"Hey, kid, kid, get up, hey....move it please." It felt like something was bumping me in the gut from below. I groaned, annoyed by the feeling that was determined not to stop hindering me. "Get up asshole!" "Aaaah" I sprung up into the air, my claws popping out and digging into the dirt as I landed and looked around, standing painfully still.
I was on my guard, scanning the area in front of me. "Huh?" I turned to my right side, then to the other and lastly, I looked behind me. "Who's there?" I relaxed my posture but I wasn't about to let my guard down as I kept looking for wherever the sound of that voice had come from.
"Down here genius." I looked down into the hole underneath me, I was standing over the same hole my paw had recently gotten stuck in. My gaze fell on the most odd-looking warthog, pushing its way out of the borrow. I didn't realize it was that deep? Damn, my paw could've been broken. It looked like it'd seen its fair share of predators, with one broken tusk and several scars at the side of its stomach and front legs.
I shifted to the side, allowing the warthog to climb its way out of the hole. "Phew, finally. I thought I was never gonna get out of there." It looked like a male and sounded like an old male at that. He grunted and snorted aggressively before continuing to mouth me off.
"What are they feeding you, kid? You're really freaking heavy." It took me a while to let what just happened sink in, still being confused as to where I was. "Where am I?" I asked the warthog. The last thing I remembered was my paw dropping into the burrow and then I was out cold a while after. He twisted his face and gave me an ugly stare. "In case you didn't know, zoo animals are a myth kid, so don't try to hit me with that, where am I nonsense."
The warthog pushed past me, walking off into the opposite direction from where I was facing whilst talking to him. Did I come from that way? Or maybe the other direction? I was a little bit confused. "Hey um, where are you going?" The warthog grunted and continued walking. He didn't turn back to me but he still gave me an answer, though not what I expected. "I already told you kid, you aren't gonna stall me until momma lion comes waltzing through here looking for pork chops."
I sat down heavily, the weight of my emotions flooding back to me as the pig's silhouette disappeared in the distance. What a pig, I thought to myself. My mind straying back onto my sister and what I had done. I didn't know what made me hit Artemis but I hoped she could find it in her heart to forgive me. For now however, I had to focus on trying to get back to the rest of the pride.
I got up, scouting the huge and seemingly endless savannah before me. "Um…" I turned to my right and went in that direction. Hopefully, I'd simply keep on walking until I found something or someone to steer me in the right direction. The hours passed and it was getting pretty dark. I could hear hooves in the distance but I couldn't approach a herd, especially since I wasn't at neutral turfs like the watering hole or something.
I was known for my slowness but after a while of walking, it had finally hit me, the defender tryouts were probably over. Thinking about it made me mad, but I decided that I didn't have the right to care. What I'd done today made me feel like I wasn't suited to become a defender and I'd have to find somehow to prove myself once more. Walking in the middle of the savannah with no one to talk to really gave a guy time to think out loud, but it also made me extra jumpy. A little more and people would begin to think I was a caracal. Like, I was literally getting scared at the sound of my own body passing through the grass.
As usual however, luck was never on my side and things just had to get worse. I was picking up the faint sound of laughing getting closer and closer to me and I may not have known much about other animals in the savannah, but you had to be living under a rock not to recognize the sound of a hyena when you heard one.
I carried on, walking faster and faster, constantly tilting my head in the direction of the laughter. It would've seemed like a good idea to stay on constant alert but that night, was a very and I mean very windy night. "Hey there kid?" I jumped at those words, looking at my right almost immediately to see who was greeting me. I'd been so occupied focusing on the hyenas laughing down the left of me, that I didn't take time to realize I was already walking into their trap. I'd made the most simple mistake and forgot to go downwind, leaving my scent in the air and giving them the opportunity to detect me.
"What are you doing out on your own kiddo?" Standing before me was a spotted hyena. He looked filthy and meager, I'd probably seen more meat on a baby antelope, but I didn't like hyenas very much in general so don't take my word for it, they all look malnourished and ugly to me. He had an obscene look in his eyes, which was actually a bit laughable if you saw it face to face. His eyes wide apart like a classic dummy if I'd ever seen one. I could've ran, but he'd chase me. I could've fought, but his clan would've outnumbered me eventually. There was only one option left in my head for now and that was to talk my way out of this, but who reasons with a hyena? I might have had better luck convincing a tree to uproot itself and do a happy dance.
