Chapter 11: Adventures in Cubsitting

A/N 1: Chapter 11 is ready for reading, and luckily I didn't have to make you guys wait for almost a month this time around. Now, while this is a filler chapter by movie standards, it WILL revolve around Connor and the cubs, like I promised back in chapter 9. So with that said, enjoy the chapter and I'll see you guys at the end.

"Come on, you can do it. Just a little more bud."

I'll bet you're all wondering what I'm doing right about now. Well, I'm happy to tell you that I am currently cheering on my little brother, who is currently learning how to walk, or in his case crawl, for the very first time. And right now, his current destination is, you guessed it: me. I was sitting on the floor with my arms stretched out to Simba, ready to give him the biggest hug for his success. For Simba though, who was smiling the whole time, it was more about reaching his big brother so he could be close me.

"That's it…" a few more steps left. "A little more…" a couple more steps. "You did it buddy!" I cheered for him as he finally reached my arms, allowing me to scoop him up and hold him close, while he giggled and nuzzled against my neck and chest happily.

"I'm so proud of you Simba." I say happily as I hold him up in front of my face. "Yes I am, yes I am." I proceed to rub my nose against his, getting a laugh out of the little cub...at least until he decided to open his mouth nice and wide, then bite down right on my nose.

"Ow! Hey Simba, thats my nose. That's my nose!" I shout as I try to pull him away, while the little fuzzball giggles at my misfortune. Bear in mind, it didn't hurt too much, but having a lion cub on your nose isn't exactly pleasant either. "Okay, let go!" I shout and laugh at the same time as I get the tiny set of teeth off my sniffer and set the owner of said chompers on my lap, belly up and looking at me with those curious and playful eyes.

"You really are a silly little fuzzball, you know that?" I say to Simba as I smile warmly down at him and give his little belly a scratch, to which he gets comfortable and purrs with content. It didn't take long however before the sound of mewing is heard to the right of me, and I soon see a bundle of orange-cream colored fur trying to climb onto my lap.

"Awe, did you want some attention too Tama?" I ask Kasi's adorable little daughter as I pick her up and place her on my lap. Unlike Simba however, she was more focused on relaxing with me than playing at the moment as she let out a yawn and curled up against me.

I should probably take the time to point out that I'm the only one in the den right now, watching over the pridelands cubs. That's right, I'm a cubsitter for the lionesses while they go out and get back into the hunting swing. And since I was watching over them all, I figured now was a good time as any to do a quick head-count.

"Okay, Simba and Tama are with me…" I start as I look down at the two before looking to my right. "Kula and Chumvi are playing with Tojo." By playing, I of course mean the siblings are ganging up on Tojo every now and then as they wrestled about. "I guess all that leaves is-" before I can finish my statement, I soon hear muffled growling, leading me to look back and smile as I see the lower half of a creamy-furred bundle of curiosity poking out from my backpack.

"Nala…" I laugh lightly as I set Simba and Tama down then crawl over to my backpack. "What are you doing in there silly?" I ask the daughter of my Aunt Fina as I grab her and pull her out of the opened compartment in my pack, seeing that she managed to grab one of my flip flops and was teething on it. What? You guys didn't think I walked around in my sneakers all the time did ya? I love the open-toed freedom flip flops provide once in awhile.

Anywho, as I tried to take back my flip flop, Nala decided to tighten her grip on it and growl. Apparently she thinks this is a game of tug-o-war now. Rolling my eyes at her antics, I set her down and gently tug at the footwear, letting her pull back in response and growl again in enjoyment.

"Easy now Nala. Don't want you to hurt yourself." I say with a smile as she continues to wiggle about, trying to free her new chew toy from my clutches.

"Funny, I would probably be more worried about you." I turn around to see Aunt Fina smirking at me as the other lionesses came into the den.

"Hey ladies." I say to all of them as I pick up Nala, set her in my lap and manage to free my sandal from her muzzle. "How was the hunt?" I ask them, only to get my answer in the form of a couple antelopes being carried in by Amani and Neema.

"In a word: Awesome." Amani said with a grin as she set her kill down. "Whoo, I tell ya it feels good to get my blood pumpin' like that again!"

"Speak for yourself Amani." Neema replies with a smirk and an eyeroll as she sets the other kill down. "I'm just glad we had some success after our months of inactivity." With that, she makes her way over to her cubs and nuzzles them tenderly before ushering them over to eat, Amani doing the same with Tojo. Since they are still infants, they had to be nursed, which means they would feed on their mother's milk. It's going to be a while before they can eat meat like the rest of us.

