loudly to scare a herd of antelope near the pool!" He began to pant as he talked quickly.
His mother let out a polite chuckle. "I'm sure he does something like that." To tell you the truth, she knew what he really did; she just didn't feel like saying it to Kopa. "Maybe one day when you're a little older, he'll take you with him."
His face glowed. "Yeah! Mom, I'm going outside to play!" the prince exclaimed happily.
"Make sure you don't follow your father, Kopa," Nala reminded him. "You know he's busy with his own work, but he'll be back by dinner time. And you'll be back by then, okay?"
"All right, I will. Thanks, Mom!" her son ran to the exit of the royal chamber and stopped, turning back to smile at his resting mother. "Have a nice nap, Mother." And he continued to run from Pride Rock into the Pridelands.
He ran and rolled in the grass around, laughing and being happy. Until he rolled into something furry. With pale yellow legs and toes. He jumped up and shrieked in surprise, as he saw two young cubs in front of him. The duo looked alike, for they were twins, but Kopa had never seen them before. The two female cubs stared at him with glaring eyes, and gave him a smirk. Kopa smiled back as they began to introduce themselves, bowing to him.
nd more often. Nala, his loving mother, continued to tell her young son that his father was too busy taking care of other problems, kingdom problems. Kopa would sulk, time after time, angry by the fact that his father never had time for his problems.
"Mom? Can I go see where Dad's going?" An excited Kopa asked his mother one afternoon after his father had left Pride Rock. This sounded like all of the other days that Kopa had been curious about the King's duties. "Huh, can I, can I, can I? Pleeeeease?"
"Why did you bow to me?" Kopa questioned them. "You're lions! Dad says other creatures have to bow to us, but not lions. Lift your heads, okay?"
"Oh, we're sorry, young prince. It seems we have frightened you." One cub, who happened to be older, said, finishing her bow.
"Yes, we did not know of His Highness's rules." The other said, lowing her big ears. "We are different creatures to him. He doesn't like us much."
"Oh. I didn't know." Kopa said, nuzzling the two in forgiveness. "My dad never tells me much, since he's so busy with the kingdom's problems and all . . ."
"And torturing our pride as well," The eldest cub completed the prince's sentence. "He fancies himself by telling other animals to destroy our home, making us move again and again. It's totally frustrating."
"That's awful!" Kopa said, shocked by what they told him. "My father wouldn't do that. He's the king . . . Maybe I'll ask him about it . . ."
"NO!" the cubs said in unison. "You can't let him know that you know about us!"
"Huh?"
"We are ignored in Prideland society. It would not be good if word got loose that you hang with our kind." The younger lion stated. "Especially since you are the future king, Prince Kopa."
"Okay, so I won't tell him anything. So what? That doesn't mean we can't play, right?" Kopa asked.
They all paused in silence, and then bursted into giggles. "Let's play!" The three friends ran through the Pridelands, now without a care in the world.
Beknownt to the young lions, Rafiki was watching the playful heir chase and play tag with his new companions.
"Oh, do you see what I see, Mufasa? Prince Kopa plays with two of "them" Is this exactly best for the kingdom?" A breath of calming wind blew onto the baboon. "But what if the king knew about this? Kopa would be punished! We don't want that." Another breeze followed his comment. The monkey let out a sigh. "All right, all right. I'll leave this alone. But I still see something wrong with this. Something in the future is bound to happen . . . and it doesn't look like it's a good thing. Evil will be born soon."
Part Three: Misunderstanding
The times had passed, the seasons changed, and the young prince was now a year old. His mane had now grown in, making him look more of a younger version of his grandfather. He was still quite difficult to control, for he wished to see the land outside of the Pridelands. He felt trapped, almost like a caged bird; he wanted to be free to do whatever he wanted, without the eyes of the kingdom always watching his every move.
