Too Few Elephants

Disclaimer: Dinosaur King is owned by Sunrise, Shout Factory, 4kidsTV, and any other company I missed. I own nothing

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Flashback"

Warning: The following episode contains scenes that might be intense for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

DK

One of the many words that can be used to describe Dr.Z would be impatient. It didn't matter if it was with the A-Team or with his dinosaurs, someone was always pushing him to his limit. And right now he was finding himself nearing that limit with the one minion he hated above all else and regretted ever recruiting into his army; Ungaro.

Right now the old doctor was sitting in his hover chair he sometimes uses to look cool, tapping his fingers against the arm rest, as he listened to the poacher yell at him. "I've just about had it with you!" He pointed a finger accusingly at Dr.Z's bored face. "We've been here for months now, and haven't done a single thing aside from the mission in China! I bring you all of my men and guns, and now there's no one bringing in the dough because we're all here and not out there capturing animals! How do you expect us to work without money?!" He demanded, gesturing to the angry poachers behind him.

"Well, sorry I feel that you're better off here than out in the field, shooting at my dinosaurs." Dr.Z sarcastically remarked with an eye roll.

This just made Ungaro even more furious. "Seems you don't understand just what is needed to run such a large organization like Covert Wilderness. Well, here's something I hope you understand clearly. We're done taking orders from you! We quit!" He shouted at his now former boss.

Dr.Z was neither surprised, okay maybe the slightest bit surprised, nor did he seem to have any objections to it. "Okay." He said simply.

His lack of caring surprised Ungaro. "I'm sorry, what? Did you not hear what I just said? Our alliance is over!"

"I heard you the first time." Dr.Z told him with slight annoyance. "And frankly, I don't care. I only agreed to Ursula's idea of recruiting you lot simply because we needed more soldiers on our side. But since Seth came back, he's provided that with plenty of much more useful mercenaries. All having you still here does is make us go through more food, make me wait longer for my laundry to be done, and hold up the bathroom in the morning. So, I ain't going to be missing any of you sickos. Now get out of my sight before I sick my dinosaurs on you." He threatened as he pulled out an Alpha Scanner to show he wasn't bluffing.

"Grrrr." Ungaro growled, but decided not to press his luck. He was being allowed to leave without a fight after all. "You'll be hearing from us again, but not on your terms." He warned as he and his men left to go and grab their equipment before leaving on their choppers.

Once they were gone, Dr.Z breathed a gigantic sigh of relief as he slumped over in his chair. "Phew! Finally I'm rid of those assholes." He said as it felt a gigantic weight was removed off his back.

"Are you sure it was wise to let them leave?"

"Huh?" Turning his head around, Dr.Z saw Seth standing in the shadows of the room.

"Ungaro said it himself, he'll be going after dinosaurs. Does that not at all concern you?" While Seth wasn't worried about the poachers getting in the way of his plans, he did still not like the idea of fighting a war on two fronts.

"Relax, Seth. If there's one good thing about the brats it's that they always show up whenever dinosaurs are involved." Dr.Z assured him before chuckling with a wicked smile on his face. " Hehehe!Those stupid poachers try and hunt any of their dinosaurs, and they'll find themselves being the hunted."

Seth smiled at the response he got. "You know, for a senile old man, you can be quite malicious, Doctor." He said before taking his leave.

"Why thank you." Dr.Z said before what Seth said before that kicked in. "Wait, what did you mean by senile?! Hey! Don't leave while I'm yelling at you!" He yelled as Seth went back to his work.

Meanwhile, the poachers had finished packing and were now loading up their choppers, Ungaro overseeing the process. "So, Boss, what's the plan now?" One of his right hands asked.

Ungaro gave a cruel smile. "Isn't it obvious? We take the animal kingdom by storm." He said as the scene transitioned to a storm in Africa where he and his men were currently chasing a herd of elephants, repeatedly firing their guns at the large mammals, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake. "And there's only one species that would make the perfect message for our comeback to the world."

Only one elephant wasn't running away; the matriarch. Instead, she turned around and charged straight for the poachers. Ungaro just smiled wickedly, unintimidated by the attack, and aimed his rifle at her. "Loxodonta africana. The african elephant." He said before firing.

(Intro Theme)

Field Trips are a student's favorite days at school. And no place is more popular of a location then the zoo. And that's exactly where the D-Team was now. Joined with their dinosaur partners in their chibi-forms, the three teens walked around the zoo, following a plan by Zoe, who knew the place well thanks to helping her father whenever he accepted calls from them, and took in all the various species: from the different predators, to the primates, to the ungulates, to the various reptiles and birds, and were currently at their last stop; the elephant enclosure.

At the moment, the herd were currently swimming in their pool, splashing around and enjoying themselves. Particularly the youngest member of the herd. "Aww!" Paris and Zoe cooed at the sight of the baby, Zoe unable to not take many pictures of it as it played with its older siblings.

"Man, you can never get tired of watching elephants. Can you, guys?" Max asked his partners.

Chomp was too distracted to hear his question. "...Huh? Did you say something?" He asked.

"Hehe." Max just chuckled at the response, satisfied with the answer.

Terry on the other hand wasn't as impressed as the others. "Okay, so they're big. I don't exactly see what's the big deal with these guys." He said with a yawn.

"Um, excuse you? These are the largest land animals. Show them a little respect." Tank told him.

"You mean largest land animals before we came around." Terry pointed out.

"Well, to be fair, these are asian elephants. African elephants are a lot bigger." Ace told them.

"Ace is right. Elephants aren't as small compared to dinosaurs as many would think." Rex added.

Before Terry could say anything in reply, there was some commotion in the herd. "Hey, what's got their rumps in a twist?" Chomp asked.

Using her goggles, Zoe zoomed in to get an understanding of the situation. What she saw wasn't good. "It's the baby." She told her friends as she pointed to the scene of commotion. "It seems to be having trouble getting out of the pool."

Looking at where the pinkette was pointing, the rest of the D-Team saw that the baby elephant was trying to climb its way out of the pool, only to keep falling back in. The more it struggled, the more trouble it seemed to be putting itself in. "We've got to do something!" Max said as he looked like he was about to jump in before Rex grabbed and stopped him.

"Max, are you insane?! You'll get yourself in a whole heap of trouble!" He scolded the brunet.

"Rex is right! You should just send me in there!" Chomp told his summoner.

"That still wouldn't be a good idea, Chomp." Tank informed him.

"Yeah. Whenever idiots fall in it's always the animals who get punished." Spiny pointed out in a rare moment of logic.

"Exactly!" Tank nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do then?" Terry asked.

"Nothing." Paris said.

"Nothing?!" All of Team Max shouted at once before Chomp said. "Babe, why would you say that?"

"No, guys, look." Zoe pointed towards the scene again, and what everyone saw surprised them.

The adult elephants immediately rushed over to the baby. The baby's mother or/and possibly the matriarch grabbed the baby with her trunk and pulled it out of the water and to safety.

With the crisis over, the D-Team all gave a sigh of relief. "Phew!"

"That was more excitement than I expected at a trip to the zoo." Tank said before smugly looking at Terry. "How about that, Terry? Was that enough to show why elephants are so beloved?"

"So they watch out for their own kind. It's not that different from other species." Terry said before turning to Zoe, ignoring the looks Tank was giving him. "So, Zoe, what's left?"

"I believe all we have left to see are the hippos." Zoe answered.

"Pass!" Max suddenly blurted as he walked the other way.

"Huh?" The dinosaurs said in confusion. "What's his problem?" Chomp asked.

"Max has an...irrational fear of hippos." Rex told him while scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"It's not irrational! It's perfectly justified!" Max shouted from however far he was now.

Zoe groaned at her boyfriend's cowardice. "Ugh. Come on, Max. We can see them underwater now, so we'll just do that." She told him, half tempted to chase him down and drag him back to the group.

"Don't judge him, Zoe. Those eyes are freaky." Spiny said.

"That isn't why he's so scared of them." Rex said before telling the backstory. "You see, when he visited the zoo when he was younger, he learned the hard way not to stand directly behind a hippo." He recalled the moment and cringed at the memory. "Oooh!"

"Oooh!" Ace and Paris also winced as they knew exactly what he was talking about due to either reading about it or seeing it in person. "Poor Max." Paris said sympathetically.

"I still don't get it." Chomp said.

"Best you don't, Chomp." Ace told him as the shook his head to get the image Rex's story created out of it. "Best you don't."

Before Chomp could question him further, the Dino Holders started to go off. "Oh, well, I guess there's another dinosaur out there, so we'll have to cut this trip short." Max said quickly, but not acting quick enough to stop Zoe from grabbing his arm and dragging him the opposite way.

"Nice try! I'm not ninety-nine percenting this trip just because you can't face your fear!" She told him.

"But, Zoe!" Max tried to object.

"Five minutes with the hippos, then we can go!" Zoe told him while the others just watched them leave.

"Should we go with them?" Spiny asked.

"Probably just to make sure Max doesn't try to escape and make them take longer." Rex said. "I normally hate gambling, but I think the dinosaur can handle itself for five minutes."

"Let's hope so, or we'll never hear the end of this." Terry said as the followed the couple to the true last enclosure.

DK

After the five minutes were up, the D-Team told their teacher they had to leave for a job and immediately went to the D-Lab. "Where's it this time, Reese?" Paris asked once they arrived.

"Looks like you'll be returning to Kenya." She told them as they got onto the pad and teleported away.

"Kenya?" Spike said before calling out to them. "Say hi to Mary for me!" He yelled before they vanished. "I really hope they heard me."

"Oh, I think there's a good they'll be seeing Mary today." Toro said as he walked over to the two humans.

"You think so?" Spike asked hopefully.

The Torosaurus nodded. "But it might not be for the reasons you'll like." He said as he showed them the most recent conversation he had with the ranger.

Reese and Spike read the message and their eyes widened. "Oh my god!" Reese gasped, putting a hand over her mouth.

"I sure hope the kids and dinos will be safe if those savages are running around like that." Spike said worryingly as they all looked at the map with the blinking dot, praying nothing goes wrong.

DK

Onboard the Backland, the time machine was currently on its way to Africa as Dr.Z was currently giving his minions the run down. "And if you run into Ungaro and his men, well...I believe you should know how to use that, Zander." He said as he pointed to the gun in Zander's hands. While it was true he wasn't that concerned about the poachers getting in the way of his goon's mission, he didn't want to take that chance when the new dinosaur was in their regular stomping grounds.

The trio looked at each other with uncertainty before Ed asked. "Dr.Z, isn't that a little extreme? I know you don't like Ungaro and his poachers, but is killing them really the answer?"

"Oh, relax. They're poachers, people will still be rooting for you." Dr.Z assured him.

"That didn't answer my question." Ed muttered.

"Don't worry about it. Like he said earlier, we can leave them to the brats." Ursula whispered to him.

"Easy for you two to say. You're not the ones with the gun." Zander pointed out when he also whispered to them.

As that happened, a certain quartet of dinosaurs were settling themselves into their new living quarters, taking advantage of the departure of the poachers.

Having had enough of Pyro and his pack, Gigas, Maximus, Armatus, and Brontikens had moved into the former barracks of the poachers once all the beds and their belongs were gone.

Actually, it was Brontikens who moved out first, not long after he had his talk with Shi, though he refused to tell anyone about that, and the other three soon followed.

