A/N: As of right now (3:12 PM on July 30), this chapter hasn't been betaread yet...or at least, I haven't gotten the betaread version back yet. I actually finished this chapter and sent it away on Tuesday, but Prince of Pride has been uncharacteristically silent so far. I've read over this whole thing at least three times, so I'm pretty sure I caught all the grammatical errors and such...I still want his opinion on whether Simba is too OOC here, though. Bottom line, it's entirely possible that this chapter may change significantly between now and when the next chapter is published.

I decided to go ahead and post the unedited chapter for a few reasons. The main reason, of course, is that it's already been a week and a half since I last updated this story, and I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. Also, I'm leaving (again...) next week to a place where I'm not entirely sure I'll have Internet access, and I definitely didn't want to make you guys wait two and a half weeks for a 4,500-word chapter. I've never been the subject of a flame war, and I don't feel like firing the first shot like that.

This chapter is a pretty big experiment for me, in that I'm moving away from the main plot a bit to focus on the character relationships a little. Besides that, I also wanted to see how good I am at writing funny stuff. My ultimate goal for this story is to make it a hybrid of action/adventure and situational humor, brought on mainly by the various characters and their responses to certain, shall we say...interesting scenarios. In other words, one of them's getting wasted at some point. I'm not saying who, how, or when...but it's gonna happen.

So anyway, that's what I'd like you to focus on in any reviews you might give me (will give...think positively, Dylan): is this chapter funny? Simple as that. And if you think Simba is too OOC, you can say that too, I guess.

Edit: Okay, Prince of Pride has approved of the chapter, and I have apologized to him for my impatience. The point is, this is now the final version of Chapter 9, instead of just the rough draft.

Chapter 9: The Hunt

Simba

"Simba! Hey, Simba! Wake up!"

I groaned and blearily rubbed my eyes open. It couldn't be dawn already. Ten minutes ago, I was out in the savanna with Nala.

"C'mon, man…I'm hungry!"

I stifled a yawn and looked up at the source of my untimely wake-up call. Tojo stared back at me, his tail swishing around expectantly. I licked my lips and instantly cringed.

Note to self: get water after puking guts out.

"So go get some of the zebra, then," I mumbled, still nauseated by the bitter aftertaste of half-digested meat.

"Can't. It's all gone, remember?" Tojo's stomach growled audibly as he said that, and he dragged his forepaw along the ground impatiently. "What else you got?"

"Well, there's…" I trailed off as I thought of our food supply. Or rather, our lack of any kind of food supply at all.

Just one more thing I didn't plan for, I grumbled inside my head. Starting a pride had seemed like such a great idea two days ago. Okay, it's nothing that can't be fixed, though…first, get rid of Tojo. Then figure out what we're supposed to eat.

"Can you give me a second, Tojo?" I mumbled, earning a disappointed look from the brown cub standing over me.

"But I'm starving!"

"I'm working on it. In the meantime, go play with…" I did a quick sweep of the camp and picked out a random cub. "Him. Go play with him."

Tojo turned around, his brow wrinkling as his gaze slid over to where I was pointing. "Uh…that's Uruzi. She's a girl. And besides, she doesn't even like me…"

"Well, now's the time to make new friends," I countered as I pushed him out into the light. "Now go!"

Tojo finally left, looking more than a little crestfallen at being forced to skip breakfast. I hated to shove him away like that, but what choice did I have? I couldn't let any of the other cubs know how incompetent I had been. Half of them already didn't trust me as far as they could throw me, and this new failure would take away even that. Maybe if I took care of it really quickly, no one would notice.

I stood up, shaking the sleep out of my legs and paws before stumbling over to where Tama was still fast asleep against the cave wall. I was sure he'd enjoy being forced awake this early about as much as I had, but I needed his help to figure out what to do. Besides, misery loves company.

As I expected, Tama didn't respond kindly to being woken up by a hearty shove in the back. After spitting out a long string of unmentionable words, he finally cracked his eyes open.

"What?" he growled, whatever patience he might have had disappearing before it even got a chance to see daylight.

"Good morning to you too. Did you by any chance bring back some food with you when you left Pride Rock?"

Tama stared. Now he was equal parts confused and pissed off. This wasn't going to end well. "Oh, sure I did," he said sarcastically. "I pulled a few strings and got the flying warthogs to snag us a bite or two."

"So that's a no, then?"

"Give the man a prize!" Tama grumbled loudly as he rolled over to face the wall again. "Now if you're done asking stupid questions at the crack of dawn, I'd love to go back to…" Tama suddenly fell silent, and I swear I could actually see him stiffen up. "We don't have any food, do we?" he asked in a controlled voice.

