Author's Note: This is the sequel to Scars. This story, by comparison, is written a little simpler, as I had burnt myself out with writing when working on Scars.

sss

*Past*:

A female velociraptor ran across the forest floor. Normally she appeared as dark green with pale green stripes and a beige underside, her head feathers colored an even darker green, but now she was covered in slick mud and hardened blood. Her eyes were wide with horror and her mouth open, her tongue hanging out. Other than her breathing, the only sounds she could hear were horrid death screams from her pack mates as they were ripped to shreds by the intruders.

She leaped over a log and turned, a large cave coming into view, her target. She ran towards the cave and entered it. There was an occupant, a male velociraptor, red in color with a white underside and grey-purple stripes, lacking head feathers. He walked up to greet her, but seemed to hesitant when he seemed to register the look of shock on her face. The female velociraptor stood still, panting to catch her breath.

"Green Scale..." The male velociraptor hissed gently, noticing the blood covering her. He took a step forward and used his snout to push some mud off of the other velociraptor. He pulled back, a clump of mud now on his snout. "What has happened? Where are the other hunting members?"

"The hunting members and I were attacked.." She responded, grunting slightly in pain. She glanced down at her arm, where she had been bitten. "We never saw them coming."

The other velociraptor snapped his head back in shock. "You were attacked? By which of our competitors?"

"Neither." She responded.

"Neither? You're saying one of our foods attacked the hunting party?" He inquired, tilting his head slightly to the side. "It's not unheard of, but very rare."

Green Scale narrowed her eyes slightly. "If only it were that..."

The male velociraptor looked confused. "Then...what?"

Green Scale shook her head. "It was like nothing I had seen before...Strange creatures that..looked like prey but weren't.. They were too fast..too strong. They killed many of us so effortlessly while we struggled to even get a claw into them."

Just then, a loud roar echoed through the forest. The screeching of distant pterosaurs could be heard. The bellowing of startled prey mixed in. The two velociraptors snapped their heads back and looked out of the cave. They had never heard a roar like that before. It sounded similar to one of their biggest competitors, an oviraptor, but there was a more guttural sound in the roar. Another roar sounded out, this one sounded much closer.

They immediately turned to face the opening. They were the alphas of their pack and there were chicks to defend. Preparing for an attack, they split their jaws wide open and hissed loudly, raising their hands up to brandish their sharp claws. They stood side by side near the opening, waiting for one of the unknown creatures to show up. But instead they were met with a long, uncomfortable silence.

A few minutes pass by and they hadn't heard anymore sounds. The forest seemed to regain a calming atmosphere to it. But despite that, they didn't let their guard down. The male velociraptor walked towards the opening and looked around. The female velociraptor walked up to him and looked around as well. She pointed her snout upwards and sniffed a few times.

"I can detect them, Red Shadow." Green Scale turned to face her mate. "They are definitely close by."

Red Shadow shifted his gaze from side to size. "I cannot see them. Where are they hiding...?"

In front of them, there was hardly any thick foliage save for the trees. But there were no trees too close to the cave. Whatever was coming towards them, they would need to show their faces sooner or later. The two velociraptors knew this. They just needed to continue to keep watch, not giving the creatures any chance of a surprise attack. But no matter how long they stood outside the cave, they seemed to hear nothing and see nothing. The only thing they even detected was a light breeze in the air, blowing Green Scale's head feathers back.

Red Shadow snorted impatiently. "Why are those cowards hiding? Why don't they show themselves?" In frustration, he stomped on the ground and let out a loud roar. "Hey! We know you are there! Come on out!" He become more irritated when he got no response. "Cowards!"

Green Scale nudged her made somewhat roughly. "Red Shadow! Don't let them know we're out here! They could plan a sneak attack!"

The male velociraptor shook his head. "Sneak attack how? There's no other entrance to the cave, except..." His eyes widened. "Oh no!"

It didn't take Green Scale long to realize what her mate had just thought of. "The back entrance!"

