A Change of Plans [PRIVATE: AC & The Whistlerify]

[AustralianChaos]

Backstory: Simba and Nala grow up in the Pridelands with two other friends, Tanga and Marini. When Scar kills Mufasa, things don't quite turn out the way Scar had planned, and he is forced to change his plans for the time being, as he tries to come up with a new way of becoming king...

Characters:
Simba: The Whistlerify
Nala: AustralianChaos
Tanga: AustralianChaos
Marini: The Whistlerify
Sarabi: AustralianChaos
Sarafina: The Whistlerify
Scar: AustralianChaos
Shenzi: The Whistlerify

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"Long live the king!"

Scar grinned maliciously at his brother as he spoke those four triumphant words, before he threw Mufasa's forepaws out from the rocks, watching in smug satisfaction as the king of the Pridelands fell into the gorge full of stampeding wildebeest, screaming all the way.

From off to the side, Scar could also hear another cry...desperate, high and panicking. His matted black mane waved slightly as he turned towards the sound, his dark-furred muzzle lifting in a slight smile as he recognised Simba's terrified cry to his father. One down, one to go, Scar thought without emotion as his padded silently along the gorge, looking for a way to get down to Mufasa's body.

As the stampede moved on, Scar though on how he was going to get rid of Simba. Despite everything he had done so far to become king of Pride Rock, and take the glory and power he so deserved, he doubted he could kill a young cub in cold blood.

As Scar found a way into the gorge, and slowly made his way towards where he knew Mufasa's body lay, his cunning mind quickly came up with a plan. He could not kill Simba in cold blood, but he could get someone else to do it for him. Pausing briefly, he turned back towards where he had entered the gorge, his cold green eyes focusing on the gap in the cliffs where he knew his favoured pawns, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, were waiting.

"Shenzi," he called quietly, not wanting to alert Simba to his presence just yet. "Get down here, now!"

Without waiting for an answer, Scar moved on, adding more details to his plan as he made his way to the bottom of the gorge, smiling as he thought of the power he would hold from this day onwards...

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"Whooooa!" Tanga breathed, awed as his large, blue eyes took in the amazing sight of the gorge he had just stumbled across. His golden yellow body shivered with excitement as he thought of the possible adventures he and his friends could have here.

Tanga was normally the quieter one of the group that included himself, Simba, Nala, and his closest friend of them all, Marini. But the three of them had been slowly getting him more enthusiastic about the adventures they had together, and Tanga knew that this gorge would get the others really excited.

"Rini!" he called, looking back over his shoulder, towards the small but thick collection of trees where his best friend was hiding. "Rini, come here, you've gotta see this!"

Simba and Nala are gonna be SO jealous that we found this place first! he thought enthusiastically. He knew that Scar had taken Simba away somwhere for an uncle-nephew day together, and Nala was currently spending the day under the close watch of her mother after the incident at the Elephant Graveyard last night. Although neither Tanga nor Marini had been there, both had heard more than enough stories about it to know that Nala was probably grounded, hence why she had not joined them.

But even as Tanga waited for Marini, he heard a distant, roaring scream...one that sounded an awful lot like Simba's dad, and king...Mufasa. "Huh?" Tanga exclaimed aloud as he turned his head, trying to figure out where the souce of the scream had come from. All he could see down below was a mass of charging wildebeest, stampeding through the narrow gorge, so he turned his gaze to the cliffs of the gorge...just in time to see Mufasa's body fall into the mass of charging animals.

For a brief moment, Tanga was stunned by what he had just seen. "Did...did you see that?" he asked Marini, although he never took his eyes off the spot where Mufasa had vanished into the stampede...he never noticed Scar standing where Mufasa had been struggling just seconds before.

But then Tanga noticed movement off to the side...turning his gaze that way, he saw, through the massive cloud of dust the wildebeest had kicked up, a small form making it's way down the cliffs towards where Mufasa had fallen...Simba.

