The Shadowland Princess
Chapter ten
Poachers and scars
The next morning Nala and Selene are the first to wake up and look at their cubs still asleep. It made the mothers smile. Vitani was hugging her little sister as they slept and Kovu laid on top of his brother Terra (note: yes he's Kovu's friend, but since Selene took him in, it sort of does make them brothers in a sense). Soon they wake the cubs, Nala saying, "Time to get up my little ones."
She then gently shakes them with her chin, Vitani groans saying, "But mom, the sun isn't even up."
Kiara adds, "And we're still sleepy."
"But don't you two want to watch the sun rise with me, Selene, Kovu and Terra?" asks Nala.
This was enough to convince the girls to get up, and soon all of them walk outside and sit to watch the sun rise. It was a brilliant sight and the cubs were told by their mothers that one day when they have cubs of their own they can bring them out to watch the sunrise. Simba had woken up and joins the group, giving the cubs the 'Circle of Life' lecture that his father always use to give him, and the cubs got bored, for they had heard this lecture many times before. Soon Simba takes off to do his kingly duties and Selene and Nala go to join the hunting party with Grandma Sarafina and Zazu goes on with his duties. Grandma Sarabi had offered to babysit the cubs today, and the cubs always had fun when she took care of them. She soon takes them down to the water hole since today looked like it would be especially hot. The cubs splash each other in the water hole and play Marco Polo, and Sarabi thought that there was nothing that would hurt the cubs here at the water hole. That's when they hear Timon and Pumba scream. The two rush past them as if running away from something and every one watches them run. Terra says in annoyance, "What is it this time? Probably saw a snake or a lizard or..." He was cut off when Vitani and Kiara scream, "Poachers!"
Poachers had entered their lands and guns were aimed right on the cubs that were now surrounded by them and were hiding underneath Sarabi, who was trying to protect them. Vitani and Kovu had both received minor scars being caught off guard, Kovu his left eye and Vitani her right front leg. "Sir, maybe we should leave this one and her cubs alone, she's just protecting her babies," a Human says.
"No, we get as many as we can and sell their fur!" Another human shouts.
The humans argue for a while, guns at the ready to shoot Sarabi and the cubs. Then, the one human who disagreed with their leader did something completely unexpected. He started fighting the leader and the battle took hours. The Hunters then did not notice that they had dropped their guns from aim and had let Sarabi and the cubs slip away. They did not go too far, for Sarabi had felt there was something about the one human. Soon the Humans had left for they were loyal to their leader, and he was in bad condition after the fight. They had left the other human on the ground however, feeling no mercy for him. The human then sees Sarabi and the cubs come towards him and he says to no one in particular, thinking he will die, "Just do it. I try to gain your trust and then I try to kill you. I deserve what's to come."
Vitani then recognizes him and gasps. "Grandma, it's that one Human who saved us yesterday. They called him John," She explains.
Sarabi looks at the human and feels a sense sorrow for him. "We'll take him to Rafiki and see what he can do for him, and don't worry, I'll explain what happened to your parents," Sarabi says.
She then puts the human carefully onto her back, which surprises him, but he goes with it, wondering what she will do next. Sarabi and the cubs soon make it to Rafiki's tree and she calls him down. Rafiki then climbs down from his tree and says, "Good afternoon your majesty, I was worried dat poachers may have gotten you and the cubs. And who is dis?"
Sarabi explains what happened to Rafiki and then Vitani asks, "Can you help him? He saved our lives more than once."
"I have a plan dat just might work," Rafiki says.
Rafiki tells them he will conjure up a potion that will save the man's life but also turn him into his 'Animal Spirit'.
Sarabi is shocked to hear this and asks, "You can do really do that? I thought that was just a myth told by Shaman, such as you."
"Oh no, it is real alright, but we are only allowed to do it in certain situations, such as dis one. No one but Shamans know de recipe, and dat is the way we keep it. I will make de potion now and den give to the human," Rafiki says and he climbs back up the tree to make the potion.
"I wonder what animal the human will become," Terra says.
"Me too," Kiara says.
"Me three," Kovu and Vitani say in unison, making themselves and the rest of the group laugh.
Soon Rafiki is back and gives the human the potion. John is hesitant to drink it but knows there may not be food or water for miles and he can't move very far without feeling the pain of his injuries he received in the fight. Soon he drinks it but then curls up for something in the potion made him cringe. He soon passes out and his transformation begins. A bright light encircled him for a second making everyone shut their eyes. Once the light fades, the group opens their eyes to see an albino lion cub lying on the ground. "Well, I must have put some extra ingredient into de potion to make him younger. He's as young as Kiara," Rafiki says.
Sarabi then says, "Well we best get you four and him back to pride rock. He will be in for quite a shock when he wakes up. Let's get going little ones."
They soon follow but Rafiki stops them for a moment to say, "Wait, one more thing. Dat potion not only affected him, but affected de one he is destined to be with. So der is anoder albino lion cub dat will be female sometime in de future you will meet. She might be an adult by de time you meet her, but keep an eye out."
Sarabi nodded and understood what he meant. She just hoped the pride would be prepared for what was to come. Soon they were back at pride rock and Sarabi explained to her son, Nala and Selene the story of the albino cub, John. Simba then told the pride sisters and Zazu to be on the lookout for another possible albino cub. Selene offered to take care of John, since she had a better time handling boys then Simba and Nala did, and they had their paws full with Vitani and Kiara, who were twice as rowdy as the boys. Selene gave John a bath, but was careful wih his wounded right foreleg, for it had been severely hurt in the fight he had gone through, and she didn't want to cause more stress on the young one's injury. She hoped that John would wake up soon, but not freak out too much.
End of chapter 10. I thought I'd add my new OC, John, into the story, with a little magic from Rafiki's concoctions, making him go from human to lion. And yes, the female albino cub I mentioned will be matched up with John the albino cub, a John x OC. The whereabouts of her and her name will remain a mystery for now. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint anyone. Just trying to stay original and throw my own twists in. At the same time I'm trying to make it stay close to the original story of Lion King I and II as much as I can. I'll update as soon as I can. And once more, sorry about the wait, but you know how work gets sometimes. Anyways, please read and review, you guys rock.