The Future Queen (Chapter 1)

Characters

 * Nala
 * Simba
 * Mufasa
 * Scar
 * Rafiki
 * Zazu
 * Sarabi
 * Chumvi
 * Kula
 * Askari
 * Sarafina (Mentioned)

The new Princess
The morning sun rose across The Pridelands, the animals looking up after having an early meal.

Zebras galloped across the plains, elephants stomped their way to the scene and ants crawled across the trees. Many other animals, such as storks, cheetahs and giraffes gathered at Pride Rock, the home of The Monarchy, to witness the presentation of the new cub: Princess Nala.

As the animals formed a crowd, Zazu, King Mufasa’s longtime friend and Majordomo, flew to the large rock, then bowed in front of the lion, who smiled and nodded. As Mufasa did that, he noticed an old mandrill walking between the crowd and climbing up to where they were. This was the shaman and royal advisor, Rafiki.

Mufasa and Zazu guided the mandrill to Queen Sarabi, who was holding Young Nala in her arms, licking the lioness cub. Rafiki took his stick and rattled it over Nala, who batted it with her little paws. The Shaman rips open gourd juice and puts some on Nala’s head, then grabs sand and drops it across her forehead, causing the Princess to sneeze, inciting Mufasa and Sarabi nuzzling each other. Rafiki picked up the cub and ascended to the edge of Pride Rock, with Mufasa and Sarabi following.

With all the animals to see, Rafiki raised up the future Queen, the light of the past kings shining upon her as the crowd cheered loudly.

The screen panned out before it cuts to the title.

The Future Queen

Jealously in the flesh
It cuts to a mouse searching through a cave for food before it is caught by a brown paw. The paw in question belonged to Scar, Mufasa’s brother and second-in-line to the throne. Originally, he was first-in-line, but after Nala was born, he was bumped down to second, which didn’t suit well.

‘’Life’s not fair, is it?’’ He asked the mouse. ‘’You see I...well I shall never be King.’’

He then put the mouse on his paw, who tried getting away, but was caught and raised up to Scar’s face. ‘’And you...will never see the light of another day!’’

As he prepared to eat the mouse, he chuckled. ‘’Hmhmhm, adieu.’’

However, a voice interrupted him, surprising the black-maned lion and causing him to lay down with the mouse still in his paw. ‘’Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?’'

Rolled eyes. ‘’What do you want…?’’

‘’I am here to announce that King Mufasa’s on his way! And you better have a good excuse for missing the ceremony this morning.’’

As Zazu was saying this, the mouse finally got free and ran into his little cave, causing Scar to curse to himself, but then sigh. ‘’Oh now look Zazu, you made me lose my lunch.’’

‘’Hah! You’ll lose more than that when the King gets through with you. He’s as mad as a hippo with a hernia.’’

But then, a sadistic smile appeared. ‘’Oooh...I quiver with FEAR!’’

He began to creep towards Zazu, who backed away, terrified. ‘’Now Scar, don’t look at me that way…’’ But when Scar pounced, Zazu tried to flee. ‘’HELP!’’

But when the bird was in Scar’s mouth, a booming voice called out. ‘’Scar!’’

Scar turned to see his brother, Mufasa, standing on a rock. ‘’Mh-hmm?’’

‘’Drop him.’’

A beak appeared out of Scar’s mouth, the beak of which belonged to Zazu. ‘’Impeccable timing, your majesty.’’

As Scar spit out the hornbill, he walked around Mufasa. ‘’Why, if it isn’t my big brother descending upon high to mingle with the commoners.’’

Mufasa, however, was not amused. ‘’Sarabi and I didn’t see you at the presentation of Nala.’’

A blink, but Scar walked towards the cave wall. ‘’That was today? Oh, I feel simply awful..’’

He then scratched his claws against the wall, causing a screeching noise. After that was done, he looked at his claws, then looked back. ‘’Must have slipped my mind.’’

Zazu flew up to Scar’s face. ‘’Yes, well, as slippery as your mind is, as the King’s brother, you should have been first in li-’’

Scar bit down, causing the hornbill to flee behind Mufasa’s leg. ‘’Well, I was first in line..until the little HAIRBALL was born..’’

