Third person view
Everyone froze with fear, shock and confusion as DJ held the grenade in Shenzi's face. Even the lionesses and the hyenas stopped fighting. Most of them wondering what the strange thing DJ had.
"DJ what are you doing? What is that?" Chumvi asked worried. Shenzi looked around her at the hyenas.
"Don't worry, all these things do is make a flash of light and a loud bang" Shenzi said knowing that most who encountered the humans were dead. DJ smiled and with one hand reached into his backpack.
"Those were Flashbangs, humans have three types of grenades. Flashbangs make that loud bang and flash. Smoke grenades which make a huge cloud of smoke. And then there's Frag grenade. And that's the one that I'm holding" DJ explained.
"And what does that do?" Malka asked. DJ pulled the other grenade from his backpack, making sure to keep it hidden in his hand. With one finger, he pulled the pin out while still keeping the safety latch on the first grenade down.
"They do this" he said throwing the grenade over the edge of Priderock. After five seconds of silence, a medium sized explosion came from the direction DJ threw the grenade.
"Boys get everyone back. Hyenas... I think you should get the hell out of here" DJ said. Instantly the hyenas ran off Priderock. But the lionesses were having trouble, mainly because Sarafina was fighting against them trying to get to DJ.
"Sarafina!" DJ said making her stop. He turned to look at her. "It's okay" he said before winking at her. While Shenzi didn't see it she did and stopped fighting against the lionesses. They all reluctantly got back to a safe distance.
"You aren't suicidal" Shenzi said. DJ just looked at her with a bored look.
"We'll see. You got five seconds after I release my grip to do, what you gotta do" he said laying his head back and relaxing his hand. The latch released and fell off onto the ground. Shenzi opened her mouth to kill DJ in the final seconds of their lives.
DJ quickly looked up and shoved the grenade in her mouth. He kicked her back, sending her into the side of Priderock. She quickly spit it out and it rolled to DJ's ka-bar and Bowie knife.
It then expelled a grey smoke slowly covering a small area. Shenzi snarled realizing that she's been tricked and ran at DJ, who quickly walked over to the grenade.
"I did tell you about smoke grenades, right?" he asked before jumping and rolling into the smoke, grabbing his ka-bar as he did. Shenzi jumped at where he was only to hit air. She skidded further into the smoke then she intended.
The smoke now covered a good amount of the platform. Shenzi growled as she looked around. She couldn't see anything with this new smoke and the smoke from the fire.
"Scary, huh? Being out of your element? Just imagine how me and all my friends felt all those years ago" DJ's voice said. She however couldn't find where it was coming from.
"Scared, alone, in a different country" his voice said before Shenzi felt his knife rake over her back. She jumped up and snapped, but only got air again.
"what do you want, huh. Me to say sorry? Well I'm not!" she yelled. She then heard DJ chuckled.
"Apologies mean nothing. Killing you is the only thing that'll bring me closure" he said. Shenzi snarled, she had to get out of the smoke and into the open.
As she backed up however, she bumped into someone. She turned and went to attack only to have a knife embedded onto her throat.
She coughed up blood as DJ brought her close to his face. He smirked before he roughly ripped the knife out of her neck, leaving her with a cut that started halfway into her neck.
She stumbled backwards out of the smoke and near the edge of Priderock.
"I-I... I-I... I-I should've killed you... when I killed your...friends!!" she said before falling off the edge of Priderock. DJ watched her fall this time and seen her body hit the side a few times and drop another fifteen feet.
"Even if you ain't dead now" DJ said smirking. "You'll wish you were" he said as the smoke grenade stopped producing smoke. Added with the wind the platform was soon clear again and the lionesses seen their human pride member.
"Now that we have a second" DJ said turning back to the lionesses. "Who missed me?!" he said holding his arms out. All the lionesses came forwards and either nuzzled him or licked his face. He laughed and took in the feeling that he was feeling at that moment. He was home. And he was happy. Sarafina then appeared in front of DJ and she didn't look happy.
"I didn't like that" she said. DJ smiled sadly before walking up to her.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I needed your reactions to be believable" he said only to met with silence. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."
"Nothing will make up for it" she said. She didn't hate DJ or nothing, but... He could've at least hinted that he would be okay. DJ smiled and leaned into her ear.
"Nothing?" DJ said making Sarafina smile and Nala gag and turn away. Which made the other pride members laugh. Suddenly however, Nala screamed.
Everyone turned their heads and seen Simba and Scar were standing on their back legs hitting each other in the face
Suddenly Scar hit Simba hard and Simba went flying backwards and landed on his back near the edge. Scar crouched and prepared to jump at Simba.
