A Hunt and a Chase (Red Side)

The sound of some animal racing through the branches overhead made Beni-Oh glance up, but only briefly, before he turned his attention back to his task. The dark and red albertosaurus picked his way carefully through the forest, turning his head this way and that as he searched for some sight or scent of a potential meal. His brother walked alongside him, pale and blue and clearly struggling to the smaller branches from snagging on his feathery back.

“Think we'll find something soon?” Konkoh asked. “Feels like if there was anything not scared off we'd have noticed already.”

Beni-Oh just snorted in response. He knew his brother didn't truly mean it, but he answered anyway. “Hush, if you're so worried about it. Just let me...”

As he spoke, a whiff of something caught his attention, and he stopped abruptly. He lowered his head, making his best guess as to where the scent had come from, and following his nose to narrow it from there. He heard more than saw his brother doing likewise, trying to spot what had caught Beni-Oh's attention for himself.

The underbrush was thick, however, and it was taking some time to pinpoint the source of the scent he'd noticed. He could tell he was in the right vicinity, but he didn't plan to stop until he could see—

“Did you find anything?” Konkoh asked, apparently unable to contain himself any longer.

“Oh, just wait a moment longer,” Beni-Oh grumbled halfheartedly, but luckily for them both he finally spotted what he was looking for even as he spoke. He turned and nodded toward a particular part of the ground. “There. Do you see it? It's an animal trail, and it smells like deer passed through recently.”

He stepped back, allowing his brother to take a closer look. Of course, he didn't mention what, specifically, he'd directed his attention toward, and was shortly rewarded with a disgusted yell.

“Yeargh! They sure passed something all right!”

Beni-Oh just chuckled to himself and started walking once again, following alongside the narrow trail. He heard his brother follow, soon falling into step alongside him, flanking the animal trail between them.

They moved without speaking for some time after that. Beni-Oh's attention was focused on following the winding trail, lest he lose track of it in the thick underbrush. His brother let him work, simply following along as quietly as he could. The trail wove between the trees, dipping and rising, skirting fallen trunks and following natural paths. It was clearly well-worn and thus well-used, and the freshness of the droppings they'd found earlier meant there was a good chance of find the deer who had left them. Maybe even more than one, if they were especially lucky.

Suddenly, though, Beni-Oh realized that his brother had stopped moving. Stopping himself, he turned to the pale and blue albertosaurus, watching him as he titled his head and glanced slowly about. Konkoh had good instincts, Beni-Oh knew, and if something had caught his brother's attention, it was worth waiting to see what he could find. Still, after a long moment had passed, he finally spoke up quietly.

“Notice something?”

His query was met with a snort and a small shake, before Konkoh replied as he started onward once again.

“Guess not. Maybe a branch fell or something.”

Beni-Oh glance back once more himself. The forest looked, well, like a forest. Nothing out of the ordinary that he could see, at least. So perhaps it really was something inconsequential. In any case, there was nothing to be gained from standing around doing nothing, so he too continued on, turning his attention back to following the game trail.

His patience and attentiveness were soon rewarded. Not only were the scents and signs getting slightly but noticeably stronger as they proceeded, but as the ground dipped down into a slope, the trees began to thin. He could see gaps ahead, filled with sunlight that meant a space with no canopy overhead. He slowed his pace as he approached, carefully edging near enough to get a proper look. Though not a word was spoken between them, his brother followed suit, the pair of large theropods stalking carefully to the edge of the forest.

What they found was a grassy meadow, scattered here and there with the occasional shrub. And more importantly, a good-sized herd of deer. Most of them grazing, some resting, a few on alert. Luckily, the albertosaurs had approached from downwind, meaning the deer were thus far blissfully unaware of their presence. A perfect setup for a potentially very easy ambush.

Satisfied that he'd surveyed the scene, Beni-Oh backed quietly back into the forest, out of sight. Konkoh followed suit, then abruptly stopped again. Noting his brother's wordless signal to do likewise, Beni-Oh also stopped and waited, looking around himself on the off-chance he could spot what had caught the other albertosaurus's attention himself. Nothing was standing out... Until Konkoh spoke up again.

“Ben, look there,” the pale and blue albertosaurus gestured towards something, the remains of a snag or fallen trunk of some sort from the pools of it. But when Beni-Oh looked more closely, he could see that was not the case. Now that it had been pointed out to him, he could spot that the patches that looked like dark, rotted wood were too dark, what had appeared to be pale lichen and green moss were too light and bright compared to its surroundings. The only thing it truly had in common with the immense old trees of the forest was, in fact, its huge size.

Without a word spoken between them, both albertosaurs began to back away slowly. And none too soon, as that was when the strange, large object suddenly moved.

It rose, becoming somehow even bigger as the form of a large, roaring acrocanthosaurus became clear. Covered in feathers in black, white, and green, it was easy to see how such a large theropod could blend in before, but now she was on the move. Lunging forward, huge jaws agape as she rushed toward the pair, the ground shaking underfoot with her charge.

