Chapter 23

Disclaimer: See Prologue and Chapter 1.

Air

Harsh Winds

Uru's POV

They say that old friends can sweeten the blow but I don't want him. I am killing power and I don't need him, but I want him back in my life. Uru! snap out of it! You need your angle, your king, not someone too afraid that your accomplishments will outshine his.

"You better leave now before I become my old self." I growled lowly eyes narrowing as I remembered those cold times in my life where not even the comfort of friends could find my warm center. The times… of the Black Swan.

"Funny what life blows our way, isn't it Uru?" He said and I could swear his bloody beak stretched into an oddly creepy smirk. How in the name of the Kings can a bird have a wide smile?!

"I could've sworn I didn't make the winds blow you towards me. I like my males a little bigger. My breakfast more so." I chided him.

"You need darkness in your life to see the light, but I was always invisible." He said deviously before he shot a blast of wind to my face.

"Hardly invisible." I snickered thinking back to our last meeting. "I still have the scars on my shoulder from where your talons kept gripping me all the time." I was tempted to retaliate but I didn't dare cut loose with Simba so close. I eyed him levelly and instead of using my claws I used a low roar and blew him further away from my grandson.

I narrowed my eyes when I got closer seeing him brushing the wind away from with a fake look of disgust. "Don't say it bird."

"Pretty shitty roar. That what you've been teaching your grandson you're so casually moving me away from?" He smirked as I unsheathed a claw and moved it gently sending a razor sharp blade of air in his direction that knocked the wind out of him. He then smirked and stood back up in defiance.

"Then again what can one expect from a lioness who looks like someone took a crap on her." My left eye twitched at that.

"Oh at least your almighty Fiery angel from above is here to protect you. Oh wait... He isn't." He snickered. "At Least had the sense to screw you silly first. Tell me do you have any shame left?".

I was about to stalk over there and smack him into the nearest boulder when I heard someone beating me to it from behind. Shit. "Simba get back here! This does not concern you."

My stubborn grandson though would not hear as he growled at the one bird he shouldn't. "Who are you? How dare you attack my grandmother?!"

"Simba, I was queen of the pridelands long before you were born and unless you want your brother to be next in line for the throne I suggest you go home."

"Be -" but he didn't get to finish when I gasped seeing the slight reddish glow of his mane arrow. Oh no not now!

"Simba wait!" But I was too late in my warning as his eyes glowed and my voice could no longer reach him as he faced Tufani with his red glowing eyes.

"Aww I guess you got the avatar again in your almighty tree. I always hated the idea of supreme rulers, but the thought back then you may be an exception. Oh well, it's time for everyone to look out for themselves." and with that he sent cobra fangs from my earlier snack

into my grandson's poor front legs. Simba then starts to levitate. "What is going on?"

"His Spiritual energy is keeping him alive from the venom but he won't be able to turn it off." It then hit me like a charging Rhino. He is going to try to end the avatar once and for all. I can't let that happen!

"Father, give me strength to finish this! Mother guide my fury!" I loosened all but the tip of my tail and did a fast 360 and chucked an almost bullet like burst of wind at his face. While it was still coming at him, I curved my tail and made the wind push him towards it while curling my unsheathed claws in the air and sending dozens of razor gales his way. The sky won't be safe for you now buzzard. After several of these blows, my first attack finally hit him square in his heartless little chest be tossed him into the dirt making a dust cloud pick up around him.

I readied myself for my decapitating blow when the sand and dust blew towards me and I was too late to evade my eye being torn up like a carcass by the jagged sand. "Curse you!" I swiped angrily at the dust for him before I clutched my eye. Instead of feeling a stinging sensation from touching a talon mark I felt nothing. If I were any other lioness I would've been panicking instead of noticing that I could still see my paw. I know he didn't hit me that bad. It was dripping a few drops of blood from what I could see but hardly anything lethal.

I then lifted my nose to the air despite not wanting to smell his filthy self and tried to locate him. I growled as I smelt him by the acacias but knowing him.

"Not this time traitor." I headed towards the rocks where I smelt the true scent pouring from and breathed deep roaring an ear splitting roar that made the rocks break into pieces. It should be over now. I panted and started heading back to my grandson.

"Uru!" Appa shouted jumping into the air.

Hearing Appa's shout, I turned before feeling the cutting into my flesh and roared in pain but somehow I found the strength to keep myself up. Though I was struggling for I could hear my own legs shaking from the effort. I looked up slowly so as not to open my wounds. I glared seeing the figure of Tufani flapping his wings and with the same annoying smug smile on his beaked mug. "H-how?"