DJ picked up his Colt off the ground and aimed at Scar. DJ fired one bullet and everything seemed to go in slow motion. It soared through the air and hit Scar in the side of the chest just as he jumped, throwing him off his target.
Scar fell short of his target and Simba used his back legs to throw him off the ledge. Simba looked down at the others and smiled at DJ, who smiled back.
Scar rolled down the side of Priderock before finally landing at the bottom. He looked up, his vision now blurry. But he could make out two shapes standing next to another body
"Ah my friends" he said smiling and getting to his feet. In doing so he attracted the attention of the two hyenas. "I know it may take some time, but we will avenge Shenzi's death. That human and Simba will fall" he said only to have Banzai look at him with a bored expression.
"Friends? I thought you said we were the enemy. And how you'd help Simba hunt us down, if he let you stay in the Pridelands" Banzai said before looking at the hyena next to him.
"Ed?" he said with a cocked head. The response he got was a deranged laugh and the sound of Ed licking his lips. Scar then made out other shapes coming out from the fire all around him.
"No-no p-please let me explain" he said backing up till he was against the wall. "I was tricking him you see. No, no! You can't take back these lands without m- NOOOOO!" his yell echoing out as hyenas piled on him. Even though there was only a dozen of them left in the Pridelands it was still enough for him.
DJ's p.o.v
I watched as the hyenas attacked Scar before I heard thunder boom above me. Rain then poured down dousing the fire.
The fire had burnt the death smell and all the dead plants away. Now all that remained was charred lands, but I know that it'll recover. It may take some time but they will recover.
Timon and Pumba came into view with two other meerkats on Pumba with Zazu flying around them before he landed on my shoulder. One of the meerkats looked female and the other an old male. Luckily, I think that Nala and the other lionesses told the others about Timon and Pumba because they didn't immediately attack them. Though it didn't seem to relax the elder male meerkat.
"So what do we do now?" a lioness from Maisha's and Jua's pride asked. I seen Simba coming down from the top.
"Sorry, but I ain't the king anymore. It ain't my place to decide anything" I said as Simba appeared and he must've heard the last part of our conversation.
"We found some lands out in the desert when we were coming back. It's where most of the Pridelands animals went when they left and there's no other lions there. We'll head there for the rainy season and let these lands grow back. Hopefully the herds will follow us when we return" Simba said before turning to the steps to go down Priderock.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" I said not moving along with Sarabi. He stopped and looked at me with a confused look. I smiled and pointed to Priderock's peak.
"Unless your afraid mine is still louder than your's" I said. He smiled and walked towards it but not before stopping at me and nuzzling my stomach. I dropped down and nuzzled his head with mine.
"Your father would be so proud of you. Of the lion who you've become" I said. He nodded.
"He is" he said walking away. I was confused by that but brushed it off as I watched as Simba got to Rafiki who bowed his head.
"My king" he said as Simba continued his way up Priderock.
I stood with the other males and watched as Simba approached the peak. We were about halfway up the peak with the lionesses underneath. Simba got to the peak and roared. It sounded just like Mufasa's did in both sound and volume.
The lionesses roared as well signaling that they accept him as the new king. I looked at the others.
"What do ya say boys?" I said as we all roared as well. Now that they were all full grown, my roar sounded less loud but it still sounded like a lion's.
Soon enough Simba came down off and I gathered my things. I still had a few clips for my Colt and half a magazine for the submachine gun. And I still six bullets for the revolver and four bolts for the crossbow left before I would have to make more or a spear. Go full Tarzan.
After I gathered my things, we started to walk back towards the desert. We'll need to stop at the river so I can refill my canteen and coconuts before we head to the other lands. Along the way, Tojo came up next to me.
"Hey can I ask you something?" he said as Malka and Chumvi came up behind him. I nodded and continued walking. We were at the back of the group while Simba was leading the group.
"When you grabbed that..." he started but paused.
"Grenade?" I said as he nodded.
"Yeah, that. Anyway when you grabbed it out of your backpack, you were so fast. How'd you know which one was which?" he asked. I froze for a second before shrugging.
"Humans have an... Advance sense of touch. I could tell which was which pretty fast. There was nothing to worry about" I said smiling. They smiled back and seemed to be happy with that answer. I turned around and my smile instantly vanished.
Flashback six months ago
I exhaled a breath that I didn't know I was holding in as I sat down in the creaky wooden chair. I just finished teaching the boys some ways to use their other senses if they can't for some reason see.
We had another six months to go before we can return to the Pridelands, but we were making process in their fighting. I pray that everyone is alright. I know that they won't be healthy or well fed, but I just pray they're alive.
