Banzai and several other hyenas walking towards them with a single kill of their own held in the mouth by Ed. The lionesses looked impressed as they smiled and nodded approval as the wild dogs arrived and dropped the deceased antelope to the ground.

"Dinner request: a little bit of extra meat on the side, please." Banzai wisecracked as he directed his eyes on the pride.

"And there will be leftovers for lunch tomorrow,..." The voice of Shenzi approached from another direction. "...because we have now pretty much created a full smorgasboard."

The pride and hyenas looked in that direction and saw Shenzi and the other two male hyenas dragging their kill towards the group. As soon as they arrived, they also dropped it to the ground and looked up, directing their eyes on Tanya and hoping for approval. Sure enough, she smiled in awe and marveled at their success.

"Very well done, if I may honestly say, hyenas." She said. "Brilliant backing up and good teamwork. Because of the three kills we made and the extra two that you made, we may not have to hunt again for a little while, so you should feel proud."

"Well, thank you." Banzai responded, pleased with his clan's achievement. "You see, we are not just the scavengers you all thought we were."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that." She replied, bemused. "You wild dogs do indeed have some skills when it comes to hunting. Not to mention those powerful jaws of yours."

"And speaking of that," Shenzi added. "not only did we successfully kill this antelope, but I got a snap on it's ankle and cracked the bone."

Some of the pride members exclaimed and winced after they heard this. Even some of the other hyenas stared wide-eyed at their female alpha.

"Woah!" Pride member Fakira exclaimed when hearing this. "Now that's what we call a bite. It sure makes me shudder at the thought."

"Yes, I bet that if any of us four-legged animals got our own legs broken, we would never be able to walk or run properly ever again." Other pride member Allia added. "Plus if we were in the hands of humans through it, they would put us out of our misery for sure."

"No need to be so graphic, Allia." Tanya intruded. "You are saying too much. I am sure that we do not want to hear that with the fear senses."

"You are right. Just let it slip. Sorry."

"Forget it. Anyway," She turned her attention back to everyone else. "we have all done a fine job. And thank you, hyenas, for your contribution. You make our work so much easier."

Most of the hyenas smiled and nodded at Tanya in appreciation for the praise.

"Now..." She continued. "...let's all drag our kills back to the den and get ready for a big feast. Kufuzu and Hekima will be very pleased again."

And that said, the pride of lions and pack of hyenas took their shares of food supply and dragged them back towards their residence at the rocky dome den, where their two co-leaders would be waiting in anticipation for them.

*

Back at the den, Kufuzu and Hekima were lying on their stomachs with heads up and observing the landscape. They were standing guard and keeping an eye out for their pride to return from their hunt, but also to keep an eye out for any potential dangers or even intruders within sight.

"They have been gone for a little while now." Hekima, after a few minutes of quiet observation, spoke up to his friend and co-leader. "Hopefully they have been able to get a catch or two."

"I think their chances are doubled now that we have the hyenas' support." Kufuzu optimistically responded. 
"Probably, but I am not sure if they are aware of the special technique that we use to hunt. They might get confused."

"Unlikely. I gave word to Tanya to show them how it works and get them to contribute to it by backing up. She is an expert, so she will know what they can do to help."

"Fair enough, then. Yes, she is a good educator and I hope they learn well. I also imagine that when the prey get into the grasp of those deadly and powerful jaws of theirs, there is no chance of escape. Their bite is enough to crack bones, so the agony felt before the death, I imagine, would be excruciating." Hekima winced after he said this as he felt that it was painful to think about it.

"Probably even more agonising than when we snap our jaws on them." The lighter coloured alpha lion added.

"Nothing can compare to the power of the bite of those wild dogs, so no question there." The darker alpha confirmed. "By the way, have you had a chance to speak properly with your old friends yet?"

"Not yet. Once they come back and we are settled in, I will speak to them then. It will be interesting to know what went on in their lives since leaving the Pride Lands."

"Yes, interesting for you and them to share some brighter moments together in times of darkness. I think it certainly shows the values and friendships that you both desire."

"Very much so. It is something that we always wanted to hold close to the heart, and I don't think that we ever let go."

"From how well I know you, never."

Kufuzu smiled appreciatively at Hekima, and Hekima returned it with a smile of his own, knowing how truly open-hearted his friend really was.

Suddenly they both turned their heads back towards the west after hearing the sound of distant scraping of bodies on the grass, and their hearts lit up when they saw their pride and the hyena clan from a little over 100 yards away walking towards them and returning with a fresh meat supply. The two alphas stared wide-eyed and marveled at this incredible sight of not just one but five kills.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Hekima as he turned to look at Kufuzu. "Have you ever seen so much kill from one hunt alone?"

"I don't believe so." He replied, still focusing his attention on the approaching lions and hyenas with awe. "I know that the Cage of Death is an effective and assuring technique in itself, but the backup used seemed to have given it that extra guarantee."

"True. And yes, it will be interesting to know what Tanya came up with for the hyenas to help them out."

"Well, let them come here and then we will find out."

So the duo waited around for a couple of minutes for their approaching clans until they eventually reached the den and dropped all the kills near it. Tanya approached the males to give her overall report from the hunt:

"As you can see, Kufuzu and Hekima, we had far greater than normal success on this hunt. The pride managed to get three antelope with our normal technique, but the support that we received from the hyenas was fantastic. I instructed them to provide an 'outer circle' on the exterior of the Cage and it resulted in the capture of two antelope who had managed to escape from us. So they backed us up well. But all in all, the good teamwork that had been shown today brought about this vast supply of meat that should hopefully last us all for more than a few days."

"It sure looks like it will." Kufuzu impressively and proudly replied when he laid a gaze on the kills that were lying near where the rest of the pride was. "Thank you and very well done to you all, especially the hyenas. Please send the lead hyenas - that is Banzai, Shenzi and Ed - over to me so I can also congratulate them up front."

"Yes, sir." Tanya obliged, who then walked back towards the den where the two clans had crowded around their meals, ready to feast; and she was then seen speaking to the lead hyenas, which was inaudible to the alpha lions. The three leaders of the pack then left the crowd and walked over to Hekima and Kufuzu, sitting in front of them when they arrived and looking pleased with themselves. So they should be. Kufuzu thought, sensing this from them.

"Well done on your catches, my friends." Kufuzu said to them. "I know you must be feeling pretty good now after what you achieved, and so you should."

Shenzi and Banzai looked at each other and grinned satisfactorily, and Ed just stuck his tongue out as usual and put on an evil grin while also looking at his counterparts.

"So tell me how you did it, because I am interested to know." He then asked, intrigued.

They then told him how they made their kills on the antelope. Banzai stated how he, Ed and three other hyenas made a combined pounce and 'super tackled' their target then got an immediate powerful bite onto its throat, which was performed by Ed, and killed it almost immediately. Shenzi then stated how she and her two hunting partners stopped their own target in its tracks, snapped the ankle bone, knocked it to the ground and also killed it with the throat bite.

The male lions looked impressed by the way they handled their prey, but also winced when the ankle bone breakage was mentioned.

"Ouch!" Kufuzu exclaimed. "Now that's a real bite if I ever heard or saw one."

"Yes, I predicted the lethality of those jaws." Hekima added. "You wild dogs could suffocate the prey way more than we ever could, I am sure."

"Oh, come on, now!" Banzai laughed. "We couldn't be much more dangerous than you wild cats."

"Aye." Shenzi chipped in. "To our prey, both of us, big dogs and cats, in a way, are brutal armed forces." She snickered quietly at the metaphor. "Outnumbered and unarmed they are, compared with us."

Ed,

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