"Simba!" Tanga cried, calling out to his friend even though he knew Simba could not hear him. He quickly turned back to Marini. "We've gotta help them!" he cried, even though he made no move to do anything...he was still a little shocked by everything he had just witnessed.

[TheWhistlerify]

(( forgive my short posts ))

Shenzi led her two brothers to Scar, making sure to keep quiet and stay out of SImba's field of you. "What is it Scar?" she asked waiting for orders

Marini was hiding behind some trees when Tanga yelled for her. She ran towards her friend and jumped onto his back, pushing him onto his stomach and pinning him. She and Tanga were really close friends, and she loved pinning him while he was not looking. "What do I need to..." she said, but then she saw the gorge by herself, "Wow!" she said in amazement, "This place is so cool!" her voice sounded as if she had slept for over a year and had alot of energy to waste that day. She was about to get off him to run and check it out when she witnessed what Tanga did. She didn't see Scar as well, but she was completely frozen by what they had just saw.
"Well what are you waiting for?" she asked noticing Tanga hadn't moved at all, "Come on!" she said and started running again

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga got to his feet, taking one last glance down at Simba. He was finally roused into action when he heard Simba's faint cries, calling for his dad. Using his small, almost scrawny size to his advantage, Tanga was able to catch up with Marini, quickly, before spotting a section of cliff they could climb down.

"This way!" he called to her, before hopping nimbly down the rocky steps, slowing to allow Marini to follow at her own pace. At one point he slipped, stumbling and almost losing his footing, but managed to gather himself just in time, flashing Marini a scared smile, before continuing on a little more cautiously.

When he reached the bottom of the gorge, he looked around, trying to find Simba in the gloom of the deep canyon. But the stampede had left a thick cloud of dust behind, and Tanga could not see anything.

Coughing as he breathed in the dusty air, he turned back to Marini, about to ask her if she could see any better than he could, before he heard Simba's voice once more, somewhere ahead of them, crying out for help. Tanga's eyes went wide as he looked at Marini, hearing the desperation in Simba's voice, and knowing what it meant.

Something had gone horribly wrong.

Swallowing nervously, fearing what could possibly be waiting for him, Tanga resisted the urge to simply walk away, his loyalty to his friends winning out as he gathered what breath he could in the dusty air, calling back to his friend.

"Simba! Simba, can you hear me?!"

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Scar turned to his three minions as he took a quick glance in Simba's direction, seeing through the dust the cub was far too busy trying to get Mufasa back up to notice them.

"Alright, you three," he said slowly and deliberately, making sure they understood every syllable. With the possible exception of Shenzi, the three hyenas before him could be a little slow most of the time, which made it difficult to get them to follow his plans. But this plan was simple.

"Now, we need to make this look like a tragic accident which got both the king and his son killed. Mufasa has been taken care of, but it's Simba that's the problem. I'm going to distract him, and send him into a trap...you three, on my signal, will kill him...and make sure you leave nothing behind. We cannot afford..."

Scar stopped as he heard Simba's cries for help unexpectedly answered, from somwhere on the other side of the gorge. "Get back!" he hissed, shoving the hyenas into a secluded cave near Mufasa's final resting place, cursing his bad luck!

There were not supposed to be any witnesses! his mind screamed as he sat back, clamping a paw over Ed's mouth to stop the deranged hyena making any unexpected noises as we waited, wondering who could possibly have interrupted his triumphant moment.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini followed Tanga down the cliff, looking at Simba and hearing his weak cries trying to wake his father up, the memory of seeing her mother's corps infront of her came back to her. When they got down Marini ran forward to Simba, who turned around as he heard Tanga's shout. Marini nearly cried when she saw the tear in his eye.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga stepped forward cautiously, seeing the silhouette of Mufasa behind Simba's form. He saw Marini run forward to Simba, and as she moved, Tanga also noticed the tears in Simba's eyes.

He found his voice, along with his body, shaking, as he spoke up cautiously. "Simba...Simba, what happened? Is Mufasa hurt?" He still had no idea that the body lying before the three of them no longer had any life in it, and thought Simba's tears and cries for help were because his father was hurt...he had taken a nasty fall, after all.

