"The Pride That Never Was"

[KiarasMate]

Ahh, okay. ^^ Makes more sense now. Thanks for clearing that up for me and hope that didn't spoil anything for the upcoming chapters.

[Akril]

Chapter Three:


"You and Chaka? I don't believe it," Shani said.

"I don't get it," Timira muttered. "I like him, but I don't wanna marry him!"

"Well, who's gonna be the queen then?" Shani asked.

"What about you?"

"I can't be the queen," Shani protested. "I'm his sister!"

"So? You can be queen without marrying him, can't you?"

"I dunno," Shani pondered. "I don't know if it works like that."

"Maybe Zazu knows," Timira said, looking over her shoulder. "Hey, Zaz -- "

She halted in mid-sentence. Zazu and Binti were sitting together on Winston's head, looking deeply into each other's eyes and talking in low voices.

"Psst -- Shani, look," Timira whispered, nodding in the couple's direction. Shani looked at them and giggled.

"And Dad thinks that you might be like that with Chaka someday," she grinned.

Timira rolled her eyes.

"Fat chance," she said. "The day I start getting lovey-dovey over your brother is the day -- "

Shani suddenly stopped walking and put out a paw to stop Timira as well. Winston, noticing this, decided to halt as well.

"Shhh!" she hissed. "Look."

Ahead of them was a stretch of ground almost devoid of grass. It was covered with a flock of small, tan birds pecking at the dirt, probably searching for worms or beetles.

"Don't move," Shani whispered. She dropped into a crouch and began slowly crawling towards the birds. Then, when she had almost reached the edge of the clearing, she burst out of the grass with a snarl and the birds took to the air in a squawking, frenzied mass. Shani raced across the clearing, laughing gleefully as the birds chattered angrily at her for disturbing their lunch.

Timira glanced skyward and shook her head.

"You'll never catch prey if you attack it like that, Shani," she said.

"I wasn't trying to catch anything," Shani said, skidding to a stop and climbing onto the top of a nearby boulder. "I was just..."

She stopped talking as something in the distance caught her attention. Barely half a mile away and on the far side of a wide river was a vast, barren land. There was barely any grass to be seen there, and the few trees that Shani could see were deformed and leafless. Craggy mountains bordered the land, and Shani could just make out the mouth of a large cave near the edge of the river. She hadn't noticed any of this while she was down on the ground, but the boulder had given her a much better vantage point.

"Hey, Timira," she called. "Come here and look at this."

Timira scampered up the boulder and sat down beside Shani. She noticed the strange, desolate land immediately and her amber eyes widened.

"Wow," she breathed.

"What is that place?" Shani asked.

"I know what it is," Timira said. "It's the Outlands. That's the place where the Outsiders live."

"How do you know that?"

"I overheard my mom talking about it with another lioness," Timira said. "They said that the Outsiders are a pride of weird lions that live there, and they sleep in a huge cave with walls that sparkle like stars."

"Woah," Shani gasped. "Really?"

"I dunno," Timira confessed. Then she grinned. "Maybe we oughta go there and see for ourselves."

Shani grinned as well.

"Yeah, that'd be cool..."

She paused, then frowned.

"But what about those two lovebirds back there?" she said, motioning behind her to where Winston was still standing, with Zazu and Binti still conversing on top of his head. Timira pursed her lips contemplatively, then smiled a mischievous smile.

"I know what to do about them," she said, starting to descend the boulder.

"What do you mean?" Shani asked.

"You'll see," Timira said. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

She leapt onto the ground and trotted up to Winston. She then called up to the two birds sitting on Winston's head.

"Um, Zazu? Binti?"

Zazu jumped in surprise, then glared huffily down at Timira.

"Yes, yes, yes, what?" he snapped.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you," said Timira innocently, "But there's a really important question I wanted to ask you two."

Zazu sighed.

"Well, get on with it then," he said. "Ask away."

"Do you think you could come down here before I did?"

"What's wrong with asking us while we're up here?" Binti asked.

"Well..." Timira said with feigned uneasiness, "It's kind of a private question and I...I didn't want Winston or Shani to hear it..."

