Chapter XVI
The others watched and listened closely as Timon finished pulling up the next fanfic. It wasn't until here that Simba noticed that the light of day was already past its highest mark, and that the sky was beginning to fall into its early stages of dusk.
Geeze, have we really been doing this for that long? He thought.
Then, cracking his fingers again, Timon spoke them making each lion and lioness perk up once more.
"Alright guys, I think we might have time for one more story for today." He said wearily. "And boy, is this next one a doozy."
"Why does that not make me feel good about this?" Kovu said playfully. Vitani replied to him from the other side of the den,
"Kovu, with Timon, nothing he says is reassuring."
The lion snickered at his sister. "Isn't that the truth."
"Hey!" Timon suddenly called up, sounding annoyed at that comment. "I can be supportive when I want to!"
Kovu then replied sarcastically, "Oh yeah, because you were just so helpful in supporting my mate this morning when she needed it, weren't you?"
This earned a few laughs from the others around him, Kiara included. Timon opened his mouth to say something, but fell silent, taking a deep breath.
"Alright guys, look. Can we just get through this?"
Calming down, the others began to listen to Timon once more as he turned his attention back to the screen.
"Okay now... not sure if any of you are going to really like this."
"Why not?" Kiara asked curiously.
Timon paused before replying, "Apparently it says right here that some jackass decided to put you guys through freaking Middle Earth!"
When he said this, the meerkat was met with blank stares of sudden confusion, plus multiple raised eyebrows.
"Uh, say what?" Kopa said.
Timon shook his head. "Look, the story is called The Lion of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Pride, and it's saying that here, the Pride Lands are apart of this fantasy place called Middle Earth."
Pumbaa interrupted for this next part. "And before you ask, guys, no. It's not actually the middle of the planet, it's just a fantasy land."
Vitani cocked her eyebrow. "And... this was necessary because...?"
Timon shrugged. "Beats me."
Simba then asked him, "So what's it about?"
Timon replied, "Well, Simba... it's about you finding this ring when you were a cub, and-"
"What's a ring?" Nala asked, interrupting the meerkat. Timon sighed.
"Wait just a second, Nala." He said flatly, sounding almost bored in a way. Turning around, he quickly opened up a new page on the laptop screen, typed in something, and showed him new image results he had pulled up. Instead of any of them, the pictures this time depicted what looked like a plain golden ring with strange, often glowing writing inscribed on it. Some of the pictures showed said ring on a chain of some sort, while others depicted it alongside what looked like a fiery eye.
"Basically, this is what the ring for this story looks like. This one, at least, is the one Simba's got."
Pumbaa added innocently, "It's something that humans wear around their fingers."
The six lions nodded, seeming to, for the most part, get the concept. Snickering, Timon said to them now, "Okay then, let's start this."
As he leaned in closer to read, he whispered to himself with a soft sigh, "God help us all if we actually get to the end of this beast."
When he began, he tried his best to read in a dramatic tone to create the mood he wanted. But being Timon, he didn't exactly succed in that. His tone came off as more melodramatic than serious, which got a few soft laughs from the others.
The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.
"Sorry, that might've just been me." Said Pumbaa suddenly. This earned a few disgusted looks and some soft, displeased murmurs from the others in the span of a few seconds. Timon said in as friendly of a tone as possible, "No, no, no. Trust me Pumbaa, if it were you... we'd all be dead."
The warthog nodded. "Oh... right."
Much that once was is lost. For none now live who remember it.
It began with the forging of the great rings. Three were given to the elves; immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings.
"They're part of that fantasy world we're in for this, right?" Nala asked. Timon nodded.
Seven to the dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine... nine rings were gifted to the race of men, who above all else, desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and will to govern each race.
But they were all of them deceived... for another ring was made.
In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the dark lord Sauron forged in secret, a master ring, to control all others. And into this ring, he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life.
One ring to rule them all.
