Blah-de-blah. I'm back. I had a battle with myself (almost to a literal. o.o;) to get to writing this chapter. It should be a good chapter so I don't know why I had so much trouble persuading myself to write it. hm.. Anyways. On with the chapter.
The dusty Outlands. Now home to the Liba Pride, led by a very strong brown lion and beautiful dusty brown lioness. The Liba Pride was small, five adults and three newborn cubs under the Queen, but the life was harsh in the Outlands. Water was as scarce as the desert, and the only shade they could find was by termite mounds.
The king of this small, barren land felt much stress as he tried to provide for his family. Now, though, even more stress was put on him as his three cubs were born. He could see all of them becoming thinner as food became more and more scarce since the herds had moved back to the thriving Pridelands.
Two black and green lionesses padded back towards the small pride, panting after an unsuccessful hunt. Obassi looked up, annoyed, from a light nap towards the two empty-handed hunters. Umaimai shook her head, "We couldn't find anything. They've all traveled back to Pride Rock.. and you know if we go there that Kovu will attack us."
Obassi sighed, shaking his head, "If we don't do something soon, we'll all starve."
Rousing from a nap, Azazsi rolled over and looked at Dekala and Umaimai with disappointment then cleaned her three young cubs. "I lived in the desert for more than half my life before I joined Obassi and Boniko, and I still found food every other day. This is the outlands, a much easier life," She continued as the cubs calmed and fell asleep, "so prey should be simple to find for a good huntress."
Umaimai gasped at the Queen then growled, "Then why don't you go back to the desert and find your own food!"
Instantly, Obassi had leaped up and was only a few inches away from Umaimai's face, growling loudly in defense of Azazsi. Umaimai crouched down and pinned her ears to her head and glared at Obassi. "Don't you EVER talk to my Queen like that!" Obassi growled and glared knives through Umaimai.
Umaimai scoffed at Obassi, glancing to the side, "If you actually challenged Kovu, we might actually have food!"
Dekala stared at her sister and Obassi as they fought and ran off to find Boniko as quickly as she could. As she ran past a large boulder, she could hear Obassi growling angrily at Umaimai.
With a sigh Azazsi caught Obassi's tail in her mouth and pulled him back a few inches, "Calm down. I can defend myself." She then looked over to Umaimai and growled, "Learn your place in this pride. You do not speak to your King or Queen like that unless you want to be exiled."
Umaimai gasped. Would they really exile her? "You wouldn't... " She crouched down lower to the ground. "I'd have no place to go." She sighed as Obassi and Azazsi ignored her and walked off in the path Dekala took to find Boniko. She easily found Dekala and Boniko basking on a rock over the swamp. Boniko looked up and smiled at Umaimai and sat up. Umaimai looked to the ground and sit in front of Boniko. Dekala looked up and sighed, knowing she wasn't wanted around there, and jumped down from the rock and walked away to find something to do.
"What happened..." Boniko nuzzled Umaimai and looked concerned at her.
With a sigh, she began, "Dekala and I had an unsuccessful hunt and Azazsi boasted about how she found food in the desert with ease and I went off a little bit.." She looked down and closed her eyes. "..I don't want to be exiled. This is the only home I have."
"Hey.. hey." Boniko tilted her head up with a paw to look at her, "If things get too bad we'll find a new home. I once heard of a beautiful place far south of this, where the seasons are different. There's a hot and a rainy one, like there is here, but their shorter, and also share with a dry and cold season."
Umaimai looked up at him oddly, "What on Earth...? Four season? That's impossible, Boniko." She chuckled.
"No! I'm serious." Boniko laughed and nipped at her, "The hot one is rainy. There's a cold one. One where it rains a lot. And one where the trees change colors."
"Where the hell did you hear that?" Umaimai shook her head at him in disbelief.
Boniko smiled, "A little birdie once told me."
Umaimai jumped up on Boniko's back, knocking him over, "You're so weird..." And she walked to the tip of the low rock and laid down. Boniko just chuckled and laid back down to bask.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Azazsi smiled proudly at her three cubs, then looked up at Obassi, "We still need to name them.." She cuddled them in her paws as they mewed. Obassi smiled and turned his attention to a very dark, almost black cub with a brown underbelly and a brownish-red tuff with two streaks of silver in it was on the top of his head where his mane would be.
"I think this one should be named.." He thought for a moment, "Boteshu."
A chuckle came from Azazsi with approval, "I like it.. suits him just fine." Azazsi's nature seemed to be mixed between the coolness of Sarabi and the slight wickedness of Zira. Obassi smiled and nuzzled the black cub who extended his claws with a small stretch and a mew, then turned his attention to the next male. He had a dark brown back, like Obassi, and a cream colored underbelly, like Azazsi. There was a very dark brown tuff on the top of this one's head with a lone silver streak stretching in the middle of the tuff. This cub was more desert build, long, slender, and more bony than Boteshu.
