Nuka and Dotty
Nuka was feeling bored and lonely. Zira had been busier than usual training Kovu to kill and stuff like that, Vitani wasn't nearly as much fun to tease and such lately, and everybody else in general didn't seem to notice him.
Teenage hormones had recently been telling him to find a girl. But none of the girls in the pride, if you could call it that, seemed to like him for what he was. He tried not being himself by acting like Scar, but that seemed to worsen things.
He grumbled to himself. "I'm not that weird…" he muttered, still upset over the way the last lioness reacted to him.
He heard footsteps. Mildly interested, he looked up. To his surprise, he discovered it was a lioness that he hadn't introduced himself to. Her fur was a reddish dirt-brown. The bridge of her nose was thick and rounded and the nose that went with it was rather wide. But her most distinctive feature was her lazy eye, which had an odd line of little dots underneath it.
"Say, y' Zira's kid, aren't you?" she said.
Nuka recognized her- there weren't that many members of the Outlands, but he had never seen her close up. Usually many of the lionesses stood or sat on small cliffs jutting off of the large craggy cave looking angry, when they weren't wandering around, hunting, or sleeping.
"Uh…" Nuka stammered, feeling awkward. It wasn't often that someone recognized him, or even spoke to him without him speaking first. She also was more than just "okay-looking", he thought, like he thought the other lionesses were.
"At least somebody knows that…" he finally said.
"Yeh, I thought so," she replied. "I been wonderin' who y' were. Heard of a guy that was Zira's kid that wasn't Vitani or Kovu, and that he was older. Y' were the only older guy 'round here, so I assumed y' were him."
She bowed her head. "Nice to meet a former prince."
"Former? My mother says I'm still one!" he said, grinning. He stood up and put on a boastful air. "And I could be king, too… if it weren't for that little termite…" he continued, frowning slightly as it came back to him again.
Her head tilted to the left, an eyebrow raised. "Well, y' ma can't really be queen without a king, now can she?"
"No, not really… but the idea is that the brat's going to take over…" he grumbled, sitting down again. He wasn't really realizing it, but he was becoming more and more relaxed around her.
"The brat?"
"Kovu," he said through clenched teeth. "Mother wants him to be king instead of me… says my father wanted it that way…" He was beginning to scowl.
She felt sorry for him- an heir being told that he can't be king must be terrible.
"Hey, don't feel s' bad," she said. "Way I see it, even if they say Kovu'll be king, y' still be the rightful king!"
Nuka looked up at her, surprised. No one had ever said that to him. He stood up again, and a large delighted smile slowly appeared on his face. "Y--… y-you really mean that…??"
"Sure, why not? Not like y' have to do what y' dad said once y' ma dies, right?"
His smile disappeared. "You're not saying that I… uh…" He coughed. "…Well, mother isn't leaving anytime soon… she'd kill me if I tried anything. Kovu, too…" He started to feel depressed. "I mean, he's had the training, and what have I done…?"
He thought of something and looked at her again. "Why should you care…?"
She blinked. Her lazy eye finished first. "I'm not sure…"
He blushed, although you couldn't see it under his fur. "You…" He grinned shyly. "…You don't… like me, do you…?"
She stared at nothing. "Can't really say for sure, myself…" She turned to him. "Y' are nice…"
He gave a weird, girlish, nervous giggle. He quickly covered his mouth, embarrassed.
She gave an odd chortle in response, and covered her mouth too.
"Well, I think I like you…" he said, sighing. "You have a wonderful laugh…"
"Do I really? Thought it sounded freaky…"
She looked at him once more. She smiled.
Somewhere in the caves, next to the special spot where Kovu slept, was the napping area. This was where all the lionesses slept for the night, and ever since Zira ripped that hole in the top (which served as something of a small skylight), it was also good for use in the daytime. Before, one would only nap there during the daytime if one had a preference for shadiness, which was a luxury in the Outlands. If one still preferred shade, no one said you had to sleep beneath the light.
The lionesses that were there that day were mostly the daughters of Zira's friends and family, so they were all raised in the Outlands, around Nuka's age. Being in the same age group, and the only adolescents in the "pride", they became something of a sorority.
"Hey, girls!" said a voice.
