Chapter 10:

The Rogue Lion

"This is for you, Scar!" Zira says before leaping at Simba.

I wanted to lunge at her but Kiara cuts me off, the two suddely tumbling down the side of the embankment. Simba, Kovu, Nala, and I all cry out Kiara's name as I'm first down the embankment with Simba desperatly trying to rush close behind. Nuka was about to join in, but he panics the last second not wanting to gamble for his life. Kiara eventually grabs onto the ledge slowing her descent while Zira clings to some rocks some distance below Kiara. I make it down to Kiara and viciously grab onto Zira's paws, similar to how Scar did with Mufasa. Kiara isn't sure what to do as the danger quickly increases, the log dam finally bursting with the river's flow now above normal. She knows she won't be able to get me to spare Zira at this rate, so she instead stands next to me.

Zira begins to laugh, "Hahahaha! Just what are you planning to do, Mwezi? If you kill me, Simba will gladly kick you out of his precious pride. Go ahead, toss me aside!"

I glare at her, "I'm not here to kill you. The others already ruined that chance. No, I'm going to let Nature TAKE YOU BACK!"

"Wha...?" Zira asks puzzled.

Off to the side as the river's flow continued to grow, an elephant skull can be seen being tossed around in the violent current. Normally these things can't be moved, but this one never made it to the Elephant Graveyard. Kiara sees the skull and looks at Zira in a panic. Zira looks over seeing the skull quickly coming over.

She says, "Oho, you ARE an evil little thing."

The large tusk in the skull eventually pierces right through Zira, me letting go of her at the last second. The skull topples over pulling her underneath the water. Kiara looks at me in shock as I look a her with a guilty face. Simba finally reaches us completely speechless. The three of us climb back up to the top, me collapsing to the ground out of energy. As Kiara cuddles up to Kovu, Simba says to him that he was wrong and that he belongs here.

Some time after the battle with both prides now one, Rafiki blesses the union of Kiara and Kovu with a gesture of his staff. Timon and Pumbaa cry hysterically while Nala and Simba and Kovu and Kiara make their way to the ledge of Pride Rock. First Simba roars, then Kovu follows. Soon all four roar out and the lionesses roar in answer. It was the perfect ending. But things don't end here.

That afternoon after a successful hunt with the new lionesses, a flamingo flies in filled with some kind of excitement before crashing hard into the ground. Banzai sneak up to it carefully poking its beak when it reacts without warning scaring Banzai and causing him to fall over onto his back. The flamingo manages to stand up with several feathers falling off its body. It looks over at me and comes rushing over before tripping over a bone and rolls right into me. Annoyed, I kick him off with a roar.

Shenzi jokes, "This is rare. Dinner AND a show."

The flamingo stands quickly saying, "I'm terribly sorry. I get clumsy when I get excited."

"Yeah, no shit. What's going on?" I ask piking out a feather from my right front paw.

"Oh yes, that's right! Mwezi, I just saw two lions that looked like you! I saw them heading for the Outlands!" the flamingo responds.

Nuka asks, "Are you serious? Why the Outlands? There's nothing there but annoying-ass termites."

I ask, "Are you sure they looked like me? Were they just as thick-coated?"

"Yes, they were! I don't know how long they'll be there, so you better hurry and catch them!" the flamingo answers.

I say full of energy, "It's settled; I'm going now!"

Simba promptly places his paw over my tail causing me to suddenly stop and fall to the ground as he says, "Hold on, Mwezi. The Outlands aren't far from here. Why don't you wait for one of us to finish first?"

"Oh come on, it's not like there's danger there." I say sitting up.

"That may be so, but don't forget, you're not well toned like the rest of us. If something were to happen, like encountering that weird lion again, you'd be screwed." Kovu says.

I look at him and say, "But I'm stil agile and clever; I'll ninja my way out!"

Timon comes up to me holding a grub saying, "Trust me kid, 'ninja-ing' you're way out doesn't always work. When you're dealing with an animal bigger than you, they can easily catch you off guard."

"Timon's right, Mwezi." Pumbaa adds in, "The both of us have struggled for a while until we found the Oasis. Dealing with animals bigger than you are can get very dangerous."

I let out a grunt before plopping to the ground with a pout. Simba removes his paw. The flamingo shrugs to this and flies off. Kiara adds fuel to he fire by pettng me on the head. Of course by that time Vitani had become full and wanted to take one last look at her past before letting it go to start a new life in the Pride Lands. She and I head out rushing to the Outlands. I could feel Simba shaking his head.

