Author's Note: It took me a very long time to figure out how I would format this chapter. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to look or feel right until finally, I came up with what you see here. I opted to go for an MST3K type of scenario, which I hope I did well on, because I've never tried to do anything like that before, so this chapter is a bit of an experiment for me. If necessary, let me know if there's anything I could improve upon for the next chapter, or if there's generally anything I can fix. With that said, I hope that you enjoy!
Also, my computer's keyboard has been giving me a lot of problems lately, so there may be some unintentional typos or missing words around this. If you notice any, please let me know in the reviews so that I may correct them.
I would like to give credit to the user called Gamer Geek, and I wish to thank them for giving me permission to use their story here.
Chapter XIII
After the sun had risen, the hunting pride of twenty lionesses were the first to wake up, leaving Pride Rock to begin the day's hunt like they'd done so many times before. Simba, Nala and the others roused from their sleep just after that, and witnessed the sight of Kiara, Kovu, Kopa and Timon around the laptop near the den's entrance. The four of them had explained to Simba what happened with them that morning, telling him about Kiara's unfortunately apparent hatred around the Internet, and how Kovu and Kopa were able to comfort her as well as they could. Upon being informed about this, Simba and the others had similar displeased reactions to the hatred as Kovu did, and Simba thanked him and Kopa deeply for being there for his daughter when she needed it. Nala, Vitani and Pumbaa shared their appreciation as well.
Then after that situation was finally settled, Timon stretched himself out for the day ahead, glancing to the outside where the beautiful sunrise was making itself known against the sky, as it always had every morning. Then, turning back to the opened laptop, Timon opened up a new blank search bar. He said to everyone behind him,
"Alrighty guys, now that that mess is over with... let's say we start with the actual fanfiction, shall we?"
Vitani sighed a loud sigh of relief. "It's about time." she muttered, sitting down beside Kopa behind the laptop. Simba and the others got settled in as well, returning to their positions from yesterday. They watched as Timon clicked to the site where the written material was, typing something in too. As he did, the meerkat said back to them,
"Now just hear me out here, guys. The fanfiction isn't going to have any of the stuff we saw yesterday, so don't-"
"That's what you said yesterday before you pulled the stuff up about me." Nala interrupted. Timon gave her an awkward look, chuckled softly, and replied to her, "Just trust me this time, guys."
After sitting down beside Kovu, Kiara asked the meerkat, "What were you going to start us out with?"
To this, Timon replied, "Oh, something you guys might like, actually. Keyword being might, though."
Simba asked anxiously, "Well what is it?"
Returning his attention to the screen, Timon looked at the title of the one he had pulled up. He read back, "It's called A Bet for the Ages, and it's about... let's see here... Simba, Nala, Kiara and Kovu."
He paused a moment before continuing. "Apparently, it's about Rafiki turning Simba and Nala back into cubs... and then Kiara and Kovu have to raise them like they're their own cubs."
Simba gave Nala a strange look when he heard the paraphrased description. He said to her, "Well that's... odd."
"Rafiki doesn't have powers like that... I think." Nala added. When she did, Pumbaa chuckled as he sat to Timon's right. He said back to her, "Oh don't worry, Nala. There's plenty of stories stranger than that."
Timon nodded. "Yeah, the sooner you can accept the weird stuff like that, the better."
Kovu took a deep breath before saying to Timon, "Well come on, read it to us!"
Kiara nodded. "The idea doesn't sound bad."
Timon made one last click before saying, "Alright, coming right up."
From there, Timon began to read aloud the story he had pulled up. The meerkat read the following to them-
The sun was high in the air and a comfortable breeze ran across the grassy plains. Priderock stood as it always had, proud and proper. Two cubs were playing by a lone tree, clear of foliage and dried up but still alive. "You pounced on my bug! It was my turn Nuza" a small golden lioness cub named Reynah growled.
"No it wasn't! You got the last one remember!" replied a darker golden lion cub, obviously lying in his attempt to trick his sister.