The lionesses looked up. "What…?" asked one.
Nuka and the lioness he just met appeared. Several of them wrinkled their noses upon seeing him.
"Dotty, what's he doing here?" asked another.
Nuka quickly looked at his new acquaintance. "So that's your name?" he asked.
"Yep," she said, and turned to the others. "What's wrong with 'im bein' here?"
"The guy was actin' totally goofy around me!" a lioness with blue eyes said.
"Yeah, me too, the little weirdo," said another lioness.
"I think he's trying to get a girl…" said yet another.
Nuka looked at Dotty and smiled nervously, embarrassed as usual.
She looked back at him, reading his eyes. She looked to the others again, and promptly began defending his case. "Well, y' can't blame 'im can you? He's a teenager, plus he doesn't really have anyone- plus 'is ma always ignorin' 'im!"
There was a pause. The girls never had gotten used to her ability to quickly analyze others.
Nuka was a bit bewildered too. But then he felt a bizarre mixture of gratitude, awe at her quick and thorough personality deduction, admiration, delight, relief, curiosity, surprise, bewilderment, and finally a sense of overwhelming as all these reactions crashed into each other and made him fall over, with a lopsided smile. Dotty was swiftly becoming fascinating in his eyes…
"Well, if y' feel that way, sis, then all right…" said a lioness.
Nuka could see why she called Dotty "sis": she had an extremely similar row of dots under her eyes as well, but on her left eye, rather than her right. Her features were also much more angular.
"Maybe it's just a case of actin' dumb aroun' girls…" she said, although Nuka wasn't entirely pleased about the comment.
Dotty looked at Nuka. "I jus' realized… I don' know y' name!"
Nuka was surprised. "Oh… it's Nuka."
"Then I'd like y' t' meet Nuka…" said Dotty to everyone. She walked towards her mirror-spotted sister. "Nuka, this is Spotty, my older sister…"
"Uh… um, hi." said Nuka, who wasn't used to introducing himself.
"Spotty, Nuka… he's th' eldest son of Zira."
"Y' don't say… then how come Kovu's supposed t' be king?"
Nuka scowled. Dotty noticed.
"'E doesn't like t' talk about it," she said, once again surprising Nuka.
This time she went to a lioness with an unusually long neck, which had clumps of long hair on the back, near the top. She also had large, round eyes, and a round-ish face.
"This is Scruffy, my cousin. I assume y've met?"
Scruffy frowned, lowering her eyebrows, which made her eyes cross a little. This meant "yes".
"I still don't like you," she said. Nuka felt uncomfortable.
Dotty rolled her eyes. Next was an orange-ish brown lioness with bright blue eyes. "And this is Kaburi," she said.
She merely nodded, with a serious look on her face. Nuka nodded back.
The lioness that Dotty walked up to next had unusually large, square-ish, and strong-looking jaws. On her nose was a small muddy-colored mark.
"This is Scratch. She's th' strongest of th' bunch."
"Hi," said Nuka, trying to appear more confident.
She raised her eyebrows, lowered her eyelids, and looked away, with a completely uncaring expression. She raised her upper lip high to pick her teeth, revealing them to be frighteningly large and sharp.
"How ya doin'…?" she said, sounding uninterested.
Nuka cringed. Zira's sharp teeth were pretty darned scary, but hers could do some real damage…
Next on the list was a lioness who had the least angular face of all, some scruffy fur on her cheeks, and probably most importantly (Nuka guessed from the previous names), a small dot beneath her lower lip.
"This is Beauty-Spot," Dotty said simply. "Our ma's say that they used to name cubs after tha' sorta thing."
"Hey," she said. She had the friendliest voice and expression so far… Nuka smiled and nodded.
Dotty was now next to a slender (more pleasantly than the others) lioness, whose fur was much more "Pridelander-like", closer to Vitani's in color. Her face was smooth and long-ish, but it looked angry, especially with her downward-facing, calligraphy-like eyebrows and narrowed eyes.
"This is Digger, so-called because she digs f' food aroun' here," said Dotty.
To Nuka's surprise, Digger got up and walked up to him still with her grim expression, and Nuka cowered a little as he saw her shoulder muscles bulge beneath her fur, wondering if she was going to hurt him.
