Lost Into The Past Chapter 2
#2 of Lost Into The Past || A Dinosaur Train Fanfiction
Chapter 2: Welcome aboard!
Nathans' eyes shot open, he didn't know how long he was passed out for, but one thing was for certain, he wasn't outside anymore.
Instead, he was in a bed inside what appeared to be some sort of train-car, it wasn't the most decorated thing ever, but he didn't exactly feel uncomfortable.
_W-What happened...? _He thought to himself as he sat up.
After stretching, Nathan got out of the bed and looked out one of the windows there, deciding to watch the world pass by for a bit.
He took note of several plants that looked very familiar to him, he began to let his power of deduction take over and eventually came to the conclusion that they were prehistoric plants, probably from the Cretaceous, but that also raised a few more questions, mainly; How did he even arrive in the Cretaceous in the first place?!
Those questions may very well remain unanswered.
As Nathan continued watching the scenery, he started to really think about the current situation, he was not only turned into a Troodon (which was admittedly one of his favorite dinosaurs, simply because of their intellect), but he was also most likely regressed to a child, AND transported to the Cretaceous time period! It just didn't seem real!
_Maybe this won't be so bad... _He thought to himself, though another part of him was yelling at him for even thinking of such a thing. _Are you crazy?! I don't belong here! I belong in my own time! Where my family lives! _He continued arguing with himself, but he abruptly stopped, why? Because a certain fact had hit him at that very moment. His mouth instantly gaped open and his eyes widened. His pupils growing big as the fact slowly began to sink in.
_WHY IS THERE A WORKING STEAM ENGINE TRAIN IN THE MESOZOIC ERA?! _He thought to himself, becoming even MORE confused than he already was. _T-There aren't even supposed to BE steam engines! Let alone TRAINS! _Nathan had never felt this confused before, cause he knew darn well that the first train was invented in 1804! Yet here he was, on a train, practically MILLIONS of years before the idea was even CONCEIVED!
"T-This is insane..." He muttered to himself. His eyes still wide with shock. However his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone elses footsteps, followed by the sound of a door opening behind him, Nathan whipped around and saw something he never expected to see; another Troodon.
The Troodon was much bigger than Nathan it seemed, and they also wore a red vest and a conductors hat, they even had a pocket watch in one of their vest pockets. The scene was jarring to say the least. The Troodon stared at him for a few seconds before something equally as shocking happened. The Troodon spoke. "Hello there! It looks like you're finally awake!" He said in an enthusiastic tone. Something that Nathan also wasn't expecting. Though he was currently trying to wrap his head around what was going on. He didn't know WHAT to believe now. He was in a room, on a train in most likely the Mesozoic era, with a Troodon who's dressed like a Train Conductor, and to top it all off. HE. CAN. TALK!
It was so shocking to Nathan that he couldn't even find his own voice, he tried to speak, but only a few nervous squeaks came out. The Troodon gave a look of concern.
"Are you alright? Did ya hurt your throat or something?" He asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. Nathan shook his head a little, unsure of what else to do in this situation. The Troodon then gave a rather puzzled look in response
Eventually, Nathan managed to speak, "j-just... n-nervous i guess..." He said, the volume of his voice barely louder than a whisper.
The Troodon looked even more puzzled. "So, what's your name?" He asked.
"N-Nathan..." Nathan said nervously "What about you...?" He asked as he looked down at his feet. The Troodon smiled and tipped his hat to Nathan.
"Everyone on the train calls me Mr. Conductor! You might as well call me that to!" He said enthusiastically. "As you've probably guessed already, I'm The Conductor of the train!" Nathan nodded just a little in response. "Oh! By the way, Welcome aboard the Dinosaur Train, Nathan!" He added.
Nathans' eyes widened a little, though that went unnoticed by Mr. Conductor _A-A dinosaur train?! Does that mean that there are OTHER dinosaurs on here?! _He thought to himself, getting both nervous and excited at the same time.
On one hand, he could meet all of his favorite dinosaurs, and maybe even some new ones! But on the other hand, they could be extremely carnivorous and try to eat him. At least, that's what his mind told him.
"Nathan?" Mr. Conductor called out, causing Nathan to snap out of his thoughts and look back up at the conductor.
"S-Sorry, just... lost in thought..." Nathan said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Mr. Conductor still seemed concerned though.
"So... Why were ya passed out on the train tracks like that? You could've been seriously hurt!" He exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at Nathan.
