A/N: Make sure you read Wolves in Pride Rock before you read this story. Read & Review and I'll see you around the chapters. Enjoy! Also... Happy belated 30th Birthday to Rugrats.
It was a normal night for Mike Mazinsky. She was fast asleep in the bed she was given and started to have dreams that were a bit out of the ordinary. She tossed and turned a bit before she started to see a location she hadn't seen in a very long time. It appeared to be Pride Rock.
"Pride Rock?" Mike wondered. "What am I doing here?"
A certain group of wolves surrounded her.
Mike felt provoked at first before she sniffed a familiar scent on the pack and they changed back into their human forms. "Hey, it's you guys," she then realized. "I didn't think I'd see you again."
"It's really good to see ya again, Mike," Kiba replied. "We also came to tell you that this dream is a lot more than just a dream."
"I can tell," Mike nodded as she seemed to already understand that. "It looks like I'm back in Pride Rock. I remember this place from when I was Mwitu and friends with Simba and Nala."
"That's right, but you also have to come back here." Toboe said.
"Come back?" Mike asked. "But why?"
"It's a very long story, mostly because of Zira," Tsume replied. "We can't tell you a whole lot now, but you should ask Simba."
"Simba?" Mike asked. "How will I come back into contact with him? He's a lion in the jungle and I'm just a girl in the city. Well, I'm on vacation right now, but you know what I mean."
"I'm afraid that you should come to Simba." A familiar deep voice said from right behind.
"Th-That voice..." Mike gasped before turning around to see a familiar adult lion with a crimson mane in the clouds of Heaven. "Mufasa!" she then gasped.
"Hello, Mike," Mufasa greeted. "Your wolf friends are right, you know. You must return to Pride Rock to help Simba."
"What is it though?" Mike asked. "What's going on?"
"It's about a rogue lioness named Zira," Mufasa explained. "She was a very loyal follower to my brother, Scar. She also did something very horrible to the family."
"I have to go back to Pride Rock to fight some lioness named Zira?" Mike asked. "I don't understand."
"You may had been a wolf when we first met, Mike, but I see goodness and pureness in your heart," Mufasa said softly. "It would be very nice if you would come back to Pride Rock. Simba and Nala miss you, also you can help protect them from the disaster that involves Zira and her own pride in The Outlands."
"Can you tell me any more?" Mike asked.
"I'll tell you what I can until I help guide you to Simba like when you first came to the Pridelands," Mufasa said as he suddenly showed an image of a lioness with crimson eyes with a torn-up ear along with a mangy brown-furred lion which looked like a young Scar, a younger lion cub who looked more like a younger version of Scar, and there was a lioness cub with dark blue eyes and a lion cub who looked about the same age as the lioness cub and had earth green eyes. "This is Zira's main family."
"Are they all Scar's cubs?" Mike asked.
"It's a long story about them too," Mufasa replied. "Zira is the lead lioness and those are the cubs: Nuka, Vitani, Kisasi, and Kovu."
"Well, some of them look menacing," Mike had to admit. "So, are Nuka, Kovu, and Kisasi Scar's cubs then?"
"Kovu was adopted by Scar and Zira to become the King of the Outlands," Mufasa explained as the youngest lion cub was shown. "Scar chose Kovu to be his predecessor. Nuka and Vitani are just his siblings who have to help prepare him for Zira's reign of terror which could be even worse than Scar's while Kisasi serves as a bodyguard and spy for Zira."
"So I see..." Mike said. "This is a lot to take in."
"I know you can help The Pridelands, Mike," Tsume said, almost sounding like a big brother to the young tomboy. "We'll help you get there when the time is right, but be prepared to leave soon."
"Hmm... Okay..." Mike said before thinking of something. "Uh, could I bring some folks with me? They're sorta... Sorta like my pack, ya know?"
"That might be even more helpful," Mufasa remarked. "Especially since wolves are welcome in Pride Rock more ever since Sarabi and I first met you."