"I hope they weren't too much trouble Connor." Kasi spoke up as she picked up Tama and brought her to an open spot so she could bathe her.

"What? These little bundles of fluff?" I say with shrug and grin as Simba crawls his way over to me. "Please. They were anything but trouble." I then help my little brother climb onto my lap where he proceeds to place his forepaws on my middle and look up at me curiously. "To be honest, I'm glad I get to spend so much time with them." I gently stroke Simba's head with my thumb, to which he nuzzles my hand in response.

"I'm happy to hear you say that son." My mom was the last one to come in, making her way right to us as she gave me a loving nuzzle, which I returned in kind. "I'm also glad to see that you are bonding so well with your little brother." She smiles down at her youngest as he looks between the two of us.

Soon enough, it was time for Simba's bath. However, just as mom grabbed him by the scruff, he started to whimper and paw at me, making mom and I both look at him in confusion.

"What's the matter little buddy?" I ask him as I get down to his level after mom sets him down. What I get as a response, was both expected, yet unexpected: he quickly crawled over to my face and nuzzled into it. I soon hear mom chuckle as I look up at her, hoping she understood Simba's behavior.

"I don't think Simba wants you to leave his side." She says as she decides to lay down in front of us, letting me choose what the next move would be.

"Awe, Simba, you don't have to worry about me." I say to him as I pet his back, earning a purr from the little fuzzball in response. "I'll be right here with you, no matter what, that's what big brothers are for." I finish my little statement, then set Simba in moms paws, allowing him to get bathed. And, being a big brother of my word, I stayed by his side the whole time.

Two Months Later

"You sure this is a good idea Simba?"

"Sure I'm sure. This is gonna be hilarious."

"I dunno, he might get really mad once he wakes up"

"Yeah, and then we'll REALLY be in trouble."

"SHHH, guys not so loud. You're gonna wake him."

The muffled conversations went on like this for a few minutes, but I was far too sleepy to really give it any thought.

Too sleepy to feel something be placed in my open hand…

Too sleepy to feel something fuzzy brush against my nose, making me rub it on instinct…

Then have the fuzzy thing return, brushing against my nose again, causing me to try and rub it with my other hand until…

SPLORT!

I ended up smacking myself with something wet and gooey, immediately waking me up. Before I could question what happened, I got my answer in the form of laughing I knew all too well.

"Uh oh." Nala said with her eyes widened.

"SCATTER!" Simba shouted out after his laughter died off when he saw my red, steaming face which was still covered in mango juice. As the cubs hurried out of the den, they all heard one name be called in absolute anger as it rang throughout the pridelands.

"SIIIIIMMMMBAAAAAAAA!"

Immediately, I stormed out of the den, wiping my face off as I caught sight of the little troublemakers heading into the open savannah. This isn't the first time they pranked me either; one time, when we were swimming in the stream, Simba thought it would be a good idea for them to run off with my clothes. I ended up chasing them all over the pridelands, buck naked, just so I could get my clothes back. Then there was the time they convinced me Tojo was stuck up in a tree trying to count the number of eggs in a birds nest. The end result: Tojo lands on his feet, while I land on my tailbone, and boy did that hurt.

This however, was the last straw, and I was going to make sure it stayed that way.

"Just wait 'til I get my hands on you!" I shouted as I scanned the tall grass for my prey. "I'm gonna make you regret the day you decided to prank me like that!"

As I continued my search, I soon see a patch of grass rustle not too far from my right side. Being nice and quiet, I sneak up on the source, then pounce on my unsuspecting victim.

"HA! Now I've got you!" I shout triumphantly. What I get in response however…was a scream of terror.

"Please don't hurt me! I didn't mean to intrude!" After hearing this I finally looked down at who I had caught. Sure enough it was a lion cub, but it was one I've never seen before.

"Wait...Who are you?" I asked the cub in question, who appeared to be pale orange in pelt color, have red eyes, and probably the most unique feature I've ever seen in a lion: black tufts on his ears and head.

"M-M-Malka…I'm not from around here." The little cub trembled as he explained. "I-I'm from the highlands pride...P-p-please don't hurt me." He then curled up in fear, thinking this would be his last day on Earth.

Letting out a sigh, I calm down and sit in front of the terrified cub. "Hey, it's okay little guy." I say as I reach over and stroke his back, causing him to relax a bit. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're...you're not?" Malka looks up at me as he asks this, uncurling his body. "Then…can you tell me where I am?"

