Disclaimer: I don't own lion king, but I do own Zaraka and Kodda!

The Lion King 3: The Dark Pride(Chapter 9)

So, as Kovu walked further into the Outlands, he began thinking to himself, "Hmm, it's to quiet around here. Normally I would think that they guarding the boarders to the Outlands."

So, he continued walking and soon enough, he saw some sort of den ahead, but there were no lionesses guarding it. So, he took a deep breath and quietly made his way to the den. Once he arrived, he saw Kiara laying on the ground motionless.

So, Kovu quickly walked up to her and checked her breathing to see if she was alive, she was. So he nudged her a bit and asked, "Kiara? Kiara, can you hear me?"

At that moment, she groaned a bit and slowly opened her eyes and to her surprise, it was Kovu. She smiled weakly and said, "Kovu? Is that you?"

A small smile formed on his face and answered, "Yes, it's me Kiara. You're going to be fine, but we need to hurry so we don't get caught."

Kiara put on a weak smile, and with the help of Kovu, she got up on her paws, but just as Kovu was about to turn around, Kiara yelled, "Kovu, look out!"

But, just before Kovu was hit, Kiara got in front of him and she received a deadly blow to the head and her body flew through the air and her head slammed right into the den's wall and hit the ground hard and did not move.

Kovu yelled, "Kiara!!"

So, he quickly approached her and saw a small puddle of blood forming beneath her head. He then quickly checked her breathing, but she wasn't.

Kovu then swiftly turned around, growling dangerously, but before he could say anything, Kodda said, "Kiara's dead. There's no way she could have survived that deadly blow I gave her. Originally it was supposed to be for you, but she got in the way, so it's her fault that she's dead. But for some reason if she's not dead, I'll have one of my lionesses kill her for good."

Before Kovu had time to react, Kodda pinned him swiftly and yelled to one of his lionesses, "Zaraka, get in here now!"

Zaraka then ran into the den and said, "Would you mind killing Kiara for me, so Kovu can see her die for sure?"

Zaraka replied, "Okay."

Zaraka had tanish fur, brown eyes and a white-creamy underbelly. She was also strong and had great fighting abilities. She was also quick to bring down some prey just like Lea.

So Zaraka apprached Kiara and got on top her her motionless form and put her claws over her throat. But as she did that, she couldn't do it, it was like she was frozen in top of her. Kodda, not understanding, asked angrily, "Zaraka, what are you waiting for, slice her throat and kill her now!"

Zaraka then put her claws on Kiara's throat, but for some reason, her mind was saying 'no' and that it was the wrong think to do. So, she turned to face Kodda and replied hesitantly, "No, I can't do it. For some reason, it feels wrong just killing Pridelanders for the fun of it, it just doesn't seem right."

Kodda then slammed his paw into Kovu's face to daze him for a few moments, then walked towards Zaraka and said, "Fine, if you won't kill the Princess, then I'll just kill you to!"

But before Zaraka had time to react, he slammed his paw into her head and she hit the ground hard and didn't move either. Kodda smiled evilly and walked towards Kiara, lifted Kiara's head up and saw that the side of her head and face was all bloody from the impact she had went she went flying into the stone wall from his paw, then looked down on the stone floor and saw a small puddle of blood that was staining the ground from underneath Kiara's head.

Kodda then said while grinning evilly, "It's a shame really, I was going to keep you to myself and have you rule along with me and I would grant you many things but to bad you had to die. But just to make sure, I'll sink my teeth into your throat and make sure you are dead, then I'll kill Zaraka for betraying me!"

So Kodda approached Kiara's limp-like form, he neared Kiara's throat, opening his jaws and was about to sink his teeth into her throat untill Kovu rammed right into him, knocking Kodda to the ground. Just as that happened, Kiara happen to moan a bit and opened her eyes slightly and said, "Kovu."

But just as Kovu turned his attention to her, Kodda slammed his paw into Kovu's head and he hit the ground hard. Kodda then said to Kiara, "What, you are supposed to be dead! No matter, I'll just kill you right now."

Kovu then yelled to Kiara, "Kiara, run! I'll hold him off!"

Kiara then got up and saw Kovu tackle Kodda to the ground and he yelled again, "Kiara, go! I'll be fine."

Kiara turned and began to run the best she could, but Kodda yelled to his lionesses, "GET HER!!

10 lionesses began to run after her, but as they began running, Zaraka had just opened her eyes and saw the lionesses and Kiara were gone. She figured that she was running away, but knew Kiara wouldn't make it far. So she quietly got up, seeing that Kodda had his paws full with Kovu attacking him as much as possible and began to run.

Zaraka knew a short cut through the Outlands that she could get to Kiara, before the lionesses caught her.

A few minutes later, Zaraka saw Kiara still running, but the lionesses were just about on her heels. Something hit Zaraka and she remembered that Kiara would have to cross a small gap in the ground and that Kiara probably didn't know it was there.

