The Lion King:

The Legend Continues

By Asante

Note: The following is the recommended reading order of my fan fiction novels and short stories:

The Lion King: A Father's Concern (short story)

The Lion King: Sarafina (short story)

The Lion King: Mheetu (short story)

The Lion King III: The Lost Prince (book)

The Lion King IV: The Rogue Pride (book)

The Lion King: Responsibilities (short story)

The Lion King V: Man Comes to the Pride Lands (book)

The Lion King VI: Fall of Man (book)

You can find all my fan fictions on my profile page. Technically, Responsibilities takes place before The Lost Prince but I recommend reading Responsibilities last and then Man Comes to the Pride Lands because Responsibilities is a midquel of Mheetu with a final section that takes place after The Rogue Pride, so it will probably spoil some of the plot for Mheetu, The Lost Prince, and The Rogue Pride.

Prologue

As was done many times before, and many times would it be done in the future, all the animals were summoned by an ethereal call to Pride Rock, where they gathered and watched as Rafiki, the king's advisor, carried a newborn cub to the promontory. Lifting the cub above the throne, the animals rejoiced to see Simba and Nala's third child.

Rafiki returned to the base of Pride Rock with his precious cargo, holding the cub out for the royal family to see. Simba and Nala came forward to retrieve their youngest, who was frowning in displeasure over the juice Rafiki had ceremonially dabbed on its forehead.

The rest of the royal family stood a few feet away. Sarabi, Sarafina, and Mheetu smiled warmly at the new addition to the family while Kopa, Kiara, and Kovu regarded the new bundle uncertainly, wondering how this would affect the line to the throne.

"Hey, maybe I can dump this whole king thing on the new kid," Kopa suggested.

Kiara shook her head. "You're the oldest, so the kingship automatically falls to you," she explained.

Kopa rolled his eyes. "Crap," he sighed.

"Kopa, Kiara, come and meet your younger brother," Simba called.

Obeying their father, Kopa and Kiara walked up to inspect the cub, who stared at them with the same amount of uncertainty. The cub was beige colored like Nala, though slightly darker than its mother, and had reddish-brown eyes similar to the color of Simba's eyes.

"Oh, he's so cute," Kiara said, an eye-twinkling smile spreading across her face. "What's his name?"

"Asante," Nala replied.

"That's so perfect!" Kiara said. "Hi there. Hi there, wittle baby-boo…" At this point, Kiara's speech deteriorated into baby talk.

"Rafiki, I think we need an exorcism over here," Kopa said to the monkey holding his brother. "Kiara's speaking in tongues."

"Let us see," Timon demanded, hurrying up with Pumbaa. "Is it a boy? It is! It's a boy!"

"And he's so cute!" Pumbaa declared.

"I know, isn't he?" Kiara giggled.

"Never mind the cute thing," Timon said. "Now we have a little guy who won't abandon us for something silly like a crown."

"Yes, a silly crown," Simba mumbled sarcastically.

"I think they may have a point," Kopa noted, earning a dirty look from his father.

"Kovu," Kiara called. "Come over here and meet Asante."

"Uh, I'm good over here, thanks," Kovu replied, keeping his distance.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Kopa called. "You're not scared of a cub, are you?"

"No," Kovu protested.

"Then come over here."

Kovu sighed and walked over to his wife and her family. He stared at Kiara's younger brother and frowned. The cub stared back at him and grinned.

"See," Kiara cooed. "He likes you."

Kovu smiled a little. "I guess he is kind of cute." He reached out to pet the cub and Asante bit down on one of Kovu's toes.

Everyone in the crowd around Pride Rock heard Kovu's yelp of pain.

"Wuss," Kopa mumbled.

The Lion King IV:

The Rogue Pride

Chapter 1

Four years previously, Kiara was born. That day was one of the few memories that Kopa was able to recover since his return to the Pride Lands. He recalled the animals gathering on that day the same as they did for Asante – and the same as they did for him, though that memory was too far back for him to remember even without his amnesia. He recalled watching from the base of Pride Rock while his parents and Rafiki presented his sister to the kingdom, curious about the strange juice that Rafiki dabbed on Kiara's forehead. Timon and Pumbaa stood off to the side, smiling at the familial scene.

