Well, here it goes.

     	THE LION KING 2

Prelude: It has been approximately two years since the events of The 
Lion King took place. Simba and Nala have since had a daughter, 
Fentali. Her and Tanabi get along great and spend most of their time 
playing in the grasslands around Pride Rock. Sarabi is still alive, 
but is too old to hunt. She wishes she could be out hunting, but the 
entire pride respects her for her great knowledge. Pumbaa and Timon 
are still around, eating bugs. When not eating bugs or sleeping, they 
play with Fentali and Tanabi. Zazu is a little older, and a little 
wiser, but he is still fretful about most things. Rafiki is still the 
Shaman of the pride, and the hyenas, ... well, they're still hyenas.

     	THE LION KING 2

     It is morning. Everything is black. Slowly, the blackness is 
opened up. Everything is rather gray and fuzzy. Then everything comes 
into focus. A lion cub of approximately two years of age stands up and 
stretches. He is Tanabi, the son of Simba and Nala. His mane has just 
started to come in, as is evident from the small tufts of light 
brownish red hair around his head and down his back a short distance. 
He looks around the cave. He sees Nala, his mother, asleep on her side 
with her back facing him. Her fur appears to be dark yellow in the 
cave. Asleep next to her is Fentali, Simba and Nala's daughter. Her 
fur is a darker yellow than Nala's and the contrast is strong. As 
Tanabi looks around more, he sees Timon, the meerkat, asleep on 
Pumbaa's belly. Pumbaa is a warthog. Pumbaa is asleep on his back. His 
dark red skin is hardly visible, and the tuft of black hair on the top 
of his head is not visible at all. His most noticeable features in the 
dark are his two white tusks, which are very visible in the dark cave. 
Timon is lying curled up in a small ball. His legs are curled up by 
his chest and his arms are crossed under his head like a pillow. His 
fur is dark yellowish orange except for four or five barely visible 
brown stripes. He is snoring quietly and once or twice we hear him 
mumble "Grubs" in his sleep. Sarabi is asleep in her corner. Nobody 
else sleeps there because it is the darkest spot in the cave at night, 
and Sarabi likes to sleep in almost absolute darkness. She is only 
visible because her tail is lying out of the shdows. In the cave 
darkness, it appears dark yellow. Tanabi looks around at the other 
sleeping lions, but does not see his father, Simba. Tanabi knows he is 
not supposed to go outside this early without one of his parents, but 
he thinks to himself, 'I'm looking for dad', and that is all the 
authority he needs for himself. He slowly walks outside.
     Outside, it is just dawn. Everything he can see is just beginning 
to be touched by sunlight. Tanabi stops for a moment to watch the 
sight. The grass looks yellow in the new morning sun, and overhead the 
sky is all light blue, without a single cloud in sight. He looks and 
sees his father. He is standing in the light, and all his fur, even 
his bright orange mane, shines yellow in the sunlight. He has a look 
on his face that Tanabi has never seen before. It is a stern face, not 
of anger, but it looks more like reverence and rememberance. Tanabi 
hesitantly walks over and stands next to Simba. Simba does not notice 
him. In the sunlight, Tanabi sees a solitary tear cascade down Simba's 
cheek. This surprises Tanabi greatly. He had never seen Simba cry 
before, so he decided to see if he can help.
     "What's wrong, dad?" he mutters.
     Simba is caught off guard. He takes a step backwards into the 
shadow of Pride Rock. His face changes suddenly from starn to 
surprised. For a moment, Tanabi can see his golden fur, and his fiery 
orange mane. He looks down at Tanabi and with a perfectly calm voice 
says "Nothing's wrong, Tanabi. Why are you up so early?"
     "I dunno." is all he says. He is momentarily afraid that Simba 
will be angry with him. "I just woke up early, I guess."
     "Did you wake anyone else up?" Simba asks in that same calm, 
almost unfeeling voice.
     "I don't think so, dad." Tanabi replies.
     In the same voice, Simba responds "That's good."
     Tanabi will not give up. "Why were you crying, dad?" he asks 
again.
     Simba breathes in deeply. "Son, has your mother ever told you 
what happened to my father?", he asks.
     "No", Tanabi replies. "I asked her once, but she said you would 
tell me when you felt I was old enough. Why?"
     Simba just says with an unemotional voice "I believe that you are 
now old enough to know. Come with me." As the sky turns a slightly 
darker blue, the grass slowly begins to become green, and the sun 
starts to become a brighter yellow.
     They walk around Pride Rock while Simba explains everything that 
he feels would be appropriate for Tanabi to know about Mufasa's death. 
"Well son," Simba starts to say "it all started a long time ago. My 
father's name was Mufasa and he was a great king. However, he had a 
younger brother named Scar. Scar wanted to be the king of Pride Rock, 
so since he could not be king by birthright, he decided to become king 
by using cowardly, evil plans.
     First, he lured your mother and I into the rocky place where the 
hyenas live. After we were there, the hyenas were going to kill us. 