"I told you years ago when we were still friends. You and I are like birds of a feather." He said pulling out one of said feathers on his body and it hit me.

"That was the source…" I said as my vision blurred and the last thing I saw was that vulture of a creature swooping down for my treasure, my Simba.

Tufani's POV

"Oh so satisfying it is to see you eating dirt my dear." I said as I looked past my golden beak and constantly flapping black wings to see my former friend beaten. "But don't worry." I said as I started working the winds. " I won't kill you. But I will take what matters." I said as I noticed the young Prince's paws twitching. Damn Mufasa's got a strong boy.

"Grandma…" The young waste of bending talent said between the avatar states glow fading in and out.

I slowly descended down. "You can't save your little Avatar." I whispered to Uru then turn my gaze to my true target. "Just like you couldn't stop your brother from getting burnt." The sound of burning flames filled his ears at my direction just as the smell of my burnt feathers could reach his nose. Chuckling as his unstable body shook from fear.

"No…. I- I tried." The runt said shedding a tear.

"But you failed cause you're weak." Floating just over his head letting my voice slowly reach him through my control of the sound waves.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because no one bender should be more powerful than the rest." I floated three of my feathers off my back and began spinning them at a rapid speed over where his heart was. "Relax boy, soon your pain will be over." I spun them faster and faster and thrust forward only for him to be blown aside from an annoyance.

"Leave him alone, hyena of the skies." I twitched at hearing such a deep voice call me such a demeaning nickname.

"Careful Fatass." I narrowed my green piercing eyes. "Or the winds will be filled with overweight piles of fur." The bison stayed quiet watching my wings lazily. "Hard to believe you're the best airbender in the Pride Lands." He lifted a wing only to be blown away by an unexpected gust of wind from nowhere.

"I'm sorry were you saying something?" Appa, I think his name was created while yawning. Am I not a threat to him?!

"That was a mistake." As the wind flowed over my age old burnt wings, I began swooping towards him after carefully shrouding my scent and sound around me with my obvious superior mastery of the air. A beast of the land does not belong in the sky.

The enormous took one step after I had already circled around him aimed for his neck when a hurricane level gale hit me unawares in the face and I hit the ground with a grunt. "Oh there you are. Wondering when you were going to get close enough to fight." He said moving his paws back and forth in a manner similar to…. stretching?! By the ancestors of the sky, why is he able to do what I do so effortlessly? He's hardly swifter or more skilled than I.

"A fools luck runs out eventually." I said ripping from the ground and taking to the air once more but my action of scraping the ground with my talon gales in different directions left a tornado in my wake as I headed higher up to watch him panic from my sneak attack.

I shuddered with accomplishment as the swirling vortex filled with debris from our homeland surrounded this would great bender. Branches and bones from all around this area whipped around him with slicing power and crushing speed. I heard fur rip and flesh tear but to my ears it was my favorite music, the symphony of pain.

"Farewell, last descendant of fools." My eyes followed the remaining bits of green and laid my eyes on a form of gold and red instead of brown. My former friend is no longer a threat to me. And now neither will the avatar. I eyes the flickering growing shorter in distance between each other as his avatar state was beginning to drop after circulating the venom. "Time to end this." Almost like following my own orders I swooped down before I gasped at being met by a white bushy tail that hurled me back up.

"That's far enough." Oh spare me. Not him again. Seeing this pathetic bison talk-... Wait, how am I hearing him so high up in the sky?

"Ho-" my shock was apparent as I felt my beak fall slack as I saw this fat lump of fur and idiocy floating in the air as effortlessly as I. "No you can't be… the sky bison?"

"Fly away, hyena of the skies. Fly away back to the harsh winds that shroud you."

I glare looking down at the weak form of the avatar and cursed. "The day will come avatar when at last you'll be alone in the storm my eyes see everyday." My wings grasped the wind and I flew off to the very outskirts of the Pride Lands

Appa POV

Been many years since I last used my abilities. It feels good to sometimes cut loose. But right now somebody else needs me. I descend slowly till my paws felt the cold of the grass and curled around the two forms close to me.

"Simba?" I asked the weeping Prince.

The young lion was nuzzling his wounded grandmother before he started gnawing at the fangs still in his legs. "Kings be Damned!"

"He's not supposed to be able to beat me! I'm supposed to be the greatest bender in all the lands and yet I nearly ended up dead. What good am I if I can't handle a damn poisoned gang?! I should've done so when I was able."