Back to where Kiara was, she saw the gap in the ground but figured she could easily make it without any problems but as she got closer, it was bigger than she thought and to get to the other side, she would have to cross a slippery log, but didn't bother to slow down because the lionesses would catch her.

So, running at full speed, she began crossing it but in a flash, her hind legs slipped and she fell. As she began falling, her head slammed into the log and fell into the very shallow, murky water and hit the ground hard and didn't move. As Kiara had fallen, a branch had scraped and stabbed her neck, only briefly. The lionesses approached the big gap that Kiara had fallen into and one of them said, "Stupid Pridelander. Doesn't know how to be careful on a slippery log."

Another lioness said, "Well, she's dead now."

The first lioness asked, "How do you know?"

The other responded, "Well look, blood is staining the shallow water and it's coming from beneath her neck. Plus, the crocs. are probably searching for some meat right now and pretty soon, they should be able to get the scent of blood coming from the Pridelander."

The other lionesses nodded in agreement and so the lionesses started back to the the den's.

As Zaraka noticed that they were gone, she quickly made her way down to the murky waters and walked towards Kiara to see if she was alive. Zaraka checked her breathing to see if she was alive, she was, but was out cold. She then heard something near in the water, she then said, "Well that's just great, Kiara's injured, crocodiles are around with no way out but the way I came, what else can go wrong?"

She then felt something tug at her hind leg, but it swiftly went away as she turned around. Her heart started to pound then it was so quick she didn't have time to react, the crocodile sunk it's teeth into her hind legs and pulled the lioness to the ground. As Zaraka was desparately trying to get a grip of the ground with her claws, she turned onto her back and kicked the crocodile with her other hind leg. But as she was about to kick it again, another crocodile sank it's teeth into her other hind leg and began dragging her closer and closer to where to other reptiles were.

She yelled, "NO! I will not be crocodile food!"

With one last effort, she slammed her paw, with claws extended, into the reptiles face, causing it to let got. Even though it was very painful, she then kicked the other reptile in the jaw and it finally let go. Zaraka then painfully got back up on all fours but when she saw Kiara still unconscious, two other crocodiles were coming towards her, ready to have their meal, but Zaraka forced herself to run faster to save Kiara. She slammed her paws into the reptile's faces and they swam away before they could get Kiara.

Zaraka groaned in pain and turned her head to see that her hind legs were bleeding badly. She knew if that the reptiles would be back soon if she didn't get out of there. Zaraka turned her attention to Kiara, to see that her brief stab wound to the neck was still bleeding and knew that if she wasn't seen by anyone soo, Kiara could die from blood loss.

She then heard a noise above her, so she backed up a bit but saw that it was Kovu. Kovu then looked down and noticed Kiara had a fresh would that was bleeding pretty badly. So he ran down and checked out Kiara to see if she was okay. She was alive, but unconscious, so Kovu leaned down and grabbed Kiara by the nape of her neck and brought her closer to a stone wall for more protection.

Kovu then looked at the lioness and growled angrily and asked, "What happened here? What did you do to her?"

Zaraka responded, trying to act calm, "I didn't do anything to her. She was being chased by 10 lionesses and once she was trying to cross the slippery log, she slipped and fell down here. I didn't do anything to her, I swear."

Kovu, not believing a word she said, jumped and pinned her tightly and yelled, "Liar! Tell me what really happened or I'll sufficate you to death."

Zaraka responded, gasping for air, "You didn't...let me finish. Once I saw her fall, I ran...down to check on her. Her neck was bleeding badly from a stab wound to the neck by a sharp...branch. Then crocodiles came and tried to kill me, which they almost did. They had me by both of my hind legs, and were bringing me towards a whole group of them that were ready to feast and eat me, but I...hit them the best I could and they finally let go. Then they were headed for Kiara, but I saved her."

Kovu just stared blankly at her, then chuckled, not believing the part about the reptiles and replied, not knowing that the six hungry crocodiles were headed their way, "Right, you expect me to believe a whole group of pathetic reptiles were about to eat you and you saved Kiara from them?"

She nodded her head, her eyes wide. Kovu saw the worried look in her eyes and asked, "What?"

Zaraka bumped him and said, "Can you get off me so I can tell you?"

Kovu hesitated but got off and Zaraka finished, "Look behind you."

Kovu then gasped and saw that they were surrounded by eight crocodiles. He then quickly got Kiara and gently placed her on his back, as the reptiles closed in on them. Zaraka then said, "If you want evidence that I was almost eaten, then why are both of my hind legs all bloody!"

One of the reptiles snapped their jaw at Zaraka, but she was able to get out of the way. So, as Zaraka and Kovu kept backing up, they couldn't go any further, it was either die there or die trying to run for it.

Kovu then asked himself, "Why do I always bring bad luck?"

Just then a crocodile sunk it's teeth into Kovu's leg and Zaraka's forelegs and began dragging them forward

Well, what did you think? Hope you liked it! I tried to make it as best as possible.

Anyway, I'm not sure when my next Update will be, but I'll try to Update ASAP, okay!

But for now, Please R&R!!

-Kovu 01