Chapter 12 - The Oddities

Jack Denham stood at the droma paddock, a smile on his face. Today he was feeling extra confident about how well this current training session he was about to engage in with the dromas would go. Lifting the remote control, he opened a nearby door built into the paddock's side wall and allowed the specially designed training lure to move into the enclosure at a high speed. The sight of the lure moving emboldened the dromas into rushing after it, with Duke and Cassie leading the chase as their son and daughter, Robert and Emmy, and Duke's elderly mother, Jane, following along from opposite angles to allow the pack to try to surround the lure. After a couple minutes or so, Jack deliberately brought the lure to a stop nearby the paddock's rear wall, allowing the dromas to corner their 'prey'. Robert crouched down in preparation for a lunge, his eyes agleam with hungry triumph as he opened his jaws and extended his clawed 'wings' in preparation for grabbing at the lure. His sister, parents, and grandmother all similarly prepared themselves for a lunge at the same time...

A piercing shriek suddenly echoed through the air as Jack blew his training whistle. Hissing in surprise at the noise, the dromas all halted their lunge preparations and turned to look in Jack's direction. Nodding his head, Jack threw each of them a piece of meat. It was imperative that they be rewarded for every time they stopped whenever he blew his whistle; doubly so if they successfully did so instead of immediately attacking a lure or any other thing they'd feel tempted to attack. Fortunately, this attempt had worked well, and the dromas eagerly started chowing down on their offered strips of meat upon catching them in their jaws.

Jack chuckled, a proud smile on his face as he watched the dromas feast upon their reward. He had to admit, so far his work at training them was still going well. He'd spent several weeks, possibly a couple months now, training the dromas. And this was his 10 training session straight in which the dromas had successfully responded to his whistle in the correct way as opposed to ignoring the whistle and attacking the lure. "At this rate," he muttered confidently to himself. "They'll prove very reliable indeed for security to work with."

Suddenly, Jack's communicator went off, and he hurriedly reached to pick it up. Lifting to his ear, he said, "This is Jack. Who is it?" Leon's voice crackled at the other end of the line, "It's Leon. I'm heading for Drew's office and I thought you were going on the mission today." Jack inwardly cringed; he knew he'd forgotten something. He sighed, "I'll see you there in five minutes; I'm done with the dromas anyway."

. . . . .

Five minutes later, Leon and Drew were sitting in the latter's office, waiting for Jack to arrive. Drew was checking his watch and tutting, whilst Leon was looking absent mindedly at the ceiling while fiddling around with his recording device. "He said he'd be here right around now," he said monotonously. Suddenly, a voice said, "I'm here." Drew and Leon turned to see Jack walking towards them, a smile on his face. "Where were you?" Drew asked. "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago." In response, Jack rolled his eyes and replied, "I was busy with the dromas; that's why I was late. Anyway, what are we going after?"

Drew nodded, his trademark grin already replacing his earlier annoyed glare. "Glad you ask," he then replied as he showed Jack and Leon a picture of a large theropod dinosaur with comically small arms, a large powerful head with a short horn on the top, and proportionately short legs. Leon smiled in excitement, "Majungasaurus. This is a change."

Jack raised his eyebrow quizzically at Drew, "That's the cannibal dinosaur, isn't it?" Drew nodded, "Yep." Leon turned to Jack and said, "Majungasaurus was a kind of theropod called an abelisaur. They were amongst the top predators of the southern continents during the late Cretaceous, and majungasaurus is one of the best known."

Drew nodded and said, "Correct as usual Leon. And with that in mind, let's go!"

And so, they headed to the portal site. When they got there, Leon and Drew were surprised to see Collete standing on the walkway; however, Jack smiled. "Dropped by to see me off?"

Collete rolled her eyes and said, "I came to wish you good luck on the mission today." After a brief pause, she said, "All of you."

A nearby employee entered the time period and location for the day's mission and the portal whirred into life. Drew nodded his head in approval and looked to Leon, who nodded, before then looking to Jack, who gave him a wink and a thumbs up. Drew nodded at them both. As the team subsequently turned to head towards the portal, Jack suddenly heard Collete shouting from the walkway, "Oh, and Jack? Promise me you'll be careful!" Jack nodded to her with a confident smile, and he, Drew, and Leon entered through the portal.

. . . . .

Once the blinding light from the portal had died down, the first thing that hit the three adventurers was the heat - other eras had been hot, but this was almost oppressive. They looked around to see that they were standing on cracked mud, with several fish carcasses and a sauropod skeleton lying ruined upon the ground while several denuded trees surrounded the area.

"Christ, it looks like a bomb site," Jack muttered as he looked around the decaying land. Leon responded, "At this time, Madagascar was a lot drier than it is now. This is probably a seasonal swamp; for a quarter of the year, it's filled with water and vegetation. For the rest, it looks like this."

Suddenly, a low trumpeting bellow began to echo through the air a couple yards ahead. Drew, Jack, and Leon went rigid - they knew that sound. Following the noise, they saw a small herd of sauropods, consisting of both sexes and all ages, moving across the dried up land. They were smaller than the ones back at the park - the largest was only about 50 feet long - and they were all covered in reddish-brown scales with armour plates on their backs.

Drew and Jack turned to Leon, who identified the sauropods immediately. "Rapetosaurus - a kind of titanosaur. Madagascar's long isolation meant that ornithischian dinosaurs couldn't get there - so not only are the titanosaurs the main herbivores, but there's a bunch of other unique stuff that's found nowhere else." At this, Jack snorted. "A lot like today," he admitted. "Madagascar's got lemurs, fossa, and more chameleons than anywhere else on Earth. Guess some things never change, eh fearless leader?" Drew nodded, "Yeah, some things really don't." He paused. "Anyway D-bags, they're searching for water and moving at a very doable pace. So if we follow them, we'll find a watering hole." He took off after the sauropods, "Come on D-Bags!"

At this, Jack and Leon stared blankly at each other. "Can you believe I got annoyed when he called us that?" Jack asked. Leon shrugged. "Can't imagine why," he grumbled sarcastically. Nevertheless, they both followed Drew into the desert, eager to avoid losing the sauropods.

. . . . .

"Steady now," said Harry as he manoeuvred a large X-ray camera into position.

At that moment, he and the rest of the veterinary team were busy performing an x-ray on Babar, the large male Columbian mammoth. This was a precautionary measure - a routine checkup some weeks before had revealed, beneath a healed wound, a foreign object embedded in his knee joint, which turned out to be a fragment of a spear tip. The object had since been surgically removed to avoid the possibility of infection; and now, a week later, they were checking just to be safe.

Eventually, Harry got the camera into position, turning to Linda immediately afterward. "How's this?" The head vet nodded, "Perfect. Just make sure he stays steady and calm everyone." Fortunately, Babar was remaining still, as the camera scanned his limb, as Yolanda and Linda looked carefully at the x-ray. Linda soon smiled and nodded, "Looks like his knee healed up perfectly. And there's no sign of infection in his blood."

"He's a tough mammoth," said Bethany as she shook her head, a contemplative look on her face as she thought about the spearpoint, "Though I will say it's rather odd on how similar it is to the one we extracted from Eshe. Remember that?" "Yeah," Harry agreed, remembering the large harpoon-like spearpoint, which now served as a paperweight on Linda's desk. "It really did a number on her - she's lucky it didn't hit any of her internal organs."

"No kidding," Yolanda agreed before looking back at Babar. "Well," she stated. "With his knee joint healed, we can probably let him back out into the paddock now."

The rest of the vets agreed, and Babar was released back into the main La Brea herbivore paddock. However, Bethany remained standing where she'd been throughout the checkup, now holding the fragment and observing it curiously. Harry eventually noticed. "Everything alright?"

Bethany briefly jolted, but then turned to look at her colleague. "I'm alright," she stated. "Just a little brain spasm." "What?" Yolanda asked, having overheard, as Linda asked, clearly concerned, "Is there a problem?"

"Not sure really," Bethany admitted. She sighed. "I mean, the Clovis were around at that time. And they hunted mammoths. But...there's something odd about those two spearpoints."

"What makes you say that?" Harry asked.

"They don't look like Clovis spearpoints," Bethany explained. "They're too big, too wide, and they've got harpoon-like barbs." Linda thought to herself – the point was valid. "We'll get it to Khatin," she eventually said. "See what he makes of it..."

Linda's communicator suddenly went off, and she answered immediately. "Dr. Eberhart speaking, over?" Her eyes suddenly widened. "What?! Whoa, slow down a little. They're fighting? Oh God, that bad? Say no more. I'm on my way."

She ended the call and looked at the rest of her team. "Everyone get moving," she said. "We have an emergency at Hell Creek! Terrence and Matilda are fighting again - and this time it's really getting serious!"

. . . . .

"Keep spraying!" Kyle roared as the keepers tried desperately to separate the two fighting t. rexes, but to no avail. The two siblings had begun fighting fifteen minutes ago, something that had become more and more common – this time, however… it had gotten a lot more serious. And worse, Rexy and Tyrannor, who could usually be trusted keep their offspring in line, were currently fast asleep as they took a nap in their den at the very back of the paddock, leaving it up to the keepers to put a stop to the scuffle. Kyle had already shot Matilda with a tranquilizer; but the drugs always took time to work. And at that moment, she had her jaws locked tightly in place around her brother's neck as he screeched in pain while also bleeding from several gashes in his head. Kyle mentally cursed, his teeth gritted. 'Another emergency. It never fails,' he mentally grumbled to himself.

Eventually, with an enraged hiss, Matilda released her brother's neck after getting blasted in the face by the hose. She loomed over her smaller brother, battered and bleeding, before the tranquilizer drugs finally started taking effect. Walking backward as if in a drunken stupor, she eventually collapsed.