"Well... Uhh... I was walking for awhile, and got tired... I didn't realize I was on train tracks... Sorry." Nathan apologized, looking at his feet again, though this time, in guilt.
Mr. Conductors' expression softened a little bit, "Well, you're lucky that we spotted you before it was too late... If ya don't mind me asking, where's your family?" He asked, still a little concerned for Nathan.
Nathan froze for a brief moment. He didn't know HOW to answer that! He couldn't just say that he wasn't from the Mesozoic era! He'd sound crazy! He wanted to try and explain, but he couldn't even speak, his voice had stopped working at this very moment.
However, Mr. Conductor had misunderstood the silence, cause when Nathan looked back up, he no longer saw an expression of concern, but instead an expression of... Sympathy? And guilt? He couldn't understand why though, until Mr. Conductor spoke up.
"I...I had no idea..." He said as he took off his hat and frowned "I'm sorry..." He apologized.
_W-What is he apologizing for...? _Nathan thought to himself.
Mr. Conductor continued "It must be tough for something like that to happen..."
Nathan finally managed to find his voice and speak up "w-what are yo-" Though he was interrupted by Mr. Conductor.
"Are ya hungry at all?" He asked, changing the subject relatively quickly. Nathans' stomach promptly growled at the sound of food, forcing a very childish giggle out of him.
"Y-Yeah, I am pretty hungry..." He said, rubbing the back of his neck a little. Mr. Conductor chuckled a little in response and said.
"How about we go get ya some food, hm?" Nathan gave a slight nod. Not wanting to pass up food.
Mr. Conductor smiled "Let's go then! Follow me!" He exclaimed as he turned and began to walk out, his enthusiastic tone coming back to him. He walked right behind him, staying as close as he could, so as to not get lost.
Mr. Conductor was leading Nathan through each train-car that was attached, some of them seemed relatively familiar to him, like the passenger-car (which he had taken note that there were indeed other dinosaurs on-board), or the Caboose. But there was one that was unfamiliar to him, namely, the observation-car, as Mr. Conductor called it. Nathan never rode on trains often, so he didn't know if it was actually something that was in his time period, but to him, it was new.
However, what Nathan wasn't expecting was a giant dinosaur standing in said observation-car, it was a Giganotosaurus, if he remembers correctly that is.
The Giganotosaurus looked down at them and smiled "Hello Mr. Conductor! Is he awake yet?" She asked. Mr. Conductor nodded a little and moved to the side to reveal Nathan, The Giganotosaurus gave a much wider smile when she saw him. "Hello there! I am Laura Giganotosaurus! Nice to meet you!" She introduced herself.
"U-Uhh... Hello, I'm Nathan..." Nathan said, trembling a little at the sight of such a giant predator. He didn't wanna admit it, but he was kinda terrified. "I-It's... nice to meet you too..."
"It's wonderful to meet you too!" She exclaimed. Giving a great big smile, showing off her teeth. Which admittedly made Nathan a little less scared.
"Laura here keeps an eye on the tracks to make sure that the train doesn't run into anything!" Mr. Conductor explained.
"Interesting, sounds like a difficult job." Nathan commented, Laura chuckled a little in response.
"With eyesight like mine, I can spot things relatively easily." She said.
"Oh yeah, I do remember that your species has good eyesight." Nathan commented again, unintentionally showing off a tiny bit of his knowledge on dinosaurs.
"Well, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I'm taking Nathan to get something to eat in the dining-car." Mr. Conductor said.
"Yeah." Nathan said as he moved a little closer to Mr. Conductor, he couldn't explain why, but he felt safer around him for some reason. Maybe because they were the same species? He didn't know.
Laura nodded in understanding. "Well, I hope we can talk again soon Nathan. Goodbye for now!" She exclaimed as she waved goodbye.
After leaving the observation-car, Mr. Conductor eventually brought Nathan to the dining-car, and it was pretty much how he imagined a dining-car as, with booths lined up on each side. Mr. Conductor led Nathan to one of these booths and sat down in one of the booths. "I'd say I'm rather peckish myself, so I think I'll get something to." He commented, Nathan slowly walked up and sat right next to him, feeling a bit safer with someone who actually knew what they were doing.
"I-I dunno what to have though... I'd imagine there's a lot to choose from." Nathan said rather quietly, but not too quiet. That was one of his weaknesses, decision making, He hates to admit it, but he's really indecisive, and whenever he felt like he was being pressured into choosing, he'd end up freaking out and having a panic attack, which was not pleasant.
