CHAPTER V: Brachiosaurus

They continued their hike through the scorching dino world. The path in which the footprints were imprinted was slightly darker than the other parts of the ground, which only made it easier to keep up with them.

Michael and Nathan walked together, careful to stick together in this unique environment. They kept their eyes on the surrounding cyacads and palm trees that surrounded them at every corner, whilst also letting down their guard the longer they spent here.

Michael in particular looked up to the extremely bright skies, as he tried to distinguish the rock ground ceiling above from the actual clouds. All he could see was the scorching colours of an overly summer climate, with the subtly pink colouration giving the dino world a distinct atmosphere. The science behind the dino world was something remarkable but also unorthodox.

As he continued looking up at the clear open skies, a couple more flying dinos brushed past his eyesight in the distance above. Their screeching noises echoed like a microphone across the open space above them, and they didn't sound like the sort of dinosaur that they'd want to grab the attention of. And as Michael got a clearer look at the dinosaurs flying, he recognized them as being the same type Buck, Crash and Eddie flew on to rescue Sid from Lava Falls.

Specifically, the Harpactognathus. Not that Michael remembered the name or even had the faintest idea of how to pronounce it. But that was the same sort of flying dinosaur he was seeing above the jungles they were in.

"See them above?" Michael asked Nathan, nodding his head up to the sky.

Nathan's eyes followed the direction Michael was looking as he too looked up to the sky. He could see the Harpactognathus as they flew in a pack, a group of about four of them screeching in the airs with their loud and distinct noises.

"Yeah, they're the ones that Buck flew on to save Sid in the movie."

"Cool isn't it? I'd hate to fly on one of them, can you imagine?"

Nathan chuckled, "there's not a chance they're taking any of our weight, Buck and Crash and Eddie were literally feathers. They wouldn't take the weight of humans at all."

"Yeah, that's true actually. I wouldn't fly on one of them even if I had the chance."

For the vast majority of the walking they'd done so far, everything went well. The further they strolled into the jungle and the maze of cycads and palm trees, the more their confidence grew. They had a central aim of reaching Lava Falls and they weren't going to be deterred from achieving that.

They'd already witnessed the group of Triceratops back at the lake just below the elevated collection of rock where the entrance to this world was, but so far nothing fundamental had really come about.

It was cool that the Triceratops pack noticed them, but that's what made the two of them leave the vicinity of the lake because the Triceratops were starting to roam slowly towards their direction. They weren't sure how they'd have been as far as aggression or anything of that nature.

Michael and Nathan's walking had continued. Their trainers gently colliding to the rocky grounds of the dino world step by step as the two of them looked around. There was no knowing how long it'd take truly to get to Lava Falls, but the footprints of Momma Dino were proving to be an extremely helpful head start.

"We can't lose track of these footprints, you know? they're gonna save us heaps of time," Nathan said, "not too sure what we'd have done without them."

"I still think we would've had a roughly good idea of where to go, I think anyways."

Nathan sighed casually at Michael's reply. He took off his shades and gently hung them from the top of his hoodie. They were under a lot more shade from the sun now as they ventured deeper into the unpredictable jungles, so Nathan didn't have to contend with the sun blocking his eyesight quite as much.

In the upcoming distance, the terrain became a bit more uneven. It looked like the path had elevated upwards, only to descend, only to stay even, which then was followed by heaps of rocky boulders with cycad leaves planted all over them. It seemed like the further they got into the dino world, the more uneven the overall land became. Not that it concerned either Michael or Nathan, it actually made for an even more fun hike.

"See them there?" Michael said, noticing a couple of miniature looking dinosaurs in the distance who appeared to be feeding on a collection of cycads.

Nathan too noticed the small dinosaurs. The name of these particular dinosaurs was one neither Michael or Nathan knew or remembered, but they definitely remembered seeing them in a couple of scenes from Ice Age 3.

These were the small Troodons. They had long thin necks and tails and fed on plant matter, small animals and insects. They were extremely skittish towards anything bigger than them, hence why they fled when Momma Dino first emerged whilst carrying Sid and her three kids into the dino world in the movie. She'd walked towards their vicinity and they all ran off.