The two velociraptors ran around to the back entrance, which lay several feet away. When they arrived, they were immediately met with a grisly site. One of their own, one of the chick's guardians, lay on the ground, ripped apart. They looked at the body in horror and quickly went into the back entrance. It was a little difficult as the back entrance was a burrow, similar to what the tiny mammals use, that lead into the back section of the cave. Once they were inside, they immediately began to look for the chicks.

All around them were corpses of the other guardians. Limbs were scattered, blood splattered all over the cave floor, the foul stench of death hung in the air. It didn't take them long to find a pack member that was still alive, good old Amber Eyes. They rushed to her side. She had a huge hole in her stomach, her intestines exposed. She lifted her head up and opened her jaws to speak.

"Why..if it isn't our brave leaders..." Amber Eyes spoke, her voice slightly laced in anger.

Red Shadow, doing his best to ignore her tone, said, "What happened here? Where are the chicks?"

Amber Eyes coughed, blood dripping from her jaws. She grinned painfully. "We never should have sent the hunting members out... Now we'll all pay the price." She paused and stared at Red Shadow and Green Scale. "...maybe not all of us. You can still get away." She laid her head back on the ground.

Green Scale nudged her gently. "Where are our chicks?"

The dying velociraptor managed a blood-choked chuckle. "They were..." Before she could finish, she fell silent, closing her eyes for the last time.

"Amber Eyes! Amber Eyes!" Green Scale shouted, her eyes wide with shock.

Red Shadow nudged her with his shoulder. "Nevermind that! I just heard the cry of our chicks!"

With that, the two dashed towards where the nursery lay. This was where they would keep the chicks when the hunting members were away. It was open to predation, but usually the guardians would keep the chicks safe. But now the chicks were vulnerable. All of the guardians had been killed by a strange predator they had never seen before. They knew they had to hurry, or else they would lose all of their chicks.

They finally found one of their chicks. The tiny dinosaur was scampering on the ground, as if it were trying to run away from something. Seeing nothing in sight, Green Scale raced towards the baby. Once she reached it, she placed her muzzle against its small, warm body. The chick immediately responded, nuzzling up against its mother. Red Shadow went up to his mate's side as he glanced down at the baby. The chick noticed its father and went up to nuzzle him as well, but he didn't return the affection, instead keeping watch.

They looked around and realized the rest of the chicks were missing. Further inspection revealed more blood splatters, but also something new, bloody footprints. They lead into a shadowy corner of the caved. They looked intently at the shadowed area, seeing nothing but blackness.

Then, after a few seconds, something flew from the shadows and landed in front of them. It was a mutilated corpse of a chick. The body had been ripped cleanly in half, most of its internal organs torn out. The two velociraptors looked at the body in horror and their surviving chick screeched and backed behind its parents. The initial shock of seeing one of their chicks dead quickly passed as they heard heavy footsteps.

Something large was coming out of the shadows, staring at them with gleaming eyes. When it came into the light, it was exposed as a bipedal creature, armed with large, sharp talons on its feet. Long, blade-like feathers sprouted from the back of its neck. Its muzzle was squared off, sharp teeth constantly exposed even when the jaws were closed. The creature was green with a yellow underside. In its jaws, it was holding one of their chicks, still alive as evidenced by it screeching in horror.

Red Shadow roared in fury and dashed towards the creature. He leaped into the air and brought his sickle claws forward, prepared to slash into this intruder. But the creature responded too quickly for him. It reared onto its hind legs and grabbed onto him with a front paw. Red Shadow was shocked momentarily by the presence of an opposable digit on the creature's paws, but he quickly turned his attention back to the creature itself.

He tried to bite into the creature's paw, but found himself slamming into the ground. He cried out in pain as the creature then struck him on his side, leaving long, bloody gashes over his ribcage. He glanced up as the creature's hand claws were closing in towards his head.

Green Scale, after nudging her chick behind a large rock, leaped onto the creature's back and sank her teeth into the creature's shoulders. The animal roared, releasing the chick from its jaws. Red Shadow, having recovered from his fall, snagged the chick in his jaws. Green Scale tried to hang on as the animal started go buck, frantically trying to throw her off. She managed to rip a chunk of flesh from the creature's back before falling into the ground.

