Title: Out of the Dark
Author: DragonMaster
Special notes: This "feeds" from a few other fanfics. "The Tales of Tanabi"
is greatly involved. READ IT. Also, if you are a mature reader (Suggested
17+, but I read it when I was 15.) read Christine Morgan's "A Matter of
Pride" as well. It also feeds off that. Other than that, it's all my stuff.
Legal BS:The Lion King, characters, and all other related indicia are
trademarks of Walt Disney Pictures Inc. 1994. The character of Tanabi was
created by Joshua C. Templin. All other items are trademark of, well, me!
(Christine Morgan influenced a bit, but nothing here is hers for certain.
But I'd like to credit her anyway.)
Oh yes, and this is rated R. ;)
A NOTE: I wrote this quite some time ago, I suppose I was about 16. (I'm 23 now :P )
In any case, the story seems quite contrived, and though I didn't lose interest in the
overall concept, I just couldn't find a good way to implement it. Sad.
Lemme know what you think. garylisk@yahoo.com
CHAPTER ONE - THE TRAGEDY
6 YEARS AGO...
Mufasa strolled through the land, conversing with Zazu, his
majordomo and most trusted friend. They had just passed by the gorge to the
south when Zazu noticed something strange...
"Look, sire. The herd is on the move..."
"Odd.." Mufasa replied.
Quite suddenly, Taka, or Scar, as everyone now called him, came
running up from nowhere to Mufasa. He had a shocked look on his face, and he
looked as though were going to faint. Mufasa looked at his brother,
concerned.
"Mufasa..." Scar panted, nearly out of breath. "Stampede! In the gorge...
Simba's down there!"
Mufasa jumped. "Simba!"
No words were wasted. Mufasa and Scar dashed to the gorge, and Zazu
flew down to see if he could find the lad, or what was left of him...
Finally, Zazu spotted him, hanging from a small, leafless tree. Zazu flew up to
him.
"Zazu! Help me!" Simba screeched in fear.
"Your father is on his way! Hold on!"
"Hurry!!"
Zazu flew back to where Mufasa and Scar were now, looking into the gorge.
Zazu pointed to the small tree.
"There! There! On that tree!"
Mufasa screamed at the top of his lungs. "Hold on, Simba!!"
At that moment, a winderbeast slammed into the tree, and caused a large
crack to form on it. Simba gasped, and managed to keep his grip by
extending his claws.
Mufasa, taken aback by this, halted for a moment, but then leapt down into
the gorge and ran with the flow of the creatures towards the tree. His
brain racked as he thought of how he was going to save Simba without getting
hit by one of the frightened animals.
Meanwhile, Scar and Zazu watched.
"Oh, Scar, this is AWFUL! What shall we do?!" Zazu thought for a moment.
"Help! That's it! I'll go back for help! I'll go back for OOF!"
Scar slammed the back side of his paw into Zazu and knocked him against a
wall. Scar grinned and thought to himself. 'Oh no. No one shall come to
help this time...' And he chuckled to himself in his own insane fashion.
Down in the gorge, Mufasa had nearly reached Simba. There was a small
window of clearing in front of the tree, and Mufasa acted fast to turn into
it, but while doing this, he swung too far, and was slammed into by a
widerbeast. Mufasa shook his head from the pain, and looked up. A
wilderbeast had hit the tree and snapped it in half. Simba had flown into
the air. Once again, Mufasa charged towards Simba, and leapt up, catching
him in his jaws.
Mufasa ran to the lowest rock he could find and deposited Simba there, but
he was hit by another wilderbeast and knocked back into the fray.
Scar looked on at this and frowned. The little brat had lived... But Mufasa
would not... He would make sure of that...
Mufasa leapt up onto the rockface, and began to climb. Simba, seeing that
his father had escaped, ran up the rocky incline to meet him at the top.
Mufasa reached halfway, and a very vertical part. Scar stood there, looming
above him. Mufasa cried to his brother.
"Scar! Broth..." Mufasa began to slip, but regained his hold again.
"Brother! Help me!"
Scar responded by digging his claws into Mufasa forepaws. Scar got right up
into Mufasa's face and grinned evilly.
"Long live the king..." He said sarcastically. Then he tossed Mufasa back
down into the gorge.
Simba had reached the top, and saw his dad hurl from the cliff down into
the black river of winderbeasts. Simba somehow knew that there was no way
that his father could survive such a drop, and in the bottom of his heart,
he cried out for saddness, but out of his mouth, came a cry of disbelief.
"NOOOO!!!"
Mufasa fell and hit the ground after falling on a wilderbeast. One of
them tripped over him, and he could feel his ribs cracking under the weight
of the beast. He dug his claws into it and tossed it aside.
