Lion King III: The Chosen Ones

Cub Arc

Chapter Four: A New Friend

"I can't believe it was that easy," Jelani exclaimed as he finally got through the hole.

Tanabi rolled his eyes at his companion, still in a bad mood. "Of course it was Jelani. Stop actin' like a little cub."

"Hey, hey! Don't get all mad with me 'cause you feel bad about yelling at your sister," Jelani remarked off-handily as he idly played with his tail.

"I'm not upset Jelani," Tanabi snapped at the dark tawny cub before letting out a sigh. He adverted his eyes as Jelani started smirking at him.

"C'mon Tanabi, I know you better than anyone else," said Jelani. "Just cheer up, at least you got rid of her."

"But I didn't have to be so mean about it," Tanabi murmured, lowering his ears. "I didn't mean to get so angry at her but she is can be so annoying. What's her problem anyways?"

Jelani put a comforting paw on Tanabi's shoulder.

"Tanabi, Tanabi, Tanabi," Jelani said slowly, a wry grin spreading on his maw. "Don't you know all lionesses act like this? She'll get over it, don't worry. Ayira is just acting out 'cause she's a girl and she can't handle the truth."

Tanabi eyed Jelani weirdly, "I wouldn't say that around your mom if I were you."

Jelani frowned. "But that just makes me more right. My dad says that to me all the time and the last time he said that to Mom, she kicked him out of the den. Tanabi, girls are crazy."

Tanabi chuckled as he wryly shook his head, leave it to Jelani to say something like that. "You're right Jelani. I need to cheer up," he scooped up a paw full of icky, gooey mud and threw it at Jelani's face. Laughing, he flicked Jelani on the forehead and backed away with a grin. "Tag you're it!"

Jelani stood there for a couple of seconds, jaw slack and eyes bugged out, mud dripping from his muzzle and ears. The young prince continued to snicker at his friend, backing away very slowly, waiting for Jelani to react. The scruffy older cub blinked before breaking out into a wide smirk.

"You're so going to pay for that Tanabi!" Jelani said, chasing after Tanabi right after the brown cub took off in a run. It didn't take Jelani long to catch up with his friend due to his longer limbs.

"Not fair Jelani! I'm not as big as you are," Tanabi protested.

"Aww, poor little cub! Here, have a mud pie!" Jelani teased as he swiped some mud into Tanabi's eyes, making the young prince gasp in surprise.

Jelani was still laughing when a mud ball squarely hit the back of his head. Eyes widening, he turned to a mischievious Tanabi who was sticking his tongue out.

"Gotcha!" Tanabi said laughing at his friend who started growling, his gray eyes flashing with playfulness.

"You do realize I'm goin to kill you now, don't you?"

"Bring it on!"

The two cubs then started their mini-war, shrieking with laughter...

OooO

Ayira walked into the lioness' den, eyes still burning with tears in her eyes. Stupid Tanabi, why did he have to say such mean things?

She was only watching after him, just like any other big sister would do. Well, two minutes apart...but still. Ayira so wanted to make him pay for picking on her. But as much as she wanted to; part of her admitted that Tanabi was right. She didn't really have any friends of her own, because she was little miss priss, nobody wanted to hang out with a wet blanket like her. The last time she went to go play with the other cubs, they were trying to go out into the out lands a place stricktly forbidden for any cub, Outlander descent or not. Naturally, Ayira ran back and told their mothers, and the next time she went to play with them, they just walked away.

Ayira felt her eyes tearing up even more to the point where she couldn't see anymore. She rubbed angrily at her eyes, trying to wipe away the oncoming tears.

Queens don't cry, Ayira told herself stubbornly, but this only made her feel even worse.

"Princess Ayira? Are you okay?" a timid voice asked the princess, making Ayira's ears perk up.

"Go away!" Ayira demanded.

The figure didn't go away, but instead sat in front of her, tilting its head. As Ayira's vision cleared, she found out it was a small cub a month or so younger than her. The cub, had a deep red pelt that was almost the color of fresh blood, her muzzle, paws and stomach were a peach color. She had big, light hazel eyes that looked on sympathetically and had a small light pink pride lander nose. Ayira knew who it was, it was Kutu, the daughter of Waridi a lioness that recently joined the pride.

"I understand if you don't want to talk Princess," Kutu replied a bit sadly, tucking her ears behind her head.

"No! It's not your fault!" Ayira cried but then almost gasped at the voracity of her own voice. Trying to save what last strand of dignity she had left, Ayira sniffed hard, cleaning out her nose before speaking again. "What is it Kutu?"

Kutu smiled a bit, but lowered her gaze shyly. "Well...you see...princess...I saw...saw how your brother was treating you and I thought maybe I could cheer you up?" Kutu stuttered softly, so soft that Ayira had to strain herself to hear the red cub.