She lowered her voice and craned her neck in an attempt to get closer to the two hornbills.

"It's kind of about me and Chaka."

"Oh," said Zazu, starting to sound a little uneasy himself, "Oh my goodness, I think I understand now...just a moment, little Miss."

He leapt from the rhino's head and delicately alighted on the ground in front of Timira. Binti did the same.

"Now what was it you wanted to ask us?" Zazu asked. "Mind you, I'm not an expert in these sort of things, and I doubt Binti is either, but we'll certainly do our best to answer your question. Now, what is it?"

"Well," Timira said, "It's...um...er...well, you birds lay eggs, right?"

"Yes," Binti said. "I mean, yes, but not all of us do that. Just us girls."

"And the baby birds come out of those eggs, right?"

"Of course," Zazu said.

Timira's brow furrowed.

"But lions don't lay eggs, do they?"

"No lion I know has," Zazu said. "Nor, for that matter, has any lioness I've known."

"So..." Timira said slowly, "Why do birds lay eggs and lions don't lay eggs?"

Zazu peered quizzically at Timira, then briefly swapped glances with Binti.

"I haven't the foggiest idea," he said. "And I don't see why that matter should be such a burning question for you."

"But I just don't get it," Timira insisted. "Why don't lions lay eggs? Is it because we don't build nests? Or don't have beaks to peck through the shells?"

"I repeat, I haven't a clue why that is," Zazu said snootily. "All I know is that only birds lay eggs."

"But what about crocodiles?" Timira questioned. "Don't they lay eggs too?"

As Zazu was struggling to come up with a satisfactory answer to this question, Shani realized that now was a perfect time for her to escape. She carefully slunk down the boulder into the tall grass and began sneaking away from Zazu, Binti, Timira and Winston...and towards the Outlands.

[KiarasMate]

lol, a very amusing chapter if I do say so myself. Not a ton of story progression in this one but still, I like the throwback to the events of TLK2SP that you used in this chapter. Looking forward to the next part and keep up the amazing work as always Akril. ^^

[YFWE]

I enjoyed this chapter a lot, it was pretty funny in all. I love once again the innocence you write these cubs with... and I said it before, but the way you write them, I just picture them as being so cuuuuuuuuute. Great dialogue as always and interesting little send-off there with Shani venturing into the Outlands by herself. Keep up the good work!

[Mike]

The cubs are not only adorable, but just as sly and curious as little Simba was ^.^ Keep it up. Great chapter! I wonder who Shani might find in the outlands =D

[ograndebatata]

Well, as far as I've been reading this, it is quite a surprise. I know I got here rather late in the publication, so I'll just give my opinion about some of the basic points. I do like the idea of the two cubs, Chaka and Shani, but I'm pretty used to the names Kopa and Kiara, so it may take me some time to get used to these cubs' names (although I do know those are the cubs' original names).

For a matter of names, I guess I prefer the name Zira rather than your Bianca, as 'Zira' shows better the female villain's motivation, but in retrospective, I don't really see a cub being named like that by her parents, although Scar did get 'Taka' as his original name, which is as bad as getting 'hate'. And yes, I also know Bianca was Zira's original name.

I like the idea of Binti, although Zazu always seemed a bit too workaholic to get a girlfriend, but that may be again lack of habit to see Zazu as anything else than a majordomo rambling on and on. I also like the idea of Timira, although I'm not really sure how much she and Chaka will accept the idea of having to get married.

For that matter, I'm also resisting a bit against Kovu being Scar's son, as in my opinion, Disney did fine in putting him as Scar's adopted son - I'm quite fussy about what is incest and what is not. But that's just another thing I'll have to get used to.

I hope I didn't offend you with this post, I was just trying to give an honest opinion. Oh, and in spite of those little points I'm resisting against, I like your idea, it seems a very solid concept, and I'll keep reading this. And by the way, I hope you eventually put Timon and Pumbaa in your fanfic, they were my favorite non-lion characters from all the movies. But you're the author, you decide.

Well, I look forward to your next chapter.