"Wow! I'm special." Mike smiled at that.
"Yes, you are," Mufasa chuckled out of amusement. "I suppose there'll be more to discuss once you come to Pride Rock, Mike. I look forward to our future meeting."
"As well as ours..." Toboe said to the tomboy. "And this pack of yours, of course."
"All right... I'll keep that in mind..." Mike nodded.
Suddenly, the combination of a wolf howl and a lion roar was heard which made Mike jolt a bit.
Mike soon tossed and turned in her sleep before crying out a bit as she suddenly woke up and panted before looking around. "Well, that was a bit of a crazy dream," she said to herself before narrowing her eyes. "Though if I saw Mufasa and those guys from when I left Pride Rock, it could not had been a dream. I should tell the others," she then looked at her clock as it said 7:15. "Right after they wake up of course..."
SOME TIME LATER...
Phil and Lil woke up from their rooms and went to use the bathroom. However, Mike stepped out and she already knew what was coming between the DeVille twins... They were going to argue about who got to use the bathroom first and Mike took that time to use the bathroom when they were distracted.
"I should go first, Lillian!" Phil glared. "I woke up first!"
"Well, I was born first, Phillip!" Lil glared back. "Haven't you heard of ladies first?"
"You're not a lady!" Phil scoffed. "You're nuthin' but a sister!"
Suddenly, the bathroom door shut and the twins looked over bashfully to see that they were both too late.
"Sorry, guys, I got it first!" Mike's voice said from behind the bathroom door.
Phil and Lil then flinched as they suddenly stopped, but Lil smirked as she came in front of Phil to use the bathroom right after Mike. Phil stuck his tongue out at Lil and she just rolled her eyes and pulled down one of her eyelids right after.
"Seriously, Phil... When are you ever going to grow up?" Lil complained at her twin brother.
"I'm fine just the way I am," Phil snorted. "You just think you're so special so you can impress Mike~" he then added in a singsong voice.
"Will you cut that out?" Lil complained. "I don't know why you think you always gotta tease me about Mike."
"I'm your brother, it's my job... Look it up," Phil scoffed. "What're you gonna do about it? Tell Mom and Dad and get me in trouble?"
"Maybe they can send you to The F.U.N. Academy like where Timmy Turner, AJ Ingram, and Chester McBadbat ended up that one time." Lil glared at him.
"Then maybe you can go to finishing school and learn how to finish acting like you're better than me?" Phil glared back.
The two then growled like wolves at each other.
"Seriously, guys? This early in the morning too?" Mike groaned as she stepped out of the bathroom once she was done. "Growing up with you must've been tough as rugrats or something."
"Rugrats?" Phil and Lil asked.
"Yeah... Just another word for little little kids, like babies or toddlers," Mike explained with a shrug. "I learned it from my brother Jamie."
"Oh." Phil and Lil then said before Phil smirked at Lil and ran into the bathroom just before his sister could get there before him.
"PHILLIP! I WAS NEXT AFTER MIKE!" Lil snarled.
"Too late, ya should've moved faster, Lillian!" Phil laughed as he made it into the bathroom and shut the door, locking his twin sister out then.
"Ugh..." Lil groaned and shook her head. "Be lucky that you don't have a twin, Mike. You might share just about everything, but they can sometimes get under your skin."
"I think I can already tell with the way Phil gets so under your skin that he's even under your skeleton." Mike commented.
Lil chuckled a little as that was a bit funny.
"Thanks for letting me crash here for a little while by the way," Mike then said. "Things are just a little tough back home."
"Hey, it's okay," Lil said calmly. "...Is there something else on your mind though? I feel like there's something else."
"Well... There's something, but it's very huge and important," Mike replied. "I can tell you, but it's kind of a long story."
"Well, Phil will take a while in the bathroom, so you might as well tell me whatever's on your mind." Lil suggested as calmly as she could.
