I am so disappointed right now. I feel upset and sad. And if anyone wonders why, I'll tell you. I'm receiving very little reviews lately and the numbers just keep dwindling. I feel like I lost some readers because of my chapter with the awkward transition. Please tell me I'm wrong by sending reviews to make me happier. Oh and recently I learned that Mohatu was actually Uru's father, sorry about my misplaced facts. But for our intents and purposes let's just pretend that he was Ahadi's father. I don't like editing because it always messes up the word count. Now I'm going to do something different. I'm going to do a celebrity shout out.
To Bridgit Mendler – Congrats to your debut album! It's called Hello My Name Is…I'm hoping some of you will buy it because her music is amazing. It's a really mature sound and it's fantastic. It has songs like All I See is Gold, 5:15, Rocks at my Window, and her hit single, Ready or Not.
To Taylor Swift – Congrats to the release of your newest album, Red. It is amazing and has some of my most favorite songs ever. I just love her and her music. It is just amazing with songs like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Red, Begin Again, and my personal favorite, I Knew You Were Trouble.
To iCarly – It is so sad because their show is ending. Their final season is on the air and I want all of you to watch it before it's over. It is a fantastic show with the best comedy. It is totally hilarious and in my opinion the best of all the shows ever made by Dan Schneider.
To David Archuleta – I just wanted to wish you good luck on your mission. I know that you went off on it a while ago but I just wanted to send you some good luck. And I'm hoping you all buy his newest album called Begin. Out of every singer out there I think that David is the one who is the most inspirational. His music means something and it deserves to be heard. Good luck on your mission!
That's it for now. The reason why I'm skipping over my reviewer shout outs is because I feel that this stuff needed to be known. Plus I'm low on reviews so please send me some more! (I'm also upset that DJ's Mix won Make Your Mark instead of Starley and Chris)
-X-
"You don't want to lose him do you?" asked Ma suddenly.
"Huh, what do you mean?" asked Tamina.
"When you talk about your memories of you and Simba together…You have this light laugh around you. You don't want to lose him so part of you doesn't want to go find his family" deduced Ma.
"I guess…But like I said his family deserves to know he's alive…And I somehow know that he's going to want to stay…It's his home" said Tamina, her voice breaking.
"Honey, home is where the heart is. My little Timmy has two homes, here because this is where his family is and the Pride Lands because that's where the other half of his family live" smiled Ma.
"That's why he's always coming in between here and there" added Max.
"And you could always live here, it's only a day's journey from here and the Pridelands" suggested Ma.
"Really?" sniffed Tamina. "It's only a day's journey and I can live here? I won't be any trouble?"
"Well…" started Max but was interrupted by Ma. "Of course not sweetie and the lions there are really nice too. I'm sure they would let you stay with them, maybe in that extra den where Timon and Pumbaa sleep" said Ma.
"We haven't heard from them in a month, are you sure he hasn't been eaten?" inquired Max.
"Oh hush, Simba would never let that happen to him. But that does remind me, why don't I accompany you?" offered Ma.
"You want to come with us?" asked Tamina.
"Of course, it'll give me a chance to see my two boys again and it'll be best to have me around or else a lion might mistake you and your companions for intruders" explained Ma.
"…Well when you put it that way I guess I can't disagree…" shrugged Tamina. "What about you Max, you want to come with us too?"
"Oh no, I'm not stepping foot on predator grounds. I'd much rather stay here in my carnivore free zone…Or at least it is carnivore free for most of the time" said Max. "Besides I am the colony chief, I have to look after them all. If I'm not here then the whole place would be in mass hysteria"
"A simple no would've sufficed" giggled Tamina before her face became serious once more. She kept thinking about the effect of her colony if she was gone. Would they even miss her? It's not as if they ever cared before, not even when she's defended them from so many threats. "All I have left is Simba…" whispered Tamina.
A silence fell upon the three meerkats. Ma looked through the foliage and noticed that the moon had come out. She looked back out to the field of grass and noticed the silhouettes of two lions resting. She placed a hand on Tamina's shoulder.
"Go to him…I can tell from afar that he cares about you too. I think that right now, he only has you left as well. He doesn't seem like he has anyone from the pride near your colony to care about him like you do" urged Ma.
"That's not true; many of the lions accept him. And there are many young lionesses that have been taken by him. And not to mention when we finds his real family…"
"Just because they have accepted him doesn't make them his family…And just because he meets his real family doesn't make you any less of his family"
Tamina looked at Ma through watered eyes. She wasn't sure why, she had never cried before, not even as a kit…The last time she had cried was when her mother passed away. Then Max, in a rare act of sympathy reached out to her.
"Listen…I never really approved of my great nephew raising a lion but I somehow always knew that it was fine. Whenever I see them…I don't see prey and predator behaving unnaturally…I see them as a family…One with a bond that cannot be broken. And hearing about your relationship with Simba makes me think that you two are the same" said Max.
