I know Zuba was a bit out of character in the last chapter, but, I promise we'll see more of him in the story, okay? Six more chapters to go and we meet the zoosters.

Also, although this is optional, can you do me a favor for me in the reviews? Can you tell me whether or not antelope chew cud? I'll research it, but... yeah, thanks!

Now, for my mind-read...

...you want to skip this... and read the story...

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Chapter Four

The Defeat and the Hunt

Enraged, Kotathi leapt at Alakay with a growl, but Alakay dodged it. I'm getting pretty good at this... thought Alakay.

Growling under his breath, Kotathi charged at the cub again. Alakay leapt over the cub's shoulders and made a flawless snarl.

Smack! Alakay fell to the ground. When he rose, his paw did too to rub his cheek.

"Big mistake—"

Smack! Kotathi's paw flung Alakay to the ground again.

Zuba clenched his staff in his fist; he wanted to do something about this, but he knew he couldn't. He controlled himself as he saw Kotathi's shadow loom over his son.

"Oh, snap." Alakay whimpered.

Alakay dodged to the left as Kotathi went to the right. Kotathi yelped, holding his left paw in his other. Alakay bounded at him, leaping onto the cub's chest and tackling his shoulders. He growled in his face as they hit the hard ground and wrestled up a dust devil of fury.

It was just halfway through when Austako realized; Alakay was winning. The Alpha's son was winning.

"Hyah!" Alakay pinned his opponent's back.

Silence reigned throughout the crowd.

"Say it." Alakay said.

"All right, all right... I give."

"Not that," Alakay whispered. "That and an apology."

"Don't push it—" Kotathi began, but he saw the glare in Zuba's eyes again, and so he said, "I'm sorry."

Alakay's friend couldn't wait any longer; Austako raced onto the arena, gripped Alakay's wrist, and lifted it high in the air.

Zuba smiled. "Who wants to be next?" There was no doubt to Zuba that, thanks to Alakay, he was the happiest lion in the reserve.

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Time passed like there was no tomorrow. It sped by quickly. Austako and Alakay met up almost every day, often times exploring the corners of the reserve and the high hills above their pride's sleeping chambers. Most of the time they'd spend the night together near the watering hole or in a cave. Sometimes they'd get into trouble, like messing with the hippos when they weren't supposed to and doing things like teasing the younger cubs and getting away with it.

Both cubs grew so much older; Austako – the dark brown cub with the dark grey tuft crowning his head – grew into a greyish-silver lion with a black mane.

Alakay, however, colored differently – in which his eyes grew brighter and more colorful, and his brown fur lightened in tone and color. His spots and stripes faded. The bruise on his jaw – right below his lip – grew larger and more noticeable. It turned into a deep, brown scar.

Of course, Alakay remained the most skillful fisher and fighter. He was fully initiated in the pride. Someday, he knew, the day would come for him to take the most important lesson of a lion's life.

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"Oh, don't be such a big baby, Ally-al." Austako galloped through the grass. "Now get over here and take it like a real lion."

Alakay disliked his friends always telling him to act like a real lion. He was a real lion... wasn't he? He was sure he was. Certain. Always knew it in his heart...

"COME ON."

"Oh, yeah, right!"

Alakay bounded after the dark grey lion, whose mane was just beginning to form around his shoulders, ears and cheeks. Austako's mane, unlike Alakay's, was shaped in a jagged-like oval. Alakay's was more like a stop-sign.

The two lions hiked up the hill, with Alakay stopping to pant and stare.

The sides of Austako's mouth lifted. "Look! See? There's the hunting grounds, now come on!" The black lion's paw jerked Alakay's arm down the hill, to where a straight, smooth plain lay stretched across the savannah. Behind it, mountains and deserts glimmered in the sunlight.

"Wow." Alakay gasped. "It's beautiful."

Austako nodded. "My mother loves coming here. She says it's the best place in all the reserve to hunt." Austako prepared himself, then slid down the slope. "Of course, not all of it belongs in the reserve. Half of it remains off the reserve."

"Off the reserve?" Alakay paused to ponder one moment.

"Yeah, off the reserve," Austako repeated.

"...Austako, have you ever wondered about, well, you know, heading off the... reserve?" Alakay more likely squeaked the word.

"HEADING OFF THE WHAT?!"

Alakay flinched. "The reserve...?"

"Alakay, you know that's insane!" Austako exploded. "Only an idiot would do something as stupid as that!"

"I don't like where this is going," Alakay whispered.

Austako continued, "Going off the reserve is nuts! You could get banished for doing that! It's our pride's first law."

Alakay frowned. "I thought our pride's first law was the food law."

"Nevermind that." Austako paused. "...That's not even a law, Alakay!"

Alakay felt dumbstruck as he slapped a paw over his face. Then, suddenly, his ears perked forward. Austako turned around at the faint rustling of grass. He turned to Alakay, smiling.

"Jackpot."

The two lions prowled on all fours into the grass, down the slope, into the two-foot-tall plain.

Right in front of them grazed an antelope. It stood in the centre, munching on the savannah grasses and chewing cud. The flies settling onto its skin stung like sharp needles fresh from a fire.

Two pairs of shoulder blades were hidden well in the grass as Austako prowled forward, paused to sniff the air, and continued after his prey again. The lion glanced behind his shoulder to wink at Alakay, who nodded.

Austako mouthed the words, "Come on." He turned his head to stare at the antelope, then rotated and mouthed, "Let's go."

Alakay rolled his eyes. "Easy peesy." He mouthed, leaping out of the grass and onto the antelope's hindquarters.

"Huh?" the female antelope shrieked. "Oh, lion! Lion!"

"Alakay!" Austako screamed.

Alakay only remembered his claws sinking into the animal's flesh before a pair of hooves knocked the breath out of his ribcage, and he landed in the fresh pile of grass nearby.