"Okay, Lil," Mike replied. "Let's talk. Maybe we can go in your room?"
"Of course." Lil smiled as she walked off with Mike then.
Mike smiled back, going into the female DeVille twin's bedroom and sat down on her bed to talk more in private.
"So, what's up?" Lil then asked her girlfriend.
"Well... Have you ever heard of a place called Pride Rock?" Mike asked, though a bit rhetorically as it was very unlikely that Lil would ever know.
"Um... No... I don't think so," Lil said. "I know a pride is what you call a group of lions though, like you would call us a pack of wolves."
"Well, yeah, it's about lions," Mike replied then. "You see, something happened a long time ago. Long before I even knew you, back when Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was still cool, though it's been going a little downhill lately."
"Yeah, I remember... It's just called Fridays now," Lil nodded. "I still remember when Nicktropolis tried to compete with you guys by creating 'Friday Night Nicktoons'."
"Right," Mike said before she continued. "So... One night, I promised the Eds that I would have a sleepover with them after the show... Then I got in a fight with Ed's sister, Sarah."
Lil rolled her eyes at the mention of Sarah.
"Yeah, I know," Mike said then. "Still a pain back then and will always be a pain from now into the future when we all retire to places like Nostalgia Acres. So anyway... I got fed up with her and ran away and even went into wolf form to get further away. I didn't know where I was going, but I just had to get away from everybody... Then I was being chased by hyenas until I fell off of a cliff and hit my head and I forgot who I was."
"Man... Amnesia's real?" Lil then asked. "I thought that only happened on shows like Moody's Point or something?"
"It can happen," Mike nodded. "I mean, Mrs. Bagge once got amnesia and Eustace decided to turn her into his personal slave until Courage found a way to bring her back to normal... Not so many thanks to Dr. Le Quack."
"So you had amnesia... Did you end up in this Pride Rock place then?" Lil asked then.
"Yes, I did... I was in The Pridelands and met King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi," Mike then continued. "Even their newborn cub, Prince Simba who was destined to become the next Lion King."
Lil nodded to show that she was still listening to the rather interesting story. Mike then continued to tell Lil all about her experiences in The Pridelands as the wolf in Pride Rock that happened a couple of years ago before she even met and knew about Lil. Eventually, Mufasa had died and his brother Scar was the one responsible for it and told her and Simba to run away and claimed that they died as well to take control of The Pridelands and rise above with the hyenas. They then met new friends, such as Jana of the Jungle and her friends, including Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog until Nala urged them to return to Pride Rock to take down Scar and so that Simba could take his rightful place as The Lion King of Pride Rock.
Mike then mentioned how she still stayed behind until she met The Wild Thornberry family and went with Eliza with her family to meet a cheetah family until something went terribly wrong and they had to go to boarding school in London. Eventually, Mike found out that the Eds had been looking all over for her and even went to Nicktropolis to get help from Jimmy Neutron himself and how she came back home and learned that there was no place like home so that she could live happily ever after.
"...Gosh, Mike... That is a long story..." Lil commented once Mike was finally finished with her story.
"Told ya," Mike replied. "And now I must return to Pride Rock to help take down a lioness named Zira and even some cubs named Kovu, Nuka, Vitani, and Kisasi."
"I see..." Lil said before nodding before looking a little distant. "...I guess you'll be going alone then?"
"Well... If you want... I suppose you could come with me," Mike replied as she took Lil's hands and looked her in the eyes as calmly as she could. "You're part of my pack of course."
Lil blinked before blushing and looked Mike back into her eyes. "...Maybe I could," she then said. "Just to help you out. I can tell that taking down these dark lions might be tough with just one person... Or rather, one wolf or even one lion."
"I agree," Mike nodded before smiling. "Welcome aboard to a brand new adventure, Lil. We'll discuss some details later."
"That sounds great, Mike. I feel honored." Lil smiled back.
"Whoa..." A new voice said.
