Bully

The sun was low in the sky, but not quite low enough yet to send bursts of vibrant color across the sky. There were only a few clouds scattered across the sky, casting small shadows down on the ground. It was a perfectly normal day; animals were scurrying around everywhere. Birds in the trees, bugs under the leaves, and a small herd of deer running through the forest. However, where there is life, there is also death. Within the trees, danger was lurking. Three predators were stalking a large ungulate, carefully placing their feet in places where they would make the least amount of sound. The moose was roaming around the forest, grabbing leaves off of the trees to consume as it walked by. In another world, in another place, nothing would dare touch such a creature. With deadly horns atop its head, sharp hooves, and over half a ton of weight, no modern predators would dare take it on. Good thing the carnivores hunting it were not modern, then.

In the trees, hidden under the dense underbrush, yellow eyes watched every move the moose made. A bit further behind were two pairs of green eyes, both seemingly waiting for some kind of hidden signal.

The only one who knew what they were waiting for was the one giving the signal. And it seemingly happened when the moose took a step forward to graze at a bush, head tilted down and back to the predators it didnt know existed.

In a burst of green, the first member of the pack emerged silently. A dark green cryolophosaurus, seemingly not fully grown but still easily larger than a human. From the shadows the heads of two other cryolophosaurus emerged, one belonging to a white and brown cryolphosaurus splattered with black, and the other to a vibrant green and pink female. It was easy to see why Verdant, the green and black male had been in the lead; his feathers towards the front were black and green, slowly becoming lighter as it traveled down his body. This gave him great camouflage in the bush, allowing him to get closer and closer to their prey.

A small snapping sound filled the air- one of the two cryolophpsaurus still emerging from the bushes had seemingly stepped on a twig. The moose raised its head, but at the same time Verdant lunged. Lovebird quickly followed, darting out of the bush. While a moose might have heavily outweighed any of its modern hunters, even the adolescent cryolophosaurus were big enough to give it a challenge. And there were three of them.

Lovebird and Verdant lunged for the legs, Lovebird grabbing one of the back legs in her mouth while Verdant attacked the same leg, latching his teeth onto the lower area of it. The moose aggressively reared up, but in a brown blur the final member of the pack revealed himself- Cosmos. He latched his teeth into the large flap on the moose’s throat, bringing the mammal down with a low cry as it lost balance and fell into the ground. Lovebird and Verdant rolled out of the way, just barely managing to dodge the lashing hooves as Cosmos quickly finished it off.

Silence reigned for a moment as the moose’s life passed, before Cosmos raised his head, wiping the blood off of his jaw with an arm. Verdant pressed his snout against Cosmos’s, making sure he was alright. Lovebird instantly started to tear into the meal, choosily searching for her favorite parts of the meal. “Hurry up, you two.” She teased. “Plenty of food to go around, but if you're not careful I may just take off with all if it.” 

Verdant huffed at his sister, but gave Cosmos a quick lick on the snout before beginning to eat. The two stayed together, side pressed against side, as they began to eat.

The scent of the fresh kill quickly spread across the forest, spooking away herbivores and causing smaller carnivores to look towards it with interest but fear. However, the scent of a meal did not attract just small carnivores. Near the edges of the forest, another carnivore had caught the scent, green eyes narrowing as she set off in the direction of food.

The trio of cryolophosaurus were unaware of the quickly approaching threat, much like the moose had been before them. They had barely been eating for five minutes when she arrived. A low growl shot through the clearing, spooking the three enough that they instantly stopped what they were doing. At the next growl the backed up from the carcass, scanning the bushes around them with varying levels of fear. Cosmos and Verdant were bristling, looking around nervously, while Lovebird seemed fairly confident. However, that confidence stuttered as their stalker emerged from the foliage.

A large female albertosaurus, large and confident, known as Arapaima. Her hide was dark green and red, splattered with a large black and white stripe that divided the two colors. A large white mask covered her snout and eyes, as well as her tail tip. The larger theropod eyed the moose carcass, before sliding her gaze over to the trio. She grinned, confident, with blood stained teeth that told of many victories in the past. 

Lovebirds feathers bristled along her back, making her appear larger than she was. Her lips stretched into a snarl, showing off her own tinged teeth. Cosmos and Verdant hesitantly joined her, much less confidently however. 

Arapaima snorted, not impressed with their display. “Back off, whelps.” She snarled. “This is mine now.” Opening her jaws she grabbed the moose carcass by a leg, dragging it back in order to move it to a more comfortable area to consume.

Lovebird hissed, running forward and snapping at the leg of the Albertosaurus, missing by a scale. “It's ours! We killed it.” Arapaima growled, kicking back at Lovebird and barely missed as well. She responded with a scoff.

“Food does not belong to those who have killed it. They belong to those who can take it.” Lovebird charged at her again, attempting to harass the larger carnivore off. However, this time, Arapaima did not miss. Her much bigger head swung into Lovebird, knocking her flat onto the ground with the sound of air being pushed out of her body. Arapaima’s jaws opened wide, ready to crunch down, when she was suddenly pushed aside by the weight of two other cryolophosaurus tackling her. Cosmos dug his teeth into her side, ripping the flesh and causing blood to flow, while Verdant quickly nudged Lovebird up. 

Arapaima howled, twisting around to try and snap at Cosmos. The dark colored carnivore quickly let go, barely able to dodge the teeth aimed at his head. However, he could not dodge the lashing tail, which knocked him back and caused pain to jolt up his side. Quickly the cryolophosaurus got to his feet, noticing that Verdant had helped Lovebird out of the clearing. Quickly he followed, turning tail and fleeing from the victorious Arapaima. Letting out a pleased grumble, the Albertosaurus quickly grabbed her meal and continued dragging it off in peace. Let that be a lesson to the trio of cryolophosaurus- your bark shouldn’t be bigger than your jaws.