The new room wasn't as spacious as where they originally lived, Brontikens had to squeeze himself into the back for room, but if it meant that Helga would now finally bring them meals that they didn't have to fight over or listen to the clones constantly harassing them then they gladly accepted whatever challenges their new sleeping space brought them.

"Boy, I tell you guys, it's a good thing those poachers are gone." Gigas said as he laid down in his corner. While the floor wasn't exactly soft, neither was it in their old sleeping quarters, so there wasn't any difference there. "All those 'decorations' they had with their skinned rugs, mounted heads, and stuffed bodies just kept making me worried they try the same to me as I slept." He said with a shudder. "Oooh! What kind of barbarians do that?"

"Didn't you help them with capturing all those animals that time we were in Africa?" Maximus asked him.

"Hey! I told you, I was only using them as a means to an end 'till we got the Dinosaur Card." Gigas retorted. "It's not like I enjoyed doing it."

"I'm pretty sure you did, mate, going by all the bad puns you were making." Armatus pointed out.

Maximus struggled to contain her laughter. "Wait, you were actually punning on the job?" Just asking that was enough to break the damn. "Pfff! Hahahaha! Oh, man! If only I wasn't in my card at the time! Oh, those poor animals!" She laughed as she rolled on the floor.

Flustered, Gigas turned to Armatus and yelled at him. "How did you even know that?! You didn't do anything that mission!"

"I have my ways." Was the Stegosaur's smug reply.

"Ugh." Gigas groaned in defeat, knowing he was going to be hearing about his misadventures in the Serengeti for the rest of the day, at best. Looking for anything to change the topic, he looked over at Brontikens and asked him. "Hey, Brontikens, what exactly made you decide to move out anyway? I know Pyro and his friends are annoying, but I feel it's more than that

The Apatosaurus lifted his head from the floor and looked directly at the asker of that question. "I simply needed more space to think, and I found an opportunity when this room became vacant."

"Okay." Brontikens was about to lower his head back to the floor, believing his answer was satisfying enough, but then Gigas asked. "Thinking about what?"

"Things that don't concern you." He growled at the Tyrannosaur.

"No need to get angry with him, mate. He was just asking a question." Armatus defended his friend.

"Well, it's not his fault that some dinosaurs don't respect privacy." Maximus retorted for Brontikens.

"Hey, respect my friends private lives and secrets." Gigas retorted. "But I also get concerned when they start acting differently than normal." He said.

"Yeah, Maximus, you can't say that you haven't gotten some questions forming about what the big guy's been thinking ever since the 'you know what'." Armatus said, whispering the last part that referenced the Mashi-Kai.

"Even if I have, that doesn't mean I'll go around and-" Brontikens watched as the three of them argued. Admittedly, he was hiding things from Gigas when he answered his question. What Shi had told him about his past life still troubled him. And he knew that if Pyro ever caught wind of it, which is very likely just by him moving to a different location alone, he'd use that to his advantage and assert more dominance.

He now constantly was spending his time thinking about what got him to become that tyrant. From what Shi's story claimed, his life was the same up 'till he reached the North. "But did it really change that much?" He wondered as he was stated to have been constantly training to take over as King. That's exactly what he was doing now. "But my purpose is noble! My cause is pure!" He argued to himself. But again, that could be what the king him was thinking. Truth be told, there was much on the Apatosaur's plate to consider, and he needed a way to simplify things. "But how?" He wondered.

"Brontikens. Brontikens!" The sauropod snapped out of his thoughts when he heard is name get called out. Looking over at his roommates, he saw them all giving him concerned looks. "Did you not hear what I said?" Maximus asked him.

"No, I did not." Brontikens admitted as he began thinking again, once more tuning out what Maximus was saying. "Perhaps it would make things easier if I go over the entire story again." He told himself before looking at Gigas and the other two. "And these three would be the perfect audience to tell. I have already given them some hints during that first gaming session, and they have remained loyal to me without question. Such loyalty should be rewarded."

"Very well, Gigas." He suddenly said, cutting off Maximus no doubt scolding him for ignoring her again. "I shall tell you everything."

"...What?" All three said at once.

"You wanted to know more about me, so I will tell you everything about my past." The Apatosaurus repeated.

"Brontikens, dude, don't give in to his-" Maximus tried to object before being interrupted, something happening a lot to her today.

"I'm doing this for my own reasons." Brontikens told her before looking down at the whole trio. "Now, listen closely because I am not repeating anything you're about to hear."

DK

Initially excited for their return to Africa, the D-Team were surprised to find the savanna nearly empty of life. There were no giraffes, no buffalo, no lions, and especially no elephants. It was like a ghost town as they searched for any sign of not just the dinosaur, but frankly anything at this point. "What on earth happened here?" Max asked as they walked around the barren grasslands.

"It's like every creature here just vanished." Terry said as he sniffed around, not even able to pick up much scent from any species.

"Maybe they're all social distancing." Spiny suggested.

"Social distancing?" Tank repeated irritably before asking. "From what? They're wild animals! Where would they even go? It's not like any of them have houses!"

"Well..." Spiny tried to come up with a reason, but Tank's tail to his head stopped his thoughts.

"Stop talking." She told him with a groan.

"To some extent, I think Spiny might be onto something." Ace said.

Tank immediately shot the Carnotaurus a glare. "Choose your next words carefully." She warned him, refusing to let Spiny think his stupid joke was correct.

"What I mean is that the animals all must be hiding from something." Ace explained. "Or someone."

"What could possibly scare so many anim-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Zoe asked before she saw something that made her scream in horror.

"Zoe, what's wrong!" Paris asked as she ran over to her friend and saw the sight for herself. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Chomp then ran over to check on Paris. "Paris, what is i-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Then Max came to check on all three. "Zoe, Chomp, what's wro-" He then saw it for himself. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Now those that weren't screaming were less startled and more confused and annoyed. "Okay, what's the big de-AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Terry tried to ask before he saw it.

Now Tank tried to put a stop to it. "Will you all shut the fuck u-AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Rex and Ace looked at each other hesitantly. "Should we go, too?" The blond asked his partner.

Ace sighed. "Best to get it over with." He said, as he knew they would also be horrified by the sight.

Rex nodded, though hesitant. "I really hope this is just something sill-AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"AAAAAAAAH!" Ace joined in once he saw it.

"Hey, what's all the screaming for?" Spiny asked as he appeared on Zoe's head and saw everything. "Holy shit." Was all he could say.

When everyone that was screaming finally ran out of air, they all stopped and were able to properly take in what horror laid before them. Over twenty elephants, all lying dead and mutilated. "W-what happened to them?!" Paris asked, still shaking in fear like a tree in a windstorm.

"Uh, well, it's, uh." Chomp stammered, trying to find the right words. He eventually settled with. "Clearly, we stumbled upon the Elephant Graveyard."

"There's no such thing." Ace told him. "Even if it were, it can't be here as these elephants were all freshly killed." He pointed out.

"So, then it was probably lions or something." Terry assumed.

"Mmm-mmm!" Zoe shook her head. "No. Lions kill only what they can eat, and they wouldn't kill this many."

"Zoe's right. Look at their tusks." Rex pointed to the tusks, or rather lack of tusks on their faces.

"What tusks?" Tank asked.

"Exactly." Rex said. "None of them have tusks. Which means only one thing." He said with a grim frown.

But before he or Zoe could say it, someone came from behind and answered for them. "Ungaro and his poachers have returned."

Turning around, the D-Team saw Mary stop her jeep and step out. "Mary!" They said in recognition of the ranger.

"Hello, everyone! I was expecting you to come." Mary greeted them with a brief smile before it turned into a frown. "I just wish we could've met each other again under less dire circumstances."

"What do you mean you were expecting us?" Max asked before he answered his own question. "You mean you found the dinosaur?"

"Yes." Mary nodded. "My rangers spotted it not too long ago, and we've been tracking it ever since."

This excited the D-Team. "Really?" They all asked together.

That excitement disappeared when Mary told them. "But we've got to move now if we're going to keep it safe from Ungaro."

"You said before that Ungaro did this." Chomp said as he motioned to the corpses behind them.

"Yes." Mary nodded sadly as tears started to fall from her eyes. "They came in only yesterday, and already have been slaughtering elephants faster than we can stop them." She softly cried at her failure, knowing she had to stay tough right now for everyone's sake.

"But what would the Alpha Gang want with all that ivory?" Rex asked.

"From what little we have gathered, Ungaro has broken ties with the Alpha Gang." Mary told them. "He and his men are doing all of this for their own gain."

"Those sick fucks!" Zoe cursed, startling the others as she climbed into the jeep with Paris and Spiny in her arms. "They won't get away with this!"

"But what about the dinosaur?" Paris asked her partner. "Shouldn't we focus first on saving them before we help the elephants?"

"Yeah. Because if they find that dinosaur, I don't think they'll be firing nets and tranquilizer darts at it." Tank added.

"We won't need to, because they're both in the same place." Mary told them.

"Really?" Max, Rex, and their dinos all said before they quickly climbed into the jeep. "Then what are we waiting for?! Step on it!" Rex urged her.

"Hold on tight!" Mary said as she sped towards the elephants last known location at all possible speed.

Going so fast it actually almost blew everyone else out of the jeep! "Whoa!" The boys in the back exclaimed as they were pushed against the backs of their seats.

DK

Meanwhile, the Alpha Gang were just beamed down from the Backland, all equipped and ready to go hunting. "All right, boys. It's Alpha Gang vs Africa round two." Ursula declared. "We'll find our dinosaur, and stop anyone who gets in our way, wether if it's brats or poachers!"

"Yeah!" Zander and Ed cheered before they heard something moving in the bushes. "I think that must be it." Zander said as he aimed his rifle in the direction.

"Steady." Ursula told him, holding out her hand as a waiting signal. "Steady."

Eventually, the creature emerged from the bushes, but it wasn't a dinosaur, instead a rhinoceros. "Oh, false alarm. It's just a stupid rhino." Ursula said as the trio slumped in defeat for getting so excited over nothing.

At least it would've been nothing had the rhino not picked up their scent. Recognizing the smell as that of humans, the rhino's ears perked up. Something that Ed noticed. "Uh, guys, I don't like the way that rhino's looking at us." He said nervously.

"Oh, will you relax, Ed. It's a rhino. They're as blind as bats." Ursula waved off his concerns.

"Yeah. But they can smell very well, and we're downwind!" Ed exclaimed just as the rhino charged towards them.

"AAAAAH!" Ursula screamed before turning to Zander. "Zander, shot it!"

"I can't!" Zander protested.

"What do you mean you can't?!" Ursula yelled at him.

"It's a black rhino. I can't shot a black rhino!" He told her.

"A bla-Zander, now is not the time to bring race into things!" The greenette scolded him.

"Actually, that's what the species is called. So it's a matter of species, not race." Ed pointed out.

"Exactly. And they're critically endangered. I can't shot a critically endangered species!" Zander explained.

"Whwhwhwhwhwh-WHAT?!" Ursula screamed at him. "You literally bought that thing to shot dinosaurs!"

"Who can talk, and therefor are on the same level as humans. So, shooting them is almost like shooting people, which is not as bad as shooting animals." Zander explained some more.

"He's right, you know." Ed agreed.

"Oh, shut up!" Ursula yelled as she bashed his head in.

"You know, for being able to run at thirty-five miles per hour, that rhino is sure taking its time getting here." Ed muffled voice said.

