Private [DGF and OriginalLelis]

[DGFone]

Characters:

Simba: DGFone
Nala: OriginalLelis
Kopa: DGFone
Delano: DGFone
Awali: OriginalLelis
Others: TBD

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Kopa ran to the waterhole to meet his friend, Awali. His father Simba was busy with kingly duties, so Kopa was free for now. And what's better, Simba didn't bother sending neither Zazu nor Timon and Pumbaa with him. So as soon as Kopa can pick up Awali, the two of them can go off and do something fun.

As he neared the waterhole, Kopa spotted his friend lounging by the water's edge. Slowing down, Kopa went around some reeds so that he can sneak up on his friend. Lowering himself to the ground, he slowly approached Awali, hoping not to be spotted neither by his friend nor the others else-ware around the waterhole. Only a bit more before he can pounce before-

"What are you doing?"

Kopa sighed in defeat as the cub Delano blew his cover. "Hey Awali," he said as his friend turned to look at who Delano was talking to. Trying to regain his composure, Kopa grinned at his friend. "Come on, let's go do something!" he said excitedly, "I'm free for today, and dad isn't sending anyone to escort me!"

[Awali]

"What..?" Awali looked around, wondering where the voice came from, and spotted his best friend, Kopa. "Hey Kopa!" he said, running towards Kopa at full speed, skidding to a stop right before him.

"What's up? I was just about to come find you!" he exclaimed. "And hey, Delano." Awali didn't talk to Delano much, nor did he know him very well.

"Anything in particular you had in mind, Kopa?" Awali said, looking back at his friend. He let Delano's presence slip from his mind.

[DGFone]

Kopa shrugged. "Well, not really," he admitted, "but I was thinking that maybe we can try to get to the other side of the gorge. I think it's possible to get there."

He heard sniggering coming from behind them, and Kopa rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Delano?" He asked, annoyed, "or are you going to tell me that you already tried?"

When Delano heard Kopa's idea, he couldn't help but try not to laugh. "Well, the gorge is rather far from here, isn't it?" he asked, "and how are you planning to get to the other side, anyways?"

Kopa frowned, He didn't really plan on how to actually cross the vertical cliffs. "Well, if we go around it, I think we can do it," he said after a while, "what do you think, Awali? Think we can try that?"

[Awali]

"Well, the gorge has to end somewhere, right? Awali asked rhetorically. "That means that we could get around it. But it might be a long walk. That doesn't matter, though, considering we don't have an adult breathing down our necks right now." Awali was never one to bond with his parents, or any grown lion, for that matter.

"And since you seem so interested, Delano, would you like to join us? It's such a long walk, though. You might get tired," Awali teased.


"I'm alright with trying to get across the gorge, if you're up for it, Kopa. It's definitely possible." Awali said as he began to walk in the direction of the gorge, knowing Kopa was sure to follow.

[DGFone]

Delano got up when Awali teased him about his strength. "We'll see about that," he replied, "I'll go with you. Besides, it will be interesting to see how far you will get."

Kopa nodded. "Alright, you can come with us," he told Delano. Seeing that Awali was already walking towards the gorge, Kopa broke into a run to catch up to his friend. "Come on, Delano!"

Together, the three cubs walked towards the gorge. Kopa and Awali talked together while Delano mostly stayed silent, but that was what he preferred.

[Awali]

Awali was walking along at a fair pace. He glanced over his shoulder, noticing that both Delano and Kopa were following, though it was no surprise to him. He sped up a little, almost into a trot, after noticing that Kopa was running.

"You need to catch up, Kopa," Awali let out, in between his sharp, deep breaths. "The same goes to you, Delano! Tired, already?" he laughed. It was a bad idea.

Awali was so busy looking over his shoulder that he failed to notice the tree right in front of him, running right into it.

[DGFone]

Kopa ran after Awali with Delano next to him, and only had a split second to warn his friend of the tree before Awali ran right into it. Kopa rushed forward to his friend, who was now on the round and holding a paw hard against his head. "Awali, are you alright?" He asked. His friend looked more annoyed than hurt, something that comforted Kopa.

Delano also ran over to Awali, but upon seeing that the cub was fine, nearly fell to the floor laughing. "I might have been behind you, but at least I was looking where I was going," he retorted.

Kopa ignored Delano's comments. "Awali, if you're hurt, I don't think it might be such a good idea to keep going," he said, "but if you want to, we can."

[Awali]

"I'm fine, thanks." Awali was a bit more hurt than he let on, trying not to show the injury to his back left leg. When he hit the tree, he had fallen right on his rump, landing quite harshly on his ankle, twisting it in a way it shouldn't.

"Let's keep moving," he said quickly. He got up, and continued walking, this time paying more attention. "I'd like to get there as quick as possible, but lets not rush."

"Oh, and Delano, shut up." It was almost fun teasing Delano.

[DGFone]

When Awali simply got up and began moving again, Kopa was left slightly surprised. But he simply shrugged and followed his friend. "Alright then, let's go." He noticed that Awali was limping slightly, but didn't say anything. If Awali could ignore it, then so can Kopa. And if anything, based on the fact the Awali was still teasing Delano, then he clearly was fine.

Delano followed the other two cubs. "Yeah, well fine," he said, "just don't let any other tree ambush you." He did then fall silent, but grinned slightly when he heard Kopa chuckle at the joke.

Soon enough, the three cubs got to the edge of the gorge. And from they were, there was no way to get down, nor back up the other side should they somehow get to the bottom. Kopa went over to the edge and took only a short look before hurrying back to solid ground. "So which way do we go now?" He asked, "To the right, we will get to the border quicker, and to the left the gorge seams to keep going, but on the other hand, we won't leave the Pridelands."

[Awali]

Awali looked in both directions, and appeared to be thinking. "Let's go to the right, straight to the border," he finally replied.

The sun was almost directly above them now. And with his damaged leg, Awali couldn't walk at an amazing pace, or run for that matter, without limping. He was in no hurry to raise awareness about his injury.

He began walking along the cliff, not straying too close to it. Awali had never actually been to the border, or past it, for that matter. Maybe something will actually be fun for once.

"So Kopa, have you ever gone beyond the border?" Awali asked questioningly, as he walked the slow but steady path to the edge of the pridelands.