Kopa's Pride

by wooftypeofgale

Kopa is the son of the Lion King and everyone knows it. He spends his days learning, in any way he can, how to be a great ruler - just like his father, and his father - and hanging out with his friends and family. But what happens when things don't go as he plans and has to re-envision a life outside of the Pridelands?

11. Chapter 10

Hi, everybody! It's about that time where I publish another chapter, it's here. This chapter has a few new people, as per the request of a reviewer. :D They're not new though, you know them I'm sure. I really do appreciate all the reviews I get. So thank you to you all. Here's some vocab – Azania: the African term for Africa – and now the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Lion King characters and/plot. I only own Lela.

I'll be keeping all your suggestions in mind and see where I could possibly fill them in.

Enjoy!

Kopa

"How is he sleeping?"

I stir at the sound of a familiar feminine voice nearby, but try my best to remain in my slumber. A male voice, just as familiar, gives a good-natured chuckle.

"Come on, cut him some slack, Nala," he says. "You know how hard it is to sleep when talking about science with Timon and Pumbaa."

It's my parents… I'd better wake up. I reluctantly open an eye, followed by another. My folks are hovering over me – I'm still lying on my back in the very terrace that my friends and I were chittering moments ago. I greet my parents with a smirk. "Hey, you two."

"Hey, Kid," smiles Mom slyly on one side of me. She sits down, "You must be really tired."

I sluggishly shrug, eyes half open. "It was a late night I guess."

Dad playfully punches my shoulder. "I'm sure you had more fun than necessary," he smiles in reminisce. "Enjoy it while you can," he teasingly mumbles under his breath, but just loud enough to make sure that Mom hears it.

She gasps with insult, but laughs regardless. "You know, I think eating all those bugs and slugs has done something to your brain." She smirks. "You used to be smarter."

I grin at my folks bickering, looking from one to the other, I can't help but notice my mom's belly. Is it safe for a stomach to grow that big? She's six months into her pregnancy, and I honestly can't wait any longer for the kid to get here. All the things we'd do together – just imagine!

I rest my head and look up the sky. It's red and orange and specked with a rogue star or two.

"If you'd just try one," Dad says with a laugh, his voice becoming audible to me once again.

"I don't think I'm willing to risk my normalcy," teases Mom. She looks back at me. "You haven't eaten all day, have you?"

I shake my head, "I don't need food," I grin. "I feed off knowledge."

"That's unfortunate," snickers Mom jokingly. She leans down to lick the side of my face with affection. I smile at the gesture. "I'm going to turn in early tonight," says Mom. "I think the little kid is getting restless."

"Sure, Nala," smirks Dad. "Blame the cub for your fatigue."

Mom comes round to nuzzle Dad, then she sticks her tongue out at him and heads off to the cave of Pride Rock.

Dad watches her leave with interest, I myself am still very intrigued by the idea of Walking Water somewhere in the Savannah. Who better to ask about a 'beach' than my pop? "Can I ask you something?"

Dad drops down to the ground and rolls over so that he's on his back as well, gazing at the heavens. "Go for it."

"This might sound a little crazy," I chuckle, a little nervous that I'd come off as a lunatic.

"What could possibly be so strange?" dad laughs, turning his head on its side to look at me.

I smirk. "Walking Water?" Dad raises a brow, encouraging me to go on. "I had a dream that I was on this… magical place with possessed water at the edge of the desert. It went on and on and on and there were these little green plants that were frankly tougher than a rogue elephant."

"Where'd you hear about this?" dad smirks.

"From Uncle Timon," I say. "I spoke to Afua and Lela about it. Afua thought it was ridiculous to even entertain the idea that a place like this is out there. Lela, though, she claimed it was real. She claimed that it's called a beach."

"Hmm," Dad looks thoughtful. He turns his gaze to the sky, expression considerate. "Could it be a river?"

I look back at the sky with him, watching as a few more brave stars dare to make an early appearance. I shake my head after a moment of thought. "No," I start. "It's as broad as a river is long, but it goes on so far it looks like it meets the sky."

