“What? Why?” Max asked. “You don't want to know what Moynihan has been keeping a secret from us all this time?” He had to admit that this was bugging him a little too.

Fiona slowly shook her head. “..That's not it...” This surprised Max. If it wasn't because of Moynihan that she felt fearful, then what was, exactly, upsetting her? And would she be willing to talk about it?

“Then what is it?” Max asked, holding his hand out to try and encourage Fiona to continue. “Come on, you can tell me.” Fiona still felt unsure and looked away from him. A strong hand on her shoulder encouraged her to look back at the jock, who was offering her a smile. “Go on...if something is troubling you, you know you can talk to me about it. You should know that, Fiona.” There was something about his smile that was making Fiona feel even more nervous.

“Well...the thing is..that...” Fiona started to say, but was suddenly interrupted.

“Max! Fiona!” The voice, coming from Moynihan, shot out from the lighthouse, loud and clear. The two teens almost had to cover their ears. They had never heard their teacher spoke this loud before. They didn't have much time to recover from the yelling when Moynihan shouted out again. “Come inside now!” This sounded more like a command or order than any statement she's made in the past. The way she spoke, it sounded like there was a tinge of aggression in her voice, as if she was angry with something.

For a few seconds, Fiona and Max hesitation, remaining frozen where they stood, staring into the lighthouse with expressions of disbelief and shock on their faces. This didn't sound like the Moynihan they knew. They almost thought that she was an impostor, but that was truly impossible. They were with her most of the time as of late, and there was no opportunity for an impostor to capture Moynihan and replace her with themselves. Not to mention how would an impostor know about the lighthouse? The only person outside the team that knew that was not a family member was Liam, and he had already promised not to tell anyone, although this was largely due to the fact that no one would really believe him.

Then they heard another voice from the lighthouse. This time, it wasn't from Moynihan, but from Rodger. The voice was a little faint, indicating he was a good distance away from them. “Hey guys! Come on in!” Rodger shouted as loud as he could. He and Buzz were probably in the living room by now, with Moynihan not far away from them. Fiona and Max nodded to each other and they quickly ran into the lighthouse, not wanting to make them wait any longer.

* * *

As the two walked into the living room, they noticed all three of the people in the room were looking at them as if they did something wrong. Max and Fiona were confused at first. What is it that they had done so wrong? They slowly looked behind them to see if they had forgotten something. And sure enough they did. The door to the outside was wide open. Usually this wasn't a problem, but it was obvious that, today, it was. Was Moynihan so paranoid about her story that she didn't want anyone outside the team to hear it? Well her story did deal with Victor after all, so it should make sense for her not to want anyone else to know about it.

Feeling a little embarrassed about forgetting something so simple, Max walked back towards the door and shut it. As he did this, Fiona approached Moynihan slowly. Moynihan looked at her, a serious look on her face, although she was not frowning. “Moynihan..now are you going to tell us this..story of yours?” Fiona asked carefully as she continued to get closer to the old woman.

Joanne immediately lifted up a hand and pointed to the furniture where Rodger and Buzz were already sitting. “Please..take a seat, Fiona.” Joanne said, her voice now soft and kind, sounding like it usually does. Any signs of anger had quickly faded away, as if it never was there to begin with. Fiona did as she was told without question. She sat down next to Buzz on the couch. Within around a minute, Max returned. He walked into the living room and took a seat next to Fiona. When they were all seated, the teenagers locked their eyes on Moynihan, giving her their full attention.

“So..would you mind telling us, now, what this is all about?” Rodger asked, fingers interlocked with one another as he slowly rested his chin down.

“Yeah..what's the big secret?” Buzz chimed in.

“What I'm about to tell you...” Moynihan started to say, closing her eyes as she adjusted the glasses on her face once again. “..you must not repeat to anyone else. And I mean absolutely no one else.” She put stress on some of the words she spoke to emphasize that she truly meant what she was saying. When her eyes opened up again, she quickly narrowed them almost dangerously. She waved a finger back and forth as if she was scolding the kids. “I mean it, you four. If I find out what one of you gave this information to anyone, I'll...” She stopped herself, realizing that she was starting to sound a little too aggressive again, and the teenagers were starting to look a little frightened by her attitude. Moynihan quickly cleared her throat. “Hmmm..my apologies, kids. I didn't mean to go off like that. Now then...” Her voice turned serious again. “What I'm about to tell you..none of you are going to like, I can assure you that...”

* * *

Back at Raptor Dyne, Victor Veloci was overlooking the scans he had up earlier again. The two avatars had barely changed within the past few hours, much to his disgust. The process had seemed to slow down a little. He didn't know why, but when he checked the situation with his equipment, he found that it was still progressing and wasn't slowing down any further. It was a minor delay, but it was no problem. The experiment was not a failure, so that was good news for him. But as he stared at the avatars, he wished that the process would go a little faster. He longed to see the Velociraptor icon to be filled up while the human one was completely empty.

Deciding to focus his mind on something else so he would stop staring at the avatars, Victor moved his hands towards the keyboard and typed in another command. Immediately the screen went to the usual scans he would have up. He saw the familiar map of the United States up on the screen, all colored in different shades of green. As he stared at the map, seeing no dinosaur signatures, he found his eyes trailing up towards the state of Maine. His eyes narrowed as he stared at that one area, knowing that this is where Moynihan was. He had wondered where she was all this time. He was rather pleased that she was not too far away from him. That had made it easier for him to find her.

He began to wonder how the Dino Squad was doing. He knew his plan would not have come into full bloom just yet, so he was not going to see anything that he was hoping, but he might see something else of interest. He knew that there was no way that Moynihan could set up another shield to protect herself with, so he could scan her lighthouse this time without risk of being disconnected. Knowing this, he immediately pushed another button which caused the screen to immediately zoom onto the lighthouse once again. Unlike last time, the screen didn't turn into static. Upon seeing the yellow SUV, he immediately knew that the teens and Moynihan were inside the lighthouse.

“If only you knew what I had in store for you, my little traitor...” Victor said, chuckling softly.

With that, he pressed another key, activating one of the satellites that was orbiting high in the atmosphere right above the lighthouse. Until now, the images the satellite could bounce back were blurred or full of static. Victor had thought it was because there was something wrong with the satellite itself, and had decided it wasn't worth the trouble of getting it fixed. The satellite covered only a small area and the odds of anything interesting being found there were slim. But now Victor knew, without that shield up and running, the satellite would be of more use. He was glad that he didn't have it destroyed.

As the scans activated and began to explore the lighthouse and its structure, Victor sat back and watched, waiting for the scanner to complete its analysis of the red and white lighthouse. He wasn't interested in all the rooms that it had in it nor was he interested in what Moynihan was talking to the children about. All lighthouses had many rooms and multiple levels, and Moynihan was probably telling the children some silly story of hope. Victor grinned at the thought of Moynihan still holding onto such foolish hopefulness. Once he was through with her, there was not going to be any hope left for humanity.

As the scans reached the top of the lighthouse, Victor smiled as he saw that there was very little progress with the machinery in that room. The scans couldn't offer too much detail, but they offered enough that he could tell how good of a job Michelle had done. He could tell that some work was done. Some of the computers were picked up and debris was put into piles. Some appeared to have been thrown away as well. And he could just barely make out scorch marks on the hard floor. He started to wonder, once again, if he should try to destroy the lighthouse. He had sent Peter earlier to get the job done, but he had failed him. Peter never even reached the lighthouse. If he had, he could have easily knocked the lighthouse into the water below. It was very close to the edge of a cliff, as all lighthouses are.

The scans whirred suddenly and then ceased. They had finished their analysis of the scans. The screen that Victor was looking at quickly vanished into black. After a few seconds, the computer began to build a virtual replica of the lighthouse. It wasn't perfected and wouldn't show many of the objects in the rooms. They would only show items that might interest Victor, which was the way he programmed it. The things it would look out for included weapons, traces of dinosaur DNA, and any signs of mutantsaurs. This was so that the computer wouldn't waste energy on things that would prove unimportant and would also speed up the process upon which the replica would e completed. The replica itself was three dimensional and would allow Victor to explore the multiple rooms without having to go inside. He had hardly had to use such a technique before, and in fact it was a very recent invention of his.