"Get off me, dammit!" He growled. He was filled with anger.. But then again,
he was always mad when things like this happened... This wasn't the first
time Scar had done something totally stupid... But this time it was much
different... He had tried to kill him... and the way Mufasa felt, so
helpless and weak, it seemed as though Scar would succeed.
"SCAR! I SWEAR THAT IF I LIVE, I WILL KILL YOU!!" he screamed. Then he tried
to stand, but fell back down in pain.
"AAAcchhh! MY RIBS!" then another beast tramped over his back leg. He could
feel the broken bone beginning to tear through his flesh. He then, almost
peacefully, laid down in deafeat and let death take its toll...
His head was hit by a hoof, and his skull fractured and stabbed his brain.
He died instantly...
And then, he entered the darkness.....
-A DARK AREA NEAR THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD-
Scar waited for the hyenas to return. Finally, they arrived.
"Is it done? Did you dispose of the bodies in the desert?"
The hyenas grinned.
"Yeah. Peice of cake. Mufasa's body is way out there. Not to worry."
"And Simba's too, right?"
The hyena's were silent for a moment.
"WELL?" Scar asked, impatient.
"Yeah yeah." Shenzi replied. "Simba's way out there too. Probably feedin'
the vultures as we speak!"
Scar smiled. "Good... Perhaps I was not so stupid to trust you after all."
Shenzi grinned at her two comrades. "Yeah. No worries, Scar. We're reliable
to a T."
Scar walked away, and Shanzi turned to them, a gleam in her eye.
"Not a WORD about the little brat's escape, you got it? If Scar finds out he
lives, he'll eat us alive! And I mean that LITERALLY!"
The other two just nodded in reply.
CHAPTER TWO - Technology Meets Nature
STILL 6 YEARS AGO
The jeep tore through the desert. In it were two human scientists. One of
them drove the jeep, and kept complaining about the heat, and the other kept
scribbling into a small notebook. The one with the notebook, whose name
was John Randolph, looked up.
"Woah! Stop the jeep!"
The other, Dave Storm, stopped the vehicle. Dave was known to use foul
language when he was agitated. "What the hell is it now? It's
fuckin' hot out here, and I wanna get back to the dome."
"Hold your horses. Drive over there. I think I see something!"
The jeep drove to the spot, and John leapt out. He walked to the object of
his attention. A lion carcass, very well preserved from the sand, though
with serious injuries.
"It's a lion!"
The other rolled his eyes.
John examined it. "It's dead, too!"
Dave shook his head. "Hey, no shit Sherlock! Can we go, now? I'm sweatin'
my ass off, here!"
John hauled the carcass up to the jeep. "We can use it! For the translator!"
"How the hell do you suggest we use a DEAD animal for the TRANSLATOR? He's
DEAD!"
"We could try the gate out!"
"No way! NO WAY! I am NOT putting a fucking LION through the gate! Forget
it! I mean, even if it would work, look at him! He's in BAD shape!
Probably caught in some kind of animal stampede."
"Well... What about those cybernetic parts. We've never tried them out,
either!"
"NO! We are NOT doing that!"
-BACK AT THEIR LAB, 1 YEAR AND 5 MONTHS LATER-
John pulled out a cryogenic capsule marked "LEO-1". In it was Mufasa's body,
along with the cybernetic enhancements they had added to it. They pulled out
the body, and put it on a conveyor belt that ran into a machine.
The body ran through, and when it came out, John ran up to it. Suddenly, one
of Mufasa's eyebrows twitched, and he inhaled slightly, and then went limp
again.
"Dammit! Still nothing but that!" John screeched, more frustrated than ever.
"Face it John. Leo's been tested and retested. There must be something wrong
with the gate. We'll have to go through and reassemble it again. Maybe we
should find a different test subject as well..."
"Perhaps you are right..." John sighed....
Little did they know, they were tapping into a power man should never be
able to access...
Into the darkness....
CHAPTER THREE - Avengement
3 YEARS AGO
...Scar was cornered! He didn't know what he could do now. Simba was bigger,
stronger, and younger than him. The only thing he could think of was to
stall...
Simba approached him...
"Murderer!" Simba growled as he approached Scar manacingly.
"Simba, Simba, please have mercy, I beg of you!" Scar pleaded.
Simba continued his approach.... "You don't deserve to live!" he growled
"It's the hyenas who are the real enemy!" Scar cried. "It was their fault!
It was their idea!"
Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, who had made their way up to help Scar stopped at
those words.They glared on, and ran back down to rally the hyenas against
Scar...
Simba stared right into Scar's frightened eyes. "Why should I belive you?
Everything you ever told me was a lie!"
"What are you going to do?" Scar asked desperately. "You wouldn't kill your
old uncle...?"
"No, Scar... I'm not like you."
"Oh thank you Simba. You're truly noble, I'll make it up to you, I promise.
Just tell me, I mean, anything."
