descent, a fading burst of golden radiance against a rose-touched sky.

Back in the Brooklyn Zoo, Kopa and Strike were becoming fast friends at night. During the day, Kopa would just stare at the strange humans of all different shapes sizes and colors. He couldn't believe there could be so many different kinds of humans from a multitude of languages and backgrounds. Strike had told him all he knew of humans; that there were good humans... and bad humans. Strike had told him the bottom line; basically, Strike, and now Kopa, were attractions for humans to see, giving them the chance to view animals that they normally don't see everyday. Everyday, human would walk by and goggle at him from outside the enclosure, especially the cub humans. Despite all the excitement, Kopa could barely get to rest at night; he still had sleepless nights, thinking about his former home, and his beloved Vitani.

One night, Strike was busy eating his usual steak; the steak was a little colder than he liked, but food was food. As soon as he finished his supper, he heard a loud metallic banging near his cage. He stood up, alert, and strained his ears; he could make out a few human voices speaking. Strike could understand English-speaking humans well enough, so he decided to listen to their conversation for entertainment. "We're moving him out tomorrow." said a low, gruff voice.

"Where is he going?"

"To the Kansas City Zoo," The first voice said; Strike recognized that person as the janitor, as he had heard him speaking when he cleaned out his enclosure.

"Why does Kansas City want the lion?" the second voice asked.

"Kansas City has a good lion exhibit. They want to add more to it."

"Which lion again, Jasper?" the second voice asked.

Strike could see the janitor pointing to Kopa's cage. "That one."

Strike sighed; he'd just met Kopa a couple days ago! Now he was going to have to say goodbye...

Chapter 4 Kopas new adventure Kiara and Simba

"Hey kid; you awake?" Strike whispered to Kopa.

"Mhmm... why?" Kopa mumbled groggily.

"Well, kid; turns out you are leaving here to be transferred to the Kansas City zoo."

Kopa shot up like he's just lapped up a cup of espresso. "Where is that and why?" he said, a little shocked.

Strike sighed. "First of all, kid; I am not sure why humans do these things. There are many reasons: inventory, procreation or just plain transferring."

Kopa looked a little bit confused. "What do you mean by 'Procreation?"

Strike shuffled a little uneasily, wishing he wasn't giving this speech to a cub. "Well, kid... sometimes zoos need animals to mate so they can replenish the population... so they don't need to keep capturing new ones all the time."

Kopa's mouth dropped comically. "But... I only want to be with Vitani!"

Strike sighed sadly. "Kid, you're going to have to learn to leave the past behind."

Kopa slowly slumped to the ground, looking as glum as ever. "Strike, where is Kansas city?"

"Somewhere far west from here. Not as populated with humans as Brooklyn, but probably a lot less dense and spread out since it is further west. I'll bet your enclosure is much more spacious then it is here."

"Why?" Kopa asked, looking up from his misery.

Strike growled irritably, "Kid, you have so many questions; and I am too tired to answer them all. Go to sleep."

The next morning, Kopa awoke to see a trail of meat pieces. Kopa, nieve as ever, followed them... only to find himself in a steel cage. As he turned around, panicking, the cage door clanged shut behind him. Kopa looked up in fear to see two human men in white zoo suits smiling down at him. "You're going to Kansas now."

Kopa snarled, trying desperately to get out of the cage, when he felt something sharp hit his left flank. He starting losing motor control, and his vision slowly faded to darkness.

Kopa opened his eyes to see three other lions staring at him, next to a big rock wall. Kopa ignored them, and got up to look around.

Strike was right. This place was bigger; Much bigger. Kopa looked to the left and saw some zebra and giraffes, along with some animals he had seen at the Brooklyn zoo. Kopa looked back to the lions, and studied them: One had a big brown mane; Two others Kopa noticed were lionesses older than him, and there were three others. However, Kopa couldn't tell quite what gender they were; They looked like fully grown male adults, but they had no manes. Were they oversized lionesses?
 

Kopa started to laugh. "What are you laughing at?" One of the strange lions demanded angrily. "You… You.. look… funny," Kopa barely managed to say, choking in laughter.

