Chapter 13 – The D-Bags: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Go With the Flow

One little thing about the OC contest – it's not escaped our attention that the two entries we've had so far are both slightly different versions of Leon. To the people who submitted them – you can get another run, just be a bit more creative, guys.

To give you a bit of help, we're gonna put a few pointers in the reviews.

"Morning, Terence.", Drew smiled, as he looked at Terence, sleeping in his recovery pen. At the sound of Drew's voice, the tyrannosaur opened his eyes, got up and stiffly walked towards Drew.

At his arrival, Drew smiled – the wounds on Terence's head, face and neck were healing up. Drew smiled. "You're certainly looking better than you did – Linda told me you'll still be limping for a bit, but you're healing up, which is all that matters." He chuckled. "Don't worry about when we finally try and get you a girlfriend, bud – chicks dig scars," he then stated before gently placing his hand on the tyrannosaur's massive nose and smiling.

His thoughts were interrupted by a hiss from the adolescent majungasaurus, who was also recovering from his injuries. Drew turned to him and smiled. "You're looking better, too, pal. Goliath really did a number on you. Glad you've recovered."

Turning back to Terence, he smiled. "Anyway, I've got a mission to go on – we'll hang out when I get back." As he left, he turned to look at the adolescent majungasaurus and asked, "Keep an eye on him for me, would you?", to which the abelisaur snarled, almost in affirmative.

Chuckling, Drew turned round and Jack to the Jeep, lifting his walkie-talkie to call his team.

. . . . .

Leon stood by the smilodon fatalis paddock, watching Diego and Shira, now mates, resting in the sun. He smiled at the peacefulness of the scene. Watching the two cats, his mind began to swim with thoughts. Whilst a part of him was glad that Drew had put him back on mission duty, part of him was a little nervous – his track record hadn't been all that good. Stumbling in the Jurassic, nearly getting eaten by temnospondyls, what happened in Gogo Reef, and getting his foot stuck in the Maevarano mission…

His train of thought was interrupted by him seeing Diego looking at him, as if in concern. Leon smiled at him and said, "Diego, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong." Right after he had said this, his walkie-talkie rang. In a flash, he drew it out from his belt and lifted it up to his ear. "Yello, this is Leon, over?" He paused. "Another mission? Got it - On my way." He ended the call with Drew, only to then pause as he remembered something else he needed to get out of the way first. "I'll make this quick," he said as he hurriedly entered in a different walkie talkie ID. Fortunately for him, the subsequent attempted call did not take long to successfully go through. "Hey there Yolanda, this is Leon speaking. Quick question, do you think you or any of the other vets could check on Shira? I've noticed her acting differently and I just want to check..."

. . . . .

Jack Denham stood at the droma paddock, a smile on his face. Lifting the remote control, he opened a door and moved the lure into the enclosure at high speed. Seeing it moving, the dromas dived after the lure, following it – with Duke and Cassie leading the chase, as the older female Jane and the four youngsters followed at different angles, surrounding it. Eventually, Jack turned the lure into a wall, allowing the dromas to corner their "prey". One of the younger males took a few steps, jaws open, towards it when, suddenly…

A piercing whistle-blast echoed through the air. The dromas stopped in their tracks and turned to look at him. Jack threw them each a piece of meat; it was imperative that they be rewarded for, instead of immediately attacking a lure, to stop whenever he blew his whistle. It was a start. It was better than nothing.

He chuckled – things were going well. Yes, the dromas hadn't done their best against Rocco, but as Nikolai had told him, it was early days. Apparently, Willoby had talked about using the harpactognathus whose egg was in the vet station when it was big enough and Collete had told him she was thinking about using the argentavis and dire wolves. Jack chuckled – good ideas often tended to spread after all.

Suddenly, Jack's walkie-talkie rang and he reached to pick it up. Lifting the device to his ear, he said, "This is Jack, who is it?" He paused. "Another mission? Say no more, fearless leader – I'm on my way."

. . . . .

At the quetzalcoatlus aviary, Adrian was watching the giant pterosaurs tear apart a cow carcass with their massive beaks – Cirrus was now feeding alongside the flock, a sight that made Adrian smile (despite the fact he would miss bonding with Cirrus at feeding time).

As well as this, Cirrus appeared to have successfully paired up with Nimbus - interestingly, Zephyr had seemingly paired up with Sirocco, the only other unmated female in the exhibit. The tension between the adolescents had ended – they had now all found their own territories and mates.

At this, Adrian gave an amused snort, muttering under his breath, "Pair the spares, why don't you?" As he was watching the spectacle, his thoughts briefly detoured over towards Alice. These thoughts were then abruptly interrupted when Adrian's walkie-talkie hissed into life. Raising it, he said, "Hey Drew; what's going on? Another mission? I'm done with the quetzos and I'm heading off now; I'll be there in a few minutes."

. . . . .

Alice tapped her feet nervously as she played with Dogo, thinking about what would be coming soon – his integration into the larger theriodictis pack. Logically, she knew that the plan was workable and the best option. Cross-fostering occurred in wolves and Dogo was the right age – when he'd been found, Alice had estimated his age anywhere from two weeks to a month old.

However, with the emotional side of her, there was a nagging voice in her head saying, "What if they reject him? What if it fails?" However, she dismissed it – he had to be integrated with his own kind somehow and the sooner the better. And it never hurt to try. Alice's train of thought was interrupted by her communicator ringing. Picking it up she said, "This is Alice, over… Another mission? I'll be on my way."

. . . . .

Drew sat in his office, tapping his feet impatiently. It had been two weeks since the majungasaurus mission – since Jack and Leon's first mission back. Due to the scale of this particular mission, it had been decided that all the team would have to come.

He heard the door open and saw Leon Gilbertson, Adrian Sky, and Jack and Alice Denham enter. Looking at them, he said, half sarcastically, "Cutting it close, don't you think?"

"Sorry about that," said Jack, as Adrian and Alice looked at each other.

Drew nodded and said, sulkily, "Eh, don't be late again."

The team nodded nervously.

Drew smiled and showed them a picture of a giant crocodile. It looked a little like the Brachychampsa already at the park, only several times the size. Jack smiled. "Deinosuchus – one of the super-crocs," he purred in clear excitement. "Was looking forward to the day we went after that."

Drew nodded. "Yep. Deinosuchus was the largest crocodile that ever lived; at its largest, it was up to forty feet long. It was so big that it hunted large dinosaurs."

Leon turned to Drew and said, "Well, second largest; Sarcosuchus was a little bigger. Deinosuchus' closest living relative was the alligator; it's also been found in both freshwater and marine deposits, meaning it ventured out into the ocean sometimes, like the saltwater crocodile. There were no theropods in the region that reached its approximate size, meaning it was the region's top predator." Drew said, "Yeah. So, what are we waiting for?"

And so, once they'd all made a quick stop at the technician station to acquire a hang glider, the team headed to the portal site. An employee entered the time period and location and the portal whirred into life. Drew put the remote in his pocket and, after securing it, turned to his team, who nodded at him, before they went through the portal, into the past.

. . . . .