"It is, isn't it?" Ursula realized just as the rhino hit all of them with its horn and sent them flying away. "I blame you for jinxing us, Ed!" She yelled before they landed.

Right in the middle of an ostrich flock, getting their heads stuck in the sand. "Now where are we?" Ursula asked as she struggled to get her head out.

With over a years worth of experience of popping his head out, Ed got his unstuck with ease and saw the literal angry birds surrounding them. "Uh, in more trouble." He told them.

"What? Another rhino?" Ursula asked as Zander got his head unstuck.

"Um, not exactly, but not much better." He told her as the greenette leader was finally free as saw the ostriches looking at them.

"Oh, poop." Was all she could say before they were pecked and kicked viciously.

DK

Back with the D-Team, they were still riding the jeep with Mary when she came to a stop atop a small hill where other rangers were gathered. "We're here." Mary said as she stepped out of the jeep and approached one of the rangers. "Status report."

"Neither the dinosaur nor elephants have moved since you were last here, Ma'am." The ranger reported. "However, we still have yet to identify just what exact species the dinosaur is. We have some guesses based on fossils we found online, but they don't match with what's down there."

The D-Team were surprised to hear this. "An unknown dinosaur?" They all said together.

"Well, now that the D-Team are here, they should be able to identify it and possibly figure out a way to safely remove it from the herd." Mary told him as the teens started to get excited

"You realize what this means?" Zoe asked her fellow kings.

"Yeah, we might get the opportunity to name this species since we're the first to discover it." Rex said.

"Maxasaurus here we come!" Max nearly squealed.

They all went to the edge of the hill that looked over the herd and were taken in by a surprising sight. Below them must've been hundreds of elephants: young and old, cow and bull, without tusks and with massive tusks that nearly touched the ground. "Whoa." Everyone gasped at the sight before Chomp asked. "Where did all of them come from?"

"This is the result of Ungaro's constant hunting." Mary answered before explaining. "With the poachers constantly hunting them down, all the herds have now convened into one giant herd for protection."

"Makes sense. Safety in numbers." Zoe said.

"Yeah, but then how are we supposed to find the dinosaur among all that?" Terry asked. "There's so many of them standing so close together it could be near impossible to find the dinosaur."

"No, it's not." Tank told him. "Because I already found it." She said smugly with a proud look on her face.

"You have?!" The entire team shouted.

"Sssssh!" Mary shushed them. "No loud noises or you'll freak out the elephants." She explained.

"Sorry." They all said with sheepish smiles before turning back to Tank. "Where is it?" Paris asked, much quieter this time.

"Over there in the center. Pretty hard to miss him, actually." Tank pointed with her tail.

Following her direction, the rest of the D-Team looked into the herd and that's when they saw it. A blue ceratopsian, the scales mixing between a darker and lighter shade, with white legs and underbelly, along with what looked like a small bump in the back. The shape of his frill was similar to that of Comet and Toro, like a upright rectangle. Five tiny spike-like horns were on each side of the frill in the in between section. The top corners each had much bigger ones that curved. Going along from there was a small groove in the middle of the frill that was bordered by two smaller horns at the corners. The frill itself was actually a turquoise color, with two horns, one considerably larger than the other, in the middle. But the most impressive horn was the nose horn. It was massive, and way thicker than any other nose horn of a ceratopsian they had seen before. And that wasn't even including the two large bumps close behind it.

"Whoa." The teens said in amazement.

"Oooh." The dinosaurs groaned, instantly recognizing the species as not a newly discovered one by humans.

"I've never seen a dinosaur like that before." Rex said as Zoe used her goggles to zoom in and get a better look at them.

"Looks a lot like a Pachyrhinosaurus." She observed.

"That's probably because it is a Pachyrhinosaurus." Ace told her.

"Huh?" Those who didn't already know said in surprise and confusion. "Ace, no. That's impossible." Rex told him. "Pachyrhinosaur's didn't have giant horns like this one does."

"Trust me, I've seen plenty of them migrate to our island in the old days to recognize one." The Carnotaurus told him.

"He's right." Chomp said. "That is one-hundred percent a Pachyrhinosaurus."

"Are you sure?" Zoe asked as she took photos with her goggles of the horn. "Because the nose horn says otherwise."

"I think I can explain that." Paris said before addressing all three Kings. "See, a Pachyrhinosaur's horn isn't the same as the ones of other ceratopsians."

"It's magic!" Spiny suddenly blurted.

"No, it's not that." Paris corrected him as Tank gave her boyfriend a whack on the head. "It's keratin, like a rhino's horn. When they break off they grow back, unlike say Chomp's horns which are made of bone and don't grow back." She explained.

"Really?" The teens said in surprise before looking back at the Pachyrhinosaurus grazing with the elephants. "Amazing." Max said in response to this new information.

"Yeah, they were always proud of being so unique." Terry remembered the Pachyrhinosaurs from his old herd. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get him!" He said, crouching into a pouncing position.

"That wouldn't be such a good idea." Mary warned him as she approached the group.

"What? Why?" Terry asked.

"If you want to get to the dinosaur, you'll have to get past him." She explained as she pointed down.

Looking in the direction of the finger, the D-Team found another surprising sight. A massive bull elephant with equally massive tusks stepped into view. "Whoa!" Nearly everyone gasped in shock.

Everyone except for Terry that is. "What? The elephant?"

"Elephant? Bro, that's not an elephant. That's a literal mammoth!" Chomp corrected him.

"Meet Satao. For all intents and purposes; the Elephant King." Mary introduced the large behemoth. "With all the elephants being poached, especially the older bulls and matriarchs, Satao took it upon himself to lead the newly merged herd and protect them."

"Wow." Was all any of the D-Team could say.

Terry still wasn't very impressed. "Okay, so he's a hero amongst his species. Why can't I go and get the Pachyrhinosaurus?" He asked Mary again.

"Because that dinosaur is part of his herd. And if you go down there and attack him, he'll respond with aggression." The ranger explained as Satao turned his head and looked in the direction of the hill, letting everyone atop know he knew they were there.

"So?" Terry almost laughed. "I'm pretty sure I can handle an elephant."

"Uh, Terry, I don't think this one is one you want to mess with." Tank told him as Ace closely observed the patriarch and did some estimated measurements.

"I'd say the tusks alone are over six feet long." The Carnotaurus said before telling Terry directly. "And I'd say by shoulder height that he's actually taller than you by a whole foot."

"Excuse me?" Was the Tyrannosaur's reply. He was twelve feet tall at the shoulder, and had a hard time believing that there was a mammal that tall, much less thirteen feet tall. "Your math must be off today."

One of the other rangers then stepped up. "Actually, from the measurements we have one him, Satao truly is-"

"Oh, shut up!" Terry snapped at him, making the ranger back away nervously.

What nobody realized was that their entire conversation was being watched by two men hiding in the bushes who recorded everything.

A recording that made its way directly to Ungaro, who looked at a large map that showed where the recording was being taken from. "Gather the men." He told his right hands.

"All of them?" One of them asked,

"All of them." The head poacher confirmed with an evil smile.

DK

Back with the Alpha Gang, they had just escaped the ostriches and were currently crossing over a river on a small log. "Ugh!" Zander groaned as he straightened his back that was bent out of shape from all the kicks. "Man, makes you wonder why none of the angry birds are ostriches." He commented. "I mean, the angry birds don't actually fly, so what's the excuse?"

"Will you shut up!" Ursula snapped at him. "It's your fault were even got into that mess in the first place because you didn't shot that damn rhino!"

"I told you before, and I'll tell you again, Ursula. I did not buy a gun to be a poacher." Zander reminded her.

"Whatever!" She waved him off. "Just keep moving. I'm positive these are alligator infested waters." She said as she looked nervously down at the water below them, which wasn't that far from the log.

"No, alligators live in North America." Ed corrected her. "Instead, I think we would rather be dealing with-"

Before he could finish, crocodiles sprang from the water and snapping at the log, taking huge chunks off. "CROCODILES! AAAAAH!" The trio screamed.

"Floor it!" Ursula shouted as the reptiles now started to climb onto the log. Not needing to be told once, the three of them ran at top speed away from the river.

Once they felt they were safe, the three of them took to moment to collapse and collect their breaths. "Huff...what is...huff...going on...huff...today?!" Ursula panted.

"It's like the whole animal kingdom suddenly hates us for some reason." Ed said.

"Given what we did last time we were here, I don't blame them for going all Home Alone on us." Zander guessed.

"Home Al-" Ursula started to repeat what Zander said, but couldn't finish due to how outlandish it sounded. "Zander, how is any of this like Home Alone?! We a neither home nor invading a home!"

"But, Ursula, we're on their turf!" Zander pointed out.

"Oh." Was all Ursula could say as it was impossible to argue with that logic. "So, if we're meant to be the invaders in this scenario.."

She didn't finish as the sounds of growls were heard from behind them and all three of them went pale with fear. "We might want to start praying that we have Marv and Harry's immortality now before it's too late!" Ed whimpered as a pride of lions suddenly appeared from the tall grass.

DK

Back with the D-Team, they were going over what the best course of action was to retrieve the Pachyrhinosaurus Card. "Okay, we all understand what to do?" Zoe asked the rest of the team. While she normally wasn't the strategist, given Max and Rex were still on uneasy terms and she hadn't spoken to her boyfriend about the incident yet, she decided to take temporary sole leadership of the team.

"Yeah. Max summons me to full-size so I can talk to Packer down there." Chomp recapped, referring to the Pachyrhinosaurus by the name they gave him for simplicities sake. "Hopefully, by seeing another ceratopsian, he'll trust us and agree to come with us."

"And if not then Max will bring me out full-sized as well so we can wrap it up quick before the Alpha Gang or any poachers show up." Terry finished.

"Bingo." Zoe smiled, pointing a finger at the two of them, before looking at the dinosaurs' summoner. "Ready, Max?"

"Sure am!" Max replied as he recalled the Triceratops and brought him back out full-sized.

When he landed, the elephants immediately noticed the presence of another dinosaur, or at least a creature similar to their bizarre new member in their eyes. Mothers began calling their calves over, whether if they were their own or orphans they adopted, and began circling them while the bulls started showing signs of aggression, swinging their heads around and trumpeting. "Well, this is not the best way to start introductions." Chomp muttered to himself as he slowly descended the hill towards the herd.

Seeing Chomp approaching made the females join the males in the threat displays, but the Triceratops ignored them, hoping that would convince the elephants he wasn't a threat, and continued on his way to Packer. "Excuse me?!" He called out to the Pachyrhinosaurus. "Brother?! I want to talk with you!"

Packer was one of few in the herd that didn't get defensive when Chomp appeared. But that didn't mean that he was excited to see another dinosaur, even if it was a fellow ceratopsian like himself. Seeing him with the mammals up on that hill told him that he was with them, and he's experienced what those mammals do to the elephants.

Roaring as a signal, the Pachyrhinosaurus charged at Chomp, surprising the Triceratops before he met his opponent in a headlock. Despite being smaller, it was Packer who managed to over power Chomp and throw him away. "Well, guess that's diplomacy dead in the water." Max said as he prepared to bring out Terry now that a Battlefield has appeared and would alert unwanted parties of their skirmish.

"DINO SLASH! FLAME UP, TYRANNOSAURUS!"

In a red glow, Terry appeared besides the two ceratopsians. However, just as he was about to attack Packer, he found himself getting shoved away from the side by what felt like a bulldozer. "What the?!" He gasped and looked to see that it was Satao who was his attacker. The massive bull stopped charging and Terry fell to the ground.

