Firstly, happy (belated for some) Halloween, y'all!

Here's just a bit of the rules on requests – you can request a creature that somebody else has requested. The number of requests for a given creature (or location) gives us an idea of demand – the greater the demand for a certain target, the sooner LionGleek and I are likely to write it.

(And, to the fellow who requested Spinosaurus – as Guest Tran stated, we've already got it on the list. Spino is the Phase Two finale mission – and has been for quite a while. It's okay, though, you can suggest a replacement).

Guest: We're not taking OCs for Phase Two (we had two submissions and both were just slightly different variants of Leon, which basically made us say "Sod it"). However, we are taking them for Phase Three (there's going to be a big influx in new characters, 'cos the park opens to the public).

Maybe you could write bios for Edgar, Marisa and Davon (including descriptions of their appearances and personalities – as well as this, give them animal partners). Some advice re: this will be available in the reviews.

Drew Luczynski was sitting in his office, waiting, with Jack Denham sitting near him. Drew was checking his watch, whilst Jack was looking at the celling (for no discernible reason) and tapping his feet impatiently. Suddenly, a voice sarcastically noted, "Well, I'm glad to see you intended to go without me". They turned to see Cynthia Knightley walking towards them, a smug expression on her face. "Where were you?", an puzzled Jack asked, "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago". In response, she rolled her eyes and replied, "I was late. Sue me. Anyway, what are we going after?"

Drew looked at her suspiciously and cleared his throat, ""Right, Theodore has again stated that we should go after something smaller today; to that end, he wants us to go back further than we've ever gone before… 410 million years ago, to the Silurian," Drew explained, flicking through pages of the file. "Some of the best fossils of the time have been found in China – from those sites, we've found that fish were far more diverse in the Silurian than we previously thought – we're also going after the giant eurypterids, or sea scorpions that existed at the time."

After the reading, Cynthia muttered, "Memorised that, did you? Where was this Drew when he 'forgot' my grandmother's funeral?" Drew glared at her and muttered in reply, "Firstly, I genuinely did forget it was her funeral. And, anyway, the vicious old crone hated my guts, so why should I be forced to…" As the argument became more vocal, Jack looked at the two, with a feeling of trepidation, "Right… I'm just there for when you guys give each other the silent treatment, am I?

. . . .

After the blinding light from the portal dimmed down, the first thing that hit them was an almost immediate feeling of light-headedness and a sudden, throbbing headache. The trio quickly reached for their air mixtures and took a breath. After a short period, the light-headedness began to subside and the headaches gradually ebbed away. After that brief frantic period, they looked up at the Silurian world. And what a world it was.

It looked more like an alien planet than anything on Earth, a barren wasteland of roasting rock, with no apparent signs of life. It was uncannily quiet; as if a nuclear bomb had gone off and wiped out all life on Earth.

Looking at the desolation, Jack commented, "This was around about the time animals first moved onto land, right? It makes you think; how could anything survive, or want to survive, in a place like this?" Drew turned to him and said, overawed, "Life always finds a way. Life gets past all obstacles. Life changes as the world changes. Life goes to new environments, makes new leaps; painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way. Every single time."

Jack turned to him and smiled, "Very insightful, fearless leader. Maybe it's the low oxygen, but there's something about a place like this that makes you go philosophical." Cynthia rolled her eyes and muttered, "Suck-up." Drew turned to his ex-girlfriend and gave her a glare, muttering "Please don't talk to him like that."

However, they soon found that appearances were often deceiving. The plants were tiny, only a few centimetres tall, and fairly simple looking; there were no leaves, flowers or roots, instead just a green stem, which branched in the middle culminating in two or three yellow rounded bulbs that was shaped like a piece of pollen. "What are those?" Cynthia asked.