After the blinding light from the portal dimmed down, the first thing that hit the team was the heat. They looked around to notice that they were standing at the bottom of a sand dune, overlooking a patchy forest. In the distance, they could hear the crashing of waves; they were evidently near the coast.

Jack looked around and turned to Drew, "So, what's the plan?" Drew was about to speak when, suddenly, a loud honking sound echoed from the nearby forest and they turned to see two dinosaurs walking towards them. Each was about twenty feet long and covered in black and tan stripes, grading to lighter colours on the underbelly. Their most distinctive feature was their enormous, tube-shaped crest on their head, which swept backwards from the back of the skull and was red in colour.

The team all looked at each other; they didn't need Leon or the info packs to know what these were. They knew they were Parasaurolophus. Given their size, and the size of their crests, they must have been quite young. The two hadrosaurs looked around, hesitantly, as if scared of something. Jack turned to Drew and asked, "Wonder what's got them so spooked…" Suddenly, a low growl came from behind them. The two Parasaurolophus, spooked, ran off, towards the coastline.

The team turned to see two large theropods walking over the sand dune towards them. They were big; each was about thirty feet long. There was a vague resemblance between them and the T-rexes back at the park, only slightly lighter in build. On their backs, there was a bristly coat of feathers, and their bodies were brown with greyish-white stripes. Drew looked at his team, eyes widened in horror, "Get into the jeep!"

As they got into the Jeep, Leon said, "Teratophoneus. One of the most common theropods in the region. Now we know what those two were scared by."

The two Teratophoneus moved closer to the Jeep, curiously exploring this new arrival. They occasionally snapped at the tires, evidently thinking that the jeep was perhaps an unfamiliar herbivore they could hunt. The team all looked at each other; they couldn't leave with the two theropods blocking their escape path and it wouldn't be long before they attacked the Jeep. This moment of thought was interrupted when Drew suddenly activated the ignition, causing the theropods to back off, hissing and snarling in surprise and rage.

Drew turned to his team and said, "They're not used to the sound of the engine or the smell of the exhaust. It'll keep them at bay long enough for us to get away" The two theropods hissed and snapped in displeasure, before loping off indignantly. Once they had gone, Drew turned to his team and said, "Let's get to the coast – we'll hopefully be able to see Deinosuchus from there." The Jeep drove through the scrubby forest, towards the coastline.

. . . . .

"Steady now," said Linda as she observed Harry moving the ultrasound scanner into position over the anesthetized Shira. As Leon had hoped, the vets had been capable of adding a quick checkup to the schedule. And at that moment, with the ultrasound gel slathered across Shira's abdomen and the ultrasound in place, they'd soon find whether Shira and Diego would remain the last Smilodon fatalis. And sure enough, within a few minutes after they'd gotten the device into position and begun the scans...

Linda nodded her head, a smile on her face. "It's official everyone," she said. "Shira and Diego have cubs on the way. Three of them, to be precise."

"I'll bet Leon will be happy to hear about this," said Yolanda.

"No kidding," said Harry. He nodded his head before looking back at Linda. "What now boss?"

Linda looked to her auburn haired co-chief veterinarian. "Let's get everything cleaned up," she said. "and get Shira back to her paddock. After that, we need to bring Einstein in for his check-up."

. . . . .

Back in the Aguja Formation, the rescue team were still hard at work. After their encounter with the Teratophoneus, the drive down to the coastline of Cretaceous Texas was fairly uneventful. It was about an hour before they reached their destination. They got out of the Jeep and looked out at the beach they were on.

It was low tide and small waves gently lapped at the sand - it looked for all in the world, like a beach in the Caribbean. However, they were standing on the coast of the sea that cleaved North America in two during the Late Cretaceous; the Western Interior Seaway.

Meanwhile, Drew scanned the area; there was no sign of Deinosuchus that he could see. For that matter, apart from sand and sea, there was no sign of anything. Of course, the story might be different elsewhere. Drew looked at his team and said, "Here's the plan; we'll search round the immediate area for any signs of Deinosuchus; if we don't find anything, we meet up and formulate a new plan. For this we'll split up; one of us will take a glider, whilst the rest of us take the Jeep."

Leon said, almost immediately, "I'll take the glider and you guys can take the Jeep." Drew raised his eyebrows curiously, "Why?" Leon's reply was simply, "Let's just say that I need to think about a few things." After saying that, Leon went to get the glider, whilst the rest of the team got the Jeep ready. The search had begun.

. . . . .

Once he'd finished setting it up, Leon launched the glider into the air with himself proudly aboard. And after using the attached propeller for a short distance to help him build up speed and altitude, he found himself soaring through the air like an eagle, intently scanning the ocean below him for any sign of Deinosuchus. He wasn't that high up, but high enough to feel isolated from the world. He smiled at that thought. He liked the solitude- it helped him think.

In a roundabout way, it was thanks to Drew that he was even up in this glider at all. Unlike Drew, neither he nor Adrian had worked for Novum prior to Prehistoric Park. However, whilst Adrian had been learning falconry in that period, Leon had been little more than a recently unemployed animal handler who Drew had recommended to Theodore due to his extensive animal knowledge than anything else. As he'd learned the painful way since, most of his colleagues believed he was nothing more than a walking textbook hired simply because of cronyism. This, combined with his stumble in the Jurassic (amongst others), had cemented his reputation as 'the useless one', with Jack and the rest of the herper crew particularly vocal about it. That hadn't hurt. What did hurt was that Drew, who he… cared deeply about and who'd gotten him hired in the first place, was buying into it.

Then he remembered the conversation he'd had with Jack back in Madagascar two weeks ago, and how Jack, his former detractor, had stated that there were people who respected him and that he wasn't a hanger-on. In all fairness, those words certainly weren't without truth. After all, the four chiefs of staff all seemed to respect him – Khatin seemed to respect his intelligence and the vets, especially Yolanda, seemed to appreciate his company.

During his periods off rescue duty, he'd improved his animal keeping skills slightly – his saving Yolanda had been another factor, as well as the fact that he and Jack had worked together on the dunkleosteus and titanicthys. Yet at the same time, he still had a long way to go – people still were questioning his abilities. And a small, yet vocal, portion of his mind still couldn't help but worry that they were right.

He thought to himself some more. At the end of the day, did he really want to see himself vindicated? His heart wanted nothing more than for the answer to be yes. After all, from the day he'd first accepted Theodore's offer alongside Drew and Adrian, he'd hoped more than anything that his new job at Prehistoric Park would be when he finally fit. But at the same time, he couldn't help but worry. And then he thought to himself more. Was he perhaps worrying too much? Putting his head before his feelings?

His train of thought was abruptly cut off by a sudden distinctively pterosaur-like squawking, and he looked up in time to see a small flock of azhdarchids, with an eleven-foot wingspan, surrounding him. Each had long and pointed leathery brown wings, long stork-like beaks with slight upturned curves on their upper jaws, with tannish grey helmet-shaped crests, short, red-skinned necks and heads, amber eyes and jet black pycnofibers covering the rest of their bodies. He knew immediately what they were; navajodactylus, a common pterosaur of the area. He narrowed his eyes into a glare at the flock, his teeth gritting into a silent bitter snarl. "Darn it," he thought bitterly to himself, "If only the portal could work well in the air". And so he was forced to bitterly watch as the pterosaurs eventually flew away out of his reach. "Next time," he thought to himself. "Next time."

