Story of the forgotten princes: Taka; story of the neglected

[KopsTheTerminator]

Story of the forgotten princes
Taka; story of the neglected
Prologue

It was a sunny day as usual. The Pride Lands were always filled with life. The circle of life was respected by king Ahadi and queen Uru. King Ahadi and queen Uru had two sons; Mufasa and Taka. Mufasa looked more like Ahadi; his golden fur represented him. Mufasa was really gentle. The other son, Taka, was thinner than Mufasa, and his dark orange fur represented queen Uru. He had a mischievous personality. He looked a lot different than Mufasa in body style, fur colour, personality, everything. But what bonded them was their relation; they were best brothers. The king and queen were proud of their sons. But something was bothering king Ahadi...

Mufasa would be king of the Pride Lands unless something occurred or he believed that Taka deserved it more. But then, what would happen to his younger son? He'd be deeply disappointed if his brother was to become king. This would have occurred in the past if great king Mohatu's father hadn't advised Mohatu to exile his beloved brother when he was ready to become king. But Mohatu's brother would never think of such a thing if he had stayed with his brother...

Perhaps king Mohatu's father wasn't right. Ahadi couldn't believe that his younger son would become a murderer; He was too innocent to do such a thing. Taka loved his brother more than anything in the world, and that bond didn't seem like it would change. Perhaps Taka's innocence would have stayed in his heart as he grew if others had paid more attention to him...

Chapter 1: Innocence and mischief

The day had finally arrived. Mufasa and Taka had never been so excited. It was the day that their father, Ahadi, would show them the kingdom from the top of Pride Rock. Ahadi was happy, yet worried that day. Soon, he would have to pick one of his sons to become king. The decision was hard to him. But when Mufasa and Taka ran and kept playfully told him to hurry, he totally forgot about his worries.

Top of Pride Rock. It's so tall, you can see the entire kingdom from up there. You can also see the nearby lands and kingdoms. Ahadi hurried to take his cubs to the top. Mufasa and Taka were both amazed by the view. Mufasa stood gently near his father, while Taka got close to the edge and with a playful look looked at the kingdom, barely paying attention to his father.

”Everything the light touches is our glorious kingdom. The sun is like our life. When it rises, we are kings. When it sets, it's when our time on here sets. That means that someone of you becomes the new king, and the sun rises for you.” , Ahadi calmly said with a smile, looking at his sons.

”Wait, all this? How are we supposed to rule it? It's hard to rule such a kingdom!” , Taka said.

Mufasa waited for his father to answer. This was an interesting question to him.

”It's all part of the lessons, son. As long as you pay attention to the lessons, you will be fine.”

Taka got a big, innocent grin. He knew his father was talking about him, because he was distracted by the view. He stood near Mufasa and listened to his father talking about the circle of life. Respect it, keep it in balance, and never murder for fun. Both cubs understood. The lesson didn't last long and the cubs were off to play.

The Pride Lands were full of areas to explore. But what fascinated Taka the most was the Elephant Graveyard. He heard someone whispering about it and saying that the hyenas were getting more aggressive every day. Taka was planning to go explore the Elephant Graveyard some day. But for now, he'd stick with his brother...

”Where should we go now, Taka? You decide.” , Mufasa asked.

”I believe the grasslands are a rather interesting place to explore! The lionesses usually hunt there, we should go check it out!” , Taka said, excited. He had never been to the grasslands before, and neither his brother. Mufasa nodded and they started their exploration. Off the the grasslands!

Chapter 2: Trouble in the grasslands

It didn't take long for Mufasa and Taka to reach the grasslands. They were so excited about exploring the grasslands, that they didn't get tired of getting there all the way from Pride Rock. The grasslands were a big plain with only a few trees on the way, and there was a mountain just south of them. A river passed the grasslands, coming from the mountain. A zebra herd was resting on the river. The grasslands had tall grass as well. The cubs almost got lost because of it.

Mufasa was enjoying the view and the sound of the birds that were resting on the trees. The grasslands were such a peaceful place! But Taka didn't pay attention to those. He was fascinated by the zebra herd. Taka wanted to get closer to them, examine them.

”Mufasa! Do you think we should get closer to that zebra herd?” , Taka whispered to his brother.

”That wouldn't be very wise, Taka, what if the herd sees us?” , Mufasa whispered to Taka, surprised by his brother's thought.

”Oh, come on! Don't be a coward! Besides, zebras are too dumb to notice anything around them.”

