There is something missing from our world. The amazing creatures that time has left behind. But what if we could bring them back?

What if extinction didn't have to be forever?

We're going back in time on a safari with a difference as wildlife adventurer Nigel Marvin plunges into prehistory to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction. His plan is to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance.

This time, Nigel goes back to Triassic Arizona, to rescue one of the earliest dinosaurs to have ever lived, along with a ferocious land living crocodile.

Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary.

Welcome to Prehistoric Park.

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After twenty successful missions, Prehistoric Park is filled with many weird and wonderful residents. From the predatory bird Bathornis, to the obscure Yutyrannus, and the cat sized Pulmonoscorpius, many obscure animals inhabit the park.

After his last mission to rescue Dilophosaurus, though, Nigel has decided that he wants another famous dinosaur in the park - and he knows which exactly which one to bring back.

Once again, Nigel is in his den. This time, he's looking at both a dinosaur skeleton, and a green, serpentine recreation of said dinosaur.

"The Triassic is when dinosaurs first appeared on the Earth, and while they wouldn't come to dominate until the Jurassic, there were still many fantastic species that lived during this time, and that made choosing what to rescue hard, because there are a lot of well know species from this time. There's Eoraptor, Herrasaurus, Mussaurus, and Staurikosaurus from South America, and there's also Plateosaurus from Europe. Ultimately, though, I'm going with possibly the most famous dinosaur from this time: Coelophysis."

Nigel quickly pulled up more pictures of the dinosaur, consisting of skeletons, a museum display and...a picture of the animal from Walking With Dinosaurs?!

"Now, you might not know this, but work on the time portal was started in the nineties. Walking With Dinosaurs, and its sequels, were our first attempts to use it. Problem was, the portal wasn't very stable, so we had to use machines to back and study them, and all the images we got were fuzzy, so when it was made for television, Tim Haines and the rest of the staff had to substitute the real animals with props and animation, which his why they were so inaccurate. We finally got it working in time for Chased by Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters, but we had to modify the film for that when we got back, because we weren't sure the public would think what they saw was accurate. Shame, really - we could have shown feathered dinosaurs ahead of their time."

"But I'm getting off on a tangent. Anyway, the reason why I was talking about that is because its Walking With Dinosaurs that really got the public interested in Coelophysis, along with an appearance in Land of the Lost. Now, we know about Coelophysis from thousands of skeletons, which come from all over the American Southwest, but especially New Mexico and Arizona. In fact, we've found nearly a thousand skeletons belong to it in the Ghost Ranch fossil site. Coelophysis means hollow form, and it was given the name because its bones were honeycombed with holes, making it lighter than other animals of similar size, giving it speed and agility. Otherwise, it isn't a very special dinosaur, but it surprisingly gregarious. All that said, there's another creature I want to rescue on this mission."

Putting the dinosaur pictures aside, Nigel takes out another photo, this time of a red colored, quadrupedal reptilian, and a frightening looking one at that.

"This is Postosuchus. It's a type of reptile called a rauisuchian, and it is the dominant predator of North America. Now, when we first got images of it alive during the nineties, all we could see was its coloration - the only one we found was sleeping. At the time, we assumed it was a slow predator that could only move on all fours. Now, though, we know it was bipedal, and could be very fast when it was on the hunt. Now, Postosuchus probably couldn't look me in the eye, but it was still a dangerous and magnificent creature, and I would love to have some at Prehistoric Park."

"Really, though, there's so many creatures we could bring back from this time - the American Southwest is one of the few Triassic fossil sites where we have dozens of described fauna, and I'd like to rescue as many as we possibly can. I even had engineering work on making two extra portal devices just to make sure we can get as many animals as possible from that time."

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Nigel's plan certainly is ambitious. Though he's been to Triassic Arizona before, his journey will take him back two hundred and twenty million years, to what is now the Petrified Forest National Park. Here, Nigel thinks he'll find the most Triassic wildlife, though that could lead to a couple of surprises.

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While Nigel finishes up preparations for the mission, though, the rest of the team is busy working on some botanical issues.

Sighing, Tristan shoveled up another load of dung into the wheel barrow. Nearby, Vera and Lucas were doing the same, while the rest of the team was busy keeping the Dilophosaurus from trying to eat them.

"So," he began, "why, exactly, do we need dung from these guys?"

"Well, I think the fern seeds Nigel brought back form your last mission will be more likely to germinate if they are fertilized with dung from their native ecosystem," responded Pamela, who was moving in another wheel barrow to fil with dinosaur droppings.

"You do realize that there will probably be differences in it now, seeing how they've been eating a diet of mammal meat."

"True, but meat does not change as much as plants do. Plus I'm assuming that some of the components of this fertilizer will include gut flora."

"Reasonable enough. Also, just to be sure, you said your name was Pamela, right?"

"Yes. It is."

"Okay...Were your parents DC fans?"

"...yes, actually. My mom especially is a fan of the Birds of Prey. And yes, they did name me after Poison Ivy."

"Okay, had to ask...Does anyone ever bring it up?"

"No, not really - Poison Ivy never seems to be that popular in cartoons, and all the boys and girls that I've met who are familiar with her are fans of the Arkham series, so they don't see the reference as something to belittle."

"I see...do you like working here?"

"Indeed - it is fun. Though I have to admit I am jealous of you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. You get to go into the past and rescue endangered plants and animals. I just get to study them in the present. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but I'd just like to get one chance to go and see some prehistoric wildlife in their natural habitat."