"Run!" Simba said, a cold edge to his voice. "Run away, Scar. And never
return"
Scar realized that Simba meant not to kill him, but to have revenge. His
death would help nothing in Simba's mind, but banishment would be an
"appropriate" punishment... Scar frowned.
"Yes..." He began to slink away. "I see..." He saw a pile of cinders lying
on the rock, and decided to take his chances. "As you... wish..." Scar
readied himself for a fight he knew he could not win. "YOUR MAJESTY!" With
that, Scar batted the red-hot cinders into Simba's eyes. Simba was stunned
for a second, and in that second, Scar leapt upon him, and began to fiercly
bite and claw away at him! Simba soon took control of himself, and began to
fight back. They both took their licks, but in the end, Scar gave Simba a
mighty bat to the jaw, and sent him flying over to another rock.
Scar leapt through the fire to give Simba the death blow, but Simba used a
technique that he had been taught by Nala, and used Scar's own strength to
send him hurtling over the cliff to the bottom.
Fire nipped at Scar's hide, and the hyenas were fast at work tearing him
apart. He suddenly lost conciousness...
And then he entered the darkness....
CHAPTER FOUR: THE GREAT STORM
Simba sat on the grassy hillside with Nala. She was lovingly grooming his
mane, and he just relaxed. Off in the distance, Tanabi was playing with
another young lion. A lioness, named Casabi. Tanabi was getting older, and
it was good that he was becoming close to Casabi, for the two were chosen
for each other. Arranged marrages went far back in the pride, and though
Simba had sworn as a cub to do away with the law of betrothal in the royal
family, he had decided when his son was born, not to go against tradition.
Tanabi had no problem with being betrothed to Casabi. She was his greatest
friend. They did EVRYTHING together. Deep down inside, he really loved
her, but he did not ever say so. Especially around the others. All his
friends were so immature. They figured that love was a weird thing that
adults had, and they sure didn't want to spend all their time with a girl...
But they didn't have anyone like Casabi... She was young, beautiful,
energetic. She had hypnotic green eyes, and fur so soft, it was softer than
the finest grass of the savahnna. She was perfect, and she was all his...
Simba grinned out as the two tumbled and wrestled, still playing games as
if they were cubs, but the fact was, that it was getting close to adulthood
for them. When the age of four years had been reached, then adulthood was
achieved, and they were both nearing four. When they became adults, the next
dry season would be the one of their wedding. Nala looked at Simba. He
was obviously thinking deep on this.
"Hey Simba... Care to share anything?" She asked.
"Sure." Said simba, flopping down on his side, and Nala walked around and
lay down in front of him. "It's nothing much though, really. Just a father
proud and concerned at the same time..."
Nala smiled. "Yeah. I've been thinking about it too. Look at them." She
glanced at the two. "It's perfect. I can tell just by the way Tanabi acts
around her."
Simba looked at Nala, a bit confused. "You think he loves her? How can you
tell?"
"I'm a woman." she said sarcastically. "I can see these things. He's an
adolescent, Simba. Did you share much with anyone when you were?" Nala bit
her lip, almost forgetting that when Simba was an adolescent, he was hiding
in the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa, riding on a serious guilt trip.
Simba sighed. "No. Not even with Timon or Pumbaa. Fact of the matter is,
I didn't live on bugs alone, but I never told them I was catching lizards
and rodents in my spare time." Simba grinned. Nala sighed, a relived look
on her face that she did not bring up any bad memories. Simba nodded.
"You're right." he said. "When I was little, you wouldn't believe the crush
I had on you. Heh. Every time the betrothal was brought up though, I just
whined and mocked everyone who said anything about it."
Nala laughed. "I remember that... The day before you left." she rolled over,
giggling. "That argument we had with Zazu. That was a riot." She sighed.
"But yes, I can tell. He loves her. I only hope she feels the same..."
Suddenly, a bright flash came from the west, and great swirling clouds could
be seen in the distance. Simba looked at Nala.
"He's calling me..." Simba said desperately. Nala just nodded.
Simba charged up the hill, and down the other side. He ran all the way to
a cliff near the elephant graveyard, and looked into the clouds.
Tanabi had seen his father running, and gave chase. Casabi stayed and waited
for Tanabi to return. Tanabi came to where his father was, but stayed back a
ways. Suddenly, the face of a lion peered out of the clouds. Tanabi nearly
jumped from his skin.
"Hello father. What's so urgent that you have to call upon me?"
Tanabi whispered to himself. "Father..? That's Mufasa?! Kings of the past
in the stars... I'd have never thought it true..."
Mufasa spoke. "Simba. Something is happening here. Here in the domain of the
past kings... Our heavenly haven has been besieged by a great storm...
It grows larger and larger... Scar dissapeared into it, and I have not seen
him. Simba, there is something on Earth causing this! Something evil!