[Akril]

Thanks again, everybody! And regarding your concern, KiarasMate, I don't think that detail is going to spoil anything in the upcoming chapters.

[quote="ograndebatata"]Well, as far as I've been reading this, it is quite a surprise. I know I got here rather late in the publication, so I'll just give my opinion about some of the basic points. I do like the idea of the two cubs, Chaka and Shani, but I'm pretty used to the names Kopa and Kiara, so it may take me some time to get used to these cubs' names (although I do know those are the cubs' original names).[/quote]
Yeah, Kopa has become the generally accepted name of Simba's son. It's quite a departure from the early days before TLK6NA was widely known and pretty much everybody was calling his son "Tanabi". As I've said before, though, since Chaka was actually in the script for SP, he's technically more canon than Kopa, who only appears in TLK6NA and a couple of German audio plays.

[quote]For a matter of names, I guess I prefer the name Zira rather than your Bianca, as 'Zira' shows better the female villain's motivation, but in retrospective, I don't really see a cub being named like that by her parents, although Scar did get 'Taka' as his original name, which is as bad as getting 'hate'. And yes, I also know Bianca was Zira's original name.[/quote]
I actually think Zira is a better name than Bianca as well, as odd as giving a cub a name meaning "hate" sounds. I once read a work of fan fiction where Zira's original name was Ushandra, and she became Zira after she became consumed with hatred for Simba after Scar's death.

[quote]I like the idea of Binti, although Zazu always seemed a bit too workaholic to get a girlfriend, but that may be again lack of habit to see Zazu as anything else than a majordomo rambling on and on. I also like the idea of Timira, although I'm not really sure how much she and Chaka will accept the idea of having to get married.[/quote]
It did seem a bit odd to me that stodgy old Zazu was originally going to have a girlfriend -- I guess the writers were going to have him discover that there's more to life than just reading the morning report off to the king every day, or something. As for Chaka and Timira, you'll have to wait to see how that turns out. ; )

[quote]For that matter, I'm also resisting a bit against Kovu being Scar's son, as in my opinion, Disney did fine in putting him as Scar's adopted son - I'm quite fussy about what is incest and what is not. But that's just another thing I'll have to get used to.[/quote]
I was a bit skeptical about that as well, though one of the best known pieces of TLK fan fiction, Chronicles of the Pride Lands, made Mufasa and Sarabi cousins. By comparison, having Shani and her second cousin get together doesn't seem all that objectionable, and for the people that still complain, I can retroactively solve the problem in three words: Scar was adopted. : D

[quote]I hope I didn't offend you with this post, I was just trying to give an honest opinion. Oh, and in spite of those little points I'm resisting against, I like your idea, it seems a very solid concept, and I'll keep reading this. And by the way, I hope you eventually put Timon and Pumbaa in your fanfic, they were my favorite non-lion characters from all the movies. But you're the author, you decide.[/quote]
You didn't offend me at all. Though I greatly appreciate the positive comments people are leaving, I welcome constructive criticism as well. And don't worry, Timon and Pumbaa will definitely appear in upcoming chapters. There's no way I could leave them out.

[Skittakallista]

Oh dear, I started reading this a few days ago but was a bit slow commenting!
Anyway, I can't say much that won't repeat what everyone else has said but what the heck
I like your writing style, it makes the reader see a picture of the characters and setting. I like the portrayal of the characters too: although Simba is careful with his cubs, he isn't overly protective like he is with Kiara as he hasn't lost her older brother in this universe. And I'd like too see how the cubs develop and how Bianca, Shani, Shetani and Nunka are going to differ from their movie counterparts. And on a totally unrelated note, I really like your art on TLKFAA (I'm not a member but I like the website). Looking forward to the next chapter!

[Akril]

Thank you very much, Skittakallista! As you will see, though, I decided not to give Kovu his early name of "Nunka" for a number of reasons (the primary one being that I think Nunka is kind of a silly name).



Chapter Four:


Shani soon arrived at the edge of the river. A fallen tree formed a bridge over it, and Shani slowly padded across it, looking around at the strange land she was passing into. The water beneath her was still and shallow, with several sickly trees growing out of it and several greenish logs floating in it. The shore on the other side of the river was rocky and barren, dotted with tiny sprigs of grass.