"How dare you, you miserable little thing!" The creature spoke, revealing his gender to be male. He glanced down at the velociraptor that now lay at his feet. "No one ever harms an alimon and gets away with it!" He raised his paw in the air, prepared to strike down onto Green Scale's neck.

Green Scale barely dodged the attack and quickly turned back. That's when she noticed something odd about the alimon's left shoulder. There was some kind of scar there, shaped kind of like two sharp teeth crossing each other. Her attention was quickly averted from the scar, however, when the alimon lunged for her, slamming her into the ground and pinning her down with his weight.

Digging his claws into her head, he said, "If you would like to know the name of the one who killed off your pathetic pack, then let me tell you my name. It is Haze." Suddenly, Haze roared in pain as Green Scale drove her sickle claw into one of his back legs. As the alimon staggered back, Green Scale got to her feet and ran out of the cave with her mate and two surviving chicks.

Haze glanced at his wound, licking it tenderly and tasting the salty blood. He looked back to where the two velociraptors had fled, narrowing his eyes angrily. "You have just made a very fatal mistake..." With that, he ran off after them.

*Present*:

The science room at Kittery High was unusually quiet as their professor, Ms. Moynihan, was carrying a somewhat thick stack of papers to her desk. She positioned herself at her desk, not bothering to sit down as she glanced up at her class. "Now class, today we are going to be talking about DNA..."

As Ms. Moynihan was starting her educational speech, Caruso leaned back into his chair, folding his arms behind his back. He was bored and DNA wasn't a subject that interested him too much. It didn't help that he had stayed up extra late last night studying for an exam in another class. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

Max, who was sitting next to him, pushed his elbow gently against Caruso, causing the teen to snap to attention. "Caruso, pay attention!" He hissed in a low voice. "You know how Moynihan can be when she finds one of her students sleeping during class!"

Caruso narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't sleeping. I was just resting my eyes."

Max shook his head disapprovingly. "Whatever. Just keep your eyes on the teacher, not towards the ceiling." With that, he looked back at the teacher.

"Whatever." Caruso said, looking back at Moynihan as well. He tried to listen to her long speech about the history of DNA, how it was discovered and such. But no matter how hard he tried, he found he couldn't keep listening to her. Slowly, he closed his eyes and his head started to tilt forward.

"Irwin Caruso!" Ms. Moynihan's voice suddenly spat. Startled and humiliated by hearing his first and last name being called, Caruso snapped to attention. A few classmates started to chuckle as the professor put her hands on her hips. "I understand if you are in some urgent need of a nap, but please, wait until after school before you decide to doze off!"

Caruso lowered his head slightly. "I'm sorry, Professor Moynihan. It won't happen again."

"I sure hope so." Moynihan said. She was about to go back to the topic of DNA, but then she said, "I'd hate to think what the principal will do to you. After all, this is the third time this week you've fallen asleep in my class."

"But I..." Caruso started to say.

"But nothing!" Moynihan said sternly. It was clear she was not in the mood to hear anymore of the boy's excuses. "Now pay attention, unless you want to have another visit with the principal."

Caruso let out a long sigh. "Okay, Professor Moynihan..."

Moynihan nodded and then turned back to the class. "Now, to continue..."

sss

After class was over, Caruso, along with Fiona and Buzz, were sitting at a table in the cafeteria, eating their lunch. All around them, they could hear the loud chatter of their classmates. It was so loud it was hard to hear each other speak. Caruso wasn't in a talkative mood anyway. He was eating slowly, even slower than usual. He rested his head on his hand and let out a soft sigh. Fiona and Buzz, who had finished eating, just shook their heads.

"Come on, Caruso..." Fiona said, holding her hand out slightly. "You aren't still upset that Moynihan called you out today, are you?"

Caruso grumbled. "I don't see why she had to say anything...I wasn't even sleeping!"

"Well, if she hadn't said something, you would have fallen asleep." Buzz pointed out. Caruso didn't bother to respond to Buzz's statement because he knew, deep down, it was true.