"Strictly speaking, no. I was kinda hoping you'd be a little bit of help in fixing that, though."

Now he was awake. "You mean you didn't plan ahead for this?"

"Well, I just…" I stammered. "It was really short notice and I…"

Tama gave me a skeptical look, and I sighed. "No, I didn't. And now I need to figure out how to fix that before anyone else finds out."

"Finds out what?" Nala muttered as she rolled over to look in my direction. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," I replied quickly, forcing a smile. "Just something I wanted to talk to Tama about. It's no big deal."

Nala's face took on a dubious look to match Tama's. "Simba, I'll find out eventually. Just tell me."

Gods, I hate it when she's right.

"We don't have any food," I said in a small voice. For some reason, I couldn't bear to look her in the eyes when I admitted my failure. I guess I didn't want her to see me make such an amateur mistake. I guess I was afraid that she wouldn't believe in me anymore if she knew how badly I had screwed up.

Maybe someday I would know better.

Nala didn't even look worried when I finally looked up at her. She almost seemed surprised that I was so worked up about the whole thing. "So we'll just go on a hunt," she said nonchalantly. "I thought that was what we were doing today anyway."

"It's not that simple…" I stuttered. I briefly wondered if the ability to speak to Nala in a normal voice would come with knowing better about her doubting me. Probably not.

"Why not?" she asked, still confused about my apprehension.

"Because you two are the only ones here that have actually hunted before," Tama commented dryly. "And no offense, but you aren't exactly what I'd call a prodigy, Nala."

"It was my first time!" Nala replied hotly. "I'd like to see you do any better!"

"So long as I didn't trip over my own feet, I probably would!"

Before I knew it, Nala had thrown herself at Tama with an angry snarl. I could only watch as my two best friends rolled across the cavern floor, biting and slashing like they were fighting to the death. Then again, maybe they were.

Finally, I gathered up the courage to jump in and shove them apart. Tama fell back easily enough, but Nala looked like she was ready to go right through me to get at Tama again.

"That's enough, Nala!" I said with as much authority as I could muster.

"Get out of the way, Simba!" Nala growled, not even noticing the numerous scratches lining her face. "Or do you think I'm terrible too?"

"I think you're overreacting," I replied in what I hoped was an authoritative voice. "You can't just attack someone every time they say something you don't like."

"Why not?"

"Because this happens!" I answered with a nod back at Tama, who was nursing a nasty-looking scratch on his paw with a sour look on his face. "Because we're never gonna survive as a pride if we're trying to kill each other, especially when we've got a hundred hyenas trying to do that already!"

Nala didn't answer, but she also didn't try to attack Tama again. She glared at me for a moment before stalking away to the back of the cave, where I could see her rubbing at the cuts on her face.

"Nice going, Tama," I muttered bitterly.

"Look, I'm sorry already!" he countered in an indignant whisper. "She was the one that overreacted. You said so yourself."

"She wouldn't have had a reason to if you hadn't insulted her!"

"So what am I supposed to do about it? I don't think she wants my apology right now!"

"Well, she sure as heck didn't want mine. Just try, okay?"

Tama stared for a moment, then sighed and stood up, for some reason looking more than a little nervous about talking to Nala. I don't think it had ever crossed his mind that she would be so upset by his remark, but that still didn't excuse his actions. I was sure I was doing the right thing by making him apologize…just as long as Nala didn't try to kill him again.

"Nala?" Tama said uncertainly as he reached the spot where Nala was facing the cave wall. "I…I'm sorry about what I said. I know I wouldn't like somebody telling me I wasn't any good at something, and I guess I just got all caught up in not having any food, so…I'm sorry."

Nala didn't make a peep during Tama's speech, and he glanced back at me with a "What now?" look in his eyes. I shrugged, just as puzzled by her behavior as he was.

"Ask her to forgive you," I mouthed.

Tama nodded quickly and turned back around. "So can you…can you forgive me? You know, just so we don't get stuck on this?"

Nala still didn't answer. "Please, Nala?" Tama added. "We've been friends for a long time, right? I'm sorry. I really am."

Finally, Nala turned around and looked at Tama. "I forgive you, Tama," she croaked. "Can you ask Simba to come over here for a minute, please?" Her voice sounded awfully scratchy, and I saw that her eyes were a little red around the edges. Tama's words had gone deeper than either of us had realized.

"Oh…yeah, sure," Tama said guiltily before walking over to me. "She wants to see you," he sighed morosely before flopping down beside me.

"You did fine," I muttered as he rubbed a forepaw across his temple. "I'll take care of this now."