"So this Sauron guy is in charge of a bunch of rings... thrilling." Vitani said flatly while rolling her eyes, sounding rather unimpressed by the premise so far. Timon looked back to her and said in response, "Oh trust me, Vitani, this ring ain't you everyday wedding ring... at least I think it's not."
One by one, the free lands of Middle Earth fell to the power of the ring. But there were some... who resisted. A last alliance of men and elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle Earth.
Victory was near. But the power of the ring... could not be undone.
It was in this moment, when all hope had faded that Isildor, son of the king took up his father's sword. Sauron, the enemy of the free peoples of Middle Earth, was defeated.
"Well that didn't take long, did it?" Kiara joked. "They build up Sauron to be some sort of dark lord and they kill him in thirty seconds?"
Hearing her comment, Kopa said to his sister, "Guess that means this'll be one short story."
Timon said softly, "God I wish."
The ring passed to Isildor, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever. But the hearts of men... are easily corrupted. And the ring of power has a will of its own. It betrayed Isildor to his death. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.
History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.
"Oh yeah, because something that almost destroyed the world is totally something everyone would just forget about, right?" Kopa snickered.
Until, when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer. The ring came to the creature Gollum, who took it deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains. And there, it consumed him.
The ring brought to Gollum unnatural long life. For 500 years it poisoned his mind, and in the gloom of Gollum's cave, it waited. Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the east, whispers of a nameless fear. And the ring of power percieved... it's time had now come. It abandoned Gollum.
With a bored tone apparent in her voice, Vitani interrupted, "Alright, Timon? T-this is fine and all, but just one question- what the hell does any of this have to do with us?"
Kopa nodded. "Yeah, so far they haven't even mentioned lions or the Pride Lands!"
Timon ignored them as he finished the story's prologue, continuing with the overly-dramatic voice that was failing epically in creating any kind of suspense.
But something happened then the ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable... a young lion, prince Simba of the Pride Lands. For the time will soon come when lions will shape the fortunes of all...
The meerkat paused. Turning around to face the others, he said, "Well that's the prologue, anyway. What do you say so far?"
Simba took a moment to think before replying, "Well... it wasn't enough. I'd need to hear more."
Most of the others nodded, with Kovu saying "Yeah, keep going."
With that, Timon clicked to the story's next chapter and began the real story.
The Pride Lands.
Besides the Shire, it was the most beautiful and peaceful of all the kingdoms of Middle Earth. There were no hobbits, no elves, no dwarves, and no men to try and take control. Instead, there lived a strange race of creatures known as lions. With a monarchy, they lived in a mountainous form in the center of their lands that they had dubbed Pride Rock, an impressively monumental structure that had been around longer than the great rings themselves. The view from the ledge that extended from the main structure was breathtaking, even for its inhabitants. The lands that they ruled were overwhelmingly majestic, to say the least. It had things like spacious fields of savannah grass that would softly shift around with the gentle breeze, vast plains with many types of animals found nowhere else in Middle Earth, like elephants, gazelles, and zebras just to name a few. They were the commoners; the royal subjects in the kingship that the lions had managed for so many generations now.
"Uh, yeah, we live here. I think we know what the place is like." sneered Kopa.
In addition, there were small groups of unique trees and plants, and clear, cool rivers and lakes that were so pure, they would share the look of glimmering crystals in the sunlight. And the Pride Lands also had the privilege of having some of the most beautiful and exalted sunrises that took place every morning, directly ahead of Pride Rock. They were so elegant and breathtaking, they were legendary throughout most of Middle Earth. At night, the stars, or the great kings of the past as they called them, were so clear and bright that even Sauron himself would've been impressed. The lands the lions and the other animals shared didn't have any of the structural settlements of The Shire, none of the smoke and trenches of Isengard, and certainly not the fires and gloom of Mordor. It was an absolute paradise for the lions and its commoners. And it wasn't just them who knew that. The pride Lands were fairly well known throughout Middle Earth for these very things, among others. Like the myth of Sauron and the ring, the Pride Lands were a legend all of its own.
"Good God, just get on with the story already!" Nala said, rubbing her eyes with her paw. "They're taking way too long to describe the place, we know what's here!"