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Scar shook his head in dismay when he saw two of Simba's friends, Tanga and Marini, come out of the dust. Cubs, he thought venomously. My plans undone by two cubs!

He could sense the hyenas raring to go out and kill the three cubs right there and then, and actually considered letting them loose for a moment. But he realised how such a sudden spate of disappearances would look to the rest of the pride.

"No," he whispered, making sure his voice did not carry to the cubs. "Stay hidden...we can't afford to show ourselves!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba looked at Marini and Tanga, another tear leaving his eyes. "He's..." he said, his tone shaking as is he's about to start crying, "he's dead."
Marini's eyes widened at this, she walked over to Simba and hugged him close, "Simba, I'm so sorry..." she said, feeling like crying when she remembered her own mother as well

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga stared at Simba in open-mouthed shock as his friend shakily told of his father's fate. "No..." he breathed, looking between father and son, desperately trying to find some way of proving it wasn't true. "No, he...he can't be!"

Tanga actually walked up to Mufasa's still body, unknowingly copying Simba's actions from before as he pushed on the king's muzzle, trying to get him to wake up. Tanga had been abandoned as a cub, his parents leaving the Pridelands with their eldest son, declaring that they did not want a 'runt' like him in the family. Tanga had been very young then, but Mufasa had helped him get over the loss and betrayal, and Tanga had looked up to the powerful lion as both a king and a father figure.

"Mufasa?" Tanga choked as he gave the king another nudge, with his forehead, getting no response. "No...please..." His swimming eyes finally could not contain the tears any longer, and as the first tears ran down his cheeks, the horrible truth hit home for Tanga.

Mufasa, the great king of the Pridelands...was dead.

"No..." Tanga backed away from Mufasa, before staggering blindly back to his friends, embracing both of them as he sobbed softly, coming to grips with the fact that the king was dead.

"W-what are...we g-going to d-do?" he whispered softly, keeping his eyes tight shut as he continued to weep softly beside Simba and Marini, feeling completely lost and helpless in the moment.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini let go of Simba and looked at him and Tanga, "Let's get out of here." she said, "Nothing will get better if we stay here..." a tear rolled down her cheek.
Simba got up silently, waiting for Tanga to notice he and Marini were leaving, and then he began climbing out of the gorge, followed by Marini and Tanga

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga followed the other two out of the gorge mindlessly, barely aware of what he was doing. Mufasa...the king...was dead, killed by a rampaging stampede. It all just seemed so surreal to the young cub, like it was a nightmare he would wake up from at any moment.

About halfway up the gorge, he actually tested his theory by 'slipping' and digging his claws on his left forepaw into his right foreleg. He cried out from the pain, but the depressing scene before him did not fade, and he did not wake up. He looked back at Mufasa's body one last time, and realised this was very real.

The thought seemed to spur Tanga's mind back into gear, as he came out of his daze, wiping a paw across with wet eyes and cheeks. "We have to tell the others what happened," he said, his voice still shaky. "They have to know."

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Scar waited until the sounds of the cubs were distant, before cautiously emerging from his hiding place, glaring at the hiding hyenas to make them stay back.

He quickly confirmed that the cubs...including Simba...had left, before he started pacing, trying to make sense of what happened. But his mind kept coming back to one thing; Simba was still alive...his plan to take the Pridelands as his own had come to pieces!

Growling in frustration and rage, he slapped a loose rock with his paw, watching as it bounced down the gorge. "Darn it all!" he hissed furiously. "Stupid cubs can't keep their noses out of matters that aren't theirs!"

[TheWhistlerify]

SImba didn't say anything. Marini walked over to him, "I'll tell everyone if you don't want to..." she offered with her caring and kind tone.
"Thank you Rini..." SImba said with a shaky tone and kept walking, thinking on how 10 minutes ago he was about to havea wonderful surprise from his no longer alive father.