"Why don't you shut it, you bratty little rube!" One of the strange lions shouted. Kopa kept laughing, until he felt a paw slap him across the muzzle. Kopa fell onto the ground, his muzzle stinging from the blow. "Relax Shengaza; He's just a kid. He doesn't understand anything," One of the strange lions scolded.

"Simba, you know you should be helping the boy from the blow he just took," One of the females said.

"Why don't you help him, Nala?" The strange lion shot back.

"Mufasa, you're closest; why don't you just help him out?" the lioness asked.

"Simba? Nala? Mufasa?" Kopa questioned. These lions certainly didn't look like the ones he knew; especially "evil" Simba. He had only heard stories of Mufasa. Kopa honestly had no idea where Kansas City was; was it in Africa? He could only assume.

"Yeah, that's us kid. What's your name?" Kopa swallowed, and got to his feet, opening his mouth to speak, "My name is Kopa." He said in what he thought was a friendly tone."

Chibari, one of the "tawny" lions, snorted. "Right; another preteen lion we need." he said.

"You got it, bro; this boy's not going to last long."

"What do you mean?" Kopa asked, getting a little scared.

"What they mean is that you got to obey the rules here... or you're dead." said the "Evil" Mufasa.

"Now lets get this straight Kofa- or whatever your name is; we are first to get all the food, and you get what scraps we leave you behind." "Evil" Simba said.

"Also, we get the toys to play with; you get nothing. You understand, Kofi?" "Evil" Mufasa explained cruelly.

Kopa was extremely offended. "Its Kopa, and I understand; but, can't you please share? I was a prince of my former home."

"Evil" Mufasa snorted derisively. "A prince, pfft! Should I bow, your majesty?" He asked mockingly. The other lions started to jeer at the exiled prince, as Kopa sank to the ground. He just wanted to go home!

Meanwhile, a dirty-blond haired teenager named Reid and his younger brother Brett walked into the zoo. "Why are we here?" Brett asked his brother curiously.

"Quiet! Mom says I got to spend time with ya, so I am doing that. Now be quiet." Reid muttered irritably.

"Why the zoo?"

Reid sighed in annoyance. "Oh, a wise guy, huh?" He lightly smacked his brother across the back of his head.

"What was that for?" Brett growled, poking Reid in the eye. Reid yelped in pain, before grabbing a baseball bat out of nowhere and whacking Brett sharply on the head, thus cuing a series of Three-Stooges-esque antics. "Dang it, Reid! All you had to was give me an answer! Now cut that out."  Reid pulls his brothers left ear. Woop woop woop goes Brett.

Reid regretfully released his brother, then noticed the sign above a nearby enclosure. "Ah! The lion exhibit; my favorite animal," Reid smiled and walked toward the entrance.

"Tigers are better; Shere Khan could kick Scar's butt anytime." Brett interjected smugly.

"I seem to recall Shere Khan lost to a little boy, while Scar killed off a main character." Reid countered smoothly.

"Shere Khan would beat Scar in a fight though; tigers always beat lions," Brett said, smiling.

"Shut up, ya moron!" Reid said, slapping his brother jokingly this time. They entered the lion exhibit to see the lions gathered around something... or someone.

"What's going on? Let me see!" Brett squealed, jumping up and down.

"Shut up and watch." Reid scolded. Reid saw a new lion, younger than the rest, getting into a fight with one of the larger lions.

"Look at 'em! Bite his head off!" Brett yelled, his sneakers still defying gravity. The new lion was beating the other lion rather easily; it was unbelievable, since the other lion was so much older than the new one. While the one Reid had seen before swung wildly, the new lion dodged all his attacks... until the rest of the lions joined in.

"Hey, that's enough!" a young woman in a zoo-keeper's suit came out of a door into the actual exhibit. The lions quieted down, but the new lion remained visibly agitated. "I said that's enough!" The lady yelled. The new lion ignored her, still advancing courageously on the older one he's been attacking. "This ought to teach you." The zookeeper said, taking out a large can of pepper spray. After a single spritz, The lion immediately laid down with a yelp of pain, lying next to the glass that surrounded the enclosure. "I don't have time for lions that disobey my