"In your dream?"

I nod. "But," I huff a laugh. "Timon and Lela say it's not like any normal body of water. Its waves lunge for you and return to itself over and over." I look at Pop with a look of 'do you believe it?'.

"In the desert?" Pop tries to wrap his mind around the concept, speaking aloud as we bounce ideas off of each other.

"Heh," I look back at the sky. "That's right, Pop."

Dad thinks again before speaking. "Well, I'm at a loss for any explanation. I've never heard of a beach till tonight." He gives me a questioning look. "What do you think?"

"I'm not going to write it off just yet," I say objectively. "I'd like to believe it's real. Have you ever been over the blue hills?"

Dad shakes his head. "I've heard things. But I've never been there."

"What's out there?"

Dad laughs, "Snow supposedly. That's all I really know. I don't suppose your beach is over there if that's what's on your mind."

"I guess only Lela and Timon know."

Dad grunts and he rolls over so that his paws are underneath him, ready to stand. "Might wanna chalk down your options to just Lela in that case." He laughs. He stands up. "Speaking of, it's getting late. Where is she?"

"She says she's gone to Rafiki's."

"I don't like that," Dad says lowly but audibly. "Maybe you should go get her. I don't want her walking back to Pride Rock alone."

"I don't think she plans to be back tonight, Pop."

"Better safe than sorry," says Dad.

I nod, assuring that I'd be on my way in a moment. I hear my dad walk away and call out to him. "Hey, Pop, did you ever get anything out of her – regarding her origins?"

Dad looks back at me, "You can ask her for yourself when you see her." He smiles at me before heading off.

"You two need to leave right now!"

'What's going on in there?' I muse, nearing Rafiki's tree. I hear Lela shouting at two people and laughter is her response. I stand before the tree and bounce lightly on my joints, ready to spring up onto the tree. I lunge up and grab onto a sturdy branch. I struggle for a moment, digging my claws into the branch until my arms are full of tree. "Hey, Lela!" I yell. "Mind giving a lion a hand?"

Lela runs over at the sound of my voice. She climbs through a 'window' in the tree and onto the branch I'm on.

"What are you doing here?" she questions before she reaches for me and pulls me up.

"One would think you'd honour our discussion about you running off into the blue," I groan as I struggle to climb to my feet on the branch.

Lela's about to respond, when the sound of something breaking sounds from the inside of Rafiki's tree. "Look, can we not do this right now?" she dashes back inside and continues barking orders.

I jump into the Rafiki's home and stand bewildered at the chaos unfolding before my eyes. Jambo and Kwaheri are hopping from alcove to alcove, hooting chants, eating fruit, and tossing powder as they please. Lela hops after one monkey, then the other, narrowly missing them as they leap freely around the room.

"Hey, Kwaheri," chirps Jambo. "Look here, check this out!" he hangs from a vine attached to the ceiling of the tree by his tail. In his hands is half a gourd with blue powder. He dips his fingers into the powder and draws lines across his under eyes with two fingers, implying that he's the wise old baboon. "It's me, Rafiki, the old man!"

"Put that down!" shouts Lela, climbing to her hind legs in an effort to reach Jambo. "That stuff is scarce now!"

"Hey, Lela!" calls Kwaheri from the other side of the room, fist full. Lela turns her head at the mention of her name and is splashed with a clump of sticky gourd insides on her face. "Catch!"

Lela drops to all fours and twists her face in disgust. "Ew…"

The brothers cackle at themselves with delight and I spring to the centre of the commotion. "What are you two doing here?" I demand.

"Hey, it's Kopa," remarks Jambo, swinging merrily back and forth from the vine. "Long time no see, it's been a while, look at you all grown up!"

"You two certainly look grown up yourselves," I say. The brothers are much larger than they were as kids with dark, sharp fur growing all over them and wide smiles stretching farther than ever before. "Any chance you can leave?"

"C'mon, man, be a pal, chillax," says Jambo.