Shani glanced warily about, hoping not to be spotted by any of the Outsiders that Timira had mentioned. Shani's golden coat was even lighter than Chaka's, making her stand out sharply against the gloomy landscape.

Coming to the end of the log, Shani hopped off and looked around the Outlands. The place looked just as harsh and desolate as it had from afar. How could anything live in a place like this, she wondered.

The enormous cave mouth was just a short distance away, and as Shani gazed at it, she was almost sure she saw something glittering inside it. Intrigued, she made her way towards it, all the while glancing to and fro to make sure nothing was watching her.

As she neared the cave, she could see what the source of the glittering was: The inside of the cave was lined with hundreds of clear, glistening crystals. Some were tiny, while some seemed as big as elephants, and they all shone in the weak sunlight that streamed through the cave's opening, creating a scintillating spectacle that dazzled Shani's eyes. Almost hypnotized by the sight, she quietly entered the cave.

Inside, it wasn't as dark as she thought it would be. Tiny openings in the cave roof far above let in small shafts of light, which were multiplied a hundredfold when they struck any of the crystals. Shani could just make out her reflection in some of the larger crystals. It too was multiplied many times by the crystals' numerous faces, stretched, bent, inverted, and warped in a myriad of ways. It was such a contrast to the dreary land outside that Shani felt as if she had stepped into another world. In the dim light, she could see many passageways leading away from the main cavern. Shani had no idea where they might go, and she was certain that wandering down any of them could easily get her lost...or worse.

Suddenly, Shani heard a noise coming from several feet above her head. Before she could look up to see what had caused it, a pebble came bouncing down from atop a nearby ledge, landing at her feet.

"Huh?" Shani wondered out loud.

She looked up at the ledge and gasped. A small shadow was moving across a section of the upper cave wall that wasn't covered with crystals, cast by something walking along the ledge. Then the owner of the shadow appeared. It was so dark in color that Shani could barely see what it was at first, then she realized that it was a lion cub -- a male one.

The cub stood motionless for a moment, then leapt down from the ledge and landed in front of Shani, glaring fiercely at her.

"Who are you, Pridelander?" he growled. "And what're you doing here?"

Shani backed away from him, ears flattened against her head in fear.

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I was only exploring..."

"This is our lair," the cub snarled. "You Pridelanders wouldn't like it if one of us wandered into your lair, would you?"

"I don't know," Shani trembled, cowering as the cub came closer to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude..."

The dark cub padded up to Shani and stared down at her. His expression suddenly seemed more curious than angry.

"Are you really a Pridelander?" he asked.

Shani cautiously looked up at him.

"W-well...I live in the Pride Lands, if that's what you mean," she replied.

The cub cocked his head, looking puzzled.

"That's funny. I thought that all Pridelanders hated us. You sure don't seem like the Pridelanders my mother told me about."

He glanced over his shoulder for a moment.

"But she won't be happy if she finds you here. You'd better go, and now."

"Could you..." Shani said slowly, "could you please lead me to the entrance? I don't want to get lost in this cave."

What she said was only half true. Though she didn't want to get lost leaving the cave, she also wanted to learn a little more about this strange, dark lion cub. The cub looked skeptical for a moment, then shrugged and started walking in the direction of the cave entrance.

"Come on," he urged. "Let's get out of here before my mother finds us together."


The cubs were silent as they retraced Shani's path through the cave. Shani occasionally glanced at the cub, marveling at how different he was from the other cubs she knew. He was larger than Chaka, and he seemed older than him as well. His fur was much darker than Timira's, and his black nose had a peculiar, angular shape. The tip of his tail was black, and there was even a small tuft of black fur on the top of his head, a tiny part of what would one day be his mane. His eyes were green -- not pale green like Chaka's, but a brilliant emerald green, and in the dimness of the cave, they glowed like two green stars.

After several minutes, Shani and the cub reached the entrance of the cave. Shani continued walking towards the river, but instead of turning back, the cub continued to walk with her.