In that moment, his thoughts were interrupted once more at the sight of something moving beneath him. Right, eyes back on the prize. He looked down to the sea below, and saw a massive crocodilian shape swimming in the water. He knew what this was; their target – deinosuchus. He kept his watchful gaze on the creature as it kept swimming further and further through the ocean waters before eventually reaching an estuary, turning to the left and beginning to swim up the river.

Leon nodded his head. He'd seen enough. He leaned into the glider turning it towards the rendezvous point. It was better to share the information personally.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, the rest of the team had come upon a small group of pachycephalosaurs. Each was about four feet tall and covered in tannish scales, with white stripes on the side. The pachycephalosaurs were accompanied by a small group of white-feathered oviraptorids, each about a foot tall. Regarding them, Drew said, "The pachycephalosaurs are probably texacephale, whilst the oviraptorids are most likely leptorhynchos."

Suddenly, one of the oviraptorids turned to look at the forest and let out a squawk of alarm, and the texacephale herd suddenly turned and began to run towards the team with the oviraptorid flock following close behind. Drew, not wanting to miss the opportunity that this afforded, turned to his team and yelled, "Now!" Alice hurriedly drew out her portal remote and pointed it in the direction of the running animals before she then pressed the button and the portal whirred into life. Not changing their course, the entire combined herd stampeded through the portal, into the present.

What had startled them became apparent mere seconds after the last of the pachycephalosaurs and oviraptorids had vanished into the portal – some distance away, watching the affair with cold disappointment, was a small pack of tyrannosaurs. They were heavier-built than the Teratophoneus, but slightly darker in colour. At the sight of them, Drew smiled – he didn't know what these were. "I think we have a new species. What do you say we give Nikolai a little surprise?"

Shockingly, it was Jack who turned to Drew and said, "No, Drew. We tell Nikolai about this – you know what we promised." "He's right Drew," said Adrian, nodding his head with a stern look on his face. "We made a deal with him, remember? We only rescue undiscovered giant carnivores after we tell him about them." Drew sighed petulantly. "Fine," he grumbled, clearly sulking, before he then lifted his communicator right as the newly discovered tyrannosaurs turned away and sulkily wandered off to elsewhere. "Nikolai, we've made a discovery…"

. . . . .

Fifteen minutes later, with the discovery of the new tyrannosaur species reported and permission granted by Nikolai for said species to be rescued, the foursome returned to the agreed upon rendezvous point in time to see Leon already there and putting away the glider. "Well, isn't this nice timing?" Leon said in amusement. "I was going to call you."

"Good to see you, Leon," said Adrian. Drew nodded his head. "Anything to report?"

Leon nodded his head. "I saw a deinosuchus heading inland – down the river. I also saw some pterosaurs, but I'm not sure that's relevant…"

"Thank you, Leon," said Drew, nodding in approval, "Let's follow the river – we should reach a lake at some point."

"As you wish," said his four teammates in unison.

The plan thus agreed upon, the team began following the river in the Jeep. They had initially discussed going upriver in canoes, but with the presence of Deinosuchus, this was deemed too risky. After about an hour of driving, they reached a large, freshwater lake. However, there was still no sign so far of any Deinosuchus… in fact, there was no sign of any animals at all. However, Drew was undeterred, and said, "Let's search in there," he said, pointing his finger at a nearby coastal forest. "I think we can take a detour."

"Sounds like a plan to me fearless leader," said Jack. And so the team headed off into the woods. After about an hour, a loud, booming squawk echoed through the air. Following the sound, they saw a small group of ostrich-sized dinosaurs standing in a clearing, resembling a cross between a cassowary and a chicken – their prominent crest and shortened beak gave them a strangely goofy look. Some were larger than the others, and with large throat wattles.

"Hagryphus," Leon said, "a kind of oviraptorid." Adrian nodded his head. "I think this is a lek." Drew gave him a confused look. "A what?" Adrian rolled his eyes and said, "The males are gathering to display to the females. Lekking males can be quite aggressive. I told you about this back at Hell Creek remember?" Drew smirked, "I think I've come up with a plan to get them through the portal then."

And so, Drew walked into the clearing and began blaring his horn at the assembled dinosaurs, causing them all to look his way. The males' grudges promptly forgotten at the sight of this new competitor, they charged at him and, when they had gotten close enough, Drew opened the portal and they barrelled through, into the present. The females, confused, followed close behind. Turning to his team, Drew asked, "Anybody up for travelling a bit further?" His team looked at each other, before Jack said, "Yeah, fearless leader, we all are."

And so they travelled back the way they'd come, eventually making it back to the Jeep – and more animals. Drinking by the lake was a herd of Parasaurolophus, including the two youngsters from earlier, accompanied by three other species of hadrosaur, one with a small, circular crest and covered in brownish-tan scales with a white underbelly and the others crestless, but with large nasal sacs, one with slate grey scales and black stripes, and the other covered in black scales with white patches. The team turned to Leon, who knew what they were immediately. "The crested hadrosaurs are Angulomastacator, whilst the crestless ones are Aquilarhinus and gryposaurus… Jack, are you not listening?" The rest of the team noticed that Jack was looking at something on the other side of the lake. Without turning to look back, he said, "Sorry to interrupt Leon…" He then pointed towards the far side of the lake. "But are those what I think they are?"

The team turned to look at what Jack had been seeing. Resting on the banks of the other side of the lake were several large crocodiles. In fact, they were incredibly large; the largest was up to forty feet long. They looked like giant versions of the Brachychampsa back at the park. However, rather than the Brachychampsa's slate-black scales, these were a greenish grey in colour, becoming darker on the back and lighter on the underbelly. Drew smiled, "Deinosuchus. Guys, we've just found our targets." Leon turned to Drew. "So, what do we do?"

Drew turned to him and smiled. "We've got the crocs and some hadrosaurs in the same place; that means we could, hopefully, get five species for the price of one. All we need to do is wait." As they watched the herd, a young Parasaurolophus, having strayed slightly from the others was drinking from the lake.

Suddenly, the water churned and the young hadrosaur narrowly missed being snapped up in a pair of crocodilian jaws. The crocodile gave a single hiss of outrage and recoiled into the water, as the herd began to move away from the lake. As the team watched this, feeling slightly disheartened that they had missed their target, they also couldn't help but notice the bushes nearby were beginning to rustle…

Suddenly, a pack of teratophoneus, including the two that the team had encountered earlier, and charged at the hadrosaurs. The panicked herbivores stampeded away from the lakeside and Drew, not wanting to miss the opportunity that this afforded, turned to his team and yelled, "Now!" Jack did not need to be told twice, and he hurriedly drew out his portal remote and pointed it at the stampeding hadrosaurs before pressing the button; at which point the portal whirred into life. Not changing their course, the entire herd stampeded through the portal and into the present, their fear of the teratophoneus outweighing any fear they may have had for the unfamiliar vortex of light. Disappointed at losing their kill, the teratophoneus stalked off.