"Well," intoned Vera, as another shovel load of crap entered the wheel barrow, "maybe you could ask Nigel about it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"...Maybe I will. And thank you for the suggestion."

"You're welcome. Also, Tristan, when do you think we will go back to the past?"

"Attention away team, we are ready to leave. Please report to the portal annex now."

"Looks like now. You ready to go rescue Coelophysis?"

"Of course I am. All hands on deck."

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Nigel's sending back the largest team he's ever assembled for this mission. Let's hope no one gets lost.

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As the team arrived in the past, the first thing they noticed was the bleak landscape around them. While there was a forest some distance away, most of the land was covered in red soil, and very, very dry. A heat similar to that of modern Arizona beat down on them, and the only shade available were the scattered remains of a few withered trees. Aside from a few plants desperately trying to eke out a living amid the brutal heat, beetles that scuttled across the ground, and the distant shapes of pterosaurs in the skies above, the landscape was utterly lifeless.

"Wow, this is bleak," noted Lucas. "Did we arrive during the dry season?"

"We did," was Nigel's response. "I did a little scouting for this mission, and I noticed that there's a river a little ways away. It's the only thing keeping that forest alive, so I think we should head that way, see if we can find any wildlife. We came during the dry season because that's when animals congregate together around water holes, so we might find some rare animals we might otherwise miss if we can during better times."

"I see," was Tristan's response. "Shall we get moving?"

"Almost. I have one thing we need to attend to."

"And that is?"

"I had engineering work on two additional portal device pairs for this mission, and I also brought the portal aquatic portal device. I wanted to try and rescue as many species as possible for this mission, and I want to give the devices out now so that we can maximize the amount of animals rescued."

"Okay. So who gets the portals?"

"Well, I'm keeping the main one, you can get the second one-"

"Wait, what?!"

"-Elise and Sean can get the aquatic ones, and Vera and Lucas can use the third pair. Does that work?"

The team stared at each other for a moment, then shrugged. "Fine with us," they all said, provoking some surprised stares at their shared speaking.

"Right then, now lets get going!"

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"So, all of you guys are fine with me getting a portal device?" asked an unsure Tristan, as the team trudged toward the forest in the distance. Already, ferns were starting to become more common.

"You're eldest, and you were the first of us at the park. You get priority for new equipment," was Aiden's response.

"I understand, I just thought that you'd be a little jealous."

"Well, maybe we are, but we're not letting that get in the way of the mission. Now stop asking about it before we change our minds," was Tai's reply.

"Okay, shutting up no-OW!"

Instantly, the team was on their friend, who had suddenly cried out in pain and collapsed.

"You okay?!" asked Michelle, already looking over her friend for injuries.

"Yeah, I slipped on a...rock."

"Why did you just-mmph!"

Michelle was unable to finish her question, in part because the target of said question shoved a hand her mouth, before hold a finger over his. Then, he pointed in front of the group.

There, watching the group from atop a rock, was a green and red dinosaur, with some black spots on adorning its lightly feathered body. It had a long, serpentine neck and head, but was otherwise rather plain looking for a dinosaur. It stared on at the group for a moment, then darted away.

"...Well, I think we found our first dinosaur," spoke Tristan.

A tapping on the side of his head alerted him to the fact he hadn't let go of Michelle. Laughing rather sheepishly, he released his grip on her mouth.

slap*

"OWW...I deserved that."

"Yes, you did. Now let's go get that dinosaur."

Before the group could make a decision on that, the sound of bellowing drew their attention back toward the forest. There, something was beginning to move.

"Doesn't that like the dicynodonts we have at the park?" questioned Marcus.

"It does," answered Lucas. "That's probably a Placerias - they're the only dicynodont native to the area."

"And I assume there is a large herd there?" inquired Elise.

"Probably. And, rationally speaking, we might need a few people to herd them into the portal," noted Tai.

"So now we need to decide who goes after the...I'm assuming that's a Coelophysis..."

"It is," remarked Nigel.

"Okay, then some of us need to go after it while the rest go after the synapsids."

"I'll get the dinosaur," offered Tristan. "Who wants to go with me?"

Michelle, Marcus, Alice, Lucas, and Vera all raised there hands.

"Okay," began Nigel, "while you go after the dinosaur, we'll get the dicynodont. Everyone good with that?"

"YES!"

With that, the teams split.

XXXXXXXX

"So, why again did that Coelophysis look so much like the ones in Walking With Dinosaurs?" Inquired Lucas. "I mean, I know Nigel said that they based those dinosaurs off of images they got using robots in the nineties to probe the time portals, but I thought that they would be a little...different, I guess."

"Maybe they just got really lucky?" Offered Tristan.

"Yeah, maybe...You think we'll actually meet the exact animals they based the show on?"

"Doubtable. The odds of that happening are way less than one in a million-"

A loud howl filled the air. Its source came from a hill directly in front of the group. The team quickly crested it, tryijg to determine what made the noise.

What they saw shocked them.

There, on a nearby rock, was their target. Joining it were a group of smaller, short mouthed, yellow dinosaurs. All of which were hissing at the retreating form of a large reptile.

A large, bipedal, red backed reptile, with a noticeable wound on its left hind leg.

"...but I could be wrong," finished Tristan.

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AN: YES, YES, YES! IT IS FINALLY HAPPENING!

So, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!