Michael and Nathan stopped moving, careful to get a good look at the small Troodons. The small dinosaurs were feeding at an overgrown rock wall of cycad leaves on one of the giant rocky pillars which stood at the height of a skyscraper. The overgrown cycad leaves were scattered all over the bottom of the pillar. They made very rapid chirping noises as they fed off the plants.

"They're small, aren't they?" Nathan said.

"Yeah, there's about four or five of them, they're eating away at those leaves on that...pillar thing."

Michael looked up to the pillar - it went as high as the sky, and that alone caused him to feel funny, as if he'd lost his balance briefly. Looking up to anything that high directly was always something that made him feel like he was losing his balance. He looked straight back down and ahead to the space where the small dinosaurs were.

"They have a bit of a purple colour, can you see that?" Nathan pointed out.

"Oh yeah, that's well cool!" Michael said, noticing the purple colours, albeit they were subtle colours.

The two of them decided to test their luck, and they started walking ever so slowly towards the unsuspecting dinosaurs. Only after their third step forwards did the small dinosaurs notice them, and instantly they'd all ran off like cheetahs back into the hidden portions of the jungle.

"We barely moved?"

"Nah, I remember seeing them in the movie, they were always skittish. I think they were only in the movie twice or something like that."

Michael, after saying that, walked forwards a bit more, with Nathan following him from behind. They were disappointed that the Troodons had easily become skittish and took off away, but it was cool nonetheless to see them. The two men reached the rocky pillar and noticed the overgrown leaves. The leaves had bite marks on them, most likely from the Troodons.

"Whatever you do, don't look up to this pillar, it's so weird, I get this feeling I'm about to fall or something," Michael said, "probably because of how vast and high it is."

"I know what you mean, I've tried doing that a few times but it's weird."

The two of them sighed, before Michael started turning his head around the vicinity of where they were stood. He'd noticed an opening within the jungle, and just a short distance from that opening was what could only be described as a miniature mountain of a rock. It could be walked up, and only got to a height of about six meters off the ground, and it was covered in all sorts of vines and green leaves and such. It had a few palm trees at the top.

"What're the chances of me getting to the top of that do you reckon?" Michael said, pointing to the opening and the miniature mountain of rock ahead.

"It's literally just like half a mountain, it's not even a mountain, it's just like a rock hill, you can walk up that easily, just be careful though, we need to remember where we left off with the footprints."

"Yeah, it'll only take me a second. Come up on it with me, we'll be able to find this easily, and we can get a good view from that height on top of the jungle," Michael said, "and we can probably try and see if we're any closer to where we're going."

Nathan shrugged, deciding it'd be harmless to walk up a bit of rock to see above the jungle trees of the dino world. So far, everything had gone well, so he wasn't too concerned with diverting off the path of footprints for a little while.

The two of them walked through the shaded forests, hearing all sorts of insects and screeching flying dinosaurs in the air, before arriving to the hill of rock. It was, at best, six meters off the ground, which was roughly 18 feet. That wasn't a bad height to overlook from, and plus, it added to the adventure.

The hill had a smooth surface which meant it was easy to walk upon. Nathan and Michael walked around it to get to the other end where it smoothly connected to the ground. As they set their trainers on the hill, they carefully began walking up it. There was a small lake just at the direct bottom of the edge of it too.

"God it's so hot isn't it?" Michael said.

"It's bound to be, there's no shade here, except for those trees up there."

Michael was tempted to pull out one of his first bottles of water but he wanted to hold off for now. He wasn't particularly dehydrated or anything yet. He wanted to try and preserve as much of his supplies as he could efficiently. Nathan was a lot more willing to drink and eat earlier. He wasn't at the moment, but he was definitely willing to tuck into his food at an earlier point.

Michael and Nathan stayed put together as they marched carefully up the hill of rock. The sun had scorched its monstrous heat on the back of their necks as they fully emerged out of the shade of the jungle. And as they climbed higher and higher, they could gradually see above all the trees around here. There were a few more giant rocky pillars around this area too.