Mufasa simply rolled his eyes.

”Hmph, fine. I'll do it by myself.” , Taka whispered and approached the zebra herd.

It was a good thing that the grasslands had tall grass, or the zebras would have noticed both Taka and Mufasa, who was now following Taka because he didn't want him to get hurt.

Taka and Mufasa were now a lot closer to the herd. Taka had the bad habit of being a daredevil. For a moment, he was going to mischievously pounce on a baby zebra, when...

Suddenly, the herd started moving towards them, panicked. It didn't take long for the cubs to get the message.

”RUN!!” Mufasa yelled.

The cubs both started running through the huge plains, with the zebras behind them. They hadn't noticed how big that zebra herd was until now. The sound their hooves made would stay in their heart forever. You couldn't hear anything except from them. The cubs were lucky to have the distance of a few metres of a painful death. For a moment, Mufasa looked behind him while running. The animals seemed more panicked, rather than angry. Mufasa finally realized what happened.

”Taka, the zebras aren't chasing us, the lionesses of our pride are chasing the zebras! , Mufasa yelled. Taka could barely heard Mufasa. Taka was getting tired, but he knew he couldn't stop there. The cubs suddenly felt like they were the luckiest cubs of the world; they saw a tree close to them!

”Taka, climb on that tree!” Mufasa yelled, but it wasn't necessary; Taka would climb the tree anyway.

The cubs both climbed the tree and hold on its branches so they wouldn't fall off.

”Help!!” , both cubs shouted. The lionesses didn't hear them.

”Somebody help us!!” , they yelled again. This time, their mother, queen Uru, heard them.

”Everybody, stop!! My cubs are here somewhere!! Hurry to find them!” , Uru shouted at the lionesses with a horrified tone in her voice.

The lionesses stopped as queen Uru wanted. They started scouring the area, without thinking that the cubs were on a tree the zebra stampede was passing near. Only queen Uru had the bravery to get into the stampede and find her sons on the tree. She immediately climbed it and grabbed Taka, who was younger than Mufasa and way more horrified than him. She quickly got out of the stampede and dropped him into the tall grass, away from it. Then she immediately ran back to save her other son, Mufasa. This time she had some difficulties getting into the stampede. She was already tired from chasing the zebras and she was hit about three times before successfully getting into it and reaching her other son. As she was about to get out of the stampede, she got hit by the panicked animals, thus dropping Mufasa back into the stampede. But the resourceful Mufasa dodged the zebras and successfully got out of the stampede, joining his brother, who was in shock.

”WHAT HAPPENED TO MOTHER?” , a horrified Taka yelled at his brother, looking at the stampede for any sight of her. Finally, they saw their mother getting out of the stampede, her body bleeding, before she fainted from the pain.

Chapter 3: First sights of sadness

All Taka could remember from that day was his father's shock and anger. Taka thought he had killed his mother with his insane idea to approach the zebra. That night, he cried so much that he ran out of tears. Fortunately, the great kings of the past pitied the young cub and gave it sleep. The next day, the lionesses arrived with a badly hurt Uru. King Ahadi immediately ordered to move her into the pride's den. When Taka heard that his mother was back, he was overjoyed. But he felt horrible when he saw her in that awful condition. Taka could feel that his father blamed it all to him. But his brother, Mufasa, was really confident that his mother would survive through it. Whenever Ahadi argued with Taka, Uru would protect her son, because she knew Taka never meant to hurt anyone.

The following days, the other cubs of the pride didn't approach Taka. They believed he had done it on purpose and made fun of him. The only cubs that would approach him were Sarafina and his brother, Mufasa. But still, Taka didn't feel like hanging out with them. He believed everything the other cubs said about him, and never attended his lessons. Poor Taka was jealous of his brother, but he never showed it.

”It's not fair! The other cubs never mess with him, while they keep bullying me when I'm close to them! They even call me names behind my back!”

This must have been his most common thought. He started seeing everyone as an enemy. He thought nobody cared about him. He could have easily solve his problem, since his father is a king. But Taka never thought about it. He'd mostly spend time by himself, close to the forbidden borders of the Pride Lands, where no cub would dare to follow him, not even his brother. But deep inside, he craved his brother. Taka wasn't born to hold grudges.

The mystery of the Elephant Graveyard

Taka hadn't completely lost the mischievous cub in him. Even after his exploration in the Grasslands, he still loved to go exploring. But now his heart was filled with sadness and jealously, so Taka would go exploring alone. What fascinated him the most? The Elephant Graveyard.

