Korac ran as fast as his feet could take him, Bhanigob and Marek hot on his heals. Not far behind, the bull mammoth let out a ferocious bellow as it stampeded after the hunters.

The hunt had been going so well – the three had managed to find a bull mammoth that had recently separated from its bachelor herd. They had been trying to determine how best to assault a regular herd when this one had appeared. Believing it to be the easier target, the hunters had decided to focus their attention on taking down this mammoth instead of probing the herd for an easier target. After all, the hardest part of hunting a mammoth was isolating it from its herd.

Things had not gone as they had planned – the mammoth had noticed them before they could surround it, and had charged them in the open. Mammoths were extremely dangerous on flat, open ground – in woodland or hilly grounds, they suffered from limited maneuverability, but without those types of terrain, hunters were all but sitting ducks for this beast.

So focused were they on escaping this beast that they did not notice the strange light in front of them until they had collided with it…

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Marek only had a moment to be confused by the light before he collided with something, sending him tumbling to the ground. A moment of whiplash followed before the hunter stood up, trying to gain his bearings.

To his surprise, the object that Marek had collided with was another human, though one unlike any he had ever seen. For one, the man was rather young, with a clean shaven face. That was hadly surprising, but there were many other traits that made the young one an oddity. His clothing was made of some strange material, and was of colors that Marek would never have expected to see. It also covered very little of his arms and legs, leaving the majority exposed to the cold….

It was then that Marek realized that it was not cold anymore. In fact, it actually felt…hot.

Before Marek could ponder any further on this, though, a familiar trumpeting filled the air as six tons of Mammuthus primigenius barreled through the strange light. A moment later, the light vanished, though the hunters paid this little notice – now, they were once again in the presence of an angry bull mammoth. And as a quick glance of their surroundings showed, there was nowhere to run.

Movement below Marek alerted him to the fact that the man he had collided with had recovered, and the hunter moved to help him up while the mammoth was still confused by the change in surroundings. Unfortunately, by the time he pulled the boy up, the mammoth had lost its confusion, and now turned to stare down Marek and the boy. With a mighty trumpet, the mammoth charged.

Just as it was about to collide with them, though, something collided with the proboscidean, shoving it aside. Shaking off its shock, the bull mammoth turned to look at its assailant.

Standing in opposition of it was the strangest creature Marek had seen: a bipedal, feathered beast with a massive head and tiny arms.

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AN: Soundtrack Start – Saurian OST: Intraspecific Combat

Terence stared at the bull mammoth, eyeing his new foe.

In some ways, this was an opponent Terence had never seen, but it wasn't too hard to figure out some facts about it. Going by appearances, it was the same type of creature as Martha. Going by tusk length and comparing it to the park's Columbian Mammoths, this one was a male. And if the spear in its side was any indication, this one was wounded, likely by the hunters.

Cautiously, Terence circled his opponent, making sure to place himself between the mammoth and the humans. Part of him new that Tristan would want to take this giant back home when the portal appeared again, but right now, protecting his human friend took first priority. If the mammoth could be convinced to back down, and the hunters either intimidated or bribed into not killing it, then perhaps it could return to the present. But all of that depended primarily on luck.

The mammoth shot its trunk forward, trying to catch the tyrannosaur by surprise. Terence barely dodged out of the way, before returning the favor with a blow from his tail. Though only a glancing hit, this served to intimidate the mammoth, which backed up slightly, trying to search for a new opening to attack. Terence decided to go on the offensive and made a mock lunge, to which the mammoth retreated again, though not before grazing him with a blow from one of its tusks. Barely fazed, Terence let out a snarl, trying to keep the mammoth on the defensive. BY some stroke of luck, the mammoth had its back to a cave, and if it could be convinced that the fight wasn't worth it, the bull would retreat into the darkness, where it would no longer be an immediate problem for humans and the tyrannosaur – there was an underground stream going through the cave that provided a source of water, and enough nearby grass to keep the mammoth fed.

Now if only there was a way to get it to back down soon….

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Tristan took one last glance at Terence fighting the mammoth before turning his attention to his pack. Mind completely focused, he opening the secondary pouch and put his hand in central internal slit within. A moment later, a flare came out. Not even missing a beat, Tristan ran over to the nearby supply tent and hastily pulled out a torch he'd prepared the previous night. Then, he ran over toward Terence, grabbing some try plants on the way.

As the three hunters watched on in confusion, Tristan shouted at the mammoth, turning its attention away from Terence. Before it could react any further, Tristan pulled the flair, setting it alight. A moment later, he pressed it against the torch, which swiftly ignited.

The minute it saw the flames, the mammoth's will to fight broke – a combination of its injuries, exhaustion, and fear finally overwhelmed its anger. As Tristan and Terence advanced toward it, the bull reluctantly retreated into the cave, where it would wait out the predators. Only once they were asleep would it try to escape.

As the proboscidean vanished into the cave, Tristan let out a sigh, before heading toward the food storage tent. The hunters eyed him with confusion, but that melted away when he took a chunk of flesh out of said tent.

After the havoc of today, a good meal had a way of calming one's nerves.

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