KawaiiCutie12: Looks like Vitani and Kula are up to something, and what about Simba? I mean, surely he's not gonna let his best friend go without a fight, right? Well, we're gonna find out now!
Chapter 5:
It was only the end of the first week, and Simba was already fed up with it all. Ever since the Mountain Lands cubs came to stay, there's been nothing but problems.
He sat there and pouted, not wanting to go to bed just yet.
Who the royal heck does she think she is? Simba thought. Being mean to everyone and making Kula cry. I'm starting to question Nala's taste in friends-
"Simba."
He turned to see Tojo walking towards him.
"Oh...heya, Tojo," he forcefully smiled.
Tojo moved next to him. "Simba, cut the act. You suck at hiding your feelings."
"What are you talking about?" the prince played dumb.
Tojo rolled his eyes. "You're jealous of Tama spending time with Nala, and you're making it a little obvious."
"W-What? I am not!" Simba retorted.
Tojo just stared at him, nout buying his act. "You're not jealous, huh?"
"No!" he looked back at Tojo. "Maybe...oh who am I kidding, my best friend's getting snatched from right under my muzzle!"
Tojo rolled his eyes. "Simba, you're being a bit dramatic. Just because Nala and the new girl are friends doesn't mean you're not her best friend anymore."
"Oh yeah? Then why's she spending so much time with her?" Simba challenged him.
Tojo shook his head. "Simba, she's new. Nala's just trying to be nice and make her feel at home."
Simba frowned. "Well she was being rude, so she doesn't deserve to feel at home."
Tojo looked away. "Well..." He shook his head, before turning back to Simba. "Why don't you try and talk to her tomorrow? If you're really her best friend, she'd listen to you."
Simba nodded. Tojo's words made complete sense, and he felt reassured by the dirty golden cub's words.
"Hey, you're right," Simba stated, "I should talk to her. Thanks for being a great friend Tojo!"
Tojo smiled. "Anytime, buddy."
The next morning, Vitani and Kula were sitting in a corner of the den while the other cubs interacted with one another. The guys were having their normal boy time, and neither wanted to put up with Tama's attitude, leaving them to their selves.
"Ya know, I'm starting to regret saying I wish there would've been more girl cubs," Kula half-jokingly stated.
"You should've never jinxed it," Vitani teased.
The two shared a halfhearted laugh, before returning their downwards gazes.
"Hey! Nala's alone!" Kula pointed towards the entrance.
Vitani looked and was surprised to see Nala walking returning to the den by herself before turning back around.
Not waiting a minute, she race towards her friend.
"Nala!"
Turning around at the sound of her name, she saw as Vitani stopped in from of her.
"Hey, Nal', you wanna play?" Vitani asked.
Nala pulled her face into an apologetic look. "I'm sorry 'Tani, I'm gonna hang out with Tama."
"Oh...okay" was all Vitani could say.
A guilt-ridden Nala approached Vitani. "Hey, I promise you and I can spend some time together later. I can finally show it to you."
Before Vitani could answered, Nala trotted away.
What was that all about? Vitani thought. She's acting completely different. But if she promised to hang out later...
Frowning, Vitani walked back into the den, where she found Kula and Simba talking.
"Yeah, she's got a bad attitude" she heard Kula say.
"Someone's gonna teach her a lesson if she doesn't get a reality check" was Simba's agreeing response.
"Hey, Simba."
The two stopped talking and turned to Vitani.
"Hey, 'Tani," Simba smiled.
"So, Nala left huh?" Kula bitterly questioned.
Vitani nodded slightly, still confused as to why Nala brushed her off the way she did. "But I mean, she promised to hang out with me later, so..."
The three grew silent.
"Hey, why don't we go explore like we used to?" Simba suggested, "Kula's never been with us either."
"Yeah!" Vitani cheered. "Let's go! C'mon, Kula!"
The trio raced out of the den and into the Savannah.
"So where are we headed?"
Nala and Tama were walking side by side, not in a particular place at the moment.
Tama shrugged. "Why don't you pick the place?
Nala thought for a moment. "Hmm...we can hang out by Mapema Rock. It's got a river right by it, so we can go swimming if you want."
Tama grinned and nodded, following after Nala.
"Woah, this place is creepy!"