But as peaceful and ravishing as the lands may have been, life was not always like that there. Throughout the years, many great legends and stories of death, mental struggle, great battles, and sheer brutality had emerged from the Pride Lands and the lions that inhabited them. Just a small handful of the legends to emerge in recent memory were the two brothers Mufasa and Scar, the redemption of Simba's past, the survival of Kopa, son of Simba, and the lovers Kiara and Kovu. Each end every one of them were among the many great stories that had spread throughout the lands over the years, and they all continued to inspire the inhabitants of the world as well.
But while all of these had proven to be great challenges, both physically and mentally for the race of lions, none of them could ever hope to compare to what was going to happen to them in the days to come.
"About freaking time!" said Kovu, sounding borderline bored.
The sun was only minutes away from rising. While the darkness of night in the Pride Lands was beginning to lift, it would be a short while before the sun would transform its cloudless skies into day. In the cave of Pride Rock was the pride members, who not a year ago had been brutally divided in bloody war, now all peacefully sleeping amongst one another, their gentle breathing never stirring in even the slightest. Simba, who was the king of these lands, was also fast asleep.
Simba, in a lot of ways, resembled his father, Mufasa; He had golden toned fur that shared the color of the most valuable precious metals in Middle Earth. His deep yellow eyes with red pupils were also distinctive of Mufasa. His soft mane, while also still retaining its dynamic red color, had slightly faded over the years, with his age now beginning to get to him. He could still hunt and protect the ones he loved just fine still, but the signs were only now beginning to show that his life would only last a few years more.
"And they're still going on with this!" Simba complained.
"Are they really taking this long to describe everything?" Kiara asked, sounding and looking annoyed. She turned to Kovu.
"This is going to be a long fanfic." She said to him.
King Simba slowly began to stir in his sleep. He rustled in his spot for a moment until his eyes peacefully opened, seeing the world around him for another day as he looked out to the sky. Even though he had seen it so many times before, it never got any less amazing, especially at this time of the morning. He yawned before he stood up, taking notice that he was up before any of the other pride landers. He looked around him. To his left was his beautiful mate, Nala, still sleeping peacefully. She once had a deeper shade of light, creamy colored fur, but in the time between having cubs, it had grown to a much lighter shade, though not to the extent where one would mistake it for white fur.
"Why the hell would anyone assume that?" Simba questioned. "Your fur doesn't look white at all!"
Nala nodded in agreement.
Though she was still one of the top notch hunters in the pride, signs of her age were beginning to peak as well. Here eyes were of the deepest tone of blue, like one of the vast oceans many lands away. To Simba, Nala was the most gorgeous thing in the world to him. The sight of her never got tiring for him even after all these years. It was a love that was truly meant to last for the ages.
Next to her was their daughter, Kiara, and their son-in-law Kovu sleeping beside one another. Kiara had a rather mild golden, almost orange tinted fur tone with a still lighter shade on her stomach and underside, with red eyes much like her father, and in physical form, she much resembled her mother.
As Timon read this off, all of the others began to groan in annoyance and impatience.
"They are taking way too long with this, can we just get on with the damn story?!" Kiara said a bit loudly. The others nodded in agreement. Timon sighed.
Her loving mate, Kovu, was once an outlander, an enemy of the pride. But through a number of hardships and both physical and mental battles, Kovu and his pride had been accepted by Simba and the others as one of their own. His fur was a strange mixture of brown with just the faintest hint of purple. His mane was much darker; closer to black mixed with dark brown, though much closer to black. His fur tone, like Kiara's, was much lighter on his stomach and underside, and also extending up to his mouth and snout area. His eyes were vibrant emerald green, and over his left eye was what remained of the loathsome scar that his own mother had given him long ago, after the death of his brother. But much to Kovu's relief, it was now fading away like it was expected to, erasing any connections he could've once had with Scar.
"It never had any to begin with!" the real Kovu protested.