With Matilda now at last out of commission, all focus went straight to Terrence. The battered young male t. rex lay on the ground, breathing heavily as Linda and her team finally arrived. Kyle smiled exhaustedly. "Better late than never," he said. Linda nodded in agreement before looking over towards Terrence, a look of sympathy in her eyes before saying, "Come on everyone. Let's get Terrence to the operating room, stat!"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in the Cretaceous, Drew, Jack, and Leon hiked through the desert, following the trail of the sauropods, who had stridden out of their sight. For three hours there was no sign of the sign of the sauropods apart from their tracks, or any sign of water, plants, or anything other than a vast, desolate expanse of desert. However, they eventually reached the top of a hill in time to find a small lake surrounded by a small stand of forest on the other side. Admittedly, calling it a 'lake' was a bit of an embellishment - 'pond' would have been more accurate… but even that was pushing it a bit. But compared to the desolate landscape surrounding it, even this pitifully small body of water surrounded by a small ring of trees could be considered a veritable oasis, a patch of dark green in the drabness of the desert. And as the team approached the lake, they saw the rapetosaurus drinking from the lake, dipping their long necks and gulping water. Looking at the sauropods, and taking note of just how eagerly they were drinking from the water, Jack said, "They must have been parched." He then turned to Drew, "Fearless leader, I don't think there's any need to leave here for the time being. I mean, a lot of animals are going to be attracted here by the water..."

Suddenly, one of the sauropods hooted an alarm; and the subsequent sound of heavy footsteps and rustling foliage caused Drew, Leon, and Jack to turn their heads to see a large theropod dinosaur walking towards the lake. The massive carnivore was covered in reddish brown scales and was about twenty-five feet long, with a low-slung powerful looking body and a short rounded head with a small horn on the top. A snarl revealed a mouth full of sharp teeth. Despite its powerful looking head, its arms were short and almost useless looking. Its powerful body was counterbalanced by a long tail. It came closer to the lake, letting out a shrill 'roar' that sounded like a mixture between a shrieking bird and a hissing snake, which caused the rapetosaurus herd to move nervously away from the carnivore before watching warily as it bent over the water's edge and dipped its mighty jaws in to start gulping down water.

At the sight of the theropod, Jack turned to Leon and quietly said, "Majungasaurus?" Leon nodded, "Majungasaurus."

Once the theropod had finished its drink, the theropod strode over to the nearest trees, lay down, and began resting in the shade, ignoring the sauropods. Drew laughed, "He mustn't be very hungry then." Leon said, "Yeah, in a drought, water always takes higher priority over food. Though admittedly, the sauropods should stick around for a while since there's food available for them here alongside the water." He paused. "I know this might fall on deaf ears," he eventually said as he began to move closer towards where Drew was standing. "But I'd say we can probably start with something smaller..."

His train of thought was interrupted when he unwittingly placed his foot inside a large hole, almost falling flat on his face. Leon winced from the fall before then gritting his teeth irritably and working to try to get his foot back out of what he now had a strong feeling was likely some luckless creature's burrow, a task that rather irksomely soon proved easier said than done. Drew and Jack gave him perplexed looks as, after multiple attempts, he finally managed to pull his foot loose.

Seconds later, a loud croaking came from inside the burrow where Leon's foot had been, causing the trio to go rigid as they realized that the burrow had in fact been occupied. It was Jack who managed to speak first as he got down on his knees to investigate while drawing out a small torch, "Sounds like some kind of frogs; but what kind?" He shined the light from his torch down into the burrow, revealing a small group of giant frogs staring groggily back at him. They looked like African bullfrogs, only much larger - they were each about the size of a beach ball. They also had vaguely horn-like extensions over their eyes.

At the sight of them, Drew smiled and said, "Beelzebufo - the devil frog. Another Maevarano weirdo - and the largest frog that's ever lived."

"They must have been aestivating," said Jack. "Like spadefoot toads." He looked to Leon, "Until you, Dolittle, woke them up." He then looked to Drew, unaware of Leon's frustrated sigh. "I think I know how to get them through the portal fearless leader."

Jack's plan, as it turned out, was to pour a small amount of water into the burrow to trick the frogs into thinking the rains had returned. And sure enough, the frogs began to emerge, one by one, from their burrow. Once the first of the frogs had gotten just close enough to the burrow's entrance, Jack opened the portal. And from there, seemingly in curiosity over the bright light, the beelzebufo went, one by one, through the portal and into the present. Once the last had gone through, Jack turned to Drew and Leon and said, "How'd I do?" Leon nodded and said, "That was pretty clever." Drew smiled in approval, "Job well done. We can probably go ahead and handle the larger animals here now." However, Jack turned to look at another nearby burrow. "Hold on now," he said as he walked over to the other burrow. "There might be some other animals in here."

Shining his light into the other burrow, Jack saw several small snakes; one kind purplish colored and the other kind yellow; staring back at him. Jack turned to Drew and said, "Kelyophis and menarana. Burrowing snakes - and I have just the thing to catch them with." Jack silently reached into his backpack and drew out a pillowcase. Careful not to alarm the snakes, Jack reached into the burrow and slowly placed all the kelyophis and menarana into the pillow case. Once they were all in, he gently sent the pillowcase through the portal. "There," he said. "That takes care of that."

"What are those?"

Jack and Drew looked to Leon, eyebrows raised in confusion. Then they looked towards where he was pointing in time to see ten small terrestrial lizard crocs crawling into view from out of a third nearby burrow. They looked fairly similar to the terrestrisuchus back at the park, only slightly more stout, covered in dark gray scales with lime green spots, and with small sharp teeth sticking out of their jaws at the tips. If it weren't for the scales, green spots, crocodile like tails, and the fact that the teeth sticking out at the tips of their jaws were much more slender and visibly pointy, these little crocs could have easily been mistaken for rats. Curious, Jack looked to Leon. "You don't know what those are?" Leon shook his head. "There's no evidence of these guys in the fossil record. Believe me, I wouldn't have asked what they are if I'd read about them in my research." Drew nodded his head in understanding, "They must be an undiscovered species." He looked to Jack. "We got any bugs in the bait bags? If these guys are anything like the similar small crocs we've rescued before, insects should be right on their menu."

Fortunately, the team had in fact brought along insects from the park's kitchens. And with gentle offerings of such, the team managed to convince all ten of the small rat-like lizard crocs through the portal. Leon nodded his head once the last of the small newly discovered crocs had vanished through the portal, "Khatin will certainly like these guys."

Jack nodded in agreement and looked to Drew, "Kyle's probably going to be very happy we started with some of the little stuff this time." Drew nodded his head and looked towards the now slowly setting sun. "Eh, we still have time to get him something bigger," he then said before chuckling darkly. "In fact, we can send him something bigger right now..." He'd turned his head while saying this to look at where the rapetosaurus herd and single majungasaurus had been...only to find they were now gone.

"Where did they go?" Jack asked in clear shock.

"I didn't even hear them leave," said a perplexed Leon.

Drew sighed. "Nothing we can do about it now," he bitterly admitted before nodding his head. "But we can still salvage this tomorrow." He took another look at the setting sun, "Come on. Let's see if we can find anything else before the sun goes down."

The team headed off in search of more animals. Leon sighed as he walked morosely behind Drew and Jack; just an hour into his first mission back on rescue duty and he'd already screwed up again. Maybe he'd ask Jack about it when they made camp.

. . . . .

Back at the park, Collete was in a good mood, nodding her head contentedly as she looked into the argentavis aviary from atop her nearby watch post. At that moment, both gigantic Miocene vultures, plus the two Andean condors living alongside them, were perched on the large tree in the centre of the aviary, scanning their territory. Over the past two weeks, Collete had spent a lot of her breaks at this aviary. Weirdly, she'd also started bonding with the male argentavis, named Hannibal.

As she had these thoughts, Hannibal finally seemed to notice her, at which point he took to the air and flew towards her before landing on the specially designed perch positioned right next to her watch post. He cocked his head, an almost innocent looking curiosity in his large yellow eyes as he warbled in greeting. Collete chuckled, a rare smile coming onto her face. "Good to see you too, Hannibal." Much like with Nero, she'd found a kindred spirit in this mighty Miocene vulture.

Hannibal warbled again, nodding his head up and down as if to say 'nice to see you again' before then turning and flying back to his mate, Imilce. Collete watched curiously as Hannibal got back into position next to Imilce, taking note of just how strong and powerful both of the argentavis looked. After the recent escape attempt by Rocco, she'd been thinking a lot about how only the intervention from Cirrus had prevented the ornery teratornis from successfully leaving the park entirely - perhaps the park security division could find some use in training an animal that could fly.

She thought to herself some more, carefully considering the idea that was now building up in her mind. Then she swiftly checked her watch, nodded her head, and climbed down from the argentavis aviary's watch post to head off to La Brea Grand Vista - she had enough time.

. . . . .

Fifteen minutes later, Collete was at the dire wolf paddock, watching contentedly as the pack rested peacefully on the gathering of flat rocks by the entrance to their den. Collete smiled - they looked so peaceful.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She'd started entertaining the notion of Nero and his pack being trained like the dromas. The two species were similar behaviorally speaking - and besides, canines had certainly been tamed before...

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of yelping and growling from the Pleistocene coyote paddock next door. In that instant, Nero snapped his head upward, now fully awake as his teeth gritted and eyes narrowed while an angry snarl escaped his jaws. Collete winced. "Here we go," she managed to hiss before Nero lunged off of his resting spot and bolted towards the barrier between his territory and the Pleistocene coyotes, snarling in rage at the all too familiar shifty looking alpha male coyote standing right on the other side of the barrier. Collete sighed irritably - Nero and Dag were having another stand-off.

For weeks the two canine alphas had been having regular stand-offs at this barrier - it was anyone's guess as to when they'd inevitably get through it and fight. Even for two species that were natural enemies, Nero and Dag seemed to hate each other.

Suddenly, a distinctly bear-like deep bellowing roar echoed from nearby, followed by a low coughing pantherine roar from the opposite direction. The sound of all this caused Nero and Dag to go quiet and stalk off in opposite directions. Collete sighed again - Diego and Smokey were having yet another roaring match. If Nero and Dag hated each other, Diego and Smokey despised each other. And despite the frequency of these 'matches', Drew didn't seem to notice any of it.

