The Lion King: Of Lions and Man
By Hunter1231
Hey guys, this is officially my very first fanfiction, so any advice, suggestions or recommendations are highly appreciated.
Disclaimer: I only own Connor and other OCs. The Lion King and all of its characters are property of Disney.
Update 7/4/2016: Fixed chapter 1 and 2 to match the rest of the story in regards to reading experience. Also, happy 4th of July
Chapter 1: How it all begins
Fate can be an odd thing at times; you never know when it will throw a curveball at you and turn your life upside down. Kind of like what has happened to me in my life lately, and yet I am still unsure if fate's hand for me was either a burden, or a blessing. My name is Connor Geigns, I'm sixteen years old, six feet tall with short brown hair, and an average build, and this is my story.
I used to be like every other teenager on Earth. I had two loving parents, Trevor and Marie, my fun little brother Trevor Junior, or TJ as we would call him, at the age of twelve, and on a personal level, a love for animals. From large African Elephants, to tiny pet mice, animals were my passion, and as luck would have it, my father owned a local animal hospital, Geigns Animal Care. Every day after school, I would ride my bike over to the Animal hospital to watch my dad work, and every now and then, learn a thing or two about animal care. He would let me watch him perform basic examinations on pets like cats and dogs, and would even let me take some of the dogs outside for walks and play time.
So while it's true that I loved all animals, there was only one creature on our planet that I considered my favorite: the African Lion. Every time my parents took TJ and me to the zoo, I would always find the quickest way to the lion exhibit to see them in all of their glory. For me, it wasn't just how they looked or how they roared, but the way they represented a sense of nobility, honor, and pride. It was traits like these that drew me to these amazing and majestic big cats of the wild. This is also what led to the biggest surprise of my life, when my parents presented me with four passes to a big cat sanctuary in South Africa, on my birthday no less.
When we finally reached Africa, I was immediately enthralled by numerous new sights, sounds and smells of this foreign continent…at least that was the case once the jet lag wore off. As we drove towards the sanctuary via a local bus, I was in awe at the sight of the vast savannah before me. It was truly amazing how detached it was from the civilized world, letting its natural beauty encompass the landscape. This truly was the best birthday present ever.
After arriving at the sanctuary around noon, we immediately started to get settled in.
"This…is…AWESOME!" I could barely contain my excitement as we made our way towards the main building, yet my sights were set on what was connected to it: the numerous outside enclosures, each one containing at least 3 lions, if not more, within them. Immediately I rushed over to the fences to get a closer look.
"Now Connor, don't get too close! We don't know how they'll react to new faces!" my dad called to me from the main pathway. His worry was understandable, but sometimes I thought he worried a bit too much.
"I'll be fine dad! It's not like I'm going to stick my fingers through the fencing or anything!" I called back to him as I finally reached the fence, and to my delight, one of the lionesses was already making her way over to where I was. "Wow..." I knelt down so we could see eye to eye, and boy were those eyes deep.
It was like they could see right into the soul.
"Hey there big girl. It's nice to meet you." As I said this, the lioness proceeded to press the side of her head against the fence, as if inviting me to feel that soft fur for the very first time.
"CONNOR! WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?" And like that, I was busted by my old man as I quickly pulled my hand away.
"Sorry dad! Sorry girl." I stood back up, the lioness watching my every move. "Maybe next time." With that, I rushed back over to my family, receiving a light scolding from my father.
In the weeks that followed, I got to experience all sorts of new things. For one, I got to help feed the lions by tossing huge slabs of meat over the fence and right into the compound. It amazed me how fast the lions were as they went right for the meat with incredible speed; a good enough reason to not try and outrun a lion. There were also downsides to our visit, such as the intense heat, and picking up droppings from empty enclosures. I had never smelled anything so foul in my whole life. But the real highlight of my visit was my occasional visit with the lioness I met when I first arrived. I eventually discovered that her name is Maua, which was Swahili for flower, which I found fitting, because I truly thought she was quite the beautiful creature.
"Hey Maua!" I called out to the lioness as I made my way over to her enclosure, a sandwich in one hand and a bottle in the other, and as I expected, she immediately made her way over to my side of the enclosure and rubbed her head along the fencing, as if it were her way of greeting me.
"How are you today girl?" I asked her as I took a seat in front of the enclosure and took a bite from my sandwich. I knew she probably couldn't understand me, but that didn't matter much to me. The fact that she would come over and acknowledge my presence was enough to make my day. "Sure is hot today huh?" I proceeded to drink from my water bottle as I asked the question, seeing that she was now lying down and panting slightly.
"Well, at least we can still enjoy each other's company huh?" I smiled as she pressed her head against the fencing in response, and being one to seize an opportunity, I reached over and placed my hand against the steel mesh, feeling her soft yet dirty fur against my palm. I found out that Maua was raised by the caretakers of the sanctuary, so she was used to interacting with people on a daily basis, which made spending time with her that much more worthwhile.
"You certainly enjoy being around her, don't you?" Hearing the familiar, comforting voice from behind, I turn around to see my mom walking up to me, wearing a smile that could warm anyone's heart.
"Hey mom. What can I say?" I return my gaze towards Maua. "There's something about her that's just so…majestic, ya know?"
"Well, I can certainly agree on the majestic part, honey." She proceeded to take a seat next to me. "But you still have to remember that she is a wild and dangerous animal, and you must always be careful around her." It's times like this when I truly admire my mother. Even with her kind heart, she still knew when to give good advice. Even if at times I would take it for granted.
"I know mom. You're not the first person to warn me about the lions." Case in point when I responded with a roll of my eyes and a smirk.
"All part of being your mother sweetheart." She returned the smirk with one of her own as she reached over and ruffled my hair.
"I hope you don't plan on spending the whole day here." I looked back once more to see my dad and TJ making their way over to us. "Because we have something special planned for this evening." That instantly got my attention as I stood up to face my dad.
"Special how?" I asked, which led him to grin in a sly manner. "We are going to go on a safari trip to see if we can find ourselves some animals out in the wild.
It felt as though my eyes would pop out of their sockets I was so surprised.
"Are you serious dad!?" I asked, practically fidgeting in my own sneakers, and he simply replied with a nod, which in turn made me whoop and jump with joy.
"Whohoa, settle down there big guy." My dad chuckled as he calmed me down. "We still need to prepare for the trip. Just so you all know: we are going to be out in the savannah for about four days, so make sure you pack accordingly." He spoke in a factual tone, leaving my mom to smirk and join him at his side.
"You're lucky I love camping Trevor." She said, making my dad nudge her lightly and me giggle a bit before quickly heading back to my room so I could get ready. Even with my anticipation for this trip, nothing could've prepared me for the events that would transpire that day, and how they would change my life forever.
A/N: Hey guys, Hunter1231 here. As you may have noticed, my first version of "Of Lions and Man" was deleted. The reason for that was because I tried to use the story maker on the app...It did not end well for me; tons of bugs in it and plenty of grammatical errors that were made NOT on my behalf. So I'm hoping with this revamped first chapter, I can really get the ball rolling on my story. Remember to leave a review, advice is optional, and I will try to get back on track on the second chapter.