Enjoy!

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Beneath the waves, the sea reptiles and sharks cruised after the fish, eager to glut themselves on the piscine creatures. Following them was the team, eager to watch them on their hunt for food. The plesiosaurs use either their necks or speed to catch the fish, while the sharks are more creative. Some go with the Doli's strategy and use speed to overwhelm their prey, while the goblin sharks wait for prey to come to them. When the fish are close enough, they open their mouths swiftly and attack, the change in pressure sucking their prey to their doom.

The relatively peaceful scene is shattered, though, when a large shape plunges into the water from above. Shortly after its arrival, it snatches a fish and gulps it down, before looking for another one. Soon, more of the shapes arrive, starting a feeding frenzy within the water. The nearby sea creatures only briefly stare at the spectacle for a moment, before returning to feeding. The humans, though, are left stunned by the sight.

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Above the waves, the boat team is also surprised at this spectacle.

"What kind of pterosaur is that?" asked a confused Violet.

"Based on the time, I'd say these are Bennettazhia. Though, I am surprised we're seeing them this far from Oregon," was Aileen's reply.

"This might be migratory," retoreted Aiden.

"True," noted Tai. "...Do you think we could rescue them?"

"If they land on the boat, then yes."

Sure enough, two of the pterosaurs had indeed landed on the boat.

"Well, now we just wait."

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Beneath the waves, they stared. Beyond the view of the plesiosaurs, sharks, pterosaurs, and new beasts, the serpents observed their prey. Fins gently flicked out, giving them better maneuverability in the depths.

It had been a few days since they had a good meal. True, fish would sate their hunger, but the larger reptiles would keep them full for far longer.

Of course, taking their prey down would require patience. Powerful as the hunters were, they were not beasts that relied solely on power, like the mega-maws. No, these hunters relied more on speed, something their lithe, serpentine bodies easily afforded them. In future generations, they would grow strong enough to match the mega-maws in power, but for now, speed was their saving grace.

For that to be useful in a hunt, though, they needed surprise. While their fins provided the serpents with very good maneuverability, they could never execute the tight turns that the mega-maws could. Unlike power, maneuverability was something the serpents would never obtain; that was forever to be in the mega-maws domain.

With their prey still on the move, the mega-maws descended into the depths. With their remaining oxygen reserves, they could remain submerged for half an hour.

And that would be more than enough time for them to make a kill.

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Back at the park, the younger staff have other things to attend to.

A beak darted into the water with lighting speed. When it emerged, a large arthropod was caught in its embrace, fighting to break free. A swift crunch filled the air, and when it subsided, the arthropod was still. Soon, it was traveling down the gullet of the beak's owner.

On the other side of the fence, Alice and Lucas watched as the process was repeated three more times, before the giant bird at last left the shoreline and loved to shelter itself underneath a nearby tree.

"Well, I can honestly say that I didn't expect bathornids to like shellfish," remarked Alice.

"There are a lot of things that don't get recorded in the fossil record," noted Lucas. "Though maybe Bathos just really likes crayfish."

"You raise an excellent point. Still, stuff like this reminds me of how much of a privilege we have to be here, at the park. We're getting to see animals that have never been seen before by human eyes. It's rather humbling, when you think about it."

"True. So, what do you think we'll be going after? You know, when Nigel's finished his missions in Arizona?"

"No clue," was her response. "I mean, we could go anywhere. Though I think it'll be a spot in North America. I heard Bob mention something about Rayard asking Nigel to try and rescue man of the well known animals from each continent before moving onto the next one. Of course, I'm not sure where we will go next time."

"Maybe somewhere on the East Coast?"

"Possibly. I mean, most of our previous missions took place in the West, so going East isn't unreasonable. Though I would like to figure out more about the tribes that live here. Also, I noticed something odd about them."

"What's that?" questioned Lucas.

"Sometimes, they seem to go toward these strange sites they have with these pillars that are all over the island. Whenever I follow them, my phone goes on the frits for a while, then goes normal. I've heard that the stuff it does when I follow them is normally related to magnetic interference, but normally, those errors involve really strong magnets. It's not the pillars, either: they are magnetic, but my phone works fine around them."

"Well, maybe we can get Marcus to help us there. He's minoring in geology, isn't he?"

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Back in Prehistoric Arizona, the team is still on the trail of the unusual school of sea monsters...and it's about to get bigger.

Beneath the waves, the giants of the sea continued their journey. It was strange, the team noted, to see so many creatures that, united, shared only their phylum, swimming without animosity after their prey.

"This is...I don't know, calming?" remarked Elise.

"Indeed," noted Tristan. "It's nice to see stuff like this without a touch of human presence."

"Hopefully, it'll stay that way," stated Sean. "Sometimes, nature doesn't need our help, but our absence."

"...Did you just quote The Lost World?" asked Elise.

"...Yes, but it has value here!"

"Right you are," noted Nigel. "...Wait, look up ahead. I think I see some more marine reptiles."

Following Nigel's gaze, the team found themselves surprised to see another group of plesiosaurs arriving. These ones were different from the first set: still long-necked, but with blue and black stripes on their backs. Surprisingly, these elasmosaurs were also joined by polycotylids, ones which had light green bellies and backs colored ebony black.

"What species are we looking at?" asked Sean.

"The elasmosaurs are most likely Ogmodirus, while the smaller ones are probably Polycotylus," was Nigel's response. "...I think Bob is going to be in for a surprise when these guys come back."

Even underwater, the team cannot help but laugh.

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A short ways away, only just behind the team, they watched. They had smelled the plesiosaurs from over 100 knouts away, and had been chasing them for a few hours now. The smaller creatures with the bulbous growths on their backs had been a surprising sight, but the shock had soon worn off. The mega-maws had decided to ignore the new creatures-they were too small to make a good meal.

That was something the mega-maws really needed. They'd been forced to migrate due to changes in the sea, and were now facing competition from the serpents. This would normally not be a problem, except that the serpents were getting bigger. Already, the serpents had begun to displace the mega-maws. In a few million years, the mega-maws would be gone, replaced by the serpents' giant descendants. That was still far away, though, and all that mattered now, at least to the mega-maws, was filling their bellies.

Surfacing briefly to breathe, the mega-maws then begin to descend. They needed to rely on power and maneuverability to catch their food, and that meant getting close. Hopefully, by the time their prey realized they were in danger, it would be too late.

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AN: Oh no, a cliffhanger! Don't worry, next chapter will be up soon.

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