A/N: This won't be like the usual Adventures you're used to from my account. You might be asking yourself then "Who is Orum?", well, you'll find out later. Please Read & Review, but be mature and civil about it or I'll unleash The Roar of The Lion Guard on you and use your flames to keep myself warm on winter nights.
It was just another day in the Pridelands as Simba took charge with Nala as his Lion Queen. The two were relaxing together for the most part as nothing major was going on so far.
"Mom, Dad, wake up!" Kopa beamed as he came to see his parents.
"It's still too early." Simba chuckled at his son as he and Nala tried to sleep.
"Aw, come on! Wake up!" Kopa told them as he tried to get his dad to get up by playfully pulling his father's right ear.
Simba chuckled as that reminded him of old times.
"Your son is awake." Nala said to her mate.
"Before sunrise, he's your son." Simba retorted, reminding him of his parents from when he was a cub.
"Come on, Dad. Wake up," Kopa told his father before getting greeted by his younger sister as she bit his tail. "Yow!"
The young female bear cub was shown.
"Kiara!" Kopa complained.
Kiara just looked innocent in response.
"You sure can be a little angel at times, but not all the time." Kopa said as Kiara let his tail go.
Kiara seemed to smirk a bit.
"Hmph..." Kopa rolled his eyes before he walked further into the den.
Kion still seemed to be asleep like their parents.
Kopa was about to try and wake up his father again before getting an idea. 'Wait. Maybe I can go play with Vitani for a while until they wake up.' he then thought to himself.
Kiara soon went to go back with Kion.
"Watch the den for me, guys, I'll be back later." Kopa told his younger siblings as he ran off.
Kiara then yawned as she lay back down beside Kion as they continued to sleep.
Meanwhile, Vitani was shown to be asleep in her own home with her own space.
"Yes, Vitani, sleep; I'm going out to take care of your little friend." Zira whispered as she left the den.
The surroundings looked rather eerie as it was filled with some fog. Vitani seemed to turn in her sleep, though she didn't really wake up.
"I hope she's awake." Kopa said to himself as he wandered through the fog.
The only problem with fogs was that you couldn't tell what was right in front of you or what was around you.
"Hmm... Maybe I should have waited for the fog to blow away." Kopa said.
There was a bit of a sinister chuckle heard.
"Huh?" Kopa blinked before looking around. "Vitani, is that you?"
Vitani didn't answer him, obvious to us, but not to him as he was alone in the fog.
"Must've been something else." Kopa shrugged as he tried to look for his friend, but just as he was about to walk off, he fell to the ground as his tail was stepped on from behind.
"Watch your step~" A voice smirked.
"Gah!" Kopa yelped before he saw that his tail was trapped and he looked up from the fog before seeing a pair of crimson eyes looking straight at him.
"Oh. I am sorry, did you hurt yourself?" Zira asked, acting concerned.
"...I'm fine..." Kopa said nervously as he tried to get his tail free. "I guess it's just hard to see where I'm going with this fog."
"Where are you off to in such a hurry and so alone?" Zira asked.
"Uh, nowhere important," Kopa replied bashfully. "Just out to find someone to play with."
"Oh, like say, Vitani?" Zira asked.
"Erm... Yes..." Kopa admitted bashfully.
"Oh, let her sleep. But would you like to see something exciting?" Zira asked.
"...I'd like to be with my friend..." Kopa said nervously.
"Come now, you can trust me~" Zira smirked as she wrapped her paw around him while he felt concerned. "I wouldn't let anybody down."
"Well, I guess if Vitani is still asleep that I could make a slight detour." Kopa said.
"Trust me." Zira smirked.
"All right," Kopa nodded. "So what do you wanna show me?" he then asked.
"Follow me." Zira smirked as she soon led Kopa to the gorge.
Kopa nodded as he followed after the lioness, looking around a bit to make sure that Pride Rock was still close so he could get back home for when he would need to.
"Have you been told about this particular spot, Kopa?" Zira asked him once they reached the gorge.
"Erm... This gorge?" Kopa asked.
"Yes, the gorge." Zira nodded.
"It's dangerous to come out here alone, especially if a stampede might hit." Kopa replied.
"Yes, your father learned that the hard way when he murdered his father." Zira lied before covering her mouth.
"Wait... What?" Kopa's eyes widened.
"Oh, you didn't know?" Zira gasped.
"N-No..." Kopa said shallowly. "D-Dad would never do that."
"Oh, but he did," Zira smirked before glaring. "Just like he killed Scar."