The boys were out doing their own things now. I think Timon and Pumba were taking them to some fruit orchard or something.
I leaned back in the chair and put my feet on the desk. I've been going over scenarios in my head about what will happen when we return. Maybe I can send the guys to the northern border and I can come in from the south and take Scar out quietly. I sighed deeply.
But if I'm not there with them, then Scar or Shenzi will know somethings up. Suddenly the back leg of the chair broke and I fell backwards on my back.
I swore before noticing a few boxes underneath the one desk.
"The hell" I muttered to myself before getting up and pulling the boxes out from the desk. They had writing on them but I couldn't read it. One also had a brown handprint on the top of it. But I imagine it was crimson red when it happened.
I opened the boxes and was surprised to see one grenade was left in each one. I knew from my training that one was a Frag and one was a smoke bomb.
I then went into thought. If the hyenas were to see Scar and Shenzi die in a explosion. It may be traumatizing enough to make them leave the lands and the pride alone for good.
'But how to get the Frag grenade close enough to either of them for it to have any damage or effect' I thought before the gears in my head began to turn. After a few minutes I shook my head.
"I'll leave that for plan B" I said to myself before putting the grenades on the desk. I didn't want it to come to that but worse case scenario, I know that the pride will still live on if I'm not there with them.
End of flashback
"DJ?" a voice called out snapping me out of my flashback. I looked over and seen Zira there with Nuka, who was perfectly fine. I couldn't help but let a sour expression slip past as I remembered what Aminifu had told me.
She grimaced before looking down.
"You know, don't you?" she asked. I nodded as she sighed.
"Nuka, why don't you head to the front and see Sarabi for a few minutes" she said. Nuka had grown up in the nine months that we were gone. He now came up to my knee and even though he hadn't become the biggest lion cub I've seen, he had grown lankier than he had been when I last seen him.
Nuka nodded before trotting up to the front of the group.
"So, first can I just say that I am so sorry" she said waiting for my reaction. I just shook my head.
"I just wanna know why Zira, that's all I want to know" I said. She looked down letting a few tears fall onto the ground.
"Scar... He always told me stories about humans. How they were mean and greedy, how they skinned lions and left the skinless bodies for their families to find."
"That's why when you first came to the Pridelands I questioned why Sarafina brought you in. And up till you saved Simba and Nala in the Graveyard, I expected you to try something. But when you saved them, that kinda won my trust over."
"And when you came in and helped me during Nuka's birth, that won me over fully" she said. We got to the river and began to follow it East.
"Then why didn't you tell me then?" I asked. She sighed before looking down.
"I tried... When I woke you up after you rescued Maisha and Jua's pride. I was going to tell you, I was. And then I looked at Nuka... And I wondered to myself 'what is he gonna do when he finds out Nuka is Scar's son.' That made me decide to wait... And then Scar came in half the time he told me and gave me no time to tell you" she said.
I stopped walking and shook my head slightly. Zira also stopped as well, no doubt worried about my decision. The ones who were behind us quickly walked past.
"I need some time, Zira" I said continuing on my way. She caught up with me and tried to talk with me again, but I rounded on her.
"Look I know why you did it now. And I know why you felt that you couldn't tell me. And a part of me understands, I do... But... I just need time" I said. I then walked past all the other lionesses who were frozen in shock at my response.
"I'm gonna make a bit of a detour" I said getting to Simba. "Wait for me where the river starts to head south. If you can't wait anymore for some reason, head for the lands. I'll catch up" I said.
Simba looked at me with a concerned look, but nodded reluctantly.
"Did um... Did Tojo and Malka talk to you?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, they already talked with me about the grenade thing. It's fine" I said only to get a blank stare.
"The what?" he asked confused. I looked at him strangely. If he didn't mean about the grenade what did he mean. I slowed my walking pace down until I got to the back of the group next to Malka and Tojo.
"What's going on?" I asked in a 'tell me now' voice. The two stopped walking as everyone else kept going. We were almost near the river-bend anyway.
"Um, well you see... Here's the thing" Tojo stuttered quickly. I stopped walking and raised my hand to stop them as well.
"Tojo, Malka. Either you're about to tell me something that'll make me sad or it'll make Kula and Tama sad" I said. They both looked at each other and noticed how close they were. They then jumped away from each other and shaking their heads.
"No, no, nothing like that" Tojo said as I chuckled. Malka came to his rescue.
"Okay, here it goes" he said before taking a deep breath. "Now that I am fully grown, the lionesses of my pride want to move back to our old territory... And so do I. And Tojo and Kula have decided to join us" he said. I'll be honest, I kinda figured that they always would want to move back. Kind of a shock that Tojo is joining them but it's their life
"Okay" I said shrugging. The two lions looked at me stunned and shocked. "You guys have a lot of history there, I can understand you wanting to return. And Tojo, I'm sure you and Kula will be happy out there" I said.