"I was afraid of this." Mary said grimly. "Since Satao sees Packer as part of the herd, he'll step in and protect him from attackers." She explained.

"So if we're going to get to Packer then we're going to have to get past Satao first." Rex said.

"That's easier said than done." Zoe commented before shouting out to Terry. "Terry, be careful!"

"Don't worry! I'll make sure not to rough him up too much!" Terry assured his teammates as he got back onto his feet just before he received a trunk uppercut that knocked into the hill.

"Yeah, we weren't worried so much about him." Tank said as she got into position, but not to help.

Terry struggled to get back up, constantly banging his head against the hill's rocky slope before he was standing again and charged back at the elephant leader. Surprising him with a leap forward, Terry snapped his massive jaws at Satao. But the elephant responded by briefly rearing up onto his hind legs and stomping at Terry, forcing the T-Rex back a few inches. Terry then tried a series of small snaps to intimidate his opponent, but Satao responded to each by swinging his trunk quickly at the red theropod. "Okay, now you're pissing me off!" Terry roared as he went in with his mouth open, clearly going in for what looked like a kill bite.

"Terry, no!" Those watching cried out, worried for Satao's safety as no one could survive a kill bite from a Tyrannosaurus.

The only one who wasn't intimidated was Tank. "Three. Two. One." She counted to herself. As she expected, Satao smacked Terry in the face with his trunk, sending the T-Rex to the ground like a falling tree. "As expected." She commented as everyone sighed in slight relief while she continued to enjoy the show.

Back with the ceratopsians, they were now circling each other, waiting for the other to make their move. Eventually it was Chomp who attacked, going in for a charge, only for Packer to toss him into the air with his horn and knock him away with a bump from his shoulder.

With the Triceratops out of the way for the time being, Packer looked to see how his herd leader was doing, having overheard him join in the fight and take on the Tyrannosaurus. So far things seemed to be going in the elephant's favor, but he wasn't sure if it was going to last. But since the Triceratops would soon be back, he had to find a different way to help besides running over there. Thankfully, he had just the Move Card for that.

Glowing yellow, the Pachyrhinosaurus gave a loud roar that caught the attention of the spectators. "Uh, now what is he doing?" Max asked nervously.

"I'm pretty sure Chomp and Terry should be bracing themselves for a Move Card right about now." Paris answered.

Expecting electricity of some kind, the D-Team were surprised to see that the Move instead summoned a small dust tornado. Even more surprising was what the tornado revealed when it disappeared. Standing in its place was a pterosaur. It was a golden color with the underbelly, including under the wings, being lighter than the back.

The most notable feature of this pterosaur wasn't its head crest, as it didn't have one, but instead the beak. For starters, it was full of teeth, something the Pteranodons and Tupuxuaras lacked. The beak itself was bright yellow, except at the tip where there were small, pink crests on both the mandible and upper jaw. This pterosaur was an Anhanguera.

"Whoa! Anhanguera!" Rex gasped at the appearance of the new pterosaur.

"This will not end well." Ace muttered.

Once given the order of who to attack by Packer, the Anhanguera flew into action. Terry had gotten back onto his feet from Satao's last attack and was looking like he was about to attack himself when he was suddenly getting struck from all angles by the Anhanguera striking him rapidly like he was using Ninja Attack. "Wait a minute." Zoe said as she closely observed the way the pterosaur attacked, particularly taking into account the glowing yellow trail coming from behind him as he struck Terry. "This seems familiar."

Her observations would be proven even more correct when the golden pterosaur flew up high and then dive bombed down while spinning, striking Terry and knocking the Tyrannosaurus onto his side before flying back up into the sky. "Ugh." Terry groaned as he looked up and saw Satao looking down upon him. "Oh, no." Was all he could say as the elephant reared up and stomped his forelegs down on his dinosaur opponent, making him roar and pain and return to his card.

"Terry!" Max shouted at his partner's defeat, but unable to retrieve the card due to Satao being so close.

"I was right. That Move is just like Fauna's." Zoe said, remembering the Tupuxuara performing her attack nearly the exact same.

"Only he's an Anhanguera." Rex said.

"So I guess that would mean his Move is called Anhanguera Dive." Ace guessed. "What do you think, Tank?"

But Tank wasn't listening. Instead she was rolling on her back, laughing histerically at the outcome of the fight. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh, I've got to get Foolscap to share with me that fight when this is all over!" She said between laughs. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! Pride cometh before the fall, amirite!?"

"More like the pot's calling the kettle black." Ace muttered to Spiny and Paris.

"But I thought Tank was purple." Spiny replied. Ace didn't bother trying to explain what he meant. It would've just fallen on deaf ears anyway.

"I think he's instead referring to the Pachyrhinosaurus charging straight for us!" Paris screamed, catching everyone's attention as they saw she was right. With Chomp not in any position to stop him, Packer was now charging up the hill towards the humans responsible for this attack.

Seeing his advance was enough to snap Tank out of her laughing fit. "Whoa!" She exclaimed as she leapt back onto her feet like a cat.

"Looks like it's up to us now, guys." Rex told his team as he was about to summon them full-sized.

But he never got the chance as someone got in Packer's way, making the ceratopsian skid to a halt. That someone being the Anhanguera, suddenly flying in front of the Pachyrhinosaurus and blocking his way. "Huh?" Everyone said in confusion at this sudden change of events.

Barely even a minute ago the two of them were working together, and they suddenly were opposing each other. The Anhanguera landed and began speaking to the Pachyrhinosaurus. "What are they talking about?" Max asked the chibi dinosaurs, not able to understand what was currently being said.

"It seems we might've lucked out after all." Ace said.

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

"What Ace means is that while the Pachyrhinosaurus didn't notice, the Anhanguera certainly did." Paris answered as the pterosaur in question gestured to them, specifically Rex, with a wing.

The teens didn't need to ask what Paris meant by noticed, as they immediately knew she was referring to the crown on Rex's head. Eventually the dinosaur and pterosaur finished talking as the Pachyrhinosaurus went back to the elephant herd and the Anhanguera flew over to the D-Team and bowed in front of Rex. Knowing that the Dinosaur King wouldn't understand what he is saying, Tank translated. "Okay, Rex, he says that his name is Nigel and that he was a close friend of your father. Serving as his...I think majordomo is the term."

"Tank, I know his beak is different, but that's no reason to insult him." Spiny scolded her.

That earned him another whack. "No, dumbass. I said domo, not dodo."

"Wait, I though if anyone was majordomo when Dr. Ancient was King it was Guru." Zoe pointed out.

"Uh, no. While Guru was the advisor, helping Dr. Ancient with ruling, Nigel was the one who filled him in on what was going on within the herd. His eyes in the sky if you will." Tank explained.

"That's kind of cool." Max had to admit.

Rex nodded in agreement, but knew there was something he had to say to Nigel that he wasn't looking forward to. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward. "Nigel, I don't know if my father told you about the possible plots my uncle was forming, but I regret to inform you that those plans had come to a fruition and he has sadly passed away." Nigel expected this after seeing Rex with the crown and not Dr. Ancient, but that didn't make the news sting any less if the pained look in his eyes were anything to go by. "I am now King, with Max and Zoe here ruling alongside me as my co-kings." Rex said as he gestured to his two friends next to him as they stepped forward. "All we ask for you is if you'd join us. Not just as a member of our herd, but also to stop Seth from whatever he has planned for dinosaurs everywhere. What do you say?"

Nigel's answer was a loud caw as he flew into the air, spinning around, before giving his reply. "If you couldn't tell, that was a yes." Tank clarified.

The teens smiled at yet another new member of their herd. It was then that Max remembered that they were just in a battle. "Wait, Terry's card!" He exclaimed as he ran down the hill to grab it, assuming that the danger had passed.

He was right as Packer approached Chomp and helped him back onto his feet, giving apologies in dinosaur tongue. "It's all right, Brother." Chomp said as he stood back up. "I'm sorry for scaring your friends. We just wanted to get you out of here before trouble showed up." Packer gestured with Chomp to follow him, to which the Triceratops complied.

Seeing that the threat was neutralized, along with the world turning back to normal, Satao gave an all clear trumpet and the elephants dispersed back to whatever they were doing before hand. The huge bull was about to join them when he noticed Max creeping beneath him. Knowing he was spotted, Max just chuckled nervously. "Hehe. Just taking back my friend here, Mr. Satao, sir. Don't worry about me." He told the giant mammal before grabbing the card and quickly getting out of range of the trunk and tusks, all while a wary eye was kept on him.

After scampering his way back up the hill and rejoining his friends, the brunet heard a voice come from his Dino Holder. "Max, can you hear me?"

"Chomp?" Max said in confusion, recognizing the Triceratops' voice but still seeing him with Packer amidst the elephant herd. "I can hear you, but I don't know how."

"Reese's upgrade." Zoe said. "Seems we've finally have a use for it."

"Oh." Max said as he now remembered how Reese upgraded their Dino Holders to allow them to communicate with their dinosaurs through the device.

"Okay, so I have good news and bad news." Chomp began to say. "Good news is Packer says he will join us without a fight. Bad news is that he refuses to leave his new friends in their time of need."

"Can't you tell him that the rangers will protect the elephants?" Max asked him.

"Considering he already lived through one poacher attack, I doubt he'll be confident in our abilities." Mary said, sounding very ashamed with herself. "No doubt when they return it'll lead to even more deaths."

"So what then?" Paris asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Zoe asked back. "We stay here, fight those poachers, and make sure they never hurt any animal ever again!" She declared.

Rex nodded in agreement and spoke into Max's Dino Holder. "Chomp, tell Packer that if the only way he'll come with us is that we stop Ungaro for good then tell him he's got a deal."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Chomp replied as he cut off the connection, at least that's what it seemed happened given the Dino Holder dimmed.

"Well, that's good to know." Max said quietly as he swiped Terry's card backwards and called out the chibi Tyrannosaurus.

"OK, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" He asked.

"You got your tail handed to you by Satao and now we're protecting his herd from poachers." Tank explained, trying to hold back any form of laughter and failing.

Terry immediately took offense to that first statement. "He did not defeat me!"

"No, he did. And don't even think about mentioning Nigel, you still would've lost." Tank told him.

"Who the heck is Nigel?" Terry asked.

"The Anhanguera." Spiny explained.

"Okay." Terry said before remembering what else Tank told him. "And what was that about fighting poachers?"

"It means we're going to fight Ungaro and his poachers, stopping them for good. Come on, man, keep up." Tank explained.

As Terry was caught up, Rex spoke with Nigel. "Nigel, we'll need you to do a fly over of the area. If you see any humans other than us, report back here immediately."

The pterosaur nodded and took to the skies. As Rex was about to explain the rest of his plan to his friends, he noticed Max walking away from the group. "Max?" He said to his friend.

"I just need some alone time right now." Was the brunet's quiet reply.

Rex looked at Zoe. "Zoe." Was all he said and she nodded before following her boyfriend. She had her talk with Rex. Now it was time to talk with Max and see what his point of view was.

DK

As the D-Team prepared for war, their enemies were closing in on them. Ungaro had gathered every last man who worked for him and all the equipment they still had after the battle in China, not having the ability to properly restock due to Dr.Z's limitations. Not that Ungaro cared a whole ton. This was still plenty for what he had planned. "Listen up!" He told his minions as they gathered around the table he set up with a map of the area displayed. "This is to be the hunt of the century, and I want absolutely no mistakes or accidents to happen!" He threatened as he pulled out a large knife, scaring some of his men into backing up slightly before he continued.