As soon as the scans were completed, Victor immediately started looking through the lighthouse himself. The first thing to catch his attention was a large room on what appeared to be the bottom floor of the lighthouse. It was extremely large and seemed to connect to the outside. Inside the large room, he saw five objects upon which he recognized as motorcycles. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that they had a dinosaur-like appearance to them. Victor couldn't help but laugh at himself. How stupid were these humans? They went around, riding in bikes that resembled their secret form! It was like they were screaming to the world that they were dinosaurs!

Victor took his eyes off of the motorcycles and began looking around the bottom floor to see if the scans picked up anything else that was interesting. He could see what appeared to be multiple weapons. He narrowed his eyes further. He recognized one of the objects as something that dark-skinned kid had used on him. It had created what appeared to be a huge cloud that fogged up his mirrors. It had caused him to almost lose control of his helicopter, but he was able to quickly recover. And sitting next to it was a similar-looking object. Both reminded him of the Killer and the Stinger he had shown Caruso earlier. Both had a very dinosaur-like appearance to them. He was confused at first. He didn't think Moynihan would want to hold such formidable-looking weapons in her lighthouse. And just what were they used for anyway?

Curious, Victor decided to have the computer analyze these particular weapons. It didn't take longer for the computer to spit out information on each particular weapon. The first one that came up was information on the blue gun that was used against him during his chase. Victor narrowed his eyes as he read the information. It was called a Chiller. According to the computer, it was designed to freeze mutantsaurs and force the dinosaur DNA to the surface. The second weapon, the Spiller or Devolver as it was previously called, was designed to suck up the mutant DNA, reverting the creature back to normal.

Victor's eyes widened a little as he began to understand what this discovery meant and how these weapons played a huge role in his experiments. This was how his mutants kept disappearing. These were the weapons responsible for him to continuously lose mutantsaurs, no matter how he changes them or how much he injects into an animal species. Victor narrowed his eyes once again. This discovery had made him realize that if he wanted to continue infecting animals and experimenting with them, he would have to make the DNA more resistant. There was something about the children's DNA that might help him. He knew Moynihan would have tried to 'cure' them with the Chiller and the Spiller. The fact that they still have their dinosaur forms was evidence that she had failed. Something about the Dino Squad's DNA had made them immune to the Chiller and the Spiller. If Victor could figure out what that was, then Moynihan would not be able to stop him anymore.

He decided to explore more on the Chiller and Spiller issue later on. He began to look through other parts of the lighthouse, but almost found nothing of interest. He could see Moynihan was still in one particular room, the living room he guessed, talking with four of the Dino Squad teenagers. The fifth one, Caruso, must have already left for home. There was nothing of interest showing up for the next few minutes and Victor was about to go back to the Chiller and Spiller when something else caught his interest. In one secluded location in the lighthouse, there appeared to be an extra room. The scanners were going crazy with weapon signatures. Victor's eyes widened in shock. The Chiller and the Spiller were one thing, but Victor didn't realize that Moynihan would store more weapons. He thought, at first, that they were just more Chillers and Spillers, but something told him that this wasn't the case.

He zoomed in on that particular room and began to explore the interior. It reminded him so much of his warehouse back in the Boston Common. There were multiple racks stock-piled with what looked to be many weapons. Only a few bared a strong resemblance to the Chiller and the Spiller. Many others looked even more dinosaur-like, and other still hardly looked like guns at all. Some looked far less dinosaur-like, but still looked scary and formidable. Victor was a little confused at first. What would Joanne want with all these weapons? Judging from how many weapons were in here and how secluded it was, it was apparent to him that she no longer used this room. But what was it like when it was in use?

“Heheheh....” Victor chuckled to himself, slightly amused. “Looks like Joanne has been experimenting as well at some point. But why...?”

He had the computer analyze some of the weapons in the room. He looked away for a few seconds to look at some of his failed experiments that were still in the tanks all around him. He grimaced sometimes when he had to look at them. They all could have had so much potential, but something had always seemed to go very wrong. He turned his head back towards the computer, which had already finished its scanning. The information it relayed back almost shocked Victor. They were completely unexpected and he had a hard time believing that this was coming from Moynihan's little hideout. After all these years, he had never known what happened to these particular weapons.

He recalled how, one time, many years ago, that he and Moynihan were working together on certain weapons. But after they had split paths, the weapons had mysteriously disappeared. Now, thirty years later, Victor has finally found out what happened to them. His eyes narrowed as a wicked smile spread across his face. He wanted those weapons back. Now it was time for another invasion of the lighthouse. And he knew just who he was going to send for the job. The mad scientist couldn't send Oscura or Michelle again as the Dino Squad were onto the both of them. It was time to send in someone new.

Victor pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number. He then pressed the phone against his ear and waited for the other line to pick up. When it did, Victor immediately said, “Hello, Kista Bakar. I have a new task for you...” Kista started to ask him what he wanted her to do this time and also tried to explain that she was currently busy, but she immediately shut up when Victor said something that immediately interested her. “The mission involves the pesky Dino Squad...”

* * *

“..and that's where I left off, am I correct?” Moynihan asked, sitting back in her chair as she told them this story. She had pretty much only repeated her back story all over again, the one that she had already told them when they first acquired their dinosaur forms. She just wanted to refresh their memories in case any of them had any questions during her new story that she was going to tell them. She knew they were probably a little annoyed had having to be retold something that they already knew, but Moynihan didn't want any interruptions and had insisted on them relearning all this information.

“Yes...” Buzz said, rubbing his head a little. Out of all of them, he was the most annoyed at having to rehear all this. He couldn't understand why Moynihan couldn't just outright tell them. Why repeat information if they already knew it? “That's where you stopped when you first told us this information. So..why couldn't you just tell us? Why did we have to hear all this again?”

“I already told you, Buzz.” Moynihan responded, leaning forward with her chin resting on her hands. “In order for me to tell you more, I have to be certain that you hadn't forgotten the beginning of the story. The last thing any of us needs is interruptions. Do you understand what I'm saying, Buzz?” She glanced at him.

“Yes, I do, but..I still don't think why...” Buzz started to say. But he stopped himself when he saw everyone offering him a glare. He immediately lowered his head and apologized. “I'm sorry...”

“It's all right, Buzz.” Moynihan said in a calm voice. She then quickly returned to telling her story. “Now before I tell you more information on what happened after Victor and I were trapped inside that cave together, there's something I should let you in on. I should have told you this a long time ago, but...” Her voice trailed off as she reached towards her chest to grip the yellow, claw-shaped attachment on the necklace she wore around her neck. The teenagers leaned in, curious about what she had to say about this seemingly unimportant item. “You see...this thing I'm wearing is actually a key...”

“A key?” Max spoke up, interrupting Moynihan. “A key to what exactly? And why didn't you tell us that was a key before?”

“A very valid question, Maxwell.” Moynihan said, still fumbling with the yellow item in her hand. Very carefully, she removed the necklace around her neck and held out the item so that the kids could get a better look. “There was a reason why I had kept the true function of this from you kids for all this time. I was simply trying to protect you.”

“Protect us from..what?” Fiona asked after a moment's hesitation.

Moynihan sighed and closed her eyes. She hesitated for a short time while answering Fiona's question. She almost regretted having brought up this topic in the first place, but she knew she couldn't keep this a secret from them forever. “From discovering the..weapons I have hidden in the lighthouse.” This caused a collective gasp to come forth from the teenagers. They began to murmur amongst themselves until they were silenced by Moynihan, who had lifted her hand up to call for attention. “Yes..I know what you are thinking...”

“But..why didn't you tell us?” Rodger asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

“Yeah..why wouldn't you tell us about this before?” Fiona asked, sounding slightly offended that Moynihan would wait until now to tell them about this. “Did you think that we would try to...”

Moynihan immediately cut her off to continue explaining her reasons for keeping the weapons a secret for so long. “The weapons are very dangerous, Fiona. Highly destructive weapons that, if they fell into Veloci's hands..or in the hands of juveniles who have no idea how they work, would have catastrophic results.” She pushed her glasses back, which had started to fall off her face. “I'm not saying that any of you kids are irresponsible, but....”

