the predator to worried about its health, Vera takes out a pocket radio and brings it to her mouth.

"Quick, this is Vera, we need a medical team at the portal terminous; we have a dinosaur down. I repeat, we have a dinosaur down."

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AN:Read and Review. This is Flameal15k, signing off.