Mike and Lil then looked over to see Phil standing in the doorway.
"Mike, I know you love my sister and all, but I think you should wait a few years before you decide to propose." Phil remarked.
"Phillip!" Lil groaned and rolled her eyes.
"What?" Phil shrugged in defense.
"Ugh... I'll deal with you later..." Lil scoffed before she stood up and walked on over to the bathroom to take her turn.
Phil blinked as he looked over and watched as Lil left the room before she looked over at Mike. "Seriously, I don't think Dad would take it well if you tried to marry Lil right now." he then suggested.
"I wasn't asking her to marry me. I was just inviting her to go on an adventure with me." Mike told Phil.
"Oh... Well... If Lil gets to go on an adventure, then how come I don't?" Phil then asked with a glare.
"Maybe you could go too if you can get along with your sister for once." Mike suggested dryly.
"What?! Well... Fine! I accept your challenge!" Phil then said before crossing his arms.
"That wasn't really a challenge, but knock yourself out, buddy." Mike scoffed and shrugged.
"Thank you. I will." Phil smirked and nodded.
Mike just had a deadpan look on her face before she began to leave the room while Phil chuckled at himself.
Pride Rock had changed quite a bit since Mike had left. What she didn't know was that there was more to what she was told from Mufasa's vision and her fellow wolf friends in The Pridelands who helped out during the final battle against Scar. It all happened a long time ago when the animals of the jungle came to witness the birth of the new heir to The Lion Kingdom who was the cub of Simba and Nala as well as major other details.
"Ah, Pumbaa; look at that little guy," Timon smiled warmly as he and Pumbaa witnessed the blessing of the newborn cub in the family. "A chip off the old block! And you gotta know who's gonna raise him?"
"His parents?" Pumbaa guessed.
"Okay, sure, get technical," Timon scoffed before smirking hopefully. "But who's gonna teach him the really important stuff? Like how to belch?" he then began before he burped suddenly. "And dig for grubs?" he then jumped down to the ground beside the lion family. "I'm telling ya, buddy... It's gonna be like old times. You, me... And the little guy."
Rafiki chuckled as he held onto the cub for Simba and Nala. "It is a girl." he then corrected to the meerkat and warthog duo.
"Girl." Timon then corrected himself.
Then suddenly, both Timon and Pumbaa looked wide-eyed and horrified from the shock. "Girl?! ...Oy!" they then cried out before they collasped together in a dead faint on the ground suddenly.
Someone in the darkness seemed to be watching them before wandering away from Pride Rock before they could be seen.
"Did you see it?" A female voice asked in the darkness.
"Yeah, what happened?" A male voice added.
"I will tell you when we get back," The mysterious stranger told the two voices. "I must report this back to Lady Zira after all. I'm her most trusted helper... Maybe more than you two~"
The other two soon followed after this mysterious stranger, heading off into the darkness together to where they once came from.
There was later thunder in the wind as Rafiki was shown to be in his tree, celebrating the new change in The Pridelands. "Asante sana, Squash banana, We we nugu, Mi mi apana!~" he then sang as he was painting on the trunk of the tree, showing the new cub on the tree's bark, marking it ceremonously, next to the old drawing that had Simba after he had been born. "Ahh, Kiara..." he then sighed to himself.
There was then suddenly some wind blowing which seemed to feel quite familiar to the mystical old baboon.
"Ooh, Mufasa! Such a day this has been!" Rafiki beamed in excitement. "Princess Kiara's birth... another Circle of Life is complete, and the Pride's future is once again secure."
The wind then suddenly blew at the paintings, scattering some of the markings.
"Ah! Stop it, stop it, stop it! Mufasa; look what you are doing!" Rafiki scolded then. "The Circle is broken now. Why do you-" he then stopped as he suddenly understood what this actually meant. "Ooh... There is trouble in The Pridelands," he then said before looking toward the edge of the painting to see a rough black lion figure. "There is another cub? Hmm... Where could this be?"