Ayira smiled sweetly. "That's nice of you Kutu."

She looked around for a second, green eyes darting all over the place for any sign of any other cubs.

"Where are your friends, Kutu? I bet they're looking for you," When Ayira said this, her stomach dropped a bit. Friends.

"They don't wanna play with me 'cause I'm so little," Kutu whispered as her ears lowered again, a stricken look on her face. "I'm new around here. They don't wanna play with someone who won't talk to them."

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?" Ayira replied reassuringly, shrugging her shoulders. "Wanna go play somewhere?"

Kutu's whole face lit up, "Really?" she exclaimed to which Ayira nodded. It wouldn't hurt to play with Kutu and besides maybe they could become friends.

"Of course! Let's go," Ayira said with a wink, her sadness completely gone. As they walked together, both of them wished for a friendship. And what a friendship that they would become.

OooO

Jelani and Tanabi whooped and hollered loudly as they slid on the soggy grass, zooming on by. The cold feeling of the rain on his paws and on his body was exhilarating to Tanabi. Suddenly, velocity stopped being their friend and the two cubs fell face flat onto the muddy ground before them. Sitting back up with cold mud plastered all over their faces, Tanabi and Jelani continued giggling without stopping.

"Man! This is so much fun!" Jelani cried out as loud as he could. He then started coughing, "Yuck! I think I got some mud in my mouth!"

Tanabi grinned at his friend, trying not to laugh at him. All of the laughing and hell-raising they were doing was hurting his ribs. "I told you, Jelani. And you were all scared."

Jelani collapsed in to a heap in the mud, forelegs and hind legs spread out. He then started to move his limbs back and forth, side to side, as he was making a little cub angel in the mud.

"I have a right to be afraid. If my mom finds out about this, I'm done for," Jelani then gave Tanabi a critical look and said flatly," And if my mother finds me out here, I will kill you Tanabi."

Tanabi scoffed. "Pssh. Yeah right," he replied as he shook off the rain off of his body. "I thought you said you weren't afraid of your mother."

Jelani stood up, mud and gunk sliding off of him. With all of the dark mud coating his pelt, he looked more like a mud monster instead of a lion cub. The mud made his brilliant gray eyes stand out even more, but it made him look ridiculous.

"And I'm not. But there is a difference between having a healthy repsect for your mother and being afraid of her," He wrinkled up his nose in confusion. "...Whatever that means. My dad says it a lot but he's more afraid of her than anything else."

"What're you talking about? Aunt Tani equals scary," Tanabi replied, "Relax Jelani, we're so far out here, nobody'll find us."

"Where are we anyways? I can't even see Pride Rock anymore."

Tanabi shrugged. After all of the traveling they had been doing during their playing, Tanabi had lost track but he didn't care, they'd find their way home some how. Curiously, he walked next to the edge of the small hill they had been standing on and looked out to the horizon. He could barely make out the scenery with all of the rain blurring his eye sight, but he could see the mist and most of the barren, twisted trees.

"I think we're near the outlands," Jelani said to his friend, whose eyes grew wide.

"No way! That's so awesome!" Tanabi exclaimed as he sat beside Jelani, peering precariously on the edge to see. "I wonder what's out there?"

"You're not thinking about going out there, are you?"

"And why not? Your dad and my mom were outlanders. Heck, even our grandma was queen of the outlands and they turned out okay! Don't tell me that you of all lions are turning into a scardey-cub..."

"I'm not," Jelani protested, squirming uncomfortably. "There's something really spooky about that place. I don't like it...and 'sides how would you get across that river?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

The two cubs looked down at the river below them. Usually it was just pretty deep, but now the dark waters were moving too fast for the eyes to see. They winced as a stick that was bobbing up and down, got snapped in half by the currents, pushing it into a sharp rock on the riverbed. It didn't help knowing that they were standing right above it.

"C'mon Jelani, let's go home. I'm pretty sure Ayira has already squealed on us," Tanabi said cheerfully, in order to clear up the bad vibes he was getting. He turned around to go.

"Yeah, who would wanna swim in that river?" Jelani asked rhetorically as he stood up to follow Tanabi.

Suddenly, Jelani got his answer when the ground underneath them collapsed and the two cubs plummeted into the river below.

For the first time in Tanabi's life, time froze.

Well, how was that for a chapter? I told you that Tanabi was gonna get his, never mess with your sister. Period. Will Tanabi and Jelani survive? Well all will be answered in Chapter Five: Water Slide part Two! Oh a shout out to LarFang for reviewing, this chapter definitly goes out to you! Now why don't the rest of you jokers go and take a cue from this guy and review!

Edit: 10/19/10