She narrowed her eyes into an annoyed glare as she thought about Drew and his seeming inability to notice the enmities unfolding amongst the animals at the park. Really, Drew's management style in general was best summed up as 'head-in-the-sand'. After all, he'd completely ignored Jack and Leon's antagonism until it had almost gotten him killed, and he'd shown no more sign of acknowledging the existence of the enmity between her captain and Kyle anymore than he'd acknowledged the existence of the enmities between Nero and Dag or Diego and Smokey. To make a long story short, he was at best oblivious to the problems unfolding at the park, and at worst either deliberately ignoring them or deliberately shirking his responsibility to resolve them onto other people - neither prospect pleased.

She sighed, shaking her head side to side with her blue eyes icy with irritation. "At this rate, I should probably go ahead and bring forward my idea to the captain," she whispered under her breath. "We might need all the help we can get."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Alice was sitting at the American cheetah paddock, watching Eshe and the rest of the coalition either napping in the sun or patrolling their territory. She was applying particularly strong attention to Eshe, who had integrated remarkably well - the females spent most of their time on their own, separate from the males; but they all got along.

She nodded her head. She had to admit, as dramatic as things had gotten in the past, it was always nice to have a quiet moment every now and then. As she had this thought, she briefly looked towards the horizon. "I wonder how Jack's doing," she whispered to herself. It was his first mission back on rescue duty - and there was a lot of stuff that interested him from the time and place involved.

After this, her gaze turned to the veterinary facility, and she briefly wondered how things were going for Yolanda. She'd heard Terrence had been badly injured in a fight with Matilda - this was going to be a difficult day for her.

. . . . .

"Slow and steady now," said Linda as she observed Yolanda, with assistance from Harry, working to implant the sutures upon the disinfected gashes on Terrence's head and neck. "Understood ma'am," said Yolanda as she and Harry carefully applied them.

For what felt like hours this continued; and Yolanda sighed with visible relief once the gashes were stitched up, "Finally, good work everyone."

"Words out of my mouth," said Linda as she nodded in approval. "Alright everyone, let's give him one last shot of antibiotics and get him moved over to one of the recovery pens. After that, we need to contact Kyle and Nikolai and have a little talk."

. . . . .

Elsewhere in the park, Adrian was walking through the grassy field behind his apartment to allow the orphaned young La Brea caracara he'd been caring for, named Hayabusa, to go on her first flight. She was currently perched upon his right forearm, on his falconry glove. She warbled inquisitively at him, her amber eyes widened in curiosity as she was carried further and further out into the grassy field. "Don't worry," Adrian said calmly as he continued walking, "Just a little bit further."

A minute later, Adrian came to a stop on a small grassy 'hill', Hayabusa still dutifully perched on his right forearm. "Alright girl," he said. "We're going on our first flight." With a deep breath, he slowly raised his right arm into an appropriately elevated position, Hayabusa braced for take-off. "Ready? Ok, now take off!"

As she'd been trained to do, Hayabusa jumped off Adrian's arm, flapping her wings as she slowly caught hold of an updraft. Over the last few sessions, she'd managed to build up some more strength and Adrian watched, heart in his mouth, for any stumbles. However, Hayabusa was soon flying around. Adrian gave a proud smile and said, "I knew you could do it." Hayabusa warbled as if in triumph, still flying proudly through the air. For at least five minutes, Adrian watched as Hayabusa flew around scanning the ground, before lifting his right arm and saying, "Alright Hayabusa. Time to roost."

At that, Hayabusa proceeded, as trained, to return to her perch on Adrian's forearm, which Adrian gently lowered immediately after she'd taken said position. "Good girl Hayabusa," he said as he carefully drew out a small strip of meat and gave it to her as a reward. "Good girl," he repeated as Hayabusa carefully ate her treat.

"Not bad."

Adrian looked ahead in time to see Nikolai's first officer John Willoby standing nearby and slowly clapping his hands, "From somebody who knows, you are good. First man to fly a La Brea caracara."

"Um...thanks," Adrian eventually managed to say before taking a quick look at Hayabusa. Then he looked back at Willoby, a proud smile on his face, "It's certainly not everyday I meet somebody I can talk falconry with."

"I know the feeling," John admitted as he nodded his head before looking at Hayabusa. "I see you've been taking good care of Hayabusa."

"Yep," Adrian agreed. "With a little help from my flock of course."

John nodded once more, "There was actually something I wanted to ask you."

Adrian raised his eyebrow, "I'm listening."

John opened his mouth to speak...

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"

Adrian and Willoby turned their heads to see a panicked Kaisumi running towards them. She came to a stop, panting and gasping as she bent over with her hands on her knees. In that moment, their earlier discussion was filed to the back of their minds as they gazed at the panting assistant researcher.

"What's happened?" Adrian asked.

"What's going on?" Willoby added in.

Kaisumi panted a couple more times, and then straightened up. "There's an emergency in Hell Creek," she said. John raised his eyebrow, "I thought that was resolved..."

"Not that one," Kaisumi hurriedly clarified. "It's Cirrus and Zephyr. They're fighting."

. . . . .

As the sun set back in Cretaceous Madagascar, Drew, Jack, and Leon hiked through the parched forest, keeping a watchful eye out for predators. The undergrowth was dominated by large shrubs, about as high as Jack was tall, which were packed closely together. As they walked through the scrub, something would move through it and, on occasion, they would hear a low, barking caw echoing through the bushes. As they eventually walked out of the shrubland and into a large sandy clearing, they noticed that the time had passed quickly; the sun was now all but completely below the horizon.

Jack turned to Drew and asked, "What do we do now?" Drew turned to his teammates and said, "Scan the undergrowth; this is the perfect habitat for desert animals. If we wait, some might..."

Suddenly, the shrubs rustled all around them, and a familiar barking caw echoed through the clearing. The three adventurers all turned to each other in a shocked realization; the creatures that had been following them through the shrubs had caught up with them.

The caws and 'roars' got louder and louder as the bushes rustled. Then a single theropod dinosaur emerged in the clearing from out of the foliage in front of the team. It was about ten feet long and was slightly shorter than the three humans; its body was covered in a thin coating of black and white feathers, whereas the neck and squashed bulldog-like head were bare and covered in red leathery scales. It stood on two powerful hind legs, with three toed taloned feet. The arms were disproportionately small compared to the powerful muscular body. The creature cocked its head curiously at them, a low growl bubbling out from its jaws.

Drew and Jack turned to Leon, who whispered, "Dahalokely. A smaller local abelisaurid. It's supposed to be extinct by now." Drew sighed, "Apparently not. We must have walked into its territory."

Suddenly, the dahalokely threw its head back and 'roared' loudly; the three humans immediately backed up closer to each other as the undergrowth rustled all around them. Then several more dahalokely burst out from different angles, surrounding them. However, the abelisaurids were hesitating, as if wondering whether to attack. The three humans were utterly rigid. Suddenly, the bushes rustled again and the dahalokely went on alert and a leopard-sized creature loped out into the clearing. There was a vague resemblance to the sebecids back at the park – however, it had a short, almost cat-like head and hooked, grasping claws on its feet. The new arrival hissed at the dahalokey who snarled in reply.

Mentally wincing, Drew looked to Leon, "Any idea what that thing is?" Leon shook his head. "Some kind of notosuchian – a peirosaurid, probably.," he whispered. "But, from the short head, I think this is a unknown species." Jack sighed, "So we're about to be potentially killed by a newly discovered species as well as by dahalokely. Outstanding."

However, contrary to what Jack had just now been expecting, the abelisaurs and crocodilian were hesitating as if wondering whether or not to attack. Realizing this, the three humans remained utterly rigid, not wishing to risk alarming one of the theropods into attacking. During this standoff, a now somewhat more hopeful Jack turned to Drew. "If you've got a plan," he whispered, "now might be a brilliant time to implement it." Drew turned to him and whispered back, "Pass me the bait bag." Jack raised his eyebrow, and then quietly asked, "Why?" Drew rolled his eyes, "To distract them from us with the meat inside of course." And so Jack quietly passed the bag over to Drew, trying desperately not to alarm the dahalokely and leopard-croc.

Once Drew had been given the bag, he grabbed a dead rat and threw it away from him and his companions. The abelisaurs and leopard-croc immediately followed the rat and eagerly began fighting over it. Drew used the distraction to activate the portal and throw another, larger rat through the resulting vortex of light. Miraculously managing to notice this over the course of their fighting, the hungry predators charged after the larger rat, moving as if a unified entity. After the last one had gone through, Drew shut off the portal.

Jack turned to Drew, unaware of the bitter look of disappointment on Leon's face. "So, fearless leader, what do we do now?" Looking at the now barely present setting sun, Drew sighed in defeat. "We make camp. And we'll resume our search for majungasaurus in the morning. We're not going to find much in the dark."

. . . . .

The air in the quetzalcoatlus aviary was flooded with enraged squawks and pained shrieks as Cirrus and Zephyr stood face to face, heads held high and their wings spread as they shrieked at each other. Cirrus lunged forward, trying to bite Zephyr, who leaned back in time to avoid this attack, squawked in rage, and then jumped forward before thrusting his beak downward, with Cirrus barely dodging the blow.

It was at this moment that Adrian, John, and Kaisumi arrived, with the last of those three pointing her finger at the battling Cirrus and Zephyr. "They started fighting about 15 minutes ago. Cirrus was with Nimbus when Zephyr suddenly attacked him," she explained breathlessly.

The three watched as Cirrus swung his wings side to side in a threat display and snapped at Zephyr. Kaisumi shook her head as she and John looked back at Adrian, with John asking, "What should we do?" Adrian thought carefully to himself before nodding his head, "We let them fight."

Kaisumi's eyes widened, "We what?!"

"Are you sure?" John asked.

