"Tenzin, do we really have to do this?" Korra groaned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Especially in the morning? Mornings are evil…"

Tenzin gave Korra a sympathetic look, as he was still tired himself. "It wasn't my choice, Korra. I was just asked to bring you all here."

Currently, it was seven in the morning and a big group of the Legend of Korra characters were gathered in the backstage of the Republic City Theater. Tenzin had brought them there at the request of RachieFly, a big time stage director. She'd decided to put on a play in Republic City and asked for Korra and her friends to be the cast. None of them really wanted to, but they came anyway because Tenzin advised them to.

"Why do we have to do this stupid play, anyway?" Korra complained.

"This is a waste of time." Mako, whom was standing next to Korra, sighed heavily.

"Why did I have to come?" Lin demanded.

Asami looked slightly puzzled. "What play are we even doing?"

Before any more questions could be sent Tenzin's way, he held his hand up. "The stage director of this whole event will be here shortly; all your questions, comments and concerns can be brought up to her."

As if on cue, a female in earth bender attire walked onto the back stage carrying a small box and clipboard. As she headed over to the group, she began counting them aloud by two's.

"Two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty." She then proceeded to set the box down and mark something on her clipboard. "Great, we have more than enough."

The group stared at her, waiting for her to introduce herself. Instead though, the female just continued to analyze the group and mark more things down.

Eventually, turned to Tenzin. "Thank you for bringing them, Tenzin."

Tenzin nodded and then went to stand next to Pema, who was near the back.

"Are you the stage director?" Korra finally asked.

The female cleared her throat as she turned her attention to Korra. "Yes, I'm the stage director of this play you all will be performing, RachieFly. If you have any comments, questions or concerns, I'm the one you bring them to. I've been doing this for many years now, so you can trust my thought process and decisions. Everything should run smooth, so long as we get the basics cleared up, like roles and lines. Any questions so far?"

"You're an earth bender?" Bolin asked.

"I wish," RachieFly said. "No, I'm a non bender. I just wear this get up because it's comfortable."

"I've got a question," Asami said suddenly. "What play is it?"

"You all will be acting out the Lion King."

Instead of the sounds of approval—or even disapproval—that RachieFly expected to hear, she heard nothing at all. The group remained silent and continued to stare at her with confused faces.

Eventually, Tahno broke the silence. "What's that about?"

"You guys have never seen the Lion King movie?"

"No," they said in unison.

"I have," Amon said, but then quickly recoiled once everyone turned to him, "…not."

"Okay, this might not run as smoothly as I thought, but no worries, we can make this work." RachieFly let out a small sigh before continuing. "Basically, it's about a lion prince named Simba who is supposed to be King after his father dies. His Uncle, who really wants to be King, kills his father and tricks Simba into thinking it was his fault. Simba runs away, abandoning his identity as the King and so on. He grows up in the jungle, but eventually, returns to take his rightful place and they all live happily ever after…until part two. Throw in a dash of romance, a crazy monkey, two outcasts, and a 'Remember who you are' and boom: you've got the Lion King."

"We're doing a play based off lions?" Mako asked, which struck him as odd.

"What was your first hint?"

Hasook looked uninterested. "That sounds boring."

"You sound boring," RachieFly said, her patience already wearing thin. "Anyway, if you want more details, watch it on your own time. I have to start handing out scripts now. We don't have all day, you know."

She crouched down and opened the small box next to her. Inside the box were several scripts stacked up. She picked up one and then stood back up.

"Wait, I have a question," General Iroh said, raising his hand slightly.

"And I have an answer. You first."

"How many roles are there?"

"Twelve to be exact. We have more than enough people here."

Iroh nodded; since there were around twenty people there, there was a chance of him not being chosen for a role. He began silently praying to the Spirits that he didn't have to participate. By the look on Asami's face, he could tell she was doing the same thing.

