forward…and…

SNAP!

Everyone jumped as a branch on the tree above them snapped, and Zara fell, yelling as she toppled down and splashed into the pond, soaking everyone. The frogs yelped and jumped back into the pond.

“Nice work, Zara, look what you did!” Said Koda agitatedly, leaping to the edge of the pond as Zara surfaced, spitting out water. 

 “Oh come on, I just stepped on a slightly thinner branch!” groaned Zara, swimming back to shore.

“Couldn’t even climb a tree properly?” snickered Tiza, and they all burst out laughing.

“Very funny (!)” Said Zara sarcastically, coming out of the water and shaking her wet sides.

“Are you ok?” asked Chaka, even though he was giggling himself.

“I’m fine, ok? But it wasn’t funny!”

“No, you’re right,” Said Koda, forcing on a serious face. “It was VERY funny!” And everyone burst out into fits of laughter again. Even Zara smiled in spite of herself, but she wasn’t letting him get away that easily.

She took him by surprise and knocked him straight into the water!

“HEY!” He yelled, pulling her down too. They then splashed each other happily in the pond, and the other three laughed and jumped in themselves.

Soon they all got hungry and crawled out of the pond, beginning their walk back home. The hunting group should have come back by now, and hopefully they were successful.

“What was that?” asked Zara, pausing suddenly and looking hard at a clump of trees, her ears twitching.

“I’m sure it was just a snapping branch. Maybe we should go and have a look; a lost cub may have fallen out!” chuckled Tiza, walking on with her cousin. In a second she was leapt on by Zara, and the two tumbled on together, pinning each other down playfully. The rest joined in too, and Chaka found himself against Koda. But Koda was older than him, and already had a tuft of mane growing on his head, and pinned him down easily.

Without noticing, they all tumbled through the bushes and down into a ditch, where they lay in a heap on top of each other.

“Oof, get off me!” Came a muffled voice from somewhere underneath. They all got up and began to climb up. Chaka may not be good at fighting, but he loved climbing, and quickly got to the top. But just as he parted the bushes, he saw something that made him freeze in surprise and fear.

“What is it?” asked Shana, getting up next to him.

“Shhh!” he whispered. “Look!”

They peered out to see a lion with golden fur and a red-ish brown mane. They could have mistaken him for Simba at first, but with a closer look they saw that the lion looked quite different. Infact, as the rest of the cubs poked their heads out a bit and stared, they realised that they had never seen this lion before, and a sudden fear took place inside them. After a while, he padded away, getting lost amongst the trees and bushes.

“Told you I’d heard something!” whispered Zara, but fell quiet again, thinking about what this all meant. All of the cubs had been told that unknown lions could be dangerous, and that they had to tell someone in the pride if they saw one.

After a while, the cubs crept out and then, once they were sure that the lion was gone, ran straight for Pride Rock. They were running so fast that they crashed straight into Tama and Kula, both friends of Nala since cubhood.

“There you are! Where were you?” said Kula, smiling at the sight of the cubs.

“At the pond, mama!” said Shana, relieved to see them. “But we’re not that late, why were you looking for us?”

“Well…” smiled Tama, turning to Chaka. “I’ve got some good news; you’re a big brother now, Chaka!”

For a moment, Chaka stood there, taking in this information as the other cubs stared at him. Then he jumped up. “A big brother?! Wow!! Why didn’t anyone tell me before?!” he cheered, as his friends congratulated him.

“Your parents wanted it to be a surprise.” Beamed Kula, though she and Tama knew that it was also because they didn’t want another disappointment, a sadness for the two cubs that died at birth still hung around. “Do you want to see them then?” she asked, starting to walk towards Pride Rock.

“Alright!” Said Chaka excitedly, running ahead of them with the other cubs.

As soon as they reached Pride Rock, Timira, who had been waiting outside the cave for them, bounded forward.

“Mum!” She yelled, coming up to Tama and nuzzling her. “They’re two girls! They’re beautiful! Come inside!”

