Both Kion and Rani were getting rather hungry and felt like hunting something together. They were still young and weren't ready to take on a full-grown eland, kudu, or buffalo just yet. Maybe Rani can take on one kudu or nyala, but she was still not ready for larger game. Both of these lovebirds wanted to hunt something a little big and nothing very small since they are lions. At last, they decided to hunt something on the lines of a duiker or impala, or other small antelope they can get their teeth on, or maybe even a baby eland or baby kudu that could be in a herd of either one of them if they can find one.
They traveled a few miles of distance and they didn't really find anything their size they can catch and eat. Perhaps if they had other lions or lionesses together, then they could hunt larger game, but alas, it was just them right now. "My stomach is killing me." Kion complained a little bit.
"I know." Rani agreed. "Mine too. But at least we won't starve to death. There's gotta be something out here we gotta eat... without breaking the Circle of Life." She looked to and fro for anything good out here in the Pride Lands. After walking a few more miles, both of these lions didn't find anything that could be their size. There were some giraffes, rhinos, and other megafauna out here, but they were obviously too big for the cubs' size. "Hey," Rani thought of an idea, "why don't we go to my home this time? You haven't been there in a while."
Kion smiled and said: "That's a good idea. And I would like to meet your family again."
"Yeah. They were concerned about you after the whole Inuwa thing." Rani said. "I'm sure they would like to see if you are doing ok."
"Right. I would like to let them know that I am doing better now. Besides, we can probably look for game over there if we can't find anything good here in the Pride Lands." Rani smiled and nodded her head to him. Both these lions walked over to the Back Lands to possibly look for some more game out there to look for and hunt. Kion was excited to see Rani's parents again and the other members of the Night Pride. "Wanna have a race?"
The lioness smirked and replied to her boyfriend: "Sure. Last one to the Back Lands is a zebra carcass!" Both lovebirds dashed off into the Back Lands, trying to one-up each other and gain the upper paw in speed. It was a little difficult to tell who was actually going to win. They knew the border between the Pride Lands well, and it was at a large marble rock with a tree on the right next to it, along with some kind of large, white mushroom under it at the center.
Eventually, they got to the rock that marked the border, and it looked like it was a tie. Both their paws jumped right at the border line between these lands, and it was a little confusing to see who made it first. "I made it!" said Kion
"Nope! I think I touched it first." Rani boasted.
"ah, it's a little hard to tell." the male cub admitted.
"Yeah, no big deal. Just a friendly race." Rani giggled.
Kion chuckled and said: "Yeah. Just a friendly race. So, hopefully, we will find something good out here."
"I hope so too, Kion. Maybe a good duiker or zebra foal lost from its mother." They both began a little search for any prey together and finally, after ten minutes of searching in the Back Lands, they suddenly found an adolescent zebra, a little older than a foal would be, and he looked absolutely ripe for the picking like an orange or apple waiting to be picked from a tree. This wild equine was just minding his own business and had no idea what was going on around him. All this zebra could focus on was: eating as much grass as possible without a care in the whole world. Both the lion cubs smiled and they knew that this guy would make a perfect meal.
Alas, they still had to keep it as quiet as possible since zebras had excellent sense of hearing, along with sense of smell. He could smell the two hunting lions in the slightest chance possible. Carefully sneaking over to the zebra was, Kion and Rani were right behind the equine and they readied their claws on the young, teenage zebra. They waited until the very last second when the zebra realized something was not right. It was the perfect cue and the two young lions took their chances before springing into action and sinking their teeth into the zebra's flesh.
Over in the distance, there was Akilah, Veya, and Okove in a hunting lesson, and they could hear the zebra whinnying and squeaking in the far distance. African Wild Dogs had good sense of hearing too and they wanted to see if there was an animal worth hunting. The three canines ran over to where the whinnying was coming from and saw Kion and Rani with their fresh kill. The teenage zebra was already dead, for Rani had gone for the throat to suffocate it so it couldn't breathe anymore. Okove was happy to see his two friends, but was a little bummed that he didn't get to kill this zebra and eat it himself. "Kion, Rani." he said
The two lions stopped eating and were happy to see the wild dog pup. "Okove!" the male cub ran over to him. "How are you?"
"I heard the sound of a zebra screaming, but I see that this is your kill."
"Oh, don't be so disheartened, Okove." said Akilah. "This zebra looks a little too big for you to hunt anyway."
"Well, you can get a couple of meat from it if you want." said Rani kindly. Okove smiled and realized something.
"Thanks, but I'm still learning how to hunt on my own." said the pup.
"Don't worry, you will get it right." said Veya. "Go ahead and take a few pieces of meat if you want."
"OK, mom."
Young Okove did just that and helped himself a little bit. Though still a teenager, this zebra still looked a little big in size. Okove got himself a big chunk of flesh and meat for himself and it tasted so good to his mouth.