Meaning and Purpose [Closed to Julie_Skywalker]

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

"You got it."

Vitani motioned with her head and four lionesses from their half of the pride jumped up to follow herㅡ they were N'gora, Dikeledi, Masozi, and Sauda, all good fighters trained meticulously under Zira. All ruthless in battle, and loyal only to Vitani and Kovu. As the fivesome bounded away, their eyes caught every movement, registered what it was, and refocused on the task at hand.

N'gora bore a strong resemblance to Vitani, but they weren't related. N'gora was about the same age as Nuka would have been were he still with them, and had been only a cub when she'd come into Zira's care. Zira had thrown her into training with the others, as they had had to be strong for the things to come.

Dikeledi and Masozi were sisters, their names both meaning "tears." They had been teens when they'd happened upon Zira's land with their sick mother. Their mother's illness had worsened in the awful living conditions and she'd died not long after. The sisters had been "adopted" by Zira and were treated well briefly before being forced to train as well. Strength and skill were the most important things.

Sauda had been young in the time before the pride had been banished, borne to one of the other pridesisters. She had been training her whole life to reclaim their place in the Pridelands, and a part of her relished in the pain Simba and his ilk was going through because of his disease.

The four together were the best fighters Vitani had. They were the best in land, as yet no one had been able to defeat them. Their scarred bodies and mentalities from hard lives made them absolutely brutal in battle, swift and precise in the execution of their attacks.

In this new era after the prides had become one, they had little opportunity to actually shed any blood, aside from that of week prey animals, and seeing how much damage this rogue had done revitalized and invigorated the five. They reveled in the chance for real battle.

As they drew near to the elephant graveyard, Vitani held up a paw to slow her procession. The sqad slowed to a walk, their eyes and ears peeled in every direction, bodies tensed as they prepared for battle.

"There's no point in hiding," Vitani called as she stepped across the first bone into the graveyard, "We know you're here, and we will find you."

She strode ahead, unafraid, the other four loosely following at their own pace. No matter how good this rogue was, they were confident in their victory. Unlike the others who had come here just for a fight (and on her and Kovu's orders) Vitani was here for not only a fight, but because a part of her cared for Simba's prideㅡ it was crazy, ludicrous, but it was true, and she didn't want harm to come to them. She told herself it was simply because it would hurt Kovu should anything happen to them, but that wasn't entirely the case.

She looked around for the rogue as she walked, ready to do what was necessary to protect her new family, and to get a bit of thrill at the same time.

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

Vitani bit back, pushing her hind legs roughly into the rogue's stomach, digging in her claws. She positioned her front paws against his chest. He didn't make it easy, but when she was sure she was ready, she gave a hard push, knocking him off of her and bounding to her feet. She leapt at him and struggled with his teeth and claws again even as the rest of her squad poured over the ledge to land in the mess of bones around them.

Their arrival knocked up some bones and distracted Vitani enough for her to be knocked aside by the rogue. She fell onto a very aged tusk, causing it to snap in half and shower smaller bone fragments down on her from the force. As she rose out of the bones, Dikeledi and Masozi raced over to stand between her and the rogue. The were baring their teeth at him and ready to attack when they realized the lioness behind them was chuckling.

"Vitani?" they asked, glancing back at her.

"Don't interfere," she said, "None of you interfere."

Surprised because of his obvious strength, and concerned about what Kovu would do to them if she died, the two stepped aside, but kept their eyes closely on the battling duo. Her troops stood at the ready to jump in and disobey her orders if it became necessary to keep her alive.

"You're strong, very strong. It's a shame I'm going to have to kill you," Vitani taunted the male as she sprung at him, claws extended. Fighting a male could not be done the same way as taking down anything else, not if he was a decent fighter. Almost anything else that crossed her could be killed by going for the throat, but his vicious snapping jaws and thick mane would make that a nearly impossible tactic. That only made things more interesting, and the lithe lioness already had a plan of attack.

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

"So what if you do? Is knowing me supposed to save your skin or something?" she asked, looking for a way to strike a weakness. She wasn't only searching for an opening however.

Her eyes squinted a bit, trying to place him while quickly mentally assessing the damage he'd dealt her. As yet, it was nothing she wouldn't live through. She held her fighting stance and stared into those emerald eyes as a realization dawned on her.

----
Small eager paws raced through the badlands, chasing the small insects nearby, mostly ants. The female lion cub darted around, getting farther and farther from the termite mounds she called home, the tuft of fur atop her head bouncing as she moved.

She noticed a male cub who wasn't too far ahead of her, and at first glance from behind, she thought she'd spied her half-brother. So she'd called out to him, and when he turned, though his coat was a similar color and even his eyes, she could tell from that face and that stare that this was a stranger.

