1 Saurian Genesis

The air was thick with morning dew as the afternoon sun broke through the spaces between the trees. The trees had a thick red-brown bark with thick blue pulsing lines moving vertically along the treetops as well as glowing through the leaves. The rhythm of the morning hum was slowly broken as animals roused themselves from slumber.

One such animal was a tiny little Blue Jay, groggily opening its eyes as it took in its surroundings from the hole in its tree. Stretching its legs it spared a glance at the inside of the tree glowing red and producing a light green array of lights that moved up and down the Blue jay's body. The Blue jay didn't mind, its home had been doing this for years now, why would today be any different. What grabbed its attention instead was the rumbling of its stomach, alerting it that it needed to find a meal for the day. Gingerly stepping out from the safety of its tree it looked around, seeing if there were any seeds and nuts lying around in its immediate vicinity. Seeing nothing it let out a disappointed trill, knowing it would have to move around farther from its cache.

Quickly flapping to a branch it heard the sound of buzzing wings which immediately grabbed its attention. Flying within its range was a large juicy dragonfly zipping about but its flight pattern seemed erratic. Confused the blue jay also notices the dragonfly had red liquid orbs dropping off its body as it flew. That tipped the blue jay off, the dragonfly had probably been attracted to the sugars from a fermented fruit, that made the dragonfly actually possible to capture.

The blue jay spared a final look at the forest floor to search for any predators, silence, not always confirmation but it would have to do. Stretching its wings it leaped off a branch and decided to follow the drunk dragonfly. The blue jay followed the dragonfly for several minutes until the moment it was waiting for arrived and the dragonfly spiraled to the ground in a daze. The blue jay tucked its wings in and dove downward onto the patch of open graze that the dragonfly had landed on and crunched down on the dragonfly, swallowing the insect within a few seconds. To its unknown error, it had swallowed bits of the fermented fruit that had covered the dragonfly and it felt its head getting dizzy and as it tried to think to fly away home, it was failing to notice the vibrations on the ground.

In its final moments, the blue jay looked up to see a massive three toed foot hovering over it, moving downwards with such speed that the intoxicated birds couldn't react, and it was over in a flash.

The foot belonged to a sub-adult Tyrannosaurus Rex. A female, with brownish-red scales from head to toe. Adorning her body was a series of oak brown protofeathers that stretched from the ridge of her head to the base of her tail. The feathers around her legs were molting and fading some were even beginning to fall off. At 30 feet long and 10 feet tall at the hips her body had been undergoing several changes since leaving the comfort of her parent's nest. Where her body had been slender and gracile she was now getting much bulkier now weighing 6.2 metric tons, her jaws and head becoming more boxy as opposed to straight and narrow. Her teeth had growing in with to the size of bananas and her mouth was aching as the muscles in her jaw had been expanding which allowed her to give much bigger bites but it was starting to give her an annoying overbite. She could no longer sprint at the speeds she used to when she was younger but no matter her newfound bulk and strength would cover all of these weaknesses. Her blood coloured irises darted down to her foot and her eye ridges turned downward in confusion, her two small but heavily muscled arms twitching in irritation.

Spotting the corpse of the blue jay she gave a loud snort of derision and lifted her foot. Bending down she sniffed at the dead bird and turned her head before opening her large jaw and picking up the dead bird with her tongue before wallowing her new breakfast. Not a bad start to the day would have been the thought that crossed her mind. Raising her head she felt the vibrations of a pair of tyrannosaurs come behind her. The first one to come up behind on her left side was differently coloured than her.

This male tyrannosaurus was 27 feet long as well as 10 feet tall and like her he was starting to show signs of getting a more bulky build at 6 tons. His feathers did not shown any patchiness and they wrapped around his head like a lion's mane, flowing down to his shoulders and circling his front torso before stopping at the tip of his tail. The feathers were a mahogany red colour and they contrasted greatly against his dark grey scales. Along the right side of his face was a single white coloured scar that crossed over his eye but showed signs of having been healed long ago. The scar had been larger on his face but as he had been getting bigger the scar was getting smaller relative to his body. He moved with a cautious and more calculating air than the big boisterous red female as he looked around to see more of the animals on the island getting ready to greet their mornings as well.