"Of course. You're in the-" before I can finish, I'm interrupted by a familiar group of cubs.

"Connor? Is everything alright?" Simba is the first to ask as he comes over to stand next to my sitting form.

"Yeah, what happened? We all heard a strange scream." Nala came up to me on my right.

"And who's the cub?" Tama eyed Malka curiously, who started to nervously back away.

"It's okay Malka, you don't have to worry about THESE little troublemakers." I say as I glare at the group, making them flinch and fold their ears back slightly. "They're friends. Anyway, as I was saying, you are in the pridelands, home to King Mufasa." At this, Malka lets out a gasp as he eyes me in realization.

"Wait, if I'm in the pridelands…that must mean you are the human prince." He says with a wide grin. Wow, I guess word travels fast in the african wilds.

"The one and only. Prince Connor, at your service." I playfully bow to the young cub. "Now, why don't we get you to my dad and see if we can find your pride, huh?"

Malka pauses for a moment before smiling thankfully. "That would be great. Thank you Prince Connor." He bows to me quickly while Simba mutters under his breath, mimicking Malka. He didn't know why, but something about this new cub made him feel uneasy.

"Yeah yeah, let's get going guys." Simba says just as he was about to take the lead.

"Oh no you don't." I counter, quickly snatching Simba by the scruff.

"Yipe!" He squeaks out as I bring him up to my level, giving him a sinister smirk.

"Don't think I haven't forgotten whose idea this was, fuzzball." I scold him mockingly as I settle him in my arms, while he laughs nervously at first then sighs in defeat.

"I'm sorry Connor. I guess I did take it a bit too far, huh?" He inquires as he looks up at me. Even if he was a troublemaker at times, he still looked up to me like a little brother would.

"It's fine bud. Just take it easy on the pranks a bit huh?" I look down at him with a smile, and he does the same.

"You got it bro." he says before resting against my chest as we head home.

The Following Day

"Got ya again Simba. How many does that make Connor? I lost count." Nala called to me from her spot over Simba, holding him down in a pin.

"That would be...Six to zero I think. Man Simba, she's got you beat." I call out after remembering the pin count.

Oh, right, you're all probably wondering what's going on this time. Well, after our unexpected encounter with Malka, my dad came to the conclusion that he would send Zazu out to search for Malka's pride, and in the meantime, the cub in question would remain with our pride until further notice. So, as of right now, Zazu is on the hunt for Malka's pride, while I'm keeping an eye on the cubs by the watering hole as they turned play wrestling into a competition.

"C'mon Simba! I bet even I can do a better job at pinning Nala." Malka called out boastfully, much to Simba's dismay as he growled at our guest. I gotta say, he's like a completely different cub from yesterday; what was once timid and shy, is now boastful, proud and playful.

"You think so huh?" Tama inquired as she sat next to Malka. "I'm on par with Nala, so why don't you put your meat where your mouth is?" Malka could only stutter at first at Tama's bold offer until he finally regained his senses…and his pride.

"Alright Tama, you're on. I'm gonna take you down easy peasy." Malka claimed as they both walked a few feet away, allowing the rest of us to watch with ease.

"Oohooo, this is gonna be good, I can tell." Kula said eagerly as she hopped into my lap, or as the cubs unanimously nicknamed it: "the best seat in the den". My idea actually, since the pride wouldn't really know what a house is.

"My portions on Malka. He's got Tama beat in size and strength." Tojo wagered as he laid down to the right of me. Since the cubs didn't understand the meaning of money, they would bet with portions of their meal from the hunts. At least they all still get to rest with full bellies…just some more full than others.

"I dunno Toj. Tama may not be as big, but like Nala, she's got speed and skill on her side." Chumvi inquires as he lays down by my left side. "I mean, how do you think Kula here was able to beat me four to three?"

At this, Kula smiles proudly before looking up at me. "So who do YOU think is going to win Connor?" She asks, drawing the attention of the boys towards me.

"Me? Heh, that's easy: it's gonna be Tama. And I should know," I pause to take a sip from my water bottle that I pulled out from my backpack, which I brought along just in case. "Because Tama already has him beat three to zilch." I smirk as I see the cubs blink before looking towards the two wrestling cubs, and as I pointed out, Tama had Malka pinned against the ground.

"Grrr, beginners luck! That's all it is! Now lemme up!" Malka growled in frustration as Tama removed herself from his frame.