The Pride Lands princess had informed her cousin and friend about a place her father had told her about. Wanting to see it for herself, she led the two there and upon arriving, they were awestruck.
"Yeah," Vitani agreed, "but isn't it great?"
"We could get in big trouble," Simba snickered.
"I know," Vitani deviously answered.
Walking closer, they gazed at the enormous elephant skull.
"I wonder if it brains are still in there," Simba stated.
Vitani grinned. "Well, there's only one way to know. Come on, let's go check it out-"
"Wait!"
They royal cousins looked back at Kula.
"S-Should we really be d-doing this?" Kula asked, "I-I mean, what if we get h-hurt?"
The cousins looked to each other for a moment, then back to Kula.
"Oh come on," Simba complained, "you're not scared, are you?"
"Yeah, there's nothing here," Vitani added in.
Kula wasn't buying it, but decided to suck it up. "Y-You're right, I was just being paranoid. Heh."
The trio ventured in deeper, looking around at all the bones.
BOOSH!
"Ah!"
The trio jumped back as a giant geyser erupted in front of them. Each let out a chuckle along with a sigh of relief.
"We gotta be careful," Vitani noted, "there could be more of these."
Kula nodded and continued to follow the two deeper into the bone yard.
Tama and Nala arrived at their destination and lied on the rock.
"So, Nala, I've got a question for you: Have you ever seen Crystal Falls?"
Nala thought for a moment. "Nope, never even heard of it."
Tama's eyes widened. "We totally have to go. You'd seriously love it. It's in the Mountain Lands, but it'll be worth the journey."
"Well, we can go anytime," Nala pointed out.
"I can't wait," Tama grinned.
Nala returned the smile, before a thought crossed her head.
"Oh! There's this really neat place I gotta show you; it's completely hidden," Nala informed her.
"I'm so down!" Tama's eyes sparkled.
Nala fixed herself on the rock. "So, what do you like to do back in the Mountain Lands?"
"Well, I totally love hanging out with Malka, swimming, wrestling with the other cubs-that's my personal fave-and...I must say I like hunt training."
"Me too!" Nala exclaimed, "especially hunt training."
"It's just so adrenaline rushing," Tama said with a smile, "and it's so fun to pounce on animals."
"Yeah!" Nala cheered, "It's like you're some kind of-"
"-secret spy!"
They laughed, realizing they thought the same thing.
"I never thought we'd become close friends so fast," Nala stated, recovering from her laughter.
"You consider us close?" Tama was surprised to say the least.
Nala nodded. "Yeah, I do."
Tama smiled at her friend, before rolling over. She hadn't realized how far she was, and even up rolling off the rock into the river.
"Woah!"
She fell with a splash and almost immediately surfaced. Coughing up some water, she turned to see Nala snickering.
"Wow, Tama, you're really dripping with style," Nala teased, laughing harder now.
"Ha ha ha, so funny."
Laughing, she pulled herself out the water and shook herself off, drenching Nala entirely.
"Hey, you jerk!" Nala playfully cried.
Tama deviously grinned before blowing a raspberry. The two laughed it off, and lied back on the rock
"Hey, you wanna play hide-and-seek?" Nala suddenly asked.
Tama's eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously. "Can I hide first?"
"Sure thing," Nala agreed.
Tama ran off to find the perfect hiding spot while Nala counted.
Simba, Vitani, and Kula had now gone deeper into the graveyard. There weren't as many geysers, but that didn't mean they didn't have to be careful.
"This is so cool," Simba whispered.
"You could say that again," Vitani agreed.
So entranced by the scene, they hadn't noticed a member was missing.
Malka and Chumvi were walking side by side. They arrived at one of the larger waterhole rocks and decided to lie down and feel the cool breeze.
"So how's your second trip here?" Chumvi wondered.
"Even better than the first," Malka smiled.
Chumvi fixed himself to fully face Malka. "Hey, Malka, I gotta ask...what's up with your friend?"
Malka frowned. "Who?"
"The new girl," Chumvi plainly answered.
Malka realized what he was getting at. Bringing a paw up, her rubbed his back tufts. "Look, Tama...she's not usually like this."
Chumvi rose an eyebrow. "Okay...so why's she acting like a-"
"Chumvi!" Malka snapped, then regained his composure, "look, I'm sorry but, I can't say."