“But what?” Rodger said. He was feeling a little angry now. He couldn't see why Moynihan wouldn't tell them about this even when she knew that they were responsible young adults. Well there were incidents where they didn't exactly act maturely, but those didn't happen that often, he didn't think. “I don't think there was any reason for you to not tell us if you didn't think we were irresponsible.”

“No offense, Ms. Moynihan, but..Rodger's right.” Max said. He didn't feel as angry as Rodger probably was, but this was still upsetting him. It was almost as if Moynihan couldn't bring herself to completely trust the Dino Squad, even after all they did for her and how much they had helped her with her mission to save humanity from Victor Veloci. To think that she might still have some doubts on trusting them just hurt him.

Fiona felt the same way. Giving Moynihan a soft glare, she offered her own input. “After all we've done for you and with you, has there ever been any time that would cause you to cast doubt on keeping your key a secret from us? Anything that made you think that we would screw up and hurt ourselves or others around us?”

“Well... I...” Moynihan started to say, but she quickly realized that she did not have an explanation to offer the kids. She couldn't think of a reason why she would keep a secret from the Dino Squad when she knew they weren't irresponsible juvenile delinquents. She cast a glance at each of the students, each one with a slightly different expression. But none of the kids offered her a reassuring smile or anything that would make her feel better. They looked hurt, angry, upset, and confused all at the same time. She began to wonder if she should have said anything at all. She quicky realized the true reason for her not telling them. “...I guess it's just because I....feel too overprotective of you kids.”

“..overprotective?” Buzz asked slowly, his head slightly tilted. He knew Moynihan cared about them and wouldn't want them to get hurt. But he, and the others, had never thought of her as being overprotective. She didn't seem like the overbearing type, and couldn't understand why she would be. After all, she was not a part of any of their families. She wasn't even blood-related to them.

Moynihan slowly nodded, acknowledging Buzz's question and answering it almost immediately. “Yes...you students..you kids are..very special to me. You mean a lot to me..You're like..a family I never had...” She tried her best to hide her tears as she said the last line. As a human, she had made a good number of friends, but she had never grown so close to them like she had with these particular students of hers. She had slowly grew attached to them over the couple years that she's worked with them when thwarting Victor Veloci. The need to ensure that they were well protected had reawakened her maternal instincts and, despite the fact that they weren't her kids, she started to view them like they were her own. “If..anything happened to you..I...”

Joanne immediately stopped talking when she felt someone place their arms around her. She immediately wiped away the tiny remnants of tears she had before looking up to see who had touched her. The face staring back at her was Max's. The jock had gotten from his seat and went over to try and comfort the old woman. It touched him that she cared that much about him and his friends, but it also hurt him to see her so distressed like this. Suddenly the way she acted back at the warehouse, blaming herself, made even more sense. The story she had given them back then did offer a good explanation, but knowing that Moynihan now saw them as her family, that made things more clear now. “Is...is this why you were so hard on yourself?” Max asked carefully.

Moynihan slowly nodded, turning away from Max, unable to look at him in the eyes. She couldn't stand looking into those concerned eyes of his for it was only making her feel worse. She hadn't wanted to concern the students and yet she was now doing just that. “Yes..I admit that is why. When we thought Caruso was dead..It..It was like losing a family member..all over again.” As Moynihan started to shed more tears, Max remained stunned, unsure of what to do. Slowly, he tightened his grip on her, pulling her into a hug to try and comfort her.

The other three students remained quiet, still sitting down on the furniture. They didn't move an inch, nor did they try to speak, not even to each other. They didn't even bother to try to look at each other. Their eyes couldn't be torn away from this depressing and heartbreaking scene. Max continued to try and comfort Moynihan, who couldn't seem to stop crying. Although it was hard for them to watch it, they couldn't turn away from the sight. They couldn't help but feel bad for Moynihan. The poor woman really needed a hug and they were grateful Max had stepped up to do just that. They hoped that he would be able to help her feel better.

Fiona, Rodger, and Buzz started to feel a little guilty about pressuring Moynihan just a few minutes ago. She was trying to tell them a story and they had kept pushing her because she didn't tell them sooner. That had ultimately lead to her breaking down like this. They immediately started regretting saying those things. They wished they could apologize, but they weren't sure if it was going to be good enough. Moynihan seemed too upset now. An apology might not be enough to make her feel better. They finally managed to look away and had their eyes downcast, staring at the ground. None of them could think of anything to say.

Wiping away her tears, Moynihan sensed that the others were feeling guilty. She couldn't blame them too much. They obviously felt bad about talking to her the way they had just minutes ago. Moynihan felt like she had deserved it though. It was her fault for not telling them about this earlier. She had made them think she deemed them irresponsible, didn't she? She was the one who had decided that they were not ready to know about a dangerous secret, was she not?

But she decided not to dwell on it anymore. Wanting to change the subject before she depressed her students further, Moynihan said, “Well enough about that...” She straightened herself back into the chair. Max slowly let go over and quickly sat back down on the couch. The other three students immediately looked up, doing their best to hide their guilt. “It's okay, kids... There's no need to feel bad...” Moynihan said reassuringly, offering them all a gentle smile. “Anyway, moving along...” She clasped her hands together as she tried to think of how to continue her story. She had mentioned the hidden room with the weapons, but she had not yet stated how they would fit into the story. She planned on doing that later. The weapons wouldn't come until the next part of her story. “The first moments that Victor and I were trapped in their cave were tense and frightening. We were relieved that we weren't crushed to death, but we couldn't help but wonder how we were going to get out. There was no food in the cave and the boulders were blocking our only exit. It seemed that fate was going to kill us through starvation.”

Fiona bit her lip, imagining how horrible a fate like starvation was, and then said, “What did you guys do...?”

“Yeah...” Buzz spoke up. There was something that Moynihan had never fully explained. Well there was multiple things that she had never fully explained. “Just..how did you and Victor survive in that cave for so long? That's not even naturally possible...” To survive for millions of years without consequence, without eating, and without drinking seemed to defy all the rules of nature. “..is it?”

Moynihan slowly nodded. What Buzz was saying was correct. This wasn't a natural process. She and Victor were both expecting to die in the cave. They hadn't foreseen that this was to be their fate. “Right you are Buzz.” Moynihan said, casting a glance on each of the students individually as she spoke. “Victor and I were waiting to die, to be precise. We knew that we couldn't survive for very long without food or water. We were even prepared to eat each other if we were forced to.” A few of her students grimaced at the idea of cannibalism. Moynihan wasn't too thrilled with the concept herself, but she knew the benefits of such an act in such extreme cases of survival. “I know what you might be thinking, but understand that cannibalism is a basic instinct inside many living animals, including you humans, that increases chances of survival.”

“But it seems so...” Fiona said, trying her best to hide her disgust. “So...disgusting...”

“Dear, when your life is on the line, the things that might appear disgusting could become your key chances of survival.” Moynihan explained in a teacher-like manner, was if she was in the middle of class giving a lecture. “Eating a member of one's own kind is a survival tactic that dates back to even before the dinosaurs, don't you know...”

“But..still....” Max said, not sure if he wanted to hear anymore of attempted cannibalism was involved. He might have hated Victor and he had wanted to see him defeated once and for all, but he couldn't really imagine him or anyone else being devoured by his own kind. That is not the way he wanted Victor to be defeated. To eat one's own, that was a curse in his eyes. “That just seems so..I dont' know... Inhumane?”

“Inhumane?” Moynihan said, cocking an eyebrow. “Max, dear, this is nature that I am talking about. This instinct is inside us all. Even humans will succumb to it..” She quickly realized that she was really upsetting the students with this talk of cannibalism. She also noticed that one of her students, Buzz, started to look a little green in the face. She felt very guilty about it and quickly realized that she had gone too far in her little talk. “I apologize, kids. I didn't mean to go off like that...”

“It's...it's all right...” Rodger said after hesitating for a few seconds. He was having a hard time shaking out disturbing images from his mind. He could only hope that this was not going to give him or the others nightmares at night. He was grateful that Caruso wasn't at the lighthouse to hear this. With that boy's current state of mind, Moynihan's story might frighten him greatly, even more so than it had frightened the rest of them.

