I'm getting out all of the min-chapters for this chapter by tomorrow if it drives me mad!
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In the Prehistoric Seas of Arizona, the team is on the hunt for some of first true killer sharks. Unfortunately, aside from a few small ones, they haven't found any.
On the deck of the Ancient Mariner, the team has removed most of their diving gear, allowing them to breathe easier - which is of tantamount importance when you are discussing a change in plans.
"Alright," notes Sean, "searching for the sharks hasn't yielded any luck so far, and while we did snag a few clams and ammonites, Odds are, we're just going to tire ourselves out if we keep trying to swim around here in search of them. So, where should we go next?"
Nigel is staying out of this conversation by choice - he wants the siblings to have a chance to talk with each other and plan for themselves.
"Well, we could try taking the Mariner further out to find them," noted Tristan, "but that's a hit or miss kind of thing. Still, if no one else has suggestions, I think we should take it."
"I have a suggestion," noted Elise.
"Shoot."
"We're trying to find the sharks, but what if we could make them come to us?"
"...Continue."
"Sharks hunt by smell, so maybe we can try and bait them into heading to us. I mean, we have access to the portal and plenty of fish at the park. Why don't we just make some chum and start throwing it overboard? If these shark's have just as good a sense of smell as the ones we've already dealt with, they should be swimming to us the minute the smell of blood reaches them. You've done this before, haven't you?"
"...Good idea. Let's do that."
It seems the team have decided to go with Elise's plan. Hopefully, the sharks will play along.
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Back at the park, a certain wandering carnivore is still on the prowl, in search of the source of the scent she is tracking.
Still attracted to the smell of decaying meat, Matilda presses on through the park, careful to avoid the watching eyes of the staff. The rising heat, though, is making that difficult. Contrary to what some people believe, feathers can keep an animal cool in addition to providing insulation against the cold. There is an upper limit to how much heat protection they can provide, though, and Matilda has hit hers. Now faced with the risk of overheating, Matilda is forced to find shade and take a moment to quench her thirst.
Unnoticed by the female tyrannosaur, crocodilian eyes stare at her from just a little ways out. The eyes are attached to a surprisingly long snout, narrow for the most part, but terminating in a broad pot of sorts. It is the mouth of the park's Sarcosuchus, one of the largest crocodilians to ever live. She, however, is out classed by the park's other resident super crocs, being a member of the smaller South American species, S. hartti, as opposed to the larger African one, S. imperator. Mighty though she may be, her African cousins were the greatest crocodilians to ever live, or at least the greatest ones man would ever know about.
Even they, though, would not attack a tyrannosaur. This wasn't because they were scared, though the tyrannosaur was an imtimidating foe. No, it was because they simply couldn't kill such as beast. Their long snouts weren't built for that. Indeed, despite their fearsome appearance, these long snouted crocodilians were primarily fish eaters, their long skulls being unable to take the stress brought on by the death rolls their relatives used to disembowel their prey. Small game was still on the menu, though, and humans definitely counted as small game for these crocs, but a full grown tyrannosaur was still off the menu.
As is, the croc was content to watch and wait for the tyrant dinosaur to leave. Part of it was fear, true, but hunger was also a big contributor. As long as the female tyrant dinosaur remained, deer and other small animals that frequented the lake would not come, in fear of being devoured. Once the giant carnivore left, they would likely feel safer and decide to risk a drink. And while deer might have been big game to humans, they were small game for such a giant crocodile. Indeed, they made delicious meals, with their taste complimenting the fish it regularly devoured quite well. Now, it just had to wait for the rex to leave.
It didn't have to wait long. Matilda, still enticed by the scent of decaying flesh, finished drinking as fast as reasonably possible, then left to search for more game. As soon as it left, the female crocodilian lazily flicked her tail, causing her to begin to drift toward the shoreline, just slowly enough that any watching animals would not be too alarmed to see what they assumed to be a log move. Once she was close enough, she used her feet to bring herself to a halt and waited. Eventually, prey would come. For now, she needed to be patient.
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Back in Prehistoric Arizona, the team is readying their plan to bait in the sharks.
The stern deck of the mariner, once a pristine white, now looked slightly pink at its stern-most edge. This was the only indicate that the rear of the ship had been used to turn a great many fish into chum, carved up by the elder members of the crew using many bladed tools. The youngest of the crew were now busy dumping the red mixture of flesh, blood, scale, and bone into the water, which had now changed from entrancing blue to a worrying shade of crimson, signs of the chum slowly tainting the waves.
With the chum now in the water, all that the team could do was wait and not rock the boat.
As the majority of the team busy cleaning their hands of the slimy red residue the chum had left behind, no one was present to examine the sonar to see if any new creatures had shown up. Thus, no one noticed the appearance of a large blip on the screen, which remained for about three cycles of the sonar, before vanishing.
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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