You must find it Simba! I am being drawn in, myself! I don't know how... much
longer I can... what?! HUMANS? HUMANS!!!..." Mufasa's image vanished, and
the storm died down. Simba sat wide eyed as to what had just happened...
He said humans... Humans are involved.... Simba sprang back, and passed
Tanabi without even noticing. Tanabi thought to himself.
"Humans, huh? THey can be dangerous... They have guns and other weapons...
I think dad is getting into more than he can chew...." Tanabi ran back to
Casabi.
"Casabi... I have to go away for a while... I am going to help my dad with
something important... He doesn't know I am coming, though... I don't know
when either of us will be coming back... I don't know IF either of us will
be coming back at all...."
Casabi jumped. "What? You mean you might die or something? Ha! You can't go
without me then. I won't let my best friend just jump in and die somewhere!"
"Casabi.. You can't come.. Trust me! You're my best friend, and I don't want
you hurt. THere are humans involved, and humans are dangerous! I don't want
you to die! I..." He cut himself off.
Casabi looked at him oddly. "What's with you? Why are you being so
protective of me all of the sudden? I can handle it! I'm NOT a wimp, you
know! Why won't you let me come? And if you say you don't want me to get
hurt, I'll show you just how hurt I can make others... "She grinned and
extended one claw.
"Because I love you!" He shouted. "If anything happened to you, I'd go
crazy!" Tanabi sighed.
"I love you too, Tan. And that's why you HAVE to let me come with you."
Tanabi knew there was no talking her out of it. He smiled at her, and
nodded. The two went to Pride Rock, had something to eat, and then waited
until Simba left.
When he finally did, the two followed...
CHAPTER FIVE - OUT OF THE DARK
Storm flipped the lever that day for the third time. He had had
just about as much of this as he could handle today. He looked at John, who
was intently looking at the machine.
"This ain't gonna work." Dave said with a tinge of annoyance.
"But this specimin is new, and the technology has changed. This WILL work.
I just know it."
"Oh bull shit."
"Third time's a charm."
"No. Third time's the third time. Can we quit, now? Look." He pointed to
lion as it came out the other end of the machine, showing no signs of life.
But then, what was to be expected from this one. The body had been so badly
torn and burnt when they found it, that it was hard to put back together.
But the new cybernetic parts they had assembled into it were all in order,
and should work, in theory. The new robotic eye that they had given the lion
was proven to work on monkeys, at least. It was put in over where his left
eye would have been. The left side of his face had been well torn, but there
was an old scar swiped over his right eye, so they called the specimine
"Scar". THey had no idea how fitting that name was...
John sighed as no sign of life showed. "You're probably right... WAIT!
Look at that..." He pointed.
The robotic eye on Scar's head was moving.. focusing in, and soon his good
eye with the scar over it opened up. He looked around, confused at
what he saw. He looked down at his body, mechanical parts grafted into
it. He had no clue what had happened. All he knew was that a day ago, he
had been pulled from his home in the sky, and now he was back on Earth...
He flipped over and rose on all four legs, making a slight mechanical
sound from his pneumatic legs (Of which there were 2, two of his original
legs remained.) He looked at the human's curiously.
"What am I doing here...?" He queried the humans. They did not understand
a word he spoke, of course, but scar was so disoriented, he did not think
that they might not understand him, and he roared out loudly.
"WHAT AM I DOING HERE?" he screeched.
"Whoah.... maybe this was a bad idea..." John said.
"I've been saying that the whole time..." Dave snorted.
"You bet it was a bad idea!" Scar growled. "Now answer me!"
"Almost seems like he's trying to talk to us, doesn't it?" John looked
curiously at Scar.
Scar thought to himself.. OF COURSE. THey did not understnad him. They
were humans. For a human to really hear an animal talk, they had to
believe it possible first, just as the human cub that had wandered into
the pridelands so long ago had. Scar raised one of his metal legs, bore
one of his claws from it, and scratched a nearby ceramic tile on the wall.
'YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND ME' he scraped into the wall.
The two stood there, dumbfounded.
'JUST BELIEVE YOU CAN, AND YOU WILL.'
John stepped forward slowly. "I.. believe it."
Scar snorted. "Do you really?"
John jumped back, startled. "Appearently so..."
"I heard that, too" Dave added. "I think..."
"Oh you humans are so unimaginative. Of course you heard it. Animals speak
as well as humans do. A gift from above long ago when the circle of life
began. But humans have become so wrapped up in technology, they forget it.
It's really.. quite dissapointing." Scar rambled on.
The two humans just stood silently watching him.
"Now. Anyway. I believe I will be going now. I have... business to attend
to" Scar grinned and headed toward the door of the lab.
"Now wait a minute!" John managed to say. If you animals are so advanced,
do you have names? What should we call you. We were just calling you..."