He was told that the Elephant Graveyard was a dreadful place; Skeletons of hundreds of elephant that have left their last breath in that dark valley made the atmosphere eerie and creepy. And that just wasn't enough; some of the exiled hyenas lived there, making the place more dangerous than it already was. His father had told him to never go there, and he really meant it. But Taka was really curious about the Elephant Graveyard.

One day, during his walks, he accidentally reached the northern border. That was due to him thinking a lot about his family during his walk. He didn't realize how far he had gone until he fell into the eerie valley. The Elephant Graveyard was exactly how they described it. Nobody was lying about it. Taka wanted to go back at first; but then he noticed a huge elephant skull that had something like an entrance in it. Curious cub as he was, he went to check it out. Taka examined the skull with great interest. That must have been like, the king of elephants! The skull was really old as well. Taka was about to go check out the inside of the skull as well, when he suddenly heard laughing behind him. He looked behind him... It was three hyena pups.

The first one was a female looked like the leader of the trio and it had a tuft on its head; the second one was a male looked like a normal hyena; and the third pup was an insane, crazy male. It had his tongue out and it had the creepiest laugh of the trio. The female pup finally spoke:

”You must be crazy to be around these parts!” , the female pup said.

”Yes, and that's because they're our parts, aren't they, Ed?” , the second hyena said.

The third hyena nodded and drooled a little while slightly laughing. The hyenas walked closer to Taka, their muzzles smiling evilly.

”Oh, yeah? I bet I can take you three on! You cannot beat anyone from the Royal Family! The Royal Family has the toughest lions!” , Taka said and smirked, getting an aggressive, yet a little playful stand. He slightly growled at the hyena trio.

The hyenas looked at him in doubt.

”How can a brat like you be part of the Royal Family? Are you Ahadi's heir?” , the female hyena asked.

”Not heir, just son. My father will most likely pick my ''perfect'' brother than me.” , Taka answered, almost sneering.

”Oh, so you're like an outcast? Then, you should come with us! We're outcasts as well, your father has exiled us.” , the second pup said with a playful tone in its voice.

”For real? Thank you! I've been really lonely the last few days, you're the first animals to actually ask me something like that!” , Taka said, excited. It was the first time in weeks that he felt loved like that.

”No problem! By the way, my name's Banzai, this is Shenzi, and the other guy is Ed, Shenzi's brother.” , the pup told the young prince.

The following days, Taka spent time in the Elephant Graveyard with his new friends. They were somewhat silly, but they accepted Taka for what he was. His friendship with the hyenas made him hate his father more than he did, because he believed it was unfair to exile them. But he didn't know in what trouble he was getting himself into...

[KiarasMate]

Yet another nice Fan Fic you've started writing here Peenut. ^^ I always enjoy reading other people's takes on Mufasa and Taka's past and I look forward to reading what happens next. ^^ Keep up the fantastic work my friend.

[KopsTheTerminator]

Thank you KM! I'll do my best on this story as well as the others.

[YFWE]

Cool start! Vaguely similar to a few other things I've read, but who's counting, right? ^^ I think this'll end up being a marvelous fanfic. Hope you'll keep at it!

[divsalley]

As KM said, it's always fun to read about Mufasa and Taka's cubhood! Would love to read your version! BTW, can you tell me how you linked all your previous fanfics here??? would love to know.. Thanks!!!

[KopsTheTerminator]

[KiarasMate]

Another nice chapter you wrote here Peenut. ^^ I can already see the resemblence from this event to the stampede that we know from the TLK movie and how Scar might learn something from this event. The only little qualm I have about the whole ordeal, is that if the cubs were on the open plains of The Grasslands, it's sort of difficult to imagine the zebra herd being large enough to cut off the cub's escape, aside from having them run away from the herd itself. I mean, in the stampede in the movie, the gourge is the reason why Simba has no choice but to run away from the wildebeest herd, but in this case, it seems like Taka and Muffy could have probably just ran off to one side, but still, it's just a minor gripe and I still really enjoyed the chapter nonetheless. Looking forward to reading more as you post it and keep up the fantastic work. ^^

[KopsTheTerminator]

Yeah, I noticed that too in the midway of completing the chapter, KM. :S

Anyway, here we go, time to start writing chapter 3.

[KopsTheTerminator]

Edit: Double post, please delete :S

[Azdgari]

This is great! Having never really thought about Mufasa's past, this is a lot of fun to read about. Great job! =]