Drew said, quietly, "These are Cooksonia. One of the first land plants." Jack turned to Drew, "Amazing, isn't it? From the giant redwood forests of the Pacific Northwest to the savannahs of the African plains, they all evolved from that tiny plant." He gave Drew a lopsided grin, "They're extinct and interesting; does that mean you want to rescue them, fearless leader? I mean, Theodore didn't say that we couldn't rescue botanical species." Drew turned to him and nodded, "Yes, I do. However, we'll need a place to send them. You scout up ahead for anything else while Cynth and I contact the park." Cynthia gave Drew a look and said, "Really?", to which he nodded, "Yes – I trust him. End of discussion."

Jack nodded and proceeded forward, with his dive bag slung over his shoulder, continuing until he reached the coast and saw the ocean. He then looked down and saw a group of scorpions eating a rotting carcass, of what he couldn't identify; the animal looked too decayed to make a conclusive identification. He looked at the scavengers. Aside from the size, they were almost exactly identical to modern scorpions, with eight legs, a pair of long, thin pincers and a long tail, which terminated in a stinger. However, these were much larger than any modern scorpion; they were approximately three feet long, with stingers the size of light bulbs. They were brown, with a little blue and yellow on the back.

He felt silenced by the surprising solemnity of the occasion; he was witnessing some of the first animals ever to crawl out of the water onto land. Jack moved forward to gain a better look, but in doing so, he accidentally knocked a small rock over. The rock rolled away and landed near the scorpions. The scorpions all paused, like stray dogs around a bin, and all turned to the strange, new creature; they began to advance forward, in order to chase this new competitor off their meal. Silently, Jack started backing away from them; he didn't know whether they were venomous or not, but he did not want to find out the hard way. They did not give up on their advance, continuing to move forward kept backing up until he was pressed against the back of a cliff, the scorpions still continuing their remorseless advance. Jack looked to either side and saw another wall on one side and the ocean on the other. Choosing the better option, he took a breath and braced himself.

. . . .

The small pterosaur flew through the air, flapping its wings as it slowly caught hold of an updraft. Circling around the area, it scanned the ground intently.

John Willoby smiled as he watched Forestock, his hatchling harpactognathus, fly around. He'd been surprised to find out that, unlike most birds, pterosaur hatchlings could fly right out of the egg – however, Forestock was still small, with only a wingspan of about a foot. He'd have to get a bit bigger before he could actually be used.

Over the last few sessions, he'd managed to build up some more strength and Willoby watched, heart in his mouth, for any stumbles. However, Forestock was flying around eagerly, exploring the area like it was the most natural thing in the world. Willoby gave a proud smile and said, "I knew you could do it." Forestock warbled, as if in triumph. For at least five minutes Willoby watched as Forestock flew around, scanning the ground, before lifting his right arm and saying, "Alright, Forestock," he said. "Time to roost."

At that, Forestock proceeded, as trained, to return to his perch at Willoby's side. "Good boy, Forestock," he said as he carefully drew out a small strip of meat and gave it to him as a reward. "Good boy," he repeated as Forestock carefully ate his treat.

"Not bad."

Willoby looked ahead in time to see Adrian Sky standing nearby and slowly clapping his hands, "Not bad – first man to fly a pterosaur…" Willoby chuckled, "Not technically - considering you and Cirrus…", to which Adrian shook his head, "I don't really fly Cirrus – obviously, he's too big. So you're still the first man to fly a pterosaur."

. . . .

Jack emerged from the water, gasping for breath. Wiping his lips clean of the salt, he remembered what diving into the ocean without a mask felt like; he'd done that for a dare from a particularly malicious cousin as a child. He cursed himself inwardly; why did he have to do that, when he could have just distracted them somehow and slipped away. He looked around, both to see if the scorpions had followed him into the water (he didn't know the exact species of his attackers, but he did know that they were semi-aquatic) and to see if he'd gone too far. He saw the scorpions, just a few feet away; having chased off the interloper, they continued their patrol of the shoreline, ignoring him as they walked away. He breathed out in relief, he hadn't ended up too far from the location he'd left. As he looked on, another bonus became apparent; his dive bag was sitting where he'd left it, completely intact. After waiting in the shallows for a minute, he crawled back onto land. He saw that Drew and Cynthia had headed to the area and was looking at him with a frown on his face, "So… we asked you to scout ahead whilst we contacted the park to make a place for the Cooksonia… and we find you in the sea. What possessed you to do that?" Drew rolled his eyes, "Oh, do lighten up, Cynth."

