KawaiiCutie12: Yeah, that idea of them being triplets just came to my head when I was drafting the story, and I also like the idea of it.

Chapter 10 – The Encounter

It has been half a year since Kopa fled the Pridelands. Kiara, Tiifu and Zuri have turned into mischievous little cubs, just like their older brother. Kiara woke up at the crack of dawn, Tiifu and Zuri waking up shortly after. Vitani and Nuka turned a year old a month ago, but they had no partners yet. Nuka was still looking for one, and Vitani wasn't sure if she would ever be able to have a partner ever again. Tiifu and Zuri already had partners. Tiifu was with a cub called Jabari. They loved spending time watching the stars at night. Zuri was in love with a lioness cub called Nia. They were both the youngest cubs in the pride. Kiara walked to Chuma's side of the den to see if Kovu was awake. His head popped up as he saw Kiara walk towards him.

"I gotta tell her how I feel.." he said to himself. She smiled at him and turned to head outside along with Tiifu, Jabari, Nia and Zuri. The young cub snuck away from his sleeping father and followed the princesses. Once they walked down from Pride Rock they all formed in a group and spoke.

"Guy's, you're not gonna believe what I heard my Mom and Dad talk about last night!" Kiara beamed. The rest of the cub's ears twitched eagerly as they waited for the princess to reveal what she overheard her parents talking about. "I was getting ready to go to sleep when I walked past them talking about some Elephant Graveyard."

"WOAH" all the other cubs said in unison.

"Where is it?" Kovu asked.

"Not too far from here. Just beyond the shadows. My Mom and Dad were there when they were cubs too." She explained.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Jabari asked. "Let's go!" And with that, the cubs headed off on their journey to the infamous Elephant Graveyard, not knowing what would be waiting for them there.

After about 15 minutes of walking, the cubs noticed the ground start to get drier.

"Guy's, I think we're here!" Nia beamed as she pointed to large tusks pointing over a hill. The cubs took a few more steps before sliding down a slope accidentally, and then falling off of a cliff a couple of feet high. The cub's landed with a thud, but one of them suffered an injury. As Nia fell, a loud snap could be heard as she landed on the solid ground.

"OWW!" she cried. Zuri ran to her mate and licked her face before looking down at her left foreleg, and saw the bone snapped in half. Nia made the mistake of looking down at her injury, which made things a whole lot harder.

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed. She continued to cry in pain as Zuri tried nuzzling her to calm her down. The cries of pain went on for a few minutes before Kiara spoke up.

"We should bring her to Rafiki." She suggested. Tiifu walked out and confronted her sister.

"And how are we supposed to tell him how she broke her leg? Mom and Dad would kill us if they found out, and besides, we're stuck down here!" This made Nia even more upset, as she was beginning to think that they would never be able to get out of here. Zuri licked away her girlfriends tears and looked into her eyes.

"Nia, are you able to walk with three legs?" she asked. Nia thought about it and tried getting up without putting pressure on her paw. She did it without any problems, and tried to walk using her other three legs. She surprised herself by doing so. Zuri smiled at her girlfriend and walked up beside her.

"If you get tired, you can lean on me, alright?"

Nia smiled and licked Zuri's cheek, before Kiara and Kovu walked out infront, leading the cubs and trying to find the safest way out of the Graveyard.

Simba slowly woke on his own. Usually Kiara would be waking him up every morning to ask him to play with her and her siblings, but he knew something was very wrong. He shot up and noticed that all the cubs where missing. (excluding Vitani and Nuka, obviously.) He nudged Nala to wake her up as fast as possible. She caught on quickly as to why she was woken up so harshly.

"Oh no, not again!" she cried. Simba, Nala and the other mother's of the cubs ran out of the cave as fast as possible, searching desperately for their cubs, not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier in the year. They all split up into small groups around the Pridelands. Some searched the water hole, some searched the borders of the Outlands. Nala stopped behind Simba and began having a panic attack. Simba heard his distressed mate and turned around to try and comfort her.

"We're gonna find them!" he reassured her. Nala kept on hyperventilating, which worried Simba, so he called Zazu. The majordomo arrived shortly after.