Watching the tyrannosaurs leave, Drew turned back to the lake; the Deinosuchus had gotten away. He sighed, "Damn." Leon walked up to Drew and asked, "What's the plan now?" Drew sighed and looked around; the sun was setting and it wouldn't really be safe looking for Deinosuchus at night. He breathed out. "We follow the teratophoneus – see if we can salvage something before it gets dark."

The team did as suggested, carefully following the teratophoneus pack as the large theropods slowly trekked around the lake and towards the nearby forest. As they entered the forest, Leon and Alice noticed that the sound of rustling began to rise from the bushes around the team as they continued making their way through the woods. Before long, even Drew became aware of the noise. "What should we do?" Adrian asked. "Keep scanning the undergrowth," said Drew, "This is the perfect environment for an ambush. If necessary, we might have to..."

Suddenly, the bushes around them started rustling considerably more loudly than before, and a familiar harsh barking cough burst out from within the rustling foliage. Everyone tensed as the rustling and barking got louder, and then nine medium-sized theropods burst out from the undergrowth to surround the gang, snarling and hissing as they crouched as if in preparation for a lunge. Each theropod was about six feet long and tall enough to come up to the five humans' thighs, and their bodies were covered in black and white feathers, complete with black feathered 'crests' on the tops of their heads, except for their faces, fingers, and feet, which were covered in yellow scales. They had long snouts, their mouths filled with sharp teeth, and large intelligent looking amber eyes outlined with red scales. They all stood on two powerful hind legs each, all of them with three-toed taloned feet; the second toe on each foot was larger than the others and held aloft, tipped in vicious sickle-shaped claws. In that moment, all nine of them cocked their heads curiously at the five humans.

Jack and Leon both instantly recognized the beasts for what they were. "Those are saurornitholestes," said Jack, breathless, "A local dromaeosaurid." "Yep," said Drew. "Had a feeling we'd bump into them. They've probably been following us for some time – we must have walked into their territory while we were following the teratophoneus." The dromaeosaurids snarled, but stood still, as if wondering whether to attack. The rescue team remained utterly rigid, not wanting to risk an attack, whilst Alice eventually looked to Drew and whispered, "If you've got a plan, now might be a good time to put it in action."

Jack, however, soon thought up a plan himself upon overhearing what his sister had just said, and he looked carefully to Leon. "Pass me the bait bag," he whispered. Leon looked to Jack and whispered, "Why?" "There's meat in there remember?" Jack responded, pointing at the bait bag he wanted Leon to pass to him. "We can use it to distract them from us long enough to get the portal ready." This was all Leon needed to hear, and he quietly passed the bag to Jack, careful to avoid potentially angering the raptors into attacking. Upon receiving the bag, Jack drew out a slab of raw steak and threw it away from him and the rest of the team. Snarling gleefully, the nine raptors bolted after the steak, eventually starting to eagerly fight each other over it. Taking advantage of the chaos, Jack drew out what turned out to be a portal grenade, primed it, and then tossed it amongst the squabbling saurornitholestes pack; at which point it then exploded into a vortex of light, the raptors vanishing into it along with the steak they'd been fighting over as they were promptly teleported to the park. Once the impromptu portal had finally closed, the team looked to Jack, who smiled and flashed Drew a thumbs-up. "Learned from the best fearless leader." Drew nodded, a smile on his face. "Taking a page out of my book. I like it." He looked up to the sky, noticing that the sun was now just inches above the horizon. "Let's start heading back to the jeep," he said. "We don't want to be out here at night." The rest of the team agreed, and they all started on their way back the way they'd come.

The sun had halfway sunk beneath the horizon by the time the gang exited the forest, enough for them to see where they'd left the Jeep. At the same time, they also caught sight of a combined herd of three different species of ceratopsian gathered around the shoreline where the earlier rescued hadrosaurs had been. Nine of them were covered in dark slate grey scales with boiling red underbellies and had red eye-like spots on their frill crests. Ten of them had olive green scales with blue 'eye spots' on their crests. And the remaining eight had mottled brown scales with red and white markings across their faces and crests. Leon, par for the course, was able to identify them instantly. "The grey ones are agujaceratops, the green ones are kosmoceratops, and the brown ones with the red and white faces are utahceratops." "Perfect," Drew chuckled, his trademark grin on his face before he then looked to Leon. "Alright Leon. You and Alice move over to the other side of the herd and see if you can spook them into stampeding towards us with some tyrannosaur recordings while Jack, Adrian, and I summon the portal in time to send them to the park when they come running at us away from you."

Leon and Alice widened their eyes. "Well this is a different plan than usual," said Alice. "Considering how I owe my life to the damn thing, I thought it might be useful," Drew explained with a grateful smile. Leon gulped, equal parts surprised and flattered. "As you wish then," he said before looking to Alice. "Alright Alice, let's get..."

A low, rumbling snarl caught the entire team's attention, and they looked towards the ceratopsians to see the new tyrannosaur pack approaching them. At this point, Drew looked to Leon, nodding his head apologetically. "Sorry," he said, "Change of plan." "If you say so," said Leon. Alice nodded in agreement. And minutes later, as the stampeding ceratopsians got closer and closer to the rescue team, Drew swiped out his portal remote and pressed the button in time to summon the portal. Moving too fast to stop, all three of the ceratopsian species went barrelling through to the safety of the present. The tyrannosaurs, eager to avoid losing their prize, dove through the portal mere seconds after the ceratopsians had themselves vanished, moving as if a single entity. Once the last had gone through, the portal closed. "That should be enough for now," said Drew. He looked back at his team. "Alright everyone. Let's get over to the jeep and start setting up camp. We'll probably have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow."

The rest of the team nodded in agreement. "One thing that you haven't been quite clear on – how are we going to get the deinosuchus though?" Alice asked. Drew grinned. "Have no fear Ms. Denham," he said. "I have an idea that might work better for us tomorrow. We can talk about it once we've set up camp."

. . . . .

Khatin von Schorzberg was hard at work in his lab – he had observations to file, things to plan. Things to be released for the day the existence of the park was revealed to the world.

And as he thought of this, he took a quick look at a nearby incubator machine. Contained within were two large, ostrich-like eggs. He nodded his head, a smile on his face. These were ornithomimus eggs, who had rolled out of their nest and had been extracted from the paddock by the attending ornithischian keepers, and now here they were under his care, being dutifully kept warm in one of the spare incubators in his lab.

He nodded his head. Whilst, in the Cretaceous, these two eggs would have been snapped up by nest raiders. Here, however, things would be different. Part of him was interested at the prospect of directly observing the development of a baby dinosaur personally when those two hatched.

