the dinosaurs will fight
round 2... what could happen here? while the anklyosaurus undoubtedly has a mass advantage, it doesn't have a numbers advantage. who will win? who will die? you, once again, have decided these reptiles' fates. last round's conditions still apply, so without further ado...
BEGIN
the crafty velociraptors quickly assess that their victory does not lie in playing fair. they scatter and scamper behind the anklyosaurus, keeping out of both its line of sight and the range of its tail. anklyosauruses can't kill what they can't see, surely! as a pack, they cannot communicate plans the way we humans do, so their instinct is to attack the way they always do... at least at first. theyve never fought an anklyo before, but theyre absolutely capable of adapting.
our first velociraptor leaps toward the backside of the anklyosaurus, ready to deliver a swift strike to the spine! this is how they normally hunt their prey, after all.
but the claws of the velociraptor, suited for killing small rodents and fish, can't even break the almost invincible carapace-skin of the anklyosaurus. it simply shrugs off our poor raptor...
and delivers a swift strike of its own. ah shit. lesson learned, think the other raptors, still out of sight from the blood-soaked anklyosaurus. they both realise the same thing - they will have to strike in places that the tail can't hit, in places unprotected by the armour. the soft underbelly, perhaps? or the eyeballs? one could blind it, the other could rip and tear the organs within.
as a note, if the raptors win this round, they will have their buddy revived, or replaced. same goes for any entrant that suffers a devastating loss or injury.
as one raptor approaches it head on, ready to pounce or flee at a moment's notice...
another sits, safe from the action underneath the gut of the anklyosaurus. it begins slowly piercing the belly, one prick at a time. if they stay safe and out of the way, they can drain the anklyo of its blood, or even get some damage going in more vital places.
crumbs and cheesecakes! in an act of villainous aggression, our brave raptor has taken advantage of this face-to-face encounter and gone straight for the eye! the anklyosaurus, now partially blinded, is at a huge disadvantage. this could be anyone's game...!
the anklyo, heaving and roaring in anguish, slumps to the ground in shock, bringing 8 tonnes of mass down onto the fragile frame of our underbelly underdog, the second raptor to meet its end in this dinosaur fight. still, the final raptor can surely use this new blind spot to slowly wear the anklyosaurus down over time..!
but in time, the velociraptor meets the tail end of destiny, delivered with the force of an enraged sledgehammer. it could have spent hours fighting and evading, but if it can't even make a single cut in the beast's skin on its own, there was truly only one outcome to this. or was there...? that's for another time, my dinosaur loving friends. a fair fight for all.
in summary:
*the velociraptors were not only the size of turkeys, but they also carry the fragility of the modern bird. their bones are light, and easy to crush. its why they only ever really hunted prey smaller than themselves
*even though they had the pack advantage and possibly the brains advantage, their claws simply were not suited for piercing the skin of an anklyosaurus, even the non-armoured parts. i strongly doubt they could even break through an anklyosaurus's eyelids.
*velociraptors can problem solve and adapt to new threats, but bird-brained as they are, they can only learn through mistakes - trying something and realising it doesn't work, THEN thinking of a new plan. a cohesive strategy to identify and attack an anklyosaurus's weak points would require a lot of sacrifice, which a pack of 3 cannot afford.
ANKLYOSAURUS WINS ROUND 2. IT WILL GO ON TO FIGHT THE T-REX IN ROUND 5.