(( Fishies: 3, 1, 4, 10, 1 ))

He was a hunter, not a fisher, but Letobe was willing to give anything a try. He had watched as several others this morning had gone fishing, catching fish large, small, dull, and bright. He figured it couldn't be too much more difficult than hunting, right? It was like hunting... but underwater. He strolled over to one of the many holes made into the remaining ice. He could see some fish far below the surface, dark blobs dating about in the water. He hadn't fished in Gods knew how long. It was a curious ordeal to him; he was so accustomed to stalking prey, waiting until the time was right and then attacking nimbly with all his speed and strength. Fishing was so different. A waiting game, watching the patterns of the fish and sporadically attempting to grab at them. He stared down into the hole, trying to figure out exactly what he would be reaching for, exactly which fish he would be trying to catch. But again, it wasn't like hunting. He couldn't choose a fish to try and catch, he couldn't really even see what each of the fish looked like, how big it was. He sighed.

He lay against the ice, paws dangling just above the water, one ready to reach in at any second, and his face only inches above the water, too, in an attempt to see his water-dwelling prey. The fish would settle for a moment then buzz around like bees. Letobe hated that he couldn't see the fish clearly, he couldn't tell the quality of the fish he was aiming for. He sighed and gave in, thrusting a paw into the frigid water at a blob beneath the surface.

Victorious! He clenched his fist about the fish, pulling it from the water. It was pretty average, he thought as he tossed it to the side. But he must try again. He looked to his left where another lion was frantically leaping into the water to try and catch his fish, pulling himself back out of the hole wish a fish in his jaws. The fish he caught was so colorful, reflecting the rays of the sun in colors of red and yellow.

Letobe looked back down at the ice beneath his paws and then to the fish he had caught before, laying motionless next to him. He then recalled some old trapping techniques, using some bait to lure your prey out, to get the prey you want. He remembered when hyenas had attacked a family he was close to when he was very young. The patriarch of the family asked Letobe to come with him. Letobe carried several sticks while the older lion hoisted part of a zebra carcass alongside. They placed the carcass in the center, and scattered all the sticks around it in a random pattern, and then they lay in wait in some shrubbery not too far off. When they heard the crunch, and the familiar laughter of the hyenas, they pounced. Two lions, even one being an adolescent, against two hyenas? There was no game. They left their mark and the hyenas never came back to that area.

Letobe snapped back to reality, still gazing at the fish wordlessly. He then grabbed it and placed it on the ice in front of him and carefully fileted a section off the side, the meatiest part (not that there was very much meat on this catch to begin with). He then dropped the sliver into the water. He had high hopes with this maneuver, he imagined a fish popping his head out of its underwater den. The scent of fresh blood filling his fishy nostrils as he starts to swim forward, one torn fin from a prior battle with an island fisher flopping at his side, almost useless. Letobe sat in anticipation, expecting to see the large shadow of the catch of a lifetime approach him. 30 seconds, then a minute, then two minutes pass. No big shadows suddenly appeared beneath the ice or the water surface. He felt failure wash over him, a strange feeling for the successful hunter. How could he be outsmarted by a bunch of legless, little shrimps!?

Letobe let out a low growl at the water's surface. And suddenly... a shadow below the surface! He immediately plunged almost half his body into the freezing water to catch his winning catch! He forced his claws out to spear the catch and not let it free, pulling his front half back out of the water. He shook his mane out as he sat down with his catch. His catch...? Where is it? He looked around and then back in the hole. Where did his winning prize go?! And then.. he felt it. The fish was still speared onto his claw. And by fish, we mean "fish". Letobe looked down in sheer rage and disappointment; the monster he had imagined capturing was a small nugget of a catch, couldn't feed a cub for a meal, never mind anyone or anything larger. Letobe watched the creature squirm quietly and with lessening power each moment. The combination of fresh air choking it and his claw slowly causing its death. He used his other paw to remove it from his claw and let it flop into the water, floating silently at the hole's surface, life gone from the unblinking eyes.

He shook again, the water still in his fur causing a chill to come over him. Fishing just wasn't his sport, it seemed. He stood up from his spot and started to pace back to the shore, without much to show for his efforts. He would tell of his valiant effort to try and find the biggest fish, the most colorful of all the underwater creatures, and how his plans were thwarted by this midget of a fish. He began to smile to himself as he thought about it, walking away. That such a little fish had defeated him and caused him such annoyance. But.. how could he let the little bugger win!? He stopped dead in his tracks, as if struck by lightning and bounded back to that hole, that watery grave. He was determined this time, determined to catch a worthy fish of his efforts.

((1047 Words)