At the sound of his walkie talkie going off, he drew the device out of his belt and answered. "Schorzberg, over?" There was a pause. "A new tyrannosaur species? Say no more. I'm on my way." He ended the call, took one last quick check on the incubator, smiling again as he saw that the two eggs were still at ideal temperature, and then exited his lab to head off to the holding pens. As they said, duty called. And he had to admit, coming up with a name for a brand-new species of tyrannosaur certainly sounded exciting. There were indeterminate tyrannosaur remains known from that formation… He shook his head side to side in bemusement. "That's palaeontology for you," he said sentimentally to himself. "Always full of surprises."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, at the vet station, John Willoby was also busy observing the harpactognathus egg that had fallen out of its nest and had now been placed in an incubator. He smiled – he'd visited the egg every day to check on it and had entertained the idea of training the little pterosaur to work with the security team once it was big enough. And not only had Adrian already agreed to help train the harpactognathus, but Jack Denham and captain Nikolai had both expressed the belief that it could be worth a try.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Don't count your eggs before they hatch," he whispered to himself as he resumed his careful observation, before checking his watch and saying to himself, "I'd best make sure I'm ready for when I get the call to come help escort Einstein back to the Hell Creek herbivore paddock."

. . . . .

At the holding pens, the newest batch of rescued animals had been rounded up and led away to the holding pens, with the newly discovered tyrannosaur species pack warily stalking around the borders of their pen while all three newly rescued species of ceratopsian were all leisurely gathering around in the centre of their shared holding pen, bellowing in curiosity at their new surroundings. Standing near the ceratopsian pen was ornithischian keeper Cass Cheng was currently positioned at, nodding her head with a contented smile on her face. "Looking after these is going to be fun," she thought to herself, before turning her mind to Einstein, who was scheduled to undergo a routine checkup; and whilst he'd likely be given a clean bill of health, there was always the possibility…

"Thinking about Einstein, I see."

Chuckling, Cass turned her head in the direction of this familiar voice in time to see none other than hoofstock keeper Horace Northup. "That obvious huh?"

Horace chuckled, a sly grin on his dark face, and then nodded his head. "Don't worry. It's perfectly understandable." He briefly looked at Kyle and Nikolai, and then back to Cass. "I'm willing to go see if Mr. Taymor and captain Koshkin are willing to let us see him on our next break". Cass nodded her head, smile already widening on her face. "I'm in."

Half an hour later, Horace and Cass were visiting Einstein in his veterinary holding pen while he was waiting for the results of his blood test, chuckling happily as the cheerful pachycephalosaurus grunted and hooted amicably at them. "It's good to see you too, Einstein," Cass said happily, to which the pachycephalosaurus hooted at her and nodded his head as if in agreement. Horace chuckled. "Well met, Einstein. Dermot'll be wondering why I haven't introduced you to him."

"No kidding," Cass agreed, nodding as Einstein briefly turned his head away from her and started sniffing around the walls of his pen. She then looked to Horace, thinking happily about just how close of a friend she'd come to view the Nigerian hoofstock keeper. They'd first properly met and talked to each other on the day of the La Brea Tar Pits mission and had quickly bonded – they'd both come from the world of hoofstock keeping… and understood the stigma about it. Nobody saw them as professionals or skilled at anything – they were just minding the animals that nobody really cared much for. That meant, as Horace had said, keepers like them needed to stick together.

In fact, this was, in part, the reason why they'd let Leon work with their divisions after he'd gained sufficient experience with the invertebrates and aquatics. Leon may have been many things – but disrespectful was not one of them. He'd been genuinely interested in helping them and knowing about how to take care of the animals they did.

Sighing in content, Cass leaned her head on Horace's shoulder, the Nigerian keeper looking at her in half confusion and half amusement in response. "I really ought to thank you again Horace," Cass said, "You really are a great friend." The hoofstock keeper chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Right back at you Cass," he said. "Right back at you." He nodded his head and looked up towards the sky. "I have to admit, life was pretty rough for me growing up in Nigeria," he said. "And honestly, times like this are enough to remind me how much I wish I could have a good friend like you with me during that time."

"I know the feeling," Cass agreed, nodding her head. "When I was a kid, Tina and I were always at odds. And our parents encouraged it – they tried to make us rivals. Having a friend like you would have definitely made things easier." She then looked back at Horace, smile once again on her face. "But I suppose it's better late than never, right?" Horace chuckled. "Right."

The sound of a hooting grunt caused Horace and Cass to look back in Einstein's direction in time to see that the pachycephalosaurus was now directing an amused look at them. Horace and Cass looked at each other and looked at Einstein – not to be too anthropomorphic, but the pachycephalosaur's expression implied that he knew something that even they did not.

. . . . .

In Prehistoric Texas, the team had driven the jeep over to the shore of the lake they had seen the Deinosuchus on and subsequently made camp. However, before they turned in, they made what they would use to catch the giant crocodiles the next morning. They stood in front of a long, double row of wooden posts, leading from the lake. These posts culminated in a "blind end" of three wooden posts. Drew, turned to his team, smiling, "Right, here's the plan! We put bait in at the blind end and lure some Deinosuchus out of the water and up the stockade. When they reach the blind end, we'll set up the portal, sending them back to the park!" Leon looked, flabbergasted, and said, "Planning is just effortless with you, isn't it?" Drew smirked. "Yup!" His face then became a little nervous. "Now, let's turn in; it's not going to be safe sitting out here in the dark. Jack, you've got first watch." The rest of the team headed off to their tents, Jack watching them as they went.

A few hours later... "We've got visitors!"

Jack's shout awoke the rest of the team, who instantly began readying themselves for some prehistoric threat. Jack's shout was followed by a series of loud, barking caws; some predator had found them. When they got out of their tents, they saw what had alarmed their teammate. A pack of small, bipedal dinosaurs were standing around the tent, tearing up the bait bag.

There was a similarity in appearance between these dinosaurs and the Pectinodon back at the park; they had the same curious-looking, forward facing amber eyes, long snout and taloned feet with a sickle-shaped claw on the second toe. However, these were slightly larger, at about seven feet long, their muzzle was slightly longer and their bodies were covered in greyish-brown feathers, except for the snout. The dinosaurs all turned to the humans and hissed.

Leon knew what they were, "Talos. They're scavengers; they must have been attracted by the bait bag." Jack said, "They must have been watching us this whlole time," Jack said. "They probably smelled the meat." Leon turned to Drew and said, "What do we do about them? They've already eaten most of the meat." Drew sighed, "We can salvage something from this." Drew passed Leon his portal remote and slowly walked towards the pack of Talos. As he approached the theropods, they began snarling at him. When he got close enough, he grabbed the bait bag and began to pull it away from the dinosaurs. The nearest Talos grabbed the bait bag with its teeth and a tug-of-war ensued. Drew turned to Leon and yelled, "Now!" Leon immediately pressed the button on the portal remote and the portal whirred into life. The Talos let go of the bag in surprise, allowing Drew to grab the bag and carry it with him as he ran towards the portal, the entire Talos pack following him it. At the last moment, he jumped out of the way, with the bag, causing the entire Talos pack, moving too fast to stop, to dive through the portal. When the last had gone through, Drew nodded to Leon, who pressed the button and the portal closed, at which point Leon handed Drew's portal remote back to him, slightly bemused. Drew slipped his remote back into his belt and turned to his team, smiling, and said, "Well, wasn't that a visit to remember?" Leon checked the bait bag and said, "There's not enough meat here to lure a Deinosuchus. We may need to find other means of bait." Drew sighed. "Let's head back to bed. We'll talk about this in the morning..."