“I should..probably get on with the story.” Moynihan said. She had already killed about ten minutes with the teenagers, mostly just explaining once again about the asteroid colliding with Earth and forcing herself and Victor into a cave all alone where they remained for so many years. She knew that their parents were expecting them home soon, sometime today. She knew she couldn't keep their parents waiting. She would sent the students home after she was finished with the story.

Max nodded, agreeing with Moynihan. “So..what happened while you guys were in the cave together? What did to you do survive for so long?”

Moynihan closed her eyes. How was she going to explain this to her students? Even she and Victor could barely understand just how they survived all that time. Well she and Victor knew how they survived, but she and him both couldn't figure out how they gained that particular ability that saved their lives. Until then, neither of them had seen such a thing in any other Velociraptor, or any other dinosaur for that matter. She continued to search her mind to try and explain how this all came about, but her mental struggles were all in vain. She would have given up under normal circumstances, but she had already dragged her students along for the right with her telling them about the weapons. She couldn't give up now. She couldn't just give up.

“..This is going to be hard for me to explain...” Moynihan finally said, reopening her eyes. “But..I shall try to explain the best that I can. Just please...bear with me. And please...no interruptions.” And with that, she began her tale.

FLASHBACK:

The cave shook and rumbled as the giant rocks continued to pummel the land. It didn't help that it was pitch black. The boulders blocked even the tiniest ray of light from coming through. The cave roof started to crumble a little, rocks falling down even inside this barricade protection from the outside world. The only signs of life in this rather small cave were two dinosaurs: a green female Velociraptor and a male red Velociraptor. They stood within close quarters, staring at the boulders that covered what was once a clear path. They could hear the crashes outside and the bellows from many dinosaurs rang heavily in their ears.

Once the rocks stopped falling, silence and tranquility returned just as quickly as it had left. The two dinosaurs strained to hear any signs of life outside of the wall. Maybe they would be lucky and a sauropod would walk by and destroy the blockage. But what were the odds of that? The red Velociraptor cautiously approached the blockade, sniffing the rocks with his nose. He then proceeded to try and claw his way out, but it was all in vain. His arms just weren't strong enough to pull any of the boulders out of the way. He immediately turned around to face the green Velociraptor, who was watching him in anticipation.

The male Velociraptor, who would one day become Victor Veloci, uttered a series of low growls and snarls, the Velociraptor language. While these sounds would be indecipherable to human ears, they sounded like words to the Velociraptor ears and mind. “It does not look like we can get out.”

“I already knew that.” The female, who would one day become Joanne Moynihan, responded through a low hiss. She turned her head away and started to examine the small cave they were now trapped in. It didn't look like there was any other way out. There was not one scrap of good light in this cave. She and the red raptor were relying on their night vision to see each other, but it did pay to have a really good sense of smell.

“Why are you walking away?” The red Velociraptor asked, starting to make his way towards the female. Since they had recently lost their entire pack, he had grown close to this particular female. He felt a strong urge to want to protect her, and to rebuild a family with her. It was the Velociraptor way. It was how they survived for so long. “There is no other way out.”

The green Velociraptor growled angrily, snapping her jaws at the male to force him to stop. The male stared at her in bewilderment as she continued to bare her sharp fangs studding her long, green snout. “Do you realize that this is all your fault?”

The red raptor snapped his head back and snarled viciously. To try and reinforce his dominance, he fanned out his arms like a bird would fan out its wings and tensed his talons. He proceeded to show her his teeth, growling softly. “How is it my fault? You were the one who led the two of us into this cave!”

“And who is it who came up with the idea of coming into this cliff at this time?” The green raptor retorted, challenging the male's dominance with a threatening display of her own. “I do not recall myself suggesting coming here.”

The two Velociraptors began to emit a series of growls and hisses, bobbing their heads and bodies up and down in an effort to intimidate the other. They began to circle each other, their eyes locked onto one another. They continued to emit a series of snorts and snarls, trying to force the other to back down. But the two raptors refused to back down. Their tails started to arch up into the air as they tried to scare each other again with loud, piercing roars. But even this wasn't working. They continued to circle each other, trying to judge and calculate the other's strength in hopes of trying to find a weakness to ensure their victory.

Then, without warning, they made a dash towards one another, mouths agape, baring their sharp teeth. They crashed into one another, hissing as they snapped their jaws towards the other, trying to land a bite. They pushed and scratched each other with their forepaws, each landing a non-lethal blow to the other. Despite the amount of scratches the two of them were getting and the amount of blood that dripped down their faces and neck, they continued to attack the other. A few times, they even resorted to whacking the other with their thick, strong tail. They were careful, however, not to use their feet in battle. This was not a fight to the death.

“Why just not call it quits?” The red raptor asked as he struck the female raptor's snout.

“You know that I never quit.” The female raptor responded, retorting by snapping at the male with her equally powerful jaws. “It will take a lot more than a few cuts to bring me down.”

The male Velociraptor uttered a series of short hisses, a dinosaurian laugh. “Just what I would expect to hear from a fellow pack member.” With that, he charged towards the female, ramming his head against her chest and causing her to fall onto her back. Taking this opportunity, he immediately jumped into the air and stood over her to try and show how dominate he was over her. But it would not last for she quickly used her feet to kick him off of her and swiftly regained her footing.

“Do not forget I was the best hunter in the pack.” The green Velociraptor said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

The male opened his mouth part way, looking as if he was grinning. “That is right. You were the best.”

With that, he charged forward, hoping to ram his head against the female again to knock her down. But the female was prepared for this and quickly sidestepped to avoid the impact. She then proceeded to whirl around and bite into the male's tail. The red raptor lifted his head back and led out a loud screech of pain before turned to try and bite the female back. But the female proved to be too difficult for him to attack so long as she had his tail. She started to pull him back roughly, causing him to fall onto the ground.

The female quickly moved in, taking this opportunity to claim her dominance over the male. She stood over him, pressing one of her sickle claw-wielding feet on the male raptor's side, pushing down and using her weight to hold him down. The male started to struggle underneath her, snapping at the air and clawing at the ground with his large talons. The female was smart to position herself in a way that the male would not be able to strike at her unless he used his feet and she was confident enough to believe that the male would not try to use his feet. But then again, she herself had used her feet just a short time ago.

As soon as she thought of that, she felt a sharp pain in her legs as she suddenly toppled to the ground. She landed on something large and warm. It didn't take her long to realize that she had landed on top of the other Velociraptor. It took her a little longer to realize what had just happened. The male had used his feet to kick at her to make her get off of him. But this had backfired, instead tripping her up and falling on top of him. The male became frantic and his struggles increased significantly. Instead of moving away, though, the female raptor quickly clamped her jaws around her opponent's throat and applied a little pressure.

“You would not dare kill me.” The male hissed, glaring up at her. He did not seem overly concerned about her jaws clamped around his neck like this. In fact, he seemed rather indifferent about it.

The female growled and snorted. “Why do you not try me?” She pressed her teeth down a little tighter, and the male's eyes widened in pain and shock. He struggled a little, but the female did not relent. She continued to hold him down, jaws around his neck, threatening to tear it out and kill him. This move was not used much among Velociraptor kind, and in fact the female had only seen it used once. According to her mother, such a movie should only be used if both opponents are equally matched and too stubborn to back down. The throat hold, as her mother called it, was designed to have one pack member bite the throat of the other until the other either gave in or they were ultimately killed. “Keep struggling and see if I do not try to kill you.”

At that statement, the male Velociraptor started to panic out of fear for his own life. He realized that if he continued to struggle, the female would only bite harder onto his neck. And there was no way he could knock her off without her tearing a chunk out of him. He began to think about his situation, but only briefly. Dinosaurs never spend a lot of time thinking about a decision. Whatever decision would ensure their survival, they would take it. And for the male Velociraptor, he knew what decision he would have to make in order to save his own life. With that, he immediately surrendered, lowering his tail flat on the ground and relaxing the muscles in his legs and arms.

The red raptor slowly turned his eyes up towards the female and uttered a soft growl which, to the female, translated as, “I give up. I surrender. You win.”

