The Gorgosaurus let out a huff, alerting the rest of its pack to its location. Within moments, the others had arrived and formed up around the elder predator.

The male albertosaur was not happy at the moment - its ambush had been ruined by the surprise arrival of the juvenile Daspeltosaurus. True, the youngster had not managed to succeed in whatever attack it had been planning, but that was hardly consolation for the starving tyrant - it needed to find food soon, or its pack would starve. Their pursuit of the Hypacrosaurus herd had so far not lead to any success, with none of the old, weak, injured, sick, or young animals being separated from the group. These were the most vulnerable individuals, and taking them down would be far easier than killing one of their larger kin. Yet that was not to be at the moment - so long as these individuals remained with the confines of their herds, they were safe from attack.

The marching herd had been joined by many other creatures as the day had dragged on - amongst them a group of Judiceratops, one of the last surviving herd of their kind. Indeed, this herd compromised a substantial portion of the surprising population, and was more than capable of sustaining itself solely through its own members. Edmontonia had also sought out the herd for protection, deciding to trust more in numbers than in their armor. Even smaller creatures had seen the giant dinosaurs as shields against harm, if the Cerasinops hidden amongst their larger cousins was any indication.

Of course, the albertosaurs were not the only hunters here - two species of pterosaurs circled over the herds, looking for young individuals to take down. They would stick to smaller fare than the tyrant reptiles, for they were not built to hunt large dinosaurs. Even their Romanian cousins would struggle to best these giants. Still, for now, they circled the herds, waiting for their opening.

None of these predators were aware, however, of a much larger danger in the distance - one that was capable of laying low all, be they predator or prey.

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Michelle watched as the Hypacrosaurus herd merged with the Maiasaura and Einiosaurus herd the juvenile tyrannosaur had accidentally created. Where once their had been three good sized herds, now there was one titanic one. This herd absolutely dominated the area, and from the looks over it, contained at least ten species of animals, as many other genera had joined the Hypacrosaurus before the herd had merged with the one the rescue team had been observing. Rescuing them would certainly help fill up the park.

…..Well, assuming the team could divert them from their course of impending doom. For you see, the herd's travels were leading them closer and closer to a massive volcano, which had been releasing smoke for much of the day. Additionally, several pools of water had begun to boil, while more geysers had exploded open in the distance. Slowly, the volcano was waking, and when it was fully awakened, this beautiful world would be buried in ash.

A nearby growl turned Michelle's attention away from the herd - Laela had gotten one of her legs stuck in a bramble (or at least its equivalent from this time period) and was desperately trying to free herself. With a sigh, Michelle got off her jeep and, after taking a moment to calm the tyrannosaur, got to work removing the thorny plant. It didn't take long before the tyrant lizard was free. Surprisngly, this did seem to placate the great predator, for although Laela did his at Michelle after the last thorn was removed, the hiss was more muted than normal.

It seemed that, slowly, Laela was beginning to trust the girl.

...Baby steps, it seemed, was the way to go.

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As the herds moved to feed, Laela turned her attention back toward Michelle. Despite not asking for aid, the human had freed her from the bramble. Why? What did the human have to gain from this? Was there some unseen benefit the hairless mammal received from helping the tyrant dinosaur? Was the biped expecting the tyrannosaur to help her in the future?

Or did the human help Laela just because the girl could?

The answer to that question eluded the female predator for now, but eventually, she would find the answer.

Turning her attention back to the herd, Laela saw that they had dispersed so as to avoid competing with each other over the available greenery. The injured male Maiasaura, however, was sticking close to the female he had been traveling with, partially out of protection, partially out of a desire for companionship and support. The wound on his leg was still fresh, and would only get worse without treatment - treatment he would not receive in this time and place. His only hope now was to be rescued and sent to the present - something the humans were already working on.

Said rescue involved soaking wood rapped in some weird hide-like material and soaking it in a liquid. The nature of the liquid was something of an enigma to the female carnivore, barring three facts: it smelled funny, it was very sticky...

And it burnt very, very well.

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Back at the park, the aquatic residents were enjoying a feast.

An avian shape darted into the shoal of fish, snatching up one in its beak. Another soon joined it, as did another, until a whole flock of birds had descended upon the fish. The first one to attack, having long since sated himself, retreated to a nearby floating platform to take a moment to sunbathe.

The Miomancalla had adapted well to the present, and were now thriving on the park's subtropical coast. With enough food to last a lifetime, they were free to enjoy their new lives, though this wasn't without its own problems - namely, meeting creatures they'd never even known had existed.