Once we arrived at the Outlands I began my frantic search while Vitani stood at the log bridge, taking a long hard look at her old home. At first she feels upset about leaving it, but at the same time she's happy that she won't have to survive on and compete for very little food and hardly any water. I call out to her some distance away which snaps he out of her deep thoughts. She comes trotting over finding me looking into a termite pit. She shakes her head trying not to laugh when she catches an odd scent. I pull my head out hearing her move away and follow closely catching the scent. It led us into her "den" to Kovu's little "throne". The scent ended here.

We both look around the old place finding no other sign of two lions being here. At one point Vitani finds a patch of fur caught on a dead root, but it turned out to be one of the lionesses'. That's when I think about the river; there are still crocodiles there that see everything. I rush out of the den heading for the river with Vitani chasing after me. I stop at the ledge looking down seeing a few crocodiles. As I examine the area I see a small sand bar stretching out from the ledge. There's also a way down to it, so I quickly but carefully head down. Vitani isn't sure what to do at this point unable to keep up with my bursts of energy. When I make it onto the sand bar a crocodile crawls out from the water and looks up at me.

"Well, well, if it isn't that little panicky cub...only you've managed to grow up." he says.

"Enough with the crap. Have you seen two lions that look like me come by here?" I ask.

He thinks for a moment then answers, "As a matter of fact, I have. The male had such a think mane, I'm surprised he could see at all. The mane actually stretches onto his breast as well as half way down his back. The female there had an oddly thick coat just like yours."

I say getting excited, "They must be my parents then! My actual birth parents!"

"Oh, another thing I should mention, there was a male lion different from those two looking for you. He said it was urgent that he find you." he adds on.

Vitani calls, "Mwezi, that could be the strange lion you encountered before! If I were you, I'd keep one of the guys at your side!"

"I wouldn't know that stuff; our eyesight is very limited. Let me see, what did he...? Oh yeah, if I recall corectly, his fur is pale gold and his mane was dark brown. He said that if any of us were to see you, to tell you to meet him in the burned field. He said he'd be there every day when the sun meets the ground." the crocodile says before retreating back to the water.

"...So it was the odd lion!" I say.

"Mwezi! I don't like the sound of that. Let's head back." Vitani calls.

With not much else to do, we have no choice but to head back to Pride Rock. I rejoin Vitani at the top and we cross the log bridge over to the Pride Lands. She takes one last look at her old home before letting out a quick roar. As we head back, the sun had disappeared bringing on the twilit sky. I look up at the stars wanting to ask the Great Kings if they know where my parents went to, but I know I won't get any answers. Vitani nudges me as if saying everything will be okay. I nod in response.

By the time we make it to Pride Rock, everyone is in the den sound asleep. We head in when suddenly a loud roar echoes throughout the lands. This wakes everyone up while I head to the edge looking out on full alert. Zazu flies out and hovers over me unable to tell what is going on. When Kovu comes charging out he sees a figure in the horizen. Nuka comes out with a big yawn asking why somebody's roaring now. They tell me to stay put while they check things out. Kiara quickly comes to my side.

The brothers dart away from Pride Rock in the direction the roar came from. Another one fills the night air, and this time it's close. They stop in place letting out a roar warning the lion he's in Simba's territory. But soon the lion comes into view. Even from this distance I could see it was that rogue lion from before. Thinking on nothing but impulse, I jump down the side of Pride Rock being followed by Kiara. Nala and Simba rush out from the den looking out over the edge. Timon, Pumbaa, Shenzi, and Banzai join them.

Kovu and Nuka weren't very far which meant Kiara and I caught up to them without much difficulty. As soon as we reached them I let out a threatening roar, but the rogue didn't even flinch.

"Okay you, what are you doin' here?" Nuka demands, snarling on a couple words.

The rogue responds, "Forgive me, I'm in great hurry to find my-" he cuts himself off when he takes another look at me, "Haha, sister! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Sister? Wait, you're her brother?" Kovu asks.

"Yes." he replies just as Kiara asks, "Then why'd you hit on her a while back?"

"Oh...that. I didn't know she was my sister at the time. My apologies. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Huru; it means 'free'." Huru answers.

I ask noticing his fur is not as thick as mine, "If you're my brother, then how come you have a thinner coat compared to me?"

Huru tries to explain, "Well, to be honest I'm not really sure, but our mother has told me that our grandfather had a thin coat. Why our parents' coats are thick as well as yours is more of a genetic thing."