Crouched low, the anthromorphic fox stalked through the brush, trying to find something to sate his hunger. His ears were perked, alert for any noises that were to sound nearby, his legs buckled as he was ready to pounce as well. He had been hunting for a solid hour, but had no luck in finding anything. A simple rabbit would do for the time being, but none have been found so far. There was a break in the tree line ahead, showing that he was starting to near a clearing of the forest.

He slowly dropped down to a quadruped stance with great care, making sure that not a twig was in his path lest he ended up alerting any potential prey to his presence. A bush was in his path, slowly moving into it, trying to not make the leaves rustle. Before he could fully step in, an odd sound met his ears, both flicking up as the fox froze, listening for where it came from. The sound came again, the foxes ears turning towards the clearing, causing him to tilt his head before resuming moving into the bush. When he was fully in, he lifted one of his fore-paws up, parting the leaves in front of him to see what was in the clearing. He didn't want to move them too much lest he unintentionally reveal his location to a sharp-eyed creature, but what he saw made him blink in surprise.

Resting in the clearing was what looked like tan-furred, white striped legs, as well as the top of a creatures back in a laying position in the clearing. The tail at the rear of them had black fur instead, though it didn't look like it was fully flopped onto the ground. The top portion of its back was exposed, showing the spine inside, prompting an internal shudder from the fox. The head of the creature reminded it of a mammalian dragon, a pair of horns pulling away from the top of its head. Both of them had tips that looked rather dangerous to touch, even the internally carved parts.

When the foxes gazed down from the head, he couldn't help but tilt his own head, seeing that there was a deer just underneath the tan fur. What was odd is that it seemed to be 'floating' in its spot, though visibly sliding down, it struggling against some form of unseen restraint. The fox watched with interest, seeing the deer slowly level out, going underneath the exposed spine before coming to a stop just a little bit past it, resting inside an exposed ribcage as well. Another shudder came from the fix, this time somewhat visibly to it, thinking that the creature that devoured the deer was some kind of demon.

A sigh of content came from the demon-dragon, the fox seeing its own ears flick a bit from a soft breeze. Shortly after though, it saw the nose of the creature twitching, its head lifting up. It was then that the fox realized a crucial step in hunting that it failed in; Always remember which direction the wind is blowing. Taking a hesitant step back, it saw the creature starting to stand, turning to his direction. He let go of the leaves, letting them go back into their spot to try and hide what little he could, instincts telling him to flee from the area.

Heeding them, he whipped around and bolted when he heard the heavy footfalls of the creature, running on all-fours through the forest. His dread rose when he heard even more of them, sounding in rhythm of the beast breaking into a sprint. Ears folding down, the fox sprinted as fast as he could, dodging trees to try and gain ground from him and the creature. The opposite seemed to be happening however, hearing the 'thooms' of each step getting closer. Even as the fox ducked under a log, the sound of it splintering a few seconds after made him wince.

After a minute of running, he yelped when he felt a pair of thick paws push him down into the ground, instantly bringing him to a stop and face-first into the dirt. A groan came from him, partially from the pain but also the force pushing down on his body. It soon let up though, letting him be able to catch his breath, but felt that his body was mostly underneath one of the creatures paws, craning his head as far as he could to look up at his captor.

His gaze was met with the creatures, hearing and feeling it sniffing the top of his head. The eyes of it resembled that of a wavy line for the pupil, making him slightly question on how it could see but focused solely on trying to escape. Ears folded down as he tried to worm his way out, squirming under the warmed paws of the furred dragon. The response was the two of them pressing down on him, ceasing his struggles as he whimpered. A full minute later of sniffing, he saw the creature move its head out of his field of vision, feeling something slick and soaked lap around his legs.

A yelp came out from him, seeing that the creature intended to add him to its current catch, worming his arms out and clawed at the ground, trying to escape. The response was the creature clamping its jaws around his waist, lifting its paws off his body and lifted him up. What was odd is that it didn't seem to bit down with enough force to crush him, rather hold him in place. Seeing the ground lower down in front of him, the fox whimpered loudly, trying to pull himself free, feeling the slimy muscle lap at around his legs, purrs of satisfaction coming from the creature.

Another minute of this and the fox was fully pulled into the maw, a yelp coming out as he grabbed hold of the creatures lower lip, clinging to any hope of escaping. A small giggle came from the creature, like as though it was enjoying his struggles, feeling the tongue brush by his right side. When he glanced over, he couldn't help but question if it really was a tongue, seeing that it was almost transparent. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt the tongue lap at his hands, slowly weakening his grip on the lip. Whimpering loudly, he tried to keep it, but felt that the saliva from the licking was making him slip, feeling his foot-paws starting to slide into a form of fleshy passage.

A couple of licks was all it took to make his grip fully slip, yelping out as he felt himself starting to be pulled down, trying futilely to grab onto something. Again his efforts were proven futile, feeling his arms being pressed together once he fully slid into the transparent passage. Ears flattened against his head out of fear, he could only watch himself sliding down a near-invisible passage, seeing the ground below slowly going by. Looking fully down, he could see the blurred image of the deer, it no longer moving as it was most likely exhausted from its struggles.

The pressure letting up on his paws though confused him; He wasn't even close to the deers spot, but he felt a form of ring slowly gliding up his body, able to move around in the open space. His knees were released, then up to his waist. He felt his legs sliding onto a surface beneath them, soon fully able to move around the open pocket once he was fully inside. There was a fleshy 'floor', holding him up from falling towards the ground. He was able to sit up in the space, but felt his ears brushing against the 'ceiling' of the spot, making him question where he really was at.

Looking back down, he withheld a yelp, seeing one of the creatures paws beneath him, doing a small back and forth motion, like as though it was rubbing the pocket he was in. He tried to scramble back from it, but wasn't able to get all that far due to the cramped space. A purr sounded out from the creature, like as though it was enjoying the movement he was doing. Scared and uncertain what was going to happen, the fox slowly relaxed in his spot, wanting to save his energy for a possible escape. The small rocking motion from the rubbing though was betraying him, feeling his energy slowly being sapped away from such.

His eyelids were growing heavy, finding himself nodding off. The rubbing soon stopped, feeling gravity shifting as the creature slowly laid down on the ground, a yawn sounding out from it. It seemed that his efforts to run from the creature also made it tired, the contagious yawn making the fox do so as well. He didn't want to stay lest he found out what the creature had in store for him, but he felt he couldn't get very far now, his eyes starting to slide shut.

-0-

Note that this is a bit of a...spur-of-the-moment kind of one-shot, relating to a recently-made character. If you're thinking the fox, no. The dragon-like creature, yes. I'll try to post her info in the character list soon. |3

Oh, and the Slider species - kudos to the few that potentially recognized it in this one-shot - belongs to  apoptosis. Allow me to say that the Sliders are a damn well interesting species.