"When we find those elephants, we will frighten them with flares and what other explosives we have. Once the herd panic and starts to stampede, we will drive them into this ditch." Ungaro pointed to the location with his knife. "There they will be trapped, with no chance of escaping as we unleash hell upon them and kill them all!" He declared as he impaled the map with his knife.

This led to cheers erupting from the men. "Yeah!"

"Whoo!"

"Death to the elephants!"

"Kill them all!"

"But remember this!" Ungaro suddenly snapped, putting an end to the cheering. "Those pathetic pachyderms have a dinosaur with them. A dinosaur that has the 'magic' of a rhino's horn. I want this dinosaur brought to me alive."

"But I thought you wanted to kill all the dinosaurs?" One poacher asked.

"I do!" Ungaro yelled in his direction, looking like he was about to pull out another knife and through it at the poor fool. "But with a dinosaur like that, we can make millions over night with those black market idiots who still believe rhino horns cure cancer and all that crap. However, why just do for millions once when we can make millions for multiple horns each time it grows back? That is why we need to keep it alive. Once it stops making us money, then it can join the rest of its kind in death. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" The poachers saluted before one of them suddenly shouted. "Ungaro, we've been spotted!"

"What?!" The lead poacher's head suddenly snapped in the direction of the messenger of this news. "By who?!" He demanded to know.

"By a flying dinosaur. Look!" The messenger pointed up and Ungaro saw Nigel circling high above them like a vulture before flying back to alert the D-Team.

"Now what do we do?" Another poacher asked.

"That dumb bird will report back to the kids and they'll come looking for us!" A different poacher pointed out.

Despite the supposed wrench thrown into his plans, Ungaro didn't seem phased at all by this new development. In fact, he looked quite pleased going off the wicked smile on his face. "Hehehe." He chuckled darkly.

"Ungaro, sir?" A poacher asked, confused by his boss's lack of urgency.

"Calm yourselves." He assured his men, waving his hands down. "This will actually help us. When that dinosaur gives its report, they'll come looking for us. Leaving the elephants unprotected."

"Ooooh." The poachers said in realization before they regained their wicked smiles.

"Time is now of the essence. Arm yourselves. We move now!" The lead poacher declared.

"Yes, sir!" His men saluted again,

Just then, Ungaro remembered one very important detail. "Oh, one last thing." He told his minions before they got themselves ready to move out. "When the hunt begins, feel free to kill as many elephants as you can. But remember, their leader is mine."

DK

Meanwhile with the Alpha Gang, they were now separated and currently suffering the wrath of the African wilderness.

"Oww! Oww! Let go of my hair!" Ursula shouted in pain as her hair was getting pulled by a zebra that was dragging her along the ground.

"Oww! Oww! Oww! Ah! Oww!" Zander helped as he found himself getting kicked like a pinball between giraffe legs.

Ed was currently hiding under a tree, thinking he was safe until he heard a growl. "Huh?" He barely had time to look up before a leopard pounced on him. "Aaah! Hahahaaaaaaah!" He screamed while being mauled, only being saved when the tree dwelling cat heard the unmistakeable sounds of other hunters coming in and ran away. "Oh, no." Ed whimpered as he knew what laughter in Africa meant.

"Aaaaaah!" Both Ursula and Zander screamed together when being chased by angry baboons that kept throwing themselves at the duos faces.

When the two of them were able to escape and regroup, they found Ed lying on the ground, crying in pain. "Ooh, hoo, hoo, hoo!" He sobbed.

"Ed, what happened to you?" Zander asked, surprised at seeing his brother figure in one piece yet still in so much pain.

Ed didn't look up and just lifted his hand and pointed with his thumb. "Hyena ate my ass." He choked.

"Hyena what?" Ursula and Zander said in confusion before they looked at saw that Ed's overalls had a massive stain on them. "Oh, my go-" Ursula screamed, holding back the urge to vomit.

"Oh, you poor soul!" Zander said with sympathy.

"I mean, at least they were nice enough to pull my pants down before taking a bite." Ed admitted as he was able to stop crying and stand back up. "Really, it's more the unnecessary cruelty that hurts more than the actual bite."

Despite this knowledge, Ursula did not seem to feel any better. In fact, she looked pretty pissed off. "ERRRRR! THAT'S IT!" She screamed as she grabbed Zander's gun. "I have had it with these mother fucking animals on this mother fucking continent! Next animal I see is getting a bullet in the head!"

Right after she said that. The grass behind her began to rustle. "HEYAH!" The greenette yelled as she aimed the gun and fired before the animal could reveal itself.

From the loud bellow, but lack of thud that followed, Ursula only managed to injure it. But when he saw the horns, Zander immediately began to panic. "U-U-Ur-Ursula!" He stuttered. "That was a cape buffalo you just shot."

"So?" Ursula asked, not understanding why Zander was more terrified of that than all the other animals that attacked them that day.

"So?! They are nicknamed Black Death because they take revenges on hunters who shoot at them!" Zander yelled at her.

"Oh, relax." Ursula waved off his concerns as she saw the buffalo disappear. "Look. I scared it off."

"No. He's going into deeper grass to come back and ambush us later." Zander told her. "And that's not even counting the fact-"

Before he could finish, hundreds of buffalo, suddenly emerged from the tall grass surrounding the trio, led by the one Ursula shot. "-They can travel in gangs numbered in the hundreds." Zander slumped in defeat of the inevitable.

Now fearing for her life, Ursula quickly threw the gun away and stuttered out. "W-which of you two numbskulls has the Alpha Scanner? Because we could really use a dinosaur to help us right about now."

"I do." Ed answered as he pulled out the device before he shamefully admitted. "But I don't have a dinosaur."

"What?!" Ursula looked at the short man like he was crazy. "What did you do with Pyro?!"

"Welllll-" Ed began to recall.

As that happened, a group of hippos were floating around in a waterhole, visibly delighting in one another's company. It was then that Pyro's head emerged from the water, screaming as he was repeatedly dunked back into the water. "AAAAAAAH! MMMMMMMMH! AAAAAAAH! MMMMMMMMMMMMMH!"

"I know it should've been obvious in hindsight, but I didn't realize water was his kryptonite." Ed finished his short story.

"Oh." Was all Ursula could say as the buffalo all looked ready to charge. "Well, we're fucked."

DK

Back with the elephants, Nigel had flown back and given his report of seeing the poachers. After being given the directions, with Ace translating, the ranger all left to arrest them with the D-Team stayed behind to guard the herd against any surprise attacks.

And that's exactly what they were doing with Rex and the other dinosaurs, minus Chomp who was still with Packer, watching the herd from all angles. All while Satao was watching them himself.

As for Max and Zoe, the pinkette was still searching for the brunet when she found him sitting on a rock, watching the elephants with his chin on his hands. Zoe quietly walked up to him and asked. "Mind if I join you?"

"Knock yourself out." Max shrugged, not seeming to care.

Zoe sat down and noted how Max's tone seemed to suggest he was distracted by other thoughts right now. "Probably related to whatever he and Rex argued about." She thought before starting the much needed conversation. "Max, I spoke with Rex about the small fight you both had while we were in Canada." She told him.

"You did, huh?" Max replied.

Zoe cringed slightly at his tone. While it wasn't accusatory or showed any signs of disdain towards her or Rex, it still sounded like he was upset at someone. And she had a feeling of who it was. "It wasn't like that. I wanted to know what his side of the story was. And now I want to know yours." She explained.

"There's nothing to talk about." Max told her. "Whatever Rex told you is the truth."

"You don't even know what he told me." Zoe pointed out with a brief smug smile before it got serious and she gently placed her hand on his knee. "Max, please. Now, more than ever, we all need to stick together. Whatever it is that is bothering you, tell me. It'll not just be helpful to me and Rex, but more so for yourself."

Max lifted his head to see his lover's concerned face. He didn't want to make her upset, so with a sigh he came clean. "Rex probably told you about how I didn't seem on board with the idea of killing Seth, right?" He guessed what the blond told her.

"That is what he said in his recap." Zoe confirmed before asking. "So why are you having second thoughts."

Max stood up and began to explain. "OK, let's not make two ways about it. Seth is a horrible person and the world would be a better place without him." He said as he starting pacing around. "But still, the idea of killing him...I don't know what's wrong with me, but it just makes me uncomfortable."

"I see." Zoe commented, gesturing with her hand for Max to continue

"I shouldn't be thinking like this. But it's just...death is something that sticks forever. Once it happens, there's no going back and undoing it. And with all this talk about killing our enemies, not just Seth, it makes me worried about the future."

"Worried about what specifically in the future?" Zoe asked as she stood up and put a hand on Max's shoulder to comfort him.

"...Worried about what we might end up becoming." Was Max's reply. "And it's because of those worries that now I'm also worried that when the time comes I'm just going to screw things up and put us in even more danger than we already are. It's not like I haven't done it before."

Zoe knew he was referring to when the Alpha Gang captured Torch, essentially giving Seth the guinea pig he needed to perfect his Move Card. Even after all this time, and no one else involved holding any sort of grudge against him, it was still a sore spot for the brunet.

This was not going to be as easy as it was with Rex. With him, it was a matter of getting him to realize where is anger was coming from. With Max, he was also having frustrations with himself, but not for reasons that could be easily excused or blamed elsewhere. The youngest teen honestly was feeling that he was going to become a detriment going forward once they finished finding all the Dinosaur Cards and focused on taking down Seth and the Alpha Gang. There has to be a way to convince him otherwise.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a loud explosion off in the distance, followed by many more that frightened the elephants. "What's happening?!" Ace asked as he, Paris, and Rex, who were on another side of the herd, looked around frantically for the source of the explosions.

After the explosions, came flares that shot up to the sky, exploding into both beautiful and terrifying red fireworks, giving the trio a clear idea on where the sudden noises where coming from. "Poachers!" Rex gasped.

He was only proven even more right when they all heard the shouts of men coming from behind both his group and the herd. Seeing the poachers with their own eyes was the last straw for the elephants before they went into full panic mode and began to stampede.

A stampede at which was in the direction of the rest of the D-Team. Terry, Tank, and Spiny, who were checking in a spot different from the others, all looked at each other. "Shall we run for our lives?" Terry casually asked.

"Oh, yes, let's." Tank replied in a similar tone before all three screamed and started running. "Aaaaaaaah!"

As the three chibi dinos ran, the elephants were not far behind, right towards where Zoe and Max were. Seeing the incoming stampede, Zoe quickly began to run out of the way. "Run, Max!" She shouted at her boyfriend, but turned around and saw that he wasn't right behind her. Instead he was right where she left in, frozen in a state of shock. Realizing he was petrified, Zoe ran back to Max and grabbed his arm. "Go! Now!" She shouted into his ear as she started pulling him with her just as they herd caught up with them. Thankfully, Max seemed to snap out of his daze at this point and was not running with her, careful to avoid getting in any of the elephants way.

In the very back of the herd were Chomp, Packer, and Satao. The bull elephant kept trumpeting at the others, telling them to come back and to not panic. But it was to no avail so he had no choice but to follow them to protect them, with the two ceratopsians at his sides. Rex, Paris, and Ace followed close behind, with Nigel flying overhead. "Nigel!" Rex called out to the Anhanguera. "Find Max and Zoe and get them out of there!" With a loud caw indicating he understood the order, the pterosaur flew overhead of the stampede.