"If that's all, let's begin assigning roles." RachieFly looked at her clipboard for a moment and then back up at the group. "Korra, you'll be Simba."

She handed the script to Korra. "Next is Nala, that'll be—"

"Wait. Simba's a boy," Korra cut her off.

"Yes."

"And I'm a girl…"

"I've noticed."

RachieFly stared at Korra, waiting for the point of her interruption. After a minute or two of silence, Korra just sighed and shook her head.

"…never mind."

"Great. Now go study your script, because the play will commence soon."

"Soon? As in today?"

"No, soon as in the next fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes!" the group shouted as a whole.

"Say it a bit louder, why don't you? I don't think they heard you in Ba Sing Se!"

Korra's jaw dropped to the ground. "How am I supposed to learn a whole play based off a movie I've never seen before in fifteen minutes?"

"By analyzing the script and not questioning me about it. Moving on!" RachieFly looked at her clipboard again and pulled another script out the box. "Mako, you'll be Nala."

"But Nala's a girl."

"…did you two eat a bowl of obvious flakes this morning?"

Mako glared at her and then mumbled something under his breath as he took the script from her hand and went off to stand by Korra.

"Now can I continue this or does anyone else feel the need to point out obvious genders to me? Bolin, you're going to play Pumbaa, the role seems fitting enough." She handed him a script.

"Sweet."

"Pema, you're going to be Sarabi."

"Okay." She nodded and went to get her script. "Does she have a lot of lines?'

"I guess you'll have to read the script and find out. Tenzin, you can be Mufasa."

Tenzin sighed heavily. "Fine."

"Hmm, I think it's obvious who gets to play Scar." RachieFly paused a moment for dramatic effect before grinning. "…Zuko…get it? Because he has a Scar? Hahaha!"

"That's not funny," Iroh said.

"Or you don't have a sense of humor."

"No, it's just not funny," Iroh said again. "He got that scar when—"

She held her hands up and stopped him before he could tell the tale. "Yes, yes, I know, his honor—it was a joke. The part really goes to Amon, of course."

Amon stepped up. "So I have to play the Tenzin's brother? And I get to kill him and become King?"

"More or less, yes." She handed him a script. "A fan of the Lion King, are we?"

"No…I just heard about it…"

"Mmhmm…anyway, we still need a Timon." RachieFly looked around the group. "I want Tahno!"

"Crap," he said and then slowly walked over to get his script.

"Please, contain your excitement," she said as she handed it to him. "Hmm, it would seem to me that Asami and Iroh make a good Kiara and Kovu…but that's in Lion King 2…that would mean neither of you would get any screen time until the next play."

"That's fine." They both said in unison, a little too eager.

"Yeah, okay, that'll work. However, I still need three hyenas, so you guys could be Shenzi and Banzai for now."

Asami closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "We were this close…this close…"

Her and Iroh retrieved their scripts and then proceeded to go off and study them.

"Now, for my third hyena…Hasook!"

"This is a waste of time." He rolled his eyes as he took his script.

"You're a waste of time. Now let's see…Lin, I want you to play Zira, but she's also in part two. So I'd have to give you another role for now…you can be Rafiki."

Lin took the script reluctantly. "Who's that?"

"Read the script and find out," RachieFly said and then looked back at her list. "Let me see, I think that's it as far as specific roles. The rest of you can just be background characters and whatnot."

Everyone else let out a long sigh of relief, but quickly tensed back up when Amon spoke.

"Wait, what about Zazu?"

RachieFly gave him a strange look, along with a few other people.

"I mean, I think that's his name…"

"You're right, I don't know why I forgot about him—certainly not because he's my least favorite character." She thought about it for a moment. "Hmm…Ikki you're Zazu!"

Ikki used her air bending powers to fly over and take the script. "Woohoo, I get to be in the play!"

"And that's it!" RachieFly said with a smile. "How's everyone doing on their scripts? Good? Any questions?"

Mako raised his hand. "Are we supposed to act like lions?"