"Wait, wait, wait a second." Simba interrupted, all eyes now turning to him. "Who are these cubs? I've never heard of anyone named Nuza or Reynah."
Timon looked back and replied, "Yeah, that's another thing I should mention right now, Simba, uhh... sometimes the writers like to add their own made up characters for these things."
Simba took a deep breath. He said softly, "Keep going, then."
Timon continued reading aloud.
Before Nuza spoke again he was confronted by his sister's paw, the force stung even if she didn't use her claws. The cubs swung at each other until Reynah eventually sent her and her brother into a ball rolling across the grassy land like a basketball rolling across a basketball court.
"Wait, what?" Kopa said suddenly. "What's a basketball?"
Vitani shook her head. "I've never heard of that either."
Timon opened his mouth to say something, but Pumbaa said it before he could. "It's something that the humans use for entertainment. It's a game, you know?"
Kopa nodded.
Meanwhile a silhouette of a large lion walked casually down from the cave inside Priderock and down the steps until the shadow reached the base. The large figure began to walk around the monumental rock but just as it turned left the figure was hit by an orange ball formed by two cubs.
On impact Nuza and Reynah broke apart, Reynah landing on her butt and Nuza landing on his stomach both were speechless and they forced there heads up and looked up at the large shadow giant.
"What are you two doing?" the large lion seemed to cut the tension as he spoke. The sun seemed to hit the lion at just the right moment and angle to hide the shadows facial features in a blanket of black, that is until he brought his head down to cub level.
"Oh its just you Kovu, you kind of scared us their" replied Reynah, snapping out of her fear and sitting up properly, her brother soon following and sitting beside her. "Dumb-Dumb over here took my bug"
"Did not slug breathe!" snapped an annoyed Nuza.
"Yeah huh"
"Nuh uh"
"Wait, so they aren't my cubs here?" Kovu asked curiously. Timon groaned at being interrupted again. He replied to Kovu in a very annoyed tone, "No, Kovu, I already told you what this is about."
"Well then whose cubs are they?" Kiara asked curiously. Timon replied, "Could we please just stay quiet and let me finish here?"
Everyone nodded. Timon took a moment to catch his breath before going on.
The fighting progressed for around a minute until Kovu attempted to stop it. "How 'bout you both just forget it. Nuza let Reynah get the next bug alright?" he attempted to solve the fight. Kovu spent the next five minutes trying to find equal ground between the brother and sister, eventually he succeeded.
"Fine, sorry for taking your bug, I will let you get the next bug" Nuza apologized, trying to sound as apologetic as he possible could be.
At first, Reynah replied by looking away from her brother, a pout still on her face. "I guess I did sort of overreact" she replied finally facing her brother once again but this time with a grin on her face. "Come on, lets play tag" and with that the two cubs where off to enjoy the rest of the day. Kovu turned around and began his short walk back to Pride Rock.
Meanwhile:
An older lion with a faded red mane stepped out of his royal home to enjoy the sight of the sun, his queen with a faded yet still bright coat stepped by his side. 'Time has treated them well' some say once the king and queen would pass them.
"Look at that Nala, its Nuza and Reynah at it again" the lion with the faded red mane spoke up, his name was Simba and he ruled Pride Rock with a kind heart and swift thinking. Simba looked from on top Pride Rock and saw Kovu, his son in law, trying to stop the bickering brother and sister duo.
"Remember when we were like that? Always playing together and having short fights that were over absolutely nothing and lasted only moments...you always ended up losing the fight" the King's queen grinned, looking back on old times of her youth, it all seemed so long ago.
"Yeah...you still end up winning all the fights" Simba chuckled back at Nala.
"I really do." Nala said to Simba quietly in his ear, making the king blush in embarrassment. Simba groaned softly, but Nala whispered back to him in a playful voice, "Come on, you know it's true."
Simba softly admitted, "Yeah, it is."
The lioness had a proud look on her face for a few moments as Timon went on.
Nala placed her head under Simba and the two shared a quick nuzzle. "And I always will..." the queen replied with a grin that clearly showed she was flirting.