Before they could start again, the sound of rustling caught my ears. But that wasn't all; it was accompanied by a foul odor...a very familiar odor.

"Oh no...Kids, get back to Pride Rock and get your mothers, now." I say seriously as I stand up, making Kula leap out of my lap and all of the cubs look at me with worry.

"Connor? Whats going on?" Simba asks, fear in his words as the sound of familiar laughing fills the air.

"Hyenas…"

"Awe, leaving already? What's the rush?" A sinister voice speaks out as the hyenas emerge from the tall grass. My mind is quickly flooded by memories of when I first came to the pridelands...and how the hyenas nearly took my life.

"Yeah, we were hoping to have something other than fast food today." a female hyena speaks up as she tries to circle me and the cubs.

"Connor?" Nala begins to cower.

"Go, NOW!" I roar at them, and they finally find the strength to get away and head to Pride Rock for help.

"Hey, the little cublets are getting away!" Another male hyena calls out.

"Forget about the appetizers Banzai. After all," the final hyena steps out; the same scarred hyena who nearly tore my leg off…Janga. "we've got the main course right here and ready for us." He says as his mouth starts to water.

Slowly backing away, I feel my foot brush against my back pack and soon spot the one tool that could help keep me alive.

"Sorry guys. I'm afraid human is off the menu today!" I shout as I pull out and unsheathe the tool I never had a chance to use before: my machete. The blade glistened against the setting sun as I held it up defensively. Now, I finally stood a chance against these mongrels…But why were they giggling?

"Well lookie here Ed! Looks like our meal has grown bolder since we last met." The female hyena says to another male, who looked rather loopy with the buggy eyes, long tongue and incoherent laughing. Hm…maybe something's wrong with him.

"Even if he did Shenzi, all it's gonna do now, is work up our appetite." Janga said as he glared hungrily at me. And with that, they all started to close in on me.

I don't understand…I finally get a chance to use the machete…have an opportunity to defend myself...so why…

Why can't I move my arms?

I continued tremble as I backed up from the mangy scavengers, until I tripped against a raised tree root. The fall nearly made me lose my grip on my weapon…but what good would it do if I can't even use it? How am I supposed to protect my family if I can't even defend myself?

"Don't worry kid." Janga got my attention as he was a few feet away from me. "We'll be sure to take more than your leg this time."

Once again, I screwed my eyes shut, ready for the inevitable… But it never came. Instead, the sound of roaring filled my ears as the hyenas backed off.

Wow, talk about a strange case of déjà vu.

I reopen my eyes to see an unfamiliar lioness with a familiar pale orange pelt color charge at the hyenas, swiping at them as they backed away. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't long before the lionesses from my pride entered the fray, scaring off the mongrels entirely.

"Yeah, that's right! Ya better run!" Amani shouted at them ending with a snarl.

"This ain't over cats. We'll back again, and when we return," Janga glared at me as he warned my pride. "Your precious human WILL be mine." with that, he leads his pack away from the pridelands, no doubt returning to the Elephant Graveyard…

Good riddance…

"Good luck with that, you flea bitten pests!" Kasi shouts before bringing her attention to the new lioness. "By the way, thank you for the help. We appreciate it."

"Oh, think nothing of it. I never could stand those slobbering monsters-" The lioness said before she was interrupted by a young voice.

"Mom?" Malka said as he and the other cubs rejoined us, with Afya close behind them, while the lioness looked towards him.

"Malka? Oh, my Malka!" She shouts as she makes her way to her cub, tears of joy in her eyes.

"Mom!" Malka meets his mother halfway, connecting with a loving nuzzle as mother and son reunite. Quite the heartwarming site actually.

"CONNOR!" Was all I heard before I was quite literally tackled to the ground by the other cubs. Heh, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they were worried about me.

"You're okay!"

"We were so worried!"

"We thought the hyena's got you!"

"Whoa hey easy little guys." I chuckle as I sit up, the little fluffballs crowding my lap as they all stay close. "I'm just fine, see? If anything, I'm lucky your moms came when they did."

"Even so, I'm just glad you're okay Connor." Simba speaks for everyone before lifting himself up and nuzzling me under the chin. Poor little guy must've been worried sick about me. Well, he won't have to worry anymore.

"As am I." Malka's mother speaks up as she and her son approach me. "I can not thank you enough for watching over my son, Prince Connor." She then bows to me, leading Malka to do the same. "We are forever in your debt." This statement leads me to blush. Wow, didn't think I'd get such a response for watching over one lost cub.