The second tyrannosaurus practically bounded next to the large red female, and he looked younger than the other two. His feathers were bright yellow and they swayed around his head as he moved around. His body was far more coated in these feathers than the other two and his blue scales were less exposed than the other two by far. His brown eyes darted around playfully as he sniffed at the red female's mouth to discern what she had eaten. He was smaller than the other two at 24 feet long and 9 feet tall. While the other two were more bulky and muscular than he was, he body was still partially slender in his legs and torso, the only indication that he was leaving the figures of adolescence behind were his facial features that were beginning to take on the more typical tyrannosaurus features with a respectable weight of 5.8 tons. This second tyrannosaurus found himself staring, not at any of the two tyrannosaurs that he had joined up with, but at a kaleidoscope of butterflies that had been startled by a passing small mammal trying to get out of their way. He was only brought out of his stupor by the red female generating a disapproving rumble from her throat. Sheepishly he lowered his head in a submissive posture and followed her as she started to walk forward as the loud horns and hoots of the morning finally reached a symphony of natural nuisances.

This trio of Tyrannosaurs were together for the time being, they had been threatened out from the nest by their mother, they were clearly too large to keep hunting with her. Lacking their mothers large 40 feet length and 14 meter height they would not be as threatening as she was so they had to make it by working together as a team. This was not too hard, their years growing up together allowed them to know each other's strengths when hunting. But that had always been with parental guidance, it was a different thing entirely to hunt without a parent rushing in to save them from sharp horns or a dangerous tail club. They would have to learn on their own and hopefully stake out their own territory for each of themselves. They would claim their own little thrones someday, but for now this little family would make do with each other and find their own way. As the three tyrannosaurs passed the tree that the blue jay had once made its own they failed to notice the scanning procedure that had been so familiar to the blue jay. The tree scanned all three of the tyrannosaurs, and in the little hole where the blue jay's nest was, it pulled the images of the tyrannosaurs and uploading them to an unknown server with data listings, and assigned names.

Species designation: Tyrannosaurus Rex. Specimen numbers 3.

Age from recorded hatching: 14 years. Sexual maturity achieved.

Red subject designation: Victoria

Grey subject designation: Caesar

Blue subject designation: Napoleon.

Observe? Possible survival timeline based on prior behaviour unpredictable, observation paramount.

The tyrannosaur trio, unaware that they had been named spied a river nearby that seemed awash with possible prey. Napoleon's eyes glazed over at the thought of having all that food and as he stepped forward, Caesar nudged him and cocked his head to look deeper. Following his sibling's gaze he looked up and saw an entire herd of Giraffatitan, tall giant titans of meat and sinew on four trunk like legs with necks rising high into the air, giving them 85 feet in length. Their motley grey scales glistened in the reflection from the river and the entire herd were bellowing as they had used their great height to spot the three tyrannosaurs. One giraffatitan even reared up on its hind legs in a threatening stance that alerted all the other animals that were drinking at the river in the shadow of the large sauropods.

Joining in the alarmed honking was a large cadre of Triceratops, many of them circling around their young and baring their horns, some stomping on the ground with their front feet and snapping their beaks and others shaking their frilled three horned head. One Triceratops in particular, an old male with red tinges around his frill and signs of wear and tear along his snout and front shoulders bellowed as loudly as he could and he shifted his gray haunches to appear bigger.

The chorus was continued by several other dinosaurs that had spotted the trio. These included crested hadrosaurs Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus. There loud honks deafening the Tyrannosaurs' ears even from the distance they were from the multi-ton animal herd.

They weren't the only hadrosaurs at the river, a small cluster of Iguanodon had reared up on their hind legs to display their threatening thumb spikes, those spikes could easily kill any of the trio if the spikes managed to get to their necks or at least blind them if they reached their eyes.

The Tyrannosaur trio's attention turned to the sound of swishing tails as they saw a few stegosaurus turning to their sides,waving their tails in a threatening display. The plates on their backs became flush with blood red colours, warning the tyrannosaurs away.

The final group of animals that was giving large trills were a cadre of Gallimimus. The long ostrich looking animals waved their arms and gave long warbles, adding to the cacophony of noise.