"Zazu, can you take Nala to Rafiki and see if he can help Nala with her breathing?" the king almost begged. Zazu nodded and Simba turned and ran, continuing to search for the missing cubs.

Zira had awoken in the Outlands. She was much skinnier than she was half a year ago. The three cuts that Kifo gave her had now become scars on her muzzle. She had become friends with a vulture there, named Mabawa. He was giving her information about Kovu and what Simba was up to. She was going to get her revenge on the king for being exiled, and prove to Kifo that she is not a failure. Over the last few weeks, Zira had been trying to come up with a good enough plan, to plot Simba's demise and to take over the Pridelands. Mabawa had told Zira about a streak of tigers that lived about 30 miles from the Outlands, and it should take about 24 hours to walk there.

Zira rose from her sleeping spot. She ate a few termites before heading off to meet the tigers. Mabawa had given her the safest route to where the tigers lived. She had to travel through the Elephant Graveyard to get on the right path. After a good 25 minutes of walking, Zira arrived at the border between the Outlands and Elephant Graveyard. She trusted Mabawa that he knows what he was saying and he was right about where to go. After travelling through the eerie graveyard for more than 10 minutes, she heard something that she hadn't heard in months: the voices of cubs.

The six cubs were still trying to find a suitable way out of the Elephant Graveyard for Nia. They had been walking for almost an hour, and it was very tiring for poor Nia.

"Guy's, can we take a break." She begged. "It's really hard to walk with three legs."

"I told you that you could lean on me, Nia." Zuri said. Nia sighed in relief and leaned heavily on her girlfriend. The cubs then continued to journey through the Graveyard, now being followed by Zira.

Simba and the lionesses had looked all over the Pridelands and still hadn't found the cubs, until one of the mother's spoke up to the king.

"Sire, there's one more place we haven't checked, and they could probably be in there." She said. Simba thought about what that place could be, before his eyes went wide in shock.

"The Elephant Graveyard.." he said under his breath. He ran towards the graveyard, and the lionesses darted after him.

After following the cubs for a minute, Zira's belly began to rumble. She hadn't eaten a great amount of food in so long, and would definitely need to eat before the journey to the tigers. Her brain though it was crazy; eating cubs! But her stomach had other ideas, and her hunger was getting the better of her. She smiled maliciously and picked up the pace so she was only feet behind the cubs, before introducing herself.

"Hello cubs.." she began. The six cubs turned back in fear, shaking violently as they could see how skinny the lioness was in front of them, her ribcage showing aswell as her spine. "What are you doing here so, alone." She chuckled evilly. Nia whimpered, and Zira heard it, which gave her more confidence.

"Oh dear, looks like your leg is broken. I can fix that for you." She said, still smiling evilly. Nia shook her head furiously.

"Stay away from us!" she cried. This made Zira chuckle. She began to walk closer to the cubs, drooling. The cubs were now backing into a corner. There was no escape. She licked her lips and unsheathed her claws. This was going to be a meal she would never forget. She opened her mouth wide, and got into position to pounce. She leapt into the air, the cubs now screaming in terror, thinking they were about to meet their doom, when something much larger than Zira bashed into her, sending her flying several feet away from the petrified cubs. It was Simba. He ran over to her and leapt onto her. He dug his claws into her chest, drawing blood. He growled furiously. She had crossed the line this time.

"Please Simba!" she begged. "Please, let me go. I'll run away, and never return." The last sentence Zira had said, made Simba feel slightly nauseous. He took his claws out of Zira's bloody chest, and he gave her the most furious glare anyone would ever see.

"If you ever come near these cubs again.." he warned. Zira nodded fearfully and dashed off. Simba sighed in relief and headed towards the shivering cubs. The triplets ran up to their father and nuzzled him. Kiara broke down into tears.

"It's all my fault!" she cried. This confused Simba. The rest of the mothers arrived and began comforting their cubs. But nobody showed up for Kovu. Simba saw that Kovu was alone and very frightened walked over to the cub to check on him. Kovu ran to the king and buried his head into his mane. Simba turned to the lionesses.

"Let's go home." He said.

A/N:

Zira seemed very similar to another movie villain. I wonder who that villain could be *cough* Pennywise *cough* XD. Anyway like I said yesterday, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be posted, because of school. But that's it from me for now. Take care and see you whenever!