She spoke with a no-nonsense voice. "Well, I'm going to have to treat you with more respect, aren't I?" she said, raising a distinctive eyebrow. "Being Zira's kid… and Dotty's boyfriend…"
Both Dotty and Nuka were taken by surprise by this comment, and both were a little embarrassed.
Nuka didn't know much about Dotty, but he felt strange feelings of adoration… her strangeness, her unpredictability, her ability to see him as more than "Zira's weird kid"… and he was so lonely…
He coughed. This caught Dotty's attention.
He grinned, almost dreamily. "I don't mind being your boyfriend…"
"I don't either," she said, and spontaneously ran off playfully.
It was twilight, and Nuka scratched lazily at his itchy mane. Reminded again that despite it reaching down to the bottom of his chest, it wasn't nearly as full as Kovu's, which was irritating, especially since he was older.
Suddenly a big, furry torpedo named Dotty tackled him, knocking the wind out of him temporarily. Had it been a game of Battleship, Dotty likely would have blown up the entire fleet.
"Oof," was the most Nuka could say.
"Didn' hurt y', did I?" she said, amused.
Nuka pushed her off with all his might using his hind legs. "I'm alright now!"
Rolling and tumbling about in the dust, the two of them wrestled and laughed playfully as a lion couple would.
Suddenly Nuka compulsively leaned over and kissed Dotty. Dotty was surprised as it sent a shiver down her spine and made her muscles go slack. Nuka held on enthusiastically for a moment, surprised as well.
As soon as they let go of each other, Dotty said, "That y' first?"
Nuka blushed once again and gave another nervous smile. "Heh… I guess it was…"
Dotty gave him an impressed look. "…It was a good one… I liked it."
Nuka just grinned shyly. It was only for a little while, and he had just remembered something. He stared into space and gave a slight sigh.
"Somethin' wrong?" she asked.
"Oh…" he began. "Mother feels that Kovu is ready and his training is complete. And I've only got less than half the exercise…"
"Duzzat mean Zira's plan t' dethrone Simba's ready?"
"Yeah," he said simply. "Simba's done for."
"Sure seems like it."
There was an odd silence. It seemed to have happened so fast.
Soon the stars began to appear in the sky. Suddenly Nuka remembered his father telling him there was something special about those little white specks up there, but he couldn't remember what it was…
"Dotty, do you have any idea what the stars are?" he asked.
"Guess they're somethin' special. 'F I recall, they mean somethin'."
"But what?"
"Dunno… ancestors 'r spirits, I 'spose…"
Nuka and his Return
Nuka jerked awake. It was raining. Scrambling out of the pile of dried-up wood, his eyes darted back and forth. Where was everyone? What happened? How long had he been unconscious? Little did he know that a decisive battle was taking place.
He tried to get to his feet. He felt a sharp pain- it was no good. Both his hind legs were broken. He wouldn't be his usual jumpy self for a while. He found a path leading out of the gorge and dragged himself up.
It was a good thing he did. A while later, a huge flood charged down the gorge. He stopped to watch- he liked destruction. Just then something caught his eye. A paw?
It was about a year later, and Vitani was still mourning for Nuka. And her mother. Zira was crazy and scary, but she was still her mother. Her new boyfriend (his name's not important, their relationship didn't last long) didn't really help much either.
"You need to move on, Vitani," he would say. "Try and forget that they're dead. Just remember the good times… that's what my mom told me."
"Shut up, you," she would reply.
Nuka, meanwhile, hadn't gone into the Pridelands, even though he was incredibly curious as to what happened. He didn't go because, first, the gorge was flooded, second, his legs were broken, and third, he was afraid to know what happened and whether or not he'd be welcomed or get killed.
So he spent most of his time wandering around, and early on, dragging himself around just so he could reach some water or maybe a lizard.
When the gorge was dried up again, he was surprised to find some actual plants growing. Not much, but more than usual. Other than that, he went closer and closer to the border as his curiosity grew and his legs mended.
"What… happened…" he often mumbled to himself.
A young lioness spied a lion about her age washing himself in the watering hole off in the distance. Who was this? She had never seen him around the pride before. Whoever he was, he was quite handsome- at least she thought so.
