AUTHOR'S NOTE – My Christmas present to you – chapter 2 of "Nivio: The Cubhood of Loner"! Aww, I'm so sorry I couldn't upload it earlier. But before I waste any time talking about the stress I had, let me give a shout-out for my reviewers on chapter 1:

LMDGlUVR4EVA, Nala5, Demo the Bounding Jackalope, Troy Wong, Kovu115, Kiara32

Thank you so much, you're the best! I'm really glad you like this story so far. There's just one important thing I want to ask: Troy Wong said that my use of the words "Flashback" and "End of Flashback" ruined the chapter. I'm truly sorry for that! What do the others think, do you also think it ruins the chapter? If you do, I'll delete those words from the first chapter, and in any case, I'll make sure not to use them again.

But now, on with the story. This is gonna be a pretty sad part, but I hope you like it.

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Chapter Two: Tragedy strikes

Many days went by in the jungle, and those were happy days for Kinja and Roho. Every day, they watched their son's movements and smiles with joy and pride. For the first few weeks, they had been doing nothing but lying there, except for the times when Roho went hunting. Kinja played with Nivio and fed him, and she slowly regained her strength. After about four weeks, she was ready to get up again and search for a new and safer place to stay.

"Are you sure you're strong enough to walk again, honey?" Roho asked her, before they got ready to set out.

Kinja nodded and while getting up, she replied: "Of course, Roho, it's been four weeks now. I feel fine." When she had gotten on her paws, her legs still felt a little wobbly for a while. But it was no big deal, and so she picked up little Nivio by the scruff and mumbled: "Let's go."

And so, they were on their way, following a small path along other rock formations like the one where they had been living for the past months. All the way, there were waterfalls and a river beneath to their right, and large open fields behind the trees to their left. Their surroundings didn't seem to change. In fact, it seemed as if all those rocks were getting higher and higher.

"Maybe we chose the wrong direction," Roho stated. "Maybe we should go back and try the other way."

Kinja looked back at him, shaking her head no. Then Roho suggested: "Or we could just walk through that field and see where this leads us."

At that, Kinja stopped somewhat shocked. She turned around to face her mate and put Nivio on the ground to speak up: "Are you serious? You want to go through that open field, where every creature can see us? Who knows how long this is going to take us?"

"But what do you wanna do? Somehow I think we should've taken the other way. I somewhat remember we came from there when we chose that rock as a place to stay back then."

Kinja shook her head once again and said: "There's got to be something on the end of this path we're going. I don't want to go back, after this long walk."

"Okay," Roho finally agreed.

As they went on, suddenly an odd smell came to Roho's nose. It seemed to be far away, but it made him feel pretty uncomfortable. He never smelled anything like this before, and he wasn't entirely sure if it was the smell of a creature. Kinja didn't seem to notice it, maybe she wasn't able to smell it because she held Nivio in her mouth. Or maybe it was just his imagination?

But as the trees were standing closer together to their left and the path went on, the smell became stronger. He couldn't just imagine it. Now, his feelings changed from uncomfortable to awkward. This whole place seemed creepy to him. How he had wished to turn around! When he just decided to tell his mate about how this place affected him, he noticed that Kinja herself had slowed down and went on in a little more cautious way. Then she stopped. Right in front of her, there was a huge abyss, the river streaming at its bottom. And next to the abyss, where the path ended, surrounded by the large trees, was something like a cave. It seemed to be a very deep cave, as it was totally dark. Kinja started to shiver.

"Roho…," she mumbled anxiously.

Roho appeared beside her and sniffed the peculiar smell. "Dear, I don't know what's inside this cave, but one thing I do know: We should go back right now."

They both turned around, and Roho let Kinja go first. But before they could take another step, they felt the earth moving under their paws. Just a little bit, then heavier. They heard steps behind them, steps of large feet. Cautiously, they turned their heads towards the cave, when a huge dark figure appeared in the entry. Roho gasped, Kinja's eyes went wide with horror. That thing stood on two legs, and it was almost three times as tall as they were! Roho finally found his voice again: "Kinja, run!"

At that, the creature let out a deafening roar. It was a large gorilla. Kinja immediately started to run, Roho behind her. They weren't able to run fast, as the path was very small, limited by the many trees to their right and by the abyss, which was getting a little bit smaller, the further they ran. The gorilla followed with slower, but much larger steps, making the ground shake every time he set a foot on it. Roho and Kinja, with little Nivio in her mouth, stumbled along the small path. When they had reached one of the large rock formations, Kinja tripped all of a sudden. "Kinja!" Roho cried out and stopped to bend over her. Nivio had fallen out of her mouth and slid onto the rock, almost to the edge. The tiny cub squealed with fear. Before Kinja could get up, she crept towards him and took him back into her mouth. But by now, the gorilla had caught up with them. He stood in front of the rock, still making sounds of anger. They were trapped!

"We've got to get back on the path!" Roho said panickingly as he looked down to the river in the abyss underneath them and the water falling at the side of the slippery rocks. He quickly turned to Kinja: "Stay where you are!" And with that, he extended his claws and roared back at the gorilla. The creature looked a little surprised at that, but didn't lose its scary appearance. It roared back and lifted its arms to strike at the lion. Roho took the chance to strike the gorilla's large belly. The gorilla shortly made a painful sound, then moved back a little and tried to hit Roho. Roho ducked away from the huge fist and continued to roar at the creature. He quickly looked back to make sure Kinja was okay and then charged again at the gorilla. This time, he clawed into the gorilla's pelvis and tried to bite into its leg, which was pretty painful for the creature and made it tumble backwards again. Roho continued his scratching and clawing, then he looked behind him again. He just had to get this beast a little further away, so Kinja could get back on the path safely. The gorilla tried to hit Roho again, so he ducked away and then clawed its leg again. Slowly, the creature made another few steps backwards. That was the chance!