"But Dad told me that Scar was the one that killed Grandfather Mufasa. And Dad wasn't the one that killed Scar; I mean yes, he did throw him off Pride Rock, but he didn't kill him, the hyenas killed him. And besides, Scar was a ruthless tyrant of a king, my mother even told me." Kopa told her, defending his father.
"I'm sure he told you whatever he could to save his own fur," Zira replied. "What defense do you have anyway?"
"My dad wouldn't lie to me." Kopa narrowed his eyes a bit.
"Yes, but many parents lie to their own cubs to protect them," Zira said. "You weren't there yourself. Maybe your father was lying the whole time and you have no idea."
"No! My father isn't a liar!" Kopa told her.
"Do you have proof?" Zira asked.
"Stop talking about my dad like that!" Kopa cried. "You don't know my dad!"
"Oh, but I knew him longer than you have." Zira reminded.
"That's it! I'm done listening to you," Kopa told her. "You're as bad as Scar."
"You shouldn't talk about Scar that way." Zira glared.
"Well, now you know how I feel!" Kopa glared back. "You deserved that!"
"You just sealed your fate." Zira glared back.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kopa asked.
"I'm afraid I have to take care of you, Prince Kopa." Zira narrowed her crimson eyes as her claws sheathed out from her paws.
"Uh-oh." Kopa gulped before running off.
Zira soon began to chase right after Kopa. Kopa panicked as he went to run for his life to get back to Pride Rock as he felt his heart pounding. Unfortunately for him, Zira was a full grown lioness and which meant she was faster and stronger than the young prince. And where that was proven as Zira caught up to Kopa as she began to strike down at him. Kopa looked around as he couldn't see Pride Rock anywhere and soon looked up with tear-stained eyes.
"Goodbye, Prince Kopa..." Zira said in a menacing tone as she raised her claw-ridden paw and prepared to swipe.
Kopa, not wanting to die, lunged up at Zira biting her on her left ear.
"YOW!" Zira yelped as that actually did hurt.
Kopa growled a bit in the bite before he let go and fell to the ground which made Zira's left ear now have a bite taking out of it and it was bleeding a bit.
"You little brat!" Zira sneered through both pain and rage as she soon attacked Kopa not letting him go for a second. And where since they were halfway between the border of The Pridelands and Pride Rock, there was only one way for the young prince to get help and that was to cry out for help.
"HELP!" Kopa cried out before struck once again by Zira before landing hard on the ground.
His last word was soon echoed in The Pridelands and where it reached Pride Rock.
Simba, Nala, Kiara, and Kion were still fast asleep. However, Simba's left ear twitched before his eyes suddenly flashed open.
"Huh? What?" Nala mumbled as she thought she heard something too.
"Nala...?" Simba called. "I thought I heard Kopa."
They soon saw Kopa was missing from inside the den. And which told them that Simba did hear him.
"Simba?" Nala frowned.
"I have to find Kopa," Simba said as he stood up on all fours. "You stay here and watch the twins."
"Be safe." Nala told him.
"You know I will." Simba nodded.
Nala looked soft and soon decided to check on Kiara and Kion as Simba left Pride Rock to go after their eldest cub. And where she did her best to keep Kiara and Kion happy as they both seemed worried about their older brother just as much as their parents were. And so were the rest of the pride as they had heard Kopa's cry for help as well as Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa.
"Did you hear that?" Zazu asked Timon and Pumbaa.
"That screaming?" Timon answered. "I was hoping that was just me."
"It sounded like Kopa to me." Pumbaa replied.
"I'm going out to find him." Simba told them as he ran past.
"Oh! Goodness!" Zazu gasped. "Then my worst fears are realized! Prince Kopa is in danger!"
"The Lion Prince is in danger?" A purple female hornbill asked as she flew in.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, Binti," Zazu told her. "King Simba's gone after him."
"Then we better go with him." Binti told him.
The rest of the pride, Zazu, Binti, Timon, and Pumbaa soon went to go and try to save Kopa, not knowing they were bringing along a certain young honey badger. Nala held Kiara and Kion close, especially since Kion tried to go after the other animals. Kopa was still crying out as he felt very scared and sad about where he was now. Zira kept on attacking Kopa until she finished with one final strike. Kopa whimpered as he suffered quite a bit.
Simba soon followed his older son's cries before he eventually caught up. "Zira! I should've known!" he then called out firmly as he saw the rogue lioness.
"Ah, Simba. Just in time." Zira smirked.
"Zira..." Simba glared.
"I'm afraid you're too late," Zira smirked. "Especially in saving your future Lion King of Pride Rock when that title should've belonged to Scar."
"Leave The Pridelands now." Simba glared.
"I suppose I might as well," Zira smirked. "I got what I came for. You really are careless to let your cubs wander like this."