After listening to what had become an impromptu orchestra due to their presence the three tyrannosaurs internally grumbled and turned around sulked off back into the thicket of trees, hoping that they could have better luck elsewhere. Maybe they could find a carcass or something foolish and small, a blue jay wasn't enough for three multi-ton predators after all.

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The three tyrannosaurs had another unnoticed observer that had been flying high in the sky. It was another famous prehistoric animal. Unlike the others that the trio had brushed with, this was no dinosaur. Rather it was a pterosaur, a distant relative of the large dinosaurs making loud music below. It was covered in a large coat of bristle like feathers called pycnofibers. Its 18 feet long wingspan was decked out in a mixture of dark and light brown stripes with an even darker brown tip on running along the initial length of its beak. Its short stubby tail twitched in the wind as it passed over the river until it came further where it spotted many more of its kind at the ocean beachfront diving and fishing. Feeling peckish the Pterosaur began to descend, the morning glare showing it to be a Pteranodon.

He felt the wind caress him as he came close to the ocean spray hitting him, skimming over the water's edge he flew low parallel to the water's surface and bent his head down in a swift motion, grabbing an unsuspecting fish and pressing down hard to prevent it from struggling. As it held its prey in its mouth it looked back to the shore for a good solitary perch. It spotted one quickly and dived towards it, spreading its wings to help with its descent before landing on all four limbs and walking towards a more stable footing. If the Pteranodon could understand words and concept it would have noticed that what it was using as a perch was not made of rock, but rather of a cold silver coloured metal. The pteranodon was perched atop a large set of watertight doors that were jutting out into the ocean. The tide sloshed and slammed against the doors that were beginning to show signs of water erosion and rust. The Pteranodon didn't care for the state of the strange unnatural doors that it was sitting atop on and enjoyed its fish on. Looking out to the horizon it could see nothing but ocean for miles. Maybe if it felt like it an adventure to find out what was beyond its home would be something to do, but no, its home was safe, there was plenty of food and it felt no need to travel anywhere. Gulping down its fish it decided to continue flying and seeing what the other animals were up to. Crouching down low the Pteranodon launched itself upwards and unfurled its wings, taking flight once more. Passing over the Tyrannosaurus trio once more it spied something far more interesting that it could play with. There was an altercation about to brew near the herd that had scared the tyrannosaurs off.

After having their drink and scaring off the tyrannosaurs the multi-animal herd had already begun breaking off into their separate directions. From the pteranodon's eye view it seemed that one of the young Triceratops had wandered far from the protection of the herd and had been picked on by an opportunistic predator. The pteranodon kept observing with amusement as the predator was identified as a Dilophosaurus. It was 23 feet in length and 6 feet tall with a skull that was around 2 feet long. Its twin crests atop its head were a bright red. It had a much more slender build than the more bulky and taller tyrannosaurs that had fled the scene earlier. Its back had light streaks of yellow and orange running in contrast to its greenish blue scale covering. Its face was buried in its new prize of the young triceratops carcass. The herds had lost interest and didn't much care for the Dilophosaurus, it had gotten its kill and it was no longer a threat.

What amused the Pteranodon watching was that another young Triceratops was breaking away from the herd and charging towards the content Dilophosaurus. The Dilophosaurus perked its head up and saw the Triceratops bounding towards it and if dinosaurs could be stated to have expressions, the one described would have to be annoyance. It found itself sidestepping the Triceratops multiple times and even managed to slap the Triceratops with its right arm. After getting scratched by the Dilophosaurus the young Triceratops ran away in fear and the Dilophosaurus shook its head and went back to its meal. It wanted to eat in peace, but things would conspire to interrupt him.