"Scar... I know. Most people call me that... It'll do." he sneered
Author: DragonMaster
Special notes: This "feeds" from a few other fanfics. "The Tales of Tanabi"
is greatly involved. READ IT. Also, if you are a mature reader (Suggested
17+, but I read it when I was 15.) read Christine Morgan's "A Matter of
Pride" as well. It also feeds off that. Other than that, it's all my stuff.
Legal BS:The Lion King, characters, and all other related indicia are
trademarks of Walt Disney Pictures Inc. 1994. The character of Tanabi was
created by Joshua C. Templin. All other items are trademark of, well, me!
(Christine Morgan influenced a bit, but nothing here is hers for certain.
But I'd like to credit her anyway.)
Oh yes, and this is rated R. ;)
A NOTE: I wrote this quite some time ago, I suppose I was about 16. (I'm 23 now :P )
In any case, the story seems quite contrived, and though I didn't lose interest in the
overall concept, I just couldn't find a good way to implement it. Sad.
Lemme know what you think. garylisk@yahoo.com
CHAPTER ONE - THE TRAGEDY
6 YEARS AGO...
Mufasa strolled through the land, conversing with Zazu, his
majordomo and most trusted friend. They had just passed by the gorge to the
south when Zazu noticed something strange...
"Look, sire. The herd is on the move..."
"Odd.." Mufasa replied.
Quite suddenly, Taka, or Scar, as everyone now called him, came
running up from nowhere to Mufasa. He had a shocked look on his face, and he
looked as though were going to faint. Mufasa looked at his brother,
concerned.
"Mufasa..." Scar panted, nearly out of breath. "Stampede! In the gorge...
Simba's down there!"
Mufasa jumped. "Simba!"
No words were wasted. Mufasa and Scar dashed to the gorge, and Zazu
flew down to see if he could find the lad, or what was left of him...
Finally, Zazu spotted him, hanging from a small, leafless tree. Zazu flew up to
him.
"Zazu! Help me!" Simba screeched in fear.
"Your father is on his way! Hold on!"
"Hurry!!"
Zazu flew back to where Mufasa and Scar were now, looking into the gorge.
Zazu pointed to the small tree.
"There! There! On that tree!"
Mufasa screamed at the top of his lungs. "Hold on, Simba!!"
At that moment, a winderbeast slammed into the tree, and caused a large
crack to form on it. Simba gasped, and managed to keep his grip by
extending his claws.
Mufasa, taken aback by this, halted for a moment, but then leapt down into
the gorge and ran with the flow of the creatures towards the tree. His
brain racked as he thought of how he was going to save Simba without getting
hit by one of the frightened animals.
Meanwhile, Scar and Zazu watched.
"Oh, Scar, this is AWFUL! What shall we do?!" Zazu thought for a moment.
"Help! That's it! I'll go back for help! I'll go back for OOF!"
Scar slammed the back side of his paw into Zazu and knocked him against a
wall. Scar grinned and thought to himself. 'Oh no. No one shall come to
help this time...' And he chuckled to himself in his own insane fashion.
Down in the gorge, Mufasa had nearly reached Simba. There was a small
window of clearing in front of the tree, and Mufasa acted fast to turn into
it, but while doing this, he swung too far, and was slammed into by a
widerbeast. Mufasa shook his head from the pain, and looked up. A
wilderbeast had hit the tree and snapped it in half. Simba had flown into
the air. Once again, Mufasa charged towards Simba, and leapt up, catching
him in his jaws.
Mufasa ran to the lowest rock he could find and deposited Simba there, but
he was hit by another wilderbeast and knocked back into the fray.
Scar looked on at this and frowned. The little brat had lived... But Mufasa
would not... He would make sure of that...
Mufasa leapt up onto the rockface, and began to climb. Simba, seeing that
his father had escaped, ran up the rocky incline to meet him at the top.
Mufasa reached halfway, and a very vertical part. Scar stood there, looming
above him. Mufasa cried to his brother.
"Scar! Broth..." Mufasa began to slip, but regained his hold again.
"Brother! Help me!"
Scar responded by digging his claws into Mufasa forepaws. Scar got right up
into Mufasa's face and grinned evilly.
"Long live the king..." He said sarcastically. Then he tossed Mufasa back
down into the gorge.
Simba had reached the top, and saw his dad hurl from the cliff down into
the black river of winderbeasts. Simba somehow knew that there was no way
that his father could survive such a drop, and in the bottom of his heart,
he cried out for saddness, but out of his mouth, came a cry of disbelief.
"NOOOO!!!"
Mufasa fell and hit the ground after falling on a wilderbeast. One of
them tripped over him, and he could feel his ribs cracking under the weight
of the beast. He dug his claws into it and tossed it aside.