"Kinja!" Roho shouted back over his shoulder. When he saw that Kinja was already standing, he continued: "Get back onto the path! Quick!" Kinja nodded and did as he said. But just when she was stepping onto the path behind Roho, the gorilla regained his strength and hit Roho hard with his fist. Roho flew away from the creature and landed on Kinja! Kinja was crushed to the ground under his weight. When her head hit the ground, it happened – her mouth opened from the pain, and Nivio fell out again. He slid down onto a rock ledge underneath, where the water started to stream down. It slowly started to take the cub with it. When Kinja managed to open her eyes again, they went wide with shock. "Nivio!" she screamed, horrified. She crept closer to the edge and tried to reach her cub with one of her paws. But the stream was too strong for the little cub. Nivio glanced at his mother, with horror in his eyes, as he suddenly was taken down the waterfall and disappeared in the abyss. Kinja cried: "NOOOOOO!"

Roho winced in pain as he finally got back onto his paws. He had perceived Kinja's cry, but he couldn't think about its meaning, as he had to get ready for attack again. The gorilla bent over him in a threatening way. But now, Roho fought fiercer than ever, driven by anger. He roared and clawed and bit and struck, until he scratched a deep wound into one of the gorilla's eyes. The gorilla roared louder than ever, stumbling around, blinded by the wound. The creature couldn't see where it was stepping, and so, it tripped over the edge of a rock and fell down into the abyss. One could hear a loud splash when it landed on the ground in the river.

After Roho had watched the gorilla fall down, he collapsed to the ground. He was entirely exhausted from the fight. Soon, Kinja walked towards him on wobbly legs, tears in her eyes and all over her face, sobbing: "Roho… oh no, please… wake up." She nudged him with her wet nose, but he didn't move. She sniffed and lay down beside him, placing her head on his cheek. He was breathing, she could feel it. "Roho…," she started again, sobbing even more. "Wake up. I… have to… tell… you… I… lost our son!" Then she could no longer hold it and cried heavily, letting her tears fall into Roho's mane.

-

Down in the abyss, in the middle of the river, lay the gorilla, water streaming around its dead body. Its neck was broken when it had hit the ground. Not too far away, downstream, there was a large bush, growing beside the river. Beneath the thick leaves of the bush, there lay the tiny tan-colored lion cub. Nivio was bleeding out of some scratches all over his small body. He was stuck in the bush, but the water was streaming right below him. The cub was still breathing, very flatly. The twigs of the bush gradually bent down under his weight, water touching his fur.

-

High above, Kinja kept crying into Roho's mane, when he finally woke up. "Uh, Kinja," he groaned, "It's okay, I'm alive." Kinja gasped and even smiled for a short moment, relieved that her mate had woken up. But when Roho had managed to sit upright again, she started sobbing again. Roho looked at her in a confused way.

"Kinja, dear? Where's our son?" he asked in a worried way.

Kinja sniffed: "Roho, our Nivio… he… I believe he is… dead."

"What? How?"

"He fell down the waterfall," she sobbed. "I lost him… It's all my fault!"

Roho was shocked to hear that. He looked all about him, as if he didn't believe Nivio was gone. But then, he nuzzled his mate, with tears in his eyes, and said: "No, dear, don't say that. I'm sure it wasn't your fault. Maybe he's still alive…"

"He was just a little baby!" Kinja cried. "A four weeks old baby! How could he survive that? But if he survived, I have to find him!"

She was about to climb down, but Roho held her back. "Kinja, no, it's too steep and slippery here. We have to find a safer way down."

"But, Roho, he needs me! I have to find him now!"

"If you fall down, you can't help him any more! Kinja, please. Let's find a safer way down."

He looked into her eyes, with a sad, yet hopeful expression. Finally, Kinja stopped sobbing and looked back into his eyes. She sniffed and nodded: "Alright."

-

The river was streaming fast, taking the small cub with it. After a long way downstream, the river ended in a small lake. There, Nivio lay on the shore, completely wet, but no longer bleeding out of his wounds. Only a short time later, a shadow fell on him. It was the shadow of another creature.

"Oh my, what's this?" came a gentle male voice. "This little guy doesn't look too well."

Two hands cautiously lifted up the small cub. Those were the hands of a monkey.

"I think he's still alive," the monkey thought to himself, "But he's not in a good condition. I wonder what happened to him. Or to his parents. I'll do what I can for him."

He held the cub tight in his arms and made his way back to his place, deeper into the jungle.

End of Chapter Two

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – I hope you liked this chapter. It was pretty hard to write, but I hope it's okay. I just remember that Lion King computer game I once had. Do you know that? I loved that game! Do you remember that level in the jungle, where Simba is attacked by a gorilla? I think it's the same gorilla. Well, and about that monkey in the end: I'm sure you can figure that it's not Rafiki – but I just wanted to make that clear again.

Well now, I don't know when I get to update again. It's probably going to take about as long as it took me for this chapter, or even longer, because I'll have quite many exams at University in January. So, all that's left for me to do now is wish you a merry Christmas and a great start into the new year 2006! Have a great time and see you around!