"Yes," said Adrian, before looking at Kaisumi once more. "They're fighting over Nimbus. Best option I'd say is to let them sort it out - one's going to back off eventually."

Kaisumi and Willoby looked into each other's eyes, and then at Adrian. "Very well," said Willoby as he stepped back. Kaisumi gulped nervously, "I hope this works out."

For what felt like an eternity, Cirrus and Zephyr continued their fight. The stalemate was finally broken when Cirrus suddenly lunged at Zephyr, ramming his head firmly against his taller opponent's chest, knocking him to the ground. Cirrus loomed over his larger rival, moving slowly and menacingly. Adrian, Kaisumi, and Willoby all tensed up, ready to go inside the aviary to separate them...

... but then Cirrus stopped, screeched in Zephyr's face, and watched his rival slowly get back up. Once Zephyr had gotten back up, he looked at Cirrus and gave him an almost respectful nod before walking away. As this happened, Nimbus and Cirrus affectionately nuzzled each other. Kaisumi smiled and nodded. "Another addition to the breeding program," she purred joyfully before turning to Adrian. "Looks like you were right."

"Yup," Willoby agreed before looking to Adrian. "Glad things didn't get worse."

"What can I say?" Adrian said with a shrug. "I know my stuff."

"That you do," Willoby admitted. "And on that note, I was going to ask you earlier if you think it would be possible to train pterosaurs."

Adrian thought to himself. "Possibly," he admitted. "Is this because of Jack and the dromas?"

"That's correct," said Willoby as he nodded his head. "I'm just wondering if, when that harpactognathus egg hatches, we could use it when it's big enough."

Kaisumi looked to Adrian in curiosity as the latter thought to himself. After a few minutes, he said, "I don't see why not. I can definitely help with that if Nikolai agrees to the idea."

"Excellent." Willoby flashed Adrian a thumbs up. "I'll see what the boss says about that idea."

"Sounds like a plan," Adrian responded.

Before they left, they looked in the aviary to check - they saw Cirrus and Nimbus slowly walk towards the lake to have a drink together while Zephyr stood some distance away, looking at his rival with new respect while the rest of the flock ignored them.

A crisis averted.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Alice and Tina were on a break at the former's flat, watching Dogo, the orphaned theriodictis pup Alice had hand-reared as he chewed on a bone Alice had given him. Alice smiled, "Wouldn't you think he looks better?" Tina smiled and nodded in agreement, "You've certainly taken good care of him."

Alice chuckled and looked back in Dogo's direction in time to see the young pup still gnawing vigorously on the bone. "He was nothing but skin and bones when we found him back at Santa Cruz," she said, reminiscing the moment she'd first found him. It was around this point that Dogo halted his bone chewing and walked up to his surrogate mother, looking at her curiously. At this, Tina sighed, "You have to admit - it's probably about time we introduce him to his own kind. Reirei and Goigoi might not take him in, but its our only shot. I mean, cross-fostering happens amongst wolves."

Alice sighed, hung her head, and shook it side to side, "I know. We should." She looked at Dogo, who was still looking at her curiously, before then patting him on the head, sighing again, "It's the best option."

"Yeah - we'll work something out," said Tina, a small smile on her face as she patted her friend and nominal superior reassuringly on the shoulder.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, at the veterinary facility, Terrence was resting peacefully in a recovery pen - his injuries and the surgery had drained a lot of his energy. As he slept, he was observed from an observation deck by Kyle, Nikolai, and Linda.

"You're absolutely certain that separating them is the only option?" Kyle asked.

Linda sighed, and nodded her head. "I know it's impractical," she admitted. "But if they fight again, Terrence will be seriously injured again... or killed."

Nikolai nodded his head. "I may not have been there," he said. "But from what I heard, I agree that it's the best option for Terrence's safety."

Kyle sighed, pinching his nose as he processed this. "I don't like this," he admitted. "But I guess there's no other way." He then lifted his finger, gritting his teeth as he did so, "However, we'll still have to discuss this with Drew." Nikolai nodded in agreement. "Da, that to," he growled. "Hopefully, the komandir will have the sense to listen to us."

The sound of Nikolai's communicator going off split the air, the security chief reflexively drawing it out and answering the call, "Koshkin, over?" He listened carefully, and then nodded. "Understood. We'll be on our way." He ended the call and slipped his communicator back in its position on his belt. "Come," he said as he started heading off to depart from the veterinary facility, beckoning for Kyle to accompany him. "You and I must return to the holding pens. It seems that Drew's team have brought something large back."

Kyle took a deep breath, exhaled heavily, and very stiffly started to follow the security chief. Linda couldn't help but shake her head side to side with a concerned look on her face. "Forget Terrence and Matilda," she whispered bitterly to herself. "At this rate, it will be a miracle if they don't end up killing each other."

. . . . .

At the holding pens, Kyle and Nikolai observed from the observation deck as the assembled keepers attempted to lead the combined pack of dahalokely and newly discovered noasaurids into a holding pen. The abelisaurs and noasaurs did not make it easy, hissing and snapping their teeth threateningly at the keepers. Nikolai nodded his head, "Well at least he started small." He directed a glare at Kyle, "Something I'm sure you're quite happy about."

Kyle sighed, facepalming as he shook his head side to side before then lowering his palm and casting Nikolai a withering glare. "This. Shit. Again?"

"He sent the small creatures back first," said Nikolai. "He seems to be listening to us. Even these new carnivores are smaller than expected - easier for your team."

Kyle narrowed his eyes even further, "Really? I've told you time and time again my underlings know what they're doing." Nikolai glowered, "I'll believe that once you start acting as such."

"I beg your pardon?" Kyle snarled, fighting back the urge to throttle Nikolai. "I wonder how far you'd get without my team." At this, Nikolai narrowed his eyes, just barely resisting the urge to hit Kyle over the head with his tranquilizer rifle.

Aaron, Carmen, Maria, and Hugo watched all this, seething in annoyance. "Here we go again," Maria grumbled, rolling her eyes irritably. "No kidding," Aaron growled before turning to Carmen. "What do you think it'll take for them to stop this?" Carmen sighed, "Somebody dying. And I'm lowballing."

Hugo snorted, rolling his eyes, "Oh they'll kill each other before that happens. And Drew does fuck-all to mediate it." He shook his head side to side. "Seriously, you'd think that idiot would have learned by now after Leon and Jack's little enmity nearly got him dismembered." Maria hissed, "Yup - that's our peerless leader. At this rate, I'll wring his neck."

A cacophony of barking caws and shrill 'roars' brought their attention back to the holding pens - the dahalokely and newly discovered noasaurs were still being difficult.

This was going to be a long day.

. . . . .

Back in Cretaceous Madagascar, Drew, Jack, and Leon had set up camp on the edge of the forest, and were now sitting upon a large fallen log. They had made a small fire to keep predators away from the camp. Leon, quite noticeably, had a rather glum looking scowl on his face as he stared blankly at the fire, something that did not escape Jack's attention. Sitting by the fire, Drew yawned. "I'm getting some sleep. Jack, the watch is yours. Leon, you can stay with him if you like," he then said as he got up and headed to his tent. Jack and Leon watched him go. Then Jack turned to Leon and asked, "So...how are things?" Leon shrugged and said, "Good, good."

At this, Jack nodded and said, somewhat awkwardly, "So...you and Drew go back a long time. Care to tell me more about it?" There was an awkward pause before Jack added, "If you're ok with it of course. I don't want to force you."

Leon sighed, "It's fine. Drew and I have known each other for over 10 years; we first met each other and Adrian in 8th grade biology. The teacher put us in a group together and we found ourselves liking each other; I hadn't had much friends, so Drew and Adrian's companionship really helped me." He trailed off, noticing Jack's smirk. "Of course you already know all that," he grumbled. "But...are you sure you want to hear this?"

Jack shrugged, "Well...yeah.

Leon exhaled, "Drew was always the successful one; captain of the basketball team, president of the debate team, straight A's, dating the head cheerleader..." He shook his head. "Even after we graduated, success after success came to him; and of course, he's now in charge here. But Adrian and I? People always thought we were just the sidekicks, the followers..." He gave Jack a pointed look, "the hangers-on. Granted, Adrian was...Adrian about it, but..." He breathed in, "Look. I...care about Drew...very deeply. But it's not hard to feel a little jealous; like I'm playing second fiddle."

Jack cocked his head, "Meaning?"

Leon sighed, "I'm only here because Drew put a good word for me in with Theodore. You know that, and it's high time I accepted that fact. Stumbling in the Jurassic, nearly getting eaten by the Crassigyrinus…that strengthened everyone's convictions. Hell, I couldn't even make it through this one single first mission after finally coming off suspension without putting my foot through that stupid hole I could have easily seen if I'd remembered to look where I was stepping. And within an hour after Yolanda had told me that she was confident that I'd do great this mission and wished me luck!" He shook his head side to side, eyes narrowed and teeth gritted into a bitter glare. "Honestly, stuff like this makes me feel like someone always has to be there to keep me out of trouble; and that makes me feel exactly as useless as everyone says I am. And I hate that."

Jack smiled at him, "Hey, hey, you've done some great things to. Saving Yolanda for one. Yeah, our fearless leader is the guy in charge. But without us, he wouldn't get anywhere. And deep down...really deep down, he knows that...even if he doesn't always like to admit it."

"If you say so."

Leon thought to himself, and then looked thoughtfully at Jack. Perhaps now it was a good time to ask Jack some questions of his own. "Jack…can I ask a question?" Jack raised his eyebrow. "Go ahead." Leon looked at him. "Nothing upsets you, does it? No matter what happens, you're always the same." Jack sighed, "The same, am I? Little you know." Leon continued, "You're always happy; you're always making jokes, always talking…how can you do that?" Jack gave Leon a pointed look, "Everyone assumes that if you're cracking jokes, you're happy. Why?"