This warm morning was to be a special one for the prince: Kopa was going to spend time with his father as he dealt with kingdom matters and animal arguments. After a year of waiting, he was going to have the chance to ask questions about ruling, since King Simba was preparing his son for the day when he would do this himself.
Well, that was what he had originally had planned anyway. Simba did not know what his son truly wanted though. He was hoping that his discussion with Kopa would help him learn things that he never learned when he was a cub. But just before the mighty king was able to ask his son what he wanted in life, a herd of wildebeest rapidly stampeded between them, causing Kopa to separated from his father. Kopa ran from the stampeding, only to be going into the Outlands, the place where a pride of rogue lions had recently been exiled to by Simba's orders. Kopa's father had never told him why they were sent away from the safety of the Pridelands; he had grown rather fond of their company over the couple of times that he had run into them as a cub, but other than that, he didn't see anything wrong with them at all.
He didn't get to run too far into the dark and gloomy wasteland, for his shoulder ached and was bleeding, which was probably caused by a running wildebeest from the stampede. A couple of Outland lionesses came to him - they saw that the young lion was Kopa, who they had shortly befriended as cubs. He was surprised that they recognized him after all this time and greeted them kindly as they led him to one of the close-by watering holes between the Outlands and the Pridelands. The two females were afraid to cross the border into the sun-kissed savannah, but Kopa gave them permission to follow him so they could help clean his wound on his shoulder.
Just as the Outland duo was appling water on the wound, King Simba charged into the scene with a loud roar, outraged by what he saw. Kopa tried to explain the situation to his father and introduce his childhood friends that were helping him, but to no avail. The king could not allow himself to hear this: his son was becoming friends with the followers of his former enemy. Zazu also arrived to the scene, bringing Nala with him; both of them were as shocked as the king was.
"Get away from them, Kopa!" Simba angrily ordered. "They are not friends, they are against us!"
"Why?" Kopa asked. "Why are they against us then?" There was a long silence as the king and his son stared each other down. "Well? Why won't you tell me anything? Wait . . . maybe it's not us, . . . but maybe it's you! You're the cause of this, aren't you?"
"Kopa!" Nala gasped by her son's spoken words. "You know better than to speak to your father like that. He is the king."
Simba was angry by his own son's questions. "Stop talking, both of you!" Simba roared loudly, scaring the two Outlander lionesses to their side of the border. Nala let out a gasp of shock and silently stood near Zazu, who was perched on a nearby rock. The enraged ruler then turned to his son."This is none of your concern, Kopa. You shall not speak of this again, do you hear me? And no more running into the Outlands; it is not part of our land, so you are forbidden, as all of us are!"
"No . . . no, I won't." Kopa calmed down, with tears beginning to swell in his eyes. "Not until you tell me the truth that you have been keeping from me."
Simba let out a sigh, told Zazu and Nala to return back to Pride Rock while he talked to his son in private. Kopa was still upset by the way his father was acting to him over his friends. After the queen and their flying servant left to vicinity, Simba sat with his son; both were calmer than they were just minutes prior, yet on the inside, Kopa and Simba were hurt by the comments they had said to each other. Simba began to explain the background of his problem with the Outlanders - mainly the fact that they were upset with Simba because he had defeated their leader and uncle, Scar.
"I did it to save our kingdom and to claim my birthright from him." Simba explained to Kopa. "It belonged to my father, who passed it to me and now, I'm passing it to you, son."
"No!" Kopa answered. "I don't want to follow in your steps! I don't want you to exclude any creature from our land, just because you hate them!"
Simba was shocked by his son's response."No? I've given you a future, a future that's best for you!"
"No, Father. That is the future that you think is best for me. You have no idea what I want." Kopa said, slowly raising his voice so his father could hear every word that came out of his mouth. "I want . . . I want to be free of this title of 'future king'. This doesn't belong to me anymore."
"Oh? So you can be with your friends, Kopa? And live the life that you wish?" The king stated, upset that
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