Tamina sniffed and rubbed the tears out her eyes. Her earlier expression of sadness vanished to be replaced by her usual confident self. She smiled radiantly at Ma and Max. "Thanks…To both of you…"
She ran off and climbed onto Kopa. The two were talking in the distance. It was difficult to hear the words but by the way Kopa adjusted his position so that Tamina was lying comfortably in the hole made between his forearms told Max and Ma that they were going to be just fine.
-X-
"What are you waiting for, come on Kopa!" called the lioness cub from on top of the hill.
"Hey, it's not my fault you pushed me into the water hole and now I'm soaking wet!" said the younger version of Kopa.
"Yes it is! You have very little balance you know" giggled the lioness.
"Gee, thanks, appreciate it" said Kopa but he couldn't help smiling.
"Well hurry up or we're going to miss it!" said the lioness as she bounded off through the trees.
"Hey wait for me!" said Kopa as he followed after her.
The two cubs laughed together as they finally reached their destination. They had ended up near a cliff but it wasn't very high. A grown lion could probably jump down and land safely. There waiting for them was a large and mighty lion. His entire being emanated authority but at the same time kindness and compassion for the two cubs.
"Hey, what took you two so long?" asked the large lion. "And why are you all wet?"
"He fell into the water hole" giggled the lioness.
In the lighting of the moonlight he was able to see their features easily. The lioness cub had a dark shade of fur, she sort of had bangs that hid her eyes at a certain angle, and her eyes were a beautiful blue. The adult lion had a red mane as well as amber eyes; he looked similar to the reflection Kopa saw every day when he looked in the water.
"So I see" the adult chuckled.
"So why did you ask us to be here…?" asked Kopa. He felt that there should've been another word. Possibly the lion's name but for some peculiar reason he didn't know what it was. It was the same for the lioness actually, he felt that he had known them since forever but he had no idea what their names were.
"I just wanted to teach you both something rather important" said the lion.
"But if it's another king lesson how come she's here?" asked Kopa.
"Every cub needs to learn this some time. And since you two are the only ones that don't know yet, I thought that I should tell you both at the same time" explained the lion wisely.
"Yeah Kopa, you need to listen to your…" said the lioness. Once again a word was missing.
"Okay, whatever, so what is it? What did you need to tell us?" asked Kopa once again returning his attention to the lion in front of him.
"Look up into the sky, tell me, what do you see up there?" asked the grown lion gesturing upwards.
"Other than the sky, I see the moon, clouds, and stars" said Kopa.
"That's right, but there's also something else up there that you cannot see" said the lion.
"Air?" said the lioness questioningly.
"Aside from air…It is said that the Great Kings of the Past are all up there. My father, your…, Mufasa is up there too" said the lion.
"Really, he's up there, then how come he doesn't talk to us?" asked Kopa.
"He speaks to us whenever we are lost. Whenever we need guidance of some sort the kings are there for us" explained the lion. "One day I might be up there with him among the stars and I'll be watching over all of you. To make sure that you're all safe and sound"
"Does this mean I'll be up there one day too?" asked Kopa.
The lion gave a light-hearted chuckle. "I am sure of it"
"But what about me? I won't become a king, and even if I had royal blood I still wouldn't be king. So what happens to the rest of us? Do we end up there or somewhere different?" asked the lioness worriedly, much more different than her confident self earlier.
"That is an excellent question. And I'll tell you the answer, not just kings are up there. Animals of all kinds exist up there too. As long as you are a good creature you will be up there" smiled the lion.
"But yesterday you told me that all animals become the grass after they're gone. So how can they be in the ground and the sky at the same time?" asked Kopa.
"Simple, our physical beings become the grass; our spiritual ones become the stars" explained the lion.
"I like the sound of being the stars. It sounds much more appealing than becoming the grass" said the lioness with a smile.
"Definitely" agreed Kopa.
"Hey, look fireflies!" exclaimed the lioness as she saw the little lightning bugs flutter about.
"Wow, their even more beautiful up close" said Kopa.
"Why don't we head back? It's getting awfully late" suggested the lion.
"Aw, but we want to stay with the fireflies" whined the lioness.
"Tell you what, how about tomorrow evening I take you both out to see the fireflies behind Pride Rock. They're the most beautiful you'll ever see" offered the lion.
Both of the cubs seemed satisfied with that so they followed him to the large protruding rock out in the distance. Although Kopa didn't have a clue on whom these two felines were, he did know the name of the rock. It was so obvious that it came to him at the same time he whispered it in his sleep. Pride Rock…
-X-
"This should wake him" said a female voice.
The next thing Kopa knew a ton of cold water splashed onto him. "Gah!" he shouted as he jerked awake. He turned and saw Tamina and Hasani looking at him with odd expressions. "W-What was that for?" chattered Kopa.
"You were still sleeping and I was having trouble waking you" said Tamina matter-of-factly.
"We should get going, I'll think we'll make it there just a little bit after midday" said Hasani.
