Two updates in one day? I must be on a role!

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In Prehistoric Arizona, the team has found their target, as well as a glyptodont. Unfortunately, they've also found themselves facing a pair of Teratornis, one of the few carnivores capable of hunting the giant tortoises. Now, they need to get the shelled creatures back to the present, and fast, or else their quarry may soon end up becoming corpses.

Though clearly hungry, the teratorns are relatively cautious around the shelled herbiovres, opting to circle around them rather than go on the offensive. Catching onto this, the shelled giants each focus on one of the killer birds, so as to avoid being surprised.

Meanwhile, the team stares on at the scene before them, a mixture of awe, confusion and fear on their faces.

"Why are the teratorns behaving like predators?" questions Sean. "Aren't teratorns scavengers?"

"Most of them are, but I think Teratornis has some traits that let it function as an active predator," counters Elise, "and these guys could easily get into tortoise's shell. As for the glyptodont... well, I'm not sure, but I don't think it wants to take any chances, and neither should we."

"Well, that's good to know," remarks Violet, "but unless you have an idea on how to defuse this situation, we're getting nowhere."

"...Do we have a net gun or something we can use to immobilize the teratorns?" asks Tai.

"...We have tranquilizer darts," remarks Nigel. "I'm not sure how fast they'll take effect on the birds, though."

"...Wait, I have an idea," remarks Aiden.

"And that is?" asks Aileen.

Aiden's response to grab the time portal (much to Nigel's surprise) and begin setting it up behind the turtle and glyptodont, before returning to the group.

"And the rest of the plan is...?" repeats Aileen.

"Well, I think the turtle and glyptodont will run instead of hide if the teratorns try to attack, so when they run, we tranquilize the birds and let all four run through the portal, because I doubt that the serum will take affect before they are through. I know it sounds reckless, but I can't think of anything else that would work."

"...Ugh, I can't believe I'm admitting to this, but you're probably right about that," remarks Tristan, while the rest of the team nods in begrudging agreement.

With no other option available, Nigel quickly takes out two tranquilizer rifles, and while he takes aim with one, Tristan takes aim with the other. Back at the watering hole, the birds have finally begun their advance one the shelled herbivores, albeit slowly, as even if these animals can't run away, standing and fighting is still an option.

Eventually, though, the two shelled giants decide to bolt, heading right toward the portal, which springs to life. The birds give chase, only to take one dart each to the right flank from Nigel and Tristan, the momentum of which sends them tumbling to the ground. They recover, however, and resume chasing their prey through the portal. If not for the impact of the darts, they would have already been upon the slow giants.

"Well, that was successful, wasn't it?" remarks Aiden, to which the others offer nods of agreement.

While they may have caught one great tortoise, plus a trio of hitchhikers, Nigel would prefer to have more than one in the park, so their mission is not over yet.

With no other leads to go by, the team advances on the watering hole. The banks are covered in footprints, and hopefully, at least one pair will belong to another Hesperotestudo.

Since they can cover more ground if they separate, the team spilts into four groups: Nigel and Tristan in one, Sean and Elise in the second, Aileen and Aiden in the third, and Tai and Violet in the fourth, with a few crewmen accompanying each of the duos. With the groups decided, the teams break up and begin searching for turtle footprints, using the ones made by their first rescue to give them an idea of what they are looking for.

At first, nothing turns up: they can only find ones belonging to animals that either are not extinct or are extinct but are not their quarry. While Nigel would like to rescue these animals, he hasn't had time to set up exhibits for them yet, and besides, the tortoises are their main targets.

Eventually, though, Elise and Sean come upon a set of footprints that match the ones their tortoise made. They're rather fresh, too. Having found a potential lead, the team quickly begins following the footprints, hoping to find more of the giant tortoises.

Unnoticed to the team, a nearby set of shrubbery begins to move after they depart...

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Back at the park, Bob and Michelle are busy working on getting the new arrivals acclimated. Given that two of them are unconscious, this isn't exactly that difficult, though there is the obvious trouble with moving the giant birds...

At the holding pens, Bob has moved the tortoise and the glyptodont into their own pens and has offered the tortoise a few juicy heads of lettuce, while the glyptodont enjoys some hay. As for the giant teratorns, Bob has already moved them to an enclosed pen. They only have an hour left before the birds wake up, so Bob wants to make sure that they are secure when they wake up.

Leading the group moving the birds is Michelle, who has tied the birds up to a pair of giant poles. She and a trio of keepers are easily able to hold the poles, allowing them to move them with relative impunity.

Bob stares at them for a brief moment, before turning his attention back to the shelled herbivores and let out a little laugh.

"Finally gives me something easy to care for and these birds show up. Not really that surprising, I suppose..."

BANG!

Only a mile or two away, lightning strikes on a lonely hill, blasting the earth all across its crown. A few grasses begin to catch fire, but a team moves in to swiftly put out the flames. Bob can only sigh at this sight, more exasperated then worried.