Leon chuckled awkwardly. "Boy, you've changed since Gogo Reef." There was a brief pause; they didn't want to mention it, but there was no avoiding it now. Jack sighed, "Remember Gogo Reef?" Leon nodded, "You called me a hanger-on. You said I was useless and you hated me." He hung his head. "I got angry because I was scared that you were right; not to mention you really reminded me a lot of the two students I knew back in middle school who were especially keen on calling me a freak and tormenting me."

Jack smiled at him once more, "Well ok, I meant the hanger-on bit. I thought you were nothing more than a walking textbook that was only hired because he was best mates with the boss." He sighed, "I didn't say I hated you; sure you may have reminded me a lot every now and then of some of the bigshot scholarly types at my school who dismissed me as an idiot just because I wasn't as skilled academically as them and I may have let my own fears and insecurities get the better of me in my interactions with you, but I never hated you. Not once." He paused, "Did you hate me?"

For a moment, Leon was stunned at what he'd just now heard. Then his face fell, and he looked awkwardly at Jack, sighing, "A little bit". As he said this, he hung his head. "I mean, you should've told me that before. I thought you did from the way you acted. And like I said, there were times where it was almost like I were dealing with my two worst tormentors from middle school all over again." Jack smiled, "Hey, I didn't know what you thought about me. I mean, as far as I was aware at the time, you were no different than all the blowhard self proclaimed 'geniuses' in the same class as me who looked down on me and dismissed me as a brainless moron with no chance of success outside school. But look at you now! You're at least capable now of working as a keeper at the park without getting eaten, injured, or similarly suffering the same bad luck you've suffered thrice over the course of missions! Amazing how things change, am I right?"

There was a brief pause before Leon smiled at Jack and said, "Thanks. For telling me that." Jack smiled, "My pleasure." He and Leon then gave each other a firm handshake before Leon then subsequently got up to go to his tent. Along the way, he turned to Jack and said, "What did you mean by amazing how things change?" Jack smiled again, "We couldn't have had this conversation before." Leon gave him a quizzical look, "Why?", to which Jack responded, "We just couldn't." He let a cheeky grin come on his face. "Certainly not without arguing our heads off and trying to kill each other." Leon thought to himself, and then nodded his head with a half amused and half resigned look of acceptance on his face. "Well, I suppose I can't quite argue with you there...or at least, not anymore." Jack chuckled, "Looks like perhaps you have a sense of humor after all." Leon rolled his eyes in mock annoyance, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up pal."

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes; it was as if several small entities were moving towards the camp. Jack and Leon's eyes widened and they looked at each other. "Get Drew," Jack whispered, "I think we have company."

. . . . .

Drew awoke to hear something moving through the bushes. Instantaneously readying himself for some giant predator, he rushed outside to see Jack and Leon sitting by the fire. He turned to them, frantically. "What's the alarm?"

Jack giggled in response, "Nothing fearless leader. Look." He pointed at two strange groups of strange looking small crocodilians browsing on leaves - the first were small, at about two feet long, with pug shaped faces, and were covered in greenish gold scales with greyish tan underbellies. The other ones were larger, at about five feet long, only with slightly longer snouts and darker black scales with dusty brown stripes.

Leon gazed at them quizzically, "The little ones are definitely simosuchus. The other ones, however, are probably something undiscovered." Drew smiled, "Jack, get the bait bag. There are leaves in there."

Jack got the bait bag and laid out a trail of leaves, which the little crocodiles followed. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present. "Once the last had gone through, Drew shut off the portal, smiled, and said, "Let's all get some sleep."

. . . . .

The next morning, Drew was suddenly awoken by a rodent-like chittering. Curious, he clambered out of his tent and met Jack and Leon. Shortly after, he saw what creatures had awoken them.

At least three different species of mammal were milling about on the forest floor. They looked like a cross between a rat and a guinea pig, with the largest about the size of a small dog and covered in slightly badger-like fur.

Drew and Jack looked to Leon, with the latter asking, "Any idea what these are?" Leon nodded and said, "They're gondwanatheres - the big ones are called adalatherium, but I'm not sure on the other two." Drew smiled, "Prime candidates for the park. Jack, get a trail of plants." Jack got the bait bag and laid out his second trail of leaves in a row, which the mammals followed. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present. Stepping back from the site, Drew then said, "Here's what we're going to do next..."

"Drew!" Leon yelled just as Drew tripped over a giant snake. It looked like a Madagascar ground boa - only it was the size of a Burmese python. The snake hissed indignantly at Drew before slithering down a nearby hill and deeper into the forest. Following it, the team saw several more in a clearing, so well camouflaged that the team could only just barely see them.

"Madtsoia," Jack said, impressed. "Biggest snake here. Kind of hoping we would bump into this guy." Drew turned to Jack, smiling, "I've got a plan for these guys - you've handled snakes before, so you probably know what it is." Jack smiled, "Got it fearless leader."

About a minute later, a dead rat was placed on the ground next to the nearest snake. When the snake slithered towards the food item, it didn't notice Jack approaching it from behind until he'd abruptly, but gently, slipped his left arm around its neck while placing his upper body against the back of its head, restraining it. The large snake hissed and squirmed, but couldn't free itself. While this was happening, Drew pointed his portal remote at the duo and summoned the portal. The madtsoia slithered through and into the holding pens the instant Jack had released it from his hold. The team repeated this process with the four others, Leon leaving a rat as bait, Jack getting them restrained, and Drew summoning the portal in time to let them slither through.

After the last madtsoia had gone through, the team went further into the forest, eventually coming upon a small group of animals in a clearing - a flock of birds, alongside a small pack of dromaeosaurs. The birds were each about the size of a crow and covered in black feathers, with white wingtips, a yellow throat and belly, and red shins. Their most notable feature was their large toucan-like beaks with two small sharp teeth near the tips. The dromaeosaurs were each about two feet long and covered in black feathers with streaks of dark purple and blue on their arms.

At these, Jack smiled, "Rahonavis - a weird local dromaeosaur. And I'm guessing the birds are falcatakely?" Leon nodded, "Correct. A type of local enantiornithine." Drew smiled, "Two for the price of one. Get the mealworms." Jack passed him the bait bag, allowing him to leave a trail of mealworms, which the birds and dromaeosaurs followed. Once they had gotten close enough, Drew activated the portal, allowing them to go through, one by one, into the present.

A sudden warbling caused the team to look upwards in time to see a combined flock of three additional species of enantiornithine come flying into the clearing from above. Thirteen of the birds amongst this flock were covered in grassy green feathers, with dusty brown outlines around their wings, and vaguely toucan-like beaks as well as crests of crescent shaped feathers on their heads, with seven of the birds having golden yellow crests while the remaining six had dusty brown crests. Another thirteen of the birds were covered in red and orange feathers and looked vaguely like hoatzins. The remaining thirteen, meanwhile, were covered in misty blue feathers with dark gray underbellies and had crests similar to those of Victoria crowned pigeons. Before long, they'd all come to a landing upon the clearing floor and started pecking at the ground in search of food.

Drew and Jack looked back to Leon, who shook his head, "These look like undiscovered species to me." Drew shrugged, "All the more reason to save them then," he then stated before leaving a second trail of meal worms to attract these new arrivals through the portal as well. Much to Drew's relief, all of the newly discovered enantiornithines eagerly came through the portal as they followed the freshly laid trail of insects for them to eat. Once the last of the birds had vanished through the portal, Drew looked to his team and smiled, "Let's head back to the lake."

Approaching the lake, they saw a bask of large green scaled and grey striped crocodiles lying on the lakeshore, basking in the sun. The nearest one opened its mouth, revealing a set of shark-like teeth. Drew and Jack both turned to Leon for identification, and he said, "Miadanasuchus - a type of large crocodile. We're going to have to be careful..." Suddenly, Drew started blaring his airhorn, to which Leon sighed. "Or we could just start blaring the horn," he grumbled.

The miadanasuchus bask's attention was attracted by the horn's blaring, and they began to advance towards Drew and his teammates, snarling irritably. Drew smiled, completely unafraid, and then started blaring the horn again. The large crocodilians promptly began charging after Drew and the portal, hissing and snarling in rage. Eventually, one by one, they all went rushing through the portal and straight to the park. "And that takes care of that," said Drew.

It was in that moment that the team finally noticed that the miadanasuchus hadn't been the only animals at the lake. In fact, they could see three animal species present at the lake now that they were no longer focused on the miadanasuchus. To start, swimming directly in the still somewhat small amount of water in the lake were twelve small, long necked turtles that were mostly grey in colour, but had sandy yellow scales on their bellies and the undersides of their necks and feet. The two species on the lakeshore opposite the rescue team's position, however, were considerably more intriguing. Positioned closest to the water on that side of the lake were a small group of reddish brown scaled terrestrial crocodiles with rather stout looking bodies and vaguely duck-bill shaped snouts that had vaguely pig-like tusks sticking out at the tips, which they were currently using to root through the soil. Meanwhile, standing nearby the trees, was a small group of almost ghostly looking misty grey scaled and white striped ornithomimid-like theropods with horny beaks and a slender build.

Leon silently whistled at the sight of the latter two species. "Definitely haven't read anything about those two being anywhere in the fossil record. Though the herbivorous theropods do look as if they could be some kind of elaphrosaurid… about thirty million years after they're supposed to be extinct" he admitted before then looking at Jack. "And would I be correct to guess that the turtles are sahonachelys?" Jack nodded his head, "Correct Dolittle." He then looked to Drew, "I trust you won't object to rescuing these three species?" Drew chuckled, "Not at all. Jack, you handle the turtles. Leon, see if you can help me get these two new discoveries."

This plan agreed upon, the team got to work, with Jack calmly using a portal grenade to send the sahonachelys bale to one of the freshwater holding tanks while Leon and Drew used appropriate food trails to lure the two newly discovered species through the portal. Once the last of the ghostly herbivorous theropods and odd 'warthog crocodilians' had vanished through the portal, Drew looked to his team, "Right then. Let's..."