"Mako, you beautiful idiot, I'm so glad you asked that because you would've ruined the play had you done that on stage." She cleared her throat. "No, you are people and thus, you will act like people."

"These aren't the same lines from the original movie." Amon noted aloud and then looked around suspiciously. "At least, it doesn't look like it…"

"Yes, I alter some lines with each play I do—it is a RachieFly production, after all. It's all for the better of the show, trust me on this."

Tahno asked a question then, "Is it all right if we ad-lib occasionally?"

"Or for the whole play?" Asami mumbled, but was still heard.

RachieFly sent Asami a look before answering the question, "Yes, so long as you don't get carried away."

"Are Mako and I supposed to act out our younger selves too?" Korra asked next.

"Hmm, I didn't put much thought into that…well, I suppose I could have Jinora and Skoochy do it…"

"No!" Tenzin practically shouted.

"Yeah, I think Tenzin's right in this case. While it would be funny to see him blow his stack over the idea of Skoochy and his daughter, it'd be easier to just have you two act it out."

Bolin raised his hand. "Do we have to sing the songs too?"

"No. This is a play, not a musical. I'm not paying you to sing."

"….you're not paying us at all."

"But if I were, it wouldn't be to sing."

"Okay…"

"In the beginning, I'm supposed to pick up Korra…" Lin started.

"Yes."

"If she's playing Simba then, I can't support her weight. She's practically a grown woman."

"I'm not that heavy," Korra mumbled under her breath.

"Why not? You were Spider-Lin and Wolver-Lin before…this time you can be Hulk-Lin."

Lin gave RachieFly a look that said she wasn't going to pick Korra up. RachieFly sighed and thought to herself for a moment about an alternative.

"Fine, just use Rohan for that scene."

"But Rohan's a boy."

"You too, Lin? Where can I get a box of these obvious flakes?"

"It says here Amon is a non-bender and all of his hyenas—I mean henchmen—are non-benders as well." Iroh noted aloud as he flipped through the pages of the script.

"Yes."

"I'm a bender and so is Hasook…"

"So? This is a play. You're an actor. Act!" RachieFly moved on, losing her patience very quickly. "Anymore questions?"

Asami, Mako, Tahno and Ikki raised their hands.

"No more questions! Analyze your lines! The crowd is getting antsy; we need to start soon."

Pema walked over to RachieFly suddenly and whispered, "This is probably a bad time, but I have stage fright…"

"Pema, I'm so tempted to hit you right now…please, just analyze your lines…"

RachieFly walked away from the group, reassuring herself that the play would turn out fine. As she was doing so, Gommu walked over to her out of the blue.

"RachieFly, you're on in five minutes."

"Alright, thanks."

Taking a deep breath, she went back over to the group. "Five minutes everyone. Gather round! Before this begins, I want to say three things. One: Don't forget your lines. Two: Good luck! I believe in you all. I know this will be a huge success. And three: Don't make me look bad." She shot Pema a look after the third thing. "Now get ready to put on a performance they'll never forget."

As she left, Korra heard someone ask what role they were. "Yeah, I'm sure they'll never forget this…"

RachieFly greeted the large audience with a smile as she walked out onto the stage.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the RachieFly Production: The Lion King: Avatar Edition. I'm your host, RachieFly. This is a once in a lifetime performance put on by only the most talented actors and actresses. They've put in late hours of studying their parts to actually become their characters. The raw emotion displayed here tonight will be like none you've ever witnessed. You may laugh, you may cry, you made laugh and cry at the same time. Regardless, you'll be at the edge of your seat, begging for more, throughout the whole play. Needless to say, you will not be disappointed. Without further adieu, I give you The Lion King."


Hmm...how is this going to turn out? It doesn't look good... Thanks for reading, I certainly hope you enjoyed it.

Should you decide to show me kindness and review, could you please tell me if you'd prefer the play to be written in script form or continued like it is now. Thanks!