Eventually, the two of them reached the top and they'd gotten a very nice overview of the dino world. Numerous rocky pillars were instantly the main attraction of both their eyes, as were the overhanging rock 'bridges' which had heaps of waterfalls coming off from the top of them. They couldn't quite see Lava Falls at all, so they weren't that close to it yet. But it was good nonetheless to see from a high point where abouts they were.

"Oh my god," Michael said, looking towards the other rocky pillar ahead, "there's a couple of those giant long-necked dinosaurs!"

He looked ahead and noticed a couple of Brachiosaurus dinosaurs about five minutes away. They were meant to be one of the more placid dinosaurs of them all, and seeing them made Michael want to approach them, not stupidly or anything, but just to get close enough to have a good look at them. These were the dinosaurs that Diego, Ellie and Manny had slid off to escape that Ankylosaurus in the movie, so if they were placid enough to allow them to do that, Michael thought they'd be okay with a couple of humans close to them.

Nathan was also keen to explore and get close to them, just to see how truly placid they were. He still had a mental image of where they left off from the footprints, because the last thing he wanted to do was to get lost down here, a risk that hadn't fully become dawned on him until a few moments ago.

"We need to go to them, we'll go to them really quick and then we'll carry on," Michael said, "I wonder if they'll actually feed from our hands if we held out plants."

"What?" Nathan said, looking bewildered at Michael's suggestion, "we need to tread with caution mate, isn't that the way to go?"

"These are the dinosaurs that those guys in the movie slid off to escape that dinosaur with the spiked tail, I think we'll be alright with these guys, we can keep our distance as well for sure, but I'm just curious."

Nathan felt like he was having to trail Michael rather than them travelling as two friends eager to hike through here to get to their ultimate destination. Nonetheless, he was willing to do it because of where they were. Anyone here would be just as excited and thus have a desire to do these sorts of things.

Eventually, the two men arrived at the area, an open space surrounded by miniature lakes, uneven terrain, and cycad trees with heaps of leaves. The two Brachiosaurus dinosaurs in person were absolutely HUGE. They stood at around 30 feet in height with their necks alone, and they had broad bodies. Their bodies had a slight khaki colour, and their backs, from tail to necks, had splatters of blue across them, making for a distinct appearance.

Their eyes were exactly like how they were in the movie, human-like. It made them a lot less intimidating.

"These guys are huge," Michael said, looking at the two of them in awe from the covers of a few bushes that he and Nathan were ducked into, "we should definitely try and see if they'll feed off our hands with plants."

"Just make sure we know where we're heading after this, we don't want to get lost."

"Honestly Nathan after this, we'll carry on in the same direction we were heading."

Michael and Nathan both looked at each other, both of them wondering the same thing - who was going to make the first move to step out and reveal themselves to the Brachiosaurus, as they both munched on a couple of tall tree leaves? the 24 year old Michael took the initiative, and he slowly stood up and walked out from the bush.

Right away, the two large and tall dinosaurs looked over towards Michael as their mouths were stuffed with leaves, chewing slowly. Their eye pupils were aimed directly at him as they munched away, but they nonetheless maintained their positions. The dinosaurs didn't look remotely phased, even at the sight of something they'd never ever seen before - a human.

Michael briefly felt a surge of heat in his chest as the nerves got to him, but he noticed that the two dinosaurs weren't bothered, it seemed. They both eventually looked back at the trees they were eating from and carried on as such. Michael turned around and looked at Nathan still hidden within the bushes.

"Come on out, they seem alright."

Michael walked to his left to some lower cycad trees, looking at the Brachiosaurus dinosaurs as he did. As placid as they seemed to be, he didn't want to take his eyes off them just in case. They were still dinosaurs and they'd never seen a human before, something Michael acknowledged and understood. He gently placed his hand onto the leaves of the cycad tree and pulled them off. Walking back out towards the middle of the area where the Brachiosaurus dinosaurs were, Michael remained put.

