Chapter 2 – Rod's Hunting Lesson

It was 6 months later, and the sun was about to dawn onto the world as a small, diminutive and scruffy-looking golden yellow lion cub named Rod came scampering out into the cave to watch the sun rise for a few moments.

He had big, flat, oversized ears with dark, bold tips, with slightly long and large hair tufts, a small, dark black nose with dark eye patches around his eyes, and he had a crème colored underbelly muzzle like his mother.

He also had an enormous dark tail tuft with a square, long and shapely face and a thin scar cutting across his right eye from a horrific accident when he was only two months old. The local female shaman Sasha was able to heal most of his wounds, but she was unable to get rid of that scar, since it was permanent.

It did bother Rod a lot somewhat since it made him feel ugly and self-conscious, but other lion cubs in the pride thought it looked cool and were amazed by his confident and bold personality and even impressed some ladies. Still, Rod was not entirely convinced and often kept to himself, with the exception of a few close friends.

Rod's tail wagged excitedly as he raced into the cave with enthusiasm surging through his veins, since today was a special day, where his own father was going to take him out to Pride Rock to show him the kingdom that he was going to rule someday.

He then shoved through a huge pile of lionesses that were still trying to catch some wink of sleep before the dawn broke and he excused himself while trying to weave through the mess of bodies as some of the lionesses were grumbling sorely at the young prince while in their slumber.

Finally he reached his parents, who were lying asleep in the flat rock situated near a cluster of boulders as he bolted for them and jumped on top of his father as he was nudging him awake.

"Dad, dad, come on; wake up! Come on, daddy!" Rod pleaded as he kept on nudging him and tugging on his ear and Doug grumbled as his eyes creaked open and he was stirred awake. "Your son's awake, Doug," Julie muttered in her sleep. "Before the sun rises, he is your son," Doug retorted back as Rod bashed into his side, startling him awake and knocking the wind out of him. Doug then started coughing with a fit of laughs as he slowly rose to his feet. "Okay, son, I'm up," he chuckled as he exited the cave and Rod followed him as Julie also got up to her feet and went out of the cave as well.

It was then they were at the doorway and Julie nudged Rod along as he rubbed against her legs and purred while racing ahead of his dad, who was already heading to Pride Rock.

It was then that they got there just when the sun was glowing the brightest at daybreak and Rod was amazed and impressed by the magnificent sight as the golden orange rays were pouring down all over the area and were illuminating in his eyes with its utter brilliance; the horizon ahead was filled with fresh green lands and the antelope, giraffes, gazelles, and zebras were busy grazing on the grass.

"Wow…" Rod gasped in awe as he could hardly believe what was out in front of him. "So all of this, everything, is mine?" "Yes it is, Rod, and I might not be around much longer, because one day, my time as ruler will set with the sun and rise with you as the new king," Doug answered patiently as they continued to gaze out at the morning sun. "Yeah," Rod whispered in marvel as he observantly scanned the horizon before him but then noticed a dark, grey and ominous figure beyond his range of vision. "But what's that?"

"Oh, that?" Doug cocked his gaze over to the shadowy figure as he chuckled good-naturedly. "That's just the Shadowlands, beyond our borders; you must never go there, Rod. You don't know what may lie there." "Okay, Dad," Rod smiled as the two stepped down from Pride Rock and headed out into the grass to do the patrols.

"…So you see, Rod, when we die, our bodies become grass, and the antelopes eat the grass," Doug continued to explain to Rod as they were walking through the herd of antelopes and zebras feasting on the plants. "Yeah, but don't we eat the antelope?" Rod inquired his dad quizzically as they went on strolling. "Yes we do, but it's all a big part of the Circle of Life, and it's something to understand," Doug replied with a nod and it was then that Jack suddenly swooped down and landed in front of the king and his son and he was writing down on his trademark notepad before ripping off the page and handing it to Doug. "Morning report," he announced as Doug sat down to read the strange piece of paper as Jack cleared his throat to speak. "The zebras are arguing with the antelope, and the elephants are fighting with the rhinos over which water hole they can use and…"

Rod tuned out yet another one of Jack's morning reports as usual and Doug chuckled quietly as he ushered Rod to come with him as they walked away just a few feet away while out of earshot from Jack as he kept on blabbing and blabbing and blabbing on with his report and Rod peered closely at Jack while turning his head to Doug.

"So what do you think I should do, Dad?" he asked his father and he had him crouch down really low as he concealed himself completely in the grass with Doug holding him down until the right morning. "Stay low to the ground," he whispered to him as Rod smirked cockily as he knew what he was about to do.

"And the dingos are over there fighting with the cheetahs, and the jaguars are fighting with the tigers, and some Tasmanian devil last week gave birth to her pups, which was so humiliating and disgusting because she had to eat almost all of them save three and…" Jack barely had time to finish speaking as he saw a blur of golden yellow fur fly right at him as he let out a blood-curling scream and he was tackled down right onto the floor as he found himself lying on his back with Rod on top of him while wearing a satisfied, triumphant smirk on his face.

Doug then burst out into a hearty fit of laughter as Rod got off Jack and trotted over to him proudly as he was now being praised by his father. "That's very good, son," Doug congratulated Rod as Digger suddenly popped out of the ground as Jack rubbed his head indignantly and was groaning from the sudden hit he had to take.

"Cousin, I think I may have spotted some hyenas in the Pridelands," he whispered to the disgruntled black hornbill as Jack suddenly sat up in pure terror and he let out an ear-splitting screech as Digger disappeared back into the ground.

"Hyenas! In the Pridelands! Oh, Miguelito, this is the worst news!" Jack bawled hysterically as Doug suddenly bolted into action and Rod tried to go after his dad. "Dad, can I go with you?" the young lion cub pleaded as Doug stopped and peered at him before he shook his head. "No, son," was all he said before he took off again and Rod grumbled under his breath as he trudged back home with a sulky gait, with Jack accompanying him.

"I never get to go anywhere," he pouted as Jack placed a hand on his shoulder sympathetically as he then took off while staying right by him. "Now, don't worry, Rod; when you grow up to be king, those mangy mutts won't know what hit them because you'll be chasing them all the way from the Pridelands all the way to the hot, desert savanna somewhere in the Nile River…"