"Ah, Pumbaa, look at that little guy," Timon declared, referring to the cub Rafiki held. "A chip off the old block. And you got to know who's gonna raise him."

"His parents?" Pumbaa suggested.

"Okay, sure, get technical but who's gonna teach him the really important stuff, like how to belch" – Timon released a loud burp to demonstrate – "and dig for grubs." The meerkat jumped off Pumbaa's head and landed beside the king and his family. "I'm telling you, Buddy, it's gonna be like old times – you, me, and the little guy."

Rafiki chuckled knowingly. "It is a girl," the monkey explained.

"Girl," Timon corrected himself.

After a split second, Timon and Pumbaa spun to face each other and let out a unified exclamation of horror. "Girl!" they both cried before swooning backwards.

Kopa winced as Timon and Pumbaa hit the ground. Seeing that the ceremony was over, he ran up the promontory to stand before his parents.

"A girl?" Timon moaned. "It can't be a girl!"

"At least we have Kopa," Pumbaa said, sitting up. "He's a boy – right?"

Rafiki nodded.

"He's a boy," Pumbaa repeated happily.

"Don't get me wrong," Timon sighed, sitting up. "I can't get enough of Kopa – but he's going to be king someday, just like his dad – which means he'll leave us behind just like Simba did!"

"I didn't leave you two behind," Simba protested.

"You never hang out with us anymore!" Timon bemoaned. "No belching or grubs – not in half a year since you took down your uncle. And Kopa's going to do the exact same thing. This new kid was supposed to be a permanent addition to our fraternity – and she's a girl!"

Nala rolled her eyes. "So we're going to make this all about you two?" she grumbled. "What a pleasant change to our routine."

"Hey, no one likes a sarcastic queen, Lady!"

Kopa stared at the light gold cub cradled in Rafiki's arms. "What's her name?" he asked.

"Her name's Kiara," Simba replied.

The prince, nearing four months and starting to show a tiny mohawk of mane, stared at his newborn sister, who returned his gaze. For an infant, Kiara had an unusually focused stare, which made Kopa uncomfortable. Suddenly, a smile spread across Kiara's cheeks and she reached out her paws to touch Kopa's face. Kopa felt the tiny paws tickle his nose and smiled.

"As her older brother, you need to take real good care of her. You understand, Kopa?"

"Yes, Dad."

Kopa moved closer and licked Kiara's face, the newborn mewling happily and hugging Kopa's face with her tiny forelimbs. As Kopa let his sister hold him, he looked out into the crowd of animals and saw two young lions sneaking away. One was a skinny adolescent male with mangy fur and a spindly tuft of black mane. The other was a young lioness cub around the same size as Kopa.

"What are you looking at, Son?" Simba asked.

Kopa glanced at his father and then back to the crowd but the two young lions were gone.

"Nothing," Kopa replied.

Later that day, Rafiki was joyfully working on a new drawing in his baobab tree, sketching a colorful picture of Kiara while laughing eccentrically to himself. "Ah Kiara," he sighed.

Similar pictures could be found all throughout the branches of the tree, including a sketch of Simba, Kopa, and even an older pair of drawings of Mufasa and Scar.

A gust of wind blew through Rafiki's home, rustling the monkey's white mane. "Oh, Mufasa," he greeted happily, "such a day this has been! Princess Kiara's birth – another circle of life is complete," to this, Rafiki drew a circle around Kiara's picture. "And the Pride's future is once again secure."

As if disagreeing, the wind blew more harshly and brushed away most of the circle, the colored dust accumulating on the wall in the rough shape of another lion.