If Simba and Nala's love was one for the ages, theirs was one for the eons. It was one of the greatest known romances to emerge from Middle Earth in recent memory. Both were willing to put each others' lives in front of their own if they ever had to, Kovu had taught Kiara how to hunt like an expert in a matter of weeks when they first got together, and they both desired things like freedom, independence from rules and limitations, and the desire to get the most out of life. And sometimes, that would happen by watching others lives as well. Months earlier, Kiara had given birth to two cubs, Sayari and Amani, who were currently curled up by their mother's side, in between her and Kovu. The sight of this made Simba smile.
Suddenly, Timon himself stopped reading, and curiously faced Kiara and Kovu.
"Hey you know, this actually brings up a good point... why haven't you two had a cub yet?"
Kiara blushed while Kovu softly placed his head on her neck, ruffling her fur comfortably. "Well... we've wanted to for a while now." Kovu said awkwardly. "But uh... we wanted to get Simba's permission first."
"And I'm guessing that didn't go over too well with him?" Timon questioned, although he already knew the answer.
"Just be glad you weren't here to see it, Timon." Kiara replied.
Simba defensively cut in, "I thought you were already pregnant when you asked, Kiara! That was why I... uh... did what I did, I thought you deliberately didn't ask until I had no choice!"
The king opened his mouth to say something else, but Timon interrupted before he could. "So... what would you say if they asked again, Simba?" he asked playfully.
Simba tried to say something, but he made what almost sounded like a gagging sound as he blushed, turning to Nala. He said softly and cowardly to her, "Nala, help me here."
The queen simply chuckled, looking over to Kiara and Kovu rather happily. "Mind your father, Kiara." She said. "If you two want to have your own cubs, you have my consent at least. I would love to see the little ones around here again."
Simba groaned before saying to them now, "Yeah, but... I'd have to think about it."
He then turned to Kopa and Vitani. "You two don't really have a choice at this point. Kopa, I need to talk to you when we finish this story."
"Crap, he remembered!" Vitani whispered to her mate, blushing vibrantly.
Timon watched this conversation end, feeling just as awkward as everyone else. Softly, he said to himself, "You know with the amount of times Kiara and Kovu have probably screwed by now, I'm actually kind of shocked it hasn't happened yet."
"You don't know the half of it, Timon." Kovu said to him slyly with a smirk, having heard his comment. The meerkat nearly jumped out of his skin when he said this, but then turned to him with a bit of a disgusted look. In that moment he hoped to God that Kovu and Kiara didn't have as many erotic moments as Kovu was implying. Had he asked him about it, he would've found out that in fact they didn't have sex as much as he thought. They did it far more often than he assumed, actually.
"Yeah, let's just keep it that way... ya horny lions."
That last part he said under his breath.
Then he turned to his right to find his son, Kopa, and his mate Vitani breathing slowly and softly. Their firstborn, Akarudi was sleeping on his father's back close to his neck while his sister, Kijani, was calmly laying against her mother's side.
Vitani leaned her body against Kopa's side, sighing calmly. She said to him, "Akarudi and Kijani... those are nice names."
Kopa nodded. "Yeah... I like those, actually. Maybe we just found ourselves some names for them once they're born, Vitani." He said sincerely. Vitani purred comfortably into his soft, brown mane.
Kopa fairly resembled his father, a trait that almost seemed to run in the family. He had bright, golden fur but with a mostly brown mane, and had red eyes, though if you looked closely, you could just make out a faint hint of purple in them, most obviously coming from Nala's side of his heritage mixing with Simba's. And for the most part, this was not noticed by anyone except for his loving mate, Vitani, who would often get lost in his eyes just at the sight of him.
"I still do." Vitani commented romantically to her mate, prompting Kopa to nuzzle her affectionately.
Vitani, like her brother Kovu, was once an outlander with loyalty for Zira (and therefore Scar), but through the same events that let to Kovu's redemption, it in turn led to Vitani's. While she was an outlander, her fur was a quite faded tone of beige, and was always scruffy looking to the point where it could've been mistaken for a tint of grey.