His legs completely healed, Nuka found himself in Pridelands water washing himself off. Was he crazy? Maybe a little, but he figured anyone in this situation would have done the same. He just couldn't stand it any longer, so he decided to venture into Pridelander territory. First though, he would clean himself up, especially his mane. He was grateful that it had finally fully grown. During most of his adolescence, that fact that he just vaguely had one didn't really help his confidence.
As she walked closer to Nuka, the lioness became slowly more disgusted as his features became more clear. His mane was thin, matted, and dirty. His nose and ears were unusually large. His whiskers were crinkled and rumpled. And worst of all, he was lanky, scrawny, and his face was all wrinkled. How long had this guy been in the lands outside of the pride?
Nuka's ears pricked up. There was a young lioness approaching.
"Bwaahh!!" he screamed, and dunked himself underwater.
Now there's a weird reaction, the lioness thought to herself.
Nuka couldn't hold his breath anymore, and burst out of the water. After catching his breath, he saw the lioness again and froze, his face twitching.
"You look terrible…" was what she said, assuming this wasn't his normal state.
Nuka thought she looked vaguely familiar. "Y-you're n-not going t-to report me…?" he finally mumbled.
"What? Why would I?" she asked.
"I… Y-you don't know who I am?" he asked back.
"No…" she said, raising an eyebrow. "Why? Who are you?"
Nuka didn't expect this. He backed away some. "W-well… th-that is… I'm an Outlander." he said, and covered his mouth. He didn't mean to say that, but he did.
"Outlander??" she laughed. "There aren't any 'Outlanders' left!"
"What?!?" he shrieked, and slid on the mud under the water, causing him to fall flat on his face.
He didn't bother to get up. He was terrified at the thought of Vitani and his mother gone.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Despite his scruffy appearance, she was concerned.
Nuka looked up at her, and then he was confused. He knew her face somewhere, but it wasn't as bony as he remembered.
"Oh, I know…" she answered herself, "You think I meant that they were killed… Chill… I was one of them."
"Y-y-you…" he said, "…you were one of the ones that worked for my mother…"
Mother? she thought. "Don't tell me that you're that whiny guy who liked fire!"
"Hey!! I'm not whiny!" he whined, standing up. The mud dripped off him.
Her nose wrinkled. "You are so weird…"
"B-but…"
"Look, the least I can do is not tell anyone you're alive, since you seem so keen on not being discovered…"
She ran off; she had apparently been doing something else.
Nuka still had no idea what had happened. He wasn't even sure if what she said was true.
Zazu was flying overhead. Below him he could see a lioness and a lion talking to each other in the waterhole.
"Who is that bag of bones she's speaking to? I haven't seen him around," he said to himself. He perched on the branch of a tall tree.
"In fact, he doesn't look familiar at all. Could he be a rogue?" He stopped. "A rogue? That can't be good!" And so he flew off to tell Simba.
Simba had been lying on a rock waiting for the lionesses to return from the hunt. Kovu sat some feet below him.
"So how's Kiara's hunting going, Kovu?" Simba asked him.
"A lot better, I think," he answered.
"How were you able to teach her, anyway?"
"Um… guys can hunt too, you know."
Simba was embarrassed. "Oh… yeah. Well, remember, I wasn't around other lions for a long time there…"
Kovu rolled his eyes, and proceeded to look off into the distance where a lioness' erect tail could be seen sticking out of the grass. It was likely Kiara's.
He sighed. "I wonder what mother and father think of me now."
Simba paused a moment. "Well, if you tune in just right you can sometimes sort of feel the spirit of someone who's died…" he said, looking up somewhat wistfully. "Though sometimes I think they deliberately distance themselves when they have plans in mind and don't want you to know."
"Really?" Kovu asked with interest. "Do you think you could feel them?"
Simba looked hesitant. "Probably, but I'm not sure if they'd appreciate the intrusion…" Even so, Simba became rather curious about it, and decided to give it a try.
Closing his eyes and concentrating on the names Scar and Zira, rather than Mufasa and Sarabi, he searched for them. Slowly a blood red and a ghastly green filled his head. Images of tense, wrinkled facial muscles and extended claws swam about. Pain shot through his body, his stomach cramped, and he lost his ability to breathe.