Boldly, he reached his hand out towards the nearest Brachiosaurus. Michael gently took his bag off entirely and placed it on the ground behind his trainers. He waved the leaves around very gently and calmly to catch the attention of the dinosaur, to which it paid off. The Brachiosaurus, with its long neck and slow movements, looked over to Michael and noticed the leaves, of which there was a great bunch of them.

Upon seeing the dinosaur's forelegs move backwards so it could move backwards from the tree it was stood at, Michael was instantly having second thoughts in his head about doing this, but he nonetheless prevailed and kept his position. The Brachiosaurus turned its body around entirely to face Michael as it stared at the leaves in his hands. With each slow step the dinosaur took, its height grew larger and larger to Michael and its thumping steps could be heard like a brief avalanche every time.

Michael's eyes were locked firmly onto the Brachiosaurus and its face, as it slowly leaned its neck downwards. It hesitated at first, but it nonetheless continued lowering its neck as it continued closing the gap between itself and Michael.

The dinosaur was utterly striking, this close up. It was a literal monster, and if it wanted, it could use its neck to catch Michael off the land and into the distance. Its giant head closed in on his hand, with its human-like eyes staring only at the heaps of leaves Michael was holding. Michael held his ground as sweat started building up on his forehead.

He automatically held the leaves out on his hands flat, for when the Brachiosaurus opened its mouth to take them. The dinosaurs head was eventually within a meter of Michael's eyes. The placid calm nature of the dinosaur as it curiously went for the leaves in Michael's hand meant he was able to stay calm.

Then, the magic. Michael held the leaves out fully, and the Brachiosaurus, in its calm and placid state, opened up its mouth and gently scooped the leaves up into its mouth, with Michael feeling its mouth briefly over his hands. The dinosaur made a subtle croon as it took away the leaves. As soon as the leaves were in its mouth, Michael's face grew into a monstrous smile. He kept his now empty hand out in front of the dinosaur's head as he took subtle steps closer to its head.

He used his same empty hand to gently and calmly place it onto the side of the Brachiosaurus, just near its eyes. Amazingly, the dinosaur didn't flinch at all. It kept its head low, staring aimlessly at the ground as it munched away at the leaves in its mouth, as Michael placed his palm gently on the rough scales of the animal. Michael's smile turned from a smile to an excited chuckle.

"Hello buddy," Michael calmly whispered, as he started moving his hand up and down on the side of the dinosaur's head.

It just kept its head down as Michael gently stroked it, its scales feeling like sandpaper more than anything. Nathan had slowly crept along and gently walked to the other side of the dinosaur's head. And again, the Brachiosaurus didn't care. Nathan too gently placed his hand on the sandpaper-like scales of the Brachiosaurus and gently stroked it up and down near its eyes.

"Holy..." Nathan said, his eyes widening at how placid and laid back the dinosaur was, "this is amazing."

Michael gently patted the dinosaur near its nostrils before it slowly raised its neck and head back up, slowly moving its giant forelegs across the ground with brief avalanche like thumps, returning to the trees. Michael and Nathan looked at each other as they smiled.

"I've never felt anything like that before, emotionally."

"Neither have I," Nathan said, "I'm buzzing over the moon right now."

The two friends could only laugh in excitement at each other as they looked back at the Brachiosaurus. They just stroked a 30 feet dinosaur from Ice Age 3, inside the dino world itself.

Michael leaned back and grabbed his bag off the rocky ground - stroking that Brachiosaurus just now had given him a whole new buzz of energy. Nathan was also incredibly excited and given a new coat of excitement. But it was also quite emotional for the two of them, actually experiencing that sort of bond with a dinosaur.

Neither of them rarely cried, but this was one of those moments where they had come pretty close to doing so. It was that magical. And it had propelled further the energy of the two friends to reach Lava Falls.

Now that they'd stroked that Brachiosaurus, Michael especially felt like he could walk through the dinosaur world as loud as he wanted and nothing would happen to him. It gave him a confidence boost and an energy boost.

But having diverted off the path they were initially walking and following, and with there being multiple rocky pillars near here, it hadn't dawned on either Nathan or Michael that they'd potentially struggle to relocate where they left off just some minutes ago.