"Yeah, we're just having fun," Kwaheri inserts. "Just goofing around, living it up."

"At Rafiki and my expense," Lela tells, wiping her face still. "You shouldn't be in here."

"Stick in the mud! Stick in the mud!" says Kwaheri, pointing a finger.

"You're too serious, you need to learn to have fun, loosen up," Jambo says.

"I'll relax once you two get out of here," Lela says.

"I'm not leaving, no chance, not gonna happen," says Kwaheri.

"Yeah, that's right," Jambo chimes in. "You'll have to make us, we won't go."

Lela gives a surprised gasp. "Look at how badly you trashed this place!"

"We just gave it more character," Jambo defends. "We made it better, defined it, improved it!"

The monkeys and Lela continue to bicker and I'm about to back Lela up, but there's a smell – a familiar smell – that beckons me to the window. I head over and hang my head outside, looking and sniffing around for it's source.

"See, Uncle Max, now we're lost," says a strong female voice in the dark.

"Lost?!" shouts a panicked male one. "We can't be lost! Do you know what happens to lost meerkats?"

"Uncle Max-" the female voice is cut off.

"There could be wild dogs! There could be jackals!" the anxious male gasps, and their small feet stop right next to the base of the tree (I can't see them in the dark so well as my eyes are still adjusting, but I can hear them). "There could be hyenas!"

"Uncle Max!-"

"We've gotta go back!" he shouts.

"Hey, down there," I call.

"Ahhh!" screams the nervous man. "They're onto us!" as my eyesight changes, I see that the male is a greying meerkat, and he's frantically scanning the surrounding area for me. "Don't eat us, alright? We can be more of an asset to your cause!"

"Relax, I'm not gonna eat ya," I start, but don't get a chance to finish.

"Don't toy with me!" shouts the man, presumably named Max. "At least give me a straight answer before my demise." He bites his nails. The female next to him looks a lot like Timon. She rolls her green eyes and folds her arms, an unimpressed look shot at Max.

"I told you, old man, I'm not gonna eat ya," I shake my head. "But if you're lost, I'd like to help."

"We're on our way to the Big Pointy Rock," says the female. "Can you point us to it?"

I think for a moment, "Big Pointy Rock?" I ask myself aloud. Only big pointy rock around is Pride Rock. I look back at Pride Rock and then at the two meerkats. At first, I'm a little confused why they can't see that they're on the right track, then it clicks in my mind that they probably can't see past the tall grass. "You lookin' for a meerkat by the name of Timon?"

"Why, yes!" replies the woman with glee. "Do you know him?"

"He's my uncle," I nod. "Pride Rock is straight down the path, but it's dangerous for you two to be out here so late."

"See? I told you!" shouts Max in paranoia. "We should go back while we can," he takes the woman by the hand and hushes his next sentence. "We don't even know if this, this, lion is telling the truth!"

"Relax, Uncle Max!" she throws his hand off of her. "We're not going back," she looks to me. "What do you suggest?"

"How 'bout you two get up here?" I start. "When I head to Pride Rock, you'll come with me." I lean most of my body down the tree and reach my arms out for the two to climb. "Come on."

"No way!" refuses Max. "He's just gonna eat us! Scurry, sniff, flinch, remember? We need to scurry, right now!"

"Look, Max, if you want to stay down here, vulnerable to the predators of the Savannah, go for it," says the female. "As for me, I'll take my chances with just the lion." She hops onto my paw.

I offer Max a grin, and he looks between me and the area around him. There's rustling in the grass surrounding us and he jumps a little before climbing up a small distance of the trunk and hopping on my paw. "Fine! Just get me outta here!"

I pull myself back up into the tree and set them down on the ground inside. "There." There's a bit of warm light in the tree from the suspended gourds that carry a bunch of fireflies, stuck to their sticky innards.

"Oh my…" starts the plumpish female meerkat at the sight of Lela roaring at the monkeys to no avail.

"See? There's another lion up here," starts Max, holding the female's arm and shaking it. "And baboons!"

