South Of Heaven

A week after the Carboniferous mission, Theodore assigns the park with a new mission for Phase 1. This time, the target is none other than the mighty famed sailback synapsid, dimetrodon itself. The fact that a synapsid (which just happens to be the animal group that Matt is looking the most forward to working with) is reason enough for Matt to be excited. However, Matt is over the moon over not only the fact that a synapsid is finally being rescued, but that the synapsid in question is dimetrodon (his all time favorite prehistoric animal EVER!). This time, Drew decides to have Alice and Jack accompany him, as they are readily available. Adrien is needed to help the research division do research and studies on the carboniferous animals, and Leon has been recommended to stay at the park and work strictly with animals already at the park so as to avoid the risk of him relapsing his ankle injury from the previous mission. Thus, with the Denhams and Drew at the ready, the mission to the Permian Period begins.

Upon arrival, the trio at first finds only empty desert land. Then, they come upon a trio of ophiacodon, who have been forced by circumstances of the time to scavenge upon a dead herbivore carcass. Fortunately, the trio is ready, and don't take long to formulate a plan. Alice draws out a package of prepared fresh fish, and opens it up. The smell of the fish is enough to attract the three pelycosaurs, who charge on over in time for them to get sent running through the portal to follow a large bunch of fish that Alice tosses through. With a species rescued, and the mission thus off to a good start, the gang travels onward in search of more creatures to rescue (including, naturally, their target).

Meanwhile, back at the park, Leon is hard at work in helping take care of Diego and Shira. While he is able to successfully do his work without incident, a part of him has another matter on his mind. He can't help but think that it might be a good idea to try to spread beyond his comfort zone horizons a little more to avoid the unsettling thought of being potentially viewed as not entirely all that competent. He then starts thinking about how largely unnerved he is of multiple invertebrates, and how he was able to somewhat hold down his fears long enough to capture the pulmonoscorpius and help in capturing the meganeura and the female arthropleura. And so, a little while after finishing his smilodon fatalis work, he decides to go seek out a staff member who could potentially prove trustworthy and be helpful for him to work with in improving his skill with invertebrates.

Back in the Permian Period, Drew and the Denhams come across a small 'pack' of varanops digging around savagely in the ground and seemingly working to snap up multiple tiny reptiles. Jack, acting completely in the heat of the moment without waiting for a plan to be formed, recklessly dashes in and forcefully grabs and pulls one of the varanops by the tail. This attracts the creature's attention, and its enraged hissing and snarling attracts the attention of its packmates. They all promptly start chasing after Jack, who is just barely able to run past his sister and Drew in time for them to open the portal between him and the enraged varanops pack. After a brief worry born anger fueled scuffle between the group, they all manage to calm down sufficiently enough to inspect the area that was being ravaged by the varanops. The area turns out to be the location of multiple burrows where multiple achleistorhinus and captorhinus live. With some coaxing from Alice, the trio manage to coax a respectable number of the little insectivorous reptiles that are still alive following the varanops attack out of their burrows and through the portal to the safety of the park/future.

Meanwhile, Yolanda is at the zone with the exhibits from the Nothosaurus mission watching Mia do some work in handling the cymbospondylus. After a while, Mia finishes her shift and exits the enclosure. Then, after the two girls split off to find something to do in the brief bit of break time to occur, Yolanda manages to end up meeting up with Leon, who asks if she could perhaps help him out with making an effort in handling the carboniferous animals.

Meanwhile, the rescue trio come across a small group of cotylorhynchus lounging lazily nearby a medium sized desert lake. The one youngster that isn't resting runs over to the water and starts playing around, only to just barely escape with its life when an eryops lunges out and tries to snap it up and into the water. The youngster's cries alert the adults and other youngsters. In their confusion, the trio is able to get them to snap decide to hurry away into the portal. With the cotylorhynchus safely in the future, the trio then work together to get the eryops out of the lake and through the portal. A little while later, they come across some more watery areas where they manage to rescue three more eryops, six cacops, and nine platyhistrix.

Back at the park, Leon, with the help of Yolanda and Bethany, manages to successfully gain experience and work with the Carboniferous animals (especially the invertebrates) relatively without incident. And in the process, the beginnings of a very strong bond (friendship for now) start to show between Leon and Yolanda.

In the Permian Period, the gang comes across a herd of edaphosaurus, who then get spooked into stampeding through the portal by a pack of dimetrodon on the hunt. With the successfully escaped edaphosaurus through the portal, Drew and the Denhams let the dimetrodon have time to feast on their catch to scout the area for other creatures. They come across a small lake where they find 12 seymouria, which are promptly sent through the portal to the park. Then they come across a river where they meet a lone male dimetrodon and a small group of diplocaulus. Jack and Drew manage to get the beast's attention, sending it through the portal. With the dimetrodon out of the picture, they examine the river and get the eight diplocaulus present through the portal as well.

Back at the park, Adrien and his research buddies are happy to see that Leon's doing good and making friends with Yolanda and Bethany. Than matt accidentally tosses his clipboard in the air, and it knocks Yolanda in the head, and sends her off balance and over the side of the bridge above the crassigyrinus tank. She is conscious, but now at risk of getting attacked by the alerted amphibians. Acting in heat of the moment instinct, Leon dives in himself and manages through sheer luck to hurriedly splash the crassigyrinus away from him and Yolanda and get himself and her out without injury to either of them.

Meanwhile, the trio comes back to the earlier area in time to find the dimetrodon aggregation fighting a trio of sphenacodon over the remains of the kill. The dimetrodon win through sheer numbers, and the sphenacodon run away straight through the portal. The portal attracts the attention of the dimetrodon, who also run through to the park. Thus, in the events that follow, another mission is done, and the park is ready to relax in preparation for a new mission (and with yet more new animals amongst the residency roster to boot!).

## Notes

### Continuity notes

* Leon's unease around invertebrates was shown in *Alien Empire*.

### Real-life references

* Like the two previous chapters, this is named after a Jim Thompson novel.
* Beth, in mannerisms, appearance and personality, is a reference to Danny Phantom's Samantha "Sam" Manson, a cartoon "crush" of the author's.