He was interrupted by the sound of bellowing. The entire team looked in the direction the noise had come from – at that moment, they could hear the sound of both ceratopsians and tyrannosaurs in the distance. They looked at each other. "Well, we're already awake," said Alice. "Might as well see what's going on." Drew nodded his head as well. "Read my mind. Let's go."

The team rushed over to where the bellowing noises were coming from, at which point they saw a herd of two different species of ceratopsians, forming a protective ring around the herd's juveniles, and the teratophoneus pack from before. Of the species present, the larger species was covered in slate-black scales and had bull-like horns while the smaller species had coarse tannish grey scales with reddish brown patches and had downward-curving horns. The rest of the team looked hurriedly to Leon, who said "The big ones are nasutoceratops, and the smaller ones are yehuecauhceratops." Jack looked to Drew. "What now fearless leader?"

"The same thing we did when we rescued Arlo," said Drew. He looked to Alice and Adrian. "Adrian, Alice, you're with me. We'll take care of the ceratopsians." He then looked to Leon and Jack. "You two worry about the teratophoneus." Leon and Jack nodded in reply, and the team split up

The teratophoneus were circling the herd, snarling again, before the sound of a loud burst of noise caused them to tense up in surprise and turn to see Jack, who had just blared out that bugling call from his airhorn. "Yeah, that's right," Jack yelled as he then blared his airhorn a second time. "Come and get me!" Bellowing in rage, the teratophoneus pack began to rush towards Jack, who started to run to draw them away from the ceratopsians. The tyrannosaurs were about halfway to reaching Jack when what the sound of a rival tyrannosaur's bellowing split the air to their right, causing them to skid to a halt and look to see Leon standing in that direction with his recording device pointed their way at full volume. "You heard me," said Leon as he played the tyrannosaur bellow recording a second time. "Come at me!" Hissing in rage, the teratophoneus started charging Leon's way. Once they were close enough, Jack blared his airhorn yet again, causing the teratophoneus to turn their attentions back to him. And from there, Jack and Leon continued attracting the attention of the teratophoneus back and forth between them, leading them on a merry chase.

As this happened, Drew, Adrian, and Alice summoned the portal directly nearby the confused, but wary, ceratopsians. And once the portal was summoned, Alice played the ceratopsian bellow recording she had on her recording device, instantly attracting the attention of the herd. At the sight of the herbivores looking uncertain, Drew cupped his mouth with his hands and yelled, "Come on! Hurry up!" In a serendipitous bit of timing, the sound of the teratophoneus bellowing rang through the air from behind the ceratopsians, proving the last bit of convincing they needed to charge as one towards the portal. Once the last one had gone through, Drew looked in the direction where Leon and Jack were still dealing with the teratophoneus. "NOW!"

This was all that Leon and Jack needed to hear. And in that moment, with Leon already set to attract the teratophoneus pack's attention away from Jack, he slid to a stop, thankfully managing to avoid slipping and falling in the process, played the tyrannosaur bellow recording one more time, and then drew out his portal remote as the teratophoneus charged towards him, pressing the button and summoning right as the tyrannosaurs were seconds away from him; at which point the entire pack, moving too fast to stop, dove through the portal and into the safety of the present. Once the last of the carnivores had gone, Leon dismissed the portal and flashed Jack a thumbs up. "Nice work," he said. "Right back at you, Dolittle," said Jack, a proud grin on his face. The two looked to Drew, Adrian, and Alice, who smiled at them. "Good job everyone," said Drew. He then nodded his head and looked meaningfully in the direction of where they'd left their campsite. "Now let's get back to camp and see if we can get some sleep."

. . . . .

Collete smiled, nodding contentedly as she looked into the Argentavis aviary from the top of her watch post. At that moment, both of the teratorns, plus the two Andean condors they were kept with, were perched on the large tree in the centre of the aviary, scanning their territory. In the days following the mission, she'd spent a lot of her breaks at the aviary – and her bond with Hannibal had gotten stronger

As she had those thoughts, Hannibal finally seemed to notice her, at which point he took to the air and flew towards her before landing on the perch next to her watch point. Hannibal cocked his head, giving her a curious look. Collete chuckled, allowing a rare smile to come to her face. "Good to see you, Hannibal." Like Nero, she'd almost found a kindred spirit in the great bird.

Hannibal warbled again, nodding his head up and down as if saying 'nice to see you again' before then flying back to Imilce. Colette looked at the argentavis curiously. After suggesting her idea regarding training Hannibal, she'd also found out that Willoby had been talking about using the harpactognathus egg that had fallen out of the nest some weeks ago when it hatched. Good ideas spread, she supposed.

She briefly checked her watch before climbing down from the argentavis aviary's watch post and headed off to La Brea Grand Vista to check on Nero – she had enough time.

. . . . .

"Isn't it weird?"

At Hugo Adams' statement, Aaron Joseph stopped throwing dead rats to the beelzebufo in the Maevarano forest building and turned to him, confused, and said, "What is?

Looking at his friend, Hugo said, "Before we started this, a frog the size of a beach ball would have been something really odd and remarkable. But, after all the other amphibians we've worked with, it seems a little mundane now." Aaron chuckled and said, "Hey, weird is relative…. But, yeah, it does seem a little par-for-the-course." At this point, they both noticed that the beelzebufo were looking at them, as if wondering why Aaron and Hugo had stopped feeding them. Looking sheepishly at each other, the two men resumed throwing the giant frogs dead rats.

Meanwhile, at the kibokosuchus exhibit, Carmen and Maria were watching the giant herbivorous crocodiles either feeding on the fruit and vegetables that they had been given, basking on the lakebed or swimming in the river. Carmen chuckled. "Strange, aren't they? When most people think of the Cretaceous, they don't think huge vegetarian crocodiles, do they?" Maria nodded. "Yeah – that's what evolving on an island does to you. All these guys evolved because hadrosaurs and the like didn't get to Madagascar – so there were a load of empty niches."

At this, Carmen nodded. "Yeah – evolution can be strange. Speaking of the Cretaceous and crocodiles, how's the prospect of working with another supercroc feel?" Maria chuckled. "God, yes. Thinking of which, I wonder what Jack's getting up to now."

. . . . .

In Cretaceous Texas, the team woke up from their sleep the next morning to note that they once again had visitors. But unlike the talos, these visitors weren't yet any reason for alarm. Gathered around the boundary of the camp was a small herd of ankylosaurs sniffing around as if looking for food. Tough and robust, each of them had blueish grey scales on their backs and tops of their heads, reddish brown scales on their tails, legs, and middles of their bodies, tannish gold underbellies, and dark charcoal grey scales on their feet. They were accompanied a flock of turkey-sized birds covered in brown feathers with black spots and with white downy crests and feathers on their bellies and legs, as well as a small flock of najavodactylus. Leon knew what the other animals were immediately, "The birds are mirarce and the ankylosaurs are akainacephalus."