The wind then came again as though to answer that question.
"In the Outlands, but that is where Simba banished Scar's followers. Including his most loyal... Zira," Rafiki then said as he realized that too. "And you'll find some outside help for us? I hope you can, Mufasa... I hope you can." he then added as he spoke to the winds.
Meanwhile, there was a barren desert shown with strange rock formations everywhere. An insect was shown to be on the ground, prompting a dark looking cub to pounce after it.
"RAWR!" The lion cub roared before cupping the insect with his front paws before opening them up and smiled before allowing the insect to fly away freely.
"Kovu!" A voice called firmly, showing a dark lioness with crimson eyes as she appeared in front of the cub. "Don't let it go. What's the matter with you?" she then scolded before catching the insect suddenly and smashed it into the ground as what he did was wrong... At least to her.
"But Mother! He wasn't hurting anyone-" The cub named Kovu defended innocently.
"There is no room for weakness here, my son," The lioness reminded firmly before she moved closer and pulled Kovu against her. "Remember... Scar took you in and accepted you as his own son."
"But he wasn't my father." Kovu said with a hint of doubt in his voice.
"No... But he chose you to become the next King," The lioness reminded him as she swatted at the ground. "When you rule, we shall no longer be forced to live in these dry, barren, disgusting, pathetic, termite-infested Outlands!"
Kovu just looked down in quiet agreement, before three lions came over. There were two cubs, a male and a female who were roughly the same age, and an older male lion who would probably be in teenage human years. They seemed to be fighting to be first back to share some news they found out with the adult lioness.
"Mother! Mother! Mother!" The two piped up, bickering with each other on the way back into The Outlands.
"Hey, hey, hey! What did I tell you two?" The dark lion cub glared at the two of them.
The lioness cub and older male lion stepped back a bit.
"Kisasi... You have news for me?" The lioness asked the cub who approached her.
"Yes, Lady Zira," The cub nodded at her as he stood up straight and obediently. "We were in The Pridelands and we saw everything about King Simba and Queen Nala. Simba's cub is a girl."
"A girl!" The lioness repeated before laughing darkly. "Scar, my beloved... Did you hear that? This couldn't be more perfect." she then remarked to the skies.
The older male lion looked confused. "Who's she talking to?" he then asked.
"Shh! Scar." The lioness cub told him firmly as Kisasi rolled his eyes.
"Where? Where?!" The older male lion gasped and looked around in horror.
"He's dead, remember, stupid?!" Kisasi snarled at the older male lion rather viciously to scare him.
"Yes! Because of Simba..." Zira added. "not for him, Scar would still be King. And I, Zira; his loving, devoted Queen!"
"You know, speaking of kings... I was thinking, since I am the oldest... Maybe I should be King! Huh?" The older male lion then said hopefully.
Kisasi rolled his eyes and even face-pawed.
"Don't be a fool, Nuka." Zira told the older male lion.
"Heheh... Just a thought." Nuka then said before rolling over on his back a little bit.
"You know very well that Kovu is The Chosen One and we can't fight destiny, you fool." Kisasi told Nuka.
"Precisely," Zira added in agreement. "We must fulfill Scar's dying wish, and train Kovu to become King."
"Oh... Yeah... Oh, yeah," Nuka then said eagerly. "I can do that!"
"We'll teach him how to fight." The lioness cub then grinned.
"Yes, we will, Vitani," Kisasi grinned back. "I'm just excited as you are."
The two then laughed together a bit.
Zira then climbed up on a rock point to gaze out over the land which prompted the younger ones to follow. "Look at The Pridelands, my pets. So green... So inviting. That is our home," she then told them. "That is where we belong. And soon, my beloved Scar... We shall reclaim your kingdom." she then promised them all.
"This is going to be a lot of fun... You'll see." Kisasi grinned at Kovu who looked a bit unsure and nervous.