"So-so you're not mad?" Malka asked. I smiled and shook my head.
"Naw, no matter what happens or where you guys go. You'll always be those little cubs I raised in the jungle" I said smiling. A few tears came from my eyes as well as theirs. They stood on their back legs and hugged me. They licked my face as I felt weight thrown onto my back. I turned and seen Simba and Chumvi were doing the same. I laughed as we stayed like that for a few minutes.
I sighed as I looked down at the dry riverbed. This was were it all started. The tree I had fallen asleep against had long been dead and had fallen on it's side.
The lands were so much the same now that if it wasn't for the river, you'd think that they were all one land.
"Hey boys" I said quietly. "I know it's been a minute but I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. Had we gone around the Graveyard, maybe you'd all be alive today. Well not you, Mac but..." I said before shaking my head.
"I just needed to say that. Get it off my chest. I don't know, I thought I'd make me feel better but... I don't" I said walking away. The wind however picked up and blew into my face. somehow, I don't know how, but I immediately felt like they had forgiven me. I smiled and continued walking to meet up with the pride.
Five months later/ Third Person view
Zazu flew over the now revived Pridelands that was filled with animal herds moving towards Priderock. The rainy season definitely played a crucial part in it. And once the water returned and the grass started to grow back all that was needed was the animals to return.
The animals, at first weren't sure about letting Simba be king. Traditionally a prince or princess normally don't take the throne until they're five years old. But DJ reminded the animals that he wasn't a five year old lion and he still did a good job running the Pridelands. Some of the animals even said he did a great job.
That and Aminifu vouched in Simba's favor and since he had gained a lot of respect among the animals, most of them agreed to return to the Pridelands.
There were a few small herds that decided to stay in the small patch of green just because they didn't want to leave. Both DJ and Simba were okay with that as long as enough animals came back so they wouldn't starve the Pridelands out again.
Apparently the hyenas had taken DJ's advice in 'getting the hell out of here' a little too literal. According to Zazu they haven't been seen back in the Graveyard except for a few small packs here and there.
But no sign of Banzai or Ed, which DJ was okay with.
Tojo, Kula, Malka and Tama had left the small lands two months ago. It was short notice but Tama and Kula found out that they were expecting cubs. They wanted their cubs to be born in the lands that they would be raised in. It had been a teary-eyed goodbye for everyone in the pride but they'd promised to visit. Zazu was even nice enough to send a Peregrine Falcon friend and fly over Malka's lands to make sure no other pride had claimed it yet.
Chumvi and Tumaini stayed with the pride. They have yet to conceived any cubs, but DJ doesn't think it's from lack of trying.
Timon and Pumba had introduced the gang to Ma and Uncle Max, the two other meerkats that were on Pumba's back. They stayed in the lands for a few weeks before Timon told everyone that he had to go get his clan and move them to the jungle oasis.
Anyway, Zazu landed on the peak of Priderock and bowed at Simba and Nala. They both smiled and looked down between Nala's paws. There was a male cub with golden coat. He was two weeks old and had just opened his eyes to reveal that he got Nala's blue eyes.
Rafiki marked the cub's forehead before picking him up and walking to the edge of the peak. Simba smiled and looked around him. Halfway down Priderock was the rest of the pride. Simba had decided to give DJ a few years off as Royal Guardian. He could protect his son for a while.
DJ looked up at Simba with a proud look. His gaze drifted upwards and he caught a glimpse of a few clouds kinda shaped like a lion head. Suddenly a breeze blew through the lands.
"Thank you" DJ heard in a low whisper. DJ looked around at the lionesses but they either didn't hear it or ignored it and passed it off as just the wind.
DJ looked up at the clouds before nodding with a smile on his face. He then leaned his head on Sarafina's shoulder who then licked her mate on his cheek.
Rafiki made it to Priderock and held up the new prince of the Pridelands. All the animals went crazy. Trumpeting, yipping, whatever noises the made they did. To signal that they accept the new prince.
Prince Kopa.
And there you have it folks. The final chapter of Pridelander Soldier. The end of an era.Now, I'm still trying to decide what to do whether I just jump right into the sequel or I do another story first.I do have some other stories chapters already on a rough draft.
But, I'll think about it see how long the other ones will take, because if I do start another story before the sequel I don't want to keep you guys waiting too long. Assassins will probably be put on hold for now. I'll be honest I may just end up re-writing it.
And I just wanted to say thanks to all the followers out there who enjoyed my story. And until the next one, cheers.