The Lion King: Rise of the White Pride
Chapter 1: Peace Again
The sun was high in the sky. Its golden light illuminated the savannah. The beautiful sapphire sky was decorated with gray clouds. The wind blew strong on the golden blades of grass. Numerous animals everywhere. Zebras, elephants, rhinos, wildebeests, antelopes, gazelles, and many more. All doing their own business with a large rock protruding from the earth forming a kopje in the background, in the middle of the savannah.
A figure of a lioness lied down low hiding in the tall grass stalking a herd of zebras. Quietly walk toward its target, which was an old zebra drinking at the Zuberi River far from its herd. As she slowly got out from the tall grasses her golden fur reflected the sunlight, her face shown a pair sharp eyes, her sharp fangs, and a grin. After some seconds to move her body in place, she pounced.
The zebra was surprised and too slow to evade as the lioness grabbed its side. It ran desperately to shake her off making the lioness flushed and splashed with mud as the zebra ran wildly but she started to bite her prey to go for the kill. Her grip was strong, hooked to the spine of the prey. With few swipe of her claw and a furious bite to the neck, the lioness killed her prey, falling to the ground letting go its last scream of terror as the lioness snapped its neck. After checking her prey she stood up, sighed heavily, a sad look was on her face but then smiles.
Kiara, as her pride called her, was daughter of the King of Pride Lands, Simba and his mate, Nala. This day was her second test in solo hunting, given by his father to decide whether she's capable of surviving on her own after the first one being cancelled by the fire.
A year had passed since Zira's revenge on Simba had turned to be the thing that put the Pride Landers and the Outlanders together once more. The fact that Zira did somekind of brainwashing to the Outlanders to hate Simba still stunned him and his pride, but realizing that Zira's leadership had made them do what they have done, the Pride Landers openhandedly welcomed the Outlanders back in the Pride Lands, putting the past behind them.
As Kiara dragged her prey to the Pride Rock she was greeted by her parents and the pride members. It took almost four hours to drag her kill as she hunted very far away. After Kiara put her prey down, a lion with golden coat, red mane, cream paws, underbelly, and muzzle, fiery red eyes stood up. Simba was his name, inspected the kill while Kiara held her breath and was nervous thinking about her results.
After a brief pause, the golden lion spoke, "Congratulation, Kiara. You've pass the test," Simba congratulated her followed by a warm smile.
Kiara exhaled in relief. She definitely didn't want to disappoint her parents anymore, especially her father, Simba. She remembered clearly how he fiercely told her how he was glad that he broke his promise of letting her hunt on her own and worse, forbid her from hunting, ever.
Nala appeared beside Simba. "We've saw and discussed it," she said, making Kiara's smile widen. "Your scouting, seeking, sneaking, and attack are impressive," Nala continued, smile running along her calm face.
Kiara let a bigger smile across her face along with her parents. Suddenly, a voice called her from behind. Two of them side by side to be precise. One is a lion with brown coat, dark mane and a scar across his left eye and another is a lioness with tan coat and cream underbelly.
"That was great! I know you can do it!" The lion with the dark mane said.
"Congratulation, Kiara. You're now can be an independent lioness," said the lioness.
"Awww . . . Kovu . . . Vitani . . . I couldn't do that without you guys," Kiara's face softened as she closed in and hugged both of them.
The dark mane lion was none other than Kiara's one and only love and mate, Kovu who was also the next heir of the throne of the Pride Lands. The lioness beside Kovu was his remaining sibling and older sister, Vitani. Kovu and Vitani had taught and train Kiara's in hunting several days ago to prepare her and it sure had paid off.
Kiara turned her attention to the idle Simba. "Now you wouldn't be worry if I ever be lost and alone, wouldn't you dad?" she asked, hoping for a 'yes.'
Simba thought for a while. Actually, he didn't want Kiara to gain courage to explore other areas because of the possible dangers around. Kovu, on the other paw was able to convince Simba about this by saying, "You won't be able to stay by her side forever. When you've gone, Kiara has nothing to defend herself if no one is at her side. You have to prepare her. It's the least thing you can do to ensure that she'll be safe even when you're not around anymore."
Simba did think about Kovu's words hard. But deep in his heart, he did agree so he finally decided to do it.
"Of course, my dear," he said calmly. "Now I have one less thing to worry about now that you're able to sustain yourself. I'm proud of you," Simba approved and nuzzled his daughter. "My daughter has grown," he said while his eyes shed a tear.