"Leave... NOW." Simba growled.
"Very well," Zira smirked as she walked back to her home. "Don't say I didn't warn you about what happens when you leave young ones unattended~"
Simba and the others soon went up to Kopa to find out if he was alive.
"Is he...?" Timon asked nervously as he sat on top of Pumbaa.
"Maybe he's just sleeping." Pumbaa said nervously.
Simba came over to Kopa and held out his paw to turn his son over to take a look at him and where they could see Kopa had many scars, no thanks to Zira and where it didn't look like he was sleeping. Timon and Pumbaa soon came up beside the lion king.
Simba gasped in horror as the other lionesses from Pride Rock came beside him as they saw what had become of Kopa. "No... Please... No..." he said, both fearfully and tearfully. He then began to try and get Kopa to wake up, but nothing seemed to happen as Kopa didn't wake up.
The lionesses soon bowed their heads.
"S-Simba, I'm sorry, b-but I think he's gone." Timon said to the lion, a bit worriedly.
"Y-Yeah." Pumbaa agreed, just as worried.
"No... No..." Simba said as he felt his heart sink. "This can't be true."
The lionesses frowned at their king as Simba soon fell in the middle of the ground. Simba soon covered his eyes with his front paws as he looked ready to cry as he hadn't felt this devastated or broken inside ever since the death of his father from when he was a very young cub.
"Simba?" Nala's voice spoke up.
Simba then suddenly shot up and turned around to see his mate.
"Kopa... Is he... Did you?" Nala started to ask.
"Nala, I'm so sorry," Simba said sadly. "I'm afraid I couldn't save Kopa in time."
Kiara and Kion were seen getting down their mother's back and tried to wake up their big brother even if he wouldn't. Simba and Nala frowned tearfully. Simba knew exactly what the younger cubs were thinking as it just reminded him of being a young cub as he heard the words he said to his father when he had been killed by the wildebeest stampede.
"Dad... Wake up... Come on... We gotta get home..."
Before long Simba and the others soon went back to Pride Rock after mourning the loss of Kopa. Two servals were seen coming out of the grass as they came over to Kopa. Kopa was still lying still on the ground as he had perished because of Zira. The two servals looked at each other and they soon decided to do something with the poor lion cub and where they knew just the place to take him to and that was a special place called The Tree of Life.
"Do you think this'll help him in time?" One serval asked the other.
"It has to," The other serval replied. "We can only hope."
"And do you think he'll remember especially with how hard he hit the ground?" The first serval asked.
"Maybe or maybe not." The second serval said.
They continued to carry Kopa to The Tree of Life and where they took the fastest way they knew to get there. Kopa was still unresponsive as the servals attempted to do their best to be gentle with the lion cub as they set him down. The two servals then looked down at him as they put him under the special tree which was known as The Tree of Life.
"Let's hope Queen Janna, Queen Sahasi, and King Ananda are awake so then Nirmala can be informed to help with the young cub." The first serval said.
"Yes..." The second serval, who was a caring and soothing, female nodded. "Let's go."
"Wait here, buddy, we'll be back." The first serval told Kopa, even though the cub wouldn't hear him as the two cat-like animals went back to their home to see someone who could help Kopa.
Along the way, there was an elderly, dark-furred lioness who appeared to be asleep.
"Um, hello?" The first serval spoke up. "Your Majesties? We need your help and this can't wait."
"Huh? Is someone there?" The elderly lioness asked as she started to wake up.
"Good day, Queen Janna." The female serval bowed a bit to the elderly lioness.
"Ah, Muuguzi," The elderly lioness greeted. "Good to see you."
"We're sorry to disturb you from your sleep, but we brought a lion cub with us that needs help," Muuguzi told the elderly lioness. "His life is at stake and we just knew this was the perfect place to save his life."
"Oh, my..." Janna said softly.
"Yes, it's very serious," The male serval nodded. "Especially with his cuts and scrapes... It seems that someone was trying to actually kill him even though he's just a cub who probably did nothing wrong."
"Yes." Muuguzi added with a nod.
"Adi, Muuguzi, is he far?" Janna asked them.
"We put him at the Tree of Life." Muuguzi informed.
"And trust us when we say it was a little challenging getting him here," Adi said. "Even with the quickest way to get here."
"I see..." Janna replied. "Shall I go out to see him?" she then offered for their sake.
"If it's not too much trouble, please," Muuguzi nodded. "We had a bit of a challenge with helping him."
"All right, let's see this cub then." Janna decided as she got up and walked off with the servals. And as she walked outside, unknown to her or the two birds, Sahasi, Ananda, Surak, and Nirmala each woke up one-by-one.