Jack looked awkwardly around and said, "I was not goofing off, for one. What I was doing was escaping from five very, very pissed off giant scorpions." Drew gave him a weird look, "Jack, seriously, what happened? Could you elaborate on 'pissed off giant scorpions'? Partly 'cos the details might be fun."

Jack rolled his eyes and clarified, "Yeah, I suppose that isn't a good place to start. The scorpions were on the beach, scavenging a carcass. And then they tried to attack me because they thought I was after their catch. They had huge stingers; the size of light bulbs, at least." Jack's mention of the stinger's size peaked Drew's interest, "What did they look like?"

Jack put two fingers on his chin, recalling the description of his assailants, "They looked pretty much exactly like modern scorpions. However, they were a lot larger; about the same size as a Golden Retriever." Drew thought for a moment before it hit him, "I've got it! You must have encountered some Brontoscorpio; that's a pretty common sea scorpion at this time. They're about that size, and can also come out of the water onto land; possibly to scavenge carcasses that get washed up on the coastline. Where did you see them?"

Jack pointed to the area, a short distance away, where the scorpions had stalked him to, "By the cliff side, not too far from here. Why? Are they important in the environment somehow? Aside from being amongst the first creatures to take the first steps onto land, that is."

Drew turned to him and smiled, "They hunt the fish of that time – so, obviously, they'd go wherever their prey are." Jack rolled his eyes and grinned, "Well, let's get suited up and find them then. And, who knows, we might get two species for the price of one."

. . . .

"They're surprisingly cute."

Aaron Joseph deadpanned as he and Kyle watched the hatchling dimetrodon play-fight and search for food under the watchful gazes of the four females, including Otetra. Rommel and the other two males stayed some distance away, not wanting to incur the wrath of the females by getting too close.

Some distance away, Spiny kept back too, as did the other juveniles. Whilst the juvenile dimetrodon avoided the adults as a general rule, it was possible the potential food source the hatchlings might present would be enough of an incentive – Kyle made a mental note to keep the paddock under permanent observation.

Looking at Kyle, Aaron chuckled, "You seem happy." And it was true – Kyle was almost beaming at the hatchlings, almost playing the part of a proud uncle. Aaron chuckled at this. It was a testament to how fond Kyle had become of the creatures – and Rommel in particular.

However, sentimentality was only a small reason why they'd dropped by – Khatin had wanted them to give an observation of the hatchlings. Aaron looked closer. The hatchlings, whilst perfectly proportioned, were not miniature adults, having shorter snouts and larger eyes and the only sign of the adults' magnificent sails on the hatchlings, was a small ridge running along their backs.

If dimetrodon behaved anything like crocodiles, the hatchlings, whilst staying by the nests and being protected and occasionally fed by their mothers, would largely be catching food for themselves – mostly insects.

Once they had reached about three or four feet long (Spiny's size) and they had become fully independent of their parents, their claws would become more curved and their tails prehensile, enabling them to search for food in the trees and giving them food sources free from the adults. At this point, they'd be hunting small animals amongst the trees and scavenging the leftovers of the communal fish pile. As they became bigger and heavier, they would become less and less arboreal, before becoming the large, semi-aquatic adults.

Aaron chuckled – in thirty seconds, he'd summed up the likely path of Dimetrodon ontogeny. Whilst he shared Jack's distaste for academics, it wasn't hard to appreciate the opportunities being able to observe in the flesh animals formerly known from fossils. I mean, who could have theorised that there were eusocial sea scorpions? But look at the stylonyrus – Khatin had, by all accounts, done a celebratory dance when he'd heard.