"Ah stop it, stop it," Rafiki cried. "Mufasa, look what you are doing. The circle is broken now, why do you…" Rafiki trailed off as a look of understanding passed over his aged face. "There is trouble in the Pride Lands." Finally taking notice of the strange lion-shaped smudge, Rafiki whispered, "There is another cub?" He pondered this and gazed at the strange omen. "Where could this be?"

Mufasa's spectral voice whispered the answer into Rafiki's ear.

"In the Outlands!" the shaman gasped.

Another gust of wind brought Rafiki's attention to a different wall ornamented with the image of Kopa.

Rafiki listened to the wind for a moment and his eyes widened in concern. "Kopa is in danger?"

Kovu didn't like living in the Outlands but his mother refused to live at Pride Rock. Occasionally, lionesses loyal to Zira would visit from the Pride Lands to inform her of what was happening in Simba's kingdom. Some of these lionesses were lounging nearby watching Kovu, their coats smooth and vibrant, healthy from life in the Pride Lands. These lionesses were unaware that within a month's time, they too would be forced to live out in these harsh termite mounds.

Despite the conditions of his home, Kovu was an optimistic cub and found ways to entertain himself. On this particular day, the seven-month-old cub noticed a grasshopper and leapt on it, catching the small creature between his paws. Pleased with himself, Kovu was content to release the insect.

"Kovu, don't let it go!" Zira snapped, catching the grasshopper in her paw and smashing it into the dirt. "What's the matter with you?"

"But Mother, he wasn't hurting anyone," Kovu protested.

"There is no room for weakness here, my son." Zira pulled Kovu close and stroked him with her paw. Kovu felt uncomfortable being so close to his mother's claws. "Remember, Scar took you in and accepted you as his own son."

"But he wasn't my father."

"No but he chose you to become the next king." Releasing Kovu, Zira took a few steps away, lost in thought. "When you rule, we shall no longer be forced to live in these dry, barren, disgusting, pathetic, termite infested Outlands!"

Suddenly, Zira's two older cubs came running up, excitedly crying "Mother" over and over again.

"We were there in the Pride Lands!" Zira's older son Nuka explained eagerly.

"We saw everything!" Vitani elucidated.

"We saw the whole thing!"

In unison, the two cubs explained, "We saw Simba's cub!"

"What?" Zira snapped.

"Are they talking about Kopa?" Madoa, one of the nearby lionesses, asked her sister.

"I think they mean the newborn," Alama replied lowly.

Madoa's ears pricked up. "The new one's been born already?"

"Vitani, what did you see?" Zira demanded.

"Simba's new cub is a girl!" Kovu's older twin sister explained.

"A girl?" Zira cackled. "Scar, my beloved, did you hear that? This couldn't be more perfect."

"Who's she talking to?" Nuka whispered.

Vitani shushed him before whispering back, "Scar."

"Huh, where? Where?"

"Scar's dead, Genius," Vitani mumbled scathingly.

"Yes, because of Simba!" Zira growled. "If not for him, Scar would still be king and I, Zira, his loving, devoted queen." Zira wrapped her forelimb around Kovu once more.

"You know, speaking of kings," Nuka interjected, "I was thinking, sense I am the oldest, maybe I should be king, huh?"

"Don't be a fool, Nuka," Zira hissed.

Nuka giggled nervously. "Just a thought," he mumbled, backing away.

"Kovu is the chosen one. We must fulfill Scar's dying wish and train Kovu to become king."

"Oh, yeah, duh, yeah, I can do that."

Zira climbed up on a rock and stared out towards the Pride Lands, her cubs following. "Look at the Pride Lands, my pets. So green – so inviting. That is our home. That is where we belong – and soon, my beloved Scar, we shall reclaim your kingdom."

"What about Kopa?" Vitani asked, "Simba's son?"

Zira frowned. "Yes, the young prince does pose a problem, doesn't he? Both of Simba's brats, in fact." Zira turned her frenzied gaze to her daughter. "We'll just have to do away with them as well as Simba, won't we?"

Kopa scampered out of the den and hurried to meet his friends, which included four lion cubs and a cheetah cub.

