Sorry about the hiatus, had other stuff to do, but now I'm back!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
In Prehistoric Arizona, the team is still trying to find their giant turtle. They've certainly had plenty of luck finding other creatures, though: plesiosaurs, sharks and even pterosaurs have joined together in pursuit of fish, providing the team with a huge number of other potential rescues for the park. Ones that the team believes Bob deserves some preparation for.
Above the waves, the pterosaurs have decided to use the Mariner as a resting place. Aiden, Tai, and Violet are awestruck by the fliers, but the same cannot be said for Aileen, who is busy messing with the portal emitter. Two of the pterosaurs stare at her, but seem to be content with just that.
A moment later, a portal appears on the deck of the ship, spooking the watching pterosaurs and snapping the children out of their awe-induced trance. Aileen smiles before walking through the portal. Five mintues later, she returns, a content look on her face. Not a moment later, the portal snaps shut.
"Where'd you go?" asks Tai.
"Back to the park. We've got a lot of potential rescues beneath us, and on our ship, and after all of the unexpected arrivals to the park, I think Bob deserves some forewarning before we bring back another large group of rescues."
"...Bob does get really annoyed when unexpected arrivals show up. Good job taking the initiative... what's that?" asked Violet, pointing her finger toward the front of the boat.
Following her sister's finger, Aileen noticed something odd in the distance: a strange set of rocklike objects bobbing in the drift. They seemed rather smooth and buoyant for rocks floating in the ocean. Unsure of what she is seeing, Aileen takes out a nearby set of binoculars and returns her gaze to the rocks. Once again, she observes the 'rocks' floating. This time, though ,she notices that they 'rocks' have heads attached to them.
Scaly, beaked heads.
Eye's widening in shock, Aileen swiftly discarded the binoculars (though carefully enough that she didn't damage them), then turned to Tai.
"Tai, get the R.O.V. ready.
"Okay, why?"
"Because I think we found our turtles, and we need to tell that to Nigel."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Beneath the waves, Nigel and the older siblings had decided to take an elasmosaur taxi, gripping onto a nearby plesiosaur and holding tight. Besides letting them touch the gentle giants, this also lets them finally take a rest from their continuous swim.
"Finally, a break," moaned Elise.
"Nice to have one, isn't it?" asked Sean.
"Indeed," responded Tristan. "...Wait, is that the R.O.V.?"
Turning, the group saw that yes, the R.O.V. was nearing them. It occasionally turned away from them and gestured toward where the motley horde of sea creatures was heading. Curious, the team began to swim toward it, though Nigel had a head start due to proximity.
"You think someone up top found something?" asked Tristan.
"Probably," remarked Sean, though his voice seemed oddly strained.
"...Why did you sound like you were in pa-why is the water warmer now?"
To Tristan's surprise, both Elise and Sean started blushing.
"...Why are you-oh. I see."
"Yeah, nature called, and we both answered" was Elise's sheepish response.
"We're in the middle of the largest toilet in the world, do you think I care?"
"...Fair enough."
Up head, Nigel has noticed what the R.O.V. is gesturing toward. His eyes widen in shock at the sight.
"What is it?" asks Sean.
"Our quarry."
Sure enough, ahead of the group are six turtles.
It looks like the team has found their target.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Back at the park, Ted is dealing with one of the park's stranger residents.
At one of the aquatic pens, Ted and some of the park's other keepers hastily move to feed the park's aquatic residents, throwing fish into the pens of mighty sea reptiles, whales and invertebrates.
Before they can offload one set of fish, though, four tentacles surge out of the water and rip the fish away, leaving a few on docks, which sea gulls and pelicans hastily begin to snatch, while the staff desperately try to save the animal feed.
Exasperated, Ted stares out at the pen, watching the shape of a giant cephalopod disappear into the depths.
"I don't get those things. Up until this point, we didn't have evidence that belemnites got that big. Now that we do, I've been making sure that they get plenty to eat, but I've seen the same fish I put in three days ago at the bottom of their pen, with only a few bites taken out of them. I don't no why they do it, but we need to find out soon, because if this keeps up, we're gonna need a lot more fish."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
While Ted deals with these Triassic Krakens, Terence has once again reached the beach.
Along the shoreline, new items have shown up: the rotten rear half of a dolphin, a half eaten tuna, and a couple of crabs, fighting on the shores for scraps. None of these concern Terence, though: the tuna is too small to provide much nourishment, while the dolphin is too putrid. The crabs might make good snacks, but there are too few of them to be worth the effort.
The carnivore's nose, though, leads to a tastier meal: a strange black turtle, covered in white spots. His well developed sense of smell tells him that the animal has been dead for about a day, though why is beyond him. He has no way of knowing that old age finally felled the leatherback, nor that its corpse was blown up the shore by the high tide, only that it is very far from where the waterline is. Eager to feed, the tyrant dinosaur tears into the turtle, bones crushed to shards by his bite. It only takes him a few minutes to eat a fourth of the creature.
After eating half of the chelonian, Terence is full. He prepares to search for shelter to rest, only to notice something strange in the sand. It looks like a snail shell, but far large and more colorful. The tyrant dinosaur knows from smell that whatever inhabited the shell is long dead.
Cautiously, the tyrannosaur picks up the shell, before heading back home. There, he may soon have use for the shiny remnant of a gastropod.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Back in the Mesozoic Sea, the team has finally caught up with the turtles.
The turtles are too fast for the team to catch up to, but they have a solution: they grab ahold of passing polycotylids and let the giant reptiles tow them toward their targets,0 for the fish the plesiosaurs are following are headed toward the chelonians.
"Looks like we found our turtles," noted Tristan.
"True, but how do we catch them?" questioned Sean.
"Couldn't we just put the portal in front of the fish?" was Elise's reply. "The fish are being followed by a horde of sea reptiles, so if we send the fish into the present, their predators will follow, and the turtles will have to go through the portal to avoid getting hit."
"...Good point," is Tristan's reply.
Suddenly, though, something spooks the plesiosaurs, causing them to begin to scatter. The turtles catch on and begin to pick up speed.
"What's going on?" asked Tristan.
"I don't kn-LOOK OUT!" shouted Elise as she tackled her brother, dragging Sean along, as a huge creature darts right past them. Nigel is quick to follow, barely avoiding the beast's maw.
As the group begins to regain their bearings, they finally havea chance to examine their assailant: it resembles the short necked plesiosaurs, but is far larger. It's teeth are clearly made for killing other sea reptiles.
Worst of all, it's not alone.
"Is that pliosaur?" questioned Sean.
"Most likely either Megacephalosaurus or Brachauchenius" responded Elise. "They are the only ones know from this time and place."
"Great, a giant killer sea reptile - and you're already trying to figure out how to rescue them, are you?" asked Sean to Elise.
"Yes, I am."
Just then, a new set of reptiles appeared. These ones were roughly the size of crocodiles, and resembled lizards and snakes. There were a lot of them, too.
"Are you kidding me?!" anguished Sean. "I thought mosasaurs hadn't gotten that big yet."
"Well, they aren't supersized at this point, but they are already fairly large. Those are probably Russellosaurus."
And unfortunately for the team, they're sandwiched between the two groups of predators. If they don't act soon, they might get an up close examination of these carnivore's killer jaws.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AN: Read, Review and Vote on the Poll! This is Flameal15k, signing off!