. . . .

Back in the Silurian, Drew, Jack and Cynthia had donned their diving gear and were currently swimming through the Silurian sea in a search for animals. They had come upon a large, verdant coral reef; whilst it wasn't quite as vibrant as the Devonian, the desolate appearance of the land somehow made the reef that little much brighter.

Jack turned to Drew, "This is just like the Devonian reefs, isn't it? Only a bit less colourful. And, probably, with fewer very well-camouflaged predatory sarcopterygians." At this, Cynthia shrugged, "I suppose you had to be there."

They swam through the reef, in search of animals to bring back. They didn't have to swim for long before they found their first animals; a small shoal of three species of fish rooting about on the seabed – two species of placoderm and a group of jawless fish. One group of placoderms had brown scales and yellow armour around their heads, whilst the other group had grey heads and brown tails, rooting about on the seabed. Accompanying them was a small shoal of jawless fish with red armoured heads and brown tails. Drew said, breathless, "I think these are Entelognathus and Silurolepsis – basal placoderms, They're all bottom-dwellers – they filter food from the soil. The jawless ones are Dunyu" Using the sonar emitter, the team managed to lure them through the portal, into the present.

Shortly after, they found their next animals – a shoal consisting of two species of fish – both looking rather similar, with one group being shorter-bodied, with green scales and red fins, and the other group being grey scaled with black stripes. Squinting, Cynthia said, "I think I know what these are – Guiyu and Sparalepsis, among the first jawed fish. Let me get these guys through the portal – I'm supposed to be helping, not observing". Leaving out a trail of food, she had the two shoals follow it, through the portal back to the park. Watching this, Jack said, "Yeah – I think that's a good start." Drew muttered, "Luck – beginner's luck."

For another hour, the three continued swimming through the reef when they stumbled upon six sandy brown eurypterids, about three feet long, scuttling across the ocean floor in search of food. "I think these are Terropterus," said Jack. "Among the local eurypterids – it was only described a few days ago." "Wow – straight from the headlines to our park," said Drew, his usual trademark grin on his face under his mask, as he drew his sonar emitter. " After about fifteen minutes, Leon and Drew managed to get the terropterus' attention, sending them through the portal once they were close enough. Once the eurypterids had gone through, Drew closed the portal and placed his sonar emitter on his belt, before activating his commlink.

After the last of the sea scorpions had gone through, they saw a small shoal of jawless fish swimming past them, with green bodies and blue heads and fins. Jack squinted and said, "Birkenia elegans – they're planktivores, I think. Should we bring them back?" Drew nodded, "No species left behind – so yeah." At this, Cynthia gave Jack a look and said, "What does that actually mean?" Jack shrugged, "It sounded cool." Activating the portal, Drew had the fish swim through it, back to the park. Suddenly, they briefly paused as a creature passed over them. As it moved into full view, they could identify it; it was a fish, roughly about four feet long, the size of a salmon. It looked like a small barracuda and swam with the cold, calculating indifference of an apex predator.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jack said, staring at the creature. Drew nodded, overawed, "Yes. Megamastax – it looks like a barracuda, but it's actually a sarcopterygian. It was the first vertebrate apex predator – the biggest fish in the Silurian seas. However, it's still only about as big as a salmon, so not as awesome as it sounds. Regrettably." As he said this, Drew grabbed the remote, aimed it in the fish's approximate direction and turned on the portal. The fish looked at the sudden gleaming light with curiosity, before Drew threw a dead fish through it. With lightning speed, the Megamastax followed the bait, into the present. went through slowly, segment by segment. As he observed this, Jack said wryly, "This is your dream – bringing back two of the apex predators almost straight out of the gate. Well, two of them." Cynthia said, calmly, "Well, I think they're going to be happy these apex predators are only small."