Drew grinned. "Perfect way to start the day." He looked to his team. "Leon, you and Jack help me with the ankylosaurs. Adrian, you and Alice use what's left of the bait bag to get the birds and pterosaurs through the portal – there's enough for these guys." The team split off to get to work, and within minutes, Adrian and Alice had used what was left of the bait meat to attract the navajodactylus and mirarce through the portal while Drew, Leon, and Jack got the akainacephalus to through the portal to the present using offerings of plants for them to eat. Once that was done, they all looked at the deinosuchus trap before Jack said, "If you have a new plan fearless leader, now would be a good time to tell us about it." Drew chuckled, "Oh, I've got a plan," he said, before smirking. "And it's a cracker."

A few minutes later, Drew stood in the blind end of the trap, explaining his plan to the rest of his team while holding a long paddle in his hands. "For this, I'm going to use myself as bait. I'm going to run out onto the lake and attract them to shore, before running out of the water and towards the stockade; I can easily outrun a Deinosuchus on land. When I get to the blind end, you guys set up the portal and send them back to the park. Any questions?" Leon raised his hand and said, "Aside from pointing out how reckless and death-defying this plan is…" Drew waved him off, "Duly noted and ignored."

Drew walked out onto the lake and waded until he was hip-deep in the water. Then he began hitting the surface of the water with the paddle, hoping that the vibrations would attract the Deinosuchus. After a few minutes, he was proven right when a group of Deinosuchus began swimming towards him. As they got closer he moved further and further back, before he ran out on to land, towards the stockade, with the Deinosuchus in hot pursuit. As they entered the stockade, they turned to single file, with Drew managing to keep one step ahead of them. When he reached the blind end, Drew yelled at the rest of his team, "Set up the portal!" As Drew ran through the posts at the blind end, everyone scrambled to the end of the stockade. From there, Leon, Jack, and Adrian moved the central post of the blind end out of the way to create a proper opening while Alice pressed the button on his portal remote and the portal whirred into life. The first Deinosuchus, a large male, walked through the portal, into the present, as did several young subadults after it. Drew sighed in relief; this was easier than he thought it would have been.

However, the last Deinosuchus, a large female, veered slightly to the left, breaking two of the posts at the stockade's blind end. Drew's eyes widened in horror; if it managed to break through the posts, it would attack them. Drew indicated that Alice turn off the portal and ran over to the posts, grabbing them and trying to keep them upright; Leon ran over to join him. The Deinosuchus continued to snap and hiss in frustration as Drew, Jack and Leon attempted to keep the panels upright. Whilst this was happening, Drew gestured to Alice and Adrian to get to the Jeep; attaching the three poles at the end of the stockade to the Jeep, Alice revved up the engine and pulled away the three poles. Drew, Jack and Leon dived out of the way as the Deinosuchus charged through the gap. Drew pointed the portal remote in its direction and the portal whirred into life; not changing its trajectory, the Deinosuchus went through, into the present. Drew turned to his team and smiled. "Job done. Let's get back to the park." After packing everything up, they drove through the Jeep and straight into the portal.

. . . . .

An hour later, all the new arrivals transferred to their new homes in the appropriately named Aguja Formation exhibit zone. Near the entrance was a massive paddock that served as home to all the ceratopsians and hadrosaurs. At that moment, the herds were either browsing from the trees, drinking from the lake or basking in the sun.

At the rightmost end of the exhibit zone was a small building themed after a Cretaceous Texas coastal forest, and it was this building that served as home for the mirarce flock and the three smaller herbivorous dinosaurs. The texacephale herd were kept in a large paddock in the building's interior, whilst the leptorhynchos and hagryphus were sharing a paddock next to them. The mirarce, meanwhile, were kept in an aviary at the very back of the building, and all the turkey sized enantiornithine birds were scouting about their new home in search of food.

A large outdoor aviary themed after a coastal shore nearby was the new home for the navajodactylus flock, who were either flying about or scouting their new territory.

At the back of the exhibit zone were four paddocks themed after the Aguja formation coastal forests that now served as home for the carnivorous dinosaurs. The one on the far left served as home for the saurornitholestes pack, who were all scouting their new territory, whilst a similarly-sized paddock on the far right served as home for the talos pack, who were all napping in the sun. Jack would be working with both raptor packs soon and Calum Fox had taken an interest in working with two of the subordinate males in the saurornitholestes pack. The two larger paddocks served as home for the two tyrannosaur species, with the teratophoneus pack scouting out their new territory in the paddock next to the talos paddock while the newly discovered species (which Khatin had dubbed agujatyrannus major) feasted upon a freshly provided cow carcass in the paddock next to the saurornitholestes paddock.

And at the very centre of the exhibit zone, was a paddock with a large lake that now served as home for the deinosuchus float. At that moment, the large female who had given the team a bit of trouble, who had been named Dil, was basking on the shore, whilst the rest of her float swam in the lake.

Once again, life was operating smoothly at Prehistoric Park, for now. And with that day's mission marking the end of 'Phase 1' of Prehistoric Park, the staff were all looking forward to a temporary break.

. . . . .

Alice and Tina watched with trepidation as they and several vets and other keepers stood together at the theriodictis paddock to watch as Dogo eagerly padded over towards the theriodictis pack, who were looking curiously at the new arrival. As of now, the time had finally come for Dogo to undergo his attempt at integration into the larger theriodictis pack, and Alice stared nervously at the little pup. "Please don't reject him," she thought to herself as she kept her watchful gaze on Dogo. "Please don't reject him. Please don't reject him."

Dogo eventually came to a stop some distance away from the larger pack, crouching submissively. Reirei and Goigoi, the pack's alpha female and male, slowly approached him. With Alice, Tina, and the other onlookers watching with baited breath and the rest of the pack similarly watching intently, Reirei and Goigoi stared down carefully at the still happily panting, crouching, and tail wagging Dogo, and then later lowered their heads and started sniffing at him. "Moment of truth," Tina whispered to Alice, who nodded her head, fighting with all her willpower to maintain her composure. But eventually, after several nerve wracking minutes, the alpha theriodictis relaxed and turned to walk towards their pack. Dogo stayed rooted to the spot, as if uncertain as to what to do next. The adults stood still and turned to look at him, with Reirei regarding him and cocking her head, as if indicating for Dogo to follow them. The pup walked a few uneasy steps, before following them back to the pack.

Alice, Tina, and the rest of the onlookers all sighed in relief. Dogo had a new family. "Well boss," Tina said with a proud smile on her face as she folded her arms across her chest. "Looks like he made it." Alice nodded her head. "Yes he did," she said, half joyful, half sad.

Eventually, everyone left – except Alice, who had decided to stay and watch Dogo with his new family. "I'm really gonna miss you little buddy," she whispered under her breath. But then her communicator unexpectedly went off, startling her. Nevertheless, she managed to draw it out of her belt and answer it. "Denham, over?"

"Sky speaking, over."

Alice's eyes widened. "Oh hey there Adrian," she said. "What's going on?"

