Chapter Text
Ikani woke up, lying on the ground, his right cheek in the dirt.
He blinked, then focused on the sight of a plant that swayed in the wind before his eyes. Was he dreaming? Plants don’t usually grow in the Cosmic Gorge, do they? The fragile sprout quivered and twisted, heaving up from the earth. It seemed to stretch with joy, its seedpods parting like arms after a deep sleep. A stalk emerged from the center, testing the air like a serpent’s tongue. Then it stretched left toward the dim light shining from that direction.
Ikani groaned and lifted his head, mind fuzzy, muscles sore. Where had he been transported to this time? And would it be far away from to hide from the mega corporation SHIN?
Of course it wouldn’t be. No place could hide him from them. He had to keep moving. Had to…
Almighty. It felt good to lie here. Couldn’t he just rest for a while? Stop running for once?
Ikani rose from his spot, shaking his head. No. He couldn’t rest. He had to keep moving. That’s what his father wanted him to since…the incident at Cosmic Gorge.
A bird flew above him, encircling, as if to examine who he was before flying off to someplace.
He must be dreaming. After all, only wolf-lions would live at the Cosmic Gorge, but for some reason, his mind told him that he wasn’t at the gorge, but someplace else; far away from the people he knew, and far away from the SHIN company.
Ikani looked around to all the different directions. A vast savannah stretched out to all sides. Green grass sprouted from the earth, animals eating the grass, and a blue sky above him. Where am I? The question hung in his mind for a long moment.
He wasn’t on Detrisia anymore, was he?
No. This place seemed to be quite different from Detrisia.
I’d better see if there are any humans here, Ikani thought, his mind made up. I’m not the only one who must have been transported to this place. Or am I?
He was uncertain whether he was alone, or there were some SHIN soldiers who managed to get toward the light in time. But he couldn’t grasp a claw on it.
Ikani shook his head, then he looked to the right direction when the sound of pawsteps came closer. The creatures moved into view. Ikani tilted his head, examining them.
The creatures were lions. Some of them had a beige, slim built, while two of them were males and looked more muscular in appearance, and the males had a reddish and dark brown mane grown around their heads.
“Who are you?” the male, who approached him, asked. “Why are you here?”
So they spoke his language, then. Thankfully.
“My name is Ikani,” he answered. “I have in fact no idea how I got here. Now it’s my turn to ask you. What is this place?”
The golden male blinked. “You are in the Pride Lands—our home. Are you here by trespassing from the Outlands?”
Ikani stared at him, confusion across his look. “The Outlands?”
The female lion on the other male’s left turned to the golden one. “King Simba, I believe this creature must have been living under a rock. He seems to be confused.”
“By the Almighty, you are right!” Ikani spoke, but they did not seem to listen to him.
“So he isn’t from the Outlands,” King Simba hummed. “Where are you from?” He looked at him.
Should I tell them? Ikani wondered, worried about their reaction upon discovering him from being an outsider to their land. He wasn’t from these Outlands, nor from the Pride Lands, whatever this place could be, he wanted answers. “I’m afraid that information is a secret.”
King Simba nodded. “Very well. I won’t be pressing the matter if you don’t want to share.”
“But, Your Majesty!” protested the female lion. “He is a stranger to us all!”
“I know that, Vitani,” King Simba said, glancing at her. “And I know he isn’t a threat to us. For some reason, I feel like his timing arrival could prove to our advantage.” He turned to the other male. “What do you think, Kovu?”
The male, Kovu, nodded in agreement. “I agree, Your Majesty. His arrival to the Pride Lands must have been a coincidence, as the Claw Pride is preparing for the war against us.”
Ikani felt as though he was invinsible. “What is going on? What is the Claw Pride?”
Kovu turned to him. “You don’t know the Claw Pride?”
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Ikani spoke, “I arrived here through unknown means. I don’t understand of this conflict you have with this pride, either.”
Almighty. Why was he talking to these lions? He should be running and hide from them, but the lion—this King Simba—at the front stared at him with such intensity that prevented him from doing so. He just hoped the SHIN soldiers doesn’t find him amidst this strange place.