The female meerkat doesn't at all seem bothered by Max, in fact, her face shows her anger at the commotion and she stomps with purpose towards Lela. "Let me handle this, hon," she says marching ahead of her. Lela only now notices the two extra members of our company and sizes them up, then looks at me with interrogation. "Listen here!" starts the female meerkat. "You two had better leave this place right this minute. I don't know who you think you are or whether you live here or not. But if you do, you have no right to stay if this is how you treat it!"

"Hey, ho!" starts Kwaheri. "Look at the shrimp, small stuff, trying to take a stand."

"Trying?!" shouts she before she grabs a thick, sturdy stick with both tiny hands (she can barely hold it). "You two are this stick, if you don't leave right now, then…" she strains with small effort and the stick cleanly snaps. "Get it?!"

The monkeys look between each other with straight faces before speaking together. "Yes, ma'am." They jump down from their high and out of reach places before leaving the tree in silence.

"How did you do that?" Lela gasps, almost unable to stand still, in awe.

"You've just gotta be assertive, hon," says the meerkat female striding towards us with eyes shut and clapping her hands together to clear the dust off of them. "No matter the size of the animal, they all respect a dominant figure."

"Thank you," Lela beams with elation. "You saved my life… uh…"

"Call me Ma, sweetie," says the female meerkat, hands on her hips.

"Thank you, Ma," says Lela.

Max inserts himself, "Listen, it's all good and well that we helped you out, but I'd rather leave to someplace safe."

"Relax," I say. "We'll go in a minute, but I can't just leave Lela with this mess to clean up."

Lela sighs, "You don't have to do that, Kopa."

"Look, I really don't want to, but I know it's the polite thing to do," I begin with a broad smirk. "So please don't give me any excuse not to help."

Lela can't fight the sealed lip smile. She turns to the meerkats. "I hope you don't mind me asking who you two are."

"I'm not sure if you know a Timon," starts Ma. "But I'm his mother, and this is Max, his uncle."

Max flinches, still uneasy, at the mention of his name.

"It's nice to meet you," smiles Lela. "Especially so conveniently." She laughs.

"I'm glad that you think so," smiles Ma in return. She turns on me. "I didn't expect you to remember me – you probably don't."

I lean in closer to Ma and sniff her, almost drawing her in with my inhalation. "You… smell familiar."

"You were just born when I met you, Kopa, I'm surprised you got a hold of my scent so young!" she laughs.

"Were you there, at my presentation?" I ask.

"I was," she says. "You were the most curious kid I'd ever met – always wanting to do and see and hear everything! And then, making new experiences or improving old ones. All about experiences."

"Not much has changed," smirks Lela.

"I'll take that as a compliment," I return with a sly look. "It's a little strange meeting you after I've already met you," I laugh.

"We haven't even properly met," Ma throws a dismissive hand. "How about we clean up this home, then we'll continue getting acquainted."

I stand up straight again and we all get around tidying up Rafiki's home. The home's condition improves drastically with time, and I head over to Lela.

"So, Ma's something special, huh?"

Lela laughs, pawing at a stain on the wall, seated. "Yeah, she's amazing. Uncle Max seems a little… unhinged," she whispers the last statement.

"Yeah," I sit down along the wall, face to face with her. "He could use some sort of sedative."

Lela snickers. She looks over her shoulder at a twitching, but helpful Uncle Max, then back at me. "You're so nasty."

I smirk. "The truth should be told at all times."

"If that's your justification," Lela smiles.

I note a green grub on Lela's ear, stuck supposedly on the sticky juice that coats her ear. "You've got something yummy on your ear." Lela looks up at me, confused at my statement. "Here, lemme get it." I lean in and lightly lick up the critter, Lela's ear involuntarily flicks at my breaths against it. I pull away and swallow the grub. "Gone."

Lela looks at me with doe eyes, surprised. Soon she smiles skittishly.

"Are you two just gonna talk or are you gonna do something to clean this tree?" asks Ma, sweeping the heaps of powder together with some gathered leaves.