Purring with a feeling of satisfaction, the female instantly let go and stepped off of the male. She had won this dominance fight, much to the male's dismay. She couldn't help but feel some sense of saurian pride at her success. She didn't take her eyes off of the male who had lost the fight. The male quickly climbed up to his feet, staring at the female warily before looking back at the exit. It was just the same as before. There was no exit. With no other options left, he turned back to the female, tilting his head from side to side.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” The raptor growled softly. “Are you waiting for a second challenge from me?”

The red male snorted, pulling his reptilian lips back in a snarl. “No. I am waiting for you to make a suggestion for what we should do next.” The female shot her head back, tilting her head in confusion. The male took a step forward, lowering his head slightly. “Please do not tell me you do not know the responsibilities given to you when you when the dominance challenge. As leader, you must make all the decisions.”

“And yet, we both already know there is no way out of the cave.” The female responded, pointing her snout back to the barricaded exit. “We both know that, even combined, we are not strong enough to move those rocks out of the way. And not to mention, we would expend too much energy doing so.”

The male bobbed his head once, acknowledging the female's statement. She did have a very good point. And running out of energy was going to become a really big concern pretty fast. He had noticed that the only other life form in the cave was the female Velociraptor. There was no prey where. “We cannot replenish our energy here. There is no prey where for us to hunt. If we do not find prey soon, one of us will have to eat the other, and the survivor will not have long to live after that. There would be no way to get more energy unless we find a way out.”

The idea of cannibalism was not foreign to the two Velociraptors. It was a practice that many predators, including Velociraptors, had practiced in times of great need. Even the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex had to succumb to cannibalism if there was no food around that it could eat. The idea of cannibalism did not shake up either Velociraptor that much. They had even succumbed to it a few times growing up in their lifetime. Both were fearful only for their own lives. They did not care where they got their energy from. If it was to be from a member of their own species, then so be it.

“So what do you propose we do?” The male asked, breaking the silence that had taken over the cave.

“The only thing we can do.” The female said, hissing to herself in mild frustration at the idea of being trapped inside a cave, cut off from access of fresh meat just outside the broken cave wall. “Wait. And hope that one of us successfully finds a way out of this cave.”

Silence fell upon the cave for the next few days. It could have been only a few days or even weeks since they have been trapped inside the cave. They could no longer tell how many times the sun has set. They couldn't see the sun from inside the cave. The only thing that both raptors knew is that they were getting hungrier and hungrier. They could feel themselves become thinner as each day passed by. They often stared at the other, tempted to attack and kill, and yet still hesitated. If they were to make such a move now, then all that energy would be used up too quickly and then what? There was nothing else left in the cave. No, they must fight the cannibalistic urge until they had absolutely no choice. They might not even have to do such a thing. Maybe they would get out before then.

They couldn't tell what was going on just outside that stony wall. They would sometimes hear the call of a sauropod or bellow of a Triceratops. But as each day passed, it seemed like they were hearing less and less commotion. Pretty soon, everything seemed silent. Even the insects have stopped chirping. But the silence is not what concerned the two predators. Even though they were completely sealed, they could feel a chilly wind just outside the cave. The temperature around them was beginning to plummet. Being cold-blooded reptiles, this was not a good thing. Desperate to find warmth, the two raptors started their way down the small cave to try and find another exit.

The cave was slightly bigger than they had expected. They were even able to find an underwater puddle. Severely dehydrated, they immediately went over and bent down, using their long tongues to lap up the water to satisfy their extreme thirst. As soon as they were satisfied, they stopped, lifting up their heads and scan the cave area around them. They couldn't drink all the water now as this was the only water source they had. But if there was water, maybe there would be some kind of life form around here. Perhaps a little mammal or two had scurried into the cave before the rocks had fallen. Mammals weren't particularly tasty to a Velociraptor, but they would satisfy them until they found some of their more favorable prey.

But no matter how hard they tried over the past few hours, they could not find any prey or any exits. There was one area in the cave that they thought they could get through, but it was both too narrow and it was leading to a dead end. They investigated every nook and cranny in the cave, but found not even a scent of a mammal, or any other creature for that matter. They tried clawing at a few holes they found, hissing and snorting to try and startle anything inside. But the most that they could find were a few bones that were at least a week old. They turned away from the bones in disgust, realizing that whatever creature that bone belonged to had been sick.

Feeling defeated and deciding to accept their fate, the two Velociraptors lowered onto their haunches, staying close by to one another. Even though they were reptiles, they still felt the need to be together. They could feel a sense of comfort in staying close to one another, being social animals and all. At one point, the green raptor found herself resting her head on the red raptor's back. The male looked at her in surprise, but didn't push her away. Instead, he lowered his head and gently licked the side of her face, the way a Velociraptor would show affection.

The temperature continued to drop all around them. Even though Velociraptors grew up learning to overcome fear, the two raptors couldn't help but feel a sense of fear and panic rise up inside of them. They may not understand the concept of being warm-blooded or cold-blooded, but they did know that the cold made dinosaurs slow down and at times fall asleep and never wake up again. They quickly huddled together for warmth, hoping to ride out this weather and hoped that the weather outside would get warmer soon. But despite huddling together, they could feel their core body temperatures dropping at a slow but steady pace. Their minds and movements and even breathing had started to slow down.

“What...is....going...on....?” The male hissed softly, confused. He was trying his best to keep his eyes open, but now his eyelids felt so heavy it was hard to keep them lifted up over his eyes.

“Slowing...down...the..cold....” The female groggily responded, opening her jaws wide to yawn deeply. “Must..get...warm...” Her hisses and growls trailed off, silence overcoming her.

As the temperature dropped a few more degrees, the two Velociraptors had fallen asleep, huddled against one another. The female's head rested across the top of the neck of the male. Their bodies were curved towards one another, tails overlapping each other. Their breathing continued to slow down until it was almost nonexistent. But even though their body temperatures had slowed down greatly, both raptors were still very much alive. Their breathing came in once every few minutes, their hearts beating only once per minute. Even though they were extremely cold, their limbs and tail twitched once in a while, showing some signs of life.

Within a few hours, the two raptors were completely frozen. Ice had covered their entire bodies in a shiny covering. The ice seemed a little thick, strong enough to hold the two of them inside, completely trapping them. Water in all parts of the cave, including the puddle, had frozen solid as well. The cave become like a freezer. The rocks themselves had taken on a whitish hue. And yet, despite all this cold, the two raptors still breathed slowly inside the ice structure. Somehow, throughout it all, they were still alive...

END FLASHBACK:

“Wait a minute...” Buzz said. Despite what Moynihan had said earlier, he decided to interrupt her story. Moynihan had taken a pause and he took advantage of the silence. It wasn't that he didn't like the story, although the idea of being frozen alive sent chills down his own spine. But what did this have to do with the hidden weapons or how Moynihan was responsible for Victor hating humans? “I thought you were going to tell us about how...”

“I know what I said, Buzz!” Moynihan barked at Buzz, her eyes narrowed. “I told you not to interrupt! I wasn't finished yet!” Buzz's eyes widened in horror, jerking his head back after Moynihan yelled at him. The old woman quickly came to her senses, shaking her head and then rubbing her forehead. “Oh I'm sorry, Buzz. I didn't mean to yell at you like that.”

“I...I guess I should have kept quiet, huh?” Buzz asked to no one in particular. He glanced over at Max, who had begun to speak.

“Maybe you should continue the story some other time.” Max suggested, looking at Moynihan with a concern-filled expression. “You still don't look so well...”

Moynihan slowly shook her head. “No...I will tell you more now. I should have told you this a long time ago..I'm not going to stop now.”

“But you just snapped again..” Fiona said carefully, hoping that she wouldn't set off the old woman herself. She kept her voice low and as non-offensive as possible. “Perhaps you should get some rest or something. You don't have to tell us the whole story right now..if you don't feel up to it.” But Moynihan still shook her head in denial. She only looked up when Rodger started to speak.

“They're right, Ms. M. Maybe it's not wise for you to relive such a horrible memory if you're already under a lot of pressure and stress from the recent happenings.” Rodger said.

But Moynihan refused to listen. Hand held up to silence the students, she gave them each a serious look. She wasn't going to back down so easily. She knew that they meant well and they were probably right. It probably was unhealthy of her to try telling a story that upsets her so much when depressing things had already taken place. It was like back at the warehouse when she felt even worse when she relived that horrifying memory of her pack. But still, she had already begun to tell the story and if she stopped now, she'd never want to speak of it again. It was just too painful. No, it was best to tell them everything now to avoid having to bring this topic up again.