"Rex, don't forget about Tank!" Ace reminded his partner.

"Already on it!" Rex replied as he got out his Dino Holder to recall the chibi Saichania before she got trampled.

"What about Terry and Spiny!?" Paris asked.

"We'll have to get Max and Zoe to safety first before we can save them!" Rex told her while pressing buttons.

"Don't look back, boys!" Tank told Terry and Spiny as they found themselves now among the elephant stampede, even at more of a risk of being trampled than Max and Zoe were. "Just keep-"

"Just keep what!?" Spiny asked before he noticed that Tank wasn't with them anymore. "Hey! Where'd she go!?"

"Back to Rex is my best guess!" Was Terry's replied.

"But I didn't get to hear the rest of what she was going to say!" The Spinosaurus said fearfully. "What if it was some important advice we'd need to survive!"

"Just keep running until we get called back!" Terry told him.

"Oh, that's what she was gonna say!" Spiny realized.

While all of this chaos happened, the poachers closed in from all rear angles, either on foot or in jeeps, making sure to keep shooting at the animals to keep them on path to their trap. In the center of them, Ungaro rode in a jeep, gun tapping his shoulder and a wicked smile on his face. This was to be his magnum opus of hunts.

With Nigel, he was flying over the elephants, looking for Max and Zoe when he saw them running amidst the panicking herd. He gave out a caw to let them know he was nearby and the two teens looked up to see him. "Nigel!" Max shouted in relief.

"Get us out of here, quick!" Zoe told him.

Not needing to be told twice, the Anhanguera swooped down and picked up Max with his talons while the brunet wrapped his arm around Zoe and they were lifted out of harm's way before an elephant could've stepped on them.

Once up in the air, the young couple looked down at the stampede they were just a part of. They noticed how the elephants seemed to all be entering a small ravine of some sorts. Looking further ahead, they saw nothing but a dead end. "Oh, no!" Zoe gasped as she realized what the poachers plan was, having already figured they were the ones attacking from the explosions and gun shots. "If the poachers get the elephants all against that cliff-"

"They'll be sitting ducks!" Max finished before looking up at Nigel. "Nigel, get us down by the others ASAP!"

With a caw of confirmation, the Anhanguera dove down to where Rex, Ace, Tank, and Paris were standing, gently placing down his passengers before coming to a landing himself. "Max! Zoe!" Rex cried in relief as he ran up to hug the two of them. "Thank Seikatsu you're safe!"

The three of them embraced before Max noticed they were missing some dinosaurs. "Where's, Terry, Chomp, and Spiny?" He asked.

Tank, in a rarely seen state of panic, replied. "Down among the herd about to be squished, if they haven't already been! Call them back now!" She shouted at the two teens. Jumping at the Saichania's tone, Max and Zoe quickly complied with her demands.

"You know." Terry said as he and Spiny were still running for their lives, now starting to get tired. "I'm starting to get reminded of that scene from Lion King."

"Which one?" Spiny asked.

"What do you mean 'which one'?" Terry looked at the Spinosaurus like the idiot he was. "The stampede scene, obviously!"

"But that was with wildebeests, not elephants." Spiny pointed out.

"I know that! But-" Terry didn't get to finish as he and Spiny both glowed red and blue respectively and were called back into cards just before an elephant's foot came down on them.

Once the cards were in their hands, Max asked again. "What about Chomp?"

"Full-sized and with Packer." Paris assured him.

While it slightly relieved Max to know that Chomp wouldn't get squished, that didn't mean his friend was safe. "Oh, no!" He said before quickly telling the others what he and Zoe saw. "Guys, the poachers are luring the elephants into a trap."

"They're what?!" The others shouted before Zoe took over.

"They're herding them into a ravine where they'll be able to box them all in." She explained.

"If that happens, they'll all be killed!" Paris cried in despair, knowing also that Chomp would be gunned down and have his horns taken to be sold on the black market.

"We've got to do something!" Ace said.

"And fast! Look!" Tank told them as she gestured up to the sky where three helicopters were now flying overhead.

From his jeep, Ungaro pulled out the jeep's radio and called the crew in the choppers. "The dinosaur's approaching the canyon!" He told them. "Fire the nets before it enters and gets lost in the herd!"

"Affirmative." The pilot responded before the copilot began to aim a large missile at the stragglers of the stampede and fired. The missile exploded into a large net aimed for Packer.

However, in a miscalculation of the wind, the net missed the Pachyrhinosaurus and ended up entangling Satao instead. The large elephant gave a loud trumpet before he fell to the ground. "Satao!" Chomp, and probably also Packer, cried out as they came to a stop when they heard the sounds of his capture.

"No!" Ungaro yelled into his device. "You idiots! You were supposed to trap the dinosaur, not the tusker! I told you, he's mine to kill!"

"But, sir-" The pilot tried to explain before getting cut off by his furious boss.

"Never mind!" The lead poacher shouted, not wanting to hear any excuses, before switching the settings so he now was speaking to all of his men. "All units, if anyone so much as touches the trapped elephant before I kill it will be surrendering their own teeth as a substitute! Is that understood?!"

"Y-yes, sir!" The men, many fearfully, replied as they kept their focus on trapping the rest of the elephant herd.

From their vintage point, the D-Team saw everything, and were horrified. "NOO!" Max suddenly cried as he ran down to help Satao free himself.

"Max, no! Come back!" Zoe cried out to him with her arm outstretched.

Paris tried to help Zoe call him back. "It's too dangerous!" She warned.

Max actually looked back, but still kept running. "I've got to do something!" He told his friends before speeding over to Satao.

From where they were standing, Chomp was able to see Max running into the line of fire to no doubt free Satao. And he knew what could happen when the poachers arrived. "Come on!" He urged Packer as the two of them charged to assist Max in his rescue.

At the same time, the rest of the D-Team were still in shock at what Max just did. "That idiot's going to get himself killed!" Zoe said worryingly.

"Then we need to help and make sure that doesn't happen!" Rex said, snapping Zoe out of her state of panic.

"You're right!" She nodded in confirmation before she and Rex both got out their Dino Holders.

"Nigel, take care of those choppers. We'll handle the rest down here." The blonde commanded, pointing at the helicopters to make sure the pterosaur understood what his targets were.

With a caw of confirmation letting the King know he understood his orders, Nigel spread his wings and took for the skies.

Back with the poachers, under Ungaro's orders, they drove or ran past Satao. But that didn't mean none of them noticed Max approaching the trapped elephant. "Sir?" One poacher called to Ungaro. "The boy. He-"

Ungaro didn't need to be told the rest to know what Max was up to, and what his next orders would be. "Fill that pest with lead!" He shouted before slamming the radio back onto the control panel of the jeep. "Err!" He growled. "I will not let that boy ruin my hunt again!" He declared before ordering the driver. "Get us there now! I want to see his death!" The driver nodded and began to speed up.

At the same time, Max had reached Satao and began working on trying to free him. "Hang on, Satao! I'll get you out of here." He told the trapped elephant. Satao responded with a low rumble that Max could tell was a threat. "No! No! I'm not trying to hurt you! I'm trying to free you!" He tried to explain, hoping the elephant understood at least some of what he was saying and wouldn't squish him once freed.

But Max soon found himself dealing with new problems as he heard the sound of guns clicking behind him. Freezing in place, Max slowly turned his head around to see about ten poachers aiming their guns at him. All the brunet could do was slowly raise his hands. Calling out Terry was impossible as they'd shot him before he could swipe the card, much less grab his Dino Holder. "What now?" Max thought as it looked like he was dead regardless of what he did.

However fortune smiled on the young teen as Chomp suddenly appeared from behind the poachers and threw a large number of them into the air with his horns. "Leave them alone!" The Triceratops roared as Packer did the same with the rest of the men with his own massive horn.

"Aaah!" Men screamed as they were thrown away. Those that weren't hastily aimed their guns at the ceratopsians and fired. They did manage to make some hits, making Chomp and Packer roar in pain, but kept missing the vitals and the two of them didn't let up.

"Chomp!" Max cried at seeing his friend bleeding.

"Don't worry about us! Focus on freeing Satao!" Chomp reminded his partner.

Realizing his partner was right, Max nodded. "Right." He said before quickly getting back to work on figuring out how to remove the rope.

At the ravine, the elephants were all inside and found themselves trapped just as Ungaro had planned. "Hehehehe." The poachers that ran ahead chucked as they all aimed their guns at the herd. "Like shooting fish in a barrel." One said as he prepared to pull the trigger.

But before he could, he and the other poachers were distracted by several bright glows. From one of those glows, Tank suddenly appeared charging towards the poachers. "Aaah!" They screamed as quickly shifted their aims from the elephants to the Saichania. However their bullets barely made a dent on her armored back as she gave a roar and spun around, swinging her club tail at them and knocked several poachers away. "Agggh! Ooooh!"

"Oooof! Don't just stand there!" One poacher shouted at the men in the jeeps after they landed. "Shoot her!"

Those in the jeeps prepared their own guns. Or they would've prepared had Ace and Spiny not appeared from behind and grabbed them in their jaws, not with enough bite force to kill but still enough to toss them away. "Every poacher must pay!" Spiny shouted as he stomped on one of the jeeps after throwing the occupants out.

As for Paris, she was standing guard in front of the elephants. "Hehehe." The poachers that weren't getting tossed or clubbed chucked as it looked like it was over for the hadrosaur.

Clearly they've never heard of a Parasaurolophus and what they can do as they were all taken completely off guard when Paris unleashed her cone's call on them, making all of them drop their guns to cover their ears as they screamed in pain. "Aaaaaaaah!" With the poachers on the ground, this allowed Paris to lift them with her crest like a shovel and toss them away.

From his jeep, Ungaro could already tell something was going very wrong with his plan. And he already had a very clear idea of what it was. So much so that he didn't even need the man on the radio coming in and telling him. "Ungaro, the dinosaurs! They're-"

"Kill them all!" He shouted into the radio. "Leave none of them alive! Kill them! Kill them all!"

Up in the air, the helicopter crews where noticing the trouble on the ground and immediately went in to assist once they got Ungaro's orders. Each chopper got their machine guns set up and fully loaded. "All units prepare to fire on my mark." The pilot of the lead helicopter instructed. "Ready? Stand by. N-AAAAAAAAH!" He didn't get the chance to carry out the order as Nigel suddenly flew in front of the chopper and crashed through the window screen. The Anhanguera knocked the pilot out of his seat before he went for the copilot operating the machine gun pointed at those down below. The copilot tried to shift the machine gun's direction so it was aimed at the attacking pterosaur, but Nigel was too fast and knocked him out of the helicopter. With both pilots out of commission, the helicopter started going down and the Anhanguera made his escape before it crashed.

With one chopper down, Nigel must've assumed that it would've been easy to take out the other two. But he was quickly proven wrong when the remaining helicopters turned and aimed their machine guns at him, having figured out they were under another aerial attack like in China from what happened to the lead chopper. "Fire!" One poacher ordered before bullets were rained down on the Anhanguera.

Nigel took evasive action as was able to avoid getting shot out of the sky. But while he was able to keep his wings from getting torn to shreds by bullets, he also was now unable to fly in and take out the guns. "Hehe. Got you now, birdie." A gunner mocked as he took aim.