"Storm's coming, and I'm not really sure what's gonna happen. We've moved most of the animals to safer areas, even the titanosaurs, but Suzanne's still got her agitated salamander to deal with, Vera's acrocanthosaur is still in need of extensive care, and the new arrivals aren't helping at all. I just hope nothing too bad happens until the storm passes by."

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While Bob worries about the storm, at T. rex Hill, something strange is going on.

Unseen by human eyes, Terence crashes through the forest within his home, eager to see if there is are any new secrets within his home. While he has already explored it several times, the tyrannosaur still maintains an almost childlike curiosity toward his new territory. All of his family has this curiosity, in fact, but it is most pronounced in Terence, which helps contribute toward his friendliness.

Eventually, he comes upon a river within his exhibit. It's among the few that pass through the fence, which has been made much taller here to accommodate for this, and even then, should the fence break, camera's cover the river surface, ensuring that no escape will go unnoticed.

All of this goes unnoticed by Terence, who is far more interested in the river itself. just a few steps in and he's already up to his knees in the water, proving it to be deep. As he is sexually mature now, and only slightly smaller than his father Stan, this is quite deep.

But even this is not something he cars about. What he cares about is a small, almost imperceptible sight: a small set of bubbles in the water. Now, normally, this would be unsurprising: it could be merely water turned up by the digging of a crayfish, or a pocket of air dislodged from plants by the current. But Terence notices that, after a few minutes, the bubbles rise again. Then a few minutes later, they rise a third time. Clearly, they're consistent. And that is all Terence needs to know to change from curious observer to patient hunter.

Continuing to focus on the bubbles, Terence begins to move his head back, neck curving into an S as best it can. Meanwhile, he bends his knees, lowering him even further into the water, so as to get a better shot at the source of the bubbles. When he is low enough, he makes a final set of movements to get himself ready and takes a deep breath.

Then his head darts beneath the water.

Quickly, the calm of the river is shattered as a brief scuffle takes place beneath the surface, with Terence's torso making rather large shakes and shivers, leaving the water a churning mess. The confrontation is brief, though, as a muffled crunching noise fills the air and the water begins to turn crimson. Soon, Terence raises his head in triumph.

In his mouth is a strange creature: it appears to be a turtle, but the shell is rougher than any he's ever seen, and the head terminates into a hooked beak, rather than the blunt heads he's seen on most other turtles. Additonally, the shell is covered in bumps, unlike any other ones he's sunk his teeth into (or at least any belonging to turtles). Still, the taste is rather delicious.

As he swallows the carcass, though, Terence feels something cool and wet land on his snout. A second object follows it, followed by several dozen more. Looking skyward, Terence sees that the rains have finally arrived. Knowing that only more rain is to come, Terence begins to search for shelter: while he can tolerate being soaked, the winds that are arriving in tandem with the storm would make him unbearably cold.

Light flashed.

In an instant, the nearby fence exploded as a lightning bolt blasted into the riverbank, thankfully not close enough for Terence to be affected. Bewildered, the tyrannosaur momentarily retreats before turning his attention back to the fence: now, their is a hole in it where the river passes through.

And behind that hole are humans.

Not the ones that he is familiar with, though: these ones have stranger garments, including what appear to be dead animals. Some carry torches, others spears. Joining them are some kind of four legged beast, resembling the ones he's saw picking apart the bird shortly after he arrived in his new home.

These new humans are a curious sight for the tyrannosaur, who begins to move toward them, fear of the lightning already evaporating. Noticing the only path to them is the river, he takes a deep breath, then disappears beneath the waves without so much as a slash. Only the top of his skull is above the water, allowing him to breath: the rest of his body is submerged. In fact, you could mistake it for log if you weren't looking clearly.

Something that park security isn't doing right now...

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Back in Prehistoric Arizona, the team is still searching for their tortoise. Without much success, of course.

The team is trekking beneath several trees, side by side with a set of footprints. The sun beats down on them from above, but the shade makes it easier to bare the heat. Still, the mood isn't exactly high at the moment.

"So, anyone see anything yet?" asks Nigel.

"No," responds the rest of the team, in various tones of annoyance. This has become quite a common question in the past few minutes, though who has asked it has varied each time.

Just then, the group hears something crash through the undergrowth. The sound is distant, but unmistakable. The team pauses for a moment, then quickly begins to move toward the sound, eventually finding themselves in a small clearing. On several nearby hills, rocks dot their crowns.

One of those rocks is moving.

Finally having found their quarry, the team begins to advance on the hill, albeit as stealthily as possible: carrying it through the portal would be a hassle that they would rather avoid.

Shortly after they leave the clearing, it is filled by a new set of creatures: they resemble wolves, but are colored unlike any wolf today, bearing spots and stripes on their bodies. Furthermore, their snouts are shorter than any wolf's would be.

The pack of strange beasts sniff around the clearing until one of them notices the team beginning to climb the hill, at which point it lets out a low growl that alerts its companions to the moving humans. Finally catching on, they begin to follow the team, mouths watering from hunger.

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AN: Uh-oh. Looks like both the team and the park are about to have some new problems coming their way.

Well, read, review and vote on the poll. This is Flameal15k, signing off!