Drew nodded and said, "Yeah – I'd have brought back a bigger surprise if I would. The big orthocones, sadly, are gone – the biggest thing here's Pterygotus." Jack grinned mischievously and said, "Saving the best till last, eh?" Drew gave a matching grin and nodded; Cynthia sighed. Why did her ex surround himself with these people? Oh, wait – he didn't like people who'd tell him no. That was it – that was the way it had always been.

. . . .

Meanwhile, back at the park. Nikolai was sitting in the Carboniferous dome, watching Felix and Melancholia browse on the plants not far from the path. Whilst observing them was relaxing, it did invoke a strange feeling that something was missing.

The two giant millipedes liked him… well, as much as a giant arthropod possibly could like someone. And he could commiserate with them when it all felt like it was going to come crashing down on him.

However, he hadn't bonded as closely with them as some had with the animals they had encountered – Jack had Kaa and Duke, Kyle had Rommel and Abrams, Leon had Diego… even Collete had Nero and Hannibal. Most seemed to have an animal partner, with some even having two… except him.

Now, Nikolai was not a man prone to worrying about inconsequential matters – when you had under your observation, multiple species of meat-eating dinosaur more than thirty feet long, it was trivial – but it was concerning that he hadn't found his animal partner yet. Now, they had literally all of history to play with, so he could find one in the future, but it did feel rather… empty. Like something was missing.

. . . .

Continuing their search, Drew, Jack and Cynthia swam closer to the ocean floor and saw the oddest-looking fish that any of them had ever seen grazing at the bottom. There was a vague similarity in appearance between it and the borithelpis back at the park; however, unlike the borithelpis, it was jawless. Its most notable feature was its head, which was disproportionately large in comparison to the rest of its body and heavily armoured, giving the fish a top-heavy look. The fish's entire body was a greenish yellow, making it perfectly camouflaged with its environment.

Jack pointed at the fish and said to Drew, "Is that what I think it is?" Drew nodded, "Yes, it's Cephalaspis. ", as he and Jack swam closer to the fish to catch it. The fish, oblivious to them, was still grazing; as a bonus, it was gradually moving closer towards them. Suddenly, the fish turned around and froze, staring intently at an area of the seabed. The fish stopped grazing and, swishing its tail rapidly from side to side, quickly swam away. Compared to the sedate manner it had been swimming in before, this sudden burst of speed was unusual. Confused, Drew, Jack and Cynthia began to swim after it. However, they soon learned the very reason it had escaped. As they touched the ocean floor, the sand suddenly seemed to erupt as if, by their very touching it, they had incurred the wrath of some monstrous entity. The trio quickly swam up to escape the beast they had inadvertently awakened.

"Oh great, we awoke Cthulhu!", Jack said in a mix of anger, surprise, and a bit of sarcasm. Drew rolled his eyes and looked down at the creature, which had now emerged fully from its sandy hideaway. The best way to describe it would be a cross between a scorpion and a lobster. The main difference between it and either of those animals, was that it was titanic; from head to tail, it must have been about the size of a crocodile. The creature looked up and attempted to grab the three humans, flailing one massive pincer into the air, inches away from Drew's foot. Seeing that there was no prey of appropriate size, the scorpion then buried itself in the sand from whence it came.

Drew and Jack watched the spectacle open-mouthed; as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Jack turned to Drew and quietly said, "Uh, fearless leader? Do you mind if I ask one teeny tiny question; WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Cynthia suddenly turned to him and said, in a voice that was barely above a whisper; "Shut up, you idiot! You might alert it." Drew gave his ex a withering look, and muttered, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that… Anyway, from the notes Theodore sent me, I think it's a Pterygotus; the largest of the sea scorpions and the largest arthropod of all time."