Obassi tilted his head, "I believe for this one... we'll have him be Qua," he looked to Azazsi to approve the name and she nodded slowly, thinking, but she said nothing.
Now Obassi looked to the quietest cub, and the only female. She had a very light brown back and a cream underbelly. The little cub mewed softly as she stumbled blindly over her mother's paw and tripped, landing on her back in front of Obassi, who instinctively lifted her up and placed her back with Boteshu and Qua. Obassi sighed and clenched his teeth in thought, then looked at Azazsi. "How about the name 'Ibzimai'."
"Sounds just fine for her." Azazsi smiled and licked the top of her cubs' head's. Obassi beamed and laid down by Azazsi and wrapped a paw over her, proudly, and gazed at his three cubs.
"Boteshu, Qua, and Ibzimai..." He sighed contentedly and placed his head on his other paw. Azazsi chuckled as the three cubs silently fell asleep, then she, too, slightly exhausted, leaned against the king and fell asleep.
.-.-.-.-.-.
A small time passed at the Pridelands. Gunab was now an active and curious cub who had two streaks of gold down each eyes and always wondered to himself about ruling the Pridelands, and found himself doubting to rule most times. One afternoon, while most of the lions and lionesses were napping in the warm sun, Gunab sat at the edge of Pride Rock and eyed over the kingdom, turning his head slowly to take in the view. A deep sigh was heard behind him and Gunab jumped and twisted around to look at his grandfather. Simba chuckled at Gunab and placed his head lower to the ground to whisper at him, "Amazing, isn't it?"
Gunab nodded and turned his gaze back to the lands. "Yea. but I don't know." He tilted his chocolate brown head to the side.
"Don't know what?" Simba chuckled and looked over the kingdom proudly.
"That if I should rule it all or not. I mean... it just seems like too much." He looked up to Simba and looked him in the eyes. "You want to know a secret?"
Simba laughed quietly at Gunab and shook his head, "Go ahead."
"Sometimes, when all of you are sleeping, or when I'm walking around the kingdom on my own, I see other lions around the border of the lands." Gunab was now focusing his vision to as far away as he could. Simba tilted his head, interested in the cubs "secret." "You know, the ones that live in the desert and Outlands? I've seen them and...and they all look like their starving. They look at our land like it's a heaven... What does that mean?" He looked up to Simba with curiosity in his eyes.
Simba looked from Gunab to the borders, then back to Gunab after thinking. "That means.. that those lions want our land. Most of them are starving because there is little food where they live. You're a very, very lucky cub, Gunab. Not all lions get the privileges you do. You have plenty of food, plenty of water, a strong and loving pride.."
"..but why? Why do the lions have to be separated into prides? Why can't we all just get along...?" Gunab sounded almost demanding to know the answers.
With a sigh, Simba hung his head and looked at Gunab, "That's just the problem; we can't get along."
Gunab tilted his head, overly curious, "Why not?"
Simba opened his mouth to talk but just sighed and shook his head, pulling Gunab close to him and licked his head, "You'll learn when you get older."
The dark brown cub sighed and looked down, 'But I really want to know now..' He thought, but decided not to speak. After a short moment, Simba stood up and walked slowly back towards the pride to sleep. Gunab just sat there and watched over the Pridelands.
An idea popped into the cubs mind as Simba quickly fell asleep with all the other pride members. What if he were to go see the other prides himself? Gunab stepped lightly as he walked down the long path down Pride Rock, making sure not to trip over any rocks, twigs, or anything else that could make noise. He chuckled as he reached the tall grass and blended into the surroundings perfectly. With a smile on his face, the brown cub broke into a rather quick run, for his size, and became closer and closer to the Outland borders.
When Gunab passed the tall grass, signaling the borders, he began to walk. Gunab was now in foreign territory. The atmosphere seem to changed incredibly fast as he slowly walked into the dryer and dryer wastelands. He stopped for a moment to scrape his paw against the ground, where only dust and a small bit of dirt rose up. Everything felt eerie, as if the young cub was being watched and that another lion or maybe even a hyena was lurking around every boulder and termite mound.
Gunab's ears pinned to his head and he crouched down as he accidentally stumbled on a dry twig, making it snap and echo through the emptiness. Still cringing, he lifted his head up and slowly looked around. With a sigh of relief, Gunab regained composure and began walking again.
A dark brown lion glared at the small cub from a shadow by a large rock, his scarred red eyes reflected light, making them look white, blue, and green. The young king took a step back into more of the shadows as a low rumble formed in his throat. A son of the enemy had wandered upon his land, a perfect way to get back at the Pridelands.
Just a bit of a cliffy, eh? Ah well, I'll be working on the next chapter as much as possible. THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS SO FAR! They've kept me writing- but why must you all insist that Obassi and the other Liba Pride members make PEACE with the Pridelands? If you've read any of my other stories, you should be able to figure out that nah-ah, that's not gonna happen. Anyway, more reviews, please! Flame, criticism, help, compliments, ANYTHING! n.n all appreciated. See you all next chapter!