The sun rose like a flower in spring, with little recognition. Its rays slept a bit too late, so by the time they were fully shined, it was already noontime. That was the only difference in the morning. Everything from the bees buzzing to the ducks quacking to the birds chirping and the monkeys "monkeying" around was the same. Though Koba did realize that the forest was not as loud as the savannah, but was extremely close.
After a morning talk and stroll through the Forest, Koba decided to go wake the kids while Jozeus did his daily praying. Once everyone was up, Koba said goodbye to Jozeus and started on the journey back home, back to Pride Rock.
During their journey back, Koba and the kids stopped by a rock to have some breakfast. Due to the law of no hunting in the Forest, Koba introduced grubs to the kids. Grubs were basically insects who hid underneath rocks. Koba was taught how to search for them when he was young by his father Kopa and Jozeus. Once he found the perfect rock, he lifted it up, scooped out a bunch of grubs, and put them onto a big leaf.
"Eeewwww! What are those?" the kids said. They were all immediately grossed out by the sight of the grubs.
"These are called grubs. Anyone want one?" their father asked politely. He put the leaf closer to them.
"Aaahhhh, no thanks. I'll pass." Malkha said. The others firmly agreed.
"No? Okay then, you guys will regret it." Koba shoved the entire leaf down his throat. After he was done, they resumed on their journey back home.
By the time they exited the Forest, it was already mid-afternoon. The sun was starting to fade in the distance, giving them only a short period of time to get back to Pride Rock before dark. Koba knew how dangerous it was to be lingering around Pride Rock at night time. In the past, there have been reports of small packs of rogue lions lingering near the edges of the Pride Lands. Koba wanted to avoid this, so he told them to get on his back and hang on to each other. Once they were all on, Koba ran as fast as he could to beat the sun. However, he was growing tired by the minute. The weight of the children and the running were starting to catch up to him and before he could get to the border of the Pride Lands, all of the light from the sun was gone.
"Gosh, we're late," Koba said. He shook his kids, who were sleeping on his back. "Hey guys, watch out for anything unusual." The kids agreed, but only Kimba stayed up.
Time had passed, but nothing out of the ordinary was seen. Kimba assumed that nothing was going to happen and started to close his eyes when something moved in the bush to the right of them. It didn't make a sound, so Koba couldn't hear it coming. Kimba, at first, ignored it but then the bush to the left of them started to move. The winds were not blowing in either direction, so Kimba warned his father that there might be something in the bushes. However, the warning came a bit too late as when Koba turned around, he saw three hyenas surrounding them. Two of them seemed to be normal, but the third seemed to be a bit weird. The third one had his tongue sticking out and was laughing really loud. The constant laughing woke the rest of the kids up.
"Now look at what we got here. Eight trespassers, man that is a lot," said the first hyena, "What do you think of them Banzai?" The kids were so frightened that they were frozen on Koba's back.
"Oh, I don't know Shenzi. What do you think Ed?" Ed just silently laughed at them. "Yeah, exactly what I was thinking, fresh meat." Koba snarled at them, but they didn't back off. So he started backing up, making sure that he never turned his back on one of them.
"You think that you could scare us so easily? Think again," Shenzi said. The hyenas advanced towards Koba and the kids slowly, taking their time until they heard a loud roar, or maybe even a combination of roars off in the distance. The hyenas, taking no chances, ran off. In a split second, the rest of the pride was behind Koba.
"You okay my King?" Shujaa said as she approached her husband's side. Once they realized that the hyenas were gone, the kids jumped off their father's back and ran to their mother.
"We are all okay my Queen," Koba exhaustedly answered, "But how did you guys know that we were in trouble?" He soon got his answer when Zazu, the royal hornbill servant, landed next to him.
"I was out searching for you all day, making constant check ins with thy Queen. I just happened to be on the lookout when the hyenas came."
"Zazu then told us that you were in trouble," Shujaa stated, "we came as fast as we could."
"Thank you Zazu," Koba said. Then he faced all of the lions that were there. "I thank you all so humbly. You shall all be rewarded for your brave actions." Shujaa soon stepped up and looked at him square in the face.
"They are rewarded by having a brave and honest king like you." Koba was touched by this. He even started to cry a little bit. Once he realized that he was crying, he wiped his face with his paw and looked out among the rest of the pride with a smile on his face.
"It is my honor to be your King."
"It is our honor to be part of your kingdom, my lord," said one of the lions. "Three cheers for our King Koba, the mightiest of the mighty, the bravest of the brave!" The loud cheers were absolutely deafening to the point where it could be heard at the furthest point of the Forest.
After all of the cheering, Koba, along with everyone else, walked back to Pride Rock for the night. It didn't take long for him and the kids to fall asleep for as it was close to two o'clock a.m.! Koba was up by about five a.m. in the Forest and had little time to take a break.