"Took you long enough," Kopa's best friend Afua grumbled. Slightly older than Kopa, Afua was a dark furred cub with a blond tuft of mane.

"Shut up, Afua," Timira hissed.

"Oh, how cute. Kopa's girlfriend wants to protect him."

"Don't be a jerk, Afua," the cheetah cub scolded. Though smaller, Beba was older than the lion cubs and sometimes found himself placed in the position of babysitter.

"And she's not my girlfriend," Kopa snapped.

Also gathered were Babu and Boga, a brother and sister who were slightly younger than Kopa.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Boga asked.

"Hide and seek?" Babu suggested.

"Not it," everyone except Kopa chanted.

"Not…" Kopa began. "Ah man, no fair!"

"Don't forget to count all the way to a hundred," Boga reminded Kopa as she and the other cubs scattered to find hiding places.

Kopa sighed and closed his eyes. It took him about two minutes to count all the way to one hundred. "…Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one-hundred. Ready or not, here I come."

Lowering his head, Kopa began sniffing for his friends. He managed to pick out Babu's scent and followed it towards a hollowed out log. Babu saw Kopa first and managed to sneak from his hiding place and find another spot. Kopa didn't notice and continued to the log, where another cub was sneaking around. Kopa saw this cub's tail inside the log and rushed forward.

"Found you!" he declared, but the cub was gone. Mumbling to himself in frustration, he backed out of the log.

"What are you doing?" a female cub demanded, looking down at Kopa from on top of the log.

Kopa looked up and recognized the cub from his sister's presentation ceremony. This cub had peach colored fur, blue eyes, scruffy cheeks, and a tuft of messy fur on her head.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were one of my friends," Kopa said. "We're playing hide and seek."

"That's a stupid game," the lioness cub said.

"Uh, thanks a lot," Kopa replied sarcastically.

"You're Kopa, right?" the girl asked.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

The cub puffed out her chest as if proud of what she was about to tell Kopa. "I am Vitani. You know what that means, right?"

"Yeah, it's…"

"It's a portmanteau of Shetani, which means 'Demon,' and Vita, which means 'War.' It means 'Demon of War.'"

"It means 'Ducks.'" Kopa corrected.

Vitani looked stricken. "What?"

"Vitani is Swahili for 'Ducks.' You didn't know that?" A grin spread across Kopa's face. "How about I call you Ducky from now on."

"Don't call me that!" Vitani snarled. "It doesn't mean 'Duck'."

"You're right, it doesn't mean 'Duck' but it does mean 'Ducks' – with an 'S.'" Kopa glanced at a family of ducks in a nearby pond. "Hey you guys. What's 'Duck' in Swahili?"

The father duck touched his chin thoughtfully. "That would be Kitani."

"And what's it called when there's more than one duck?"

"Vitani," the mother duck replied.

Turning back to Vitani, Kopa smirked. "Told you so."

The lioness cub looked as if she had been slapped in the face. "But my mother said…" She shook her head. "Oh, the hell with you! My mom says it means Demon of War and so that's what it means!"

Kopa frowned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"My feelings aren't hurt!" she snapped.

"Why are you so angry?" Kopa asked.

Vitani was about to retort but Kopa's sincere expression of concern stopped her. She stuttered. "I'm not angry," she protested loudly. "Just don't call me Ducky, all right?"

"Okay," Kopa replied.

"Tani!" they heard someone shout. Glancing across the pond, Kopa recognized the adolescent cub that was with Vitani at Kiara's presentation ceremony the other day. "What are you doing? Mother's going to kill you if she finds out you let Simba's brat see you!"

"Who's that?" Kopa asked, not liking that someone just called him a brat.

"My idiot brother," Vitani replied. "Hey Nuka, what's Mother going to do when I tell her you also let Kopa see you?"

The cub named Nuka sucked in a panicked breath. He glanced around and knelt low to the ground. "Hey Tani – Tani, Tani, Tani. You wouldn't say anything to Mother, would you?"