"See? They read my mind."
"And I'm ok with that" Simba grinned "To be a cub again..." the king sighed looking at his mate who replied with a simple "yeah." The king turned his sight once more to the cubs fighting and just in time to see the cubs go off and play a game of tag. He noticed Kovu and decided to lift his head off of Nala's and address his son-in-law.
"Dang...those two always seem to be fighting, why they won't just get along" spoke the black manned lion as he stepped up Pride Rock.
"Because they're cubs" grinned Simba and he stepped forward to talk to Kovu, of course Nala fell in step beside him. "I'm sure you were just like them when you were young. I know Kiara was" and as if on cue a young yet mature lioness stepped out of the royal den.
"I resent that" Kiara teased her father while walking beside her mate Kovu. "I find it hard to believe cubs could be that hard to raise"
Nala gave Simba a glance that just practically spoke for itself saying {She just said something she will regret}.
Vitani rolled her eyes. "Could they possibly be any more obvious?" She muttered quietly.
"So..." the queen began and started to circle around Kiara and Kovu, stepping as if she was as sly as a fox. "You wouldn't be saying that if you had to deal with Simba over there when he was a cub" she smiled, nodding her head over to the direction of Simba when she spoke her mate's name.
"Like you were any easier" Simba replied with a friendly smug. "As I recall it wasn't just me that accidentally led a swarm of angry bees to Priderock" a grin came to not only Simba's mug but Nala's as well.
Simba gave a shocked look down to the laptop screen, shuddering noticably. He commented, "How did they know about that?! We both swore we'd never speak of that incident again!"
Kopa and Kiara both laughed loudly and suddenly, thinking about what Simba had said.
"It's not funny!" Simba tried to say defensively, although it came out as more childish than firm. "It really hurt! I'm still afraid of bees because of what we did!"
This comment only made the two siblings burst out laughing, making Simba bow his head in shame. Upon seeing him embarrassed like this, Nala smacked her paw on her face out of sheepishness, sighing as she did so. The lioness said to both of her children with her ears drooping slightly, "Alright, so maybe we have a thing or two to explain to you all."
Kopa grinned and said silently to Vitani, "Now that's a story I'd want to hear!"
Kopa and Kiara calmed themselves before continuing.
"I bet you two weren't as bad as you bragged, me and Kiara could deal with you two easily" Kovu had just made a gamble that in the long run he couldn't win, it was a joke indeed but...
"God, we sound so stuck up in this." Kiara said flatly. "You know I would respect my parents more than that, right?"
She turned to Kovu at that last part. The black maned lion glanced up to the gorgeous flower still placed behind Kiara's ear, and then over to Simba and Nala. He nodded approvingly.
"Did someone mention a' bet?" an oddly colored primate by the name of Rafiki swung in from a lone branch sticking out from Priderock. "Rafiki can make it happen" the aged primate always had a soft spot for gambling
"Boy, didn't take long for him to come around, did it?" Vitani commented in a playful tone.
"How so?" Simba questioned even if over the years he learned not to question the magic man who has an answer to absolutely everything.
"With this of-course" Rafiki pulled a gourd off of his staff and snapped it in half revealing a blue liquid with chips of gourd that reflected the light giving it a sparkly appearance as well. "So what are the stakes?" he asked.
Nala, the brains of the couple (Simba and Nala) was the first to speak up. "If we win and you cannot handle me and Simba until the spell wares off then Kiara has to hunt in my place and let me sleep while Kovu takes inventory on the Pridelands"
Kiara, the lioness who wears the pants in her relationship spoke up "Fine but if we win then you and Dad are going to have to sleep outside for a week"
Kiara and Kovu both chuckled when Timon read that last line in his best Kiara-voice, easily able to tell he was overdoing it big time. Timon shot them both a glare. "What?" He said. "Why don't you read this on your own, then?"
Simba finally had a chance to speak, "Deal, Rafiki give us what yeah got" which ended the discussion of the terms of the bet. Rafiki placed the gourd half on the ground and Simba began to lap at it, his mate quickly following, giving a friendly one-eyed death stare up to her daughter and son-in-law.
