was happy that his father was doing well with the great kings of the past. Nala could not feel his presence like Simba because she did not have as keen a bond with Mufasa, but she still loved him like a father and king. The animals soon calmed and traveled the area, celebrating the birthday of their future king, and Rafiki held the young prince to his parents, who nuzzled him, happy that he was healthy and alive.
Standing to the side, watching the happy royal family, were Simba's friends and old caregivers, Timon and Pumba.
"Ahh, Pumba, look at that little guy." Timon said, trying to conceal his giddyness. "A chip off the old block! And ya've gotta know who's gonna raise him!"
"His parents?" Pumba figured, thinking that was a very silly question for Timon to ask.
"Ok, sure, get technical! But who's gonna teach him the REALLY important stuff!" Timon jumped from Pumba's back and landed on the ground. "Like how to belch! And dig for grubs!" He exclaimed, burping between sentences. "I'm tellin' ya, buddy, it's gonna be like old times: You, me, and the little guy!"
In the evening, after the presentation of Kopa, Rafiki returned to his big hollow tree to draw out the events of the day. He held a cracked fruit in his hands like a pallet and painted Prince Kopa onto the walls of the tree's trunk with his stubby thumbs and long narrow singers.
"Oh, Mufasa," Rafiki said out loud. "Such a day! Prince Kopa's birth..." He smiled as he continued to paint a large circle around Kopa's "portrait". "Another circle of life is complete and the pridelands' future is once again secure." A strong wind blew, sounding very much like a lion's roar in the distance, and distorted the circle around Kopa. "Ahh! Stop, stop, stop!" Rafiki cried. "Mufasa, what are you doing? The circle is broken now! Why must you..." Rafiki looked again at his painting. The broken circle and taken on the form of another lion, but it's identity was unknown. "Hmm...there is trouble in the pridelands." Rafiki figured. "There is another cub? But where...could this be?" Rafiki thought harder on where on earth this other cub could be. He did not know of many other cubs outside of the kingdom. Then he realized that not too long ago, Zira was banished from the pridelands and was pregnant with a cub at the time. The cub must have already been born by now. "...In the outlands."
In the outlands, a familiar young brown cub was stalking a bug, one of the only animals that inhabited his home. He peeked out from behind his hiding spot, leapt and caught the bug in his paws. He gently opened his paws. He had not killed the bug, it was actually kind of cute to him. He chuckled to himself as the bug's transparent wings flickered across his palms and flew away.
"Kovu!"
The cub was startled and shrinked back at the loud call of his name.
"Don't let it go!" Zira, who had called Kovu, snatched the bug in midair and crushed it into the hard ground. "What's the matter with you?!" Zira exclaimed, getting nose to nose with the little cub.
"But mother, he wasn't hurting anyone!" Kovu cried, upset that she had crushed his bug.
"There is no room for weakness here, my son!" she told him, then in a sudden change of mood, gently wrapped her arm around her child. "Remember, Scar was your father and even though you are the youngest of my children, he chose you to become the next king."
"But--" Kovu started.
"When you rule, we will no longer be forced to live in these..." Zira's voice raised into anger and frustration and she began to swing her arm at the bugs flying through the air. "Dry! Barren! Filthy! Disgusting! Termite-infested OUTLANDS!" Zira had hated living in the termite hills and she cursed Simba for it every day and every night. Kovu looked down in sadness, very confused as to why Zira hated their home so much. It was all he ever knew, and he couldn't ask for more.
"Mother! Mother! Mother!" cried two voices, one male and one female. It was Kovu's older siblings Vitani and Nuka. "We were there! In the pridelands! We saw everything! We saw the whole thing! We saw Simba's cub!" They announced to Zira in unisen.
"What?" Zira's attention was towards her daughter, whom she trusted more than her bouncy eldest son. "Vitani, what did you see?"
"Simba's new cub is a boy!" she replied.
"A boy!" Zira laughed. "Oh, Scar, my beloved, did you hear that? This couldn't be more perfect!"
"...Who's she talkin' to?" Nuka asked Vitani.
"Shh! Scar," she whispered. The two cubs weren't offspring of Scar, so they were very accustomed to just calling him by his name. Even though their mother preferred they called him "father" (which they did not mind.) Scar himself said he did not want to be known as father, but as King.