“No..” Moynihan whispered. “I'll continue the tale. You kids deserve to know everything I'm about to tell you.” Before any of the kids could object to her decision, she leaned against the soft chair and took in a deep breath. She continued her story. “Anyway, the cold had frozen Victor and I solid as we both had entered a dormant state. I do not know how long the cold chill had lasted, but one thing was certain. When we woke up...the world had changed so much..and we were not prepared...”

FLASHBACK:

The inside of the cave was dripping with water. The ground was darkened and a little moist. The rock barricade was still there. The two frozen dinosaurs were now hidden underneath a layer of dirt and small rocks. The only signs of ice were a few drops of clear liquid from tiny holes in the dirt covering. Without any signs of light, the amount of time that had passed was incalculable. The inside of the cave itself remained mostly the same, however. The only thing that had changed was that the ice had completely melted. The few bones that once laid in the cave had taken on an amber coloration and were stuck in the ground, as if the ground had melted and pulled hem inside.

Just outside of the cave, the sounds of chirping penetrating the rock wall. Inside the thick layer of dirt, there was slight movement for a few seconds. But then it quickly became still and lifeless once more, even as the birds outside continued to chatter and sing their songs. Then rocks in the wall started to move. A small rock rolled onto the ground, exposing a large ray of light. The light hit the layer of dirt, causing it to shift once more. This time the shifting was more persistent, exposing a small portion of green scaly skin, completely covered in freshly melted ice. But just like before, the shifting stopped completely, and no further portion of skin was revealed.

All of a sudden, the birds stopped chirping a song, instead letting out a loud screech as if something had startled them. An instant later, there was a loud, heavy crash. Rocks and debris flied everywhere as the wall was completely demolished. Boulders, rocks, and smaller objects rolled across the cave floor as dust was kicked up into the air, obscuring the view of the event completely. As the dust started to settle down, right where the barricade had been now rests a large, silver sphere, glinting in the bright sunlight that now shined fiercely into the cave. Mixing in with the sound of the rocks cracking and smashing was the chatter of life forms, not birds, just outside of the cave. The chatter was almost completely obscured, however, by the low rumbling of something very big close by.

Then the large, silver ball struck again, crashing into the rock wall and making the opening to the cave even bigger. Large chunks of rock shot forward and crashed into the large dirt pile only a few feet away. The rocks knocked the clump backwards, causing it to crash against a nearby wall. Almost instantly, the dirt and melted ice dripped off of what they were covering, revealing two large reptilian bodies. Despite the harsh crash landing, neither figure moved very much. Their eyes slowly opened, the pupils dilating as they took in the light for the first time since the two creatures had went dormant. Long jaws lined with sharp teeth opened up, letting out long, soft yawns and they started to move their limbs slowly, stretching out their muscles and tendons.

They carefully put their feet on the ground, pushing themselves up. But it felt like it was an eternity since they last stood up. They started to wobble a little, and they instantly fell back onto the ground. One of them, the green raptor, tried to get up again, but her foot started to slide from underneath her body, and she slumped back down once again. The red raptor tried his luck, but his knees ended up buckling forward and he collapsed onto his stomach, his tail held high into the air. He blinked several times, trying to get himself to come to his senses. His mind was a blur and he could barely remember anything that had happened.

The female raptor shook her head rapidly, feeling extremely groggy. Her eyelids felt very heavy still and she wanted to go back to her deep slumber. But with the racket that was now filling the cave, she could not bring herself to sleep once more. The noise that was filling the air was completely foreign to her. There wasn't one thing that sounded familiar except for the occasional chirp of a bird. But even that seemed a little different now. The female raptor shrugged it off and turned her attention towards the male raptor. She wanted to walk towards him, but she was still slumped on the floor as was the male. She tried yet again to stand up, but her head was spinning from exhaustion and confusion and she fell right back down.

Finally giving up, she turned her head towards the male. The female raptor uttered a low, broken hiss. “How...how long were....were we...sleeping...?”

The equally groggy male shook his head rapidly, splitting his jaws as wide as they could go as he gave another yawn. He lifted up his hand and used his claws to scratch an itch on his jaw line. “I do not know. A few days perhaps?”

The female listened to more of the ruckus going on outside. The sounds of chattering filled her ears. She guessed that something was talking outside, but it was of another species. She would think it was one of her prey items, but nothing she ate ever sounded like this before. This was something new, something she and her partner had never encountered before. “No, I do not think so.” She said, turning her head towards the opening. “A few days and some new animal appears so quickly? I do not think so.”

The male raptor tilted his head, uttering a few low growls of confusion. The male then narrowed his eyes and pulled his scaly lips back slightly. He responded, “That is impossible! No new species ever appears. We have lived here for countless days and there has never been another animal show up that we have not seen before.”

“Then how would you explain that sound?” The female retorted, snorting once heavily through her nostrils as they flared. “None of us have ever heard something like that before. It is strange, almost unnatural to us. This is not some prey item or competitor. This is something new.”

“If it is something new, then how did it get here?” The male questioned, turning his head from side to side as if he was cross-examining the female raptor. “It would have been a long trek from where it came from to our land. We would have caught its scent before it set foot onto our home. We would have known about it.”

“And how would you know that we would have known about it? There is a chance that we would not have known so quickly and so quickly.” The female growled softly.

“Only a few days has passed, I am certain.” This was the male's explanation for why he was so sure that, if a new species had appeared, they would have found out a good amount of time before they came onto the land.

But the female was not so sure. She could feel it in her bones, in her muscles, even in her stomach, now completely empty. Even the air around them seemed different. The very oxygen levels had seemed to dramatically changed. The smells themselves had shifted into unfamiliar territory. The only scents that remained the same were hers and the other raptor's. Even the cave's scent had changed almost entirely. A few days' time could not have been enough time for all these changes to take place. Instinct told her that a far longer time frame had passed since they had been asleep. But how much time had actually passed?

“No. Not a few days. That is impossible.” The female lowered her head as her mind started to think about the possible conclusions that they would come to. “Too much has changed since we were last awake. Time of a far longer length must have passed.”

“But...” The red raptor started, but the female interrupted him with a snap of her jaws. He instantly snapped his head back and lowered his head slightly in submission.

“It is the only thing that could explain everything that is different now.” The female inquired. “But I cannot tell how long has passed. It might have been so long that many generations of our own kind have come and gone.”

The male narrowed his eyes as he thought of what the female had suggested. In all his life, he had never seen a new animal arrive in such a short amount of time. In addition, he'd never seen any new animals other than the others he had encountered throughout his life. Perhaps the female was indeed correct. Nothing else seemed to be adding up. If enough time had passed for an unknown species to show up, then a significance amount of time had passed. But he could not figure out just how much time that was. “Perhaps you are right.” The raptor growled. “But what do you suggest we do now? And do not tell me to wait. We did enough of that already.”

The female kept one reptilian eye on the hole that was now in the wall. She focused on the rubble and on the bright light outside. She could still hear the unfamiliar chatter and the strange scents still filled her nostrils, filling her with feelings of confusion and apprehension. They know nothing of the species outside of the wall, not even what they looked like. And it seemed that the species were accompanied by something bigger. She could hear the low rumbling of what sounded like a very large animal. Was it the mother? Were they near the nesting site of the new species? If they go out to investigate, would they be attacked? These questions plagued the female as she tried tot think of what she and the male could do.

Before she could decide, she caught a glimpse of something large and gray heading their way once again. She screeched loudly, scrambling onto her legs and managing to get out of the way in time. The male also found his strength and jumped back, standing next to the female as something gray crashed through the wall again. The two raptors hissed and coughed as dust was kicked up into the air. They heard the sounds of the rock cracking and breaking, and the sound of the machine was even louder. They could hear the floor beneath them being to vibrate. No animal they had ever encountered before ever did something like this.