Kovu watched, horrified. With a painful growl, Simba forced his eyes open. His vital bodily functions returned to normal.
"Hate. Lots of hate," Simba said, catching his breath. He turned to Kovu. "Remind me to never do that again…"
Suddenly, Zazu flew into Simba's face.
"AUGH!!!" The shock almost caused him to fall off the rock.
"Sire! Sire!" Zazu shouted, proving that a scene like this just isn't funny in written form.
Simba managed to catch his breath somewhat. "Zazu… from now on, you are forbidden to fly into anyone's face…" he panted. "Now what is it??"
"Forgive me, sire, but there is an unknown lion roaming the Pridelands! I saw him at the waterhole."
"Is that all??"
"Well yes, sire… I just don't want another king, that's all."
"Well, that's very nice of you to say that… but next time don't get so panicky!"
Nuka had finally finished washing, and was admiring his fur. For the first time in years, it was actually clean! He sighed. Even though he was clean, he still wasn't all that good-looking. He wished Dotty were here.
In the distance, he could see an adult lion and a bird following him coming in his general direction. He couldn't make out any distinguishing features. Forgetting he didn't want to be discovered, he squinted, scrunching up his face, trying to see them more clearly.
He quickly saw a glimmer of bright blue from the bird. He wasn't quite sure who the lion was yet, but he knew who the bird was: that dumb snobbish hornbill (at least in his opinion). That likely meant that the lion was Simba!
He immediately jumped, but quickly calmed himself down, and tried sneaking off so as to not attract attention, using the ol' Outlander stealth. He was a little rusty, so he looked sillier doing it than usual. He hid behind a nearby rock.
Simba eventually reached the waterhole, trying not to look intimidating, though he was prepared for any fighting.
"Come out wherever you are…" he murmured.
Nuka recognized Simba's voice, and his heart began to pound. He wasn't sure if it was worth it to jump out and attack him. But eventually it came to him that it was highly unlikely that Zira was alive, and the others were dead, too. That would also mean Vitani. And… Kovu would still be alive.
The anger rose up inside him. He jumped out from behind the rock, pouncing on him. To his great surprise, he was quickly tossed back, bumping his head.
"Good grief, it's you!" he heard Simba say. Nuka was ashamed of himself. He was knocked away so quickly, it immediately drained his confidence. He turned away.
"Who, sire?" inquired Zazu, who had perched on a low branch from a nearby tree.
"It's that funny-looking kid of Zira's!" Simba answered, temporarily losing his kingliness. Then he turned to Nuka. "I thought you were dead!"
Nuka frowned and turned away more. He never liked people reminding him of his looks.
"What are you doing here?" Simba asked sternly.
"Shut up, you murderer." Nuka said bluntly.
Simba knew he wasn't one, but nonetheless being called "murderer" still wasn't pleasant. He then realized he meant the other Outlanders.
"You've got it all wrong…" he explained. "None of your, uh… friends are hurt."
"W-what do you mean?" Nuka said, looking at him. "A-aren't you going to kill me?"
"Not unless you're going to try to kill me, but even then I wouldn't want to. Now…" He got closer to him. "…what are you doing here?"
Nuka winced. He didn't feel safe at all with him that close. Thinking about it, he didn't really know. At first, it was just a nagging curiosity that brought him here. He hadn't really planned how he would find out anything.
"I… I really don't know…" he finally said. "Could… could you j-just tell whether or not the Outlanders are alive?"
"I already told you… they're unharmed."
"But… why?"
"I think it'd be better if you found out at Pride Rock…" he said, turning. He then looked back at him, gesturing for him to follow.
Nuka was bewildered. Of all things, he didn't expect to be welcomed.
Zazu didn't look so sure either. "But, sire, he could--"
"Don't worry… I think he just wants to know about his family…" Simba said in a low voice, so Nuka wouldn't hear.
"So you see, we realized that basically, we are one." Simba said, concluding his story. He was becoming fond of the phrase "We are one". It was effective.
"So the Outlanders and the Pridelanders joined together and made peace," Nala added.
Nuka could hardly begin to comprehend such a concept. Zira wouldn't hear of it!