"Uhh, not really." Kiara cut in. "Her fur was always brighter than that, she never looked grey to me."
Though once she joined the pride landers, this had improved very nicely, finally having the proper care she had needed all her life. The tone of beige was now more vibrant and not at all grey looking anymore. Her eyes were a solid shade of blue, and unlike most other lionesses, she seemed to have a distinct tuft of fur on her head, though not even nearly large enough to be mistaken for a mane of any kind. Along with that and some freckles on her cheeks, she was a very unique and rather strikingly beautiful lioness, and was one of the best hunters in the pride. If there was anyone she was most certainly sublime and dazzling to, it was no doubt at all, her mate.
During their childhood, Kopa and Vitani were perhaps the very definition of inseparable.
"Oh my God, they're not really going to explain everything about our childhood, are they?" Vitani complained.
They would do everything together, play games with each other, exchange playful conversations, thoughts and ideas; but above all, it was love that binded them. In spite of constant teasing and being made fun of by their friends at the time, the two young cubs were mutually in love. They would openly admit it to their friends,
"Weren'twe the only cubs in the Pride Lands back then?" Vitani questioned. Kopa looked at her and shrugged.
"Not unless you'd count Nuka, I guess."
not feeling ashamed or embarrassed for even a moment. They enjoyed each others' company so much, that shortly after Nala had become pregnant with Kiara, Simba betrothed the two of them, a decision that overjoyed them to just about no end.
Kopa groaned in annoyance. "Dammit, they're really going for this! It's like this guy wrote this for people who've never heard of us or something!"
However, Vitani's mother, Zira, was possibly the polar opposite of the two of them;
"Understatement of the freaking century!" the real Kopa said in a tone that made it clear he wasn't in the mood to hear about Zira.
She despised the idea of them ever being together, and hated Kopa with every bone in her body, being the son of who she thought was Scar's killer. She had even occasionally abused her daughter with no remorse just for being in love with him, but this did nothing to stop it. If anything, it even strengthened it slightly, since Vitani was quite rebellious and headstrong towards her at that age.
"Hey wait a second here!" Kopa suddenly called out. "Timon, didn't you say that in those movies off of us they didn't show me?"
The meerkat nodded. "So how did they know about all this?!"
Timon just shrugged. "The hell if I know, kid."
So when Simba had betrothed the two of them, something in Zira's mind had snapped; her sanity had crumbled at that very moment, and in a fit of rage, she attacked Kopa and tried as best as she could to brutally murder him. She slashed at him with her claws, crushed him with her teeth and jaws, and even left blood stains on Pride Rock that were still faintly visible even to this day. He was nearly killed.
As Timon read this off, Kopa and Vitani's playful expressions had changed to that of rather solemn and sad, for this part was going into far more detail than he would've wished.
Zira had tossed his bloody body off of a cliff and into a river at the bottom, devastating not just all of the Pride Lands, but parts of Middle Earth included, who had come to know Kopa through stories of his father. Zira and her pride had been exiled, but this only tensed the situation even more.
A single tear ran down Vitani's eye, having remembering such painful memories about Kopa and how she had watched him fall over the cliffside that day, plus the abuse she and her siblings had to endure most of her life.
However, sometime after her death and Kiara and Kovu had become one, what the two of them had once hoped for was true in many more ways than they thought it would: love had found a way. Through self developed survival and hunting skills, Kopa had been able to endure the ordeal that Zira put him through, but lost his memory in the process. Luckilly, he regained it one day and set out for the Pride Lands as soon as he did. He returned alive and well. Vitani, overjoyed that her only love in life was alive, became his mate some time after that, and together they had raised a boy and a girl, who would both be heirs to the throne once Kopa takes over.
Kopa looked at Vitani. "Sure hope these cubs aren't too big of a handful." He said. Whether he was talking about the ones in the story or the real ones, even he didn't know.