Right as Drew had finished talking, they noticed that a Megamastax had appeared and had begun swimming in the direction of the Pterygotus. Unlike the Cephalaspis, it didn't change course; it was almost as if it was searching for something. The Megamastax abruptly stopped, and moved down as if to strike. Suddenly, the sand erupted and, before it had any time to react, a giant claw emerged from the sand and grabbed the Megamastax, holding it in place, as the Pterygotus fully emerged. Using its giant claws, the Pterygotus tore the fish apart. As pieces of the killed Megamastax landed on the sand, smaller versions of the giant emerged and began to eat the pieces. Jack and Drew gave a surprised look; the Pterygotus was feeding her young! That was why the Megamastax had approached the Pterygotus in the first place; it was searching for prey. Jack tried to dive closer to the monstrous family and use a dead fish to lure them to the portal, but he was met with a snap from the mother's claw.

He re-joined Drew, "So, fearless leader, how are we going to bring Scorpio-zilla back? Bait won't work; that carcass is going to keep them occupied for quite a while. If you want my opinion, we try the sonar. Maybe it can gather any others that might be hiding as well." "You just read my mind, buddy", Drew said, as he reached into his pocket and grabbed the sonar device. Drew passed Jack the portal remote and pressed down on the sonar device, sending out a sonar wave that caused the giant creatures to move. He pressed it several times, leading both the Pterygotus family (with the young being carried on their mother's back) and several others in the vicinity towards the area where they planned to open the portal. When they'd reached the area, Jack pressed the button to open the portal and Drew herded the giants through, into the present. Once the last giant had gone through, Drew shut off the portal. Jack, awestruck at the spectacle, turned to Drew and smiled, "Our luck's improving! This might be our easiest mission yet!"

. . . .

Collete Dubois was contentedly leaning against the viewing area railing of the dire wolf paddock, a small smile on her face as she watched the pack napping peacefully. She enjoyed coming down here when she was on break – they looked so peaceful. The lull in hostility between the dire wolves and Pleistocene coyotes was also continuing– Dag was still nursing his pride from the Shutdown. "It really is nice," she thought to herself. "Getting some peace.".

However, she couldn't disguise the fact that she was worried – worried about Jack. She didn't know why – the time period the mission was going to wasn't particularly dangerous. The biggest predatory vertebrate was about as big as a salmon – there was an alligator-sized eurypterid, but the queen stylonyrus was that big…

No, it wasn't a creature she was worried about – it was a person. A few days ago, Yolanda had told her that Cynthia, the new woman on the team, was Drew's ex-girlfriend – and she and Drew were on the mission today. She knew Jack – and Jack would not relish being caught between any confrontations they would have gotten in.

She turned to see Nero sitting close to her, with an expression of concern in his face. After he'd protected Jack from the Ornitholestes in the Shutdown, she'd got the vibe he cared about Jack just as much as she did – and had developed a slight camaraderie with Duke the dromaeosaurus.

. . . .

Back in the Silurian, Drew, Jack and Cynthia had entered a rocky area of the reef. In comparison to the vibrant location of everywhere seemed strangely quiet, as if everything was avoiding the place. Suddenly, an enormous scorpion emerged and snapped its pincers at them. They looked at each other in awful recognition of where they had found themselves; they had stumbled into Brontoscorpio territory and they definitely weren't welcome. They looked up to find that at least thirty large Brontoscorpio and a shoal of Megamastax were standing on various areas of the rock, casting intent glares at the humans below them.

Jack's eyes widened and said, "Well, at least I got to put my foot in my mouth. Erm, fearless leader? Our welcoming committee aren't exactly impressed with us – so, if you've got a plan, now would be the time." True to Jack's words, the predators all looked at the three intruders and started to advance towards them.

