Spiny the Dimetrodon sniffed around the paddock, in search of food – leftovers from the fish pile earlier today, smaller fish in the Dimetrodon pond or a small lizard, insect or one of the strange furry creatures that would periodically dart into the paddock in search of food. However, rather sadly, there was nothing – he snarled in disappointment.

His gaze briefly cast to the nursery at the far end of the dimetrodon lake and he briefly thought of trying to hunt one of the new hatchlings. Dimetrodon were not above cannibalism – and, for a juvenile Dimetrodon, the hatchlings were the perfect-sized snack. His mind dismissed it, however – it was too much risk with too little a reward. If one of the females caught him – he would be the one being eaten.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Spiny suddenly saw something small and green dart past him. He backed up, startled, before he moved forward, stalking the small shape; there was something oddly familiar about it… and it might be a good meal. Soon a small, green head popped out; it was Larry.

The petrolacosaurus had escaped from the Carboniferous Dome earlier in the day – everyone had been too distracted by the crassygrinus nearly pulling one of the keepers in with their morning meal… again to notice that the petrolacosaurus had slipped out of his tank again. Exploring the dome he had followed a keeper out of the door and had been exploring the park for the past couple of hours.

Spiny looked at Larry for a minute, vague memories of a previous chase coming back, before he snapped his jaws at him and pounced. Larry dodged him and scurried out, with Spiny in hot pursuit. The chase continued for a good while before Larry darted through a gap in the fence, with Spiny in pursuit. Once he had got through, Spiny scanned the air for his would-be prey and, seeing Larry, began to chase him.

The chase continued for several minutes, with Larry managing to keep one step ahead of his synapsid pursuer, before Spny saw Larry, on a wall. Tensing, Spiny jumped, getting ready to pounce on the little Petralacosaurus. However, Spiny's timing had been off – Larry had darted away just as Spiny was pouncing on him. Spiny only had time for a single hiss of surprise as this realisation hit him – rather sadly, this realisation hit him just as he was about to fall off the wall, and he plummeted several feet vertically to the ground.

Fortunately, Spiny had landed unhurt- something had broken his fall. Unfortunately, the something that had broken his fall was a large, black three-horned creature. The irritated Toppsy turned to look at the dimetrodon and grunted angrily – he had not anticipated this little creature interrupting his morning browsing.

A disoriented Spiny had barely any time to regain his bearings from the fall when the ceratopsian suddenly bellowed and bucked Spiny off his back, sending him to the floor. Picking himself up off the ground, Spiny hissed, whipped his tail from side to side in a threat gesture and attempted to swipe at the much bigger ceratopsian. Spiny only had seconds to realise how foolhardy this idea had been when Toppsy charged at him – and the Dimetrodon was off like a shot, running from the ceratopsian trying to beat him flat. Eventually running through a gap in the fence, Spiny managed to throw off his pursuer.

Sniffing the air, Spiny caught Larry's scent again and followed the little Petralacosaurus he continued in hot pursuit, his slightly prehensile tail and curved claws meaning that he could easily climb the fence pole in pursuit of his prey.

Noticing Larry by a corner in the fence, and with no means of escape, he advanced towards the small diapsid. As he moved closer, he licked his lips – this was going to be delicious. Suddenly, he heard nostrils clearing behind him… and turned to see an unfathomably large, reddish-scaled, bipedal creature looming over him hungrily.

In his readiness to pounce on his prey, Spiny had noticed Matilda too late.

Spiny went rigid with fear at the sight of the tyrannosaur looming over him. Larry took Spiny's moment of terror to flee, immediately followed by Spiny, with Matilda pursuing the small Dimetrodon – Larry was too small to be a worthwhile meal, but Spiny was the perfect-sized snack. Eventually, Larry climbed up one of the fence posts, with Spiny in hot pursuit, as Matilda, too big to climb, snapped at Spiny, with one bite coming inches away from biting off Spiny's tail.

After he had shaken the hungry theropod, Spiny started sniffing around for Larry again, eventually regaining his scent. A thousand strange sights, sounds and scents blasted his eyes, ears and nose. However, he had only one scent on his mind; Larry's.

Eventually, climbing up a wall and running along the barriers, he saw Larry in a sandy paddock – in perfect position for him to pounce on. Tensing, Spiny jumped, getting ready to pounce on the little Petralacosaurus. However, Spiny had miscalculated the distance – the gap was actually too wide for him to jump. Spiny only had time for a single hiss of surprise as this realisation hit him – rather sadly, this realisation hit him in mid-air, and he plummeted several feet vertically to the ground.

Fortunately, Spiny had landed unhurt- something had broken his fall. Unfortunately, the something that had broken his fall was a large dark-scaled creature, some forty feet long. Dil turned to look at him, hunger in her eyes as Spiny stood on her back, frozen in terror.

Spiny ran along the giant crocodile's back before ending up on her massive head. Using it as a springboard, Spiny jumped off, just as Dil snapped at him, missing his tail by inches. However, he had miscalculated the distance again and landed, in a heap in the sand of the Deinosuchus beach. Seeing Dil, still disoriented, Spiny decided to run now – climbing out on a nearby wall, he ran as fast as he could out of the paddock. He made a mental note to avoid that kind of creature in the future – anyway, where was Larry? He was still hungry.

Following Larry's trail, Spiny came to a stop some distance away and looked around, both to get his bearings and see if he could find Larry's scent. For the first time that day, he had a surprising bit of luck - he saw Larry. A pole that Spiny could easily pounce to the top of. Eyes narrowed, Spiny licked his lips, tensed and pounced to the top of the pole in preparation to snap up the small diapsid…

And stumbled midway and landed, flat on his face. You see, Spiny had tripped in a hollow in the ground made by a footprint A smallish two-toed dinosaur footprint, with no imprint for the middle toe…

Watching Spiny fall to the ground, Larry climbed to a safe position on the top of a pole. All he could do was just sit and wait – he was safe here. He could afford to stay.

Uninjured from his stumble, except for his dignity, Spiny fell to the ground, where a staff member would eventually find him, dazed on the floor and take him back to his paddock.

This had not been his day.

(Cue Looney Tunes end music)

Bad ol' Dimetwodon!

THEY ARE BACK, EVERYBODY! Back by popular demand!

I'd had this in the works for quite a while now, but, rather sadly, my Master's degree took precedence. Now I'm off for two weeks, I can get caught up on my writing. BTW, I listen to "I Tawt I Taw A Putty Tat" whenever I write these.

This one was different in a way – the first had no involvement from named animals except Newter… here, we have Toppsy, Matilda and Dil all getting involved in some way or another in poor Spiny's torment.

As well as this… what could that footprint possibly be foreshadowing? What creature made that?

And don't worry – I've got literally dozens of Larry and Spiny shorts planned.