“Run!” Beni-Oh shouted, no longer caring about drawing attention or alerting potential prey to their presence. He wheeled around and took his own advice even as he called out, ducking and twisting between the branches and trunks as he tried to think of a way out of this. There were two of them, after all, but caught by surprise, in terrain they could hardly maneuver in, had almost certainly equaled the odds. Standing and fighting simply wasn't an option, not unless there was no other choice.

So running it was, and over difficult terrain, at that. Fortunately, that meant their pursuer was likely having just as much trouble as they were, but they couldn't just flee forever. The dark and red albertosaurus considered the problem as he ran, when his brother's voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Ben! What should we do?”

Beni-Oh took a moment to think before responding. He'd already considered and discarded at least a half-dozen ideas, none of them really coming close to addressing the issue. Which meant that, the two of them would just have to improvise.

“We have to split up! Split up and circle around, and we'll figure it out from there!”

It wasn't a good plan. It wasn't really any plan at all, to be frank, but Beni-Oh had no other ideas, other than the need to buy time to think of more. At least if they split up, only one of them could be pursued, leaving the other free to potentially help in some other way. In fact, even as he spoke new ideas were forming he could try.

Fortunately, as reluctant as he clearly was to leave his brother alone, Konkoh was willing to try this idea, veering off to his right. Beni-Oh did likewise, plunging into and through the underbrush to his left. Unfortunately, however, it quickly became apparent that all the sounds of thudding feet and cracking branches were his and his alone, if the acrocanthosaurus was still pursuing one of them, she had chosen his brother to follow. And while he had no doubt of the other albertosaurus's strength, he worried about whether he could shake a pursuer in such unfavorable terrain.

There was nothing to be done about it now, however, so Beni-Oh gave his head a shake and focused on the task at hand. He was out of danger for now, at least, and that meant he had a little time to think. He continued running, recalling as best he could the lay of the land, changing his course to where the ground sloped upward. It was harder going, but if he could get beyond the forest, or at least to where the trees were thinner, he could perhaps put on more speed and head off the other two.

His reasoning was rewarded, as the terrain began to turn rockier and the trees sparser, soon leaving him on open if uneven ground. He hurried forward, and upward, noting how the forest continued to the right and glancing over to try to guess where his brother and pursuer might be. His attention was rewarded, when he saw startled birds fly off, confirming the location and direction. That was good. Now he just needed to find a way to drive off the acrocanthosaurus, or escape her entirely.

Beni-Oh hurried onward, first up, and then downward, skidding down the scree in a barely-controlled slide. This area was close to where his brother was heading, he was sure of it, now he just needed to figure out how to use that to his advantage. A worst case scenario, he could simply hide for an ambush, but even then a fight would be risky. A decent fall back plan, but he glanced around, frantically trying to think of ideas.

That was when he spotted it. Another ledge further down the slope. Wide enough that an albertosaurus like him could probably safely use it, but dangerously narrow for anything bigger. No sooner had he seen it than his head snapped up at the thumps and crashes now audible in the forest, so he quickly slid down the slope once more, legs scrabbling for purchase against the loose rocks and dirt that fell with him. He hit the ledge harder than he'd hoped, but thankfully it held.

Carefully, Beni-Oh picked his way forward, while the thuds of footfalls and crashing of branches in the forest above drew ever closer. Then without further warning, Konkoh's pale underside burst out from the trees before veering away from the steep slope just beyond.

“Kon! Over here!” Beni-Oh shouted as loudly as he could as soon as he saw his brother. Luckily, Konkoh had already veered in the right direction, meaning this plan would perhaps actually stand a chance. “This way!”

Beckoning, he started backing up to clear the way. The ledge was wide enough to walk on, but turning around would be tricky at best, and time was of the essence. The more distance they could put between themselves and their pursuer, the more likely they were to escape.

For his part, it was clear that Konkoh moved with no hesitation whatsoever. He charged forward and leaped, sliding down the steep slope and setting off a small rockslide of pebbles and dirt of his own. He hit the ledge hard, and Beni-Oh quickly signaled him to move as the dark and red albertosaurus continued to back up, himself.

It was a good thing that he did, and a better one that Konkoh followed it without hesitation, as the edge of the ledge he'd landed on started to crumble and break away even as he lunged forward along it himself. Both continued to shuffle along as quickly as they could manage, and once they were on a wider, more gentle slope Beni-Oh looked up back at the ridge above.

The acrocanthosaurus had not followed, apparently wise enough to realize that if the albertosaurs could barely navigate the ledge, her larger bulk would make passage impossible. Assuming she wasn't thrown off down the steep slope entirely. She stalked along the top of the slope for a time, doubtless looking for another way down. Finally she stopped, roared at the pair, and turned to retreat back into the forest.

Beni-Oh let out a deep sigh of relief, glancing over at his brother when Konkoh spoke up.

“Hey, Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. But let's not do that again.”

Beni-Oh sincerely concurred with that sentiment.