"Get off me, dammit!" He growled. He was filled with anger.. But then again,
he was always mad when things like this happened... This wasn't the first
time Scar had done something totally stupid... But this time it was much
different... He had tried to kill him... and the way Mufasa felt, so
helpless and weak, it seemed as though Scar would succeed.
"SCAR! I SWEAR THAT IF I LIVE, I WILL KILL YOU!!" he screamed. Then he tried
to stand, but fell back down in pain.
"AAAcchhh! MY RIBS!" then another beast tramped over his back leg. He could
feel the broken bone beginning to tear through his flesh. He then, almost
peacefully, laid down in deafeat and let death take its toll...
His head was hit by a hoof, and his skull fractured and stabbed his brain.
He died instantly...
And then, he entered the darkness.....
-A DARK AREA NEAR THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD-
Scar waited for the hyenas to return. Finally, they arrived.
"Is it done? Did you dispose of the bodies in the desert?"
The hyenas grinned.
"Yeah. Peice of cake. Mufasa's body is way out there. Not to worry."
"And Simba's too, right?"
The hyena's were silent for a moment.
"WELL?" Scar asked, impatient.
"Yeah yeah." Shenzi replied. "Simba's way out there too. Probably feedin'
the vultures as we speak!"
Scar smiled. "Good... Perhaps I was not so stupid to trust you after all."
Shenzi grinned at her two comrades. "Yeah. No worries, Scar. We're reliable
to a T."
Scar walked away, and Shanzi turned to them, a gleam in her eye.
"Not a WORD about the little brat's escape, you got it? If Scar finds out he
lives, he'll eat us alive! And I mean that LITERALLY!"
The other two just nodded in reply.
CHAPTER TWO - Technology Meets Nature
STILL 6 YEARS AGO
The jeep tore through the desert. In it were two human scientists. One of
them drove the jeep, and kept complaining about the heat, and the other kept
scribbling into a small notebook. The one with the notebook, whose name
was John Randolph, looked up.
"Woah! Stop the jeep!"
The other, Dave Storm, stopped the vehicle. Dave was known to use foul
language when he was agitated. "What the hell is it now? It's
fuckin' hot out here, and I wanna get back to the dome."
"Hold your horses. Drive over there. I think I see something!"
The jeep drove to the spot, and John leapt out. He walked to the object of
his attention. A lion carcass, very well preserved from the sand, though
with serious injuries.
"It's a lion!"
The other rolled his eyes.
John examined it. "It's dead, too!"
Dave shook his head. "Hey, no shit Sherlock! Can we go, now? I'm sweatin'
my ass off, here!"
John hauled the carcass up to the jeep. "We can use it! For the translator!"
"How the hell do you suggest we use a DEAD animal for the TRANSLATOR? He's
DEAD!"
"We could try the gate out!"
"No way! NO WAY! I am NOT putting a fucking LION through the gate! Forget
it! I mean, even if it would work, look at him! He's in BAD shape!
Probably caught in some kind of animal stampede."
"Well... What about those cybernetic parts. We've never tried them out,
either!"
"NO! We are NOT doing that!"
-BACK AT THEIR LAB, 1 YEAR AND 5 MONTHS LATER-
John pulled out a cryogenic capsule marked "LEO-1". In it was Mufasa's body,
along with the cybernetic enhancements they had added to it. They pulled out
the body, and put it on a conveyor belt that ran into a machine.
The body ran through, and when it came out, John ran up to it. Suddenly, one
of Mufasa's eyebrows twitched, and he inhaled slightly, and then went limp
again.
"Dammit! Still nothing but that!" John screeched, more frustrated than ever.
"Face it John. Leo's been tested and retested. There must be something wrong
with the gate. We'll have to go through and reassemble it again. Maybe we
should find a different test subject as well..."
"Perhaps you are right..." John sighed....
Little did they know, they were tapping into a power man should never be
able to access...
Into the darkness....
CHAPTER THREE - Avengement
3 YEARS AGO
...Scar was cornered! He didn't know what he could do now. Simba was bigger,
stronger, and younger than him. The only thing he could think of was to
stall...
Simba approached him...
"Murderer!" Simba growled as he approached Scar manacingly.
"Simba, Simba, please have mercy, I beg of you!" Scar pleaded.
Simba continued his approach.... "You don't deserve to live!" he growled
"It's the hyenas who are the real enemy!" Scar cried. "It was their fault!
It was their idea!"
Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, who had made their way up to help Scar stopped at
those words.They glared on, and ran back down to rally the hyenas against
Scar...
Simba stared right into Scar's frightened eyes. "Why should I belive you?
Everything you ever told me was a lie!"
"What are you going to do?" Scar asked desperately. "You wouldn't kill your
old uncle...?"
"No, Scar... I'm not like you."
"Oh thank you Simba. You're truly noble, I'll make it up to you, I promise.
Just tell me, I mean, anything."
