Aboard the Mariner, Elise and Sean were scanning for marine life. Crocodilians, normal fish, sharks, early whales, all were potential rescues. The duo wouldn't be surprised if they saw a sea dragon, though - the park already had some semiaquatic ones from the Paleocene, so that was now on the table.

Of course, focusing on the mission didn't mean talking was out of the question.

"Hey, Elise?"

"Yeah?"

"Just how many rescues do you think will happen before the park is considered full?"

"What do you mean by full?"

"I mean how many animals do you think the park can hold?"

"...That's entirely dependent on the size of the animals we rescue."

"...Good point. New question: do you know why the park has a tundra on it?"

"Nope, I absolutely do not. Nor do I know how it manages to avoid having the tundra freeze over the rest of the island."

"Feels like something out of ARK, doesn't it?"

"Indeed. And now we are looking for a Basilosaurus. I wonder if they are just as friendly as they are in that game."

"Don't count on it."

Suddenly, the sonar picked something up. Instantly, the siblings turned their attention toward the water, where they could make out some grey shapes headed their way. Eager for an easy rescue, the duo readied to throw out some meat, but stopped when they noticed that one of the shapes was right next to them. At this close a range, they could easily make out significant features on the animal's body.

It resembled an otter in appearance, having both front and back legs. It was grey in color, much like some seals, and mostly hairless. The hind legs were reduced, but still appeared to be capable of supporting the animal on land. Most peculiar of all, though, was the animal's head, which resembled a walrus of all creatures, but without the tusks. Oh, and it appeared the animal was chewing on a leaf.

For a moment, the teens just stared, until Elise decided to break the silence.

"Is that a manatee?"

"An early one. Probably Protosiren. Didn't think we see one of these here."

Manatees and dugongs are close relatives of elephants, and are the only known variety of marine mammal to be herbivorous. Today, most species are now under threat, and the Stellar's Sea Cow is already extinct.

While these creatures may not be what the team is looking for, the duo has now qualms with rescuing them. After changing out their bait, silently thankful that Nigel had the foresight to keep some veggies around for an occasion like this, the two threw the plants overboard and activated the portal. Within minutes, the ancient sirenians were in the safety of the present.

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Back at the park, Ted was hard at work accommodating the last mission's rescues. The marine reptiles, fish, and nautiloids weren't much of a hassle - the park already had analogues for those creatures to work with. The real challenge was coming from the giant mantis shrimp the team had brought back. The brightly colored arthropods were among the vast majority of prehistoric creatures who had left behind not a single piece of evidence detailing whether or not they had lived at all, leaving the park with only their modern relatives to give them insight on how to care for these strange creatures.

And of course, even if they had left behind fossils, most of those couldn't tell us about their behavior.

A loud splash filled the air as an ROV blasted out of the water, flew for a distance, then fell back beneath the waves. It's hull had a significant dent in it, while it's camera lens had been smashed to pieces. Sighing in annoyance, Ted reeled the machine back in, before putting it onto the pier, next the three others, all in varying degrees of disrepair.

Normal mantis shrimp could easily smash open clam shells and shatter the glass on aquarium tanks. This prehistoric ones were as big as coconut crabs, and apparently, their proportional strength was equal to their smaller brethren. It was a miracle the ROVs had come back in one piece.

Ted had known that the mantis shrimp might react this way to foreign objects, but he'd had a good reason to risk the machines - the shrimps had been rather agitated already, and he was trying to determine why - were they not happy with the space allocated to them? Perhaps they needed new food?

Still, they really couldn't afford to get any more ROVs damaged - those things were expensive.

XXXXXXXXX

Back in the Eocene, Nigel and Tristan had just come upon an interesting sight: before them were a group of hippo-like herbivores, who were escaping the heat by resting in several shallow pools. Nearby, a pack of similarly sized carnivores were using one of the pools to try and quench their thirst, though they always made sure to keep some distance between themselves and the hippos-like mammals.

The duo could already tell what the hippo-like animals were, as the park had already rescued several. These were anthracotheres, specifically the genus that gave the group its name - Anthracotherium.

As for the predators...

"Hyaenodon?" offered Tristan.

"Close, but not quite. These are a hyaenodont called Proviverra."

The duo didn't need any further conversation after this - their minds were already set on rescuing the mammals.

Carefully, they set up the portal, avoiding any actions that would antagonize the creatures. Once the setup was complete, bait was placed, and then the duo sat back and waited.

It took a few minutes, but eventually, predator and prey followed the bait into the present. The minute the last one was through the portal, the light faded away, and the two sticks were collected.

As the duo readied to leave, however, something began to stir in the underbrush. A grey-brown shape slowly began to trudge away, and after a moment of shock, the humans began to pursue it.

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AN: No, the Walking With Beasts Basilosaurus will not show up in this episode - she is a B. isis, which lived near Egypt. The group is in North America chasing B. cetoides.

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