However, he wouldn't get the chance to as out of nowhere, a second Anhanguera appeared and grabbed the shooter in his talons before dropping him. "Wha-aaaaaah!" He screamed before crashing below. The second Anhanguera then turned around and went straight for the pilot of the chopper.

But after seeing what happened to his copilot, he had other ideas and decided to abandon ship. "N-no! Stay away!" He shouted as he jumped from the helicopter after getting it close enough to the ground so he'd survive the jump since he didn't have time to pack a parachute. Seeing the helicopter go down and crash, the other Anhanguera took the moment to regroup with Nigel.

Recognizing the other pterosaur as his brother, Nigel gave a caw of thanks before the two of them set their sites on the final helicopter. The pilot and copilot of the chopper looked at each other and gulped, knowing that there was no way they could shot them both down as the duo of flying reptiles flew in the direction of their chopper. All they could do was hugged each other and scream like children. "Aaaaaaah!"

Back on the ground, the fight with the poachers was still going on as Max was finding little success in getting the net off of Satao. "Hang on, Satao. I'll get you out of here." He assured he elephant regardless. "The net's too big." He thought as he looked around for any weak spots. "And I don't have I knife or something with me to cut it." That last thought suddenly gave the brunet an idea. "Wait, that's it!" He mentally exclaimed before pulling out his Dino Holder. "DINO SLASH!" He shouted as he swiped Terry's card.

Terry appeared with both a red glow and a roar before looking around frantically. "OK, now what's going on?!" He asked before noticing Max neared the downed elephant and lowered his head to ask him. "Max, what happened? Last I remember was being in a stampede before being called back."

"A whole lot is happening right now, Terry. Including the poachers having trapped Satao in this net." Max explained, tugging at the net for emphasis.

Terry, now recognizing the elephant trapped was indeed the same one that bested him, couldn't help but gloat a little. "Well, look who's lying on the ground now?" He mocked.

"Terry!" Max scolded the Tyrannosaur.

"Sorry. I'm on it." Terry apologized before getting to work with removing the net. Lifting his foot, he carefully swiped it across the net, cutting it, but not Satao, and allowing the bull to shake it off and get back onto his feet.

With his binoculars, Ungaro saw the whole thing. "NOOOOO!" He shouted as he almost broke the binoculars from how tight he was gripping them. "That's it!" He said as he suddenly jumped out of the jeep with his gun. "I've got a new main target to add to my trophy room." With the clicking of his rifle into place, he disappeared into the chaos to get his target.

Once freed, Satao wasted in time in searching for his herd, using his trunk to sniff out their location. Max watched him leave before turning back to Terry. "OK, Terry, now we need to get rid of the rest of these poachers."

Terry nodded in confirmation. "You got it, Ma-AAAAAAAAAGH!" He suddenly roared loudly in pain.

"TERRY!" Max cried at his partner's pain. He didn't even need to ask what was wrong, he already knew that Terry was shot. And judging by the bleeding on the Tyrannosaur's side, it was multiple times.

"I'm okay!" Terry assured the boy before roaring at the men who attacked him. "But I can't say the same for those assholes!" He said before he charged straight towards them with an open mouth.

"Aaaah! Yaaaaah!" Men screamed and either ran away or kept on firing their guns as the T-Rex grabbed a literal mouthful of them and chucked them away just like what Spiny and Ace were doing. Terry then swung his tail back and knocked a bunch more poachers to the ground like bowling pins.

But this still wasn't enough to get rid the poachers as many more kept on appearing around the theropod with aimed guns. "Open fire!" One shouted before they unleashed bell upon the red T-Rex.

"NOOO!" Max cried as he was ready to recall Terry instantly and make a run for it, knowing his friend couldn't survive all those bullets hitting him with the wounds he already had.

Terry seemed to welcome to challenge as he glared defiantly at the man who gave the order. "Try me." He growled as he got ready to pounce.

But he didn't need to as the man was suddenly grabbed from behind by a trunk. "Huh?" The man said as he was lifted into the air. "W-wait! No! Noo!" He shouted before getting away behind the elephant.

"Huh?" Max and Terry said in confusion as they immediately recognized the elephant that helped them as Satao. "Satao!" Max cheered excitedly.

"Satao?" Terry said in surprise to his savior. "He came back for us?"

Despite the poachers clearly remembering Ungaro's warning about touching the large bull, they didn't have much choice in the matter when said elephant was about to kill them and began to shift their fire to Satao instead of Terry. The elephant bellowed in pain from the gunshot wounds, but wasn't mortally wounded. The poachers at the very least wanted to let their leader get the kill shot. Seeing his rescuer getting harmed himself, Terry wasted no time in springing into action. "Hey! Why don't you waste your bullets on someone much tougher than him!" He roared as he grabbed another mouthful of poachers and tossed them away. With less poachers shooting at him, Satao was able to handle the ones that remained by kicking them in the face.

As the two rivals tag teamed the poachers, those in the jeeps began to fire drastically as Chomp and Packer charged directly towards them. "Don't fall back, Brother! Keep breaking through!" Chomp yelled to Packer as they kept going despite the many gunshot wounds they now had. Seeing the ceratopsian pair was not slowing down despite all their bleeding, the poachers began to lose their nerve. "Retreat!" One shouted before they jumped out of the jeeps just as the dinosaur duo rammed into them and smashed them into scrap.

At the ravine, the poachers there were also finding themselves on the run as Paris mowed them down like a bulldozer. Those foolish enough to try taking on Tank were now not only dealing with her club tail, but also the Saichania literally throwing herself at them, crushing any who didn't move out of the way before stomping at them with her forelegs. And Spiny was still grabbing poachers in his mouth and throwing them away. "Make those poachers wish they were never born!" He shouted.

Those three attacks, along with Ace using his small size and speed to constantly circle the poachers and occasionally attack them himself, the men in the ravine lost all nerve and knew they had no chance. "Retreat!" Many shouted as they dropped their guns and ran for their lives, the angry dinosaurs following close behind.

From their viewpoint, Rex and Zoe saw the whole thing and ran down to join their partners. "Don't give them time to regroup!" Rex commanded through his Dino Holder.

"Seize the day!" Zoe commanded through hers.

Back with Max, he watched as the tables were turned and now the poachers were the ones being cornered. With Terry, Satao, and the ceratopsians forcing them back on one side, Rex, Zoe, and their dinos doing the same on the other, and Nigel, along with a mysterious second Anhanguera, circling them from above, this battle was all but over. And from all the screams, roars, jaws snapping, stomping, and tail swipes it was clear who the winner was going to be.

Still, despite the fact that they beating them, something seemed wrong to Max. Looking at the battle, he noticed that there was a certain face missing from the crowd of poachers. One that he knew all too well. "Where's Ungaro?" He wondered to himself.

He got his answer when a bullet suddenly grazed his arm. "Ah!" He hitched as he clutched the wound.

Hearing the shot, but not seeing any of the poachers they were fighting shooting their guns, all of the D-Team looked in the direction of the sound and were horrified at what they saw. "MAX!"

Before the brunet knew it, he was suddenly kicked to the ground by a boot. "Agh!" He hissed again as the impact hurt his arm even more.

Turning himself around, he saw Ungaro looking down furiously at him. "I've had it with you, boy." He said as he placed his foot on Max's chest, making sure to put as much pressure as possible.

"Aah!" Max yelped at the new source of pain, hoping he wouldn't get a broken rib.

"This was supposed to be my magnum opus of poaching! And you and your friends had to ruin all of it!" Ungaro shouted, stomping on the boy with each word.

"Ack! What you're doing is awful!" Max coughed.

"And what you've been doing is stupid!" Ungaro yelled back before pulling out his gun.

"NO!" His friends all gasped in horror as they were in no position to be able to save Max. All except one, and they didn't waste any time in running over to the rescue.

"If I'm not going to have my tusker, then I guess you'll have to do as his replacement for my trophy room." Ungaro chuckled as he aimed the gun at Max's head and clicked it into place. "The question now is would you be better of mounted or stuffed?"

Max didn't answer and just closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

But Ungaro was so fixated on revenge that he didn't hear someone approaching until they let out a loud bellow. "Huh?" He just barely looked in time to see Satao impale him in the stomach with his tusk, slashing it across like it was a claw. "Ack! Ack! Ack!" Ungaro coughed out before he fell to the ground dead.

From their position, the surviving poachers saw the whole thing happen and were horrified. "Ungaro!" One of them shouted at their now deceased leader.

"Retreat!" Another shouted before they all ditched their weapons and ran for their lives.

"Don't let them get away!" Rex said before the dinosaurs nodded and gave chase.

But they didn't need to chase for long as the poachers soon found their escape way blocked by the rangers, all having their guns out and pointed at the hunters, with several D-Team dinosaurs standing behind them. "Aaah!" The poachers screamed and came to a stop.

"Don't move!" Mary warned them from atop Toro.

"You're all under arrest!" The Torosaurus said next.

The poachers all raised their hands in the air as the pursuing dinosaurs stomped them from trying to run back the way they came. With their leader now dead, equipment all lost, and all men now captured, it seemed this was the end of the Covert Wilderness Hunting Organization.

DK

"I can't believe it." Was all Gigas could say once Brontikens finished his story.

For the past few hours, the Apatosaurus had been sharing with them not just his own backstory, but also the story of Seth's betrayal and Dr. Ancient's death. He did leave out the new information Shi told him about what he was like if Dr.Z had never captured him as even he was still coming to terms with that. "It's all true." Brontikens told his allies.

"Jesus." Was all Maximus said.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, mate." Armatus said to the Apatosaurus sympathetically.

"What happened to me changed me for the better." Brontikens responded.

"Still, that was very brave of you to reveal all of that to us." Maximus said.

"Yeah. It's not easy revealing your deepest secrets to those closest to you." Gigas said.

"Like you would know." Maximus mockingly said.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Gigas said in offense.

"Oh, really?" Maximus said, now with curiosity.

"Yes. And after Brontikens was able to reveal his, I think I can finally do the same with mine." Gigas answered before he took a deep breath and revealed his secret. "I'm gay."

None of the other dinosaurs present said anything until Armatus finally spoke up. "You mean like you're attracted to guys, or do you mean gay as in happy?" He asked the Tyrannosaurus.

"Gay as in I'm attracted to men." Gigas answered with a blush, looking down with embarrassment. While it felt good to finally get that off his chest, it still also felt awkward.

"Uh-huh." Armatus nodded at this information. "And why didn't you tell us this sooner? It's not like we would've judged you for it."

"Because it's not something I'm proud of." Gigas admitted. "Don't think I haven't seen what the rest of the world is really like. All that talk of tolerance is a lie. I'll just be banished at best, and killed at worst."

"Another mistake humans have made." Brontikens spoke up. "When I become King, I can assure you that I'll make it so no one will touch you for your sexuality." He assured him.

"Thanks, man." Gigas said in response.

"You really hate humans, don't you?" Maximus said to the Apatosaurus.

Brontikens shook his head. "It is more a matter of distrust with their species. While there are exceptions, such as the King and his co-rulers, majority of humans fail to see us as any more than animals. The framing scheme in Sanjo a month ago was proof of that."

"So what's your plan for humanity when you do become King?" Armatus asked.

"Simply take away most of their privileges and give them to us dinosaurs. Despite what you may think, I do not have intentions on killing them unless they force me to. Otherwise, death benefits no one." The Apatosaurus answered. "Of course, I should point out that the current kings would not be included in this change as they have proven to be more dinosaurs than humans."