Beneath the waves, one of the birds was forced to dart out of the way as a maw filled with pointed teeth snatched up a fish, hastily swallowing the creature up before looking for another morsel. The fish took a long time to travel down the beast's sinuous neck before it finally reached the predator's stomach.

The Styxosaurus had wandered away from its normal feeding sites and had, for lack of a better term, stumbled in on the feeding birds. Taking advantage of its stealthy form, it greedily devoured as many fish as it could, safe in the knowledge that no large predators occupied these shallow waters - for now, at least.

The feathered dinosaurs and their distant relative only paid each other a token amount of attention - food was more important.

XXXXXXX

Carefully, Das made his way through the underbrush, always endeavoring to avoid alerting the herd. This would be his third time attacking the herd, and after the previous two debacles, there was no room for mistakes. Already, he was zeroing in on Buck, ready to finish off the injured duckbill.

Sensing his opportunity, Das made a mock charge. After a moment of surprise, the centrosaurs and saurolophines made a break for it, with Das not far behind. A nearby roar drew some annoyance from the young tyrant - it seemed that the Gorgosaurus were also launching an assault. Why now, though?! Opportunism? Or just to spite him?

The reason didn't matter - what mattered was that Das and his pack found their lunch.

Said lunch was heading right toward the rest of his family...sandwiched between two very large Einiosaurus. Oops.

The horn headed herbivores made an attack all but impossible, forcing his parents and sisters to wait until trio passed by before attacking. Das didn't even stop running - an open was soon to present itself, he just knew it.

Unfortunately, it seemed fortune still favored the duckbill, as the Einiosaurus soon reunited with their herd and formed a protective circle, causing Buck to disappear from view. Das, however, was undaunted, and started circling around - the injured dinosaur's herd had long since started running, and he would likely follow them rather than take his chances with the hornheads. Sure enough, Buck was behind the herd, slowly ambling after his own kind. He'd put some disntace between himself and the pack, but not too much. And while there were plenty of other herbivores around him, with his wound, it wouldn't be long until even the ankylosaurs passed him.

Calling out to his pack, Das followed the injured hadrosaur. Now, they were in the endgame.

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Laela stared at the herd of hornheads for a moment before turning her attention toward the injured hadrosaur now retreating toward his own kind. While the vast majority of the team was trying to catch the hornheads, coaxing them toward the strange light using the soaked sticks, now set ablaze, Tristan and Michelle were instead traveling toward the injured one, as was Terence.

Did they want to take the injured beast home? Why? What was with these bipeds and helping other creatures?!

Letting out a noise that would approximate to a sigh, the female tyrant ambled after the trio - she supposed that she should follow them. Perhaps they would reward her if she helped them take the lame herbivore to safety.

XXXXXXXXX

It had only been half an hour, but to Buck it felt far longer. His leg was killing him, and step by step his strength fell further. Soon, he would be unable to walk at all.

And if he didn't make it to safety before he fell, the pursuing carnivores would make sure he never walked again.

The vast majority of the tyrannosaurs had lost sight of him, but that was hardly any compensation, since they had been replaced by a flock of hungry pterosaurs, all looking at him as though he was a delicious meal. Worse still, the juvenile Daspletosaurus was still on his tail, as was an adult male Gorgosaurus. Now, tune was running out - either Buck reached his herd or the predators would have their feast.

So how did the bipeds factor into this?

The two strange bipeds, each accompanied by a tyrannosaur he had never seen, had slowly been walking toward him, until they eventually circled around him, now ending up in front of the young herbivore, where they had begun messing around with the dirt. Were they trying to burrow away?

As it turned out, they weren't - instead, they did something resulting in the area in front of him being engulfed by a strange light. For a split second, Buck paused in his march, before continuing forward - there was too much danger behind him to stop his walk.

The minute he entered the light, Buck found himself in a strange new world, one that was far warmer and more humid than the one he had known. Within seconds, Buck was greeted by a trio of bipeds like those who had caused the light to appear. One offered him a morsel while another blew something onto his leg, instantly relieving some of the pain. Unsure what to do, but trusting the new creatures, Buck followed them, while behind him, his entourage of hunters made their way into the present.

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When the last predator had vanished, the teens closed their portal, then began making their way toward the herds now headed for the volcano. Only once they were close enough did they stop, at which point they began preparing the portal.

"Think we need to try and get them to head our way?" questioned Michelle.

A large piece of volcanic rock suddenly impacted about fifty meters away as the ground began to shake.

"...Probably not," intoned Tristan.

Some distance behind them, Nigel had set up his portal. Already, the two tyrannosaur packs had made their exit from the coming apocalypse.

Whether the rest of the gathered creatures could do so, though, was a different story.

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AN: Birthday chapter is here! Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!