Kopa rubbed the last of sleep from his eyes and glanced up towards the sky. The sun hadn't even risen above the horizon yet but that might've been a good thing, he always loved seeing the sunrise. But this time his mind wasn't thinking about the sun and was thinking about the dream he had last night. He's had similar dreams but it was the first time he remembered so much. One thing was for sure, he was definitely from the Pride Lands. But he had to wonder, who was that lioness and why had she called him Kopa? Strangely enough, the name was oddly familiar. The other question that was nagging on his mind was who was that lion and why did he look so similar to him.
"Come on little ones! We should get going now!" said Ma as she stepped out from under the shade.
Tamina hopped onto Kopa's back and held her hand out for Ma. The older meerkat took it and was lifted onto the young lion's back.
"I hope you don't mind the extra weight buddy" said Tamina patting the side of his head.
"Yeah, no problem" said Kopa absentmindedly.
"Let's go!" said Hasani as he took the lead.
Kopa followed but his mind was only half concentrating on the path ahead. There were just so many questions that he couldn't figure out.
-X-
The sun had finally risen and the dynamic duo of the Pridelands slowly woke up. Timon got up and yawned loudly as he woke up his companion who was asleep next to him.
"Hey Pumbaa, come on, it's morning" said Timon.
"Huh?" said Pumbaa as he raised his head.
"It's time to go" said Timon.
Timon climbed onto the warthog's back and they made their way towards the border between the Pride Lands and the desert. They covered half the distance in silence before Pumbaa spoke up.
"Hey uh Timon, is it really okay to leave the others without saying goodbye?" asked the warthog.
"We said our goodbyes last night…It'll hurt less if we don't see them again" said Timon quietly.
"You talk as if you're never coming back" pointed out a voice from behind them.
The two of them turned around to see Vitani coming towards them. Although the two of them and the lioness were never on the best of terms they were able to tolerate each other.
"Vitani , hey! Didn't notice you there! So…Um…You don't plan on eating us or anything do you?" asked Timon nervously.
"Please there are better options in the Pride Lands than a tiny meerkat and a smelly warthog" scoffed Vitani. "I'm here as an escort. Simba asked me to do it, he wanted to do it himself but he's busy with his kingly duties"
"So he entrusted you to do it?" asked Pumbaa.
"Not really, I volunteered actually" said Vitani sheepishly.
"You volunteered to escort us? Is your head on straight?" asked Timon.
"I just figured we'd be able to talk a little" said Vitani.
"Why? You never tried talking to us before"
"Well, I guess I feel a little worried for some reason. Your departure announcement was a bit of a surprise to all of us. And I feel like you left a little bit…sad…"
"Could you clarify that?"
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that you guys left sadly last night and I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to talk about it"
"Oh, well, Timon was telling me about how he had always wanted to be a father and all that talk about Kopa reminded him of that" said Pumbaa without Timon even telling him it was okay to tell her.
"Pumbaa!"
"What I do?"
"Come on, it's not like it's embarrassing, it seems pretty reasonable to me. I'm pretty sure every animal dreams of starting a family of their own one day" said Vitani. This comment seemed to stun Timon for a moment.
"You mean…Even you?" asked the meerkat.
"Sometimes…I may have been trained to hate but I've got a heart too you know!" snapped Vitani.
"Yeah, I know…Sorry I didn't mean to imply anything"
"No I'm sorry; I didn't mean to snap at you. I guess some of Zira's teachings have been drilled into me" said Vitani.
"So part of that lioness' teachings was to get angry at others? Doesn't seem very effective in battle if you ask me" said Timon in hopes of lightening the atmosphere.
To his surprise the lioness laughed lightly. "Thanks Timon, I think I needed that"
"Well, we should get going before we waste the entire day" said Timon. "And you don't have to come with us. We know the way; we don't really need an escort"
"True, but I have to protect you guys too you know. Lions aren't the only predators around here" pointed out Vitani.
"She's got a point there Timon" said Pumbaa.
"I thought we had this system sorted out already…Predators won't get us as long as my buddy Pumbaa is around to stink them away" said Timon happily.
"But there are some that aren't afraid of smell" said Vitani. "For example I'm sure a starving wild dog won't mind taking a bite out of the two of you"
"Well since you put it that way" said Timon before turning and striking a pointing finger in the direction of their destination. "Onwards!"
"I thought you might say that" Vitani chuckled.
"So…You're not going to eat us if we walk on for days in the desert right?" asked Pumbaa.
"Don't worry, I'm used to starvation"
"Oh, sorry about that"
"No worries"
"You mean Hakuna Matata" said Timon.
"If you ever say that again then I will eat you" said Vitani.
"Right…Shutting up now"
-X-
I hope you guys liked this chapter. Man school is really bothersome but I was finally able to complete it! Whoo, all right! The next chapter is coming soon, hopefully, so be on the lookout. And do not forget to review, if I get only one review or none at all like the last chapter than I'll be putting this story on an indefinite hiatus just because I'm upset. And believe me that won't be fair to my other readers. I'm just joking of course but seriously, some feedback would be greatly appreciated.