Nala grinned at his mate and daughter. "Now get cleaned, the hunting party should be back anytime now and dinner's coming," Nala told her as the sun started to set. "And of course, you keep your own prey, dear," she said while facing Kiara.
Kiara gave a simple smile. "Yes, Mom. Come on, Kovu. You too, Vitani!" Kiara said when she see both lion and lioness covered in mud and then walked to Zuberi River followed by them.
Kiara wasn't the only one who had been through a rough day today. Kovu had being trained by Simba all day on how to lead the Pride Lands. Simba felt it. His body was starting to feel the strains of age, although not too much, so he had to ready Kovu to lead. The training included sprinting across the land while evading the herds and many obstacles, agility test, giving the right instructions, making decisions, many more and ended with a climbing test at the steep walls of the gorge, the gorge that took Mufasa's life and gave Simba a long lasting fear. But now, Simba seemed to have got past it, as he was more focused on readying Kovu. He did has responsibility as king.
At first, Kovu was confident about this as he thought Zira's brutal training was more . . . brutal. But it was proven that he was wrong. Simba was not Zira. They're not the same. So did their way of training. Kovu's confidence quickly dissipated throughout the training with Vitani sometimes joined the fray to save him. Note that though Zira focused on training Kovu and he was more fed than her, Vitani was still better than Kovu in any aspect minus brute strength. With this in mind, Vitani frequently helped Kovu in his training. Kovu didn't mind, but her jokes could throw his concentration off.
In the end, his energy nearly drained completely and the two were covered in mud from the training. Simba looked from afar and told them that they're good. But, Kovu needed a little more. Simba intended to continue the training, but the sun was setting and Kiara's test was close to over so he gave Kovu's training a rest. Kovu did look horrible with that mud and dust.
Kovu and Vitani caught up with Kiara at the bottom of the Pride Rock. "Race you to it!" Kiara told them as she sprinted toward the river.
Seeing a challenge, Kovu and Vitani scoffed and ran after her. Between them and the river was a group of rhinos. Kiara leaped to a rock before them and jump her way through the top of the rhinos followed by Vitani just a meter less to her. "See you later!" Vitani said as she passed Kiara with little effort. Kiara's face frowned as she sped up, trying to get past Vitani. Kovu was left far behind with his jaw hanging but he raced on anyway.
The race ended with Vitani as the winner. Kiara was catching her breath along the way to the river, desperately drank the water with Vitani smirking at her side.
"So . . .?" Vitani teasingly asked, already regained her breath.
"Alright . . . alright . . . you . . . win . . . you win," Kiara said between her breath while drinking.
Vitani grinned. "What? I can't hear you . . . !" Vitani teased her.
"You . . . win!" Kiara shouted as she splashed water to Vitani.
Vitani grinned when she tackled Kiara to fall into the river and splashed back. The two lionesses continued attacking each other with water.
After a while, Kovu arrived and the two lionesses were already cleaned by the current of the river and the splashing. Kovu asked them if they've been here for long but before he could finish his line the two lionesses grabbed his forepaws and dragged him into the river's deep. When he rose up to breathe barely inhaling, he was assaulted by series of water attacks by the lionesses, effectively washed away the dirt and mud on his body, though he didn't seem to notice.
About five minutes then they played in the river while Simba observed them far from the top of Pride Rock. From there, he could practically saw everything in bound within the Pride Lands as in for the height of the kopje. The three barely seen between the hazel tall grasses and various animals everywhere. The great lion sighed as the moon began to rise and the hunting party come back with dinner in tow. The three young adults stepped out from the river and shook themselves dry. Vitani, realized by accident that Simba was watching them, nudged Kiara before she shook her head towards Pride Rock. Knowing what she meant, Kiara pulled Kovu toward her and they started walking back to the Pride Rock.
When they arrived at the den, the pride was already digging their dinner. Kiara concerned if she'd get any of it. But then, her father appeared from behind the pride and gave the three each a chunk of zebra plus Kiara's prey earlier. Vitani didn't waste any time with an empty stomach as she furiously tore it up and chews it in. Kovu waited for Kiara to eat first. After they finished eating their dinner, the pride prepared to sleep.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kovu saw Simba coming out from the den.
And there goes the (renewed) first chapter. Thank you for reading. Also, if there's something you want to say about the story, either comment or critique or sorts, feel free to PM or review. Reviews would be appreciated.