Drew gave him a knowing smile; "O ye of little faith, I do have a plan and it's a cracker. Grab the bait bag and get ready to empty it on my mark." Confused, Jack picked up the bait bag, as the Brontoscorpio and Megamastax began to surround them, still continuing their remorseless advance. When the predators had gotten too close for comfort, Drew activated the portal. The scorpions and fish recoiled at the glowing orb, staring stupefied at it for what seemed like an eternity, until Jack emptied the bait bag's entire contents through the portal. The scorpions and fish, moving like a single entity, dived through the portal after the fish guts,. When the last one had disappeared, Drew turned off the portal. Cynthia turned to Jack and said, "Is he always this much of a show-off?", to which Jack nodded, "Yeah… Just wanted to check; was he like that when you guys were together?" She nodded, "Oh yeah. Hell yeah."

After the final one had disappeared through, Jack gave out a sigh of relief, "Thank God you had a plan, fearless leader. After all we've faced, somehow getting eaten by those things would be a bit humiliating." Cynthia turned to him, confused, "Even frightened, you can't help but make jokes, can you?" Jack smiled sheepishly and Drew said, "Personally, I'm okay with it – I'm not a buzzkill… unlike some people.". They were interrupted by a large school of Cephalaspis. They were all swimming in a certain direction; it was almost organised. Jack looked at the spectacle and said, "Looks like a migration to me. Wonder where they're heading?"

"I don't know, but I think I have an idea. Come on, let's head back to camp." In response to this, Jack gave Drew a questioning look as to the relevance of getting back on land. After some time of deliberation, he assumed that it was because they needed to collect the Cooksonia; Drew had filled him in that a place in the park was ready for them. Jack was half right, as they carefully gathered a decent amount of Cooksonia from the Silurian beach and placed it onto a large cart, ready to send back to the 21st century. However, after they had finished with that task, Jack saw Drew follow the sea, until his gaze reached a small pond.

Drew walked up to the pond to make sure that his assumption was correct. Jack gaped at the spectacle; crossing a small land bridge into the pond, were hundreds of Cephalaspis. Drew looked at the spectacle and smiled, "As I thought, the Cephalaspis go into freshwater to breed."

Jack suddenly looked at him, quizzically, "I understand that; I mean, lots of fish do it, like sturgeon. However, there's still one thing I'm still not getting. That one from before fled so suddenly because it somehow detected that Scorpio-zilla was lurking in the sand, before the Megamastax did, right? How?"

Drew turned to him and smiled, "I honestly don't know – maybe it can sense vibrations. We'll let Khatin had a look at them when we get back to the park."

The two continued to watch as fish after fish, one by one, crossed the tiny land bridge into the pond to lay their eggs. However, there were some who never made it across; five Brontoscorpio, attracted by the spectacle, would occasionally grab one and drag it off to be devoured. Drew suddenly turned to see Jack staring at the scorpions open-mouthed; with an expression from beyond the grave, "It's them! The scorpions from before!" Cynthia gave him a questioning look, "How can you tell that those five are the same ones from before?"

"Every Brontoscorpio has a different shell pattern." Drew smiled at him and said, "Well, if that's the case, why don't you go apologize to your little friends?" Drew gave Jack a small push and they walked towards the pond. Jack gave Drew a glare as he walked over to the scorpions, stopping once he saw the scorpions noticed him. Paralyzed with fear, he began to stammer, "Oh, erm… well, this is awkward. Hey, guys. Uh, remember me? Yeah, I was just thinking about… well, you know how I kind of rudely interrupted your lunch. Well, how about we let bygones be bygones… would that be OK?" The scorpions ignored him, continuing to grab fish from the throng.

Drew and Cynthia facepalmed at Jack's attempt at a "diversion"; it clearly wasn't working, since the scorpions weren't paying him any attention. However, they seemed distracted anyway; they weren't grabbing any more fish. With them occupied, Drew got closer to the bridge of rock separating the pond from the sea and turned the portal on. Immediately, the Cephalaspis began swimming through the portal, with many disappearing through the glowing orb. Drew kept the portal for about 10 minutes, before, after about seventy had entered the portal, and turned off the portal. Drew, then, turned to Jack who was currently still talking to the scorpions, who were starting to clack their pincers in irritation. Drew and Cynthia rolled their eyes and turned the portal on. Jack grabbed a dead Cephalapsis and threw it through the portal. The Brontoscorpio quintet pursued it, like dogs after a tennis ball.