"Oh, nothing much you know, the usual, scouting the herds for my hunting party. They'll be passing through here in a few minutes so I gotta hurry." I was about to push forward when he hopped in front of me. "What's the rush kid? No harm in sparing a few minutes for a little chit chat is there?" I rolled my eyes but internally I was scared to the bone, knowing the other hyenas were getting audibly closer, but I couldn't look and let him think I was scared.
"Listen, my guy, you've got the rest of your life to be a jerk, why not take the day off? I've got places to be, more important people to meet, so have a good day." I tried to say that as calmly as possible but it was obvious this dude was smarter than he looked, as he kept bugging me and hopping his way to the front of me. We were similar in size and it really wouldn't have been wise to try to jump into a tussle.
"Listen, I'm part of the Agni pride and you really don't want this smoke." The sound of laughter had finally made its way behind me. I turned to see at least six other hyenas come out of the bushes laughing. "Ha, you don't want no smoke Larry, cause he's from that stinking fire pride, get it?" The first hyena to pop out of the bush was another male and with no female in the group, I got the impression that these were just a bunch of lawless idiots looking for a quick meal, and if I wasn't careful, I'd be that meal. Striking laughter amongst the others with his cheeky joke, the one who was supposedly named Larry, stood there with a now serious expression, drooling at me with his gaze fixated on my entire body.
"Listen fur brains, I ain't had anything to eat in about a week and right about now, I'd appreciate it if you used your mouth more for biting and less for talking. Thank you." I growled deeply and got into a crouched position, extending my claws and baring my fangs. I wasn't about to go down without a fight. Larry was the first to attack me and he was indeed heavy, weighing a lot more than even me, which was surprising considering his physical state in my eyes. I leaped into the air to combat him but he was strong enough to overpower me and with the others behind me, they didn't waste any time before jumping in and using the number's gain to its full advantage.
They bit me at the nape of my neck, tail, and sides but I refused to be brought down easily. I hadn't gotten powers but I had the determination to live and I wasn't gonna let my life go to waste by giving up. "Aaaaaah! Get off of me." I managed to wrangle out of one of their jaws before they clamped down, using my own jaws to grab another, but it wasn't of any use as they never gave me the opportunity to put my teeth and jaws to work. And them being full-grown was making it even more difficult. If they'd been working in sync they probably would've been done with me by then, but I could tell they weren't accustomed to their prey fighting back. And in looking for a meal that didn't run, they found a meal that wasn't gonna succumb easily when caught.
I fought the hardest I could, trying to convince myself that I could get away, throwing claw swipes one after the other, getting on my back, biting, but it was all for not. I'm not sure which one of them did but they'd managed to get their jaws on my neck, filled with adrenaline I couldn't feel a thing, but it was all too clear to me when I saw my very own blood on the mouths of those disgusting scavengers. I could've kept on fighting but what would have been the use? There was no chance I was going to take down a single one of them. Negativity was making its way into my mind but I had to try my best to ignore it for the sake of giving myself a chance.
Without notice, one of them released me and that one, turned into two, eventually all of the hyenas backed off, but it felt more like they fled or got knocked off of me. Larry however, was very indulged in taking me out and kept up with the tussle until also getting knocked back. The attack left me battered and barely able to stand. My left eye was locked shut from being almost blinded by the rapid attacks to my face, my legs were staggering in every direction but I somehow managed not to fall down. My tail, bloody but intact and the rest of my body, scarred and raw. I continued to growl, holding back tears from the sudden pain that was making its presence known.
Why weren't they finishing me off? I studied the angry and ferocious gnarling expressions they had on their faces and I knew something was wrong, or maybe, just maybe, someone was behind me. I dropped to my back and turned around to see a huge male lion, towering over me, his front legs on each side of me as he kept the hyenas at bay. I didn't have time to register his size but the dude was huge. He dwarfed me with his sheer size, a feeling I'd become accustomed to with my dad and Blaze. His lips appeared blood-red from biting into one of the hyenas who were on my back.
I didn't know how to feel, I'd heard my father tell stories about lone males who'd kill the cubs of others for the sake of sending a message to the leader of that pride. Perhaps that was the hand fate dealt me, but I'd fight fate and all if I had to because if this guy was gonna kill me, he was gonna have to squeeze the very last breath out of me.