This time the scene in the cave was as it should have been: the two proud parents and grandparents gazing at the new-borns, with the rest of the pride forming a circle around them, including Timon and Pumbaa, who were soaking Zazu with tears of happiness. Chaka bounded straight to them.

“Mummy! Daddy!”

“There you are, Chaka! Come and look at your sisters!” smiled Kiara, licking the tiny cubs. As the new arrivals looked at the cubs and wondered over names joyfully, Vitani came up to her half-brother.

“Congratulations Kovu, you’ve finally got some girls in your family!” She said, and Kovu answered with a smile, then asked Kiara something.

“So what are their names?”

Kiara beamed.  “I’d like to call this one Arina, but what about this one?” She licked the other cub, that had a darker pelt than its siblings.

“Hmm…” Kovu wondered.

“What about Kazia?” asked Chaka, looking up at them with his green eyes.

“Kazia…I like it.”

“Kazia it is then.”

Chaka suddenly remembered another newcomer he had seen earlier.

“Grandpa?”

“Hm?”

“We saw a strange lion earlier on, he looked like you! Are there anymore lions in the Pridelands?”

Simba frowned. “No, are you sure you saw one?”

“Yeah, we saw him too, sir!” said Koda.

Simba looked towards Kovu. He thought that a rogue in the Pridelands was a great opportunity to train him to be ruler. “I’ll look around later, do you want to come, Kovu?” He knew that he may want to spend more time with his family at the moment.

Kovu shrugged. “Fine, ok.”

Not yet though, thought Simba, bending down to see the cubs again. They need to enjoy their family first. After all, their first time didn’t go exactly to plan.

Chapter 3:

Two days later, Simba and Kovu went for a patrol around the Prideland borders, searching for the lion that the cubs had seen. After a few hours of searching, they stopped at a large tree.

“There’s no sign of any lion, do you think that Chaka made a mistake?” Asked Kovu, but Simba shook his head.

“No, the other cubs saw a lion too. We should call it a day.”

“Ok then, we’ll search again tomorrow.”

“No, let him go in peace. We’ll tell the animals to inform us if they see anyone”

So after a brief rest, the two lions got up and informed the animals of the possibility of a rogue.  Quite a lot of them were uneasy around Kovu for obvious reasons, and Simba had to reassure the dark lion of their coming to trust him in the future.

There were no more sightings of any lions, so the event was forgotten. Kazia and Arina grew into sturdy cubs, and Chaka spent more time playing and looking after them. Arina was very playful and bright, always asking questions and willing to learn more, while Kazia was quiet and hot-tempered, often moaning if Chaka or Arina pounced on her. Koda and company had begun their climb into adolescence. Koda and Zara had become particularly good friends.

Kovu and Kiara continued their training to be king and queen, but Simba always made sure they had time to spend with their cubs. Nala was a very good grandmother, even Kazia smiled and went into a playful mood when out with her.

Many happy times passed, but one day, as Kiara was playing with Arina and Chaka, (Kazia was licking herself further off on a rock) Vitani sprinted up Pride Rock and back down again.

“Hey Vitani, what’s the rush?” asked Kiara, slightly concerned by her frantic eyes.

“Have you seen Simba and Kovu?” She asked quickly, looking around.

“They went out together again, why?”

“We saw three lions near the waterhole! Which way did they go?”                      

Kiara looked stunned, three lions? What were they doing here? Was one of them the lion they had searched for months ago? She shook herself before answering. “Th-That way, towards the large hollow tree.”

“Thanks,” Rasped Vitani before bolting off that way.

“Anything I could do to help?” yelled Kiara after her.

“Alert the others!” shouted Vitani, running through the plain.

“I’ll get the cubs back too!”

As soon as Vitani was out of sight, Kiara dashed around Pride Rock to alert the other lionesses. She, Timira, Nala and a couple of lionesses went after Vitani to join Simba and Kovu, while others stayed at Pride Rock with Chaka, Kazia and Arina or went searching for the other cubs.

When they found Vitani, she had just finished telling Simba and Kovu about the rogues, and they all started towards the waterhole. With the help of some animal witnesses, they found the tracks of the lions, and

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