A loud crocodilian hissing and a dromaeosaur-like barking caw split the air from within the wooded area not too far from where the newly rescued undiscovered elaphrosaurs had been. Drew only smiled even wider, his eyes agleam with excitement as he pointed in the direction the noises had come from. "See what's making those noises," he stated determinedly.

The team went to investigate the noises, coming across a small clearing where a pack of dromaeosaur-like theropods with midnight black feathers, with amber yellow feathery crests on the tops of the male's heads while the females had black feathered crests, were gathered alongside another individual of the short-snouted notosuchian they'd seen before. They were currently having a stand-off over a dead elaphrosaur. Jack silently whistled at this sight. "Let me guess," he then said to Leon, "Neither of these are ones you've heard about?" Leon nodded his head, "Correct." Drew chuckled, "Yet more new discoveries, outstanding." He then drew out a portal grenade, primed it, and tossed it right into the midst of the feasting dromaeosaurs and terrestrial croc. Their squabbling interrupted, the predators barely had time to react before the portal grenade went off, sending both groups of feasting carnivore through the portal and straight to the park alongside their meal. Jack nodded his head, "That was certainly a way to get the job done quick."

Suddenly, the team heard a distant 'roar' in the distance come from the desert and their eyes widened in stunned recognition. "Sounds like a majungasaurus," said Leon.

"Got that right," said Drew. "Come on, let's go."

And so the three humans followed the sound. They had, at last, found their target once more.

. . . . .

Leaving the oasis, they saw a dead rapetosaurus lying in the desert. A large female majungasaurus was feasting eagerly upon the dead sauropod while two dog-sized juveniles, obviously her offspring, tussled and snapped at each other while their mother fed. Drew, Jack, and Leon smiled at the domesticity of this little scene.

Suddenly, the sound of quiet footsteps alerted the team to another, smaller Majungasaurus, a male by the looks of it, stalking up to the carcass. The male moved with the clumsy gait of an adolescent animal, closer to the playing juveniles. Drew, Jack, and Leon looked at each other in horror, swiftly realizing that the adolescent male was hunting the two juveniles.

Sure enough, the male soon came to a stop right by the youngsters, hungry triumph in his eyes as he opened his jaws...

... only for the mother to suddenly slam into him and sink her teeth into his neck! Hissing in surprise and pain, the adolescent male managed to struggle free, but not without deep wounds on his neck. The juveniles hurried behind their mother as the large female snarled at him, to which he replied with a defiant hiss.

Snarling and snapping, the two older abelisaurs circled each other, before eventually, the stalemate was broken when the adult female charged the adolescent male with a roar, ramming her head against his flank and knocking him to the ground. The smaller male hurriedly got to his feet and charged towards her. Unfortunately, the female easily dodged him before biting him on the thigh, causing him to emit a pained squeal. Struggling free, he attempted to lunge for her leg, but missed.

This was the opening the female needed. In a flash, she grabbed him by the neck, spun him 180 degrees, released him and rammed him in his centre of gravity, knocking him to the ground. After a minute, the battered adolescent got to his feet, hissed bitterly, and then stalked away. The female bellowed in triumph and resumed feeding alongside her young. The adolescent limped away, nursing his wounds.

However, his troubles weren't over yet.

As he limped away, battered and bleeding, the rescue team noticed the larger male majungasaurus they'd seen at the lake the previous day stalking after him. Drew, Jack, and Leon looked nervously at each other. They knew already what was going to happen. After all, why challenge the female for what was left of the sauropod carcass when there was a completely intact meal just nearby?

Suddenly, the large male majungasaurus charged out of the bushes and rammed the adolescent male in the side, knocking him to the ground yet again before grabbing his neck with a vicious bite, eyes agleam with hungry triumph in preparation for the killing blow. The adolescent struggled in panic to get free from the larger male's grip, but to no avail. Hearing the adolescent's pained squawks, Jack winced, "Poor thing - he's definitely going to die." Leon narrowed his eyes. "Not if I have anything to say about it," he snarled as he drew out his broadcasting device.

Seconds later, right before the larger male could inflict the finishing crunch, Leon suddenly ran out and began blaring a recording he'd recently made of the majungasaurus 'roar' at full volume. The large male majungasaurus released his target and looked to Leon, snarling indignantly. Drew and Jack hurriedly rushed to the injured adolescent, with the latter holding a piece of meat he'd pulled from the bait bag. The adolescent smelled the meat and shakily rose to his feet; at which point Drew summoned the portal in time for Jack to toss the meat through, allowing the injured young abelisaur to limp through the portal after the meat to the safety of the park.

However, the larger male had managed to notice his prey disappear from out the corner of his eye. Hissing in outrage, he tore off towards the portal - he would not be cheated of his meal so easily. And soon, he to vanished through the portal and into the present. Once the larger abelisaur was through, Leon ran up to Drew and Jack, smiling giddily, "How did I do?" Jack smiled at him and flashed a thumbs up, "Well done!" Drew also nodded, a proud smile on his face, "The student has become...almost as good as the master." Leon chuckled, and gave them both a thumbs up.

As the three humans returned to the sauropod carcass afterward, they saw that the female majungasaurus had moved on and taken her offspring with her. However, an assortment of scavengers were now at the carcass instead, eagerly ripping off semi-rotting flesh. A group of sandy-brown coloured small theropods with protruding teeth and a flock of azhdarchids, with yellowish fur, were feasting eagerly on the dead sauropod. Another group of slightly larger theropods had brown feathers similar to those of an emu covered every part of their body apart from their heads, hands, and feet, which were covered in dark orange scales.

Also present at the carcass were two packs of dromaeosaur-like theropods, one of which consisted of a species with golden yellow feathers and black zig-zag shaped stripes across their backs while the other consisted of a species with dark purple feathers and jet black spots and mohawk-like feathery crests on the tops of their heads, with the males' crests being blood red while the females' were icy blue.

The strangest creatures at the carcass, however, were a group of large gray scaled and chartreuse underbellied terrestrial crocodiles, each about ten feet long, who were ripping off huge chunks of meat, even swallowing bone. After looking inquisitively, Leon said, "One group of noasaurids are masiakasaurus and the terrestrial crocs are mahajangasuchus. The pterosaurs, dromaeosaurs and other group of noasaurs, however, I think are something new."

Looking at the squalid atmosphere, Jack turned to Drew, "How the hell are we going to get this lot through the portal?" Drew smirked, "Something stupid."

After Drew had contacted the park, he ran towards the carcass, making sure to avoid rousing the wrath of the squabbling creatures and carefully hooked the winch into the corpse's thigh; the winch was attached to a park jeep on the other side. Drew ran back to the portal and gave the thumbs-up signal and the winch began pulling the sauropod carcass away. The scavengers took notice of this and began to move towards it, all united in a desire to not lose their meal. Within minutes, the dead titanosaur was yanked through the portal by the jeep dragging it. The scavengers, moving too fast to stop, dove through the portal after it and into the present.

. . . . .

Linda smiled happily as all nine of the Morrison formation sauropod herds gathered around the Morrison herbivore paddock's watering hole. All the adults were drinking from the water while the juveniles were all play-fighting – Arlo was amongst the young apatosaurus engaged in a play-fight with Bron's son Littlefoot while Shorty mock sparred with another young brachiosaurus. Linda nodded her head; two months on, and Arlo had been fully accepted into the apatosaurus herd, and was still maintaining his friendship with Shorty for good measure. "It all worked out in the end," the head vet whispered under her breath. "Didn't it?"

Eventually, Arlo managed to win the mock fight against Littlefoot and noticed Linda's presence, at which point he started walking towards the viewing area where the woman who'd saved him was standing. Linda chuckled, slipped on a protective glove, and patted Arlo on the head, the young apatosaurus rumbling happily at the contact. Linda smiled, "It's good to see you to Arlo." She'd visited Arlo whenever she could after he'd been integrated in the Morrison herbivore paddock out of concern for him. She didn't like to play favorites with her patients, but she'd become very fond of him.

At the sound of an inquisitive bellow, Arlo turned his head to see Shorty and the other juvenile sauropods by the watering hole. It appeared they were all going to join the adults in taking a drink. Arlo looked to Linda, seemingly asking her permission to return to the watering hole. The head vet chuckled, "Go ahead. I'm not gonna stop you." Arlo grumbled in acceptance, turned away from Linda, and made his way to the watering hole. Linda smiled as she watched this happen. Times like this were amongst the times she was truly at her happiest at Prehistoric Park. And she was not afraid to admit as much.

Her walkie talkie suddenly went off, and she reflexively drew it out and answered, "Dr. Eberhart speaking, over?"

"Are you busy right now?" Kyle's voice responded.

"Not really," Linda replied. "Is something urgent?"

"Yes. Drew's just sent back an adolescent majungasaurus. He's in a bad state."

"I'm on my way right now."

. . . . .

"Yolanda, pass me the swab, will you?"

"Here you go boss," her young assistant responded as she handed the swab to her. At that moment, the two of them, plus Harry, Bethany, and the other vets were once again in the operating room. The young abelisaur had sever injuries on his neck, face, and one of his thighs - and he'd already lost a lot of blood. But he was in good hands - they were not going to let him die if they could help it. Working as carefully as they could, Linda and the rest of the vets worked on disinfecting his wounds. Once they were finished with this...

"Bethany, healing gel please."

Bethany handed her a healing gel tube, the contents of which soon got applied to the wounds. And once this was finished...

"Sutures please."

Harry passed Linda the sutures and she closed the wounds. And once this was done, one last shot of antibiotics was injected into the young abelisaur to prevent infection. "Let's get him to a recovery pen," said Linda.

. . . . .

Half an hour later, the adolescent male majungasaurus had been placed inside the recovery pen next door to Terrence's. The two young theropods had taken an interest in each other, sniffing at each other through the divide. At this scene, Bethany said, "Weird, isn't it? They're the same age, have similar injuries..." Yolanda giggled, "You know what they say about birds of a feather."