Simba sighed happily. His family was complete. He had a loving mate, two beautiful children, their own mates, and his grandcubs. And on top of that, it wouldn't be long before his son would take the throne and become king. But still, Simba couldn't help but feel that something was wrong; like something horrific was going to happen.
"Oh gee, I wonder if the ring is going to have to do with that." Kiara said sarcastically, mocking the story's apparent lack of subtlety.
It bothered him to quite an extent. He didn't have any reason to feel this, nothing had happened recently, at least not in the Pride Lands, so why was he feeling this way? He looked out to the sky. He still had a minute before the sun would rise and wake everyone else up. He took this opportunity to carefully walk past the pride and to the very back of Pride Rock's den. He looked behind him to be sure that no one was watching him. They weren't. So Simba pushed aside a few rocks as quietly as he could, and brushed away some gravel. Once he did that, it was in clear view; the thing he had kept for his entire life without another soul knowing, not even Nala.
The One Ring.
"Okay, now I have to ask... even if I knew what a ring looked like when I was a cub, why would I keep it for so long?" Simba asked confusedly. "I wouldn't have a need for it."
Nala then said to him, "Unless maybe you were saving it for me."
Simba blushed sheepishly. "But... this story says I had it when I was a kid. You'd think I would've at least told someone about it by now! And besides, I didn't say I had those feelings for you when we were cubs... at least not out loud, anyway."
Nala chuckled. "Even then, I loved you too, Simba." She said soothingly.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't love you too back then, Nala."
Kovu groaned in annoyance seeing his parents-in-law act like this near him.
"The sooner we get through this, the sooner those two can get a room." he muttered to himself
Simba looked upon the shimmering, golden ring with wonder mixed beside a hint of fear. He had know this ring for his entire life, and yet he didn't know why. Why did he find the ring? Why did it come to him? What was he meant to do with it? It was all a blur in his head. He wondered if he should take it to Rivendell and see if Elrond knew anything about it. After all, elves were the wisest of all beings in Middle Earth, but Simba pushed that thought aside. Quietly, he picked up the ring with his claws and stared at it against the sky. It was featureless,
"Now wait a minute." Said Kiara. "Didn't Timon say that the ring had some sort of writing on it?"
Kovu nodded. "That's what those pictures showed, anyway."
Timon took a deep breath before saying to them, "Just hang on, guys, it'll be explained later on."
but Simba could've sworn that, for the briefest moment, he could see an elvish inscription on it. He put it down closer to the ground and continued to examine and think about it. Curiously, it occurred to the king that he had never actually worn the ring since he found it so many years ago.
"So you keep a ring with you ever since childhood, and it never occurs to you to, I don't know, put it on at any point, dad?" Kopa cut in. Simba gave him a dirty look for a second. "What reason would I have to wear a ring, Kopa?"
The prince shrugged. Then, Pumbaa said to them both, "Oh don't worry, Simba. This ring can do a lot of things you couldn't even imagine."
Yeah, unless it can turn me invisible or something, I'm not buyin' it the king thought to himself. Simba gave him an uninterested look before returning his attention back to the laptop screen.
He wanted to put it on, but something inside of him told him not to, as if it was coming from the spirit of Mufasa himself. But as they saying goes, curiosity killed the cat.
With caution, Simba was about to use his claws to put the ring on one of the separations on his paws.
"You can tell they were trying everything they could not to say 'fingers.'" Kiara commented, earning a few snickers from those around her.
"Would it even be possible to put a ring on a paw like that?" Kovu questioned.
It drew closer... closer to slipping on.
"Alright, you can cut it with the dramatic voice, Timon." Kovu suddenly said, sounding irritated. "You're annoying the hell out of us now."
Timon grunted annoyingly while rolling his eyes.
But just before the ring could make contact with anything, he heard a soft rustling sound from behind him. He quickly put the ring back down and covered it up with the rocks and gravel just as hit mate Nala was waking up. She took no notice of the rocks and the soft sounds they made. She slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes, only to see that Simba wasn't next to her like usual. She looked around for a second until she spotted him at the back of the den. She looked confused.