Normally, he would just feel important as an experiment to some people, but—these strangers—they were convinced that he could help them in their struggle against the Claw Pride, whoever the pride or its leader could be.
“Your Majesty,” Vitani, the lion beside King Simba, spoke. “This lion must be charged for trespassing onto your lands without a formal purpose on his arrival.”
“I agree with Vitani,” said a second female, stepping up beside Vitani. “We should at least interrogate him some more. Why, I sense that he could turn on us at any moment it would please him.”
“I’m not like that!” protested Ikani.
Almighty. Why were these lionesses distrusting of him? The males seemed to be pleased with him, but Vitani and this lioness was just not happy about him at all. He’d hoped his presence would at least make them intrigued on how he got here in the first place, but they did not ask that at all.
The same bird that Ikani saw earlier hovered down to them. “Your Highness!” it squawked.
“What is it, Zazu?”
“I’m afraid that I have to cut your conversation a bit short—the Claw Pride, they are here! I saw them coming right from that direction!” The bird pointed with its wing.
Ikani turned to the direction, squinting his eyes to watch for movements. Soon, shapes of figures appeared from the tall grass, snarling and licking their lips at them.
“The Claw Pride,” growled Vitani. “They seemed to have noticed our approach from afar.”
“Yes, Vitani,” said Zazu. “It appears to be like that.”
“We need to return to Pride Rock—now!” King Simba ordered.
“I can fight them,” said Ikani, somehow determined to save the strangers who he was lucky to have found him.
“They are too many,” squawked Zazu. “You cannot fight them alone!”
Ikani smiled at the bird. “Watch me.”
He walked away from the group, hearing one of the five females speak. “Oh, he is done for.”
Are you sure about that, lioness? Ikani thought, stopping in front of the enemy trio of lions, who had arose from their position. They appeared to be white lions with black manes, and claw-marked marks on their eyes each.
“Who are you?” the middle lion of the trio demanded. “Are you with the Pridelanders?”
“If you are, then you are our enemy,” said the one to the left. “We don’t need someone like you to be on their side.”
“In fact,” continued the third lion. “You are just going to die anyway.”
“Are you certain of that?” Ikani smirked.
The three lions blinked.
“Yes,” the first lion spoke. “You are just in our way to dethrone that fool King Simba.”
“Idiot!” said the lion to the right, smacking his comrade on the head with his paw. “Don’t tell the stranger about it!”
“So what? He will die before he does anything.”
Ikani rolled his eyes. Almighty. These lions are just clueless idiots who appeared to be tough, but they were, in fact, dumb to tell him of their plan in front of him.
“Shall we just fight him?” said the lion to the left of the trio.
“Let me ask him his name first,” grunted the first lion. “Who are you?”
“Ikani.”
“So…Ikani…why are you with the Pridelanders?”
“To be completely honest, I have no idea,” Ikani replied.
“He’s lying.” That came from the right one. “He wants to allow them to win our war.”
“Shut up!” growled the middle lion.
Ikani grinned, watching with plesantry as they argued. “Well then. I suppose you three must best be on your way back to the Claw Pride.”
They shot their eyes at him.
“Was that a threat?”
“Could be.”
There was a pause, then the lion who had spoken first roared, charging at Ikani with claws unsheathed, ready for a strike.
Ikani ducked, then rolled to the right as another strike was thrust at him. Under the daylight, he could feel the heat within his body grow stronger, and more powerful when he charged his inner magic fire.
“Attack him, idiots!” roared the lion to his comrades.
“Right!” They nodded, and charged forward.
Better be careful, Ikani thought, dodging some of their attacks by rolling and jumping backwards.
“Impressive,” mused King Simba from behind him, who he glanced at briefly to know he was observing his movements.
Quickly, Ikani turned back to his enemies, watching them close in with claws ready. As he ducked under one of them, one of the other two struck him on the cheek. He roared in pain, but so did his attacker.
“Hot! Hot! Hot!” yelped his attacker. His paw was burned slightly from the touch, and the lion moaned in pain, licking his claws.
“What?!” gasped the first lion.
