Dominic watched from the backseat as Leo stepped delicately out from the bush where they'd been hiding. The female lions who were congregating around the waterhole immediately looked up. Their reactions, however, were rather different.
Three growled at him, baring their teeth and stepping forward to crouch threateningly in front of the younger members of the pride. These must be the mothers which Leo had identified.
The pregnant female hung back, not snarling at them but also not showing anything more than wariness. From Leo's memories, some of which seemed to be more instincts than true memories, Dominic could tell that if they took over the pride, she might choose to leave it for the sake of her cubs. Since it was clear that her cubs were of the previous male's mating, a normal lion male would probably choose to kill them. Dominic was even more determined to ensure that Leo didn't do that.
As for the two other females who were already on the cusp of a heat, they showed a much more positive reaction. Once more using Leo's instincts to interpret their body language, Dominic could see that they were…intrigued. Interested. Wary, too – he was, after all, an unknown male. However, without cubs of their own to protect, they were more curious about this newcomer than defensive.
Apparently satisfied with the reaction of the lionesses, Leo wandered over to the tree where the pride members had marked their territory and sprayed over the top of the other scents.
Then, feeling pleased with himself, he trotted off into the bush. Not too far; just a little bit up the route the lionesses and cubs had come from.
'Why are we going this way?' Dominic asked, a little confused.
'The male is likely to come from this direction,' the lion responded shortly.
'But why not stay with the lionesses? Get them used to our presence?'
'Time for that after we've chased off the male. If we initiate a fight in the middle of the pride, the females may take part. That risks us either failing the challenge or hurting the females pointlessly. Or ourselves becoming hurt. Better to face the male when he is separated from the pride.'
Dominic had never heard of lionesses joining a fight between male lions, but he couldn't say he had been an expert in lions before this. Still wasn't, as it happened, but he had the ultimate cheat-sheet in Leo.
They had been lying there for long enough that dark was swiftly approaching when a lion came near. It wasn't, however, the male they were waiting for. Instead, one of the lionesses was coming up from their rear. It was one of the two who had seemed particularly interested in him; one of those almost in heat.
Leo stood warily, but didn't otherwise react as the lioness approached. Even Dominic could tell that she wasn't putting off any aggressive vibes. She, too, was a bit wary, but there was something else about her body language which Dominic could only describe as…flirtatious. Perhaps she was actually already in heat, then, rather than just on the cusp of it.
The lioness didn't come too close, but flicked her tail around, passing in front of Leo's nose, a wave of musk following her movement. She moved a little further away and then flopped onto her side, rolling over to scratch her back, and then flopping onto her other side. A moment later, she pushed herself to her feet again and moved a few paces back down the route where she paused, her tail slightly curled upwards.
Leo took a couple of steps forwards, narrowing in on a small patch of darker ground to lick and sniff at it. When Dominic realised what he was investigating, he recoiled mentally.
'Ew, man, lion, whatever. That's urine!'
The lion ignored him for a moment, inhaling the scent through his mouth. Dominic couldn't really explain what it smelt like. There was something which told him that this was definitely, definitely, lion piss. There was also something else there which was tantalising, enticing, and arousing.
'She's letting me know she's in heat,' Leo told him, a hint of excitement in his mental voice.
'Didn't you already have an idea of that?' Dominic asked, still disgusted at his actions.
'Not so definitively. Not just in heat, either, but interested in mating.'
'She's that confident we will win the challenge?' Dominic felt like that was a pretty good sign for their success. Leo might be confident thanks to the different claw sizes, but it was good to have the vote of confidence from a lioness from the pride in question. Leo's response, however, deflated his balloon.
'No. She is just interested in mating,' the lion answered absently, his attention on the lioness who was once more weaving back and forth in front of Leo's nose.
'I thought lionesses only mated with the leading male or males of a pride?' Dominic asked a little accusingly. After all, why else would Leo have been so keen on taking over a pride? And growing a mane to entice the females, of course.
'Females will mate with any powerful male around. Why do you think it's so necessary for male lions to patrol the pride's territory? We have to keep our females from breeding with any other lion.'
'Huh. This experience is changing the way I thought about lions,' Dominic muttered to himself, mentally shaking his head. To be fair, at least half his knowledge had been based on a certain iconic cartoon movie which was in no way a true documentary. So, lions liked to kill the children of other lions and lionesses were quite happy to flirt and mate with any random lion who wandered into their territory. Good to know.