"Like I said, he's an idiot," Vitani told Kopa. "We should probably go home before he hurts himself."

"Don't you want to play with me and my friends?" Kopa started. "Oh, right, I forgot. Hide and seek is 'a stupid game.'" This quote was delivered with some disdain.

Vitani sighed. "Sorry. Anyways, my mother expects us back soon. Maybe some other time."

With that, Vitani hopped off the log and hurried around the pond to where Nuka waited. She paused to knock her brother on the head before they departed.

Kopa watched Vitani and Nuka for a few moments, not continuing his game of hide and seek until they were out of sight…

It was four years later when a full-grown Kopa awoke in the den of Pride Rock after having dreamt of his first encounter with Vitani. Kopa was no longer a cub but an adult lion with a thick brown mane. He sat up and glanced around the chamber where he and his family slept. Simba and Nala lay cuddled on a raised platform in the center of the chamber and Kiara slept against Kovu a few feet away. Mheetu slept next to his mother Sarafina off to Kopa's left and, on his right, Sarabi was sprawled beside Kopa.

Kopa saw that Vitani was nowhere inside the den and lowered his head, contemplating this newly acquired memory from his childhood.

Continue to Chapter 2

Note: Those of you who watched the special features on the DVD for The Lion King II: Simba's Pride probably know that a lot of the material I wrote for the flashbacks in this chapter was copied word for word directly from the deleted scenes, as well as the first scene of The Lion King II, with non-canonical appearances or mentions of Kopa added in where these scenes would have actually ended. It's my attempt to establish Kopa within the timeline of the second movie. After all, just because something isn't said or shown during the movie doesn't mean it couldn't have happened off-screen (hint, hint – nudge, nudge). In addition to transcribing these deleted scenes from videos I watched online, I also found a website with Brian Tiemann's unofficial script of The Lion King II, which revealed additional exposition dialogue at the end of the deleted scenes that wasn't included in the online videos. I decided to include Zira's exposition from the end of the scene Another Cub from the script, which wasn't in the deleted scene video:

NUKA: Oh… yeah… oh, yeah. I can do that!

{Zira climbs up on a rock point to gaze out over the land. The others follow.}

ZIRA: Look… at the Pride Lands, my pets. So green… so inviting. That is our home… that is where we belong. And soon, my beloved Scar… we shall reclaim your kingdom.

There was also some additional exposition from Rafiki (shown below) in this scene from Brian Tiemann's script that wasn't in the deleted scene video. I decided to exclude this additional dialogue because it contradicts an established fact in my fan fiction. Rafiki notes that Zira and her followers were banished to the Outlands before Kiara's presentation because they supported Scar:

RAFIKI: Ooh… there is trouble in the Pride Lands. {he looks toward the edge of the painting, at a rough black lion figure} There is another cub? Hmm… where could this be? {realization comes to him with a puff of wind} In the Outlands…

{Camera switches to the Outlands, slowly zooming in. The landscape is a barren desert, with strange rock formations everywhere. Rafiki's voice continues in narrative.}

But that is where Simba banished Scar's followers. Including his most loyal… Zira.

In my fan fiction, Zira's followers were banished because they spoke in Zira's defense after she attacked Kopa, which hasn't happened yet in my fan fiction's timeline. Additionally, Zira wasn't yet banished either, she merely lived in the Outlands to keep her cubs away from Simba. She wouldn't officially be banished until she tries to kill Kopa. I figured it wouldn't hurt to omit this part of Rafiki's dialogue, considering deleted scenes aren't canon – just semi-canon and there are plenty of semi-canonLion King books and comics that I've disregarded – though I do try to keep my fan fiction from directly contradicting semi-canon sources if I can help it, which makes me feel a little iffy about dropping Rafiki's line ("But that is where Simba banished Scar's followers. Including his most loyal… Zira") but whatever, it's not as if dropping one line from a deleted scene from my fan fiction is going to cause The Lion King universe to implode. (Pauses.) Hmm, why are frogs suddenly raining from the sky?