Ikani looked at them with a wide grin on his lips. “Didn’t expect that, did you?” He knew that his heat was stronger than his normal attacks, but he knew he had to be careful to unleash it right now. He couldn’t afford to reveal his secret weapon to these lions.
Just as he watched a claw strike coming from the left, he allowed the strike to come, building up his heat. He got hit on the left cheek, grunting.
“Hot!” roared his second attacker.
“Who are you?” the first lion demanded. “You are no ordinary animal. What are you?”
Ikani smirked, and he stood on the dirt in silence.
The lion growled. “You will regret messing with us, creature! Retreat!” He turned to his comrades, who both nodded, then they ran off.
Ikani snorted, puffing his chest out proudly. He turned to King Simba, watching him with wide eyes.
Almighty. That felt good in ages. He never knew that fighting other animals could be so fun. He hoped that if he could stay here in the Pride Lands for a while, he could learn a thing or two about fighting animals instead of humans. Of course that would only mean one thing, and that meant getting accepted by the Pridelanders—and be offered a place among them by King Simba—so that he could stay for a while here.
They did seem kind of like…honest animals. Which was odd at first that he could understand them; the animals back home could not say a word and merely growled, snarled or chirped and chattered around him. This place was…unique. That was all he could describe the Pride Lands.
But what if the SHIN soldiers did manage to get here? He’d be running for his life once more, if they happened to get inside…that when it surrounded him. Ikani realized his mind had returned to normal. He should be relieved, yet he was concerned for these animals’ safety if the soldiers were to happen step upon the Pride Lands.
What did it matter? He turned toward King Simba, who approached him. The lion king seemed to be concerned for him, which was a surprise for Ikani. He did not know this stranger would be worried about him at all.
“Is something the matter?” King Simba asked.
“No,” Ikani said, honesty in his words. “There is nothing wrong, Your Highness.”
“Good. Because I’d say it is about time we get moving.”
Ikani raised an eyebrow. “To where?”
King Simba turned to him. “Pride Rock. We are going to see to a good friend of mine, who might be able to tell us more about you and why you are here. In fact, I believe he knows something that you don’t want to tell us.” He paused when he reached Vitani and Kovu, sighing. “If something about you does not please him or the Great Kings, I’m afraid there will be consequences.”
Ikani blinked. “Consequences? I just arrived here. Yet, you expect me to explain my whole story on how I got here?”
King Simba nodded.
Ikani sighed. “All right. But allow me to just cool down for a moment; I don’t want any of you to get hurt by my fire, you see.”
Now it was Kovu’s turn to look intrigued. “Fire?”
“I’m afraid that’s something to another time…Kovu,” said Ikani, shaking his head. “When we get to this friend of yours to check on me. The last thing we need is some of these animals to be burned.”
“Indeed, and we don’t want that to happen,” said King Simba in agreement, nodding toward him. “You may cool down for the moment, but once you are, we will be moving to Pride Rock as soon as you are done.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” Ikani couldn’t believe himself. He gained some sort of trust from the king, but he doesn’t expect it to last once he knew more about his backstory and how he got to his…kingdom. It’s for the best that I shall reveal my information carefully to them. He’d hoped that with time passing by in the Pride Lands, and he gain more of the Pridelanders’ trust, he would be able to tell them all about who he truly was.
He only hoped that he don’t get discovered by the Claw Pride at all when he got a place to live for the time being in the Pride Lands at the place called Pride Rock.
Of course, Ikani was worried about the SHIN company.
Don’t stress on the corporation for now, Ikani. You will just receive suspicion from the Pridelanders if you do. Go easy, and take small cub-steps before revealing the big things to them.
“Are you done?” King Simba asked.
Ikani nodded slowly. “Yes. My body has cooled down somewhat. I am able to walk now, if you are ready.”
King Simba smiled briefly. “Good. Then we shall get a move on. Zazu, fly ahead and tell Nala about our arrival, and that we have a guest coming along with us.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Zazu said, bowing slightly. He spread his wings and flew off.
“Let’s go,” said King Simba, turning to Ikani, nodding.