Now this would explain what all that crazy monkey's stuff does! Timon thought playfully. Man, have I been missing out!
"So now what" The red manned king spoke. "Do we just-" The King was cut off when suddenly his vision began to blur. The breeze picked up and before he knew it he and his mate were surrounded by a small tornado.
"Wasn't it you would said {To be a cub again}?" The queen chuckled, her voice getting noticeably higher as she spoke. No one could see it but she was getting significantly smaller and even began to get a lighter coat.
"Well now we can live the glory days right?" a high pitch voice came, it was Simba who had already had only half the mane he did before taking the potion.
The meerkat took a deep breath as he finished the first chapter, panting slightly. He turned around and faced everyone in the den with a curious look. Simba and Nala looked completely embarrassed, Kopa and Kiara looked ready to burst out laughing, and Kovu and Vitani looked genuinely interested in where things were going.
"So? What'd you think so far?" Timon asked curiously. Each of them thought for a moment.
"Well, it's painless enough." Vitani said. "Could be longer, though."
"It's a hell of a lot better than the crap we saw yesterday." Kovu added enthusiastically, which prompted every one around him to vocally and sincerely agree, nodding.
Simba was silent for a bit before saying, "Well... it's cute."
Nala nodded. "I"ll keep going, I suppose."
Timon agreed, turning back around and clicking to the next chapter. From there, he read to them every the story, doing his best impressions of who was speaking (Which were all very poorly done, adding to the humor of it for them all), but essentially the story went like this- with Simba and Nala turned into cubs, the two of them continued to give Kiara and Kovu absolute hell, which earned quite a few laughs from the lions, Simba and Nala especially. Subconsciously, they had always wanted to do that sort of thing just one last time together. A few moments made Kiara blush, but mostly because of how adorable things were to her. And although it was never seen by anyone, Vitani couldn't help but do the same at a few parts.
Even though Simba was beginning to find the story rather entertaining, he refused to let his guard down like he did with the fan art, just in case Timon were to pull another stunt. But thankfully, the lion had nothing to fear for this story... not when it came to smut, at least.
Timon started chapter four, where Simba and Nala as cubs got themselves stuck in the Elephant graveyard once more, which picked up everyone's interest considerably. In the story, Simba and Nala had been surrounded by a group of hyenas, each of them ready to spill blood. Then, there came a part where a mysterious lion of some sort was intimidating the two cubs, making their interest peak. Even Timon sounded like he was getting progressively more invested as he read.
Simba and Nala were kidnapped and thrown into a rib cage of a dead animal, just as Zazu had been during Scar's reign. The hyenas intimidated them greatly as Kiara and Kovu ran off to the Elephant Graveyard to save them. At this point, Kovu decided to question Timon, "Hey, how did we know they would be there?"
Timon shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't write it."
Kiara added, "You'd think we would al least look around the Pride Lands for a while before resorting to there."
Simba perked up and asked, "And where is the hunting party through all this? Shouldn't they be helping in the search?"
Timon replied in an annoyed tone. "Alright look, not everyone who writes these things is an expert on how you guys are! We don't have time to play twenty questions!... Now can I please just finish this without any more interruptions? My voice is killin' me here."
Simba and the others nodded, which prompted the meerkat to continue like normal. But then, at the very start of chapter five, Timon read something that was particularly unpleasing to one lioness. He read-
The two cubs were awaken by the beam of sun hitting their faces, normally the sun only hit this part of the land like that for only a hour. "Simba…tell the sun to go back to bed" Nalayawned, she had been up half the night crying over there new found predicament. Nalaslowly got to her feet, dried tears caused the fur under her eyes to turn just a bit darker than usual which didn't matter since the tunnel was only going to be lit for a couple minutes more.
"Psst!" snapped Simba, puttinga figure to his mouth; he was tryingto listen into a conversation. "They're talking about the man who put us here" he quickly looked over to Nala and then turned his attention back to the mouth of the cave, a butt of a hyena shown in the cave. Nalaquickly went silent and turned her attention to the opening of their prison as well.