"How did you get here, anyway?" the cub asked. "That river is dangerous."

"I just walked across a tree that fell across it," Shani explained.

"Oh."

There was another silence as the two walked along, heading towards the river. Shani could feel the cub's eyes upon her. Apparently, this cub was just as curious about her as she was about him.

"Why did you come here?" he asked.

"I told you, I was exploring," Shani said. She looked back over her shoulder at the barren wastelands that surrounded the cave.

"You really live here?" she asked.

"Yeah," the cub replied nonchalantly.

"But how? I don't see any prey."

"Well...there is some. You just gotta know where to find it," the cub said after a long pause.

They had finally reached the edge of the river and the log that Shani had used as a bridge into the Outlands.

"I guess this is goodbye," Shani said as she hopped onto the log and began walking back across it.

"Yeah, I guess," the cub said.

"Maybe I could sneak back here and visit you sometime," Shani said, still looking back over her shoulder as she continued across the log.

"Wait a minute," the cub said, "You never told me your name!"

"Oh, right! My name is -- "

Shani never finished her sentence. Her paws slipped on the damp, mossy log and she fell off the log into the stagnant water below. The dark cub yelped in fear, hesitated for a moment, then bounded across several of the greenish logs floating in the water until he reached the one closest to Shani.

"Get out of there! Hurry!" he cried. Shani thrashed about in the water until she could feel the side of the log the cub was standing on. Before she could climb onto it, she felt the cub grab the scruff of her neck with his mouth, pulling her out of the water. With his help, she was able to climb out of the water with barely any effort at all.

However, before she or the cub could speak another word, the log they were standing on began to move. At one end of the log, a huge, pointed, scaly head broke the surface of the water and peered around to face them. The horrible truth dawned on Shani instantly. What she thought were green logs floating in the river were actually crocodiles.

Shani and the cub leapt off of back of the crocodile they were currently on and onto another green, scaly back. They hurriedly bounded from one crocodile to another, trying desperately to find somewhere out of reach of the huge beasts. The log spanning the river was too high overhead to reach, there were too many crocodiles between them and the Outlands shore, and the side of the river the Pride Lands were on was a high cliff that was much too steep to climb.

At one point, Shani and the dark cub became separated: Shani found herself stranded in one of the bare trees growing out of the water while the cub continued jumping from one huge reptile to another, often just out of reach of their snapping jaws. As Shani glanced around desperately, she noticed another bare tree that almost reached the top of the cliff on the Pride Lands side of the river. Then she heard a scream and to her horror, she saw that the cub had fallen from a crocodile's back and was now floundering helplessly in the water near the base of the very same tree. To make matters worse, a crocodile was speeding towards him, and there was no way the cub could make it up the tree before the crocodile reached him.

Gathering up all her courage, Shani leapt through the air, bounded off of one crocodile's back and landed on the head of the crocodile that was about to crush the cub in its jaws. Her weight had caused the creature's open mouth to snap shut just inches away from the terrified cub. Shani urged him to climb the tree, even though the cub was in no need of any encouragement. He scampered up the tree and onto the top of the cliff like a monkey, with Shani close behind him. Heart pounding, Shani leapt towards the top of the cliff, but unfortunately, she had overestimated her strength. Her top half made it onto the top of the cliff, but her bottom half didn't. While she tried to pull herself up over the edge with her front claws, her back claws scratched frantically at the side of the cliff, unable to gain any footing.

Then the dark cub came running up to Shani. Again he gripped the scruff of her neck in his mouth, and as he tugged her upwards, Shani just managed to pull herself up the edge of the cliff. At last, they were safe. Exhausted and still trembling, but safe.

For the moment.

[ograndebatata]

So it seems, they're safe. But for how long, that's the real question. I like the first meeting of Kovu and Shani.

I'm not sure whether you really needed to have the Outlanders living in a crystal cave, I guess an old termite nest suits them better, and it has ventilation, but perhaps a crystal cave is better - it may give some light into their very gloomy life.

Oh, and just for the record, I'm very happy to know Timon and Pumbaa will be in this fanfic. Thank you for telling me.