[i]A short distance from the situation unfolding at the edge of the wilderness, the telltale signs of the beast’s incursions had yet to disturb the everyday goings-on of the city. Nonetheless, within the otherwise serene and peaceful setting of Takiyama castle, a scruffy young man jolted out of his early-evening funk with a start at a sudden noise.

“Christ-” Only narrowly managing not to spill a cup of coffee so dark that light itself struggled to escape its surface, he winced before raising a hand to the improperly-calibrated earpiece that had scared him half to death with its caterwauling. That much was one thing, but if it was playing up this badly, he already knew the coffee was the least of his concerns-

“-ura, are you there? We have a situation.” This time as he pressed a few buttons on the earpiece, the communications came through loud and clear.

“Yeah, guessed as much.” he grumbled, getting up from the bench. Figured that something big enough to scramble the line would come through on his day off. He took a deep sigh, before taking a big swig of his coffee and continuing with a somewhat more committed: “Right, I’ll call it in and head over.” He didn’t ask for details, choosing to trust the considerably keener senses and instincts of his partner- “If we wait for HQ to send someone out we could be looking at a worse situation, so I guess we’ll have to handle it for now. You and Nora going to be alright until then?”

“Not sure. No visual yet, but whatever it is, it’s [/i]big[i]. Smells like…[/i] dramon[i].” 

To the untrained ear, the way the voice coming over the line lingered on those last few words would sound ominous, even somewhat fearful. The young man knew the creature on the other end well enough, however, to recognize the predatory desire brimming beneath them. 

“Riiight. Nora’s probably already working on a perimeter, so help her with that and don’t do anything stupid until I get over.” Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed out a beat-up smartphone and set about handling his own end of affairs. “Calling in a wildfire might be too conspicuous and I’ll be damned if I’m ever talking to seismologists again after that one time in the G-Cans, but this time of year we might just get away with a tornado warning.”

He only hoped that and the efforts of the two already at the site would be enough to prevent a real disaster.[/i] 
[hr]
The area was brimming with meat, the dragon-like beast rapidly discovered. A disappointing amount of it was airborne, chirping and twittering as the feathered animals flew to safer grounds from the bending and groaning trees. These, it didn’t even bother to try catching. Others were too small, not even as long as a claw and bursting like overripe berries when the beast bit down, leaving it decidedly unsated. 

A growl erupted to its right, and it looked to see a peculiar creature. In some ways, it reminded it of Grizzlymon, but it was without the armor plates and massive claws. The color looked all wrong as well, a deep, deep brown almost as dark as a cavern. The creature rose to its hind legs and growled again, much louder, sharp canine teeth visible. The scaled beast delighted in growling back and sensing the confusion and fear the not-Grizzlymon gave off. Well. It was much larger than the other animals seen so far. 

The six-limbed beast rushed at the not-Grizzlymon, toppling trees as it tackled its newest prey with all four arms. The not-Grizzlymon roared and swiped its claws - so it did have claws, just much smaller - across the beast’s face. They bounced off the ore-augmented scales, leaving only a slight trail through the dust that had long settled and caked onto the beast’s body. The beast snarled and lunged for the not-Grizzlymon’s neck in retaliation; the prey was not a Grizzlymon, but the space between any creature’s head and torso was often a weak point and a good way to disable prey. It also didn’t appreciate the creature’s attempts to fight, no matter how harmless they were. It was hungry, and it didn’t feel like having to fight for its food. Its claws sank into and cleaved the flesh between the creature's arm and body from the force the beast used trying to hold the creature still. The scream that sundered the night air made the earlier treefalls seem downright prosaic. 

The creature’s scream jumped into snarls, then a roar, and then whimpers before those too finally died out with it. The beast gave it a light sniff and a poke with its snout, as if to confirm it would no longer struggle, before diving in. Hot blood oozed from the carcass and from between the beast’s teeth as it tore into the meat. It was better than the small creatures, to be certain. The white bone-like protrusions in the prey were easily avoided, and the fluid flowed from the meat into the ground where it couldn’t taint the taste. A few more of these, the beast decided, and that would be enough before it established a shelter to stay in and sleep off its meal. Well, a few more of this stature - it still didn’t feel like having to put up even with an ineffective fight. 

With a final tear of the meat from bone, the beast resumed its hunt once more. It barely cared for stealth, only trying to move quietly out of habit. Its only remotely-satisfying prey had come to it, after all. Who was to say it wouldn't happen again and, if so, why not leave a trail to lead it directly into its waiting jaws?

That was when it saw the smaller creature.

It was less than a quarter of a kilometer away, mostly a blur to the beast's less-than-developed eyesight, but its ability to detect vibrations made it clear that the creature was walking perpendicular to the beast's current route. The beast crept closer, squinting to better make out the creature's appearance. This one was definitely smaller than the not-Grizzlymon, reminding it a bit of a D'arcmon. Of course, the not-D'arcmon's coloration was also all wrong. Perhaps more importantly, though, this one lacked the wings and staff that made D'arcmon such irksome prey. If the beast was more cognizant, it might have thanked the Host for delivering unarmed prey into its new territory. It wasn't even looking its way, and it could feel the vibrations emanating from the tool on the creature's head. It didn't recognize them as any sound it knew, but did that matter? What mattered was that it seemed like the creature was more focused on those vibrations than its surroundings. Its tongue licked along its sharpened teeth, blood-tinged drool dripping to the ground as it tensed its muscles. It then galloped at the creature, ready to tackle and devour it in one fell swoop.