The two theropods continued regarding each other curiously before eventually walking off in opposite directions. Yolanda smiled and said, "Anyone wanna bet on what Drew will say once he finds out Terrence has a new BFF?"

. . . . .

Heading back towards the lake once more, the rescue team saw the rapetosaurus herd, who were all drinking from the water or browsing from the trees. However, they weren't the only animals by the lakeside - they were alongside another herd of sauropods that were slightly smaller and covered in dusty white scales with coal black stripes, as well as a small herd of sandy, brown-coloured ankylosaurs, only with what looked like five pairs of robust osteoderms fused together at the tips of their tails. Accompanying the sauropods and armoured dinosaurs were two small herds of herbivorous crocs, one group with dark green scales and wide, hippopotamus-like heads, with the adults each being about twenty feet long, while the other herd consisted of an incredibly heavily built species that were covered in dusty gray scales and had stout heads that looked similar to those of the simosuchus, only with beak-like mouths that had large rhino-like horns on the tips of the 'snouts'.

All this made Drew smile like it was Christmas. "Perfect," he chuckled. "Not only do we have rapetosaurus, but we also have a herd of vahiny, a herd of parankylosaurs, and a bunch of herbivorous crocs. This could be our easiest mission yet!" Jack facepalmed and grumbled, "Please don't say that." Drew looked to Jack, visibly confused, "Why?" Jack glowered at Drew and responded, "Because every time someone says that, fearless leader, something bad happens..."

Suddenly, a rapetosaurus looked up and sniffed the air before letting out a brief honking bellow and the herbivores went on edge. Jack gestured towards the scene, a glare on his face, "See what I mean?" Drew nodded his head, "What's got them so spooked?" Leon turned to look behind them, and his eyes promptly widened in shock at what he saw. "That," he said while pointing his finger. Jack and Drew turned to see the mother majungasaurus, standing so motionless that they almost didn't see her, hidden amongst the trees. The abelisaur looked at the three humans with a disinterested glare, then moved past them and closer to the herbivores. United in the face of a common enemy, the herbivores stamped and bellowed at the arriving theropod.

Drew turned quietly to his team. "We'll have to get this done quick," he whispered, "Before she changes her mind about eating us." Jack's gaze turned to something nearby, and he blanched before saying, "Uh...Drew? I might be jumping the gun here, but she might be the least of our worries." Leon turned curiously to Jack, "What could possibly be worse than a majungasaurus?" Suddenly, several more majungasaurus burst out from the trees and tore towards the herd. Jack turned to Leon and said, "That answer your question?"

Their courage now gone in the face of this entire larger pack, the herbivores stampeded, moving as if a single entity as the majungasaurus all kept pace close behind them. Not wanting to miss the opportunity being presented, Drew turned to Jack and Leon and yelled, "Now!" Jack proved first to react, pointing his remote at the stampeding herbivores and summoning the portal right as the combined herd was seconds away from reaching the team's position. Not changing their course, the combined herd stampeded through the portal and into the present.

The majungasaurus pack stopped in their tracks, stunned at the sudden disappearance of their prey...before then turning their heads towards the three humans, eyes narrowing as if considering whether they'd perhaps be worth snacking on instead. Drew's eyes widened, "Oh...shit!" The mother majungasaurus let out a shrill 'roar' before the entire pack started charging towards the rescue team! Eager to avoid getting eaten, Drew, Jack, and Leon immediately split off in separate directions. Unfortunately, Drew soon found himself the victim of some incredibly rotten luck when the mother majungasaurus' two offspring suddenly sprang out of the bushes he'd been running towards, causing him to shriek and stumble in surprise before hurriedly changing direction. But his brief moment of surprised stumbling had cost him precious seconds, and already the entire majungasaurus pack, two youngsters included, were closing in on him and cornering him behind a hollow log!

Jack and Leon watched in horror from a safe distance as the abelisaurs advanced towards Drew. "This doesn't look good," Jack muttered. Leon snorted incredulously, "You think?!" He gestured towards the trapped Drew, "What do we do?!" Jack turned to Leon, a determined glare on his face, "Pass me the horn Leon. I know exactly what we're gonna do."

As the majungasaurus bore down on him, snapping and snarling in hungry triumph, Drew could smell their fetid breath and feel their cold stares. 'So this is how it ends,' he thought to himself. 'Eaten by abelisaurs in Cretaceous Madagascar...'

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an airhorn blaring, followed by a shrill majungasaurus-like 'roar'. The majungasaurus all paused, visibly confused, before then turning to look towards the source of the noise; Jack and Leon, with the airhorn and broadcasting device, respectively. The majungasaurus all 'roared' in indignation and advanced towards Jack and Leon, who respectively blared the airhorn and let out a second majungasaurus recording to solidify the abelisaurs' attention on them. Once the abelisaurs had all gotten close enough, Leon activated the portal, sending the whole pack, moving too fast to stop, through to the present.

Drew stood up from behind the hollow log to stare in stunned shock at Jack and Leon. "Why did you do that?" Drew asked. "You could have died." Jack smiled, "We're a team, Drew." Leon nodded in agreement, "Watching each other's backs is what we do." At this, Drew smiled and nodded his head at his two companions, "In which case, job well done." He then drew out his portal remote, "Let's go home." And so, with the portal soon summoned once more, the team walked through and back to the present.

Upon appearing from out the portal and into the park, they met Kyle, Linda, Nikolai, and Collete at the walkway and walked up to them. Jack turned to Collete and said, "Told you I'd stay out of trouble." Collete smiled proudly at him in response. It was at this point that Leon noticed Yolanda peeking out from behind Linda, a concerned look on her face. Leon smiled confidently and flashed her a thumbs up, to which she responded by beaming joyfully at him and nodding her head in approval. Meanwhile, Kyle asked Drew, "What happened on the mission?" Drew chuckled, "I'll explain it all later. Anything we missed?" In response, the head keeper rolled his eyes and said, "A lot. In fact, we'd like to talk to you about something. And believe me, it's important."

At this, Drew raised his eyebrow, "Is something wrong?"

"You could say that," Linda stated, a concerned look on her face as she briefly turned her head to look in the direction of the veterinary facility.

"Da," said Nikolai as he nodded his head. "Believe me, we wouldn't be bringing it up to you right now if it weren't of truly high importance that you hear about it."

At this, Jack and Leon looked meaningfully at Drew, for they were well aware of just how big of an enmity there was between Kyle and Nikolai. And with that in mind, the fact that they appeared to be in agreement on something was definitely not something to be taken lightly; which therefore meant that whatever it was they and Linda wanted to talk to Drew about was very important indeed.

Drew gulped, but nodded his head in understanding, "I'm listening."

. . . . .

About an hour or so later, once all the dust had settled, all the newly rescued animals had been transferred to their new homes in the Maevarano Formation exhibit zone.

All the smaller animals were kept in a large building themed after a Cretaceous Madagascar jungle. A large pit in the center of this building contained a paddock with a large lake for the miadanasuchus float, with all six of the large shark-toothed crocodiles lounging about in the water. Three terrariums to the left of the miadanasuchus pit served as home for the beelzebufo, the two smaller snake species, and the newly discovered insectivorous rat-like crocodilians. The central paddock in this arrangement was home to the beelzebufo, with the six massive prehistoric frogs all resting contentedly within the small 'pond' built into the center of the terrarium's floor. The terrarium to the right served as home for the kelyophis and menarana, all of which were peacefully slithering along through their brand new shared burrows. The terrarium to the left of the beelzebufo, meanwhile, served as home to the small colony of what had come to be dubbed gremlisuchus minor; and all the small rat-like lizard crocs were currently exploring their new home in curiosity while also looking for insects to eat.

Another, much larger, terrarium built into the wall to the right of the miadanasuchus pit served as home for the madtsoia, which were all exploring their new home. A slightly smaller terrarium right next to the madtsoia exhibit, meanwhile, was now home for the sahonachelys, which were all happily swimming about in the waters of their new home.

A large paddock directly in between the miadanasuchus pit and the building's main entrance served as home for the mahajangasuchus pack, which were all scouting the edges of their new makeshift island home. A large exhibit built into the wall to the left of the newly dubbed Mahajangasuchus Island served as home for the simosuchus and the newly discovered additional small herbivorous croc species, which Khatin and his team had dubbed ictisuchus maevaroensis; both groups of small herbivorous crocs were peacefully sniffing about in search of food. Another exhibit built into the wall to the right of Mahajangasuchus Island served as home for the gondwanatheres, with the larger badger-like species confirmed to indeed be adalatherium while the two smaller species had been identified as vintana and lavanify.

A large riverside themed paddock directly behind the miadanasuchus pit was the home for the large hippo-like herbivorous crocs, which had been dubbed kibokosuchus maximus, and were all currently either browsing upon the shrubs in their paddock, drinking at the shore of the moat built into the front of the paddock, or swimming about in the waters of said moat. Another large indoor paddock to the right of the kibokosuchus paddock, this one themed after a jungle clearing, served as home for the rhino-like herbivorous crocs, which had been dubbed khifarusuchus orcus, and were currently browsing upon their paddock's shrubs, drinking from their paddock's indoor lake, or engaging in mock tussles to blow off steam. Yet another large paddock, this one themed after a very thickly forested stretch of jungle, served as home for the leopard-like crocs, which had been dubbed pantherosuchus velox and also proven capable of climbing trees just like leopards. At that moment, all of the mysterious leopard-like crocs were napping in the branches located closest to the ceiling of the enclosure as they waited for their next meal.

A doorway positioned in between the pantherosuchus and kibokosuchus paddocks led into a large aviary where all the newly rescued birds shared a home, with the falcatakely and rahonavis all searching for food while the newly discovered enantiornithines were flying about to explore their new surroundings; of these, the green ones had been dubbed ahitraornis silvaensis, the red ones lelafornis cineris, and the blue ones oranaornis zavonaensis.