"Don't worry, I can order something for ya if you'd like." Mr. Conductor offered, smiling kindly at Nathan. He slowly nodded and muttered.
"Y-Yes please..." Nathan muttered a little, looking at his feet, Mr. Conductor simply gave a small chuckle and smiled.
Nathan decided to look out the window and watch the scenery pass by, he figured now was his chance to take in prehistory, seeing as he was now somehow sent here. He felt his inner fanboy lighting up at the sights of all these magnificent plants and creatures.
He was just starting to really enjoy the view but a voice snapped him back to reality.
"Nathan? The food is here.' He spoke up, Nathan turned around and saw something he never expected to be on a plate and served to him. Well... If he had to describe it, it'd be meat, on a stick. Kind of like certain carnival food, except whereas carnival food as sweet stuff or creative stuff, this was unmistakably... Carrion.
At first, Nathan was very hesitant, but once his nose got a whiff of it, it actually smelled... Good! Really good! His stomach rumbled loudly and he licked his lips, Nathan grabbed the carrion on a stick and ate it in one bite, letting out a burp and giggling a little.
_I mean, considering I'm an omnivore. I guess it makes sense. _I thought to myself.
"That was delicious!" He exclaimed, surprisingly it filled him up pretty well.
"Now that your not hungry anymore, what do ya say we walk around the train? I think you'd love to see more of it!" Mr. Conductor exclaimed enthusiastically. Nathan nodded in excitement and hopped out of the booth, Mr. Conductor got out of the booth as well. "Now, follow me! We have much more to see!" He exclaimed as he began to walk off, Nathan soon followed after him, looking around as they began to walk.
Nathan decided now would be a good time to ACTUALLY think long and hard about this situation. He was in the Mesozoic time era, on a train, with walking, talking dinosaurs. This was too good to be true! He began to get super excited about the possibilities! Learning new dinosaur species! Or learning new things about species he already knew! It was awesome.
However, his mind immediately went somewhere else. The fact soon dawned on him that; He was alone, he didn't have anyone to depend on. He was far away from his real family. While Mr. Conductor had been watching him, Nathan didn't think it would last long. As he began to think about this, his pace began to slow, he felt his heart racing and he realized he had difficulty breathing.
He knew this feeling all too well... He was having a panic attack.
Nathan stopped dead in his tracks and gripped his chest, his pupils becoming empty and tears stinging his eyes as he looked down and panted, he couldn't calm himself down no matter how hard he tried. He felt himself falling to his knees as he continued panting heavily. He felt like screaming, but he couldn't, Nothing was coming out.
And then everything went black.
Mr. Conductor whipped around, upon realizing that Nathan wasn't following him anymore, he let out a gasp as he saw the young troodon on his knees, panting heavily. "N-Nathan...!" He exclaimed as he ran up and knelt down in front of Nathan, he could feel himself starting to panic, seeing as he had no clue what to do in this situation. "U-Umm... Uhh...! Nathan, it'll be o-okay...!" He put his hands on Nathans shoulders, his voice wavering ever-so-slightly, it really hurt seeing a child of Nathans age panicking like this.
_Okay, gotta stay calm... _He thought to himself, soon he began to silently debate what would be to best course of action.
He kept thinking of several different ways, but he felt very unsure about them. However, his mind suddenly stopped on one single solution, one that could potentially work.
It was then that he asked himself One. Simple. Question._ If this were me... What would mother do...? _He thought, thinking intently.
Eventually he settled on an idea, he looked down at Nathan and pulled him close to his chest as he began to shush Nathan. "It's gonna be okay Nathan, I'm here for you..." He softly said into Nathans ear. Much to his relief, it seemed to be working, He could feel Nathan's breathing slow down. "Shhh, Nathan, there there..." He said softly, slowly rubbing Nathans back.
Nathan's breathing eventually returned to normal, Mr. Conductor slowly pulled out to see that the young troodon had fallen into a peaceful sleep, Mr. Conductor let out an audible sigh of relief. "It must've been such a traumatic experience..." He muttered before standing up while cradling the now sleeping Nathan.
He could feel Nathan snuggling into his chest, and Mr. Conductor couldn't help but smile at the scene.
"Guess I should probably take him to his bed..." He mutter to himself and began to make his way towards the train-car that had Nathans bed in it.
And that was Chapter 2 of Lost into the past! I had a bit of trouble writing this, but I managed to pull it off.
I honestly liked how this chapter turned out, so I hope you think the same!
Not really much else I can say, so...
This is Robert! Signing off!~