After shutting it off, Drew, Jack and Cynthia went back to camp, packed up their supplies and grabbed the cart full of Cooksonia, ready to take back through the portal. They turned and gave one last look on the pond which still had Cephalaspis going into it; the immediate threat had been removed, but more Brontoscorpio would find the spawning ground. They turned the portal on, looked at each other, and pushed the cart through.

Once the portal had been shut down, they were met by Nikolai who said, "Welcome back… why does Denham seem so flustered? I do hope nothing… untoward happened on the mission…" Drew looked curiously at Nikolai, "Does he?" He sighed, "Oh, you know, the usual." He looked at Cynthia, rather grimly, "Stuff." Nikolai gave him a look – whilst he wasn't that good at reading people, he had guessed that something was going on between those two. And that was what Denham had been so flustered about.

. . . .

After a couple hours, everything had gone back to normal. Or at least, normal for Prehistoric Park anyway. All the animals rescued from Silurian China had been happily moved over to their new homes within the newly constructed Silurian extension of the Prehistoric Park Aquarium. The cephalaspis were kept in an appropriately sized tank near the chamber's front entrance that was designed to simulate a late Silurian seabed; it was very sandy and had lots of algae growing within. There was even a specially constructed freshwater portion placed directly behind the main portion and out of view of future guests, where the shoal would be allowed to travel to when the time came for them to reproduce. The rest of the fish likewise had been placed in assorted tanks positioned throughout the central portion of the room, all designed to resemble Silurian period sea beds and reefs. The brontoscorpio swarm had been placed in a large tank at the far right wall of the room that had a massive pool resembling the Silurian ocean for the creatures to swim around in as well as a prominent land area in the back of the tank for whenever they wished to go out on land; and so far they were all skulking about in wait for their next meal.

Finally, the planned main attraction for the Silurian China extension was the pterygotus, which now all dwelled in an appropriately massive tank where they were all either swimming about or lying upon the sandy floor. Unlike the brontoscorpio, the pterygotus had proven surprisingly docile and easy for the handlers to feed and work with. They were all swimming around the tank, waiting for their next meal. And even the cooksonia had been placed inside a specially designed Silurian environment simulating greenhouse chamber.

Rescue Tally:

* Birkenia elegans (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)

* Brontoscorpio anglicus (36; all adults; 18 male, 18 female)

* Cephalaspis lyelli (54; all adults; 27 male, 27 female)

* Dunyu longiforus (27; 14 male, 13 female)

* Entelognathus primordialis (18; all adults; 9 male, 9 female)

* Guiyu oneiros (42; all adults; 21 male, 21 female)

* Megamastax amblyodus (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)

* Pterygotus anglicus (9; 4 adults, 5 youngsters; 5 males, 4 females)

* Sparalepis tingi (12; all adults; 6 male, 6 female)

* Silurolepis platydorsalis (17; all adults; 8 male, 9 female)

* Terropterus xiushanensis (6: all adults; 2 male, 4 female)

* Cooksonia pertoni (43)

Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:

It's off to Cretaceous Utah.

(A large herd of ceratopsians browses in a forested clearing.)

To rescue the king of gore!

(A pack of tyrannosaurs roar and bellow at a panicked herd of hadrosaurs within a clearing surrounded by flames.)

And Cynthia's unresolved tensions begin to snowball out onto the rest of the staff.

(Alice and Yolanda grab Cynthia and yank her backwards in time for Diego to lunge upon the chain-link fence between his paddock's outdoor area and indoor holding area and roar angrily at her.)

All next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Forest of Blight!