"But Caruso..." Fiona said. "You need to understand that, even though you're tired, you can't keep falling asleep in school. Just what are you doing staying up so late anyway?"

"Studying." Caruso replied in a bitter voice. "I was studying."

This didn't take Fiona or Buzz by surprise. They had been aware that Caruso really wanted to ace a test he was taking in another class. He had never aced a test before and, ever since his studying spree back when Buzz was getting a scholarship, he had been more and more interested in getting perfect scores on his tests. And for a while he was doing fine, until his sleep problems started to emerge.

They were subtle at first, such as delayed reactions in responding, yawning once or twice, but they got progressively worse, even to the point where he started to fall asleep during science class. And, no surprise, Ms. Moynihan wasn't very pleased with him and had lectured him at the lighthouse in their last meeting. But despite promises to stay awake, it seemed Caruso was having an increasingly hard time keeping his eyes open.

This concerned the others not just because of class, but also because Caruso has been slacking during the missions as well, at one point almost putting them all in danger. If it hadn't been for their newest member, Michelle, they all would have been captured by Veloci's men. After that mission, Moynihan scolded Caruso, but the boy seemed to dismiss her. He said that he had everything under control and nothing bad would have happened. His attitude displeased Moynihan and the rest of his teammates.

"Just try to stay awake next time." Fiona said with weak urgency. She had tried to tell him that before, but her words apparently always fall on deaf ears when it came to Caruso recently. While part of her was glad the stubborn Caruso was back, another part of her was frustrated.

"Don't worry." Caruso said, lacking enthusiasm. "I'll stay awake next time. I promise."

"You'd better." Buzz said, pointing at him. "I wouldn't want you to have to face the principal. I really don't like that guy."

"Why not?" Fiona asked, turning her head towards Buzz.

"He's just too strict." Buzz said. "If it weren't for my parents, I wouldn't have been allowed into the school with this hair." He stroked his green mohawk gently.

"Hey you guys." Said a voice. The trio turned to see Terri, Fiona's younger sister, coming up to them. It was rare for them to see Terri in the cafeteria at this time, but due to a temporary schedule change, she shared the same lunch hour as they did.

"Hello, Terri." Buzz, said, smiling. "What brings you over here?"

Terri smiled back. "I wanted to tell you guys something I heard about. It seems like something right up your alley, since you're the...you know..." She dare not speak the name 'Dino Squad' in public for fear of giving them away. She sat down next to Buzz.

Caruso decided to use this as an excuse to shift his thoughts to something else. Perhaps what Terri had to say would make him forget all about the incident back in the classroom. He stared at Terri and said, "What did you hear?"

Terri cleared her throat and, glancing at the trio to make sure they were paying attention to her, she said, "Well I hear some scientist has discovered an unknown species of dinosaur!"

"Big deal." Caruso mumbled, almost immediately losing interest. "Those scientist guys discover new dinosaurs all the time."

"This one is different." Terri insisted. "It can't even be classified. It looks like a sauropod, but it's..not. It's too different."

"How different?" Fiona asked.

Terri sighed and shook her head. "I honestly don't know... They didn't say anymore. They hadn't fully excavated the body yet. So far they just know its body is similar to that of a sauropod's, but there's something different in the way the bones are shaped."

"I wonder if Veloci has heard of this discovery yet." Buzz chimed in. "You know how he is with dinosaurs. If he discovers they found an unusual species, he'll probably try to take the remains for himself."

"I doubt that, Buzz." Fiona said. "He has already tried to recreate a dinosaur through its skeleton and that didn't work out too well for him." Fiona briefly remembered when Veloci tried to spray an advanced form of primordial ooze on some bones and it ended up dissolving the bones instead. "I don't think he'd want to risk ruining more fossils by trying to resurrect dinosaurs."

But despite her doubts, it still was a concern for her and the others. Veloci would find out about the discovery definitely. Exactly what he would do, they couldn't be entirely certain. But they knew one thing. They would need to tell Moynihan about this and formulate a plan to counter Veloci in case he tried anything.