"W-what about my mother? She wouldn't want that if her life depended on it!" he said, not knowing how right he was.
Simba and Nala looked at each other. This wouldn't be easy to tell him.
"Nuka…" Simba sighed, "…she didn't. She was faithful to Scar to the end."
Nuka just stood for a moment. For some reason he didn't seem surprised.
"I thought so…" he finally said, and looked at the ground. "She was one crazy lioness…" Then tears began to well up. "H-how… how did it happen?"
Kiara spoke. "Even after we made peace she tried to attack my dad. I stopped her and we rolled into the gorge. I survived but… she fell into the flood."
Nala walked up to Nuka. "But don't worry… everyone else is still here. Vitani, Dotty…" she said, more familiar with who knew who than Simba, "…even Kovu."
"K-kovu??" he said, as several emotions flared up to extremes inside of him. "That little…"
"Did I say something wrong?"
"N-nothing! It's nothing…!" he stammered yet again, and started walking off. "Er, thanks…"
He stormed off, not bothering to hide any body language, but trying hard to not let them see his face.
Kovu was returning to Pride Rock after a little walk. Even after a year he still just couldn't get over how clean and full of life the Pridelands were. But on his mind now was who that rogue Zazu reported was.
"Hope Simba is okay after the fight," he said to himself. "Well, if there was one…" he shrugged.
As he climbed up the rocks, he could hear low angry muttering. He stopped to listen, keeping as quiet as possible, his ears turned in the direction of the sound.
"I should've known he'd be alive… joining Simba… Kovu, the guy who ruined my life… making me just ugly and useless…" Then he began crying, and said, "…This ruins everything… everything I ever did is completely pointless…"
He's talking about me…Kovu thought. Ugly and useless… hmm… Nuka? He popped his head out from behind the rock he had concealed himself with. It was Nuka!
"Nuka! You're alive!" he exclaimed, running out to greet him, smiling.
Nuka gave a high-pitched shriek, and fell over the rock he was leaning on. After seeing who it was, he face turned into a grimace.
"You!" he said.
"Me?" asked Kovu.
"You're the one who my life completely miserable! It was Kovu this and Kovu that--" He took a breath and screamed, "Mother hated me because of you!"
"Uh…"
"You know that, don't you? While you were being smothered with attention, and 'training', I was left to rot in the background…!"
"Well, I, uh… I didn't really like all that attention…" Kovu said awkwardly. "'Why's mother talking to me all the time?' I used to wonder… and, uh, yeah… heh…"
"Well, I…" Nuka stuttered, upon hearing this. "You… but…" He then slumped on the ground, as he did many times before. "You could've at least noticed me…"
"It was bit hard with mother around…"
"She hated me… that's all there is to it…" he continued, his face in his paws. "Scar hated me… they all hated me… I was just a big loser…" He then looked at Kovu, with tears in his eyes. "It's still your fault!! Why Scar would… and…"
He broke down. He slammed his face in the dirt and cried very quietly. Kovu had never seen Nuka so angry and freaked out before.
"It was hardly my fault, Nuka. I didn't ask to be his replacement. He just wanted somebody else…"
"S-so what th-th-then? Am I supposed to b-blame Scar?" He paused and lifted his head up, but just barely. "'Because he thought you were ugly,' she said… I'm always going to be just ugly, huh? Who gives a… why should that…"
He put his face down again. Tears still ran down his cheeks, and his face was getting dirty. "…I'm looking worse, aren't I?" he said miserably.
"To be honest… yes. But that's because you have your face in the dirt." He sighed, and laid down next to him. "Look, Nuka. Scar didn't know you when he said that. Mother never bothered to know you. Me and Vitani never knew you because of her. All I knew was that you were my older brother- goofy, and funny-looking."
Nuka didn't answer. So he continued. "Maybe since you're back, and nobody's here to get in the way, we can see what else you are."
"Fehhh…" Nuka groaned. He didn't really know if there was anything else to him, other than being miserable, jumpy, and scared to death of his own mother. "…I like burning things…" he finally said, reluctantly.
Kovu laughed a little. "C'mon. I'm sure Vitani and your girlfriend are looking for you now." he said, getting up. "Um… what was her name again? Spot?"
"Dotty…"
"Right. Whatever."