On that note, the lioness who had been flirting with him suddenly stopped moving, her ears pricked. Then, moving a lot faster than her previous enticing gait, she disappeared back towards the waterhole.
'Wait, I thought you said she was interested in mating?' Dominic asked, really confused now. 'Does she want us to follow?'
'The lion approaches,' Leo replied tersely, his own focus on some quiet noises coming from the bush a few paces ahead of them.
Dominic took the hint and quietened down, focussing just as intently. Only, instead of focussing on the spot Leo was, he focussed on everything around it. After all, he knew how easy it was to get tunnel-vision and didn't want them to miss a threat approaching from a different direction.
Then the lion stepped out of the bushes and all other thoughts fled his mind. This specimen of their shared kind was magnificent. Dominic could kind of get Leo's point about the mane, given how lush the one on the lion ahead was. It wasn't particularly dark, but it was definitely plush.
'Good armour,' he noted absently, considering how his own mane offered him a little bit of armour to his neck and chest. This one would surely offer both more armour and over a larger area: the fur covered the lion from behind his ears all the way down to his shoulders, across his chest area and even a little down his front legs. Getting a throat-grip on this lion was going to be difficult.
That wasn't, however, what Leo was going to do.
The two lions stood staring at each other for a long moment. Dominic wished he could see the level of creatures as well as their health bar. As it was, he suspected that this one was already Half-step Evolved, judging by its sheer size. Though it was smaller than Dominic, well, Leo, it wasn't by much. However, he doubted that it had quite reached Evolved status given that it was smaller than Leo-Dominic despite not focussing on size in their recent level ups.
Then the moment was over and the two lions charged at each other. Snarling ferociously, they reared up into a position which might have been mistaken for a cuddle if it had been any less violent.
Jaws locking with jaws, the two lions battled to overwhelm each other. Dominic could read Leo's intentions as easily as he might read a book: he was trying to pull the other male off balance, force him to the ground. There, he would be more able to access the vulnerable parts of the other lion's body. However, it didn't seem to be as easy to accomplish as they would have liked.
The two lions wrestled, each trying to gain the advantage over the other. In the meantime, they bit at each other's mouths, tried to strike at each other's eyes, and clawed at each other's skin.
Here Leo actually came off worse: although they had enhanced their skin twice and their fur a couple of times, they didn't actually have a mane protecting their shoulders; the other lion did. Leo did have his gorget, though, and so several attempted strikes at his neck failed.
The other lion was also heavier than Leo, even if he was a bit smaller: clearly he had been full-grown before the System came in, where Leo still wasn't. It meant that, despite Leo being a higher level, he didn't necessarily have the advantage over the other lion. It made the situation almost a dead-lock.
They continued wrestling, the action intense. Their stamina ticked away steadily, already showing the impact of the difficult activity. If nothing changed, it would come down to a question of which lion had more stamina than the other.
Dominic's mind raced, hoping to find some way of breaking the stale-mate in Leo's favour. Then he hit on something which might just work. Instead of trying to put it in words, he shoved the idea into Leo's mind.
While at first the lion was annoyed at being disturbed in the middle of a fight, he quickly changed his tune to tentative hope when the idea registered. A moment later, he tried to put it into practice.
Lessening his resistance slightly on one side, he waited for the other lion to register the 'weak spot' and put his own force behind a push towards that side. Once the other lion had committed, Leo disengaged slightly, only to re-engage ferociously. Using the other lion's momentum, he pushed his opponent to the ground.
The other lion was taken aback, falling onto his side before he was able to react. There he tried to defend against Leo's open jaws, but he struggled. That didn't mean he was down-and-out, though: his paws struck at the air, vicious claws bared. Leo had to be careful to stay out of range, instead using his angle to inflict a nasty claw-strike on the other lion's face. It raked across the lion's eye, blinding it with blood; possibly even damaging the eyeball.
The enemy lion wriggled and managed to get enough distance to struggle to his feet. He backed up, bleeding from several wounds, but still mostly whole. For a moment, he seemed on the point of recommencing the attack, but then he continued backing up, turning around and running away when he was a few paces away.
Leo stretched out his head and started roaring. Every time his lungs emptied in one roar, he would fill them again and roar once more. The sound was victorious, and Dominic felt the knot of nerves in his belly loosen at it.
'It's done? The challenge is won?' Dominic checked with his companion.
'The challenge is won,' Leo responded with tired satisfaction. 'The pride is ours.'