[3rd POV]
[Name : Dr. T. Soma Tonson
Role : Lead Researcher]
....
"Now this, this right here, is where it gets weird," the camera panned closer to the old doctor as he scratched his head as if he was at a complete loss for words.
"We did not have much footage of what happened. Scratch that, we did not even know what happened until it happened because it was just that unbelievable. Think of the most obviously made-up shit in your mind, now take an event right above that and pull it down to reality. That's what happened," he said.
"Wild animals operating like they were special military forces. A display of strategic mind unimaginable for an animal. A bond between two beasts that could compete with love stories in cinema and a show of brutal loyalty, creatures thought to be driven by their natural instincts going against everything we know to sacrifice for the greater good. All of these were packed in this monumental event where nature decided we didn't know shit," he said.
From the amount of curse words the dignified doctor was using, you could kind of imagine what was about to take place.
"We look back on this for years, doing research and tracking where, when and how it began. We didn't have all the pieces, but here's what we know," he said.
"On the night when Leo reached the underland of the Pridelands, there was an operation," he said.
"A rescue mission to be exact."
"Rescue who? Well..." the documentary changed scene and showed the figure of two thin lionesses that were skinny enough to see bones.
"Later studies confirmed who they were. Sara, the biological mother," he said and the scene froze on Sarabi's figure. "This lioness is the one who gave birth to the king we know as Leo."
"And Zuri," he said, freezing the scene of another lioness. She was thin, elegant and young. "Leo's half sibling and from their first reaction to each other, another lover of Leo."
"Both these lionesses were part of Scar's pride, Leo's enemy. But they and the king did not share good relations as you will see here," he said.
The documentary showed footage taken from a drone. The video was not of good quality. You couldn't tell who was who, but it was enough to show two lionesses fighting against a lion.
"Now what Leo decided to do first before he went to battle was to rescue these two lionesses that were clearly in danger when they stayed beside Scar," he said. "Leo shared a deep bond with these two lionesses, so that seemed like an appropriate reaction. Perhaps he didn't want them to be on the other side of the conflict."
"And how did he go about it? Well..."
The scene cuts back to Leo and his pride. The whole pride was up and awake in the middle of the night. They were still used to the pattern of sleeping in the day and being awake at night.
They stood there, looking towards the plateau for a while before a portion of the pride moved forward. Five lionesses, the best of Leo's pride, began running around the plateau. The drone followed them as they made their way.
Right then, Leo did his own job and roared into the sky. His roar exploded like thunder, rolling through the vast space like a mountain had gained a voice. His roar was angry and bold and seemingly stupid from all they had seen him do so far.
Why reveal yourself like that to an enemy?
On the other hand, the five lionesses ran and ran and ran for a long time, moving to the southern side of the whole landmass. After almost an hour of traveling, they began scaling up a cliff which led to the plateau. It was a difficult terrain to scale, almost impossible to think a lion would climb there.
And getting down from there was unimaginable.
"We were shocked at what they were doing. It was only later on when they achieved their goal that we realized they were following a tight plan for this rescue mission," he said.
The footage changed to another drone. There were two cameramen and a controller that followed Leo and his pride. This one panned into the sky and took the footage of two lionesses running together.
A vulture was leading the way and the lionesses seemed to follow it.
Behind them were a horde of hyenas. They cackled with glee while they chased the two runaway lionesses.
The drone took further to the skies and eventually a map was revealed to the audience. The map showed the direction where they were headed to and also the five lionesses who were scaling up the plateau in that moment.
It was a perfect coordination.
"The vultures helped the king in the mission. They were the source of direction and the director of the whole operation. The coordination showed here is not impossible. Animals like birds and wolves have shown even crazier coordination. But what's impressive is that these are animals that never met before or have not met in a long time. This was not a wolf pack or a flock of birds. These were animals trusting each other and executing a plan made by someone," Dr Tonson commented.
The drone continued to follow the two lioness runway. At one point, the hyenas were going to catch up to them.
And that was when it happened.
Vultures rained down from the sky and began attacking the hyenas to slow them down. Some of them died brutal deaths as they dived right into the hungry jaws of hyenas.
"This is inexplainable. Even now we don't have a way to explain it other than vultures showing loyalty. These birds are known to be brutal towards their own species but now they are willing to die to save an animal from a completely different species?"
The viewers watched the incredible scene of hyenas clashing with vultures.
"Just... why?" Dr Tonson asked the question plaguing everyone's mind.
Eventually, with the vultures slowing down the hyenas, the two lionesses reached the cliff where the plateau ends. By that point, the five lionesses from Leo's pride were already on the plateau.
They stopped, hid behind the dry trees and bushes. The two lionesses reached the location and the hyenas cornered them in just a few minutes.
And then.
"The hyenas were led into a trap."
Five lionesses emerged from their hiding spot and began attacking the hyenas. The hyenas were around a dozen in number, but they stood no chance against prime lionesses that had buffalo for a diet.
They were killed quickly.
"And this is where Nala and one of the runway lionesses relationship were revealed." Nala came forward and greeted the two lionesses.
They showed affection like they were still part of the same pride. They licked each other, rubbed their heads and jumped on each other which was akin to lions giving hugs.
"Everything became clear to us in that moment. These were not coincidence. We were at the middle of a story whose beginning we didn't witness. But now that we know, we began speculating and searching for the right clues."
The documentary continued to cover the seven lionesses as they fought nine more hyenas and escaped the plateau from a proper escape route and not just scaling back down the dangerous cliff.
They moved with precision and a plan. They knew exactly what they were doing and that was horribly strange for animals.
Like Dr Tonson said, they were like a military squad being guided by aerial assistance. Such coordination and planning was unmatched.
By the end, the documentary showed the two new lionesses, Sara and Zuri, meeting up with the whole pride. But there was one problem.
Leo was nowhere to be found.
"We were short on drones to follow Leo and know exactly what he was doing. But he returned an hour later from the northern side of the plateau. We speculated that he was doing his own thing, perhaps distracting Scar and his hyenas by making his presence known from the opposite side of the plateau."
The documentary then slowed down after all the explanation and action. It showed the tender moment when Leo returned to the pride.
He and the runaway lioness named Zuri met in what could only be a deep and most awaited reunion.
..
..
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