Tama smiled faintly and nodded, and I traded my spot next to his side for one by Nala's.

"Hey," I said warmly as I sat down next to her. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Do you think I'm a bad hunter?" she said suddenly, her voice cracking a little again. Maybe she hadn't forgiven Tama as much as I would've liked.

"I think you're gonna be a great hunter someday," I said, nuzzling the side of her head gently. "You just need practice."

Nala sighed and slipped her head under my chin. "I don't know why I got so mad at him. I just screwed up so bad last time, and I was trying so hard…"

"Don't worry about it. It took me a month to catch my first field mouse, and that was only 'cause I had somebody helping me." I grinned as Nala pulled back and gave me a confused look. "It wasn't Tama. Honestly, he's even worse than me."

Nala chuckled quietly. "Knew he wasn't any good," she mumbled as she rubbed against my neck again. For a long minute, we just sat there in the back of the cave, my whole body glowing with light. Or at least, that's what it felt like. I couldn't help but laugh as I remembered myself nine months earlier, when I couldn't understand how anyone could like this feeling. Now, I think I had an inkling of an idea.

Eventually, I remembered Tama again. "So you and Tama are okay now, right?" I asked, breaking the silence. Nala glanced up at me and nodded, looking a hundred times better than she had a few minutes earlier. Glad that my two best friends weren't at each other's throats anymore, I stood up and ambled back to where Tama was still sprawled out on the ground.

"You can stop moping around," I said in what I'm sure was an irritatingly happy voice. He'd get over it. "She doesn't hate you."

Tama flicked his eyes open and looked up, letting out a big sigh of relief when he saw Nala's peaceful expression. "Good thing, too," he said as he grimaced and stretched. "She just about wiped the floor with me a minute ago. Any longer and I'd have to have Amani chew my food for me."

Nala and I both raised our eyebrows. "How long have you two been friends?" I asked.

Tama gave us an innocent look. "Couple days. Why?"

I briefly glanced over at Nala, who simply shrugged. "It's none of our business," she said under her breath. I guess I knew that, but I couldn't help but be a little curious. How much had I missed in the nine months I had been gone?

"Never mind," I said finally, forcing away any thoughts of my friend's personal life. Nala was right; it wasn't any of my business. "You ready to go on your first hunt?"

"Well, I already know what it's like to be the prey," he replied with a wry grin. "Guess it couldn't hurt to try it from the other point of view."

Nala giggled. "Don't make me come after you again," she said playfully, flashing her pearly white teeth for emphasis. Tama jumped back in mock fear, and Nala laughed again. That time, I joined in too.

"Well, let's get going, then," I sighed after we had all calmed down a bit. "If we get an early start, we can probably be back here by midday."

Tama raised his eyebrows. "I don't know about that…you sure the rest of the pride is that good at hunting?"

"Oh, quit being such a worrywart," I answered with a confident grin. "We're lions. Lions are natural hunters. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

------------------------------

TEN HOURS LATER

I don't know how my mom did it.

See, I had always thought hunting in a pack was the easiest thing in the world…otherwise, how did we never go hungry while my mom was in charge of the hunting party? After all, what could go wrong? Even if you screwed up, you had at least half a dozen of your closest friends to back you up. Nothing to it, right?

Wrong. Way wrong.

The first problem of many was the forming of the actual pack. For some reason, I had actually expected everyone to like the idea of going on a hunt. We were all starving and a hunt was pretty obviously the only way to fix that, so I was optimistic that everyone would be quick to jump on the bandwagon. And then I told the others about it. You want to hear the first thing Tojo (the same cub who had apparently been moaning for almost an hour about how hungry he was) said to me when I announced that we were all going on a hunt together?

"Wait…aren't the girls supposed to hunt?" You can imagine how well that went down with the more effeminate members of the pride.

It took at least fifteen minutes to drag Tojo out from under the giant pile of bodies that had materialized on top of him, and then another twenty to convince the rest of the group to not let us starve to death. You wouldn't expect that to be very difficult either, but once again I had underestimated my fellow pride members. None of the other guys were very enthusiastic about such a feminine undertaking (though they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut about it), and I'm pretty sure Tojo wasn't looking forward to heading out with the still fuming "girls"…assuming, of course, that he ever came down from the tree he had shot up after I had saved him from the wrath of his female brethren. Eventually, I brought everyone around to the idea by cleverly not giving them any other options. Finally, we were off.