"I see." Maximus said in response to this information. Truth be told, she was still processing a lot of what she had just learned. Specifically their creation and what their place was in the world. "So is that why you educated us?" She thought as she looked at Brontikens, hiding a glare. "Just so we'd be serving one dictator over another?" She didn't want it to be true. She saw Brontikens as her friend. But given how things started with the four of them to where they were now, there was much room for doubt in the Triceratops' mind that she hoped would be soon moved out.

"Now then." Brontikens spoke up, breaking Maximus out of her thoughts. "Since Gigas has shared his secret, either one of you two are next." He said to Maximus and Armatus.

"Huh? Us?" The surprised duo said in response before Armatus asked. "Why do we have to confess our secrets?"

"Both Gigas and myself trusted you with ours. Such trust should be rewarded." Brontikens explained.

"He's got a point." Gigas said.

"Uh, um, uh." Armatus' eyes darted around nervously while Maximus humphed and turned her head away.

"Hmph! Women don't reveal their secrets to men." She snottily to them.

Brontikens and Gigas didn't let this phase them and just looked at the two herbivores, silently letting them know they weren't budging.

For a while no one said anything besides Armatus' nervously going. "Uh. Uh." Before the Stegosaurus broke and spilled the beans. "All right, I admit it! This isn't my real voice! I just gave myself the accent so I'd have more personality in the group and not be the third wheel!" He cried before collapsing on his stomach.

The other three dinosaurs just stared at the Stegosaurus before Gigas spoke up. "Dude, we already knew that."

"Huh?" Armatus said as he lifted his head.

"We've known each other our whole lives. Of course we remember that you used to talk differently without the accent." Gigas explained.

"Not to mention Dr.Z said himself he's been trying to patch that before you started joining us on missions." Maximus added.

"Oh, yeah." Armatus remembered before blushing and chuckling nervously. "Hehe. Well, that's kind of anticlimactic. The thing I've been hiding for years was something you already knew."

"Indeed." Brontikens said before turning to the only dinosaur not to share with the group. "Maximus." He told the Triceratops again.

"I already told you, women don't tell their secrets to men." Maximus repeated what she said before.

"Why? Because you don't want us to find out you're a lesbian?" Gigas jokingly guessed.

"Wait, what?" Armatus said in response to that claim.

"I'm not a lesbian!" Maximus shouted in retaliation.

"Oh, phew!" Armatus said in relief that he still had a chance.

"Then what is it? You secretly-" Gigas was about to make another guess before Maximus cut him off.

"Fine! If it'll shut you up I'll tell you!" She yelled at the Tyrannosaurus before telling the group. "Tank is right! I am overweight!" She cried. "No matter what I try, I just can't seem to get it to go down more. I'm positive by now Seth used some male Triceratops bones to create me!" She said before looking at the boys with a hateful glare. "If I find out you told anyone what I just said I'll have your guts for garters. Understand!?" She threatens them.

Gigas and Armatus shook like leaves from the threat. "Ye-yeah! Got it!" Gigas hastily replied.

"Never tell anyone about it! I can do that!" Armatus squeaked.

"Good!" Maximus snorted at them.

DK

Back in Africa, the D-Team were currently helping the rangers in putting the poachers into a transport vehicle that would send them all back to prison again. This time with double the security. "How did you all even get here?" Rex asked Toro as they watched the last poacher get loaded up.

"Mary called Spike and told him that they had been compromised in their mission and that they needed backup in case the worse happened." Toro explained. "I just didn't expect so many volunteers to join us."

"I guess hating poachers is just one thing that unites this herd." Terry joked as the van drove away with the rangers following. Seeing they were gone, Terry looked over to the elephants. Now that Ungaro was gone for good, they could go back to their lives of peace and began splitting up back into smaller herds and venturing off until only Satao was left. The two of them shared a look of respect towards each other, silently thanking the other, before the large bull went off on his own.

"'Till we meet again." Terry said quietly before he noticed Max wasn't with the group. "That's odd." He said and sniffed for the boy, easily finding him and walking over to his location. "Hey, Max!" He called out to the brunet. "We're almost ready to head back home. You coming?"

"Huh?" Max said in surprise before responding. "Oh, yeah. I'll be with you guys in a bit." He answered before looking back over the savanna.

Terry followed his gaze and looked over where they had just fought for both their lives and the elephants'. Ungaro wasn't the only casualty. In fact, many poachers had been killed that day and littered the landscape, some already becoming food for the scavengers. To Terry, it didn't seem like much. Simply nature taking its course after a battle. However, the Tyrannosaurus knew that Max wasn't accustomed to such feelings. He wasn't a predator he like was that had to kill to survive in the past. "All of this is shaking you up, isn't it?" He asked his partner.

Max said nothing and just quietly nodded. "Mmm-hmm." He mumbled before speaking. "I know I shouldn't feel sorry for them. But-"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Terry stopped him. "Who said you couldn't feel sorry for them? You think just because I hunted back in the day that I didn't feel sorry for all the game I killed?"

"But that was a matter of survival." Max pointed out.

"And so was this." Terry pointed out in return. "It was a case of our lives or theirs. Still, that doesn't mean you need to enjoy it when your enemies perish. If anything, I'd say it's thinking like that that'll keep us all from going down the same dark path Seth has."

"I guess." Max said as he took in what Terry told him. His dinosaur friend had a point. It was thanks to what they did that all the elephants are still alive. And no doubt killing Seth would be the exact same. So why did he still feel unnerved by the whole thing if it wasn't even him who killed any of those poachers?

Terry sensed that Max was still troubled, but didn't know what else to say at the moment. Whatever the problem his summoner had, it was going to take more than one pep talk to fix. "Come on. We've got to head home and get Packer and the Anhangueras settled in." He said to Max as he lowered himself to allow the brunet to climb onto his back.

Hearing that broke Max out of his thoughts and allowed himself to be distracted by the idea of helping new friends settle into the herd. "Yeah. You're right." He said as he climbed aboard the red theropod and the went back to the rest of their friends.

DK

While things were going good for the D-Team, the same couldn't be said for the Alpha Gang. While they had managed to avoid getting gored by the buffalo, they now were trapped as the herd surrounding them while a tree was the only thing keeping them alive. "Okay. We need a way to escape these bovines before we starve to death up here." Ursula said before asking. "Ed, please tell me you still have the Alpha Scanner?"

"I do." Ed answered as he pulled it out. "But what good is it without a dinosaur to summon?"

"Good enough to call for help." The greenette told him as she took the device and began to dial the Backland. The call went through and soon Dr.Z's faces appeared on the screen. "Dr.Z!" She sighed in relief before frantically telling him. "We need backup sent here ASAP! It's an emergen-" She stopped when she noticed the doctor wasn't paying attention to her and instead seemed to be celebrating something. "Uh, Dr.Z?"

"Huh? Oh, Ursula. You'll never believe what just happened." Dr.Z said once he finally remembered he was in a call.

"After all we've been through today, I doubt that." Ursula muttered.

"The brats came through for us! Ungaro is dead! Whoohoo!" The Doctor shouted happily.

"That's great." Ursula said with a forced smile, getting slightly annoyed with her boss' lack of caring. "But we could really use some help here."

"Oh, Ursula." Dr.Z laughed. "I know you failed the Dinosaur Card. And I'm not having my good mood be ruined by remembering that by seeing your three faces. Whatever trouble you got yourselves into, you're getting yourselves out of it. Tata!" He said before hanging up.

"Wait, Dr.Z!" Ursula shouted in vain as the call ended. "Great." She banged her head against the branch. "Now what's going to happen to us?"

She got her answer when the buffalo started to disperse. "Huh? They're leaving?" Ed said in surprise.

"Yeah, but why?" Ursula asked before turning to the expert. "Zander, what exactly can make a whole herd of angry buffalos leave a place?"

"Well." Zander scratched his head. "I doubt there's a pride of lions that big here, so I'd say the best guess would be-" He didn't get to finish his answer as Satao appeared from the foliage and walked over towards the tree for some dinner. "A really hungry elephant." He said fearfully.

Satao either didn't notice or care about the three humans stuck in the tree and began to use his massive head to push against it. "Whaaaahahaha! Nooooo!" The trio screamed as the three fell to the ground with them on the bottom.

The only thing that would make it worse was if Satao stood on top of them as he feed.

Which he did.

DK

Few days later, and Rex was awoken to the sounds of the news jingle coming from right outside his window. "Ugh." He groaned as he got out of bed and opened the screen door to his balcony, revealing Nigel and his brother Goose on the other side. "Good morning, sire." The pterosaurs greeting with a bow and British accent.

"Good morning, Nigel." Rex greeted back with a yawn.

"Checking in with the morning report." Nigel said as he rose back up.

"Nigel." The blond said as he yawned again. "I told you that you don't need to-" He tried to say, but Nigel ignored him and began to give the report.

"You'll be happy to know that Packer is settling in wonderfully with his new job at the zoo. The elephants there love him."

"That's good to hear." Rex said.

"And in other news, Goose has given me the latest in the Dinoseum's development. Haven't you, Brother?"

Goose cawed in reply. For some reason, the secondary Anhanguera couldn't talk at all, only able to communicate through caws.

Fortunately, being his brother, Nigel was able to understand him perfectly. "Yes. It's progress with a capital P down there!" He said proudly, ruffling himself up before continuing. "And speaking of progress."

"Ugh!" Rex groaned as Nigel continued on his report. How his father was able to deal with this every morning will never not amaze him.

Next time on Dinosaur King:

Chomp: Aww! Cute little guy!

(Lexovisaurus roars angrily at Chomp before tackling him with enough force to send him flying towards Big Ben)

D-Team: NOOOOOOOOOO!

(Chomp flys right past the clock tower)

D-Team: Oh

A/N: HAPPY WORLD ELEPHANT DAY!

What better way to celebrate than to release a chapter dedicated to God's greatest creations. Yes, even better than the dinosaurs.

As soon as I realized this day was coming up, I knew I had to go into maximum hyper writing mode to get this chapter out in time.

As for what we got, we have Max's side of the whole killing Seth debate. Honestly, he would be the one who would have the most reserves when it comes to taking a life. He knows that, and worries he'll mess everything up. Even with talks from both Terry and Zoe, it's going to take Rex and him talking things out to actually properly fix the bridge between them.

I do want to state for the record I don't believe Pachyrhinosaurus had a keratinous horn for a second. I just needed an excuse to explain Packer's and that was all I had.

Satao is actually the name of a real elephant that was a giant. How big he was exactly is unclear as all I could find out how long his tusks were. And yes I meant to use past tense for him as he was sadly killed by poachers. Another reason they don't deserve rights and part of why I had him get his revenge here.

There was more bonding with Brontikens and co. I mainly skipped over the backstory scene as it's stuff we knew about and didn't need to hear again. And for those wondering why I made Gigas gay, I have my reasons that I'll explain better when the time comes. For now I'll say that it's to fix a problem with myself, and no it's not me being in the closet myself.

On a totally random note; yay, 700,000 words!

Lastly there's the Alpha Gang getting gained up on, or Home Aloned as Zander put it, by Africa. Really, after spending time rewatching the first three movies on Disney Plus, I just had to put the trio through something like that. And this was the best opportunity to torture them.

Will the next chapter be out in a month? No. I have Fimfictions I'm working on and want to starting pumping for of those out, but we should get the next one hopefully before year's end.