manners; plus she was never used to yelling so loud. She thought that if she added politeness to her command, everyone would feel more comfortable around her and they would respect her as a leader. As it turned out, they all began to listen again to what she had to say.

“I am fully aware of what they have been trained for;” Nala continued gently, “but you must remember that it was Zira who poisoned them against us. She was leading them and as her former pride they had to follow her orders. But they are now apart of us, or “one” with us. You all heard what my daughter said yesterday.”

Zira and Simba faced each other in the centre of the circle surrounded by both the Outsiders and Simba’s Pride. They had all stopped fighting each other to witness the fight between their leaders.

The two leaders locked each other in the eyes, looking very angry and ready to strike. They circled each other a couple of times to be in the right position for the first attack. Finally they both raised their paws with the claws exposed for the first strike; but just before they could touch each other, Kiara and Kovu jumped out from nowhere and right in-between Zira and Simba, blocking both their parents from making a move. Simba and Zira looked on in shock to see their children together.

“Kiara?” Simba remarked in surprise to his daughter, who had a stern look on her face as if telling her father ‘stop this right now!’.

“Kovu?!” Zira yelled in shock to her son, who was also wearing a warning expression on his face. “Move.” She warned sternly to him.

“Stand aside.” Simba stated in agreement to his daughter.

“Daddy, this has to stop.” Kiara said loudly so that the others could hear. Simba then looked perplexed at what his daughter just said.

“You’re even weaker than I thought.” Zira said angrily to her son, noticing Kovu’s succumbing to her enemies, the Pride Landers. “Get out of the way!”

“You will never hurt Kiara; or Simba!” Kovu warned to his mother, who at the same time was feeling enraged at what she had done to him in the past. “Not while I’m here.” Zira jumped back in outrage when she heard her own son stand up to her like this.

“Stay out of this.” Simba strictly told her daughter, seemingly desperate to get to Zira.

“A wise king once told me, ‘We are one’.” Kiara said slowly and easily. “I didn’t understand him then. Now I do.”

“But, they…” Simba began with uncertainty.

“Them? Us? Look at them: They are us.” Kiara replied, gesturing to the Outsiders. “What differences do you see? Aren’t we all apart of the Circle of Life?”

Simba looked at the Outsiders; whose evil glares changed to sudden realization when they started to see reason behind what Kiara had just said. They realized that they were only fighting against their own species and there was no difference whatsoever between them; and therefore they should be together as one. They also realized that this was all for avenging Scar’s death and taking control of the Pride Lands; when it then became pointless to them considering that both prides, or any other pride for that matter, could roam in any land together and work to help each other out; and that Scar’s death was Zira’s problem, not theirs.

“We all heard what she had said;” A New Breed lioness spoke up. Everyone turned to her to hear her message. “and she was right. We are apart of you all, and that war was pointless as we were only fighting amongst our own species. It was also a fact that Zira trained us to become killers with nothing but evil hearts; and I have to admit that for a moment we were not so sure about taking it from her. We did not entirely want this, but as her protégés at the time, we had to do exactly as we were told. But now we know where we stand, and we promise that it will remain that way.”

The New Breed followed every word that was said and some of them nodded in agreement. The Originals saw reason as well; and after the previous day’s events, they remembered that both prides had quickly put everything behind them.

“Therefore,” The New Breed lioness continued, “I wish to state that in no way are we going to keep up our goals to assassinate and wreak havoc on anyone. We vow that we only kill when we need to eat and we only fight in self-defense.”

The rest of the New Breed all murmured in agreement, confirming that they were in favor. The Originals looked on and nodded in approval as it was confirmed that both prides were still on the same side.

“Excellent.” Nala remarked, “I am pleased that we are able to co-exist with each other.” She then remembered the orders of the new training schedule that she was going to state to them all. “Now, this is how the training schedule will unfold: The New Breed will train the Originals in hunting and fighting every two days for several hours. The New Breed will show the Originals the techniques of sneaking up on the prey as well as their special tricks or strategies to get the better of them. You will also show them the correct strategies to outsmart opponents in fighting as well as proper defense techniques. You will all be training in separate pairs in various areas around the Pride Lands. The Originals will train as hard as they can until the New Breed decides when they are ready.” She then decided to add a safety measure. “Plus in the event that someone does get hurt during training, the session must stop immediately so that they may receive time to recover.”

The entire pride took this down very carefully so as to remember every single detail of the schedule. They all seemed to understand and they were willing to go along with it.

“Clear?” Nala asked them all.

“Yes, sire.” They answered simultaneously without disagreement.

“Good, then.” She replied with satisfaction. She then remembered everyone’s condition after the war. It was mostly the Originals that were suffering with minor lacerations and a few contusions; but a couple of the New Breed were also recovering from concussions. “Now I know that most of you are still hurting or wounded from yesterday’s battle;” Nala continued, “so I will let you all get some rest for a couple more days; and then when you are feeling in better condition, you will all start your training. And only those in healthier condition will do the hunting.”

“Yes, sire; thank you.” A couple of lionesses replied. Everyone else understood well, so they did not need to reply.

“That will be all.” Nala concluded. “I will leave you to rest.”

And with that said, Nala turned around and walked out through the den’s entrance, leaving the pride to their business. As she left, some of them began to talk amongst each other; most of it involving Zira’s possible return, but also the hunting and fighting training that would emerge at some point. But soon most of them lay back down to get some more rest for their wounds, and the den became quiet once again.

12

Nala would be treated to quite a pleasant surprise the moment that she stepped out of the den. Standing before her at the entrance was none other than Timon and Pumbaa; who were looking both slightly sad and excitable. Nala went over to them.

“Well hello, boys.” Nala remarked to them, “What are you two up to?”

“Oh, we were just hoping that you weren’t gonna eat us.” Pumbaa joked with a slight smart-alec look on his face. He and Timon started laughing at the funny side of the sarcasm, but Nala was very confused and did not get it.

“What?” She asked.

“Hey, don’t you remember the first time that we met?” Timon asked back.

That took Nala back to when she ran away from the Pride Lands towards the tropical east of Africa, where Timon and Pumbaa’s original home was located. As she stepped into their territory, she spotted Pumbaa and ran after him, hoping that she would get her supply of meat to keep her from going hungry. She chased him for a bit before he would be caught under a fallen tree root and surely he would be done for; but that would be cut short when Simba came to their aid and fought her off; but not before she pinned him. It was then that both Simba and Nala recognized each other and started playing around; and knowing at that point that Timon and Pumbaa were in fact Simba’s friends, she became gentle with them.

Nala then realized that both of them were referring to when she tried to eat them on first viewing, and she then got the joke.

“Oh! Yes, I remember.” Nala remarked with a small laugh of her own, which the two wisecrackers returned. “Very funny.” She then decided to bring up something else. “You know, Simba once said to me; ‘Timon and Pumbaa: You learn to love them’; and I have to be honest with you; You guys deserve to be loved. You may be slightly unorthodox in some ways, but we love you for your sense of humor. Plus you two are very open-hearted. So although you may be considered prey to most of us, having you guys around has been