"Oh, you're not him," she said as she stopped, glancing back to make sure that she hadn't gotten too far from home. She'd imagined she'd gone quite far, but was disappointed to see she was still very close. She turned back to the stranger, "What are you doing out here anyway? You're not one of us."

It was a simple statement, uttered by an innocent cub. He wasn't from her pride, and they were the outcasts. She didn't fully understand, only knew that other lions shunned them. Seeing a stranger here intrigued her, for why would anyone come to these, as the older lionesses called them, forsaken lands?

"Are you lost?" she asked.

----

Was this violent rogue that little cub she'd met so long ago? And did it even really matter? She figured she might be able to distract him briefly with this at any rate, so she went on with it.

"I did meet a cub once..." she started, trailing off as she paced a few steps to the side, readying to circle for an opening, "...with those piercing eyes of yours."

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

"I was raised to be without fear," she replied evenly, "Raised a soldier. Every animal that has crossed me or mine has felt the sting of my claws and the tear of my teeth. None have lived that I was not commanded to let live. And those four who came here with me were not always helping me to do that. They were each busy in much the same way. We've been fighters for years. It's a part of who we are to rise to any threat without fear."

The lionesses of her squad exchanged looks, none of them ever having remembered seeing a cub other than the ones that had belonged.

Vitani stopped, digging her claws into the earth and feeling it carefully. "Besides, I enjoy a good fight every now and then," she smirked wickedly.

----

"Well if you're just walking, then maybe you'd wanna fight?" she asked, crouching in a playful manner. After all, she couldn't play with Kovu right now, as he was off getting some lecture from her mother. She rolled her eyes at the thought of something so boring. The other cub didn't look receptive however, so the she-cub rolled her eyes and rose back into a standing position.

"It's not like you've anything better to do, am I right?"

What a strange little cub! The way he'd stuttered answering her question, the way he looked at her, it was almost as if he was afraid of her. It was something she'd never seen. The only things that were ever scared of her were the small insects she chased in her boredom. Nothing bigger than that ever showed fear, not to her. It made her feel more powerful, but also a bit like she should help the other cub somehow.

"What's wrong, don't you know how to play?" she asked, crouching back down into a playful stance, preparing to pounce.

----

"You've not changed much yourself," Vitani jeered at him, "You're acting tough now, but you're still the scared little boy you were back then. I can see it. You're afraid... and it's fear that makes you act violently."

She was bluffing of course, taunting him in an attempt to make him careless. He didn't at all look afraid, in fact, quite the opposite. He looked ruthless and battle-hardened. The seasons had changed them both and she couldn't presume to know anything about the male that stood before her now.

"My violence is directed to a purpose, a goal, it can always reward. Yours is reckless. It won't always keep you safe that way, it won't always help you survive," she continued, tensing her muscles, prepared to either fend off an attack or execute one.

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

"My mother protected me from nothing," Vitani grunted as she ducked down and then sprang up to meet his attack, up towards his soft belly, her eyes glinting. They collided in the air, her jaws meeting mane rather than the tender flesh of a stomach. Not giving up, she curled in her hind legs even as their impact with one another and gravity worked to pull them down. She was hastily trying to dig her rear claws into his abdomen before they hit the earth.

A growl escaped her jaws as she struggled on. There would be no more talking for now, she needed to use her teeth for the battle.

----

"You really are weird. Playing is... um.. well two cubs fight but it's pretend," she said, smiling as she did so. This was easier to explain than she'd expected it to be. "Like me and my brother fight, but every time we stop before anyone's badly hurt. Mom allows it because it's a form of natural training she says. It will help us to become stronger. No one dies playing."

After that explanation, she scratched at the top of her head. "I hear some different cubs don't ever fight when they play, but I don't know what else they do. If they don't fight, they probably don't race either," she said, thoughtful. And on that train of thought, an idea occurred to her.

"Hey, if you're skittish of fighting, why don't we race?" she asked, turning and readying herself to sprint away. She cut her eyes over to the other cub to see if he was any more receptive of this idea than the first.

----

"I don't like this," N'gora mused, watching the duo fight. "What if something happens to her, or we don't get to fight such a worthy adversary?"

"Oh hush, N'gora. You didn't relish battle or care much for Vitani before Nuka's death. You were just always good at fighting," Sauda hissed, "She can handle this guy. No doubt about how good he is though, just look at the way he moves...."

"Oi, he's not gonna survive, pea-brain, stop drooling over him. Like a psychopath like him would be interested in breeding anyway, much less with you," Dikeledi snapped, cuffing Sauda on the back of the head. The darker lioness hissed and muttered under her breath about "just admiring his skills," and they continued watching in silence as the battlers hit the ground and Vitani lashed out a paw aimed for the rogue's face.