"Where? Where!" Nuka gasped in excitement.
"Scar's DEAD, genious." Vitani scoffed.
"Yes!" Zira growled. "Because of Simba! If not for him, Scar would still be king! And I, Zira, his loving, devoted queen..." She continued in a dreamy state.
"Y'know, speaking of 'kings' I was thinking, since I'm the OLDEST, maybe I should be king!" Nuka suggested in a hopeful way.
"Don't be a fool, Nuka!" Zira scolded.
"Ahahaha! Just a thought," Nuka fake laughed.
"Kovu is the chosen one. We must fulfill Scar's dying wish, and train Kovu to become king."
"Oh! Uh, yeah, oh, yeah! I can do that!" he replied. Zira took her leave before her eldest son could finish speaking and took Kovu to put him to sleep. Nuka got up from his position and sighed. Vitani approached him.
"She's never going to give you a chance to be king, you know that, right?" she said, kind of pitying her brother.
"Yeah, I know..." he said. "It's all because I angered Scar."
"Well, you're a natural klutz, he just never got ya." Vitani tried cheering him up a little bit. Even though she thought of her brother as quite the idiot, she still cared about him. She felt bad for him when he was a cub though. Their mother loved Scar and so they all looked up to him. Nuka would try so hard as a cub to impress Scar, but his attempts would never work. The last time he tried impressng Scar was when he tried to show how ferocious he could be (this was when they were younger) Nuka jumped in front of Scar a little too late and made the older lion fall down some rocks. Scar punished Nuka after that and from that day on, Zira neglected her poor son out of embarrassment. There really was nothing Vitani could do about it, and Kovu was not even born then, and now his mane had just barely begun to grow, so he didn't know how to help.
Kopa grew older as a very curious cub. As soon as he could walk, he explored every corner of his home. He would always listen in on the grown-up lions' conversations. Even though when he was younger, he couldn't really understand them. But as soon as he could talk, he asked many questions. Rafiki loved this trait about him and knew that he would grow up to be a very wise king. Kopa's constant yearning for knowledge was just as big as his constant yearning for fun. Although he grew into quite the gentleman, he enjoyed hanging out with uncle Timon and Pumba. Whenever he was hungry, he'd just go bug hunting with the two until it was time to eat meat. Kopa liked eating bugs; they were "slimey, yet satisfying." His mother never liked him to eat bugs, but he would always eat them whenever she wasn't around. His father didn't care because he was practically raised on bugs.
The young cub was playing with his fellow lion friends and showing off his mane, which had grown in to a small brown tuft of fur on his head, when their mothers returned from a hunt they were on. They hadn't returned with food unfortunately and were asked why by Simba.
"The Outlanders interrupted our hunt." Kopa's grandmother Sarabi, explained. "They took our kill from us and ran off like a pack of cowardly hyenas. And it was pointless to chase after them."
"I thought they were exiled from the pridelands?" Sarafina asked out loud.
"They were," Simba replied. "But you're right, if they returned to the outlands, there really is no point in punishing them for returning. I don't want to endanger anyone."
"Endanger?" Kopa thought to himself. "Why would anyone be in any danger? What were Outlanders anyway?" Kopa tried asking his Dad, but he just told him he would understand once he was older. Kopa shrugged, a bit irritated at the answer he received. That was okay, though, because if his father wouldn't give him an answer his mother would.
"Ask your father," she replied. Kopa growled in frustration and asked both of his grandmothers. Grandma Sarabi just said they were very ruthless creatures and Grandma Sarafina just said one could not turn their backs on them. Rafiki was no where to be found. Still not satisfied with his answers, he decided to ask his cub friends Kala and her twin brother Kyla (They were Kula's children) If they knew what Outlanders were. Kala had a little crush on Kopa and he knew, but pretended not to because he wasn't interested in girls at his age. Kopa approached Kala, who was pinning her brother to the ground in a playful fashion.
"Hey, guys," Kopa greeted. They responded. "Do you guys know what an Outlander is?"
"I dont," Kyla said, trying to free himself from his sister's grip.
"I know!" Kala exclaimed. "I heard they're terrible
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