"Simba? What're you doing up so early?", she asked. Simba didn't know what to say at first.
"I... I couldn't get back to sleep. I had a rough dream."
Nala was curious to know about that. "What was it about?"
"Well that was a bit redundant." Commented Nala.
Before Simba could reply, he and Nala both looked over to see that Sayari was beginning to wake up. The young prince yawned, stretched, and got up on all four legs. He looked up and saw that Simba and Nala were up.
"Good morning grandma and grandpa", he said cheerfully. They both smiled at him.
"Good morning, Sayari", replied Nala. Sayari then walked over to his brother Amani to try and get him up as well.
"Hey Amani, wake up!", he whispered. He got no response as Amani continued to breathe softly. He always was a heavy sleeper.
Nala rested her head on Simba's mane comfortably, purring calmly as she did.
"Listen to that, Simba. Wouldn't it be nice to have cubs around here for us to see one more time? It'd be just like when we had Kopa and Kiara."
Simba replied, "Yeah. Just without the, you know, attempted murder and psychotic killers stalking them twenty-four/seven."
Within a minute, the rest of the pride began to wake up as well. Kopa was the last one to do so, and he only got up because Kijani had to tug on his ear. In many ways, Kopa reminded Simba of Mufasa; often having to rely on his cubs to get him up in the morning. It almost felt like a form of deja vu to him.
The real Simba laughed at this part, while Kopa just gave out an annoyed groan. "Funny how you're really going to have cubs when we're reading this." He said, taking a moment to pause now. "Trust me, son... you'd be lucky if this is what they're really like."
He watched as the four cubs all got together and went outside the den, with their parents looking upon them with happiness. They were always energetic enough to want to play right as the day started. Simba could relate.
"Right back at you, dad." Kopa sneered.
But as he watched the day begin, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. He didn't know what, but something. This was nothing new, as he had this feeling once before in the days predating Zira's attack on Kopa so long ago. But this was different. The reason being is that he felt that whatever was going to occur was, somehow, going to have to do with that ring...
Timon stopped for a bit to catch his breath and give his mouth a rest. He turned around and looked at everyone else, each of them looking interested in different ways.
"So, how is it so far?"
Simba was the first to respond. "Well... it's taking too long to describe everything, we already know most of the stuff from the Pride Lands."
Nala nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and... to be honest, that prologue didn't make much sense. How are the Pride Lands in Middle Earth? I don't get that, this is Africa."
Timon shook his head. "Look Nala, whoever wrote this sort of just took this place and put them in this fantasy world. The sooner you can see that, the sooner you can see the plot."
"I guess I like it so far." Kiara said after a moment of silence. "I want to see what that ring can do."
Kovu seemed to agree. "Yeah, I want to know what's so important about it three thousand years after its creator was killed."
Timon snickered. "Trust me, kid, you won't be disappointed in that department."
Kopa spoke up now. "I want to hear more about the cubs, if you ask me."
Timon replied, "Yeah, figures you two would want to know more about them."
Suddenly Kovu elbowed him in the side, making him grunt in pain for a second. He rubbed his side. "Geeze kid, watch it there!"
Kovu snickered. "Well then, go to the next chapter, Timon! I want to see where this goes... that is, as long as they don't take all night describing the grass or something!"
The meerkat replied, "Don't worry about that kid, they won't do that. They'll take all night describing everything else with the story."
Timon turned back around and clicked to the next chapter of the story. As he did, Kovu thought to himself, I sure hope that ring can get Timon a new brain. He could probably use one of those right now.
Author's Note: This chapter has been somewhat of a risky experiment for me, by instead of using someone else's fanfic to satirize, I'm messing with one of my own. Now don't worry, I won't have them praise this story just to stroke my ego. In fact, I'm planning on doing just the opposite, but I don't wish to give anything away just yet. And also to calm any potential fears, I will be going back to requests after the next chapter. I figured if I can take a few stabs at other stories, why not take a stab at myself too?
Like I said, this has been an experiment for me. Let me know in the reviews if it's working!