"Right," says Lela. "Sorry, Ma. Let me give you a hand." Lela gives me one last smile before heading off to help Ma.

"Hey, Ma," I start quietly. "Have you seen Lela?"

We've walked Ma and Uncle Max to Pride Rock, and I offered to let them stay with us until tomorrow, when they continue their journey to Hakuna Matata. I'm standing at the entrance of the cave of Pride Rock, looking around for the female of mention.

"I'm sure she's around, sweetie," says Ma. "She didn't come through to the cave yet."

"Thanks," I say. "I'll go have a look." I head down to the incline of Pride Rock and continue towards the flat rock terrace. I see a figure on the highest of the elevated flat rocks and I approach energetically. Once I reach the rock, I see that it's Lela. "Hey."

She's lying on stomach, looking off into nowhere in deep thought. "Kopa, hi," she says, returning to reality.

I lay down next to her on my back. "It's late."

"Yeah, I know," she says. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Is one of them the whole 'storming off all alone late at night to Rafiki's' thing?" I ask.

"The one time I want you to forget about something important," Lela mumbles, avoiding eye contact. "Look, I got upset and wanted to be alone."

"So you stopped thinking?"

Lela pushes up on her paws, still lying down, in offence. "Excuse me?"

Clarity dawns on me, "I didn't mean it the way you're taking it-"

"Then how did you mean it?" she asks.

"Lela, you know how dangerous this place can be," I say. "And I get it, you need to be alone sometimes, but can't you do it in a tree by Pride Rock, or under the cliff of Pride Rock, or anywhere but a far out desolate area of the Pride Lands?"

"Maybe I can, but in the heat of the moment I default," she says. "I want to talk to someone who gets me."

"I don't get you?" I ask. "You didn't even give me a chance to."

Lela looks away from me before looking back. "That's fair but… Rafiki's like a dad to me, okay? And when you're me, who is without a family, you cling to people like Rafiki who can give you answers about them."

I sigh heavily through my nostrils. "It's hard to be sensitive about your family when you barely tell me anything about them."

Lela shakes her head. She drops her head to her paws and looks off in the distance again. "Yeah, well… now's not the time nor the place to bring them up. Lela sniff before slowly speaking again "I uh… I left without giving you a straight answer about beaches. I used to visit them… when I was still a cub with my pride." She shrugs. "They're the one good memory I can piece together of my childhood… so you and Afua tearing up the idea of beaches… it was tough to process. But I'm fine now."

"You don't sound fine," I say bluntly.

Lela shakes her head again. "I am fine," she emphasizes. "I'm just a little jealous that you got to dream so vividly of such a paradise. I have fuzzy memory about it." She laughs sheepishly. "You don't even know what a beach is."

I smile at her. "For what it's worth, I'll make an effort to get you to a beach someday. No matter what."

Lela looks at me, resisting a smile. "They're on the coast of Azania," she starts. "It's practically impossible to get to one from here without getting eaten by something."

"I don't believe in impossibilities," I chuff. "Why don't you worry about whether it'll be just as you remembered, and let me handle getting you there?"

Lela frees her grin and gently butts heads with me as a playful gesture. "We should go to bed."

I laugh. "You sound like my mother," I stick my tongue out at her.

Lela stands, ready to leave. "Come on, get up. Afua won't be pleased if you sleep all day tomorrow like you did today."

"Okay, okay," I moan, rolling onto my feet. "I'll race ya." I smirk.

"You're on," Lela grins.

I cast my gaze sharply at something in the distance behind Lela and put on a bemused look. "That is the biggest cobra I've ever seen."

"Huh?" Lela whips her head around, interested and distracted. And I jet off, towards the cave. "Hey! You can't do that!" she laughs, racing after me.

Thanks for reading everybody. I thought I should write a long chapter. You've all been stellar, so it's the very least that I can do. I'm taking into consideration all of your ideas and recommendations, and I will try to add as much without losing sight of my original idea for this fanfiction. You guys are so great! Happy Easter!