As the sun rose ever higher in the sky, the team searched for any signs of the missing rhino and the ferocious predator. Allowing either of the creatures (and especially the carnivore) to roam free was not acceptable, adding an urgency to this mission that hadn't been present in the previous ones. The sooner they succeeded, the sooner they could get back to what passed for normal at the park.

Of course, that didn't stop anyone from trying to make small talk.

"So, where exactly is this island?" questioned Cassandra, who was examining a holographic map of the Earth. As the one closest to her, Sean pointed to the Caribbean. "here."

"Ah, I see. So this land borders the Union of the Americas?"

Sean raised an eyebrow. "What territories does-"

"Did."

"-did the Union encompass?"

One flick of a button, and the lands in question were highlighted.

"Hmm...well, to answer your question, yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, see these this Northmost part?"

"Yes?"

"That's Canada. Right now, Canada is a separate nation from the bottom thirds of this Union."

"Ah...I presume that the bottom third is also a separate nation?"

"Several, actually - the majority of the land belongs to Mexico, but at the southern end it breaks into a bunch of smaller nations, all of which speak Spanish."

"Oh, I see. What is the name of the central nation?"

"The United States of America."

"Interesting."

"So, what do your history books mention about this Union? Maybe focus on its origins, for now?"

"Well," started Cassandra, eyes gazing up in thought, "supposedly the Union was formed when the colonies of Spain, England, and France united out of greed to overthrow their mother nations, after which point they proceeded to march westward to expand from sea to shining sea, dominating and enslaving the native people, except in the Northern Third, which attempted peaceful integration instead. Several internal struggles occurred, that led them to slowly reform themselves into a positive nation that would later do battle with the Knights of the Black Cross, who attempted to conquer Europe."

Sean stopped dead in his tracks, as did everyone else, when they heard that statement. "...What?"

"...How much of that is...well...I believe you would say bullshit?"

Sean laughed uneasily at that, partially out of shock at just how imperfectly Cassandra's people remembered the old world...and because she looked really silly when she mentioned that expletive. "Pretty much all of it."

"...Eh, history gets garbled up all the time. Can you start from the beginning?"

"Well, for starters, Canada, the United States, and Mexico all left their mother nations independantly - the United States rebelled first against England, then Mexico against Spain, while Canada just peacefully left after slowly gaining autonomy from the British after they kicked out the French. The United States was unified under the Founding Fathers, led by George Washington...though I use a very loose definition of 'lead by'."

"...Would any of those be the Four Tyrants who were carved into the Black Mountains?"

Now even the animals were staring at Cassandra, and they didn't even know what was going on - only that it was weird. "Four Tyrants?"

"Yes. Supposedly the four tyrants were the first four rulers of Union of the Americas. Their faces were carved into the Black Mountains as a monument to their glory, though it is said that the first one was not as horrible as the others. On the other hand, the last of the four was believed to be so vile that his face, the rightmost one, was deliberately destroyed, so as to erase him from the annals of history."

"...Are there any other figures of note from this Union? At least, the central part of it?"

"Well, there is the Great Liberator."

"...Let me guess, this guy freed all of the slaves and had a marble statue of himself in the Union's Captial."

"Yes, he does! Could you tell me of him? My parents are very interested in his forgotten history."

Sean let out an amused laugh. "His name is Abraham Lincoln, he was the sixteenth President of the United States, he's famous for being the president (though not the general) who won the United States Civil War, and he laid the foundation for the abolishment of slavery via the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves in the seceding territories to be free men. Also, before anyone tells you otherwise, the States that did secede did so because they wanted to keep having slaves - they said as much in their reasons for seceding."

"Ah, unsurprising."

"Oh, and one other thing: the fourth tyrant? The one who is stricken from history?"

"Yes?"

"That was Lincoln."

"I see...wait, WHAT?!"

Sean snickered at her shock. "Well, all of those tyrants you mentioned were Presidents of the United States. Some have been white-washed, others black washed, but none were perfect humans or total scumbags - they were just people. As for why Lincoln's face disappeared from Mt. Rushmore? No idea. Maybe it just got eroded off."

Before the group could answer her, though, the dogs suddenly started barking, with Terence giving a growl. Immediately, everyone was on the alert, trying to find whatever had set the tracker animals off. Ultimately, though, this was unnecessary - be the group could fully mobilize, two shapes burst forth from the brush, locked in battle. One of them was the wooly rhino. As for the other...

"...Is that a Styracosaurus?" inquired Tai after a moment of staring.

"Can't be," answered Marcus. "Wrong colors for either gender."

That did little to calm anyone's nerves, especially in the case of Vera. "Then what the hell is it doing here?"

Heedless of the human's presence, the two horned animals readied to charge each other...until something let out a loud and strangely mechanical sounding roar. A truce was declared as everyone turned to look at a nearby rock where the roar had come from, revealing a...robotic bear?

Everyone was at a loss for words at this sight. Well, everyoen except May.

"What the-"

Before she could finish, the machine slammed its forepaws onto the ground shooting up a line of icy spikes between the horned herbivores.

Then, it charged.

XXXXXXX

Hidden in the brush, the sawtooth watched as the Frostclaw charged the humans. For a moment, it considered joining in, but then decided to focus on pursuing the predator - a creature showing innate aggression toward HEPHAESTUS's creations was the bigger threat. Additionally, it needed to gather more data on the city beyond the mountains.

...Wait, what were those things taking off from the summit?

XXXXXXXX

With a mighty warcry, Hucua ordered his mount to battle. Answering with a cry of its own, the Quetzalcoatlus vaulted into the air, followed by more of its kind, their riders already preparing their weapons.

Initially, the group had only been sent to observe the outsiders, while the others returned the machine pieces to the city, but this new development demanded action. They had sworn to protect the innocent, and would die before they broke that vow.

And besides, they owed the one known as Wyatt for this. They had trusted him to keep their lands a secret, and been rewarded for it. Now they needed to repay that trust.

XXXXXXXX

AN: Um, remember what I said last chapter about taking Nigel out of the plot? That's not gonna happen for a long time, and he'll still come back.

It's just that I'm gonna go places in the next few chapters that Nigel really wouldn't fit in as a character and as a person.

Read, Review, and Check out my Discord! This is Flameal15k, signing off!