Victoria, Caesar and Napoleon like the Pteranodon flying overhead had noticed the scuffle with the Triceratops and now that the herd was moving away they found an opportunity for breakfast. Not the Dilophosaurus, but the dead Triceratops at the Dilophosaurus' feet. Victoria motioned with her head and in understanding Caesar and Napoleon moved around to either side. Not yet having the weight that would come to dominate their adult lives the two male tyrannosaurs were able to stealthily come up on the Dilophosaurus. The Dilophosaurus sensed that something in the air had changed and turned to find it had somehow managed to allow two predators larger than it get the drop on it. Even worse at it looked on it saw a third tyrannosaurus charging. Time was not on its side, it had to think fast, while the two males had managed to sneak, they were clearly in a transitioning stage of their lives and they were trying tactics that didn't match their changing bodies. Feeling a slight bit of relief at this revelation the Dilophosaurus raised itself on its toes to look more of a treat and the hungry female bared her jaws as the three closed in. At the last moment the Dilophosaurus ducked low and moved to the left, causing Victoria to crash into her brothers. The Dilophosaurus sauntered away, raising its tail high in defiance, these three tyrannosaurs would have to learn that size wouldn't guarantee food, and they would need to learn proper team dynamics if they even had a chance to catch something like him. Shaking his head the Dilophosaurus disappeared into the underbrush. He did have time to see Victoria rumbling disapproval at her brothers before hearing an old but familiar sound that made his eyes go wide before letting out a derisive hiss at something in the sky that had disturbed the Pteranodon up in the sky and forced it to go to the ground.

Back in the sky the Pteranodon found its entertainment disrupted as a small four winged white drone with a strange green and white marking let out a warning noise that forced the Pteranodon to land on the ground in alarm. It let out a displeased hiss as the drone flew by overhead and little flashes and clicks were coming out from the strange machine's bottom. The Pteranodon could also hear the disgruntlement of other animals as it saw from the treetops an annoyed Amphicoelias raise its long neck and head and try to swat the small drone out of the air with its head. The drone simply maneuvered higher, frustrating the herd of titanic sauropods. Not amused the 200 feet long sauropods went back to consuming the glowing leaves. What the sauropods didn't seem to care much about was that every time they ate a leaf it would grow back as quick as they ate it. At their feet several much smaller dinosaurs waited for missed leaves and branches to fall from the mouths of the towering giants. Especially small little small bipedal dinosaurs with beaks called Othneilia.

The knee-height Othneilia were extremely preoccupied with the sound of leaves and branches falling down to the ground that they almost failed to notice the Pteranodon walking towards them gingerly. Alarmed they broke into a panic and ran past the feet of the bored Amphicoelias. The Pteranodon was delighted and decided to continue playing and took off after the tiny herbivores. Focused completely on the small little creatures trying to avoid it, like the Dilophosaurus only moments earlier it found itself in the vicinity of three annoyed Tyrannosaurus and it tried to brake midair before slamming into Caesar's left leg. Getting up in daze it saw Caesar looking down at him with a curious expression on its face.Out of the corner of its eye it spotted Napoleon holding a now deceased Othneilia in its mouth. Napoleon presented the food to his sister who took one look at it, she was pretty satisfied from the baby Triceratops they had shared earlier, but dominance displays were necessary. Thus she snatched the entire carcass from her brother and placed her foot on the body and lowered her head. With a tug of her now more powerful jaws she ripped the head with its neck hanging limply from the body. With minimal effort she tossed the head into the air before catching it in her mouth and swallowing. To her surprise she saw that the Pteranodon had walked over to her clearly displeased.

In the background of this Caesar and Napoleon were busy roughhousing. Caesar, now older was no longer interested in this juvenile play, but Napoleon was insistent and eventually Caesar decided to make a token effort. With a small motion he shoved his younger brother and turned around, hoping that would be enough. It clearly wasn't as Napoleon grabbed his exposed tail with his teeth which caused Caesar to let out a pained rumble, clearly his younger brother was not used to his new jaw muscles.

In the fore front Victoria looked at the Pteranodon standing defiant in front of her. To her sheer incredulity the Pteranodon hissed at her. Victoria was stunned, this Pteranodon was angry with her for ruining its fun. She and the Pteranodon stared at each other for a few moments before she came to her senses and issued a threatening rumble that caused the Pteranodon to suddenly remember the food chain and it flew off, nearly grazing a tree that had given it a quick scan.

This time the scan uploaded the Pteranodon's image and data to the same place it had sent the Tyrannosaur's names.

Individual specimen of Pteranodon identified: designated as "Hawk"

Hawk in question flew in a hurry past a group of Parasaurolophus swimming in a small lake that was connected to the river. As it flew past it failed to notice something, one of the Parasaurolophus that it flew past suddenly disappeared under the water with small bubbles of blood rising.