"Yeah, well,I'm just glad he's alright, and that he'll finally get to go home."

"In any case, it's about time we headed out. Say goodbye to your friends Malka". Malka nods in response and steps forward.

"Goodbye everyone and thank you for everything. Maybe we can get together again for some more fun."

"I certainly hope so. You're an okay cub Malka, and I hope we'll get to play again." Simba responded in kind. Huh, I guess he must've buried the hatchet with Malka when they all went to get help.

With the goodbyes said, Malka and his mother took their leave, and after a few minutes, the sound of thunder could be heard.

"We should head back ourselves." Neema speaks up. "Don't want to get caught in a downpour. C'mon everyone." She then starts to lead the cubs back to Pride Rock along with the other lionesses. I however, stayed right where I was, my eyes set on the sheathed weapon attached to my pack. I still can't believe I froze like that. What if it happens again?... No! It won't happen again. I have to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"Connor, you coming?" I hear Simba calling to me from up ahead. I shake my head free of my thoughts and pick up my pack, ready to go.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I call back as I catch up to the others, matching my pace with my little brother.

Later that night, the rain started to pour down around the pridelands, providing plenty of nutrition to the plant life for many days to come. Meanwhile, at Pride Rock, Mufasa's Pride was getting ready to turn in for the night. However, there was one pride member who was having trouble getting to sleep: me. I was sitting near the entrance, watching the rain come down while I was deep in thought…thinking about what happened earlier today. I was broken away from that train when my father came to join me.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say something is troubling you." My dad said as he sat down next to me, earning a chuckle in response.

"What gave you that impression?" I ask him, giving him my attention, while he looked out at the rain.

"Because I used to do the exact same thing whenever I was troubled. So tell me: what is it that's troubling you, my son?" He asks as he returns his sights back to me.

"It's…it's about what happened earlier…with the hyena's…" I say with a sad sigh, upset with how the recent events transpired.

"Ah yes, when you managed to hold them off while the cubs got to safety." He nods as he listens on.

"But that's the thing dad: I froze when I was up against them. I had the means to defend myself...but I couldn't DO anything. I know I was able to keep the cubs safe, but I need to be strong enough to defend myself as well. Because if I have the strength to protect myself," I look at my father with an air of seriousness and confidence. "I'll be able to protect others as well." finishing my statement, dad chuckles in response...almost as if he knew what I was going to say.

"Then I guess that settles it. You are finally ready to learn how to hunt…and how to fight." He says to me with just as much confidence as a smile graces my lips. This was it. This was the moment I was waiting for. I'll finally be able to contribute to the pride in some way, if not more than one. I'm tired of just sitting on the sidelines and backing away in fear. From here on out, I will be the one who stands tall against anyone, or anything who threatens my family and home.

"But for now, I think it's time we got some rest. Besides," he smirks as he gestures towards the raised platform, where Simba was eagerly waiting for me. "I don't think you want to keep a certain someone waiting."

With a shake of my head, I stand up and follow my dad back towards the platform, where I slipped my clothes off and got into my sleeping bag, while Simba did the one thing that became routine since he was little: he crawled into the sleeping bag and settled down right next to me, because he knew that he could always feel safe when he was by his big brother.

While we all slept peacefully, Rafiki was busy fixing up one of his paintings, or to be more specific, the painting of a certain cub and human, mumbling incoherently in the process. After dusting off some dry paint, he picked a guard with some red in it and chuckled as he added red marks to the human...

"Connor…"

And then the cub…

"Simba…"

As the shaman added this new marks, he knew that deep down, the two princes were going to bring about many changes for the Pridelands.

A/N 2: Chapter 11, finally done, and DAMN does it feel good. I'll admit, it took a tad longer than I expected, but hey, at least I was able to finish it before the week was over. Now as you may have noticed, some of the cubs may have acted differently than their movie/comic counterparts. The reason being is because I wanted to show how having a role model like Connor around would change how they behave and act, even if they still act how they normally would every now and then. Lol. Anyway, in the next chapter, Connor will be learning how to hunt and fight while Simba learns how to be king. Not only that, but Connor will also be facing Janga for the third and final time. Wanna know how it turns out? You'll just have to wait until the next chapter. Until then, I suggest you give LionKingIsAwesome's newest story, "The Lion King: The Human Pridelander" a read. It was inspired by many other stories, including my own. Other than that, read, review and enjoy.