This was all a part of Scar's plan. Luckily for us, my father, Mufasa 
came in and saved us when we were cornered." Tanabi's eyes are open 
wide and it is easy to see that he is hanging on every word. The grass 
is by now all dark green and the sun is well overhead. Occasionally a 
lone bird or a pair of birds fly overhead, having no concern for what 
is goning on beneath them.
     "Then," Simba continues "he came up with his most evil plan, and 
once again, the hyenas were there to help him out. He took me into a 
deep gorge and then told me to wait there while he went and got 
Mufasa, who was supposed to have a big surprise for me. He didn't, but 
Scar did. He had the hyenas start a wildebeest stampede down the 
gorge. I ran as fast as I could, but I was very young, and I could not 
run all that fast. I jumped onto a small tree in the gorge and just 
hung on for dear life. Mufasa ran down and got me, just as the tree 
broke. He dropped me once, but then picked me up again and put me on a 
safe rock. I then climbed up the gorge wall and stopped. I looked for 
my father, but did not see him at first. Then he jumped up and started 
to climb a steeper wall towards his brother Scar. He almost made it 
back up, but .." Simba takes a deep breath in, to try to stop himself 
from crying.
     "But what, dad?" Tanabi asks impatiently.
     Simba continues. "but then he fell down off of the ledge into the 
gorge. Some more wildebeest ran on over him, and when the stampede was 
over, I went down to find him. I ... I found him under a broken tree. 
I tried to get him up, but he ... he ... he didn't move." Both Simba 
and Tanabi's face are now very pale. Tanabi is also trying not to shed 
any tears, but one or two do escape.
     "Then Scar found me. He made me believe that it was my fault that 
Mufasa was dead, and he told me the only thing to do was to 'run, run 
away and never return'. I took his advice, and after escaping some 
hyenas, I ran away, never planing to return. I wandered for days 
without anything to eat or drink. I passed out somewhere in the 
desert. I would have died there if it wasn't for Pumbaa and Timon. 
They found me and took me back to their home. There, I grew and became 
strong, ut something was missing from my life, and for a long time I 
couldn't figure out what it was until one day, your mother tried to 
hunt down Pumbaa. I saw her, but since I hadn't seen her in years, I 
didn't know who she was, so we fought, because I was not about to let 
anyone eat my friend. Then as we fought, I remembered her. When I knew 
who she was, we were both surprised. We talked for a long time and 
even fell in love there. Then, she had to convince me to come back. 
You see Tanabi, with Mufasa dead, and everyone else thinking that I 
was, too, Scar had become the king. He let those slobbering, mangy, 
stupid, poachers take over the Pridelands. They did whatever they 
wanted, but paid no attention to what it was doing to the land until 
it was too late.
     At first, I did not want to return, because I still believed that 
Mufasa's death was my fault. But thank to your mother, Rafiki, and 
what I can only describe as a vision, I came to my senses and returned 
to take over my kingdom." Now they are both lying down in the cool 
shade of a tree. Tanabi is still wide - eyed and very attentive, and 
Simba just feels good passing on the past to his son.
     "When I came back, everything was in ruin. The grass was dead, 
there was no water to be found, and all the herds had moved on, so 
there was no food either. I found Scar, and although I would have 
liked a peaceful resolution, he would not give up the throne, so we 
had to fight. We both hurt each other very bad, but in the end I won. 
So you see, son, in the end, what is right will always come out on 
top. Let's head back home."
     Simba and Tanabi return in the early afternoon. Most of the other 
lions are sleeping in the sun. Tanabi decides to go off and play with 
Fentali, Timon, and Pumbaa. Simba relaxes next to Nala.
     "So where were you two today?" Nala calmly asks.
     "We were just talking. I told him about Mufasa's death. He seemed 
to take it rather well." says Simba.
"Well, I supposed he had to know the truth, sometime." Nala responds.
     The next morning, Simba goes out for a morning walk. When he 
leaves, Sarabi is not up yet. She usually enjoys taking these walks 
with him, but Simba decides to let her sleep in for once. Usually 
Simba and his mother use this time to talk to each other about what is 
going on with the pride, and with each other. When he gets back, Nala 
is waiting outside the cave for him. He can see in her eyes that 
something is wrong.
     "What's wrong?" he asks.
     Nala did not want to see Simba's face when he heard the news. 
Without looking at him, she says "well Simba ... it's your mother. She 
didn't wake up this morning."
     Simba is shocked. His face just goes blank, and his eyes seem to 
fade a bit. Then he blinks. His eyes get their full color back in 
them, and wihtout thinking, he says "Where is she?" 
-- 
James M. Rabiola
Member: F.C.o.S.      TLKiaWOL       TLKMuck : Mwenzi
00204242@bigred.unl.edu
"Never trust the future,
 Never miss the past,
 If you live for the shining moment,
 The moment may just last