Directly behind the Maevarano forest building was a large forest paddock for the sauropods and parankylosaurs, the latter of which had been dubbed ratovantanysaurus robustus; the rapetosaurus and vahiny were all calmly browsing from the trees while the newly discovered ratovantanysaurus herd were currently busy napping near the bushes at the right most end of the paddock. A large aviary to the right of this paddock served as home for the flock of azhdarchids, which Khatin and his team had dubbed fulminopteryx velox. A medium sized paddock to the left of the massive central paddock, meanwhile, served as home for the tusked 'warthog' crocs and ghostly elaphrosaurs, the former of which had been dubbed ngirisuchus pinguis and were currently digging for food with their tusks while the latter had been dubbed masinasaurus vovokaensis and were busy scouting their new territory for threats.

At the very back of the exhibit zone was a series of paddocks for the seven carnivorous theropod species. One small paddock with a creek running through it served as home for the masiakasaurus, which were all currently gathered at the creek and feasting upon freshly provided fish. A somewhat larger paddock resembling a jungle clearing served as home for the dahalokely, which were all currently scouting their new territory in search of food. Another large paddock designed to resemble an island was divided into three sections that connected together; and it was this divided island paddock that served as home for the newly discovered dromaeosaurs - the black feathered ones had been dubbed drivotravis zanaharensis, the yellow feathered ones had been dubbed helatravis fortis, and the purple feathered ones had been dubbed angatravis horribilis. And at that moment, all three dromaeosaur packs were heartily feasting upon a freshly provided goat carcass each. A second large clearing themed paddock was home to the newly discovered noasaurs, which Khatin and his team had dubbed vazimbasaurus maevaroensis, and were currently feasting upon a freshly provided pig carcass. Finally, the largest three carnivore paddocks all served as home for the majungasaurus, with five adult females and two young juveniles sharing one of them as they feasted upon a cow carcass, the adult male, Goliath, fast asleep in another, and the third set to be the home of the adolescent... once he recovered.

All in all, things were once again running smoothly at Prehistoric Park. . . till the next mission anyway.

. . . . .

That evening, a full several hours after things had settled down from that day's mission, Drew smiled as he looked at Terrence, who was currently fast asleep in his recovery pen. "Good to see you bud," he stated under his breath as he watched. But underneath his warm smile, he was privately feeling a small amount of guilt and worry. Even now he could remember the talk he'd had with Kyle, Linda, and Nikolai about the fight that day between Terrence and Matilda, and how Terrence had been very badly wounded by Matilda in the process. At this point, all three of the chiefs of staff involved believed that it would be entirely possible that Terrence and Matilda would need to be kept separate from each other for a decent amount of time. He sighed, his smile now fading as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 'How did I not foresee this?' he thought glumly to himself.

The sound of very distinctive howling and roaring from La Brea Grand Vista caused him to ruefully think about the interspecies enmities unfolding there. Contrary to what he seemed to indicate to several of the staff members, he was in fact well aware of the rivalries that Diego and Nero had going on with Smokey and Dag. He just simply chose not to worry about them since, as far as he could tell, the antagonism between them seemed to be not much more than posturing and not really the kind of thing that would warrant long term worry. And as he remembered these details, he also remembered all too clearly how he'd likewise believed the rising antagonism that had been developing between Terrence and Matilda up to this point to simply be a harmless case of sibling rivalry that wouldn't lead to either of them truly getting hurt in the long run, not to mention that they'd grow out of it the closer they got to finishing puberty and reaching full adulthood. Unfortunately, as today had made all too clear while he was away, Matilda had now quite emphatically proven him wrong, and that her current enmity with her brother was perhaps far more serious than he'd realized.

"Just like that stupid rivalry between Jack and Leon," he whispered under his breath. He shook his head side to side. He remembered clear as a crystal how he'd procrastinated in dealing with the former enmity between his two companions from today and held onto hope that they'd be able to work it out without needing intervention from him until said enmity had nearly gotten him dismembered by a dunkleosteus. And now, his similarly dismissal of the apparently not so healthy case of sibling rivalry between Terrence and Matilda as 'nothing to worry about' had nearly gotten Terrence killed. It was almost enough to make him wonder if the feud between Kyle and Nikolai, yet another enmity at the park that he was currently not treating as high priority to resolve, could perhaps end with someone getting killed if he didn't do something about it in the near future.

The thought of Kyle and Nikolai's feud caused him to sigh again in resignation as he also found himself thinking of how, contrary to what many of the staff seemed to think, he was also well aware of how little faith many of them were currently feeling in his ability to even notice problems unfolding at the park, let alone resolve them. Even now it took all his willpower not to scream in frustration at just how his management style currently seemed to rub so many of the staff the wrong way when it came to the current problems. He was well aware of how his style of management could, in one word, be quite accurately described as 'uninvolved', and how he hadn't really put in much effort to convince his staff of the low need for worry about certain ongoing issues at the park beyond his mere say-so. In all fairness, he felt that he was simply showing faith in his staff's ability to handle unpleasant situations at the park themselves without needing him to get involved until absolutely no other option was available. Unfortunately, what he considered showing faith in his staff, many of the park staff nowadays seemed to consider sticking his head in the sand and not giving two shits about resolving problems until they'd already either gotten somebody hurt or at the very least inconvenienced. And considering how his choosing to apply his usual management style to his handling of enmities at the park had now twice blew up in his face, he had no doubt that the staff members who were doubting his ability as park manager would now have even less reason to trust him. And to make matters worse, as he'd found out that very day during the talk with Kyle, Linda, and Nikolai about the fight between Terrence and Matilda, it seemed as if at least a small part of the three chiefs of staff in question were starting to potentially agree with the staff members that were doubting him.

He sighed and hung his head, remembering just how visibly caught off guard Kyle, Linda, and Nikolai had been during their talk after his return from Cretaceous Madagascar by how seriously he'd taken the matter after they'd brought it to his attention and how swiftly he'd agreed to their proposition to keep Terrence and Matilda separated until a more savory solution could be figured out. Granted, it wasn't as if he didn't understand why they'd reacted in such a way. But even so, the fact that they'd genuinely thought he wouldn't believe them when they'd told him about how bad things had gotten between Terrence and Matilda still stung. Sighing again, he shook his head side to side, his mind swimming with all the headaches that he was finding himself having to deal with as park manager. 'And I thought my time as basketball team captain and current ongoing status as rescue team leader was hard,' he thought bitterly to himself before sighing yet again. Sometimes he wondered why being in charge had to be so painful...

Suddenly, Terrence opened his eyes, a mildly surprised grumble popping from his jaws as he seemed to finally take notice of Drew's presence and wake up. From there, the young t. rex stiffly got up to his feet and walked over to Drew, a low growl seeping from his jaws as he regarded Drew with a curious gaze as if saying 'Is something wrong?' At this, Drew couldn't help but allow his earlier warm smile to return. After all, at least for now he had Terrence to provide him with company and support. "I'm alright buddy," he said, nodding his head as if to convince himself of such. "Everything will be fine. I've just... had a very busy day today." He then looked towards the stitched up wounds on Terrence's head, face, and neck. "So," he then said. "Got into a bit of a fight today?" Terrence cocked his head, a low growl coming out of his throat. Drew chuckled, smile widening in amusement. "I'll take that as a yes," he then said before placing his hand gently upon Terrence's snout as if to reassure him. "You fought well pal," he then stated. "You fought well. See you in the morning."

Terrence snorted, almost as if to say 'Right back at ya', before then turning around and lumbering back to where he'd been sleeping. Nodding his head, Drew turned away from Terrence's recovery pen, warm smile still on his face, and began to depart in the direction of his living quarters to get himself some sleep. Right now, it was safe to say that he had a lot to think about.

Rescue Tally

* Adalatherium hui (11; all adults; 5 male, 6 female)

* Ahitraornis silvaensis (13; all adults; 7 male, 6 female)

* Angatravis horribilis (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)

* Beelzebufo ampinga (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)

* Dahalokely tokana (7; 4 adults, 3 youngsters; 3 male, 4 female)

* Drivotravis zanaharensis (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 5 female)

* Falcatakely forsterae (13; all adults; 7 male, 6 female)

* Fulminopteryx velox (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)

* Gremlisuchus minor (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Helatravis fortis (10; 7 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 6 female)

* Ictisuchus maevaroensis (12; all adults; 6 male, 6 female)

* Kelyophis hechti (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)

* Khifarusuchus orcus (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 4 male, 6 female)

* Kibokosuchus maximus (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)

* Lavanify miolaka (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)

* Lelafornis cineris (13; all adults; 7 male, 6 female)

* Madtsoia madagascariensis (5; all adults; 3 male, 2 female)

* Mahajangasuchus insignis (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Majungasaurus crenatissimus (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 3 male, 6 female)

* Masiakasaurus knopfleri (13; 10 adults, 3 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)

* Masinasaurus vovokaensis (13; 7 adults, 6 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)

* Menarana nosymena (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Miadanasuchus oblita (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)

* Ngirisuchus pinguis (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)

* Oranaornis zavonaensis (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

* Pantherosuchus velox (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)

* Rahonavis ostromi (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)

* Rapetosaurus krausei (13; 9 adults, 4 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)

* Ratovantanysaurus madagascarensis (7; 4 adults, 3 youngsters; 3 male, 4 female)

* Sahonachelys mailakavava (12; all adults; 6 male, 6 female)

* Simosuchus clarki (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Vahiny depereti (14; 10 adults, 4 youngsters; 7 male, 7 female)

* Vazimbasaurus maevaroensis (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 5 female)

* Vintana sertichi (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

Next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:

It's all hands on deck for a crocodile that ate dinosaurs!

(A massive crocodilian lunges out of a lake and snaps its jaws upon the neck of a drinking hadrosaur.)

But not without some unexpected complications.

(The rescue team waves flaming torches at a pack of troodontids surrounding their campsite.)

And an unexpected additional duty has been added to the head researcher's daily schedule.

(Khatin carefully observes a pair of ornithomimus eggs in an incubator.)

All next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: The D-Bags!