The sun suddenly hit the ground at just the right angle, lighting the whole cave up. "How was your sleep you little brats…" a female adult walked into the cave smirking, the voice was very familiar. "Vitani" Nala mumbled,
"What?!" Vitani screamed angrily and suddenly. Timon stopped and nearly jumped out of his skin in shock at how loud her outburst was right then, and even some of those around her were caught off guard. Vitani took a step forth, glaring at the text-filled screen.
"Me?! I'm the villain here?" She snarled. "Why would I kidnap Simba and Nala? I'm not like that!... anymore."
Kopa, although still shaken up by his mate's sudden outburst, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, what the hell? Vitani isn't a kidnapper!"
Timon shook his head. "Listen, I-"
Vitani barked at him, "No! They start out with this story that's actually starting to look good, and all of a sudden they decide I'm the villain! That's insulting!"
Kovu looked over to his sister, who appeared as though she was ready to rip Timon apart at that point, although her anger was more towards what he had read rather than the meerkat himself. Seeing her so enraged like this, Kovu said to her in a composed fashion, "Okay calm down Vitani, it's just a story."
Kiara, who had been rather surprised at the story's revelation, said to the lioness in a playful way, "And besides, you're only upset because you're the villain now."
Vitani glared at her for a moment before saying, "I can't believe this. Me being evil... what's next, they're going to bring Nuka back from the dead or something?"
Timon scratched the back of his head, giving her an awkward look. He said uncomfortably, "Uhhh, yeah, about that, Vitani..."
ever since the two groups merged both the lions had had mixed feelings about Vitani, at least until Kovutalked them into beingmore understanding. "I hear my brother brought you little runts here…so…do you think Kovu would give more for his runts as a whole or piece by piece" she chuckled at her ill humored joke.
"We can discuss that later sis" a voice echoed from the back, it wasn't a deep voice, just an annoyingteenage sounding voice, one fit for a young adult. A now older and worn Nuka stepped into the cave, a corrupt smirk on his face.
Now it was Kovu's turn to be offended. He suddenly burst out, "Oh come on!"
Vitani just shook her head, unable to believe her lighthearted prediction had just come true. She looked over to Kovu, and they shared the same look of shock and disgust.
"So wait, Nuka's alive in this?" Nala asked. "Well how did he survive?"
Timon answered by continuing to read. He got to this part.
"Well…first we will send a messenger telling your parents we have the precious cubs" Nukaadded a bit more to the word precious. "Your dang father nearly killed me…he betrayed his own family…just for…her" he really hated Kiara; she was nothing but trouble for his whole family. "He left me to die…if it wasn't for those dangwild dogs looking for food I would probably be dead" he started, Simba looked up a bit and noticed that Nuka had a bite mark in his ear.
Ignoring that one part that almost seemed to target her, Kiara commented, "Well at least they gave a reason."
Kovu blurted out, "This is insulting!"
Kiara nudged him slightly before saying, "Kovu, remember what you said... it's just a story."
The lion replied, "I know, Kiara, but... you know how hard it is for me to talk about Nuka, especially when it involves, well... this!"
At this point, Vitani gave the laptop a bit of a sad look. She remembered briefly how she had watched her brother die right in front of her, and how painful it always was to ever contemplate such an event. Her thoughts then dwelled to how this story was apparently choosing to portray the lion she was so sensitive about. And none of those thoughts were good.
Timon sighed. "Can we just finish this before someone gets hurt here?" He asked. Finally deciding to let their feelings go for a while, Kovu and Vitani sat back down, and listened to what Timon had to say for the remainder of the story. Essentially, Simba and Nala discovered Vitani's plot to overtake the Pride Lands with the hyenas, and at one point they were being chased up a tree.
