Sorry for being away from this for so long. Anyway, Chapter 3.

Chapter 3: Valor in Vain

The next morning, Nusurika woke up early. As she yawned and stretched, she noticed just how early it was. The sun was just breaking the horizon, and it was a sight to behold.

"Wow! It's beautiful!" She said aloud. She seemed to forget all about the other lions, seemed to be entranced by the sunrise. Soon after, she returned to her senses, and bounded out of the cave. As she reached the base of Pride Rock, she smelled something that was semi-familiar to her.

"Hmm? Smells kinda like Vitani, but she's still asleep. How strange." She said. As she searched for the source of the scent, a menacing pair of eyes watched her.

"So, she can smell me from such a distance? Interesting..." Said the one to whom the eyes belonged. It was none other than Zira. As she continued to watch, Nusurika suddenly turned around and noticed the scent getting stronger the more she headed in the direction of Zira, whom she had no idea even existed. As Nusurika approached the tall grasses that concealed Zira, she suddenly gasped and jumped back right as Zira lunged out at her.

"Quick too. How does she do it?" Zira asked curiously as Nusurika landed a few feet from her. Nusurika started growling in as menacing a tone as she could muster at her young age.

"Still, to be skilled in true combat is the only way to survive where I come from. That is the reason why, I reign supreme!" Zira said. Following that little speech, she ran at Nusurika full speed. As she neared her target, something suddenly and silently called out to Nusurika from her subconscious.

'Now. Counterattack!' It said. She did as she was instructed, and raised one of her paws, ready to strike. Small as it was, Zira was about to get hit by something really nasty, though she didn't know it. Then again, neither did Nusurika. As she brought her paw down, claws extended, her claws simply raked against the air, because her timing was inaccurate. However, it made a fierce sound that indicated that something had happened. Also, some kind of blue mass was left in the air which looked like scratches. Nusurika recognized the glow of the mass immediately.

"What is that?" Zira asked, stunned. The blue mass glowed brighter and brighter until it was no longer blue, but white, at which point the scratch marks shattered, and the now-spinning pieces, shaped like crescents, flew at Zira. She didn't have enough time to react to the sheer speed of the attack, and was hit by every single cutter. As the last one hit her, Zira was sent to the ground a good distance away. Battered and bruised, she refused to give in, and stood once again. She let out a roar, and several lionesses came into view. As they all lined up, Nusurika was in pure shock of how many there were.

"Have your fun, but don't kill her. She'll make a wonderful addition to the group." Zira said before chuckling evilly. Many of the lionesses grinned evilly as they thought about what to do to the young princess. As they surrounded Nusurika, she growled at all of them.

"Fowl beasts! Have you no honor?" Asked a voice all of a sudden. Nusurika looked up in the direction of the voice.

"Who are you?" She asked the stranger. However, it turned out that even though he was a stranger to her, he was no longer a stranger to the lands on which he stood.

"Me? I am Naasir. Now then, fowl beasts! How dare you gang up on such a lady as she! You will regret any harm that befalls her. I swear it with every bone in my body." Said the stranger.

"Oh, the young princess' betrothal? How cute..." Zira said.

"What?!" Nusurika asked with a shocked expression on her face. "We aren't!"

"I don't really care if you are or not." Zira said. "Now then, attack!" At Zira's command, the lionesses closed in on Nusurika, seemingly having forgotten about Naasir. As the lionesses got close to Nusurika, she continued to growl at them, but they weren't phased. One of the lionesses lashed out at Nusurika with a paw, but she just grabbed it in her jaws and began biting down hard. As she bit, a bright flash of light shone from the puncture wounds that her teeth left, and it had everyone astonished. It was also very painful for the suffering lioness. The light faded shortly, and the lioness' blood oozed from the wounds left by Nusurika's biting. When the lioness was done staring in shock at the damage that had been inflicted onto her paw, she looked up at Nusurika with an angry look in her eyes. She growled, and Nusurika simply growled back. The lioness roared in fury, and Nusurika returned the roar with one of her own, though it surprised even herself just how powerful it sounded.

"Don't just stand there, attack!" Zira yelled to her lionesses. At her command, the lionesses all tried to attack Nusurika at once. However, they only ended up attacking themselves, since Nusurika leaped out of their reach just in time to trick them into thinking that she hadn't moved at all. By the time they had realized it, it was too late. Nusurika couldn't help but giggle at what had just happened.

"Where do you think you're going?" Zira asked as she stepped into Nusurika's path as she tried to make her escape. She was still battered, but she was determined to not let Nusurika get away. Nusurika growled at Zira, who simply advanced toward her, never faltering. Nusurika was forced to back up to keep her distance, but she was soon backed into a corner. As she realized that she was, she went on the offensive. However, before she could do any real damage, she was hit over the head with a rock from above, knocking her unconscious. The one responsible was the very lioness who had suffered the puncture wounds to her paw. As Nusurika completely lost consciousness, Zira circled her a bit.

"Alright, now we have the cub, let's get moving before those measly pridelanders wake up." She said before picking Nusurika up roughly by the scruff of her neck. As they headed for the border to the Outlands, one of the lionesses suddenly spoke.

"Hey, if the pridelanders are measly, why do we need some complex scheme to take them out?" She asked.

"Because they greatly outnumber us. Numbers are our only disadvantage, I learned that in my first real battle with them. My former pride was evenly matched in strength and ability to them, until they all betrayed me." Zira explained. As they reached the border, Naasir could only watch and wonder just how such a talented young cub could be bested by a pride of ordinary lionesses.

"I've got to tell the others." He said after staring into the distance for quite some time. With that decision made, he headed back up into the cave of Pride Rock.

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That's it for Chapter 3. My sincerest apologies for taking so long to update.