Unfortunately, getting the whole group out into the grasslands ended up being the least of our problems. First off, there was the aforementioned fact that no one had ever really hunted before, the only exceptions being me, Nala, and Uruzi. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I can really count Uruzi as an exception, seeing as she threw away no less than three golden opportunities for a kill when she (in chronological order): stepped in a puddle and yelled like it was lava, saw a spider on a blade of grass, and (as she put it) "broke a nail". When I asked her later how exactly she had managed to snap a claw walking in soft soil, she replied, with all the tact characteristic of Uruzi: "Shut your face." Somehow, I doubt my mother had to deal with things like this.

Uruzi wasn't the only one to show off their amateur status. Tani tripped over every single rock in the entire Pridelands at one point or another, and by the time Afya would stop analyzing counter-angles and actually pounce, the peacefully grazing wildebeest would be long gone. In addition, we determined through a series of controlled experiments that it was physically impossible for Kima to keep his mouth shut for any longer than a minute at a time, which tends to make it a bit difficult to sneak up on anything.

The granddaddy debacle of them all, though, belonged to Jua. We had found a lone zebra drinking from a small waterhole and done everything perfectly: made our approach without a sound, gotten in position totally unseen, gagged Kima with a few acacia leaves. All Jua had to do was make a lunge so easy a newborn could've managed it, and we'd have a feast fit for a king. So we all got comfortable and waited excitedly for her to attack.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited. After nearly fifteen minutes, the zebra trotted away, with Jua still invisible. I ignored the hunger pangs long enough to stomp over to the thick clump of grass behind where the zebra had quenched his thirst for what should've been the last time, where I found our mighty huntress in the same spot we had left her. Fast asleep. For the first time in my life, I fully understood the concept of "justifiable homicide".

By the time we stumbled across a massive copse of acacia trees, the sun was hanging low in the sky. We had been out there for almost the entire day, without so much as a nibble. I had long since given up hope of ever actually eating again, so I figured that if we were going to starve to death, we might as well do it in the shade. So into the forest we went.

Somehow, Kima's mouth was still motoring away like he didn't have a care in the world. Luckily for me, I didn't have to deal with him anymore. Earlier in the day, Kima had apparently decided that Usiku was his eternal hero, and had followed him closer than his own shadow ever since. I wasn't sure how well the older lion was holding up, but at the moment I couldn't have cared less as long as Usiku didn't actually kill the little guy.

"I can't believe I'm actually on my first hunt!" Kima shouted for the four-hundredth time as the sun finally began to fade behind the treetops.

"And that is officially the four-hundredth time you've said that," Usiku grumbled as Kima bounced around him. Guess I wasn't the only one keeping track.

"Why is your fur so dark?" Kima asked, oblivious to Usiku's comment. "Are we ever gonna catch anything? What's that tree called over there? I'm bored!"

"Y'know, if we ever get really desperate, we could always just eat Kima," Usiku suggested, this time directing his comment at me. I gritted my teeth and screwed up my eyes, a dull roar filling my ears. Kima was bad, but Usiku was, in a way, almost worse. Most of the time he was quiet, but whatever did come out of his mouth was either one of an endless number of sarcastic comments or a question of exactly how long it had taken me to decide to "save" them from Scar. He had been trying to push me over the edge all day, and he had finally succeeded. I couldn't take this anymore!

"I have an idea," I half-shouted through clenched teeth. "Let's play a game. It's called 'Shut the Hell Up For Three Seconds So We Can Get Within Ten Feet of Something Before It Runs Away'!"

For the first time in the entire miserable day, Kima fell blissfully silent. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit, already feeling a little guilty about snapping at Kima and Usiku. Then again, who could blame me? I was so hungry I was weak in the knees, exhausted from running across half the Pridelands all day, and now I had a headache from the constant chatter spilling out of the mouth of both the black lion behind me and his unwanted sidekick. To be honest, I was surprised I'd lasted that long.

We walked deeper into the forest, no one making a sound for fear of incurring my wrath. I was starting to get a little worried about still not hearing Kima, though, and I was about to turn around and check on him when Tama ducked down suddenly and motioned for everyone else to do the same. I crouched down as soon as I saw Tama do the same and followed his pointing claw with my eyes, hardly even daring to believe what I saw at the end of it. Standing not even twenty feet away was a stocky female gazelle casually nibbling on some low-hanging leaves. Looking closer, I saw that both of its ears were mangled almost beyond recognition, as if something had clawed them up a long time ago and they had never healed properly. With a jolt of excitement, I realized what that meant. Fueled by adrenaline, I tested my theory by rustling a couple of nearby plants. The gazelle didn't even blink.

It couldn't hear me. The gazelle was deaf. There was no way we could screw this up.

I turned to the rest of the Pridelanders, all of whom had come to the same conclusion as I had. Needless to say, they were just as animated about the possibility of a decent meal as I was.

