[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Even though Umeme was not giving it all she had, due to slowing down in order to be careful, she was still greatly enjoying herself. It felt good to be out and running, and she also found it funny how Lina broke off from them, with Delano chasing after her. Giggling, she turned to run in another direction so that Delano and Lina could run by themselves as the other three of them ran off on their own path.

Delano chased after Lina, glad that she picked up the pace. After a long and hard time of getting back up to shape, he didn't want to take it easy. No, he worked too hard to get back up here to just fool around. He picked up his speed, gaining on Lina. "You better run faster, or I will get you!" he shouted at her, "you don't want that to happen!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki and Kato continued running after Umeme, slowly gaining up on her. Muroki wasn't worried because he knew his mate would stop running before she ended up overworking herself. After all she did despise feeling sick. It was a little worrying because she often took her anger out on him when that happened, but at least she would regret it later on if she really lost her temper at him. He never held it against her, but she was quite cute when she was sorry.

The ironic thing was, because Lina had helped Delano get back to shape, she ended up improving quite a lot herself (unlike when Delano was in training - where only he practiced). "Really?" she asked, looking back at him with a flirtatious grin as she ran faster as well. "Why? What'll you do if that happens?" she shot him a playful wink and incrased her speed even more.

[DGFone]

Umeme saw Muroki catching up to her, but despite wanting to run faster, she allowed him to get closer without speeding up. In her state, better safe than sorry. But what was surprising was that Kato seemed to have trouble keeping up. Well, not so much trouble, but he wasn't having it as easy as Muroki was. Was it because he was younger, or was he not used to running around for any length of time? "Come on, Kato! You can keep up!"

---

Delano had to move faster in order to not fall back. He breathed hard at the effort of running, but he would be lying if he said that he wasn't enjoying himself. "I told you that you don't want to find out!" He called out at her, "So keep running!" What made it even better was that with the effort he needed to put in just in order to keep up, when he will finally catch up to Lina, it will certainly be worth it.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki looked to his side and was surprised to find out that Kato has kept up with both of them this entire time. True, he and Umeme weren't running very fast, but Kato was smaller and had to work harder in order to match their speed. "You're bigger than me!" he complained, though with a smile on his face. "It's not as easy as it looks!" Despite the huge effort he was making, the prince was enjoying himself quite a lot. Running with Desta was way more fun, though.

~~~

Lina once again looked back at her mate teasingly. "Are you sure I don't?" she asked, laughing to herself as she kept on running. It was quite fun to be the one leaving him in the dust for a change. Even though she was starting to feel the effort she was making, she had no intention of giving up just yet. "Keep running, lover boy!"

[DGFone]

Sure, Muroki might be quite bigger than the prince, but Kato was already nearing Umeme's size. "That excuse might work on him, but not for me!" she teased, "perhaps the prince of these lands doesn't run around often enough!" She winked at him, just in case he thought that she was being serious. "Do you ever run around with Desta? Or do you two simply lie about and stare at each other?" She stuck her tongue out at him and put on a slightly faster pace, but still making sure that she could stay steady if needed to.

---

Panting from the effort to keep up, Delano groaned as Lina went even faster. But then again, he did ask for it, and it was great fun. "Oh, you're going to pay for that one!" He shouted at her, not that he really minded what she called him. "You know you can run, but not for long!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato shot Umeme a playful frown. "That's not true!" he said, sticking his tongue out as well. Even if he wasn't that much smaller than she was, even the smallest size difference meant that he had to work harder in order to keep up. Grinning, he sped up a little as well. "I'll have you know that we do way more than just lie around and stare at each other!" Now that they were both getting hunting lessons, he and Desta ran together more than usual in order to do better.

~~~

Lina couldn''t help but laugh out loud at Delano's comment. True, she couldn't run for long, but neither could he. [b]"As if you can!"[b] she taunted with defiance. The lioness had a notion that she would have no choice but to slow down soon and that Delano was starting to get really tired as well, but she was going to keep running until she couldn't anymore. Soon enough, like she'd expected, her legs began to move a little more slowly. She once again looked around at her mate, trying to determine just how further he'd be able to carry on.

[DGFone]

"Oh yeah?" Umeme asked Kato. This back and forth was really amusing her. "What else do you do if you're trying this hard to keep up?" What she wasn't saying was that despite her teasing and taunting of the prince, she too was nearing the limit of her endurance. Soon, she will need to slow down, at which point, Kato would have no trouble at all in keeping up.

---

No matter how hard it was for him to keep up, Delano wasn't going to allow himself to slow down. He will keep up and overtake Lina no matter how long it would take him. He already felt what it was like to go well past his limit recently, so in many ways, he was prepared to do so again. Lina on the other paw, was not.

"Of course I can! Just watch!"

[TheWhistlerify]

"Yeah!" exclaimed Kato with a smirk as he ran alongside Umeme. True, it's been requiring some effort to keep up with her, but not that much effort. After all Umeme wasn't running that quickly. "I'll have you know that we also run together! It's just that we only recently started getting hunting lessons so we've only started doing that!"

Muroki meanwhile remained silent. His mate appeared fo be enjoying herself, and he saw no reason to interrupt her and Kato's little arguement.

~~~

Lina once again looked around after a few moments and let out a startled yelp as she saw that Delano was starting to catch up. He was getting a little too close for her likng. She put in as much effort as she could to try and gain some distance on him, but doubted she actually had any success. It was only a matter of time before he'd catch up to her...

[DGFone]

"So it means that you're getting some more practice! Now quit complaining and keep up!" Umeme was able to keep up ahead, but eventually she had to relent that her energy ran out. She slowed down a little, but it was enough for Kato to catch up to her and Muroki with ease.

---

Seeing Lina at her limit brought hope to Delano. At this rate, he was going to outlast her, and sure enough, she started to slow down. He grinned, putting in a last bit of speed and lunged at her, sending both of them rolling. The world tumbled around him, but they came to a stop, with him planting Lina firmly on the ground. "Gotcha!" he panted in triumph.

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato rolled his eyes. "I was not complaining! I simply stated the fact that it's harder for me because-"

"Yeah, yeah!" Muroki cut him short. "Stop making excuses!" He just couldn't help himself.

Kato frowned and kept running, keeping up with the two young adults. Despite Umeme's constant teasing, he had to agree with her that this was a good practice for him, even if it had initially been started as a simple chase for fun. Truth be told, whenever he ran about with Desta, he also thought of it more as a fun way to pass the time rather than just training. That way of looking at it made it all the more enjoyable.

The prince said nothing as Umeme began to slow down, nor did he tease her when she eventually came to a complete halt. She was pregnant after all. If that weren't the case, he wouldn't have been able to keep up with her and Muroki to begin with. "That was fun." he said, panting in order to catch his breath. Muroki gave him a silent nod of agreement, though he seemed to be mostly please with the fact that his mate had enjoyed herself because he knew how much she hated being cooped up inside their den all day.

---

Lina continued running as fast as she could, but that did not delay the inevitable. Delano finally caught up to her and pounced, sending them both rolling over in a heap. Much to Lina's fake dismay, that resulted with him on top, pinning her down. "Oh no..." she said, panting as well as her ears went flat against her head. "Looks like you've won..." grinning, she wrapped her paws around his shoulders and pulled him down. His legs were exhausted because of the intense running and they gave in, causing him to fall onto her. Lina giggled, licking him once across his cheek.