Shelder Evolution: Heart of Chocolate

Chapter 4: Larry's Drone

A raptor silhouette rushes forward - it's Lurion: he's got the last Aralodon in the column in his sights. The colony scatter on the forest floor. Some hide...

...others keep running.

Lurion loses target and slows to a stroll to sniff the air and the ground. He tracks their scent carefully... He soon finds a track that seems promising.

From inside a burrow, a juvenile Aralodon observes the skilled Raptor close in on his scent. The tiny prey's terrified eyes meet those of a comrade across the trail, also hiding under tree roots sticking out of the ground and slushy snow.

They evade Lurion's sight. For now.

Lurion keeps sniffing about... He tracks another, stronger, scent and approaches a big rock with all sorts of rotten branches and crap around it: perfect hiding spot for an underground-dweller. If Lurion could smile he would now...

Behind the rock he gets a glimpse and... 

A sub-adult Aralodon is hiding behind the rock. They meet eyes for a moment. Hello death, you look rather handsome, would you mind - - POUNCE!

The Aralodon panics and SCREAMS its lungs out while Lurion gets a precarious grasp on it with his feet claws...

...it's enough struggle to alert everybody. The entire colony comes out sprinting in a STAMPEDE.

What's this? Lurion flinches and it's enough for the prey to escape while he's distracted laying eyes on so many sudden targets. Sensory overload...

Lurion chases...

In the confusion he struggles to lock on a one single target with so much movement and dashing and scampering and foliage and...

...a mistake. Lurion corners an Aralodon between a large tree trunk and a voluptuous rock, with all sorts of crap around but the prey is too fat to hide inside. Not dwelling in the undergrowth now, are you?

To Lurion's surprise, the Aralodon he cornered is a fiesty one and immediately fights back with mighty rage. PECK, SCREAM, PECK, SCREAM, PECK... Lurion wrestles it.

Feathers fly away...

The SICKLE CLAW stabs the prey's flesh...

PAIN.

SCREAM.

The Aralodon pants as he tries to recover some energy for a desperate escape.

Lurion catches his breath, too...

ARALODON
Squeeee!

Lurion takes another minute: his powerful leg pushes his entire foot over the Aralodon's hips. Muscles on his foot contract and thrust the claw further into tissue...

Blood pours out.

Lurion takes his time to examine his prey:

SPECIES: Aralodon minoris
GENEALOGY: AG1
GROWTH: Adult
INJURY: Dorsal / hips

Lurion's brain implant is satisfied with the acquired information and prepares a fatal blow at the back of the animal's neck...

ARALODON
Squeeeee!

There is a last desperate struggle...

Lurion endures the prey's last breath... The injuries prove fatal. 

DEAD: Aralodon minoris adult; 20 kg of meat.

Lurion lets go of the bite and preens his feathers to calm down.

Then...

LURION
(barking)
MY!
KILL!

His lips are still tainted with the Aralodon's blood he is standing over.