"Okay, guys, looks like we finally got lucky," I said with a grin. "That being said, we still have to actually kill it before we can eat. Nala and Afya, you two come out from the left, and Usiku, Tani, and I will attack from the right. Everyone else, stay here and be ready to back us up." I grinned again and unsheathed my claws. "All right, everybody, let's move-"

"Wait a minute…" Tojo said suddenly as he gazed around the clearing. "Where's Kima?"

I whipped my head around along with the rest of the Pridelanders, hoping beyond hope that the tiny brown cub was just hiding behind a tree somewhere, but no such luck. Kima was gone.

"We're totally sure the gazelle's deaf, right, Tama?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes, we're sure," Tama replied slowly, unsure of where I was heading with this conversation.

"So it can't hear us at all, right?"

"That is the definition of 'deaf', yes…"

"Good." With that, I walked away from the group a bit, stuck my head into a small patch of leaves, and screamed as loud as I could. Once I was finished, I stood up with a clear expression on my face, calmly ignoring the stares of the other cubs.

"Okay, let's go find Kima," I said as I walked off into the brush again.

"Are you crazy?" Usiku shouted after me, clearly annoyed with the whole situation. "Have you ever even heard of a deaf gazelle before? We can't give this one up!"

"Don't even start with me, Usiku!" I countered angrily, turning to stare down the dark-furred cub. "Besides, it's your fault he's gone! If you hadn't been such a jerk to him all day, he wouldn't have run off!"

"Yeah, that means a lot coming from the guy who told him to shut the hell up!"

I shook my head and turned away again, gazing off into the shadowy depths of the forest. "You know what? I don't even care. The important thing is that we find Kima. He's never been on a hunt before-"

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."

If looks could kill, Usiku would've been stone dead by now. "He's never been on a hunt before, and he's barely a year old," I continued, doing my best to keep my frustration out of my voice. "Right now, he's probably wandering around out there, lost and alone and scared and…"

Suddenly, I was cut off by a low growl coming from somewhere behind me. I whipped my head around just in time to see a small brown blur fly down from the tree canopy and smack right into the gazelle's neck, bringing it down with hardly a sound. The animal never even knew what hit it. The whole pride stood motionless and watched as Kima popped up from underneath the limp gazelle, his cubbish muzzle stained bright red.

"Did I do good, Simba?" he asked excitedly, his tail whipping around like a ropy brown snake.

Quite frankly, I was at a loss for words. This maddening little kid, the one we had been keeping as far away as possible from every animal we had come across, had turned out to be the best hunter of the bunch. Somewhere, I'm sure somebody was laughing their tail off.

"Uh…" I stammered. "Yeah, that was…um…that was…"

"Freakin' awesome!" Tojo finished with an exhilarated shout.

"Yeah, what he said," I finished weakly as the rest of the pride crowded around a still beaming Kima, showering him with praise and an endless number of friendly nuzzles. Afya even went so far as to plant a giant kiss on his cheek, much to the embarrassment of both cubs. Even Usiku couldn't help but crack a smile at the sight of the little cub's red-tinged grin.

"Nice goin', short stuff," Usiku said as he gazed onto the still warm gazelle.

"Thanks…" Kima replied, obviously trying to think of a good nickname for his best friend. "U-man?"

Usiku's grin faded. "Don't push it."

"Mm-kay," Kima mumbled quietly, his face falling a little bit. He perked up again almost immediately as Usiku chuckled and gave him a friendly cuff in the shoulder before diving into the feast in front of him. Finally, I was able to approach our newly christened hunter.

"I gotta say, that's definitely more impressive than my first kill," I said, still a bit in awe of the masterful takedown that Kima had accomplished without any practice whatsoever. "You're a natural."

Kima's grin grew wider. "So I can come with you guys on the rest of the hunts, right?"

My face split into a smile to match Kima's as my eyes pored over the most beautiful gazelle I had ever seen. "I don't know," I replied with a laugh. "At this rate, I might have to let you lead the hunts before long."

Kima giggled briefly, then finally gave in to his growling stomach and tore a big hunk out of the gazelle's thigh. As I chewed on a mouthwatering steak of my own, I couldn't help but be filled with an intoxicating feeling of confidence. Maybe we wouldn't be such a bad pride after all.

Maybe someday we would be able to face Scar and his hyena minions. And win.

If only I had known how soon we would get that chance.

Well, they won't starve to death, at least...but that's quite an ominous cliffhanger, I dare say.

I'll assume you remember what I said at the top, so I won't repeat it here. R&R, and I'll see ya back here for Chapter 10!