"Run!" Simba said, a cold edge to his voice. "Run away, Scar. And never
return"
Scar realized that Simba meant not to kill him, but to have revenge. His
death would help nothing in Simba's mind, but banishment would be an
"appropriate" punishment... Scar frowned.
"Yes..." He began to slink away. "I see..." He saw a pile of cinders lying
on the rock, and decided to take his chances. "As you... wish..." Scar
readied himself for a fight he knew he could not win. "YOUR MAJESTY!" With
that, Scar batted the red-hot cinders into Simba's eyes. Simba was stunned
for a second, and in that second, Scar leapt upon him, and began to fiercly
bite and claw away at him! Simba soon took control of himself, and began to
fight back. They both took their licks, but in the end, Scar gave Simba a
mighty bat to the jaw, and sent him flying over to another rock.
Scar leapt through the fire to give Simba the death blow, but Simba used a
technique that he had been taught by Nala, and used Scar's own strength to
send him hurtling over the cliff to the bottom.
Fire nipped at Scar's hide, and the hyenas were fast at work tearing him
apart. He suddenly lost conciousness...
And then he entered the darkness....
CHAPTER FOUR: THE GREAT STORM
Simba sat on the grassy hillside with Nala. She was lovingly grooming his
mane, and he just relaxed. Off in the distance, Tanabi was playing with
another young lion. A lioness, named Casabi. Tanabi was getting older, and
it was good that he was becoming close to Casabi, for the two were chosen
for each other. Arranged marrages went far back in the pride, and though
Simba had sworn as a cub to do away with the law of betrothal in the royal
family, he had decided when his son was born, not to go against tradition.
Tanabi had no problem with being betrothed to Casabi. She was his greatest
friend. They did EVRYTHING together. Deep down inside, he really loved
her, but he did not ever say so. Especially around the others. All his
friends were so immature. They figured that love was a weird thing that
adults had, and they sure didn't want to spend all their time with a girl...
But they didn't have anyone like Casabi... She was young, beautiful,
energetic. She had hypnotic green eyes, and fur so soft, it was softer than
the finest grass of the savahnna. She was perfect, and she was all his...
Simba grinned out as the two tumbled and wrestled, still playing games as
if they were cubs, but the fact was, that it was getting close to adulthood
for them. When the age of four years had been reached, then adulthood was
achieved, and they were both nearing four. When they became adults, the next
dry season would be the one of their wedding. Nala looked at Simba. He
was obviously thinking deep on this.
"Hey Simba... Care to share anything?" She asked.
"Sure." Said simba, flopping down on his side, and Nala walked around and
lay down in front of him. "It's nothing much though, really. Just a father
proud and concerned at the same time..."
Nala smiled. "Yeah. I've been thinking about it too. Look at them." She
glanced at the two. "It's perfect. I can tell just by the way Tanabi acts
around her."
Simba looked at Nala, a bit confused. "You think he loves her? How can you
tell?"
"I'm a woman." she said sarcastically. "I can see these things. He's an
adolescent, Simba. Did you share much with anyone when you were?" Nala bit
her lip, almost forgetting that when Simba was an adolescent, he was hiding
in the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa, riding on a serious guilt trip.
Simba sighed. "No. Not even with Timon or Pumbaa. Fact of the matter is,
I didn't live on bugs alone, but I never told them I was catching lizards
and rodents in my spare time." Simba grinned. Nala sighed, a relived look
on her face that she did not bring up any bad memories. Simba nodded.
"You're right." he said. "When I was little, you wouldn't believe the crush
I had on you. Heh. Every time the betrothal was brought up though, I just
whined and mocked everyone who said anything about it."
Nala laughed. "I remember that... The day before you left." she rolled over,
giggling. "That argument we had with Zazu. That was a riot." She sighed.
"But yes, I can tell. He loves her. I only hope she feels the same..."
Suddenly, a bright flash came from the west, and great swirling clouds could
be seen in the distance. Simba looked at Nala.
"He's calling me..." Simba said desperately. Nala just nodded.
Simba charged up the hill, and down the other side. He ran all the way to
a cliff near the elephant graveyard, and looked into the clouds.
Tanabi had seen his father running, and gave chase. Casabi stayed and waited
for Tanabi to return. Tanabi came to where his father was, but stayed back a
ways. Suddenly, the face of a lion peered out of the clouds. Tanabi nearly
jumped from his skin.
"Hello father. What's so urgent that you have to call upon me?"
Tanabi whispered to himself. "Father..? That's Mufasa?! Kings of the past
in the stars... I'd have never thought it true..."
Mufasa spoke. "Simba. Something is happening here. Here in the domain of the
past kings... Our heavenly haven has been besieged by a great storm...
It grows larger and larger... Scar dissapeared into it, and I have not seen
him. Simba, there is something on Earth causing this! Something evil!