A point in the story that struck the real Simba by surprise was that Mufasa's spirit had actually physically helped him up, saving him. As implausible as that sounded to him personally, the thought of his father made him hold back the urge to cry, especially in said context. But he disregarded it, and continued to listen. Kiara and Kovu were able to rally the lionesses at last in order to save Simba and Nala, which prompted the real Simba to say,
"Well it's about time!"
Afterword, Kiara and Kovu had confronted Nuka and Vitani, and Kovu had a brutal fight with Nuka, though he did not kill him. Simba and Nala were rescued from a fire started by lightning, and Kovu officially banished Vitani and Nuka. And throughout the whole thing, none of the lions had ever been so invested in a tale like this before. It portrayed both Kovu and Kiara as very wise and brave; rather accurate to how they truly were. All of them were now determined to know how things would end. Kovu was glad that he didn't end up killing Nuka, and even Vitani, who was still upset about her own portrayal, seemed very interested in how things would go down.
In the long run, Simba and Nala had turned back into adults, ending the main conflict. Simba, after seeing how well Kovu and Kiara had handled their situation, stepped down from his position as king and gave the throne to the both of them as the new king and queen.
And of course, Kiara and Kovu lost the bet.
Timon took several deep breaths when he had finished at last, his voice exhausted. After taking a moment, he stood back up and turned around. All of them were silent.
"Well then... that was a mouthful." He said tiredly. "So... what'd you think?"
Vitani rolled her eyes. She mumbled to herself, "Me being Scar's daughter, what a load of-"
Simba interrupted her when he said, "Well I liked it. It could've used some, well... adjustments here and there, but still."
Nala nodded. "I liked it too." she agreed.
Kiara and Kovu both blushed for a moment, thinking about what they had done in the story's final act. Kiara leaned into Kovu's mane comfortably.
"Oh Kovu..." She said. "You were so brave to do all that."
The lion replied to his mate, "Yeah? You were pretty brave too.", echoing the very same words he had said to her years before. Kiara chuckled. "I loved it." She said. Kovu replied, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't... even though Vitani was... a little overdone."
Kopa gave Vitani a look before saying, "Ah, it was okay... I guess. But one question- where the hell was I during all this?"
Timon shrugged. "You just weren't, I guess." Vitani then gave her thoughts, saying "Did they really have to use me for the kidnapping? And me being Scar's daughter, are they for real?"
She gave Kopa a disgusted look, and he returned it, realizing what the story was implying for them. Vitani shook her head. "That was just... bad."
Kovu scoffed at his sister. "Oh, lighten up, will you?"
Kopa glared at his brother-in-law for a moment before saying to him, "Yeah, and if Kiara were the villain here, what would you say then?"
Kovu opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately found no way to respond to that. Timon nodded, and turned his attention back to the laptop. "Okay then." He said. "So I'm guessing Simba, Nala, you liked it... Kiara, Kovu, you liked it... Kopa, Vitani... you didn't?"
Everyone seemed to agree with Timon's observations. To the meerkat, it was four to six. Good enough for him, at least. He turned to Pumbaa.
"Hey Pumbaa" he started. "You mind reading off the next one for me? I've gotta go get a drink, my mouth is killing me here!"
With a friendly tone, Pumbaa replied, "Sure thing, Timon."
Timon nodded and then started to walk out of the den, stretching himself out a bit, and clearing his throat from so much reading. As he left, he said, "If anybody needs me, I'll just be getting a drink from the river. I would be going to the Water Hole, but thanks to those two..."
He pointed to Kopa and Vitani as he said that, making them blush sheepishly. They just realized that no one besides themselves, Kovu and Timon knew anything about what they did in the Water Hole the day before. Simba perked up.
"What do you mean, Timon?"
The meerkat shrugged. "You know what? I... they... j-just... some things are better left in the past, Simba."
Deciding not to question his friend, Simba nodded and watched as Timon walked down the slope of Pride Rock, heading off to the river. This left Pumbaa to bring up the next fanfic.
Author's Note: With all said and done, I really do like A Bet for the Ages, and I highly recommend taking a look at the full story after this. Once again, credit goes to Gamer Geek.