Three parts lucky one part skilled

Morning came to find a young black lion asleep at the top of a tree that stood near a cave. As the rays of the sun shone over his muzzle the feline opened his eyes, releasing a giant yawn in the process. Majibu, as was the name he gave himself, then began to remember what had transpired in the past night.

He was running for ancestors know how long, trying a desperately to throw off his pursuers before he reached the desert. The fleeing lion knew that without rest there was no way in hell he would be able to cross the large and inhospitable extension of land between him and his goal; he had to make a stand somehow.

A frontal assault was out of the question, for not only Majibu was outnumbered fifteen to one, but he also was not very big, even for his age. The young lion knew that his biggest strengths were his agility and stealth, skills that helped him in no way shape or form considering that the current terrain was an open savanna, which offered no cover at all.

With those thoughts in mind, the feline then began to look around as he ran, searching for any way to ambush the unit just a few kilometers behind. That was when a fairly dense forest came to his attention. It was out of the intended route, but seeing as the woods were his only chance he changed his direction.

Once inside the forest, Majibu took some seconds to catch his breath and analyze his surroundings. He was at a hill with some tall bushes and trees. At the top of the elevation was a rotten log, which would not be hard to push down. Memorizing this bit of information, the teenage then ventured deeper into the overgrowth jungle. After some minutes of running the lion found a strange cave which he chose to enter.

The interior of the den was quite peculiar, not only there was a strange smell in the air, but the young lion could also see a green light in the distance. Picking up his pace, Majibu arrived in a fairly big space dotted with strange holes that gave off an eerie green light. A few meters ahead, the cave ended in a dead end.

As the current position held no strategic value, the lion tuned on his paws and began heading for the exit. Suddenly every single strange hole in the cavern started to give a stronger glow. Without any other warning, the cave was engulfed in a very bright flash accompanied by an even bigger boom.

"Dammit!" Said Majibu, his eyes were hurting and his ears were ringing. Just as he was about to curse his luck, an idea formed in his head. It was a long shot, at the very least, but this was also the only plan he could come up with.

Coming out of his memories, the lion released a big sigh. "I was pretty lucky things went as they did, especially at the end", said Majibu looking tentatively at his shoulders. The old unit leader sure did a number on him.

Never one to question providence, the young lion jumped down from the tree he was perched. Once on the ground, he stretched and began to think on his next move.

"My first priority should be cleaning this all this blood from my coat", pondered the lion, "that way I can keep anyone from tracing me by its scent, not to mention this would also keep my wounds from infecting." With that settled Majibu set out to find the nearest water source he could find.

Considering the terrain in this jungle was a slight slope, common sense told Majibu that it would be more likely easier to find what he was looking for at the lowest point of the hill. Halfway into his walk a scent invaded his nostrils, it was the sweet smell of prey. Not believing his luck, the young lion immediately veered to the left in search of his next meal.

After five minute from crawling from cover to cover, Majibu arrived at a cliff, which he guessed was about twelve meters high. From his perch, the feline could see that the crag became less steep the farther away he looked, the problem was that there were no bushes or trees in that area to provide cover . Making his situation worse, the intended target, an old gazelle, was a few meters in front of the elevation.

The young lion knew he needed a plan otherwise his target would move away or notice him. "Going around is the cliff is not going to help", he thought, "and I don't like my chances of survival if I jump down." Just then, Majibu spotted a tree with the top branches near enough for him to jump on. Following this line of thought, the hunter inspected the other three trees in front of him, which formed a half circle and where shorter the farther away they went from the cliff wall. Majibu then decided to use the vegetation as some kind of ladder, by jumping from branch to branch. As crazy as that sounded, he was crazy hungry.

His strategy chosen, the black lion took a running start and jumped with all his might to the nearest branch. Covering the distance wasn't too hard; the tricky part was to keep his balance and the element of surprise upon landing. Luckily balance and stealth were two abilities that hunter was proud to possess.

"One done, three to go", he thought. The second and the third leaps went much like the first; however, just as the feline was preparing to make the transition to the final tree, the gazelle became alert.

Majibu was just as puzzled as he was alarmed. "What the hell? I did not moved downwind, He cursed in his mind, "how in ancestors name did it sense me?" Then he looked at himself and it all made sense. His coat was still clad in blood so, due to the vegetation circular arrangement, while jumping from tree to tree the hunter came closer and closer to his target, and now gazelle could catch his scent even without the aid of the wind.

The situation wasn't good; Majibu had seconds before he was spotted. The hunter was still a good seven or so meters above the ground, there was no way he could salvage the kill, unless… Acting quickly, the young lion leapt from the tree to the back of his prey finishing it with a bite to the neck, much like he did with one of his pursuers the night prior.

The gazelle didn't even struggle; tough Majibu supposed that was to be expected when not so light lion dropped from high up directly in your back. Whatever the case, the feline dug in to the meal as fast as he could, consuming most of the kill as he did so.

Once his hunger was quenched, Majibu looked at the tree he had just jumped from. "That's pretty high up, if I messed up it would have probably led to my death." Them another thought came to him, "I'm getting really good at these technics, I wonder what she would think of me if she were…" The black lion immediately smoldered thought and the memories that were brought by it, he was breaking his cardinal rule. "Don't think about the past or future, just focus on your current goal."

His motto fixed in his mind, the young lion resumed his trip downhill in search of a water source. Just as expected, at the lowest point of the terrain there was the river that most likely allowed this jungle to exist. Coming to the river's margin, the weary feline drank greedily. His thirst and hunger problems solved, Majibu entered the water, not before checking his surroundings for crocodiles. As his wounds were submerged a stinging pain made itself known. Wincing momentarily, the young lion let the cool liquid wash over himself cleansing his coat and injuries and relaxing his aching muscles, the felling was soothing. "I wish I could stay like this more often," Majibu said aloud, "after all, that's the best I've been in weeks, shoulder wounds aside that is."

Knowing that he had already taken to many risks staying at on place for so long, the black lion looked to the midday sun to find his bearings hoping to reach the desert in a few minutes. Hopefully the water that still soaked his fur would help fend off the heat for a few hours.