You must find it Simba! I am being drawn in, myself! I don't know how... much
longer I can... what?! HUMANS? HUMANS!!!..." Mufasa's image vanished, and
the storm died down. Simba sat wide eyed as to what had just happened...
He said humans... Humans are involved.... Simba sprang back, and passed
Tanabi without even noticing. Tanabi thought to himself.
"Humans, huh? THey can be dangerous... They have guns and other weapons...
I think dad is getting into more than he can chew...." Tanabi ran back to
Casabi.
"Casabi... I have to go away for a while... I am going to help my dad with
something important... He doesn't know I am coming, though... I don't know
when either of us will be coming back... I don't know IF either of us will
be coming back at all...."
Casabi jumped. "What? You mean you might die or something? Ha! You can't go
without me then. I won't let my best friend just jump in and die somewhere!"
"Casabi.. You can't come.. Trust me! You're my best friend, and I don't want
you hurt. THere are humans involved, and humans are dangerous! I don't want
you to die! I..." He cut himself off.
Casabi looked at him oddly. "What's with you? Why are you being so
protective of me all of the sudden? I can handle it! I'm NOT a wimp, you
know! Why won't you let me come? And if you say you don't want me to get
hurt, I'll show you just how hurt I can make others... "She grinned and
extended one claw.
"Because I love you!" He shouted. "If anything happened to you, I'd go
crazy!" Tanabi sighed.
"I love you too, Tan. And that's why you HAVE to let me come with you."
Tanabi knew there was no talking her out of it. He smiled at her, and
nodded. The two went to Pride Rock, had something to eat, and then waited
until Simba left.
When he finally did, the two followed...
CHAPTER FIVE - OUT OF THE DARK
Storm flipped the lever that day for the third time. He had had
just about as much of this as he could handle today. He looked at John, who
was intently looking at the machine.
"This ain't gonna work." Dave said with a tinge of annoyance.
"But this specimin is new, and the technology has changed. This WILL work.
I just know it."
"Oh bull shit."
"Third time's a charm."
"No. Third time's the third time. Can we quit, now? Look." He pointed to
lion as it came out the other end of the machine, showing no signs of life.
But then, what was to be expected from this one. The body had been so badly
torn and burnt when they found it, that it was hard to put back together.
But the new cybernetic parts they had assembled into it were all in order,
and should work, in theory. The new robotic eye that they had given the lion
was proven to work on monkeys, at least. It was put in over where his left
eye would have been. The left side of his face had been well torn, but there
was an old scar swiped over his right eye, so they called the specimine
"Scar". THey had no idea how fitting that name was...
John sighed as no sign of life showed. "You're probably right... WAIT!
Look at that..." He pointed.
The robotic eye on Scar's head was moving.. focusing in, and soon his good
eye with the scar over it opened up. He looked around, confused at
what he saw. He looked down at his body, mechanical parts grafted into
it. He had no clue what had happened. All he knew was that a day ago, he
had been pulled from his home in the sky, and now he was back on Earth...
He flipped over and rose on all four legs, making a slight mechanical
sound from his pneumatic legs (Of which there were 2, two of his original
legs remained.) He looked at the human's curiously.
"What am I doing here...?" He queried the humans. They did not understand
a word he spoke, of course, but scar was so disoriented, he did not think
that they might not understand him, and he roared out loudly.
"WHAT AM I DOING HERE?" he screeched.
"Whoah.... maybe this was a bad idea..." John said.
"I've been saying that the whole time..." Dave snorted.
"You bet it was a bad idea!" Scar growled. "Now answer me!"
"Almost seems like he's trying to talk to us, doesn't it?" John looked
curiously at Scar.
Scar thought to himself.. OF COURSE. THey did not understnad him. They
were humans. For a human to really hear an animal talk, they had to
believe it possible first, just as the human cub that had wandered into
the pridelands so long ago had. Scar raised one of his metal legs, bore
one of his claws from it, and scratched a nearby ceramic tile on the wall.
'YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND ME' he scraped into the wall.
The two stood there, dumbfounded.
'JUST BELIEVE YOU CAN, AND YOU WILL.'
John stepped forward slowly. "I.. believe it."
Scar snorted. "Do you really?"
John jumped back, startled. "Appearently so..."
"I heard that, too" Dave added. "I think..."
"Oh you humans are so unimaginative. Of course you heard it. Animals speak
as well as humans do. A gift from above long ago when the circle of life
began. But humans have become so wrapped up in technology, they forget it.
It's really.. quite dissapointing." Scar rambled on.
The two humans just stood silently watching him.
"Now. Anyway. I believe I will be going now. I have... business to attend
to" Scar grinned and headed toward the door of the lab.
"Now wait a minute!" John managed to say. If you animals are so advanced,
do you have names? What should we call you. We were just calling you..."
"Scar... I know. Most people call me that... It'll do." he sneered