"Are you available for a chat in the staff bar?" Adrian asked from the other end of the line. "I'm guessing Dogo's integration went well, so I thought you might need somebody to talk to.."

"Um, sure, no problem," Alice said, smiling. "See you later."

. . . . .

Jack nodded as he stood before Colette nearby the dire wolf paddock. He'd just had a brief discussion with Nikolai not too long after they came back off the mission. "I've had a chat with Nikolai," Jack said, "And he says that he's decided to give the new ideas the greenlight. The way he sees it, considering how we've got a month's break, there should be just enough time for us to plan something out." He flashed Colette a thumbs up. "Congratulations Colette," he said. "It looks like my dromas are gonna have some company soon."

"Sounds perfect," said Colette before she then briefly gave Jack a gentle hug. "Thank you so much Jack," she said. "You've been a really great...friend."

Jack chuckled, hugging her back. Suddenly, they were interrupted by an almost amused-sounding snarl. Remembering themselves, they broke off and turned to see Nero looking at them, an amused expression on his face. At this, they both blushed and Colette cleared her throat awkwardly. "Right then," she said. "I'll tell Willoby and the rest of the team, and we'll discuss with the captain how best to schedule things."

"Awesome." Jack nodded his head. "See you around Colette." And at that, the two parted ways, Jack heading back to his flat to check on his reptile collection before resuming his duties and Colette heading off to meet up with the rest of the security division.

. . . . .

"So my suspicions were correct?" Leon asked. "Shira's pregnant?" Yolanda nodded, "Yep."

At that moment, they were standing together at the primary viewing area at the smilodon fatalis paddock, with Diego and Shira once again relaxing contentedly upon the large rock in the very centre of their exhibit. Leon chuckled. "I suppose that makes another species to add to the breeding program," he said. Yolanda giggled in response. "You can say that again." She nodded her head. "And I will say this, it's going to be interesting to see how the future turns out." "No kidding," Leon agreed.

Yolanda nodded her head, took a brief look at the napping Diego and Shira, and then looked back at Leon. "And now that I'm thinking about it, I trust that today's mission went well for you?" Leon nodded his head in the affirmative. "Sure did." He flashed Yolanda a thumbs up, a confident grin on his face. "I'll admit, I've had a rough start, but I think I might be starting to get the hang of things."

"That's good to hear," Yolanda said, a proud smile on her face, before she then gave Leon a tight hug. "You've been a great friend Leon," she said. " Thank you." Leon chuckled, and eagerly returned her embrace. "You're welcome Yolanda. I'll try my best not to let you down." Yolanda giggled. "You'd better," she chuckled. The two eventually ended their embrace, and Yolanda turned on her heel and headed back to the vet offices, saying "See you around Leon,". "Right back at you Yolanda," Leon stated, flashing her a thumbs up as a light blush formed on his face. Once Yolanda had vanished from his sight and hearing range, Leon nodded his head, took one last look at the sleeping Diego and Shira, and then turned around and headed off to see if there was anything else he could do before he returned to his bungalow.

. . . . .

Drew nodded his head, a satisfied smile on his face as he observed the newly-restructured t. rex paddock that the four chiefs of staff were now showing to him. It had now been divided into three – with Rexy and Tyrannor still having roughly half the paddock, but with the other half being divided between Terence and Matilda.

"I take it this meets your approval?" Kyle asked. Drew nodded his head. "Yep," he responded. "I am glad to hear that Komandir," said Nikolai.

"What he said," said Linda. "I have to admit though, I'm still surprised you actually believed us on that."

Drew sighed. In a way, he supposed he'd earned that little jab. He'd learned his lesson from Jack and Leon – although the way Kyle and Nikolai had bleated on about it smacked faintly of hypocrisy

"Like I said," Drew then stated. "This should work." He nodded his head. "At least until we figure something out."

"Yes," said Khatin.

"Aye," Kyle agreed.

"Da," said Nikolai.

"Indeed," Linda agreed. She then checked her watch. "Well, if there's nothing else we need to do here, I suppose we should probably move on." Her colleagues nodded in agreement, as did Drew; and they all split up to get back to whatever they were doing. Drew smiled as he headed off. At this point, he was feeling both very proud of what they'd done – it looked like smooth sailing ahead.

Little did he know that there was a storm on the horizon...in more ways than one.

Rescue Tally

* Agujaceratops mariscalensis (9; 7 adults, 2 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)

* Agujatyrannus major (7; 4 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 3 female)

* Akainacephalus johnsoni (7; 4 adults, 3 youngsters; 3 male, 4 female)

* Angulomastacator daviesi (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)

* Aquilarhinus palimentus (12; 8 adults, 4 youngsters; 6 male, 6 female)

* Deinosuchus riograndensis (5; 2 adults, 3 youngsters; 2 male, 3 female)

* Gryposaurus monumentensis (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 5 female)

* Hagryphus giganteus (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)

* Kosmoceratops richardsoni (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 5 female)

* Leptorhynchos gaddisi (7; all adults; 3 male, 4 female)

* Mirarce eatoni (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Najavodactylus boerei (11; all adults; 6 male, 5 female)

* Nasutoceratops titusi (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 5 female)

* Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus (11; 7 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 6 female)

* Saurornitholestes langstoni (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)

* Texacephale langstoni (13; 7 adults, 6 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)

* Talos sampsoni (13; 9 adults, 4 youngsters; 7 males, 6 female)

* Teratophoneus curriei (9; 5 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 4 female)

* Utahceratops gettyi (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Yehuecauhceratops mudei (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 5 male, 4 female)

Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:

A storm has come to Prehistoric Park.

(A flash of lightning goes off, illuminating the main entrance to Prehistoric Park as a storm rages.)

In more ways than one.

(Smokey and Diego roar at each other.)

And as things start to go from bad.

(The lights go out in Khatin's lab.)

To worse.

(A large paddock gate swings open on its own.)

And tensions finally erupt.

(Kyle and Nikolai glare hatefully at each other inside a storm shelter, fists clenched and teeth gritted as Drew looks angrily at them.)

To vicious results.

(Dag, Nero, and their respective packs all snarl at each other by the droma paddock.)

Several bonds and relationships.

(Duke and his pack hiss warily at Jack and Colette, who are accompanied by the dire wolves. In reply, Nero snarls at him.)

Will be put to the test.

(An angry Tina points her finger and glares at Drew while protectively standing between him and Cass.)

And while some will come out stronger than ever.

(Jack and Colette stand in the rain, determined smiles on their faces as they each hold a tranquilliser gun)

Others could yet come out damaged.

(Drew glares angrily at a visibly exhausted Leon while a flabbergasted Jack stares in aghast.)

Can the park come out of this crisis triumphant and stronger than ever?

(Cirrus and various Hell Creek herbivores bellow and squawk viciously at an allosaurus.)

Or is Prehistoric Park doomed to end?

(A crazed Rommel hisses savagely at Dermot who swishes his tail side to side threateningly.)

Before it has even truly begun?

(Terence and Matilda circle each other, snarling before lunging at each other)

Find out next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Hell's Labyrinth!