"Oh..." Chumvi finally answered.
There was an awkward silence, and neither lion cub could figure out a way to make it go away.
"So...ya wanna hang with Tojo?" Malka asked.
Chumvi nodded and followed him to wherever Tojo had went.
This place is cool and all, but I can barely see. Where did Simba and 'Tani go?
Kula walked around, trying to figure out where her friends went. The more she looked, the more confused she got.
"Oh man, I better track their scents," she said to herself.
Placing her nose on the ground, she picked up the faint, but noticeable scent of Vitani. Muzzle on the ground, she followed the trail and was soon close enough to the other two.
"Hey, guys, uh, the lionesses probably caught lunch. Maybe we should head back."
The two turned in surprise.
"Kula! Where were you?" Vitani demanded.
"I kinda...stopped and looked around," Kula sheepishly smiled.
Vitani's worry melted and she chuckled. "See? I told you there was nothing to worry about. Now come on, let's go home-"
"Well, what do we have here? Looks like we're eating good tonight!"
Excitement morphed into horror as they came face to face with a pack of jackals.
"Please let us go," Kula begged, "w-we weren't doing anything wrong."
"Oh, really? I didn't know trespassing was okay" was the female jackal's snarky remark.
Vitani stepped in. "We didn't even know anyone was in here!"
"Yeah!" Simba cried, "honest!"
The jackal eyed the golden cub. There was something awfully familiar about him...
"Wait a minute...you're the king's son. No wonder you're putting up a brave front. Too bad I don't think highly of the king-"
"Mom!"
"Mama!"
All eyes turned to two pup excitedly running towards them.
"Hey, mama, guess what-"
"What are you guys doing out here?" the female snapped.
The male pup walked up to the group, intrigued by the lion cubs. "Mama, who are they?"
"That doesn't matter!" she shot back, "why are you guys out?"
"Because we're hungry!" the female whined.
As the adult jackal continued to reprimand her pups, the cubs took the chance to run.
"I swear, you guys never listen! Go back and stay put!" she hollered.
The pups, now having their ears pinned back, went back where they came from.
She turned to where the trio of intruders once were, only to see they were missing.
Enraged even more, she let out a stream of curses, and stormed deeper into the Graveyard.
With the cubs:
Arriving at the waterhole, they stopped to catch their breath.
"Man, *pant* that was *pant* a close one," Vitani choked out.
"Y-Yeah," Kula managed to get out.
Quickly getting water in their throats, the three caught side of the lionesses dragging the afternoon kill.
"Ooh, just in time! My tummy's singing!" Kula chirped.
Sprinting towards the food, Vitani and Simba shared a look and chuckle.
"Come on, before our parents start asking questions," Vitani suggested.
The two walked next to each other and joined up with the rest of the gang, telling them all about their adventure.
"Oh good, we made it."
Wrapped up in their time together, Nala and Tama had lost track of time, and returned to Pride Rock at the speed of light.
"Yeah. Come on, I'm starving," Nala stated.
Now in sight, the two casually walked over.
"Hey, I've got a great idea," Tama spoke up.
Nala looked towards her. "Let me hear it."
Tama looked up at her. "Well, maybe we could go to that place you told me about after lunch."
Nala froze. I can't. It's bad enough I ditched Vitani, I can't break my promise to her as well.
"I think it'll be too late," she hesitantly answered.
"Come on, it'll only be us girls," Tama persuaded.
Nala bit her tongue. Oh, man. What do I do?
Tama looked so hopeful. And so excited! How could she say no?
Grinning, she nodded her head. "Okay, why not? Some girl time away would be nice."
"Aww, you rock! Thanks, Nala." Tama threw her forelegs around Nala and nuzzled her head.
Nala smiled and returned the nuzzle.
I'll keep my promise to Vitani as soon as Tama's issues die down, she told herself, In fact, to make everything up to her, I'll take Vitani to the hot springs as many times as she wants.
Just as long as she doesn't find out I'm headed there later on!
KawaiiCutie12: Leave it to Simba, Kula, and 'Tani to get themselves into trouble huh?😂
Nala Nala Nala *tsk tsk tsk* you know, you shouldn't break promises.
Will Vitani find out, or will everything be A-Okay? Guess you'll have to wait and find out.
Until next time. Peace! ✌💓