As the dust started to settle, the male was the first to make a move. He took a step forward, hissing in confusion and anticipation as his eyes focused on where the sound had come from. He was greeted with more light that started to illuminate the cave. He could see smaller rocks, piled one on top of the other, where the large barricade had once been. He hissed again when he heard the same chatter the green raptor had, and this time it sounded a lot closer. They could hear footsteps approaching, and then a silhouette started to appear over the rocks. The two raptors held still, waiting to see this new species that they've been hearing since they woke up from their sleep. But the silhouette quickly shrank and disappeared, seemingly obeying a loud call from another creature nearby.

The green raptor took a step forward this time. She heard the rumbling noise quickly fade away, stopping abruptly as if something had startled it. She took another step forward. She glanced back at the red raptor before making her way cautiously towards the smashed hole in the cave. She carefully looked outside and almost shrieked in horror at what she saw only a few feet away from the cave. “What is this creature?” She asked, prompting the male to come forward and have a look for himself.

“It's a....what?” The red male had no answers either. This was unlike anything he and the female ever encountered. It didn't even resemble anything familiar in the slightest.

The creature standing before them was a dull to bright yellow in color. It didn't seem like it had legs, instead crawling on its black-colored belly. They saw something on what appeared to be the body and they guessed it was the head. It had large eyes, but they were dark and clear, unlike anything they had seen before. It seemed to have a very long nose or structure jetting out in front. It was long, and at the tip was the silver ball that they had seen earlier. They guessed the long structure was actually the tail. The entire creature appeared to be hard, armored, protected. Was this some bizarre new species of those club-wielding armored dinosaurs they had seen before?

They were about to go back into the cave when they saw something that they never would have believed if they hadn't seen it for themselves. The yellow creature seemed to open up. From the inside stepped out a much smaller creature, looking less formidable that the big one. The creature looked pale in color except for a bright orange coloration that covered it chest and torso. It lacked a tail and stood completely upright. It didn't look like it had any claws. Perhaps it was a herbivore. It took a few steps and seemed to stop when a second creature much like it appeared. The difference with this one as that it was dark-skinned, but still had the same orange coloration. The two seemed to be talking to one another, eyeing the cave carefully and a few times pointing at it. Neither seemed to take notice to the raptors.

The male raptor's nose wrinkled in disgust. The smell of these new creatures was bothering him greatly. He wasn't sure, however, what to make of the appearance. He looked at the female. “What do you think they are?”

“Predators probably. Look at how their eyes are positioned.” The female said, staring at the creatures before them. She could see the eyes quite clearly, relatively close to one another. “These creatures do not have a wide view like our prey does. Our prey have eyes on the side, not the front. Only other predators have eyes like that.”

“Predators?” The male asked, bewildered. “They lack claws!”

“So do the predators of the waters and they can hunt, can they not?” The female retorted. The male couldn't think of a comeback statement and remained silent. The female took harder look at the creatures, narrowing her eyes to get a better look. She was noticing something on top of their heads. They were both dark, long, and..flowing? She had seen this before only few times, when she had seen the little mammals scurry across the floor to hide. “They are mammals.” She hissed slowly.

“Mammals?” The red raptor snorted. No wonder the smell was upsetting him. He hated the smell of mammals. It was probably their fur that they grow on their bodies instead of scales or feathers. “I believe that. Only mammals have this kind of stench. But since when did mammals get that large?”

The green raptor opened her mouth partway, just enough to expose more of her sharp teeth. “This is just further evidence that we have been asleep far longer than you think.” The two raptors fell silent as they leaned in a little closer, trying to hear what these strange creatures were saying. They positioned themselves so that they would not be seen. They weren't sure if these creatures had a strong sense of smell, but even if they did, they hadn't seemed to notice their scent. Even though she had just saw these creatures, the female couldn't help but become a little curious. “I wonder what they are talking to one another about.”

The red male, who was feeling particularly hungry, snarled, “I do not care. I just want to kill one so I can eat it. We have not eaten in for a long time, I am sure.”

“No!” The female snapped, her jaws closing close to the male's neck, causing him to cringe back in submission. “We know nothing about them. We do not know if they are good prey or not. They might be dangerous. They might kill us swiftly.”

“Then what do you propose we do then?” The male raptor asked.

The female was quick on giving her response. “We learn.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” The male asked, his tail twitching slightly in agitation. “Sit here and watch them and hope we somehow learn their language? And even if we did, what would be the point? What would we want to talk to mammals for?”

The female wasn't sure how she should respond. She, of course, had no answer for most of the male's questions. She wasn't sure if she would want to talk to the mammals either. But understanding them, she felt, was crucial to their survival. Getting a basic understanding of how these creatures think and live would help them better adapt to their presence. They had to know if these creatures were harmful to them or not. If they misjudged these creatures too severely, they may end up paying the price relatively quickly. She had learned a similar lesson during her first hunt.

As for the male's question on how they would learn, she did have an answer for that one. “To learn, we must sit and observe them. We must learn enough about these strange creatures if we wish to survive an encounter from them.”

The male scoffed. “What could weak mammals do to a dinosaur?”

This remark made the female hiss in anger. The male must have forgotten about one of the native mammals that lived in their area. She was shocked that the male could have forgotten about this mammal so easily. The mammal had a venomous bite and would make a dinosaur sick just from one nip. The male had been bitten by one during the first year that she had met him. He survived, but before he recovered, he was very ill and left to pretty much fend for himself. He managed to recover, despite receiving no help. The pack had to focus on keeping the group as a whole healthy. They couldn't worry about one sickly individual. For the male to pretend to forget this experience, the female wasn't sure what she should say about it. Perhaps it was best that she didn't say anything.

She then started to wonder what it would be like to be these creatures. She had never felt this way before. She had always been fine being a raptor. But these creatures were so strange to her. She wondered how they were able to move around like that, standing straight up without a tail. She closed her eyes and started to visualize herself being like these creatures. She tried to imagine how it would feel looking like that. She tried to think about how she would move around if she stood straight up and lacked any kind of tail. She tried to imagine what kind of teeth they would have, and if they had any kind of claws at all.

Her concentration was partly broken by a surprised chirping sound from the male Velociraptor. “You have changed!”

The female continued concentrating on the new creatures, but managed to hear and understand what the male had said. “What are you talking about?”

“Your hand has changed!” The male Velociraptor said, fixating a curious and shocked eye at the female's hand.

“Do not be foolish.” The female said as she moved her snout towards her hand to prove the male was wrong in what he said. “There is no way that...” She shut her snout as she was taken aback by what she was seeing. The male raptor was indeed correct. Her hand had changed. Instead of three digits, she now had five. The scales had completely disappeared, replaced with smooth, seemingly weaker skin. She turned it over and she could see that her talons were replaced with short, flat claws that grew from the top of each digit's tip rather than the very front. “What happened?”

END FLASHBACK:

Moynihan took a moment to pause telling the story to see if the children had any questions so far. She had gone on for a little while talking about what happened to her and Victor in the beginning, but has yet to get close to the part where she talked about the weapons. She knew this was going to be a long storytelling and she wondered if she even had time for it now. The kids were expected home pretty soon now. She couldn't keep them here forever. She briefly wondered if she should just stop now, let the teens return home, and resume the story sometime tomorrow. She quickly decided against it, believing that it was best to get this off her chest now instead of prolonging it. And with her current condition, she might be too snappy tomorrow to tell them anything more.

Taking advantage of Moynihan's silence, Max took this opportunity to squeeze in a question that was bothering him for a while now. “So you and Victor slept all that time? All those millions of years, you two have been asleep?” Moynihan nodded a few times. This didn't make any sense to Max. It defied the laws of physics. Anything that is frozen dies save for a few species such as the wood frog. “How is that even possible? Wouldn't you two have starved to death before you woke up? And what of the cold? Wouldn't ice of ripped apart your cells as you froze solid?”

“Max has a good point.” Rodger said thoughtfully. “None of the research I ever conducted could offer an explanation for how you and Victor could survive being frozen alive like that. Nothing could survive something like that.”

“Wood frogs can.” Max said. “But that wouldn't be enough to explain how dinosaurs could survive it.”

Moynihan smiled slightly. She understood where Max was coming from. It was indeed hard to explain how she and Victor survived. And it certainly was hard to believe that two cold-blooded reptiles could survive being frozen. And yet, here she was, sixty-five million years later and she was very much alive, and, unfortunately, so was Victor. Sometimes she wondered if she would have preferred Victor dying in that cave. She eyed Max carefully and said, “The way we survived had something to do with the fact that we somehow entered a state of suspended animation, a very deep hibernation. But how we survived for so long, and frozen nonetheless, I fear that I, and not even Vic, have figured this out.”