"My prince you're…"

"And not just that." He sniffed. "How can I be a strong king? I can't kill a creature I eat and I'm expected to defend my entire lands from threats. He's right I'm…"

"Don't you finish that sentence. You are not weak in any sense of the word." His tears and avoiding gaze signaled me he didn't believe me. "Simba, your Great grandfather, Mohatu, the avatar preceding you was a powerful fighter and a respected King by his subjects. Do you know why?"

"He ended a long lasting drought and used his powers to defeat Kambili the Dark Ember. Everyone knows that."

Ignoring the attitude I shook my head. " that may be true but what's also true is that he did all of these things without killing anyone or letting anyone kill others. Even his great enemy Kambili he spared knowing he might seek vengeance again."

"And he was right he came back! Cause he made the wrong call and left others in harms way, like I always do."

"Yes, he did do that. But for the reason that he believed that Kambili wasn't completely unworthy of redemption. And he was both wrong with the lion but not his cub, your grandfather Ahadi." A smug grin came to my face as I saw surprise reach his face at his grandfathers heritage. I lifted his chin gently with my tail to look at me. "Simba, you are the descendant of two enemies. Inside you is the determination to right the wrongs of the darkness that your ancestor Kambili let loose and the power to get it done."

"But how?" He said shaking so much I could've sworn that he was earth bending a quake around his body if I didn't know how such bending felt. "I can't control my power."

"Then you must learn." I said with a reassuring voice. "And I know just the teacher."

Kula tucked her chin in as she prepared to roll down the hill without exaggerating her old injury. In the background she could hear a chuckle from off stage as she began her descent.

"Have a nice fall Princess." Kali chided as he watched from the buffet table gorging on some zebra legs.

As Kula rolled to a stop, she let out a loud cheer of success and accomplishment and then realized she ruined the take.

"CUT!" Tron sighed sitting in his directors chair. "Kula what was that? A cheer as you're landing? Did you even read the script?!" He looked behind him staring disapprovingly at the agent in charge of the lion.

"I know, but I am a slight klutz, this is an accomplishment." Kula replied in her typical warm voice.

"More like an embarrassment. I thought you were a professional?" Kali snickered.

"If it's so easy then you show me how it's done." She said as she walked to grab a zebra leg."

"I could do it 10 times better than you." Kali said smugly as he traded zebra for antelope. He then shoved Kula down the hill once she was back on her marker and spat out his meat and rolled after her. "That's how you roll down a hill." He said pinning her. "Pinned Ya"

"Haha, look at your fur, you have grass stains" she replied with a smirk, as she tried to move the weight of Kali, nearly twice as much as hers began to squash her. She grunted in frustration.

Kali grunted and climbed off her. "Please it's not like you don't crush poor Tojo when you're landing on him in your wrestling scenes. Seriously you should lay off the warthog before filming." He ran his paw through his fur and tried to get the stains out.

Tron whistled to them. "Ok you two that's enough let's get ready for our next three minute scene for Lion Avatar. And Kula please don't lick your makeup off again. I know it's tasty but it's not cost effective."

lionnessesqueen then proceeded to slap the back of Tron's head. "You know my client does not need any makeup to start with, just some fur gel to smooth the fly aways and she'll be fine. It's not like you're paying for her personal trainer." she said with a smirk, knowing it was herself.

"You know I could fire you for that? I'm talking about her Kyoshi Huntress makeup or did you hit your head with a weight when trying to get her fit enough to wear her costume?" He said smugly rubbing the back of his head but wincing feeling the pain left over.

"Then why did you put a mud mask on her before this scene?"

"I pay you to get her off the sweets and fatty meats not to question rehearsal and production decisions. God how did Nala-Nay ever deal with a Royal Pain such as you?"

"You know you need a lionesses opinion, and seeing I am the only one her used to being surrounded by lions, you'll have a hard time finding back up. Plus Nala-Nay and I are friends outside of work."

Tron crossed his arms pouting. "Alright fine you win."

"Thank you, but umm where is the rest of the cast?"

"Um well….they're currently on loan to Asante to finish up his work and Incarnate is trying to work on his sequel so all I have is Kula for the moment." Tron then coughed mumbling something under his breath.

I hope you enjoyed this little fun comedy bit between me and the famous beta reader who has made my stories possible. Come on and say a few words queenlionesses.

Hi there fellow pride members, please don't forgot to check out Tron's other story Tale of Two Kings 2, I promise it's a sequel worth reading. I know because I threatened to pull my fur out for it. Anyway have a lovely day and see the link to my page below. My vacation from writing is ending soon, Bye

u/4153576/queenlionesses