Now Mufasa looked down at his brother. ‘’That hairball is my daughter and your future Queen.’’

‘’Oh, I shall practice my curtsy. ‘’ Scar said before turning away and beginning to exit.

‘’Don’t turn your back on ME, Scar!’’

‘’Oh no, Mufasa...perhaps you shouldn’t turn your back on ME.’’

A roar as Mufasa jumps in front of Scar, teeth barred. ‘’IS THAT A CHALLENGE?!’’

‘’Temper, temper…’’ Scar scoffed. ‘’I wouldn’t DREAM of challenging you.’’

Zazu put his wings on his body. ‘’Pity! Why not?’’

Scar looked at Zazu. ‘’Well, as far as brains go, i’ve got the lion’s share, but when it comes to brute strength.’’

At the last part, he looked up at Mufasa, then turned and left. ‘’I’m afraid i’m at the shallow end of the gene pool..’’

Baobab Ball
A few months later, Nala grew into a beautiful young lioness cub, with the uniqueness of not having the red color that goes with most royals.. As the Princess was running towards the edge of Pride Rock, she looked down and saw the lush green grass, having just gotten out of the wet season a few weeks earlier, causing the environment to smell like rain.

Nala was a a sassy, but kind and caring cub who was proud of her position, but not to the point of arrogance and egotistical behavior. A month prior, she had met Sarafina’s son, Simba, who happily took his time teasing the Princess, calling her a daddy’s girl.

As of now, Nala was currently with her friend near The Waterhole. With them were Chumvi and Kula, two lion cubs who had come with the King of a foreign pride in order to establish relations with Mufasa’s Kingdom, which Nala was currently in preparation to deal with since Mufasa was teaching her about diplomacy after he gave her a tour of her home, saying it was ‘to ensure peace and balance between all prides, regardless of ideology or ruling party.’

However, while she was thinking about this, something hit her head, causing her to fall over and roll off a rock into a bush. The laughs of her friends caused her to shake her head, then raise it up to find them. When she looked down, she noticed she was hit by a baobab fruit, inciting a frown from the Princess.

‘’You couldn’t catch the baobab ball, Nala!’’ Simba said with a smirk. ‘’Guess that means you’re out.’’

‘’As if!’’ She replied to the brownish-gold lion, who’s appearance was taken after his father, who had come across The Pridelands and conceived him before leaving the kingdom, causing Sarafina to be a single mother. ‘’I was thinking about my role within the kingdom, that’s all!’’

‘’Uhuh, sure.’’ He clearly doubted Nala’s words. ‘’So, you gonna keep playing or just stand there?’’

Nala huffed, then picked up the baobab fruit, throwing it up. As Simba, Chumvi and Kula went to catch it, Nala jumped on Simba’s back, causing him to help, then lept up, catching the fruit with her mouth and landing on the ground.

‘’Hey, no fair!’’ Simba whined as he and the other cubs chased after the King’s daughter.

Everyone in The Pridelands knew of Simba and Nala’s rocky, yet great friendship. In terms of Nala’s position, they were polar opposites. Where Nala was humble and down to earth, having pride, but not too much, Simba was prone to using his friendship to get bullies away from both im and Nala and Nala, which disapproving of his methods, thanked him regardless, since she wasn’t exactly the biggest of the cubs in The Pridelands.

After the case wrapped up, Simba caught Nala, pouncing on her and play wrestling as the baobab fruit landed in the paws of Chumvi. But when the former two got done, Nala flipped him over and pinned him on the ground hard.

‘’Pinned ya.’’ She smirked at her disgruntled friend.

‘’Nala!’’ They heard Mufasa call as Nala’s ears went down.

‘’Sorry guys, I gotta go.’’ Nala said as she got off Simba and started making her way to her father, despite the rest of the cubs protesting.

Askari
The small, creamed-colored cub managed to reach Mufasa, who smiled warmly at his daughter and made her look at a large lion with a gray mane, presumably from aging.

‘’Who is this, dad?’’ Nala asked, then the lion spoke up.

‘’My name, young Princess...is Askari. And I was the first leader of The Lion Guard...and your great-great-uncle.’’