“I see...” Max said softly. He thought about saying something else, but he decided not to. He shut his mouth to allow someone else to speak up.

Fiona decided to ask something. “So how did it feel when you first saw your hand change? Was it a scary experience?”

“That's a very good question, Fiona.” Moynihan noted. “Yes, it was scary. I nor Victor had ever seen anything like it before. I wasn't even sure how I had triggered it. It took us a while before we realized that my hand had transformed to appear like that of the creatures, the humans, that we saw. And it took even longer to realize that I could control this ability.”

“..what did Victor think of the idea?” Buzz asked cautiously.

Moynihan's smile had faded completely at Buzz's question. She slowly closed her eyes and rested her head against her hand on the chair. “Even back then, Victor didn't like the idea of turning into a human. He felt it was disgusting to turn into what he felt, even then, was a lower life form. Despite all the years that had passed, Victor could never come to terms with mammals being any more than rodents scurrying across the ground. This is one of the reasons he hates humans. He hates humans simply for being mammals.”

This did not come as a surprise to anyone in the group. Victor had shown time and again just how strong his hatred for mankind truly was. And Moynhan herself knew that Victor would probably even go as far as eating any human worker of his if he feels they had failed him one too many times. But while he had a strong hatred of man in general, they wondered about his feelings towards the other mammals, such as the bears, the cougars, and wolves. Did he share a similar hate towards them? They had their doubts on that. He did seem a little more tolerant of them. They concluded that it was probably because they hadn't 'ruined' the planet like humans had.

“And so he wants to destroy us.” Rodger said in a bitter tone.

Moynihan slowly shook her head. This surprised the group, causing them to stare at her in bewilderment. “No, he is not out to destroy humans, as shocking as it might sound. Well not all humans anyway.” Moynihan said, doing her best to explain without confusing the teenagers further. “You see, despite his hatred towards your species, Victor finds it a lot easier to simply mutate humans rather than hunting down and killing billions of humans. His primordial ooze mutates humans too and there's nothing he can do to change this fact. Victor had already realized how difficult it would be earlier on to wipe out all humans and that's why he started to recruit them.”

“But...” Max spoke up. “I had thought he only recruited them because he needed humans to get his plans to work...”

“That is true. But he also recruits humans so that he has less and less humans to worry about.” Moynihan answered the boy. “He had come to the conclusion that if he got humans to join him in his cause, he would not have to waste time in destroying them all.”

Rodger scratched his chin thoughtfully. “That does make sense. There is that old saying. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Moynihan nodded. “It can allow one to have control over their enemies. If you remained in close quarters with your enemy and you manage to subdue them without killing them and make them your minions instead, then they are less likely to try and fight you. And this is exactly what Victor had figured out. That's why he made Raptor Dyne.”

“How can he possibly hope anyone would join him once they knew the truth about him?” Buzz asked, shrugging his shoulders. “I mean, it doesn't make any sense. No one in their right mind would join that mad scientist!”

“What about Michelle and Oscura?” Fiona inquired.

“Uhhh....” Buzz stammered, realizing his mistake. He had forgotten about those two.

“And let's not forget the countless other people who have joined Victor.” Max said, eyeing Buzz with a serious look. “We've encountered his oozer losers many times in the past. How could you have forgotten about them? I mean you were captured by them once, remember?”

Buzz narrowed his eyes. “I remember that...” He said in a low voice. He recalled how much he was panicking when he felt those ropes sling around his Pteranodon ankles and how he saw himself being lowered in the cage and knowing there wasn't anything he could do to get away. He could barely keep himself from laughing when he finally got out of the cage and witnessed Victor's truck falling into the icy waters on the frozen lake.

“And don't forget the ones that contaminated Caruso's pets.” Rodger said. Everyone looked at him with the same expression on their faces. They all remembered those particular animals. They recalled how the animals mutated at night and they barely got up in time to stop them. They were very angry at Caruso after the animals had mutated, especially Rodger, who, for a short time after that, regarded Caruso as too irresponsible, especially after finding out how he still abandoned his goldfish even after the talk he had with Moynihan and the others on taking responsibility for his pets. All Caruso had to do was take care of a single goldfish. That wasn't really such a hard task. And yet the teen had still dumped the fish at a pond at a retirement home, putting the life of Fiona's grandfather on the line. Although, in the end, Caruso admitted his mistake and had taken responsibility, demutating his goldfish and keeping it.

Moynihan nodded her head. “Yes, I could never forget that. I was almost attacked in my sleep.” The group nodded in return, giving her a sympathetic look. Moynihan had been sleeping at the time when her bird, Cerulean, had gotten on top of the bed and stared down at her, looking as if he was going to attack. Moynihan could not be certain whether or not Cerulean would have attacked her, but she couldn't take the chance. She felt lucky that she had that bowl of peanuts close by. It took the bird's attention off of her and onto the bowl. Moynihan couldn't have been more relieved when the Dino Squad came in through the door to her rescue.

“It was a good thing we got to her when we had, huh?” Rodger said, recalling how he was the one who knocked the door down to get access into the lighthouse.

“Yes it was.” Joanne said. She now wanted to take her mind off of that event. “But back to serious matters now...” She began to continue her retelling of the past. “After Victor and I had learned to control this transforming ability and mastered it, we began to think up our human disguises and once that was accomplished, we began to merge in with the crowd to learn their ways and their language, or languages as we found out later. Since we were..are.. Velociraptors, we could learn very swiftly and it didn't take us too long to master the English language. On top of that, we perfected human mannerisms to the point where it's now impossible to tell we are dinosaurs.” She then furrowed her eyebrow as a grim look appeared on her face. This caused her students to lean in, sensing the story was going to take a dark turn. And they were right. “At first, Victor had no intention on trying to reclaim the planet. It was mostly because he did not know that there was a way. And he had become somewhat tolerant of humans after spending time with them. But he still had a hatred for them, as did I, for a time.”

“You hated humans?” Fiona asked, sounding shocked.

“I thought you accepted humans.” Max said.

“I do.” Moynihan said in a calm voice to reassure her students. “It took me some time, but my hatred for humans melted into acceptance, and even love. It is Victor who had never accepted humans. And it is because of me that he decided to bring back the time of the dinosaurs.”

The team looked at each other nervously. They started to have scary thoughts, such as Moynihan being the one to suggest the idea in the first place. They became fearful of what Moynihan was going to tell them. Why else would she have been so afraid to talk to them about this? It was Buzz who broke the uneasy and unnerving silence. “How was it that you made him want to do that? Did you suggest the idea to him...?” He asked cautiously.

Joanne hesitated before giving her answer. “Well...you could say that... sort of...not really..”

“What?!” Max shouted, completely in shock as were the others. Did Moynihan actually admit to being the soul cause of this hidden war? Did she just say that it was she who had this idea all along? Max started to wonder if Moynihan really was on their side. Well she had to be. Why else would she help them foil Victor's plots? And if she truly was on Victor's side, then why would Michelle, one of Victor's followers, try to kill her? Still, this did not soothe Max completely. He wanted answers. He looked at his friends, who all gave him the same determined look. They wanted answers as well.

Rodger was the next person to speak out. “It was you who caused this to happen?” He gasped in complete disbelief. “It was you who inspired Victor to try and overthrow humans?”

Fiona had a hard time believing all of this. She began to hope it was just all a big mistake. Maybe they were misunderstanding something Moynihan said, or perhaps the old woman had simply worded her claim incorrectly. “It's not true. Tell me it's not true...”

“It's true...” Moynihan gulped nervously. “But not in the way you might think.. I had never meant for any of this to happen, believe me. But it was due to a mistake on my part that this all started to happen.”

“...what did you do?” Fiona asked cautiously.

Moynihan said, “Well it started about two years after we had successfully institutionalized ourselves into the human world. We were at our apartment that we had rented after we had earned enough money. The television was on, showing us a documentary on dinosaurs, and that's when Victor had started to express his desire for what he would see as a better world...” Moynihan closed her eyes as she began to recall that day...